What's new in WaterCAD and WaterGEMS V8i SELECTseries 2?


Product(s):WaterCAD, WaterGEMS
Version(s):V8i SELECTseries 2 (08.11.02.31)
Area: N/A

Overview

The SELECTseries 2 release of WaterCAD and WaterGEMS V8i includes many new features and improvements. This tech-note explores each change.

- Support for Newer Platforms
- Pipe Renewal Planner
- Pipe Break Analysis
- Improved Pump Curve Display
- Pump Combination Analysis
- Top-fill tanks with float valves
- EPANET calculation engine upgrade
- SCADAConnect Ease-of-use Improvements
- Projectwise Integration changes
- i-model support
- Seed File support
- DXF export layer control
- Symbology Definitions
- Microstation Integration Improvements
    - View associations
    - Tooltip customizations
    - Print preparation
    - GIS style
    - Multiple models
    - Detach and save-as Options
- More Flexible Date/Time Formatting
- Formula-based User Data Extensions
- Support for US Survey Feet
- Pressure loss result fields
- Performance increase for controls
- Multi-Select & Delete support for lists
- Selection Tool for User Notifications
- New Network Tracing Queries

 

Note: for details on new features in HAMMER V8i SELECTseries 2, see What's New in HAMMER V8i SELECTseries 2?

 

Support for Newer Platforms

WaterCAD and WaterGEMS now support the following platforms:

 

Pipe Renewal Planner

The Pipe Renewal Planner is a powerful new condition assessment tool, enabling you to score and rank existing water mains based on their adequacy in terms of a number of performance indicators called "aspects", which are not in the same units. The default aspects that the pipe renewal planner primarily considers are Pipe break history, capacity (fire flow) and criticality (demand shortfall when pipe is out of service). You can also consider any other aspect of the model, including calculated model results or user-entered field (such as installation year, zone, material, etc).

 

For a given aspect, each pipe is given a normalized score on a 0-100 scale. Each aspect is then given a weight, and an overall score is generated for each pipe.

 

The overall process for determining the "Pipe Score", which is the final result of this analysis, is:

  1. Build model with sufficient information to calculate aspect of interest.
  2. Optionally run capacity, criticality and pipe break analysis
  3. Start Pipe Renewal Planner by selecting Analysis > Pipe Renewal Planner or picking the Pipe Renewal Planner button.
  4. Pick the New button to create a new Pipe Renewal analysis.
  5. Select aspects to be used and weights for each.
  6. Set up scoring to convert raw score/property values into individual aspect scores.
  7. Compute Pipe Renewal Pipe Scores.
  8. Review results, using many standard methods such as color coding the plan view.

 

Note: Similar to Darwin Calibrator, Darwin Designer, Darwin Scheduler and Skelebrator, the Pipe Renewal Planner feature uses a separate license, which should show up in your license management tool.

 

 

Pipe Break Analysis

The Pipe Break Analysis tool is a new feature that allows you to import and analyze historical data on pipe breaks. The results of this analysis can be viewed on their own or used as part of the Pipe Renewal Planner tool to determine the overall condition score of a pipe. A projected break rate (breaks per year per mile) is calculated for each pipe, along with other results such as annual expected cost.

 

 

 

 

The overall steps in conducting a pipe break analysis consists of:

  1. Creating a model. (preferably an all-pipes model or a skeletonized model)
  2. Setting up a scenario with a pipe break alternative.
  3. Importing/creating pipe break history data within the Pipe Break tool.
  4. Creating pipe break groups. (if group feature is used)
  5. Setting other analysis options. (e.g. individual vs. group rates, projection period)
  6. Run break projection.
  7. View results.
  8. Use results in Pipe Renewal Planner

For more detailed information, check the Running Pipe Break Analysis TechNote 

 

Improved Pump Curve Display

In previous versions, the pump curve viewer (right click on a pump and choose "pump curve") only displayed the head curve, for the current time step. The pump curve display has been improved in V8i SELECTseries 2 and you now have the ability to:

 

 

Example 1: Current time with head and efficiency:

 

 

Example 2: head and efficiency at multiple times with different speeds:

 

 

 

Pump Combination Analysis

The SELECTseries 2 release of WaterCAD/GEMS V8i introduces a new element type called a pump station,  which is used in a new tool called Combination Pump Curves.

A pump station is a polygon element used to model multiple pumps that are in the same structure, serving the same pressure zone. It provides a graphical way to display the pumps associated with the station. A pump station is not a hydraulic element in that it is not directly used in a hydraulic analysis but rather it contains a list of pumps that are within the "station".

A pump station displays which pumps are in the station by dashed lines connecting the pumps with the station polygon centroid. A pump does not need to be inside the polygon to be a pump assigned to the station and pumps inside the polygon still need to be assigned to the station. Select the pump station from the "Pump Station" attribute of each individual pump.

Once the pump station has been established, you can perform a pump combination analysis, either by right clicking the pump station and choosing "combination pump curve" or by going to Analysis > Combination Pump Curves. Multiple combination pump curves can be created and saved, similar to the system head curve manager.

Combination Pump Curves allow you to view the performance of multiple pumps running together in parallel in a pump station. The system head curve can optionally be displayed, at multiple times. The example below shows three different combinations for two time steps (system head curves).

 

The "active?" column allows you to choose from all possible combinations of pumps (which ones are on or off). The "ID" is used to identify the particular combination in the legend. The number in the cell indicates the number of pumps of that pump definition that are running for the combination corresponding to that row. If there is a zero in a cell, the pump is off for that combination.

For more information on this topic please click here

 

Top-fill tanks with float valves

If the tank is a top filled tank (which may refer to a side inflow tank above the bottom but below the top), you can now model this directly in the properties of the tank node. Select "true" for the "Tank Fills From Top?" property and set the invert level (relative to the base) of the inflow pipe at its highest point. Water will not flow into the tank through that pipe unless the hydraulic grade is above that elevation.

If the inlet valve throttles the flow as it nears full, you can also now directly model that in the tank node, by selecting "true" for" Inlet Valve throttles?". You must then enter the discharge coefficient for the valve when it is fully open, the level at which the valve begins to close and the level at which it is fully closed.

 

EPANET calculation engine upgrade

The SELECTseries 2 release of WaterCAD/GEMS V8i includes an upgraded version of the EPANET hydraulic calculation engine: 2.00.12. This version includes enhancements to control valve convergence (such as PRVs in parallel) and water quality computational changes. Several new calculation options are available to facilitate the convergence enhancements.

 

You also now have control over which version of the calculation engine to use, mostly for compatibility reasons:

 

SCADAConnect Ease-of-use Improvements

The SCADAConnect module now has the following improvements:

 

Projectwise Integration Enhancements

In this release, the integration with Projectwise has been enhanced:

 

i-model Support


With the SELECTseries 2 release of WaterCAD and WaterGEMS V8i, you can now publish an i-model. An i-model is an immutable container for rich multi-discipline information published from known sources in a known state at a known time. Basically it is a portable, read-only copy of a model file that can be viewed by users that do not have WaterCAD/GEMS. The topology as well as the attributes and results (for a particular timestep) can be viewed in MicroStation, ProjectWise Navigator and Bentley View. Since Bentley View is free, i-models provide a way for anyone to easily view data and results for a WaterCAD/GEMS model file.

Under File > Export, you will have a "publish i-model" option, which requires the i-model publishing engine (downloadable from selectservices.bentley.com). The i-model publishing engine shows as a prerequisite on the download page for WaterCAD/GEMS, but is only necessary if you intend to publish i-models. If you have no need to publish i-models, you do not need to download and install this optional component.

 

 

Seed File Support


Seed files allow you to save project settings and data as a template (the seed file has a .wgs extension). You can then reuse these settings/data while creating new projects using the data from the previously saved seed file.

 

DXF export layer control


When exporting the plan view of a drawing to a DXF file, different elements can be placed on different layers.

 

 

 

Symbology Definitions


You will now have a dropdown at the top of the Element Symbology manager, which allows you to configure which symbology should be applied. For example, you could have one symbology definition for steady state with certain annotations and color coding enabled, then another one for EPS, with different annotations and color coding enabled.

 

 

Microstation Integration Improvements


A number of improvements have been added to the Microstation Environment:

 

View Associations

When working in the MicroStation integrated mode, it is now possible to associate scenarios and symbology definitions with MicroStation Views. This basically lets you see different scenarios and/or symbology definitions (color coding/annotation at the same time, by opening multiple MicroStation Views.

 

A "mode" button is available for both Element Symbology and Scenarios:

 

     

 

Example:

 

 

 

Tooltip Customizations

While using the Microstation integrated mode, the new tooltip customization feature allows you to define custom text to appear when hovering the mouse over an element in the drawing. You can enter static text and/or dynamic annotations, similar to element symbology annotations. This can be a convenient alternative or supplement to annotations, as you can quickly view data just for the element you point to.

 

   

 

Note: be sure to right click on the tooltip customization and choose "make active".

 

Multiple Model Support

A single dgn file can now reference multiple WaterCAD/GEMS models, by using the MicroStation Models feature. Simply attach a new model to the dgn, then attach the WaterCAD/GEMS model. Here is an example workflow:

 

Print Preparation

Print Preparation is a special tool that was not readily available in previous versions. It is now included with the installation of WaterCAD/GEMS, making it easier for you to print your model when using the Microstation integrated mode. It can be accessed from the bottom of the Tasks list:

 

Print preparation is essentially a printing wizard; first you select a template, then follow the prompts, selecting the area of the drawing and rotation for the main viewport and detail views. Several templates are included with WaterCAD/GEMS: ANSI, ARCH and ISO:

 

 

 

 

 

GIS style Display


You can now choose between CAD (zoom dependent) or GIS (zoom independent) drawing style when working in MicroStation. With GIS style, symbol and text sizes stay the same, regardless of your zoom level.

 

 

 

Detach and save-as Options

In this release, you can now detach a WaterCAD/GEMS model from the dgn and save it to a new location.

More Flexible Date/Time Formatting

In previous versions, time was often displayed in a fixed way, and in some cases was not consistent. for example, the calculation summary displayed as 03:00:00 whereas data tables displayed as 3.00. In V8i SELECTseries 2, you can now customize the time format.

 

 

 

 

 

Formula-based User Data Extensions


In the past, a user data extension always contained static, user-entered information. Now, you can create a user data extension whose value is calculated based on other existing fields. For example, you can create a field whose value is equal to the square root of the difference between one input field and another user data extension. The possibilities are endless. In the below example, a field has been created for pipe elevation, whose value is equal to the junction ground elevation minus 5 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

Support for US Survey Feet


You can now select US Survey feet as a length unit.

 

 

 

Pressure loss result fields

Pressure Loss and Pressure Loss Gradient have been added as standard result fields.

 

 

 

Performance increase for controls

Performance has been improved when working in the Control manager (Components > Controls). Meaning, navigation through the Control user interface should be faster, especially for larger models with many controls.

 

 

Multi-Select & Delete support for lists


You can now use the CTRL (control) and Shift keys to select multiple items in lists. For example under Components > Controls > Conditions, you can click one condition, hold the control key and select several other conditions, then press the delete key to delete them all at once. This feature applies to:

 

 

Selection Tool for User Notifications

 

 

 

New Network Tracing Queries


Three new network tracing queries have been added:

 

 

See Also

Product TechNotes and FAQs

OpenFlows Product Tech Notes And FAQs

Hydraulics and Hydrology Forum

 

External Links

Bentley SELECTservices

Bentley LEARN Server