OpenFlows SewerCAD – Standalone 2,000 Pipes

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SewerCAD?

SewerCAD is a sanitary sewer modeling and design software that can be used to design, analyze, and plan wastewater collection systems. You can model pressurized force mains and gravity hydraulics with ease, using steady-state analysis with various standard peaking factors, and extended-period simulations. You can design both new systems and rehabilitate existing sanitary sewers with SewerCAD.

Can SewerCAD analyze gravity and pressure hydraulics?

Yes, you can analyze pressure or free surface flow conditions using a robust gradually varied, standard-step algorithm in SewerCAD for solving subcritical, critical, and supercritical conditions, and complex composite profiles. The steady-state simulation analyzes the system under extreme flow conditions. Automated design features are available with a steady-state analysis type to find cost-effective sewer designs. The extended period simulations (EPS) allow modelers to visualize how the system behaves over time. Results can be animated through time to locate hydraulic jumps and surcharging sections.

What is the difference between OpenFlows SewerCAD and OpenFlows SewerGEMS?

SewerGEMS is a superset of SewerCAD.  SewerGEMS includes a standalone version plus the ability to integrate with three platforms MicroStation, AutoCAD, and ArcGIS. SewerGEMS’ full GIS, CAD, and SCADA interoperability enables the cost-effective sharing and flow of information between utilities’ design, engineering, GIS, and operation departments, and their consultants.

SewerCAD has a gradually varied flow engine for steady-state and extended period simulations for system design and rehabilitation that analyzes sanitary sewer networks under peak flow conditions with convex routing hydraulics. SewerGEMS uses a fully dynamic engine to help you accurately model looped networks, flow splits, overflows, and storage capacity. Learn more about SewerGEMS.

Does SewerCAD integrate with AutoCAD?

Integration with AutoCAD is not included with a SewerCAD Virtuoso Subscription. However, integration with AutoCAD is available with a SewerCAD for AutoCAD perpetual license. For more information or to purchase a perpetual license, please contact our sales team.

How do you calculate wastewater loading allocation, estimation, infiltration, and inflow?

The LoadBuilder module included in SewerCAD helps you allocate sewer loads based on a variety of GIS-based sources such as consumer water use billing data, area-wide flow measurement, or polygons with known population or land use. Sewer loading in SewerCAD also can be applied as user-defined hydrographs, pattern-based loads, and unit loads. You can use customizable unit load libraries to estimate sanitary flows based on contributing population, service area, total dry weather discharge, or your own customized loading types. Loads can be allocated individually to property connection elements, or collect to manholes and other node elements.

SewerCAD also includes numerous pre-defined extreme flow factor formulas and tables, including Babbit, Harmon, Ten State, and Federov’s – or lets you enter your own formulas and tables. SewerCAD determines infiltration in gravity pipes, based on pipe length, length diameter, surface area, count value, or user-defined data. SewerCAD can also use multiple flow patterns or flow hydrographs for EPS. The sanitary load control center and inflow control center make it easy to globally edit or edit a filtered set of elements.

What do the constraint-based design features do in SewerCAD?

By using the constraint-based design features in SewerCAD, you can automatically design gravity piping and structures. The design is flexible enough to allow you to specify the elements to be designed, from a single pipe size to the entire system, or anything in between, by simply entering your design restrictions: minimum and maximum velocities, covers, slopes, and tractive stress; pipe and manhole matching offsets; and allow (or not) drop structures. SewerCAD will automatically determine cost-effective pipe sizes and invert elevations, avoiding unnecessary pipe trench excavation.

How do you perform different scenarios in SewerCAD?

The SewerCAD Scenario Management Center gives you full control to configure, run, evaluate, visualize, and compare an unlimited number of what-if scenarios within a single file. You can easily make decisions by comparing unlimited scenarios, analyzing rehabilitation alternatives for multiple planning horizons, and evaluating pump operation strategies, or overflow scenarios with varying future wastewater flows.

How much does OpenFlows SewerCAD cost?

A practitioner license of OpenFlows SewerCAD costs $2,926 – $8,785 USD depending on the desired pipes. Prices also vary per region. Prices also vary per region. While there are various types of licensing available, a common choice is the 12-month practitioner license offered through Virtuosity, Bentley’s eCommerce store. When you purchase through Virtuosity, you get a Virtuoso Subscription. This means you get the software and “Keys” (tokens) to redeem for customizable training, mentoring, and consulting services.