Sterling2017
2017-07-27, 05:06 AM
Hey there, this is my first post to AUGI forums. This may be miss placed, but thought an appropriate location.
I am seeking some guidance on general approach to small residential drainage design. Small being single custom home, though lot size and drainage area may be >1ac. My general question is whether to stay "dumb" or attempt to use the hydrology and pipe network features in Civil3D.
Current approach involves defining drainage areas with polylines, extracting that data to excel design spreadsheets, sizing pipes with Hydraflow Express, and drafting pipelines (which is its own headache) into the AutoCAD. Working through the process there is plenty room for error, data needs to be updated manually (areas, pipe sizes, etc) and I can feel a smarter way to go about the whole thing.
My current working vision on a more refined approach involes utilizing AutoCAD pipe networks (this is for storm drain design, i.e. gravity), and possibly either linked excel tables or tables in CAD linked areas of Parcels (as opposed to polylines) and possibly using SSA for the pipe flow analysis with the built network. Obviously this approach has its own hurdles- learning curve (havent used pipe networks in a while), secure links, higher complexity to which new users (coworkers) may have trouble with).
I think a considerable factor in holding me back to choosing the new approach lies in the smaller scale of the projects. Due to this an shortfall i see in the software, it seems like it may be about just as much work and frustration to make the jump.
If yall have any input into these design approaches, or your strategy, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I am seeking some guidance on general approach to small residential drainage design. Small being single custom home, though lot size and drainage area may be >1ac. My general question is whether to stay "dumb" or attempt to use the hydrology and pipe network features in Civil3D.
Current approach involves defining drainage areas with polylines, extracting that data to excel design spreadsheets, sizing pipes with Hydraflow Express, and drafting pipelines (which is its own headache) into the AutoCAD. Working through the process there is plenty room for error, data needs to be updated manually (areas, pipe sizes, etc) and I can feel a smarter way to go about the whole thing.
My current working vision on a more refined approach involes utilizing AutoCAD pipe networks (this is for storm drain design, i.e. gravity), and possibly either linked excel tables or tables in CAD linked areas of Parcels (as opposed to polylines) and possibly using SSA for the pipe flow analysis with the built network. Obviously this approach has its own hurdles- learning curve (havent used pipe networks in a while), secure links, higher complexity to which new users (coworkers) may have trouble with).
I think a considerable factor in holding me back to choosing the new approach lies in the smaller scale of the projects. Due to this an shortfall i see in the software, it seems like it may be about just as much work and frustration to make the jump.
If yall have any input into these design approaches, or your strategy, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!