Best Practices and Known Limitations
The following list shows recommended best practices and known limitations in this release of Drainage and Utilities CONNECT Edition
Best Practices
A DGN file that includes a Drainage and Utilities project contains embedded databases, which have unique GUIDs. Manually creating a new file, by copying an existing file (in Windows Explorer or ProjectWise) causes the GUIDs to be duplicates - not unique. This can cause problems because the software can get confused about which databases belong to which Drainage and Utilities project, and this can result in data being read from, or written to, the wrong files. If you need to make a copy of a file, use File > Save As, within the software, which ensures that the GUIDs in the new file will be unique.
Do not use a global origin shift in DGN files. Global origin shifts are not needed in the OpenRoads/ OpenRail / OpenSite Designer products and cause errors in placement location and in sheet creation.
Whenever possible it is recommended that the total length of a single utility feature be smaller than the size of the solids modeling area. For example, if the Solids Working Area is defined as 1 mile then limit the length of any single conduit to less than 1 mile.
The sample workspaces contain some trench templates as examples for utilities. The templates make use of parametric constraints to adjust the trench for conduit size. These samples assume circular conduit shapes, but could be easily modified for any conduit shape. The samples also assume that the conduit orientation point is along the pipe soffit. Again, this can be easily adjusted for center or invert orientation.
The parametric constraints are applied to the void space for the conduit and also to the width and height of trench.
In this release, the parametric values are not automatically assigned at time of corridor creation. The user can account for pipe size by editing the parametric value after the trench is created.
Select the corridor and choose Corridor Objects from the context toolbox.
In the Corridor Object Dialog, add new parametric values for PRise (pipe rise) equal to the negative of pipe rise of the designed conduit.
Note: The variable PRise was used in the samples and is negative because of the orientation of the pipe to template origin. In your own templates, you can use any variable name.
See the OpenRoads corridor documentation for parametric constraints if more information is needed.
The hydraulic seed data for Drainage and Utilities hydraulic design is stored in dgn libraries. These libraries can contain storm data, hydraulic settings and various other information used to start a new hydraulic project in your organization. This additional data in dgn libraries adds some extra processing time when starting OpenRoads. Normally, this extra start up time is minimal, but it is possible that very complex hydraulic seed settings could introduce a delay which is undesired. If you encounter any startup delay caused by the hydraulic seed information then it is suggested that you create a separate workspace or workset specifically for hydraulic designers which includes the necessary configuration variables only for those hydraulic designers.
- Combine conduit feature definitions and node feature definitions in the same library file if you will be using a hydraulic seed file.
If you will be making use of a hydraulic seed as described in previous bullet, then the conduit and the node feature definitions will need to be created in a single dgnlib file which also contains the hydraulic seed information. This is because the prototypes which are consumed by feature definitions exist in the hydraulic seed, and since there can only be one hydraulic seed then the conduit and node feature definitions must reside in the same file.
For inlets, the longitudinal slope for hydraulic calculations can be extracted from the reference surface. The direction of the extracted slope is perpendicular to the orientation line. Thus, the orientation line needs to be drawn perpendicular to any reference alignment or curb that may be expected to be used.
When connecting drainage conduits between nodes, the conduits need to be created from upstream node to downstream node so that proper boundary condition (inlet versus outlet) of headwalls can be determined.
Known Issues
DGN files which contain a global origin shift will result in 3D models being shifted out of position.
The MicroStation Modify commands are not integrated to function with Drainage and Utilities features. Equivalent functionality to insert vertices, move vertices and insert curves is available in context toolboxes and/or in manipulators.
There is no functionality to change a feature from one type to another type, such as changing from a water type to a gas type. If you need to do this, a technique that you can use is to export the data using ModelBuilder, delete it from the DGN, then import it back again - choosing appropriate feature definitions for the utility type when you do.
If you select multiple conduits (pipes) for bulk editing in Element Information, and those multiple pipes have different feature definitions, the sizes shown in the editing list will include only those in the first selected item.
For example, you select 2 pipes. One of them has a feature definition of Concrete Pipe and the other has a feature definition of Metal Pipe. You wish to change both pipes to feature definition of Plastic Pipe and a certain size.
The original two feature definitions have different sizes of pipes listed in their respective pipe tables. So, when you select the two pipes, the sizes shown in element information will correspond to whichever pipe was selected first.
Your workflow then would be to select both pipes. Then in element information, first change the feature definition to Plastic Pipe. Then change the pipe size.
Alternatively, you may wish to only change the feature definition and have the respective sizes remain the same. Again, select both pipes, then change the feature definition to Plastic Pipe. The sizes of the two pipes will be matched to closest size available in the new feature definition.
- Designed Grate Length versus 3D model - The hydraulic engines can choose from a list of grates in a catalog to select the best design. This applies to hydraulic computations only. The 3D models will not update to reflect the longer grate or inlet opening.
Drainage networks which are created by Drainage and Utilities software can be opened and edited by the standalone versions of StormCAD, CivilStorm, SewerCAD and SewerGEMS. In these products when opening a drainage/sewer project choose DGN as file type and select the DGN file and then the DGN model which contains the Drainage and Utilities data. Then the data will be available for edit and design using the standalone interface. Later the same data can be edited using the Drainage and Utilities environment.
There are some known limitations with this workflow. Features whose position is defined by a civil geometry rule will rest their position when reopened in Drainage and Utilities. This is caused because the standalone products are not aware of the rules. For example, a catch basin is created in Drainage and Utilities using a station/offset rule and the rim elevation is ruled to a surface. When opened in the standalone product the user can reposition this catch basin and successfully compute the network based on the new location. But, when opened again in Drainage and Utilities the rule will re-evaluate and the catch basin will revert to the former position.
Thus it is recommended that edits made in the standalone products be limited to non-ruled features. Changes to conduit sizes and elevations however will work correctly.