Use the System Graphs in #SWMM5 to show the delay between Inflow and Outflow

Editing and Graphing Gauged Data in XPSWMM

Note:  Editing and Graphing Gauged Data in XPSWMM for Runoff Nodes, Hydraulic Nodes and Links.  Here is a sample of the data.

Pipe02   140.00200801011207     1.915

Pipe02   140.00200801011208     1.308

Pipe02   140.00200801011209     1.015

Pipe02   140.00200801011210     0.840

Pipe02   140.00200801011211     0.721

Pipe02   140.00200801011212     0.638

How to save SWMM5 output to InfoSWMM, InfoSWMM SA and XP-SWMM Calibration Files

In a world that increasingly asks us to move faster, and do more to be effective we need better ways to do our analysis.  One of the hardest tasks we have is to quantify the difference between our simuluation engines.  All of our Sewer and Storm software are hyper complex with interconnected options for all elements in the network.  One way to help with these comparisons are graphs using the calibration files of SWMM5, InfoSWMM, InfoSWMM SA and XP-SWMM.  The remainder of this blog describes the steps in using a QA/QC version of SWMM 5.1.012 to make these calibration files.

Step 1.   Create the Calibration Files in SWMM5

Step 2.  Export to SWMM 5 from InfoSWMM

You can export to SWMM5 using the Exchange/Export in InfoSWMM or the Data/Export EPA SWMM5 in InfoSWMM SA

Step 3.   Export to SWMM4 from XP-SWMM

Step 4.  What are the name of the Calibration Files?

There are nine calibration files made for InfoSWMM: StorageVolume, Runoff, Groundwater Flow, Groundwater Elevation, Node Depth, Node Lateral Flow, Link Flow, Link Velocity and Link Depth.  There are three calibration files made for XPSWMM: Node Head, Runoff at a Node, Link Flow.  The suffix of the individual names is added to the user defined Outlows name.  

             ".SWMM5_StorageVolume_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_Runoff_CB.DAT");

             ".SWMM5_GroundwaterQ_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_GroundwaterElevation_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_NodeDepth_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_NodeLateralQ_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_LinkQ_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_LinkVelocity_CB.DAT"

             ".SWMM5_LinkDepth_CB.DAT");

             ".SWMM5_XPSWMM_Runoff_CB.HIS"

             ".SWMM5_XPSWMM_Node_CB.HIS"

             ".SWMM5_XPSWMM_Link_CB.HIS"

Step 5.  Format of the files in XP-SWMM

ID  Number 140  Date/Time Value

pipe1    140.00199501010000     0.000

pipe1    140.00199501010001     0.000 

Step 6.  Use the files in XP-SWMM at a Runoff Node, HDR Node or Link

Step 7.  Format of the files in InfoSWMM

One line with ID followed by Date, Time and Value

Pipe06

01/01/2008 00:01:00     0.000 D

01/01/2008 00:02:00     0.000 D

01/01/2008 00:03:00     0.000 D

01/01/2008 00:04:00     0.000 D

01/01/2008 00:05:00     0.000 D

01/01/2008 00:06:00     0.000 D

Step 8.  Use the files in InfoSWMM

InfoSWMM Calibration Files

#RTFM and WTFM How to write a fine modeling manual worth reading (ideas)

Note:  The following is copied in part from this blog

https://opensource.com/business/15/5/write-better-docs

It is a wish list for me at least..

Types of docs

Once you've determined the scope, and who you're writing to, there are several different kinds of documents that you can write for them. Anne Gentle categorizes them like this:

Start here

Like the Getting Started document I mentioned previously, this is the place where you tell users what they need to know before they even get started.

Reference guide

The reference guide is comprehensive and usually pretty dry. This is where terms are defined, functions' input and output are explained, and examples are given. The tone is factual and to the point. There's not much discussion, or conversation. The voice is usually impersonal.

Tutorials

Tutorials hold your hand and lead you down the path. They show you each step, and occasionally sit down on a bench by the path to explain the rationale for a particular step. They are very conversational, sometimes even chatty. The voice is personal; you are speaking to a particular person, defined in the earlier persona phase.

Learning/understanding

Often linked to from the tutorials, the learning/understanding documents dig deeper. They investigate the why and the how of a particular thing. Why was a certain decision made? How was it implemented in the code? What does the future look like for this thing? How can you help create that future? These documents are sometimes better done as blog posts than as part of the formal documentation, as they can be a serious distraction to people that are just trying to solve a problem.

Cookbook/recipe

There's a reason that the Cookbooks are often the best selling part of the O'Reilly technical book catalog. People want solutions, and they want them now. The recipe, or cookbook section of your document, should provide cut-and-paste best-practice solutions to common problems. They should be accompanied by an explanation, but you should understand that most of the cookbook users will cut and paste the solution, and that'll be the end of it for them.

A large part of your audience only cares about solving their immediate problem, because that's all they're getting paid to do, and you need to understand that this is a perfectly legitimate need. When you assemble your new Ikea desk, you don't care why a particular screw size was selected, you just want the instructions, and you expect them to work.

So it's critical that examples have been tested. No matter how trivial an example is, you must test it and make sure it does the expected thing. Many frustrating hours have been spent trying to figure out why an example in the docs doesn't work, when a few minutes of testing would have revealed that a colon should have been a semicolon.

Recipes should also promote the best practice, not merely the simplest or fastest solution. And never tell them how not to do it, because they'll just cut and paste that, and then be in a worse fix than when they started.

One of my favorite websites is There, I Fixed It, which showcases the ingenuity of people who solve problems without giving much thought to the possible ramifications of their solution—they just want to solve the problem.

Error messages

Yes, error messages are documentation, too. Helpful error messages that actually point to the solution save countless hours of hunting and frustration.