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| Challenge
Greengard wanted to move from a manual approach using the IDOT pipe slope methodology to a modeling approach with hydraulic gradeline design. Solution
StormNET integrates with the firm’s Autodesk Civil3D and Land Desktop programs. The software’s visual capabilities, ease of changing storm events, and hydraulic gradeline design help engineers demonstrate that a design works. Results
StormNET cuts design revision time at least in half. Greengard can deliver projects to clients sooner, and potentially design pipe sizing that minimizes costs for clients by about 15 percent. |
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| In the past 50 years, the landscape of suburban Chicago has changed dramatically as the metropolitan area has grown. Founded in 1952, Greengard, Inc. has been deeply involved in the area’s expansion, providing engineering services for residential, commercial, and industrial land development to north suburban Chicago and other area municipalities. From initial site feasibility assessments to permitting to construction services, Greengard aims to provide the best possible engineering solutions in the most cost-effective manner. The firm’s projects frequently involve stormwater management, requiring civil engineers to design based on each county’s specifications. | Back To Top | |
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| | | The firm has tried numerous stormwater modeling programs over the years, but all lacked the flexibility and capabilities that Greengard engineers needed. As such, they resorted to designing stormwater projects using the IDOT pipe slope methodology with manual calculations and a series of Excel spreadsheets. It was a time-consuming, error-prone approach. “Because everything was built into individual cells in Excel files, we couldn’t necessarily see the equation,” said Douglas White, Project Manager, P.E. “It was hard to see the big picture at once. Down the road, you might discover that you have a pipe undersized.” That manual process, combined with the fact that the company wanted to move toward hydraulic gradeline design, led engineers to look for a more powerful modeling application. |
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| Exploring different modeling solutions, the team discovered StormNET by BOSS International. The fully-dynamic hydrology and hydraulic model analyzes both simple and complex stormwater systems using a variety of methods and models, including water quality. Greengard began with a free trial version of the software, allowing engineers to test out some of the specific stormwater modeling features that they would use most often. StormNET integrated with the firm’s Autodesk Civil3D and Land Desktop programs, meaning engineers didn’t need to draw elements twice. StormNET was able to import the stormwater model that was already drawn and designed from Civil3D and Land Desktop along with all of the element properties such as pipe diameters, pipe inverts, manhole inverts and rim elevations. This greatly speeded up the modeling process. In addition, StormNET provided hydraulic gradeline design, which Greengard anticipated would help engineers design more efficient stormwater networks. | Back To Top | |
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| " StormNET is a lot more powerful than other
modeling programs... "
— Karl Jensen, P.E., Project Engineer, Greengard, Inc. |
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| | | “The fact that StormNET is a lot more powerful than other modeling programs we already had, justified making the switch,” said Karl Jensen, Engineer, P.E. “The ability to model with smaller pipes could cut the project costs for stormwater construction significantly for a client.” As Greengard engineers ramped up on the software, they benefited from in-office training from an engineer from BOSS. And, when questions later arose during projects, they also appreciated the interactive technical support provided by BOSS. Engineers from BOSS could remotely log into the software and see where the difficulty was in the project in real-time, allowing Greengard engineers to learn to use the software more efficiently using their own projects. |
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| Courtney Costello, Engineer, finds it simple to bring in pipe network drawings from Autodesk Civil3D, and then easily add junctions for manholes and pipes—saving a considerable amount of time. “We don’t have to draw pipes or manholes twice,” she said. “All the information from the pipe network in Civil3D is there when we import it.” If engineers change anything in a stormwater network while in Civil3D, they simply re-import the stormwater network back into StormNET, which dynamically updates the model with the new changes such as elevations and pipe sizes. Most often, Greengard uses the Rational Method in StormNET, and switches between storm scenarios as needed for projects. “We can click on one button to switch between a 10-year and 100-year storm,” Costello said. “Before, we had to make a lot of changes on two different spreadsheets to change a storm.” The graphical aspects of StormNET allow engineers to see the impact of changes immediately. They can view water filling up pipes, and see how a detention pond interacts with the storm sewer. Before, detention ponds were never in synch with storm sewers. “It’s very helpful seeing how high the pond gets in relationship to the storm sewer for the design event in a project,” Jensen said. | Back To Top | |
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| " It’s a lot easier to prove to a project manager
that a design works. "
— Douglas White, P.E., Project Manager, Greengard, Inc. |
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| | | Engineers can also show designs easily to clients and reviewing municipal engineers, either on the screen in the office or as graphical print-outs. Likewise, modeling enables them to demonstrate the viability of designs to Greengard project managers. Before, managers reviewed Excel spreadsheets and checked calculations. “It’s a lot easier to prove to a project manager that a design works,” White said. “We hit ‘Play’ in StormNET, and he says ‘OK, you’re done.’ Your review time is 30 seconds, instead of 2 hours. When you can see it right in front of you, there’s a trust in the program that allows you to get the plans out more quickly and get the work done faster.” |
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| Greengard has seen the impact of more efficient modeling with StormNET on a couple of projects. Engineers designed a storm sewer to handle a 100-year storm event for a project in West Chicago. White found it helpful to switch between different storm events and arrive at the ideal pipe size. “We could see what we needed to do to make the pipes as small as possible to save the client as much money as we could,” White said. “We were able to design something with smaller pipe sizes than we could have with our previous, manual process.” Costello also found the software contributed to design efficiency in a project with small slopes where there wasn’t much room to play with. With StormNET, she could easily see and change the cover over pipes to know whether the slope would work. With the software, the project required significantly less time than it would have before. In fact, the engineers estimate that the software cuts design revision time at least in half, if not more. That means Greengard can deliver projects to clients sooner and ultimately design projects that minimize costs for clients by about 15 percent, on average. “The quicker we can get the design done, the faster plans are reviewed, the faster clients can break ground, the less money the client is spending on taxes every month, and the sooner they can start making money on their development,” White said. “In this business, a week means a great deal, a month is huge, and three months can determine whether we get a project in before the winter. It definitely makes a difference.” | Back To Top | |
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