& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
3 min read
InfoDrainage, our drainage design and analysis technology for creating sustainable and consciously green drainage networks, saw numerous efficiency updates earlier this year. Now, there’s even more value to add to your designs and BIM workflows with enhanced Civil 3D round-tripping functionality and newly added hydraulic grade lines and energy grade lines, which are an important new addition for our customers in the United States.
Autodesk strive to provide our customers with the most robust and intuitive drainage design technology. This latest update incorporates new features that allow users to plot the Hydraulic Grade Line (HGL) and Energy Grade Line (EGL) within the long section of the drainage network.
Plotting both the HGL and EGL gives you a clear, comprehensive view of how energy is distributed and changes throughout your drainage system. This helps you identify potential problem areas, such as bottlenecks, sections of the system where water may not drain effectively, or areas where high velocities could cause erosion or damage to the system.
This new feature represents our commitment to offering powerful, accessible tools for sophisticated drainage system design.
Pipes and manholes are fundamental components of any drainage system, and the materials used for these elements can significantly influence the construction cost as well as the durability under various constraints (eg, shallow pipes). As a significant new addition, you can now specify materials for pipes and structures/manholes to control the cost and durability directly within your project.
This new feature also facilitates improved communication and coordination with all of your stakeholders, contractors, and material suppliers, as drainage designs will now include explicit material specifications. This will help ensure that correct materials are used during construction and minimize potential issues and discrepancies.
With the part-family awareness in InfoDrainage being introduced, this allows you to preserve the pipe/structure part-family when round-tripping with Civil 3D. Previously, the drainage network would be categorised in the mapping process based on size. Now, with the latest enhancements, the mapping logic categorizes the pipes and structures based on size and material.
For example, if the mapping logic detects two pipes of similar size (eg, 300 mm) and different materials (eg, concrete and HDPE), these two pipes will be presented in the mapping in two different rows so users can assign a different part-family to each of them.
The technology will also detect the name and the size of the pipe/structure and link it directly to a part-family and a part-size from an existing list.
Free trials available
Want to try the latest InfoDrainage features? We offer a 30-day free trial – no credit card required.
Have you tried round-tripping with Civil 3D? You can also download a free trial of Civil 3D. Need help getting started? Watch one of our round-tripping videos.
Go deeper into this release with our product release notes. Stay up-to-date on what’s coming next with our high-level roadmap.
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