Manhole Depth Range

[ksorsby]

Good evening,

I'm struggling trying to get a single, simple manhole part which will work (ie. connect and display) correctly with pipes at any depth, or at least a range of 0.5 to 6m.

We use the Windes import link to bring in network designs and, by-and-large, the pipes are fine. The names, gradients, inverts and sizes all are imported correctly. However, the manholes are a complete nightmare in that the manhole structures when imported change the designed manhole inverts and covers, depending which part it decides to use. Which is really bad. 

What this means is that our longitudinal sections need heavy CAD work just to make them look right and ensure the correct cover/invert levels are used, somewhat invalidating us using pipe networks at all.

An example would be a manhole which has a designed cover level of, say, 10 and invert of 8.15 giving a depth of 1.85m. Once imported, the part it uses changes the invert to 8.8, a depth of 1.2m which seems to be a range limit of the part itself. I then have to try to swap the parts and change sump depths to try and recreate the designed cover/invert levels, which is a giant problem on large networks.

We use the SFA standard type A, B, C etc. parts from the UK localised version. In the real world these are individually specified depending on the connecting pipe depths but we don't use C3D as a hydraulic design tool, just to import Windes designs onto highway long sections. Therefore, I need a simple, single manhole part which puts the base of the manhole at the designed invert level and uses the correct cover level, ignoring any depth rules.

Any help appreciated! I'm no expert on part builder or pipe catalogs so please treat me with kid gloves. 

Thanks,

Kevin

[ksorsby]

Bump!
Does anybody have an idea as to how to create or edit a manhole structure to have an applicable range of 0.5 to 6m??
I'm finding Part Builder to be complex and low on intuitiveness.

Thanks,

Kevin

[MikeEvansUK]

I use the otb parts for cylindrical with frame. Have no issues here. Check the part rules first and remove anything.

I think the type a etc have rules for stuff you don't want.

Can you post a sws file?

[ksorsby]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply. Tools down here over easter but back on it now! Here's the sws file.

I'm finding that firstly, all sumps by default are at 2m. I can apply rules to alter these after the import but surely it needs to be set to 0 right off the bat.

Secondly, how is it determined what is mapped to what. ie. some pipes come in as wrong sizes, manhole types seem to alter invert levels etc..

I'm guessing that a lot of these issues may be solved by setting up a very basic parts list with all the rules/sumps/base thicknesses set correctly and maybe that's where I'm struggling.

If you get time, let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Kevin

[Mferguson]

I know this is not much help to you, but I did see a video on you tube about a year ago where it talked you through creating a new manhole structure in part builder. In the video he created a variable that used the VM measurement to dictate the manhole type based on the cover level to pipe crown depth.

Then you can use 1 manhole for all structures and it will workout itself which type manhole to specify.

I have been trying to find the video myself because I am having the same issues but there are so many tutorials on there that I have not been able to find it again.

When I find it I will post it on here.

[M_c3d]

To do this;

1. You need to either duplicate your part or create a new one
2. Change the Rim to sump height (SRS) in part builder for this part and set the minimum to 0.5 and the maximum to 6.0m.
3. You then need to do a partcatalogregen
4. If its an existing drawing you need to delete and re add the structure from your part list (remember to set the styles) or if its a new drawing after the regen it should work straight away

Edit - just realised this post is two years old! But the process is still the same

[Mferguson]

No i want to add a Manhole type based on the depth.so i dont have to manually spec them all.

Pipe cover <1.5m="Type E"

Pipe cover >1.5m and <3m ="Type B"

Pipe Cover >3m and <6m ="Type A"

[drazen.galic]

Hi @Mferguson ,

As far as I know it is not possible to do it from OOTB. Seems it needs customization. Would you consider add-on?

Regards,

Drazen

[MMcCall402]

You could do this for the labeling of the structures by using 3 Expressions and 3 text components.  The expressions would use an IF function to check the depth of the structure and return a value to use for the text height of the text component if the test of the structure depth is true, or return 0 if its false.  When the value is 0 then the text component won't display.  So, the expressions will choose which of the three text components (Type E, B or A) to display in the label.

[Mferguson]

Can you create text expressions in Civils 3D I thought that was a Map 3D function. If so how?
This is why I was trying to build it into the chamber itself in part builder.
Just a simple if function based on the pipe cover depth which is already in most parts.

[MMcCall402]

You'll find this section in Toolspace on the Settings tab.

[drazen.galic]

Hi @Mferguson , @MMcCall402 ,

I suppose that you will have then label of the manhole, but is it enough for you? I supposed that you need to define Manhole A, B and C as real elements from part list.

Regards,

Drazen