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SSA Limitations

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Message 1 of 3
Ehrhart4
488 Views, 2 Replies

SSA Limitations

I am contemplating using SSA to model a 20 sq. mile watershed.  I am new to SSA.  Before I comit this direction, I'd appreciate some feedback on the limitations of SSA.

1.  Are the number of nodes, catchments, conveyance links, etc. really unlimited?

2.  Can you really import ArcGIS data sets directly to SSA (without too many glitches)?

3.  What is the effect on the program stability and run time if you really load the program with pipe ntworks, storages and surface flows (to the exrent I'm describing)?

4.  What other quircks and limitations should I know?

 

I am currently running C3D 2012

Windows 7- 64 bit

930 GB

 

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Message 2 of 3
garyellis
in reply to: Ehrhart4

I test drove C3D2013 and SSA2013 for a small drainage study (75 acres).  Please don't take my feedback as gospel, but I waslooking for a place to post my experience and found your discussion request.  Overall I was disappointed with the product, starting with the stormwater features in C3D.  There is little room for tweaking the catchments or flowpaths.  Looking at my level of detail, I found it necessary to make numerous adjustments to catchments calculated by C3D, and it was actually easier to draw them by hand and convert to catchment.  I assume this may be less an issue on your large watersheds.  The flowpath feature seems to be of little use as there is no dynamic link to the seperate flow sections.  I mean how simple would it be to input ground cover lines, soil group lines and watershed lines and come up with a dynamic hydrology model so that when I am neck deep in analysis and find I may have goofed something that I can go back to the root data and update everything else?  Anyway, when I exported to SSA I found that much of my flowpath data was lost or replaced with defaults.  There is no dynamic link back to the C3D model, so anytweaks are done manually again.  When my model was up and running, I liked the interface and ease of making changes to pipe and structure data, but was surprised to find there is no design component to SSA by which I could have the software take a stab at pipe sizing.  After I used the model to manually design replacement pipe runs, I could not find a way to export back to C3D as an actual pipe network - only linework.  As you will see in other posts, there is a major problem with printing.  I may have missed some things, and I really hope someone educates me, but thus far my opinion is that Autodesk rushed this SSA thing and I am once again beta testing their products for them at my own expense.  My advice would be to look at other options.  For these and other reasons, my office is beginning to consider Carlson Software.

Message 3 of 3
Ehrhart4
in reply to: Ehrhart4

Thank you for opinion. In my sample runs with SSA I have found the automated catchments to be limited and have used the create catchments from object that I defined. There is a lot of information regarding part matching and migration between drawings and calculations on the board. My understanding is that HydroCAD is the stormwater software associated with Carlson. Good luck with your search for the perfect stormwater solution! ________________________________Carrol Ehrhart | Landscape Architect Skelly and Loy, Inc. | 449 Eisenhower Blvd., Suite 300 | Harrisburg, PA 17111-2302 | USA Office: 717.232.0593 | Fax: 717.232.1799 www.skellyloy.com | facebook.com | Linkedin.com Be Safety Smart Right From The Start The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

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