Creating a Reach

About reaches

A reach is a length of channel either open or within a pipe. Reaches are connected to regulators, outlets and other reaches. You do not have to specify the direction of water flow within a reach, the Rubicon application infers the direction of flow from the orientation of the regulators in the network.

Placing a reach

Note: Recommendations:

We recommend that you follow these guidelines when placing a reach:

  • Display the drawing grid and turn on the snapping function. This will help you to lay out the reaches in a regular grid. See Using the Grid for details.
  • Calculate in advance how many outlets will be placed along the reach. Outlets should be placed no closer than two grid points apart along the reach. The reach should be at least 2 + (2n) grid points long where n is the number of outlets on the reach.
  • Leave some room for expansion.
  • Consider how many segments of reach you will need to capture the travel time along the reach and the losses on the reach.

To place a reach on the network schematic:

A reach must be connected on one or both ends to the end of a regulator, or to the end of another reach. Outlets must be connected between the end nodes of the reach. Click on an end node when you place either end of a reach to connect the reach to that object.

  1. In the Network Editor, select the type of reach to add from the objects palette.
  2. Click on the canvas to place one end of the reach.
  3. Click the canvas again to place the far end of the reach.
  4. In the popup dialog, enter the reach name (you can leave this blank if you wish) and click OK.

You can now connect a reach or regulator on the unconnected side of the reach.

Configuring Losses

A loss is a known rate of water loss along a pipe or reach. You can specify loss values for reaches to ensure that they are accounted for in capacity planning, and when calculating flow histograms. A reach with a loss is displayed in green on the network schematic.

To specify a loss for a reach:

Note:

If you set a loss on a reach, it is helpful to give the reach a meaningful name. Reaches are not required to have a unique name, so it can be difficult to identify the correct reach from within DMS modules such as the Losses module.

  1. Select the reach in the Network Visualization tool.
  2. Right-click and choose Details from the shortcut menu.
  3. In the Object Details > Attributes tab, select the Loss attribute.
  4. Click Modify and enter the loss for the reach in ML per day.
  5. Click Save to save your changes.




Help for SPM, version 3.4. Topic updated: 30 May 2018. Help published: 14 June 2019