HydroCAD Supports
Contech
Stormwater Storage Products
HydroCAD provides full support for the wide range of stormwater storage products offered by Contech Engineered Solutions LLC, including their full line of concrete, CMP, and plastic storage offerings.
This
partnership allows Contech products to be easily used within any HydroCAD model
for stormwater storage, detention, or infiltration. Press release.
HydroCAD 10 and 10.1 include complete Contech storage definitions, plus an enhanced chamber wizard for easy layout, pricing, and modeling of underground storage systems. Owners of earlier versions should obtain a program update in order to get automatic support for pipe headers.
How storage is modeled
Stormwater storage typically appears in a HydroCAD model as part of the storage definition for a "pond". In the simplest case, HydroCAD calculates the total available storage, including the interior of the chambers, plus the void space in any surrounding stone. For a more complete analysis, a full stage-storage curve is calculated so that an inflow or runoff hydrograph can be routed through the pond. The resulting analysis indicates the water levels attained throughout the rainfall event, as well as any discharge that may occur through outlet devices or infiltration into the surrounding ground.
Flexible storage options
Each HydroCAD pond may include an unlimited number of storage definitions as required to describe its overall storage characteristics. This makes it easy to model complex storage arrangements, such as a combination of multiple chambers, pipe storage, catch basins, or other contributing volumes.
But the most significant feature is the ability to embed (bury) chambers in a bed of stone, and have HydroCAD automatically calculate the combined storage at any water surface elevation. This makes it easy to determine the storage for virtually any configuration of storage chambers, without resorting to any manual calculations.
HydroCAD can also model almost any imaginable storage arrangement, including layered chambers of different sizes combined with auxiliary storage from adjacent pipes and catch basins, and even the above-ground areas (parking lot) that may provide overflow storage for certain events.
Using
Contech stormwater products
Setting up a pond to use Contech storage products is a simple process: Just pick the desired model(s) from the drop-down list, and specify the number of chambers plus their elevation. HydroCAD supports all Contech storage products including the ChamberMaxx® plastic chambers, CON/SPAN® concrete chambers, and corrugated metal pipe (CMP) storage using round or pipe-arch configurations. (Legacy support is also provided for the discontinued CON/STORMTM concrete chambers.)
Note: With HydroCAD-10 build 20 we have transitioned to a new "ChamberMaxx 2016" storage definition which includes a slight reduction in chamber capacity to allow for trapped air at the top of the chamber, as recommend by Contech. Previous HydroCAD models will continue to use the original ChamberMaxx data unless they are manually updated to use the new "2016" chamber definition.
Chambers in a stone bed are easily laid-out and modeled using the HydroCAD chamber wizard, or you can use the traditional chamber storage option when automatic layout is not needed.
Detailed product information
For detailed Contech specifications and design information, please visit the Contech stormwater detention page.
For more information about HydroCAD
Please see the following pages for further HydroCAD information:
HydroCAD home page
Pond storage calculations
Storage chamber modeling
(includes step-by-step instructions)
Exfiltration calculations
General support page
HydroCAD features and capabilities
Free evaluation program
Pricing and ordering
Contech®, ChamberMaxx®, CON/SPAN®, and CON/STORM™
are trademarks of Contech Engineered Solutions LLC
HydroCAD® is a registered trademark of HydroCAD
Software Solutions LLC
Chamber illustrations © Contech Engineered
Solutions LLC