SWMM QUICK START TUTORIAL

1. Examplestudyarea
Inthistutorialwewillmodeladrainagesystemfora1.96hectareurbancatchment.Thesystem
layoutisshowninFigure1.Theareawillbedividedintothreesubcatchments,A1,A2andA3.
ThenetworkconsistsofstormsewerconduitsL01throughL03,andconduitjunctionsN1,N2
and N3, where flows from subcatchments A1, A2 and A3 enter the system . The system
dischargestoanopenchannelatthepointlabeledOut1.Wewillfirstgothroughthestepsof
creatingtheobjectsshowninthisdiagramonSWMM'sstudyareamapandsettingthevarious
properties of these objects. Then we will simulate the water quantity (quality not included)
responsetoa235mm,2hourrainfallevent.

Figure1.Examplestudyarea.

2. ProjectSetup

OurfirsttaskistocreateanewSWMMprojectandmakesurethatcertaindefaultoptionsare
selected.Usingthesedefaultswillsimplifythedataentrytaskslateron.
1. LaunchEPASWMMifitisnotalreadyrunningandselectFile>>NewfromtheMain
Menubartocreateanewproject
2. SelectProject>>DefaultstoopentheProjectDefaultsdialog.
3. OntheIDLabelspageofthedialog,settheIDPrefixesasshowninFigure2.Thiswillmake
SWMMautomaticallylabelnewobjectswithconsecutivenumbersfollowingthe
designatedprefix.

Figure2.DefaultIDlabelingfortutorialexample

4. OntheSubcatchmentspageofthedialogsetthefollowingdefaultvalues:
%Slope
2
NImperv.
0.01
NPerv.
0.10
DstoreImperv.
0.05
DstorePerv
0.05
%ZeroImperv.
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Infil.Model
<clicktoedit>
MethodCurveNumber

5. OntheNodes/Linkspage,settheFlowUnitstoCMS.
6. ClickOKtoacceptthesechoicesandclosethedialog.Ifyouwantedtosavethese
choicesforallfuturenewprojectsyoucouldchecktheSaveboxatthebottomofthe
formbeforeacceptingit.
NextwewillsetsomemapdisplayoptionssothatIDlabelsandsymbolswillbedisplayedas
weaddobjectstothestudyareamap,andlinkswillhavedirectionarrows.

SelectTools>>MapDisplayOptionstobringuptheMapOptionsdialog(seeFigure3).
SelecttheSubcatchmentspage,settheFillStyletoDiagonalandtheSymbolSizeto5.
ThenselecttheNodespageandsettheNodeSizeto5.
SelecttheAnnotationpageandcheckontheboxesthatwilldisplayIDlabelsfor
Subcatchments,Nodes,andLinks.Leavetheothersunchecked.
5. Finally,selecttheFlowArrowspage,selecttheFilledarrowstyle,andsetthearrow
sizeto7.
6. ClicktheOKbuttontoacceptthesechoicesandclosethedialog.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Figure3.MapOptionsdialog.

Beforecreatingthenetworkobjects,itisimportanttoselecttheproperunits.Thiscanbedone
byselectingproperflowunits(
Finally,lookinthestatusbaratthebottomofthemainwindowandcheckthattheAuto
LengthfeatureisoffanddoublecheckthatyourunitsareCMS.

3. DrawingObjects
WearenowreadytobeginaddingcomponentstotheStudyAreaMap.Wewillstartwiththe
subcatchments.
1. Beginbyclickingthe
buttonontheObjectToolbar.(Ifthetoolbarisnot

visiblethenselectView>>Toolbars>>Object).Noticehowthemousecursorchanges
shapetoapencil.
2. MovethemousetothemaplocationwhereoneofthecornersofsubcatchmentA1
liesandleftclickthemouse.


3. Do the same for the next three corners and then rightclick the mouse (or hit the

Enterkey)tocloseuptherectanglethatrepresentssubcatchmentA1.Youcanpress
the Esc key if instead you wanted to cancel your partially drawn subcatchment and
startoveragain.Don'tworryiftheshapeorpositionoftheobjectisn'tquiteright.We
willgobacklaterandshowhowtofixthis.
4. RepeatthisprocessforsubcatchmentsA2andA3.ObservehowsequentialIDlabels
aregeneratedautomaticallyasweaddobjectstothemap.
Nextwewilladdinthejunctionnodesandtheoutfallnodethatcomprisepartofthedrainage
network.
1. Tobeginaddingjunctions,clickthe
buttonontheObjectToolbar.

2. MovethemousetothepositionofjunctionN1andleftclickit.Dothesamefor
junctionsN2andN4.
3. Toaddtheoutfallnode,clickthe
buttonontheObjectToolbar,movethemouseto
theoutfall'slocationonthemap,andleftclick.Notehowtheoutfallwasautomatically
giventhenameOut1.
AtthispointyourmapshouldlooksomethinglikethatshowninFigure4.

Figure4.Subcatchmentsandnodesforexamplestudyarea.

Nowwewilladdthestormsewerconduitsthatconnectourdrainagesystemnodestoone
another.WewillbeginwithconduitL01,whichconnectsjunctionN1toN2.
1. Clickthe
buttonontheObjectToolbar.Themousecursorchangesshapetoa
crosshair.
2. ClickthemouseonjunctionN1.Notehowthemousecursorchangesshapetoapencil.
3. MovethemouseovertojunctionN2(notehowanoutlineoftheconduitisdrawnas
youmovethemouse)andleftclicktocreatetheconduit.Youcouldhavecancelled
theoperationbyeitherrightclickingorbyhittingthe<Esc>key.


4. RepeatthisprocedureforconduitsL02andL03.

Althoughallofourconduitsweredrawnasstraightlines,itispossibletodrawacurvedlinkby
leftclickingatintermediatepointswherethedirectionofthelinkchangesbeforeclickingon
theendnode.
Tocompletetheconstructionofourstudyareaschematicweneedtoaddaraingage.
1. ClicktheRainGage
buttonontheObjectToolbar.
2. MovethemouseovertheStudyAreaMaptowherethegageshouldbelocatedand
leftclickthemouse.
Atthispointwehavecompleteddrawingtheexamplestudyarea.Yoursystemshouldlook
liketheoneinFigure1.Ifaraingage,subcatchmentornodeisoutofpositionyoucanmoveit
bydoingthefollowing:

1. Ifthe
buttonisnotalreadydepressed,clickittoplacethemapinObject
Selectionmode.
2. Clickontheobjecttobemoved.
3. Dragtheobjectwiththeleftmousebuttonhelddowntoitsnewposition.
Toreshapeasubcatchment'soutline:
1. WiththemapinObjectSelectionmode,clickonthesubcatchment'scentroid
(indicatedbyasolidsquarewithinthesubcatchment)toselectit.
2. Thenclickthe
buttonontheMapToolbartoputthemapintoVertexSelection
mode.
3. Selectavertexpointonthesubcatchmentoutlinebyclickingonit(notehowthe
selectedvertexisindicatedbyafilledsolidsquare).
4. Dragthevertextoitsnewpositionwiththeleftmousebuttonhelddown.
5. Ifneedbe,verticescanbeaddedordeletedfromtheoutlinebyrightclickingthe
mouseandselectingtheappropriateoptionfromthepopupmenuthatappears.
6. Whenfinished,clickthe
buttontoreturntoObjectSelectionmode.
Thissameprocedurecanalsobeusedtoreshapealink.

4. SettingObjectProperties
Asvisualobjectsareaddedtoourproject,SWMMassignsthemadefaultsetofproperties.To
change the value of a specific property for an object we must select the object into the
Property Editor (see Figure 5). There are several different ways to do this. If the Editor is
alreadyvisible,thenyoucansimplyclickontheobjectorselectitfromtheDatapageofthe
BrowserPanelofthemainwindow.IftheEditorisnotvisiblethenyoucanmakeitappearby
oneofthefollowingactions:
doubleclicktheobjectonthemap,
orrightclickontheobjectandselectPropertiesfromthepopupmenuthatappears,
orselecttheobjectfromtheDatapageoftheBrowserpanelandthenclicktheBrowsers

button.
WheneverthePropertyEditorhasthefocusyoucanpresstheF1keytoobtainamoredetailed
descriptionofthepropertieslisted.
Two key properties of our subcatchments that need to be set are the rain gage that
supplies rainfall data to the subcatchment and the node of the drainage system that
receives runoff from the subcatchment. Since all of our subcatchments utilize the same rain
gage,Gage1,wecanuseashortcutmethodtosetthispropertyforallsubcatchmentsatonce:
1. FromthemainmenuselectEdit>>SelectAll.
2. ThenselectEdit>>GroupEdittomakeaGroupEditordialogappear(seeFigure6).
3. SelectSubcatchmentasthetypeofobjecttoedit,RainGageasthepropertytoedit,
andtypeinGage1asthenewvalue.
4. ClickOKtochangetheraingageofallsubcatchmentstoGage1.Aconfirmationdialog
willappearnotingthat3subcatchmentshavechanged.SelectNowhenaskedtocontinue
editing.

Figure5.PropertyEditorwindow.

Figure6.GroupEditordialog.

Becausetheoutletnodesvarybysubcatchment,wemustsetthemindividuallyasfollows:
1. DoubleclickonsubcatchmentA1orselectitfromtheDataBrowserandclickthe
Browser'sbuttontobringupthePropertyEditor.
2. TypeN1intheOutletfieldandpressEnter.Notehowadottedlineisdrawnbetweenthe
subcatchmentandthenode.
3. ClickonsubcatchmentA2andenterN2asitsOutlet.
4. ClickonsubcatchmentN3andenterN3asitsOutlet.

Similarlysetthearea,percentimperviousnessandwidthasshownbelow.
NameOutletAreaPcnt.ImpervWidth
CurveNo.
A1N11.06040 81
A2N20.68752081
A3N30.289020
83

Thejunctionsandoutfallofourdrainagesystemneedtohaveinvertelevationsassignedto
them.Aswedidwiththesubcatchments,selecteachjunctionindividuallyintotheProperty
EditorandsetitsInvertElevationtothevalueshownbelow.

NodeInvertEl.Depth
N118.20 01.8
N218.00 01.8
N317.15 91.8
Out117.000


Similarlysetthelinkpropertiesasshownbelow
LinkShapeMaxdepthLengthOutletoffsetManning'sRougness
L01CIRCULAR0.228.3000.01
L02CIRCULAR0.8200.20.01
L03CIRCULAR1.02000.01

Inordertoprovideasourceofrainfallinputtoourprojectweneedtosettheraingages
properties.SelectGage1intothePropertyEditorandsetthefollowingproperties:
Rain Format VOLUME
Time Interval 0.15
Data Source TIMESERIES
AtimeseriesnamedRainfallwillcontainthe15minuteintervalrainfallvolumesthatmake
upourstorm.Thusweneedtocreateatimeseriesobjectandpopulateitwithdata.Todo
this:
1. FromtheDataBrowserselecttheTimeSeriescategoryofobjects.
2. Clickthe buttonontheBrowsertobringuptheTimeSeriesEditordialog(seeFigure
7).
3. EnterRainfallintheTimeSeriesNamefield.
4. EnterthevaluesshowninFigure7intotheTimeandValuecolumnsofthedataentry
grid(leavetheDatecolumnblank).
5. YoucanclicktheViewbuttononthedialogtoseeagraphofthetimeseriesvalues.
ClicktheOKbuttontoacceptthenewtimeseries.

Figure7.TimeSeriesEditordialog.

Havingcompletedtheinitialdesignofourexampleprojectitisagoodideatogiveitatitle
andsaveourworktoafileatthispoint.Todothis:
1. SelecttheTitle/NotescategoryfromtheDataBrowserandclickthe button.
2. IntheProjectTitle/Notesdialogthatappears(seeFigure8),enterTutorialExample
asthetitleofourprojectandclicktheOKbuttontoclosethedialog.
3. FromtheFilemenuselecttheSaveAsoption.
4. IntheSaveAsdialogthatappears,selectafolderandfilenameunderwhichtosavethis
project.Wesuggestnamingthefiletutorial.inp.(Anextensionof.inpwillbeaddedto
thefilenameifoneisnotsupplied.)
5. ClickSavetosavetheprojecttofile.
Theprojectdataaresavedtothefileinareadabletextformat.Youcanviewwhatthefile
lookslikebyselectingProject>>Detailsfromthemainmenu.Toopenourprojectatsome
latertime,youwouldselecttheOpencommandfromtheFilemenu.

Figure8.Title/NotesEditor.

5. RunningaSimulation
SettingSimulationOptions

Beforeanalyzingtheperformanceofourexampledrainagesystemweneedtosetsome
optionsthatdeterminehowtheanalysiswillbecarriedout.Todothis:
1. FromtheDataBrowser,selecttheOptionscategoryandclickthebutton.
2. OntheGeneralpageoftheSimulationOptionsdialogthatappears(seeFigure9),
selectDynamicWaveastheflowroutingmethod..
3. OntheDatespageofthedialog,settheEndAnalysistimeto03:00:00.
4. OntheTimeStepspage,settheRoutingTimeStepto1second.
5. SettheReportingtimeto5minandWetweatherandDryWeatherRunoffcalculation
intervalseachto1min.
6. ClickOKtoclosetheSimulationOptionsdialog.

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Figure9.SimulationOptionsdialog.

RunningaSimulation

Wearenowreadytorunthesimulation.Todoso,selectProject>>RunSimulation(orclick
The button).Iftherewasaproblemwiththesimulation,aStatusReportwillappear
describingwhaterrorsoccurred.
ViewingtheStatusReport
TheStatusReportcontainsusefulsummaryinformationabouttheresultsofasimulationrun.
ToviewthereportselectReport>>Status.
Observethatthecontinuityerrorsforsurfacerunoffandconduitroutingaresmall
(typically<1%).
Ofthe235mmofrainthatfellonthestudyarea,15mminfiltratedintotheground
andessentiallytheremainderbecamerunoff.
TheNodeFloodingSummarytableindicatestherewasinternalfloodinginthesystem
atnodeN1.

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TheConduitSurchargeSummarytableshowsthatConduitL01,wassurchargedand
thereforeappearstobeundersized.

ViewingResultsontheMap

Simulationresults(aswellassomedesignparameters,suchassubcatchmentarea,nodeinvert
elevation,andlinkmaximumdepth)canbeviewedincolorcodedfashiononthestudyarea
map.Toviewaparticularvariableinthisfashion:
1. SelecttheMappageoftheBrowserpanel.
2. SelectthevariablestoviewforSubcatchments,Nodes,andLinksfromthedropdown
comboboxesappearingintheThemespanel.InFigure11,subcatchmentrunoffand
linkflowhavebeenselectedforviewing.
3. Thecolorcodingusedforaparticularvariableisdisplayedwithalegendonthestudy
areamap.Totogglethedisplayofalegend,selectView>>Legends.
4. Tomovealegendtoanotherlocation,dragitwiththeleftmousebuttonhelddown.
5. Tochangethecolorcodingandthebreakpointvaluesfordifferentcolors,selectView>>
Legends>>Modifyandthenthepertinentclassofobject(orifthelegendisalready
visible, simply rightclick on it). To view numerical values for the variables being
displayed on the map, select Tools >> Map Display Options and then select the
AnnotationpageoftheMapOptionsdialog.UsethecheckboxesforSubcatchment
Values,NodeValues,andLinkValuestospecifywhatkindofannotationtoadd.
6. TheDate/TimeofDay/ElapsedTimecontrolsontheMapBrowsercanbeusedto
movethroughthesimulationresultsintime.Figure11depictsresultsat1hoursand30
minutesintothesimulation.
7. YoucanusethecontrolsintheAnimatorpaneloftheMapBrowser(seeFigure11)to
animatethemapdisplaythroughtime.Forexample,pressingthe buttonwillrun
theanimationforwardintime.

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Figure11.ExampleofviewingcolorcodedresultsontheStudyAreaMap.

ViewingaTimeSeriesPlot

Togenerateatimeseriesplotofasimulationresult:
1. SelectReport>>Graph>>TimeSeriesorsimplyclick ontheStandardToolbar.
2. ATimeSeriesPlotdialogwillappear.Itisusedtoselecttheobjectsandvariablestobe
plotted.
Forourexample,theTimeSeriesPlotdialogcanbeusedtographtheflowinconduitsL01and
L02asfollows(refertoFigure12):
1. SelectLinksastheObjectCategory.
2. SelectFlowastheVariabletoplot.
3. ClickonconduitL01(eitheronthemaporintheDataBrowser)andthenclick
4. PressOKtocreatetheplot,whichshouldlooklikethegraphinFigure13inthedialogto
addittothelistoflinksplotted.DothesameforconduitL02.

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Figure12.TimeSeriesPlotdialog.

Figure13.Timeseriesplotofresultsfrominitialsimulationrun.

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Afteraplotiscreatedyoucan:
customizeitsappearancebyselectingReport>>Customizeorrightclickingontheplot,
copyittotheclipboardandpasteitintoanotherapplicationbyselectingEdit>>
CopyToorclicking ontheStandardToolbar
printitbyselectingFile>>PrintorFile>>PrintPreview(useFile>>PageSetupfirstto
setmargins,orientation,etc.).
ViewingaProfilePlot
SWMMcangenerateprofileplotsshowinghowwatersurfacedepthvariesacrossapathof
connectednodesandlinks.Let'screatesuchaplotfortheconduitsconnectingjunctionN1to
theoutfallOut1ofourexampledrainagesystem.Todothis:
1. SelectReport>>Graph>>Profileorsimplyclick
ontheStandardToolbar.
2. EitherenterN1intheStartNodefieldoftheProfilePlotdialogthatappears(seeFigure
14)orselectitonthemaporfromtheDataBrowserandclickthe
buttonnextto
thefield.
3. DothesamefornodeOut1intheEndNodefieldofthedialog.
4. Click the Find Path button. An ordered list of the links forming a connected path
betweenthespecifiedStartandEndnodeswillbedisplayedintheLinksinProfilebox.
Youcanedittheentriesinthisboxifneedbe.
5. ClicktheOKbuttontocreatetheplot,showingthewatersurfaceprofileasitexistsat
thesimulationtimecurrentlyselectedintheMapBrowser(seeFigure15).

Figure14.ProfilePlotdialog.

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Figure15.ExampleofaProfilePlot.

AsyoumovethroughtimeusingtheMapBrowserorwiththeAnimatorcontrol,thewater
depthprofileontheplotwillbeupdated.

Optional:ResizingtheNetwork.

1. GoaheadandchangethesizeoftheconduitLO1sothatthereisnofloodinginNodeN1andthe
conduitisnotsurcharged.Whatisthesizeofthepipethatfulfillsthiscondition.
2. DuetofuturelandusechangeitisanticipatedthatthewatershedA1willbecomemore
imperviousinthefuture.Theresultingchangesestimatedtobe
a)Imperviousfractionwillincreaseto85%
b)Thecurvenumberwillchangeto94
Implementthesechangesinyourmodelandcheckwhethertheexistingdrainagesystemcan
handlethefuturesituation.

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