10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

(https://www.chiwater.com/Home)

PCSWMM Support (/)

Articles (/Articles/Home)

Back

Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM

real-time)
The following document reviews how to attach a RAP project
(https://support.chiwater.com/79190/rap-project) to a PCSWMM model using PCSWMM
real-time. For these instructions it is assumed that the user has a PCSWMM real-time
licence. These instructions also assume that the user has set-up a RAP model using
PCSWMM.

The rst thing you want to do is create a time series le

(https://support.chiwater.com/79201/time-series- le) in your RAP model. This will be the
le that will be written to after each scan and assigned as rain gages in the PCSWMM
model. These instructions assume that you have already setup a RAP model and have
downloaded and processed some historical data. It also assumes that the radar data
was processed using a bias method, if desired.

Creating radar rainfall time series

The rst step is to create a radar-rainfall time series that will be saved and over-written
after each forecasting period. If you have already created a radar rainfall time series
associated with your subcatchments layer
(https://support.chiwater.com/77753/subcatchments-layer) you can skip to the next
section (https://support.chiwater.com/155757/section) of this article.

1. Open your RAP model.

2. Click on the Date picker button and highlight a section in the time line that shows it
has radar data available and click OK.

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 1/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

3. Click on the Options button and click on the Time series tab.

4. Under Subcatchment (https://support.chiwater.com/77710/subcatchment) layer

(https://support.chiwater.com/77865/layer) select the Subcatchment layer you are
generating the rainfall hyetograph for. Note that this subcatchment layer should be
the same as the one used in your PCSWMM model only re-projected into WGS 84.
5. Select the Destination for real-time radar-rainfall time series. In this example I am
going to choose Access database. Note: The time series .mdb le should be stored in
the same folder as the re-projected Subcatchment layer, with the same root name.
For example, in the screen shot below, the Access database le was named FPB
Subcatchments WGS84.mdb,

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 2/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

6. Select the Source product you would like to use to create the time series.
7. To Limit radar cell rainfall range enter in the Maximum and Minimum rainfall ranges.

8. Click on the Create TS... button.

9. Select the Subcatchments layer from the Layer drop-down box.

10. You have the option to Output to the Graph panel
(https://support.chiwater.com/77658/graph-panel) or a SQL database.

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 3/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

11. Click OK to generate the time series.

Linking the PCSWMM model to the RAP project

1. Open an instance of PCSWMM real-time.

2. Open the PCSWMM model that will be using the radar generated time series.

3. Click on the File tab to open PCSWMM's backstage

(https://support.chiwater.com/79145/backstage).

4. Click on the Real-Time button located on the left-hand side of the screen.

5. Put a check beside Enable real-time run.

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 4/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

6. Select the method you wish PCSWMM to use to Execute a run, the options include On
forecast update or Every X minutes.

For a forecast update, the user needs to con gure an Access database or SQL database.
This can be done using the Con gure... button. The screenshot shows what a typical
setup may look like using a SQL database.

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 5/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

7. Select the Method of creating time series as either Existing time series or Area
weighted method. If you are using an Existing time series this means that PCSWMM is
looking for a time series le that has time series within the le corresponding to each
of the rain gages that have been assigned in the PCSWMM model. For example, in this
demonstration I have created a rain gage time series using radar rainfall for each one
of my subcatchments and from there assigned each subcatchment to use their own
rain gage time series.

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 6/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

If you are using the Area weighted method you will need to indicate the Grid layer you
are using and from there the location that the Grid layer time series database.

The following instructions pertain to the grid layer method only

1. Once setup, click on the OK button to close the Real-time dialog.

2. In PCSWMM, open the Map panel (https://support.chiwater.com/77654/map-panel), if

not already, and click on the Rain gages item located in the Project panel
(https://support.chiwater.com/77650/project-panel).

3. Click on the Radar Rainfall tab and select the Grid layer to be the Radar layer.

4. Leave the Output to box empty.

5. Click in the Calculate (or Recalculate) button.

6. Click on the Create gages button.

7. Click on the Cancel button to close the Raingage editor and check the Subcatchments
to make sure the raingages were set correctly (i.e. the subcatchment should be linked
to a Raingage which has the same name as the subcatchments; the raingage should
also be linked to a Timeseries which has the same name as the subcatchment

Notes

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 7/8
10/8/2020 Associating a PCSWMM model with a RAP project (PCSWMM real-time)

To avoid problems with your computer re-starting from a power outage or during
updates the user has the option to Start real-time run after the computer reboots or
Restart PCSWMM every X Day.

If you wanted to preserve the water levels and soil moisture content as calculated
from the previously ran model you can do this using a HOTSTART le. To use a
HOTSTART le toggle the Use hotstart le system box and use the Browse button
to navigate to the location where you wish to save this le. For more information
about using a HOTSTART le please see the following support article
(/support/articles/76547).

While running a real-time run, if you get a pop-up message saying "A source le has
been changed: Update loaded timeseries?" and the run stops, it could be because the
le is not being refreshed often enough. To x this, in the Graph panel and click on
the Menu button. Turn on the Auto-refresh from File option. PCSWMM will now
update the time series without asking.

Can this article be improved?

https://support.chiwater.com/78028/associating-a-pcswmm-model-with-a-rap-project-pcswmm-real-time 8/8