EPA SWMM Tutorial

1 Download and Installation

EPA’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a Windows-based software and can be
downloaded from here.

Here are the installation instructions:

1. Double–click on the .exe file (for example, swmm51015 setup.exe).
2. Select the directory where SWMM should be installed in your system. It is recom-
mended to continue with the default settings.

3. Click Next, and then choose the Start Menu Folder. We will use the default name.

1
4. Click Next, and select Install.
5. Once the installation is complete, click Next. You may choose to launch EPA SWMM
directly (by selecting the check box) and click Finish.

2
2 Example: Storm Sewer Modeling
For the study area shown below, design the storm sewer pipe diameters so that the system
can handle a 3-inch 6-hour storm of constant intensity without the pipes flowing full.

S-2
1

S-1
2

2 S-3 S-1 Sub-catchment number

3
3 Point of contribution

4 1 Junction number
S-4
4 1 Conduit number and
flow direction

Outfall

Conduit data Junction data

# Upper Lower Length # Ground El.
Junction Junction (ft) (ft)
1 1 2 300 1 50.7
2 2 4 400 2 48.5
3 3 4 380 3 47.8
4 4 Outfall 360 4 46.0
Outfall 44.8

Sub-catchment data
Subarea Area Slope Travel distance CN
(acres) (%) (ft)
S-1 4.5 0.050 120 80
S-2 5.0 0.035 200 75
S-3 4.0 0.030 100 78
S-4 6.0 0.025 200 75

The elevation of junction invert is 4.0 ft lower than the ground elevation. Use Manning’s n
of 0.013 for all conduits and Node Max. Depth of 4.0 ft for all junctions.
Available pipe sizes (ft) are: 1.0, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75, 2.0, 2.25, 2.50, 2.75, 3.0, 3.50, and 4.0.

3
2.1 Project Setup
Launch EPA SWMM. Select Project → Defaults to open the Project Defaults window.

2.1.1 ID Labels
In the ID Labels tab, set the ID Prefixes as shown below.

2.1.2 Curve Number (CN) method setup

1. In the Subcatchments tab, set % impervious area (% Imperv ) as 10. The values entered
here are used as defaults for all Subcatchments created within the project. Note that
% Imperv values can be modified for individual Subcatchments as described in a later
section. Click on Help to obtain description of each parameter/property.
2. Set N-Imperv and N-Perv to 0.
3. Set %Zero-Imperv to 0.

4
 4. Set Infiltration Model to CURVE NUMBER by clicking on to edit infiltration model
properties. Within the Infiltration Editor window, set the default curve number. Click
on Help for more details.

2.1.3 Node/Conduit Defaults

Within Nodes/Links tab, select Conduit Geometry as Circular, set the Conduit Roughness
and Node Max. Depth values to 0.013 (for concrete) and 4 ft, respectively. Choose Steady
Flow as the Routing Method.

5
Click OK to close the Project Defaults window. Save the project file by giving an appropriate
file name.
You can also adjust the map default options using Tools → Map Display Options. For
the purpose of this tutorial we will use the default setup.

2.2 Network and Data entry

2.2.1 Junctions/Nodes

Click on the button in the Object toolbar, and place Junctions in the Map Window as
shown in the study area schematic by left-clicking on the mouse button.
Data Entry for Junctions: Enter the Invert Elevations by double-clicking on each Junc-
tion/Node.

6
2.2.2 Outfall
Click on the button in the Object toolbar, and place Outfall in the Map Window as
shown in the study area schematic by left-clicking on the mouse button.
Data Entry for Outfall: Enter the Invert Elevation as 40.80 ft by double-clicking on Outfall.
Choose the Outfall Type as FREE.

2.2.3 Links/Conduits

Click on the button in the Object toolbar, and connect upstream and downstream nodes
by left-clicking on the nodes in the Map Window. For example, first click on upstream
junction J1 and then on downstream junction J2, to connect these junctions with link C1.

Data Entry for Links/Conduits: Double-click on the created links to open the property win-
dow. Enter the Conduit Length as 300 ft for conduit C1, and so on. Since we are required
to obtain the conduit diameters as part of our design, we do not know the correct/optimal
diameters beforehand. For the time being, we will use the default diameter values (i.e., Max.
Depth = 1 ft) for each conduit to check the system performance with these values. The
design diameters will be obtained in Section 2.6.

2.2.4 Subcatchments
Click on the button in the Object toolbar to create subcatchments. Within the Map
Window, make multiple left-clicks to define the geometry of the subcatchment and right-
click the mouse button to end defining the boundary.
Data Entry for Subcatchments: Double-click on the created subcatchments to open its Prop-
erty window. For example, for subcatchment S1, specify the Outlet as J3, enter the Area as
4.5 acres, Width as 1633.50 ft (width = area / travel distance), and % Slope as 0.05. Repeat
for other subcatchments. Notice that subcatchment and junction connections are denoted
by dotted line.

7
2.3 Rainfall data
Click on the button in the Object toolbar, and then click within the Map window to create
a rain gage.

8
Next, connect this rain gage to all subcatchments. To accomplish this, complete the following
steps:
1. From main menu, select Edit → Select All.
2. Then, select Edit → Group Edit.
3. In the Group Editor dialog box, choose objects as Subcatchment, property as Rain
Gage, and set the value as Gage1. Click OK.

4. A notification dialog box pops up, confirming that edits were completed for all 4
catchments. Select No, to stop editing.
Data entry for rain gage: SWMM’s rain gage object accepts both user-entered rainfall data
and external rainfall files in DSI-3240 and DSI-3260 formats. For this tutorial, we are asked
to use a 3-inch 6-hour storm event of constant intensity.
Select the rain gage Gage1 from the Map Window. Open its property window and set the
following parameters:
• Rain Format – INTENSITY
• Time Interval – 1:00
• Data Source – TIMESERIES
• Series Name – TS1

9
To define the time series of rainfall, go to Project tab within the Data Browser, and select
Time Series. Then click on to open the Time Series Editor.
1. Specify the Time Series Name as TS1 (same name provided in rain gage property
window).
2. Enter values under Time and Value column to specify the characteristics of the storm.
In this example, the storm is a 3-inch 6-hr duration event of constant intensity. Make
sure that the time steps here match the Time Interval provided for the rain gage (e.g.,
1 hour).
3. Click OK to close the Time Series Editor.

10
2.4 Running the Analysis
1. From Data Browser, select Options, and then click the button. The Simulation
Options window will pop up.

2. In the General tab, enter the Minimum Conduit Slope (if required). Make sure that
Steady Flow is selected as the Routing Model and Infiltration Model is set to Curve
Number.
3. Under Dates tab, set End Analysis Time to 12:00.

11
 4. Click OK to close the Simulation Options window.
5. Select Project → Run Simulation.

2.5 Visualizing the Results

2.5.1 Profile plots
Go to Report → Graph → Profile. Within the Profile Plot Selection window, select the
Start Node by first clicking the node of interest, say J1 in the Map Window, and then clicking
the Add button, i.e., . Similarly, select the End Node (say, outfall O1), and then click
Find Path. This should populate all the conduits between the Start and End nodes. In the
above example, conduits C1, C2, and C4 should be listed.

Click OK, to display the profile. Use the Map tab to visualize water surface profile within
conduits at different simulation time steps. The figure below shows the profile at time 00:30
hrs.

12
As the simulation goes on, the default conduit diameter of 1 ft is inadequate in containing
the flow in pipes C2 and C4, as seen in the figure below.

2.5.2 Time series

Select Report → Graph → Time Series to visualize time series plot of different vari-
ables/parameters during the total simulation time. A time series of flow depths in conduits
C1, C2, and C4 is shown below.

13
The corresponding table of flow depths (or other parameters) can be obtained by selecting
Report → Table → By Variable. In the Table by Variable Selection pop up, choose the
desired parameters.

14
2.5.3 Status report
It provides the summary information of the analysis. To view the status report, go to
Report → Status.

2.5.4 Summary
Tabular Summaries can be accessed by selecting Report → Summary.

2.6 Optimum Conduit Sizes

The design step is performed using a trial-and-error method. In Section 2.5, we saw that
the default conduit diameters of 1 ft did not meet the design requirements; therefore, larger
conduit diameters need to be tested.
Follow the steps below to obtain the design diameters:
1. Start with the upstream-most conduit(s), say C1.
2. Run SWMM analysis, starting with the smallest available diameter, and gradually
increasing the diameter, to find the size at which the conduit does not flood. The
smallest diameter of the conduit that does not flood for the design storm event is its
optimal size.
- The smallest available diameter for C1 (= 1 ft) meets the design criteria.
3. Repeat for downstream conduits.

15
- For C2, using the next available diameter (= 1.25 ft) meets the design criteria.

- Similarly, for conduits C3 and C4, diameters of 1 ft and 1.75 ft, respectively, meet
the design requirements.

16