What's New in OpenFlows Water 2024 Update 2 (version 24.00.02.20)


Products: WaterGEMS, WaterCAD, HAMMER
Version(s) 24.00.02.20
Area: Installation

Overview

A new version of OpenFlows Water 2024, which consists of WaterGEMS, WaterCAD, and HAMMER, has been released. 

Table of Contents

Coordinate system support in Standalone

Coordinate systems are now supported in the Standalone platform. With this version, coordinate system support currently only influences the ability to align the model with a Bing Map background. This enables users to more easily align the model with the background without having to manually align three points. Future versions will be able to use the established coordinate system with tools such as ModelBuilder, LoadBuilder, Terrain Extractor and Terrain models, when using external data with an established coordinate system. (including the ability to reproject)

When you open the Bing Maps option in the Background Layers manager, you will now see a Coordinate System option in the Map Alignment section

You can click the Select Coordinate System button to open the manager where you can choose the coordinate system. Options for Projected and Geographic coordinate systems are available for selection. When you choose an option, you will see details on the coordinate system displayed.

The Select Coordinate System manager is also available from the Options dialog (Home > Options > Hydraulic Model.

If you select the Manual option for the Map Alignment, you can still enter the 1 or 3 Control Point options to add a Bing Map background.

See this link for more information on this feature: Working with coordinate systems in the OpenFlows standalone platform.

A note on Coordinate Systems and Shapefile Export - starting with this version, shapefiles exported from element flextables will generate a .PRJ file containing the coordinate system, if a coordinate system has been specified in the model.

Updated EPANET 2.2 Water Quality Calculations

Enhanced EPANET water quality equations have been added to the WaterGEMS 2.2.0 and EPANET 2.2.0 engine in WaterGEMS and WaterCAD.

More information on engine compatibility can be found here: Engine Compatibility Mode and related Calculation Options.

Note that this directly addresses the issue described in the journal paper "Mass imbalances in EPANET water-quality simulations", 2017 Davis & Janke.

Multi-threading in MSX module

The Multi-Species Extension used for advanced water quality modeling now uses multi-threading for faster computation time.

More information on using MSX  can be found here: Using Multi-Species Extension (MSX) for advanced water quality modeling.

Edit Bends tool

A tool has been added to make it easier to add or remove bends in a pipe. To access this, right-click on a pipe and select Bends > Edit Bends. This will open a Select toolbar with options to add a bend, remove a bend, or remove all bends. Existing bends on the pipe will also be displayed when the tool is active.

See the following links for more information:

How to remove bends from a pipe or conduit 

Inserting or laying out pipe bends 

Zoom-dependent visibility for background layers

A new feature to make background layers zoom-dependent has been included for most background layer types. This is related to the Zoom Level that you can find to the lower left of the drawing pane.

If you right-click on an existing background layer, you can select “Set zoom limits.” This will open the zoom limit settings in the Properties grid. You can select the zoom out and zoom in limit. If the Zoom Level for the drawing is outside of the range, the background layer will no longer display.

In the example above, the Zoom Out Limit is set to 55% and the Zoom Level is currently 55.5%. At this Zoom Level, the background layer will display. However, if you were to zoom out to a Zoom Level of 50%, the background layer will no longer be visible in the drawing.

Note: This does not apply to Bing Maps backgrounds.

Display Inactive Topology option added to Ribbon

The option to enable or disable how inactive topology is displayed has been included directly in the Ribbon interface. To get to this, go to Home > Active Topology or Tools > Active Topology.

Clicking on Display Inactive Topology will toggle this setting. If the checkmark is next to the item, the inactive elements will be displayed.

The default color for inactive elements is gray. If you want to adjust the color, go to File > Options and go to the Layout section of the General tab.

More information on the active topology workflow can be found here: Active Topology Management 

Improved query preview in Query Builder

The Query Builder has an improved Query Preview section, which will display a more meaningful preview of the query you are creating, rather than the internal name of the field from the SQLite database.

The Query Preview will display a more logical description of the query, while the SQL Query Preview will display the query using the internal name of the field in the database file.

Support for integration with AutoCAD 2025

The new releases support integration with AutoCAD 2025.

Support for integration with MicroStation 2024

The new releases support integration with MicroStation 2024.

Support for ProjectWise 2023 and 2024

Support for ProjectWise 2023 and 2024 have been included.

Improved engine performance for large models (HAMMER only)

Improvements to engine performance have been included for HAMMER. This will help in particular with the time it takes to calculate large models.

Improved handling of large pipe friction coefficients (HAMMER only)

HAMMER calculates a friction coefficient (friction factor) for pipes in the model as part of the transient calculation, which is based on pipe headloss, flow, length and diameter. Now, if the calculated friction coefficient is too large (greater than 0.8) and user input friction coefficient (converted from Hazen-William C or Manning’s n) is smaller than the one calculated in HAMMER, the user input friction coefficient will be used instead.

Compatible Operating Systems and Platforms

Supported Operating Systems

Compatible Platforms

See: Platform Compatibility

Model Compatibility 

Older models can be opened in this version of WaterGEMS, WaterCAD, and HAMMER.

Models saved in 2024 can still be opened in 2023.

See: Model backward / forward compatibility

Stability enhancements and fixes to reported issues

As with all new versions, this release includes fixes to various user-reported issues from the previous release, providing an overall more stable experience.

See Also

WaterGEMS and WaterCAD TechNotes and FAQs

HAMMER TechNotes and FAQs

Downloading OpenFlows / Hydraulics and Hydrology Software

Software installation order

Cumulative patch set information