Mastering AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010

CREATING A SANITARY SEWER NETWORK 555

Creating a Sanitary Sewer Network

In Chapter 14, you prepared a parts list for a typical sanitary sewer network. This chapter will lead

you through several methods for using that parts list to design, edit, and annotate a pipe network.

There are several ways to create pipe networks. You can do so using the Civil 3D pipe layout

tools. Limited tools are also available for creating pipe networks from certain AutoCAD and Civil

3D objects, such as lines, polylines, alignments, and feature lines.

Creating a Pipe Network with Layout Tools

Creating a pipe network with layout tools is much like creating other Civil 3D objects, such as

alignments. After naming and establishing the parameters for your pipe network, you’re pre-

sented with a special toolbar that you can use to lay out pipes and structures in plan, which will

also drive a vertical design.

Establishing Pipe Network Parameters

This section will give you an overview of establishing pipe network parameters. Use this section

as a reference for the exercises in this chapter. When you’re ready to create a pipe network, select

Pipe Network  Pipe Network Creation Tools from the Create Design panel on the Home tab. The

Create Pipe Network dialog appears (see Figure 15.2), and you can establish your settings.

Figure 15.2

TheCreatePipeNetwork

dialog

Before you can create a pipe network, you must give your network a name; but more important,

you need to assign a parts list for your network. As you saw in Chapter 14, the parts list provides a

toolkit of pipes, structures, rules, and styles to automate the pipe-network design process. It’s also

important to select a reference surface in this interface. This surface will be used for rim elevations

and rule application.

556 CHAPTER 15 RUNNING DOWNHILL: PIPE NETWORKS

When creating a pipe network, you’re prompted for the following options:

Network Name Choose a name for your network that is meaningful and that will help you

identify it in Prospector and other locations.

Network Description The description of your pipe network is optional. You might make a

note of the date, the type of network, and any special characteristics.

Network Parts List Choose the parts list that contains the parts, rules, and styles you want to

use for this design (see Chapter 14).

Surface Name Choose the surface that will provide a basis for applying cover rules as well

as provide an insertion elevation for your structures (in other words, rim elevations). You can

change this surface later or for individual structures. For proposed pipe networks, this surface

is usually a finished ground surface.

Alignment Name Choose an alignment that will provide station and offset information for

your structures in Prospector as well as any labels that call for alignment stations and/or offset

information. Because most pipe networks have several branches, it may not be meaningful for

every structure in your network to reference the same alignment. Therefore, you may find it

better to leave your Alignment option set to None in this dialog and set it for individual struc-

tures later using the layout tools or structure list in Prospector.

Using the Network Layout Creation Tools

After establishing your pipe network parameters in the Create Pipe Network dialog (shown pre-

viously in Figure 15.2), click OK; the Network Layout Tools toolbar appears (see Figure 15.3). No

other command can be executed while the toolbar is active.

Figure 15.3

The Network Layout

Tools toolbar

Clicking the Pipe Network Properties tool displays the Pipe Network Properties dialog, which

contains the settings for the entire network. If you mistyped any of the parameters in the original

Create Pipe Network dialog, you can change them here. In addition, you can set the default label

styles for the pipes and structures in this pipe network.

The Pipe Network Properties dialog contains the following tabs:

Information On this tab, you can rename your network, provide a description, and choose

whether you’d like to see network-specific tooltips.

Layout Settings Here you can change the default label styles, parts list, reference surface and

alignment, master object layers for plan pipes and structures, as well as name templates for

your pipes and structures (see Figure 15.4).

Profile On this tab, you can change the default label styles and master object layers for profile

pipes and structures (see Figure 15.5).

Section Here you can change the master object layers for network parts in a section (see

Figure 15.6).