OpenFlows WaterCAD

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WaterCAD?

WaterCAD is an easy-to-use hydraulic and water quality modeling application for water distribution systems. WaterCAD is a reliable, resource-saving, decision-support application for your water infrastructure. From fire flow and water quality analysis, to energy cost management and pump modeling, WaterCAD helps you analyze, design, and optimize water distribution systems.

How much does WaterCAD cost?

A practitioner license of OpenFlows WaterCAD costs $1,017 – $7,637 USD at Virtuosity.com depending on the desired pipes. Prices also vary per region. While there are various types of licensing available, a common choice is the 12-month practitioner license offered through Virtuosity, Bentley’s eCommerce store. When you purchase through Virtuosity you get a Virtuoso Subscription. This means you get the software and “Keys” (tokens) to redeem for customizable training, mentoring, and consulting services.

What is the difference between WaterCAD and WaterGEMS?

WaterGEMS is a superset of WaterCAD.  WaterGEMS comes with six modules that are not included in WaterCAD: 1) Pipe Renewal Planner, 2) Darwin Designer, 3) Darwin Calibrator, 4) Darwin Scheduler, 5) Skelebrator, and 6) SCADAConnect. Learn more about OpenFlows WaterGEMS.

How do I perform fire flow analysis?

Using the Fire Flow Navigator, you can quickly and accurately establish the ability of their network to provide protection against fires. WaterCAD simultaneously models multiple fire flow events evaluating flows and pressures across the entire system.

How do perform flushing simulations?

The Flushing Simulation tool helps you plan, analyze, and optimize flushing programs to control and improve water quality in their water distribution systems. You can perform both conventional and unidirectional flushing (UDF) simulations, as well as multiple flushing runs across multiple areas.

What is the Criticality Analysis Center?

To perform criticality analysis and operations modeling, use the Criticality Analysis Center. It is a comprehensive utility to identify critical assets in water distribution infrastructure and evaluate the risk associated with their failure. Also, by using rule-based operational controls, variable-speed pumping (VSP), and pressure-dependent demands (PDD), you can find operational bottlenecks, minimize energy consumption, and model real-time operations to improve system performance.

How do I perform comprehensive scenario management?

Use the WaterCAD Scenario Management Center to get full control to configure, run, evaluate, visualize, and compare an unlimited number of what-if scenarios within a single file. You can easily make decisions by comparing unlimited scenarios, analyzing rehabilitation alternatives for multiple planning horizons, evaluating pump operation strategies, or flushing alternatives for emergency contamination events.

What are the LoadBuilder and TRex geospatial modules?

The LoadBuilder and TRex geospatial modules are included with WaterCAD at no additional cost, and they help you allocate water demands and node elevations based on geospatial data found in shapefiles, DEMs, and even CAD drawings, avoiding potential manual-input mistakes and speeding up the model-building process.

You can streamline model building when you use CAD drawings to directly create hydraulically connected models; import topology and data from GIS; and create persistent, bidirectional connections between shapefiles, databases, spreadsheets, and the WaterCAD model.