EPACAD – AutoCAD to EPANet
A colleague wanted to convert an EPANet file to an AutoCAD drawing. After having a few issues with the DXF2EPAutility he found anothe program for this task – EPACAD.
EPACAD, by the ITAresearch group over at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, is a free software which can converts an AUTOCAD file into an EPANET one. EPACAD is able to automatically import the main properties of elements.
EPACAD features include:
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EPACAD can upload a .dxf exported from AUTOCAD. You will only have to select the layer (or layers) containing the pipes of your hydraulic model to start building your network. As other programs, you needn’t change your AUTOCAD file.
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EPACAD is able to read X, Y coordinates of AUTOCAD files and also elevation of nodes (which are the ones describing your pipeline). So, you will get real lengths of your pipes and a reference of the current location of your items.
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No matter how you draw your pipes in AUTOCAD, EPACAD reads both lines and polylines. Moreover, You can also create two nodes per line (regarding to initial and final node of the pipe) or, considering all the intermediate vertices of the latter in order to edit them later using EPANET.
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One of the most common problems deals with the connection between pipes issues (due to the inaccuracy in the AUTOCAD files). So, we have developed a useful tool that enables you to automatically solve the connectivity between elements, just setting the allowed distance between independent elements.
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Before exporting your results to EPANET, you will find a preview of the scenario. There will be some visualization tools to help you to identify small details. This tool will save your time as you can validate your results before final creation of your network.
EPACAD web site and user guide.
I admire the work done by the different research groups related to urban hydraulic at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ITA Research Group, IIAMA, FluIng…among others); I have received courses from most of the professors working on them.
EPACAD seems to be interesting but it is giving me the following message when trying to install it: There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.
It may be also useful to include in this tool the inverse process: generate an Autocad file from an EPANET file. Another interesting idea is to add the possibility to convert an EPANET file to a GIS file (shape file). In this direction some work were done in WaterIng [http://ingeniousware.com], where it is possible to import an EPANET inp file (changes to the network can be done if it is needed) and after saving the project we could have different shape files (for pipes, nodes, tanks…) that can be imported to a GIS. The characteristics of elements are included also in shapefiles. Some other works regarding EPANET and GIS have been done by researchers at IIAMA . Last but not least, in WaterIng was also included a table view where the modification of the different network elements is relatively easy, it is possible for example to copy and paste from an Excel table, the diameters or ID of all pipes included in the network (the network could be of course an EPANET imported network)
tanks-my freind
salam
i need to get this program
NICE
*.dxf file open
File Open Error
“You must finish the process and save the file”
Please solve!!
“You must finish the process and save the file”
I got the same problem, who can heip me?
the same error “you must finish the process and save the file”; what does it means? how should open dxf file?
i got the warning ‘Layers Selection Error’ and i tred different versions of .dxf files. would you pls help me?
I get warning always ‘loading layers’ and ‘Layers Selection Error’ and i tried different versions of .dxf files. how can i use this software?? could you give the helping suggestion plz??
Does anyone know where I can get a sample *.dxf file to test the program? Thank you.