Demo Seepage Project

Next page>>

An overview of Demo Seepage.

The Demo Seepage project is available for all users and can be found in the main menu under Edit projects. This project does not count towards your license.

This project is intended for hydrologists and other water experts.

This project showcases the seepage functionality.

The demo is a working project in which a location in The Netherlands is experiencing seepage. In this project seepage calculations are made under different circumstances which leed to different scenarios.

Exploring the project

To begin exploring the project, take the following steps:

1. Click anywhere in the 3D world, and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move around in the world. You can also drag the camera around by right-clicking (and holding the right mouse button down) in the 3D world and dragging the world around. Use the scroll wheel to zoom in- and out.
2. On the right-hand side of the 3D world you can see the overlays menu. Hover over the various icons to see a tooltip with their name. Find the overlay named "Groundwater (spatial)", and click on it. This will show the overlay in the 3D world. This overlay shows the groundwater level in the underground.
3. At the bottom of the interface a legend will now appear, with on the left-hand side of the legend a few buttons to "play" the overlay. Click on the "play" button, and you will see how the state of the groundwater level changes over time.
4. Hover over the icon for the overlay again, and notice that more options appear for overlays related to groundwater. These are the child overlays, which can display more types of results from the groundwater simulation.
5. Notice multiple Overlays exist, each showing a specific result or type of data related to seepage:
   1. The "Groundwater (Spatial)" Overlay calculates and shows the result for the seepage calculation, with a static amount of pressure and resistance affecting the groundwater levels, without any configured fluctuation.
   2. The "Groundwater (Fluctiation)" Overlay calculates and shows the results for a seepage calculation, in which natural pressure and resistance are configured to limit base seepage, so that only the effect of seepage fluctuation is demonstrated.
   3. A GeoTiff Overlay showing spatial seepage pressures.
   4. A GeoTiff Overlay showing spatial seepage resistances.
6. Finally, notice a number of icons floating in the world. The orange icons are of particular note; these denote points-of-interest which you can take a closer look at. You can click on any to open a panel with more information.

Points of interest

The project offers a number of points of interest to inspect in greater detail. A number of these points have been emphasized with popups.

Seepage under land

At the location of this popup, underground pressure will cause seepage to occur, slowly increasing the groundwater level.

Select the "Groundwater (Spatial)" Overlay, and play the overlay. As time progresses, the patch of land where seepage occurs will experience a rising groundwaterlevel, until the pressure of the seepage even causes the water to seep onto the surface.

Place a point measurement on the wet patch, and select the "Groundwater (Fluctuation)" Overlay. Play the Overlay. You will see the measurement shows a varying rate at which seepage occurs, entirely dictated by the seepage fluctuation which varies over time.

Seepage under waterway

At the location of this popup, underground pressure will cause seepage to occur under the waterway.

Place a line measurement along the waterway where seepage occurs, and select the "Surface last value (Spatial)" Overlay. Add as a base Overlay the "Surface elevation (Spatial)" Overlay, and select the "sum" mode. Play the overlay. You will see the initial state of the waterway is a dry waterbed. However, as time and seepage progresses, eventually water will seep up from the underground into the waterway.

Using the same measurement, select the "Groundwater (Fluctuation)" Overlay. Disable the "sum" mode. (You do not need to change the base overlay, as both Overlays share the same elevation model.) Play the overlay. You will see the groundwater level rises at a varying rate, entirely dictated by the seepage fluctuation which varies over time.

Puddle formation

At the location of the blue popup, water will begin to amass during the simulation. Rainfall causes water to build up across the project, but due to differences in elevation some places will remain effectively dry while other collect water from both the rain there and the runoff of water from other places.

Culverts and weirs

The construction popups in the project indicate the locations of culverts and weirs. These constructions allow water to flow across, which happens automatically when the water levels differ at either side.

The culvert allows water to flow through whenever water exceeds its bottom height. Flowthrough is effectively only limited by its diameter. Flowthrough is calculated by the culvert formula. To see how a culvert is configured, navigate to the following location in the editor:

Editor → Current Situation (Ribbon tab) → Overlays (Ribbon bar) → Rainfall (Left panel) → Configuration Wizard (Right panel)

In the wizard, click on "Next" until you reach the step on "Culverts". There, select any culvert to inspect its attributes. Additionally, you can select "Show in Editor" to have the 3D world zoom to its location. You can do this for any culvert you are interested in.

The weir allows water to flow over it whenever water exceeds its top height. The amount of water that can flow over it is effectively limitless, but dictated by the weir formula. To see how a weir is configured, navigate to the following location in the editor:

Editor → Current Situation (Ribbon tab) → Overlays (Ribbon bar) → Rainfall (Left panel) → Configuration Wizard (Right panel)

In the wizard, click on "Next" until you reach the step on "Weirs". There, select any weir to inspect its attributes. Additionally, you can select "Show in Editor" to have the 3D world zoom to its location. You can do this for any weir you are interested in.

Sewers and sewer overflow

The faucet popup in the project indicates the location of a sewer overflow. A sewer district is defined covering the entire town. This is used as a generic definition for sewer capacity, and to allow roads to have water flow off into the sewer. When the sewer nears capacity, water will begin to flow out through the sewer overflow, back onto the surface.

Navigate to the following location in the editor:

Editor → Current Situation (Ribbon tab) → Overlays (Ribbon bar) → Rainfall (Left panel) → Configuration Wizard (Right panel)

In the wizard, click on "Next" until you reach the step on "Sewers". There, select the "KOCKENGEN" sewer to inspect its attributes. Continue on to the step on "Sewer Overflows". There, select the overflow to inspect its attributes.

Measuring tool

Using a properly configured measuring tool allows for detailed insight into water levels.

More in-depth analysis of water in the project can be achieved using the Measuring tool. Go to the X popup in the project, and place a point measurement anywhere to see a graph of the waterlevels in that location during the simulation.

You can also place a line measurement, perpendicular across one or multiple canals. You can get a cross-section of the waterlevels relative to datum by doing the following:

• Select the rainfall overlay
• Place a line measurement
• In the "Base" Overlay dropdown, select the "Surface Elevation".
• Check the "Sum" option, to add the values of the two layers together
• Select the "Fit to graph" mode to use the full extent of the measuring window.

The result is a cross-section of the water and the terrain height.

Uncalculated area

The cross popup indicates the section of the map where no calculations are performed. The dataset used to create this project does not perfectly fit the square shape of the project area, meaning there are parts which are not covered by data to properly initialize water or model all possible routes for water to flow through. The project has been configured to only perform calculations in the areas for which data exists.

Actions

After inspecting the consequences of the defined rainfall, it is possible to explore potential remedies. Note that when any of the actions described here are taken, a testrun will start. This means the editing tools will be temporarily disabled. When you are done experimenting with actions, you can stop the testrun by clicking the stop button in the ribbon. This will revert the session back to its base state, without the effects of the applied action(s).

Weir adjustments

The automatically generated control panels for weirs allow you to change their configuration and see the results.

Switch to the "Future design" tab. Select any of the blue weir icons in the 3D world to open a panel which allows you to control them. Specifically, the height of the weir can be changed. Change the weir height to 1 meter lower (e.g., change 3.2 into 2.2, or -1.6 into -2.6), and select "Submit".

After making the change, the rainfall overlay will be recalculated, and the new results will indicate how water would act with the weir set to its new height. To compare the original results and the new results, select the rainfall overlay, and activate its "difference" mode by selecting "Show difference". The overlay will now show where the resulting amounts of water have changed due to your action.

Spatial planning options

Placing a water storing park instead of natural grassland helps alleviate the water issues. Left: before placing the park. Right: after placing the park.

Switch to the "Future design" tab, and then in the 3D interface the action menu will appear. Open the menu with "Water Storage" options, and select the "City park with water storage" action. Now draw a selection in the city, in locations which experience excessive water retention. When you have made the selection, select "Confirm". This will add a new park with water storage facilities to that location in the 3D world.

After making the change, the rainfall overlay will be recalculated, and the new results will indicate how water would act with the new water storage facilities. To compare the original results and the new results, select the rainfall overlay, and activate its "difference" mode by selecting "Show difference". The overlay will now show where the resulting amounts of water have changed due to your action.

Next page>>