Drainage design


  • What is a bioretention system and how does it help control stormwater runoff?

    Bioretention is a stormwater management practice that harnesses natural processes to treat and manage stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces such as rooftops, driveways, and parking lots. If you live in a city, you may have seen many of these types of systems. By utilizing a combination of vegetation, soil, and beneficial microorganisms, bioretention systems capture,…


  • XPSWMM vs. InfoWorks ICM vs. InfoDrainage: Which solution do you need?

    First released for Windows in 1997, XPSWMM aided stormwater and flood professionals in taking on the water challenges of its time. It was an incredibly powerful tool that the water industry adopted to solve the challenges it faced. But time and software development always marches on. Over time, most users adopted more powerful solutions like…


  • Do you need a Rainwater Management Plan? This Irish manual provides excellent guidance.

    Anthony McCloy is the managing director of McCloy Consulting and regularly speaks at conferences and seminars, provides university lectures, delivers national SuDS training workshops and has recently contributed to Ireland’s Rainwater Management Plans: Guidance for Local Authorities. Does your municipality need an RMP – a Rainwater Management Plan? In the UK, there are lots of…


  • How does cellular storage work for stormwater control?

    Certain stormwater controls are designed in ways that effectively divert water away from a site – but not cellular storage systems. Sometimes also called geocellular systems, geocellular attenuation tanks, or soakaway tanks, these Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS – aka LIDs/BMPs/WSUDs) capture stormwater in large underground containers for slow release. But why utilize a stormwater control…


  • The benefits of porous pavement in drainage design

    Sometimes called permeable pavement, porous pavement is an innovative and environmentally friendly approach to managing stormwater runoff in urban areas. As cities have grown, the sheer number of impermeable surfaces like roads, parking lots, and sidewalks has only increased, leaving traditional drainage systems struggling to cope with the volume of runoff. It leads to increased…


  • What is a swale and how should they be designed?

    Swales are essential components in modern drainage design and play a significant role in managing stormwater runoff and promoting sustainable drainage practices. These shallow, vegetated channels are designed to slow down, capture, and filter stormwater, reducing the risk of flooding and improving water quality. Their goal is to work with nature, rather than against it.…


  • What is an infiltration trench and how does it work?

    As the world’s drainage challenges grow, designers are constantly looking for new ways to handle stormwater. Commonly known as stormwater controls (SWCs), a subset of sustainable drainage systems, known as SuDS (LIDs/BMPs/WSUDs), have grown popular globally. SuDS work with nature, rather than against, and can be seen as more sustainable means of handling stormwater inflow…


  • InfraWorks + Civil 3D + InfoDrainage: a powerful drainage design workflow

    Autodesk has long been a leader in civil infrastructure and site design. With the addition of our comprehensive water portfolio in the last several years and our suite of construction tools, every aspect of civil planning, design, modeling, building, and operations can be done within the same cohesive and integrated ecosystem. While this is fantastic,…


  • VHB simplified and streamlined their workflows by adopting InfoDrainage

    VHB was looking for an integrated drainage solution for their land development projects, so they partnered with Autodesk to try out new modeling software. VHB engineers shared their experience using InfoDrainage with Senior Product Manager Samer Muhandes at Autodesk University in their excellent presentation Navigating Stormwater: How VHB Overcame Drainage Challenges Using InfoDrainage. We’re excerpting…


  • Integrated highway drainage design with the Civil 3D + InfoDrainage end-to-end workflow

    Transportation infrastructure like highways and roadways remains a vital component of modern engineering work, but – as any highway designer knows – with it comes a series of rigid guidelines for drainage and regulatory compliance. Autodesk has long been helping engineers and designers build better highways, and part of that mission is delivering drainage design…