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Introduction to 1D urban modelling

This CIWEM accredited training course provides attendees with a solid understanding of the foundations of urban modelling in Flood Modeller, to enable them to build, run, and review sub-surface drainage models. 

Key Benefits

Delivered through a series of presentations, hands-on practicals, and open discussion sessions

Presented from a practical point of view, by experienced modellers with a background in hydraulic modelling

Course materials include presentation slides, practical examples and datasets, and a glossary of common terminology

Includes a Flood Modeller licence for attendees to access the software on their personal laptop

Suitable for users with no experience in flood modelling, although it may be advantageous to have previously attended the course Introduction to 1D river modelling

What you will learn

This course will provide you with the foundations of 1D sub-surface drainage modelling within Flood Modeller. It will cover an introduction to the urban solvers and tips on file management and best practices.


By the end of the course, you will be able to build a 1D urban model independently, understanding the components involved and how and when to edit key parameters.


You will gain experience in building a sub-surface network of culverts and manholes and learn how to add inflows to represent surface water draining into the manholes. You will also learn how to run an unsteady (full hydrograph) simulation and visualise the results, e.g., flow and stage, through both plots and animations.


You will learn how to build a culverted watercourse and examine its interaction with the land by creating a linked urban-2D model. You will investigate pressurised flow and backwater effects, learning how to create configurations to allow water to “pond” on top of manholes (and potentially return to the sub-surface pipe network).


You will also investigate interactions between urban networks and river networks, learning how to create a linked urban-river model.


The course covers an overview of the methods available for editing urban networks, and you will utilise these methods to adjust the geometry of culverts and the elevation of manholes. You will also gain experience in viewing diagnostic logs and checking mass balance to confirm the validity of your results.

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