Skeletoniser Options dialog

The Skeletoniser Options dialog is used to specify which nodes and links are to be considered for skeletonisation.

To display the dialog, click the Options button on the Skeletoniser View.

For full details on the Skeletonisation process, see Skeletoniser.

Dialog Options

The options vary depending on whether there is a control data set open.

With Control Data

• The option to keep pipes with Live Data associated with them is available (i.e. pipes with associated live data are excluded from the skeletonisation process).
• The option to keep nodes or links with controls associated with them is available (i.e. objects with associated control data are excluded from the skeletonisation process).
• The option to keep fully open valves is available (i.e. if not selected, any fully open valves with associated control data will be merged into the pipes next to them).

Branch Pruning

• The maximum diameter of the pipe that will be considered for pruning can be defined.
• The option to open simple loops is available.
• The user can choose to exclude the following pipes from pruning:
  • Pipes attached to nodes associated with Exceptional Demand
  • Pipes attached to nodes associated with Water Quality parameters
  • Pipes attached to nodes associated with Hydrant Operation
    Note: This option will exclude nodes with hydrants and normal nodes with hydrant flow.
  • Pipes with Spatial Data allocated to them

Joining Similar Pipes

• The nodes with demand that will be considered for joining can be defined.
  • When a simulation is dropped in the Sim box and the timestep is selected in the Skeletoniser view, the node with demand will merge based on the flow direction at the selected timestep (upstream or downstream node). If there is no simulation dropped in the Skeletoniser view, the node with demand will merge to the nearest node.
  • When the Use dominant flow direction box is selected, the skeletoniser will use the dominant flow direction. The dominant flow direction is determined by the higher value in the Percent Time Flow Forward and Percent Time Flow Reverse field in the link results grid window. For zero or equal values, the skeletoniser will assume the flow is going forward (normal flow direction). When this box is selected, the timestep selection becomes disabled.
• The maximum diameter of pipe that will be considered for joining can be defined.
• The maximum length of pipes that will be created by joining can be defined.
• The customer points will be considered for joining can be defined. The customer point will be moved to the nearest node. If the option is switched off, all customer points for a node will be moved to the same upstream or downstream node, even though this might not be the closest node.

Without Control Data

Without a control data set associated with the network the following options are unavailable:

• The options to keep pipes attached to nodes with control data associated with them (i.e. Exceptional Demand, Water Quality parameters or Hydrant Operation).
• The option to keep pipes with Live Data associated with them.
• The option to keep nodes or links with controls associated with them.

Simple Loops

The option to Open simple loops during the Skeletonisation process is available in the Skeletoniser Options dialog.

A simple loop is a loop with no interconnections. An example of a simple loop is shown below. In this example all of the links highlighted will be skeletonized if the Open simple loops option is checked, provided the links satisfy any other options selected.

Example of a simple loop