Autodesk Drainage Tools for Civil 3D

Learn about the new enhancements in drainage and analysis tools for Civil 3D.

Autodesk Drainage Tools for Civil 3D are now included and installed beginning with Civil 3D 2026.2. This is a production-ready tool set designed to integrate the drainage design environment of Civil 3D with analysis capabilities powered by InfoDrainage analysis cloud-services—all without leaving Civil 3D! This enhances drainage design capabilities by providing new workflows for the design of ponds, underground storage devices, and open channels, as well as improved catchments with expanded runoff method support.

When a drainage engineer prepares to analyze a system, the analysis can be initiated directly within Civil 3D. This allows for the utilization of various rainfall and runoff methods and facilitates the execution of multiple storm event simulations. Upon completion of the analysis, engineers can validate results, including any warnings or errors, before applying them to the drainage components within the drawing and exporting a comprehensive analysis report.

To support the analytical workflows, a rainfall manager for the creation and management of rainfall events is included. Learn more.

Underground Storage

• Added catchments to the Underground Storage (UGS) inflows in UGS properties.
• Full connectivity support with pipes, structures, ponds, and catchments—properties and lists now show connected objects.
• Improved export behavior (always CSV).
• Bi-directional property updates when Pipe–SWC connectivity changes.
• Underground Storage now works like every other Civil 3D object — you set your default styles, naming rules, and hydraulic parameters once in one place, and every new UGS you create automatically follows those standards. Civil 3D has always had a centralized way to control how objects look and behave when you create them — it's called feature settings. Pipes, Structures, Alignments all use it. In Civil 3D 2027, Underground Storage finally joins them. This means you can now:
  • Set a default style for UGS — new objects instantly use your company standard appearance without manually changing it every time.
  • Set a default naming rule — for example, UGS-1, UGS-2, UGS-3 automatically, based on a counter template you define.
  • Set default units for geometry and distance — UGS measurements align with your drawing or project units from the start.
  • Set default infiltration (hydraulic) parameters — define your standard infiltration values and units once; every new UGS starts with those defaults.
  • Find UGS in Toolspace → Settings — just like Pipes or Structures, UGS now has its own dedicated node in the Settings tree.
  • View and edit key UGS properties directly in the Properties panel — Depth, Bottom Elevation, Area, and Storage Volume are all accessible without opening a separate dialog.

Catchment Enhancements

• Added FAA and Kirpich time of concentration methods.
• Improved flow path slopes to be recalculated from a reference surface when splitting segments.
• Improved flow path creation from surface to end at catchment boundaries.

Channels: Multiple Slope Support

• Support multiple slopes for one channel.
• Support identifying slopes from a channel baseline (Profile or Feature Line).
• Support manually defining multiple slopes for a channel.
• Support identifying profile tangents as different segments for multi slope channel.
• Support identifying profile curves as different segments for multi slope channel. Profile curves are divided into tangent channel at the turning point.
• Provide validation in Multiple slope table:
  • Slope direction checks and warnings.
  • Station gap or overlap checks and warnings.
• Support Channel Slope Type in command settings.
• Support importing section from a selected assembly.

Gravity Pipes

• Pipe labels now display connected Stormwater Controls (ponds/UGS) across plan, profile, spanning, crossing, and section labels.
• Updated Pipe Network Vista to use Start/End Object terminology instead of “Structure.”
• Users can view and edit layer properties directly in Pipe and Pressure Network property dialogs.
• Enhanced display of connected SWC in the Properties panel.
• Arch, Elliptical and Egg shaped pipes (in addition to circular and box) can be used in Analyze Drainage System.

Compatibility and Data Shortcuts

Civil 3D 2027 lets you safely open, reference, and share drawings that contain Pond, Underground Storage (UGS), and Channel objects — even when your team members are using different versions of Civil 3D.

• Open drawings from older versions without losing your Pond, Channel, or UGS data. Civil 3D handles the upgrade based on your decision by notifying you the version of objects.
• Know immediately if a version mismatch exists — a clear icon in the status bar with tooltip tell you when the drawing's drainage objects were created in a different version.

• Share data across versions using Data Shortcuts — referencing a Pond from an older drawing just works. Civil 3D upgrades the data for you in your host drawing.

Ponds

• Added a Porosity option that specifies the percentage of the pond that is available for storage. This is dictated by the type of fill material that is used, i.e. 100% if empty or typically 30% for rubble.
• Added the ability to select a connected Channel when configuring Pond outlets.
• Enabled customizable Pond rollover tooltips via the CUI editor.