Patent ID: 8190648

Claim:
A method of evaluating and modeling a hydraulic network, including the steps of: defining a modeling problem having a plurality of facets as a set of modeling parameters, including a) elements that correspond to portions of the hydraulic network being modeled, b) records that specify facet data that may be used with the elements, each record providing a persistent location for storing a particular value for facet data, and c) alternatives that each correspond to a single facet of the modeling problem, each alternative referencing particular elements and particular records to associatively link the particular elements to the facet data specified in the particular records to define corresponding aspects of the elements, each instance of an alternative defining aspects of the elements for a particular facet of the modeling problem, at least some alternatives being corresponding alternatives that link at least some particular elements to a same instance of facet data to share same facet data among the corresponding alternatives, and to link elements other than the at least some particular elements to a different instance of facet data to maintain local facet data that is not updated when facet data of one of the other corresponding alternatives is updated; storing the elements, the records, and the alternatives together in a hierarchical data structure maintained in a data storage system of a computer; providing the user with a scenario creation tool, operable by the user to select a single stored alternative from the hierarchical data structure for each of the plurality of facets in a particular modeling problem to produce a scenario; providing a geographic information system (GIS) client interface that provides a GIS client with facet data for the selected alternative for each of the plurality of facets that are part of the scenario; and running the scenario on an associated modeling solver program using the selected alternative for each of the plurality of facets.