Service AI designs your storm, sanitary and water supply networks for you. It takes the existing and proposed surfaces plus your existing connections as inputs, and designs the catchments (storm), pipe networks, and structures according to how your subnets and servicing parameters are configured. After setting up your servicing inputs, you validate the model, send it to Allsite.ai to run, and then load the results back into Civil 3D.
The workflow has three stages, all started from the AI Design panel of the Allsite.ai ribbon: Check Inputs (extract + validate), Check & run (the same checks, then send to Allsite.ai), and Load results (load pipes, structures, catchments and the water supply pressure network back into the model).
Service AI can run on its own, or together with Level AI as one combined run: tick both tools in Run design, and Service AI designs the networks on the grading Level AI has just produced. See Running Level AI and Service AI together.
What you need before running Service AI
Before running, confirm the following are in place:
Surfaces
Existing surface is set.
Proposed surface is set — this is required. It can be a surface produced by Level AI or one you supply. Level AI must have been run (or an equivalent proposed surface provided) before Service AI can run, unless you run both together as a combined run, where Service AI uses the grading Level AI has just designed.
Servicing extent must be within the coverage of both surfaces.
Networks
Networks to design on the Service AI settings: Storm, Sanitary and Water Supply, all three by default. A network you clear is left out of the run, and its existing pipes and structures are left as they are. This is separate from the network dropdowns below, which only say where the results go.
Storm and sanitary networks selected in the dropdowns on the Networks ribbon panel or in the Run design window, for the networks you are designing; the Water dropdown is optional (see below). If the drawing has no network for the results, pick Create default network… in that dropdown. See Creating a default network.
Parts List with appropriate families and sizes:
Toolspace>Settings> Pipe Network>Parts Lists
Part list assigned to Storm and Sanitary:
Part Families selected for pipes and structures types on Service AI Settings
Existing storm / sanitary structures added with status set to EXISTING and invert levels populated.
Recommended part-family sizes for a good run
Service AI picks the closest available size for each pipe and structure, so the selected families should span the range the design needs. Prepare/Run flags any family that falls short of these (in the confirmation popup and the Allsite AI Assistant):
Storm pipes — at least 7 sizes, including a small size of 12″ (≈300 mm) or smaller.
Sanitary pipes — at least 4 sizes, including a small size of 6″ (≈150 mm) or smaller.
Storm structures — at least 3 sizes, including a large size with a diameter or length of at least 96″ (≈2400 mm).
Sanitary structures — at least 3 sizes, including a large size with a diameter or length of at least 72″ (≈1800 mm).
Service Ai Settings are available on the settings pane (clearing filters on the top):
Or from the Run design window: the cog beside Service AI — Networks opens the Service AI settings, and Pipe and structure families & sizes lists each selected network's parts list, pipe family and structure families with their size ranges. Change… beside each opens the matching setting. The section opens by itself when a family is missing or its sizes fall short, and Review sizes… then opens the Civil 3D parts list.
Water supply network
Service AI lays the water supply mains, a service lateral to each lot, and hydrants. Water supply is supported as a Civil 3D pressure network only: existing mains must be pressure pipes, and the results load as a pressure network. A water network drawn as a gravity pipe network is not used.
A pressure parts list in the drawing. It usually comes from the drawing template (a Civil 3D pressure-pipe template such as the AWWA or metric water templates). If the drawing has none with a hydrant, Create default network… on the Water dropdown creates one. Without it, Prepare warns SaiPressurePartsListMissing and no water supply network is created when the results load. Storm and sanitary are not affected.
On the Services (Water Supply) settings, under Civil 3D: a Pipe part family, and a part family for each of JUNCTION, VALVE, HYDRANT and PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE under Fitting and appurtenance part families. JUNCTION, VALVE and HYDRANT are required: a node type with no family is dropped when the results load. PRESSURE REDUCING VALVE is optional. The stock AWWA ductile-iron catalogue has no hydrant family, so choose a parts list that has one.
The Water dropdown on the Networks ribbon panel (also in the Run design window), mirrored as the Water network setting on the same page, picks the Civil 3D pressure network to load into. It is optional: with none selected, the results go into the drawing's only pressure network, or into a new one called Water Network.
An existing supply main to tie into: a Civil 3D pressure pipe inside the servicing extent. Without one, Service AI skips water supply. A main with no status is treated as existing, and one with no level is set at the ground level less the preferred cover.
Each network needs an outlet (sink)
Storm — at least one output such as a pond, outfall, headwall, manhole, or pump station (ponds are the typical output).
Sanitary — an existing structure to collect to, such as a lift station, a connection to an existing trunk sewer, a treatment-plant connection, or a regional manhole.
Water supply — an existing supply main to tie into (see Water supply network above).
Servicing layout
Servicing Extent added — defines where Service AI can place pipes and structures. All existing connections must fall within it.
Roads set up as Civil 3D corridors or Allsite.ai simple roads.
Parcels added, with residential parcels set to NORMAL. Sanitary and water supply are designed only when the project has NORMAL parcels or existing parcels; otherwise only storm is designed.
Water mains and hydrants follow each road's water supply and hydrant offset fields. See Road Settings.
Subnets
Every active subnet must contain at least one pit (source) and at least one sink (outlet), and be internally connected.
Each sink must have a valid invert elevation.
For corridor roads, set the subnet on the curb subassembly extended data.
Hydrology (storm)
Rainfall IDF set on Project Properties → Hydrology Data.
For full details on settings, see Storm / Sanitary Networks. Water supply placement, loops and hydrant spacing are under Network placement, and fire flow under Hydrant design.
Check Inputs
Click Run design… in the AI Design panel of the Allsite.ai ribbon.
Tick Service AI — Networks, choose the storm, sanitary and (optionally) water networks, check the part families, and click Check Inputs. Check Inputs extracts your servicing objects and validates them, writing review points onto the AS-REVIEW-INFO, AS-REVIEW-WARNING, and AS-REVIEW-ERROR layers. Priority 9 review comments block the run and must be resolved before the model can be sent to Allsite.ai.
The run's card in the Allsite AI Assistant also carries a Settings Report section saying how many feature values differ from your project's settings, with a button that opens the full report. See Project settings, feature values and the Settings Report.
How review points, priorities, the Allsite AI Assistant, and the Panorama event log work — and how to toggle review layers — is covered once in Check Inputs (Level AI); the same behaviour applies to Service AI. For specific errors and fixes, see Troubleshooting validation errors.
Service AI Run
After reviewing and validating your model, click Check & run in the Run design window to send it to Allsite.ai. The inputs are checked again; if there are no priority 9 review items, the model is sent. Smaller jobs may take about 30 minutes, while large projects over 100 acres may take more than 2 hours. Click Run Status to check progress, or the Allsite.ai ribbon button to open the project page.
Loading Service AI Results
When the run is complete, click Load results in the AI Design panel. It loads the last run submitted from this drawing, so after a combined run it loads the grading and the networks together. Loading the results removes previous proposed pipes and structures that were not locked and replaces them with the new data. Some extended data and native pipe and structure data is also updated. Catchments are also loaded into the model.
Water supply loads as a Civil 3D pressure network: pipes on layer AS-WATER-LINKS, and fittings and hydrants on AS-WATER-NODES. Previous proposed water parts that were not locked are replaced; existing and locked parts are kept. Water supply has no catchments, long sections or capacity table.
Trench analysis (optional)
With Run trench analysis on (Service AI settings, under Trench Modelling; the same switch is on the Level AI page), loading the results also trenches the proposed pipes:
The schedule of quantities reports their trench volumes. These are measured from the finished surface, so they read slightly higher than the cut/fill table, which measures from the subbase; the next Cut/Fill or Level AI run brings the two back into line.
A TrenchSurface surface is added on layer AS-TRENCHSURFACE. It starts hidden; show it from the Review Layers dropdown.
Each earthworks extent stores the trench spoil, so the next Level AI run can balance it.
For how the trenches are sized, see Trench analysis settings.