On 23 April 2026, Smart Water Magazine hosted the webinar Discover the new game-changing Network Design in InfoWorks ICM, bringing together water professionals from around the world to explore how integrated, rule-based design is reshaping preliminary pipe sizing. The session featured insights from Hasanain Al-Naimi, Regional Head of Autodesk Water Infrastructure for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Samer Muhandes, Senior Product Manager for InfoWorks ICM at Autodesk Water Infrastructure, and Ahmed Elsayed Younes, Technical Solutions Engineer for EMEA at Autodesk Water Infrastructure, who guided attendees through both the strategic context and a live technical demonstration.
The discussion opened with a familiar challenge. Preliminary pipe sizing remains one of the most demanding stages in drainage and wastewater design. Engineers must balance hydraulic performance, geometry, and regulatory constraints, often with limited visibility into how software reaches its conclusions. This lack of transparency can lead to slow iteration cycles and designs that are difficult to defend under scrutiny.
From fragmented workflows to integrated design
“We have a growing market share in the market, so since our acquisition, we have grown significantly since 2022” - Hasanain Al-Naimi
Al-Naimi set the stage by outlining how Autodesk Water Infrastructure is positioning itself across the full water lifecycle, from planning through to operation. He highlighted the growing demand for integrated tools that bring together analysis, design, and collaboration. InfoWorks ICM, he explained, already supports 1D and 2D modelling, hydrology, and water quality within a single environment. The addition of network design builds on this foundation, aiming to eliminate the disconnect between design tools and simulation platforms.
Samer Muhandes expanded on this idea with a practical analogy. He described the traditional workflow as a back-and-forth between separate design and modelling tools, where assumptions can be lost, and inefficiencies accumulate. In contrast, the new approach brings both functions onto a single platform. “ICM will no longer become part of your workflow,” he explained. “ICM will become the workflow.”
This shift is particularly relevant in regions where authorities require submissions in InfoWorks ICM. Engineers often design networks in external tools, then import them for analysis, only to repeat the process when requirements change. By consolidating these steps, the new network design capability reduces both time and risk.
A rule-based approach with engineer control
“Now you are in control to say to the software, go in this direction, or don’t go in that direction” - Samer Muhandes
At the core of the new functionality is a rule-based design engine. Instead of relying on opaque calculations, engineers define constraints such as pipe diameters, slopes, velocities, and cover depths. The software then evaluates multiple design candidates and selects the optimal solution based on these criteria.
A key innovation is the use of configurable penalty weightings. These allow engineers to guide the design process by prioritising certain outcomes over others. For example, a designer can choose between smaller pipes with steeper slopes or larger pipes with shallower excavation, depending on project priorities. As Muhandes explained, “there will always be trade-offs,” and the tool is designed to make those trade-offs explicit and adjustable.
Ahmed Younes demonstrated how this works in practice. During the live session, he and Muhandes configured pipe catalogues, applied rainfall data through IDF curves, and defined design constraints. The system then performed an upstream-to-downstream design run in seconds, automatically sizing pipes and setting invert levels.
Speed, transparency, and explainability
One of the most striking aspects of the demonstration was the speed of execution. Design runs that traditionally take hours or days can now be completed in seconds, even for large networks. According to Muhandes, tests on models with hundreds of thousands of pipes produced results in under a minute, with most of the time spent generating detailed reports rather than performing calculations.
Equally important is the level of transparency. The tool generates a comprehensive design report that explains every decision. Engineers can see which pipe sizes were considered, why certain options were rejected, and what factors governed the final slope or diameter. This level of detail supports both internal review and external audit.
“Can you defend your design decisions years later?” Muhandes asked. With the new reporting capability, the answer is increasingly yes. Each design can be traced, justified, and reproduced, addressing a long-standing gap in engineering workflows.
Flexibility across use cases
The session also highlighted the tool’s flexibility. It supports both stormwater and sanitary design, with options to use rainfall-based calculations or user-defined flows. Engineers can incorporate local standards, adjust velocity calculation methods, and even apply different constraints to different parts of a network through selection lists.
The discussion touched on practical considerations such as handling fixed connections, working with existing infrastructure, and designing around elements like orifices or pumping stations. While some advanced features, such as local locking of pipe parameters, are still under development, the current capabilities already allow for a high degree of control.
The final part of the webinar shifted into a dynamic Q&A session. As Hasanain Al-Naimi, took on the role of moderator, it became clear that audience interest was high, with questions arriving from across regions, including the Middle East, the UK, Continental Europe, and Asia.
Each design can be traced, justified, and reproduced, addressing a long-standing gap in engineering workflows
One of the first questions addressed whether the new network design tool had been benchmarked against existing solutions. In response, Samer Muhandes explained that while comparisons had been made against legacy tools, the key difference lies in how strictly constraints are respected. Rather than forcing a design that may violate criteria, the tool either produces a compliant solution or clearly reports failure, allowing engineers to adjust inputs and rerun the design.
Another recurring topic was flexibility. Participants asked whether the tool could handle combined stormwater and wastewater systems. Muhandes acknowledged that while modern design typically separates these systems, the tool can still accommodate combined scenarios through workarounds, such as manually defining design flows that merge storm and sanitary contributions.
Several questions focused on how the design interacts with existing infrastructure. For example, attendees asked whether upstream networks could be designed while accounting for downstream elements such as orifices or pumping stations. The speakers clarified that these elements are treated as fixed boundary conditions, meaning the design will adapt to them without altering their properties, ensuring consistency with real-world constraints.
"ICM Network Design will keep getting updates based on real world project experience to make engineers’ lives easier" - Ahmed Younes
Local control was another area of interest. Participants wanted to know whether constraints could be applied to specific sections of a network. While current workflows rely on selection-based design runs, the speakers noted that more granular control, such as locking pipe parameters, is already under development.
The audience also explored more advanced optimisation concepts. One question proposed linking the penalty system to real construction costs, such as excavation or pipe materials, to guide the design towards the most economical solution. The speakers confirmed that this idea is being actively considered, highlighting the potential for future developments that move beyond engineering constraints into cost-driven optimisation.
Throughout the session, the emphasis remained on transparency and control. Whether discussing failure cases, constraint adjustments, or alternative design scenarios, the responses consistently reinforced the same principle: engineers remain in charge of the design process, with the software acting as a fast and explainable decision-support tool.
In their closing remarks, the speakers emphasised that this release is only the beginning. The network design tool is currently in a technical preview phase, with further enhancements planned based on user feedback. Future developments may include additional constraint options, improved handling of local conditions, and potential integration of cost-based optimisation.
For Al-Naimi, the broader goal is clear. The industry has long needed a unified approach to design and analysis, and the response from the audience suggests that demand is strong. “This is one step of many,” he said, pointing to ongoing efforts to refine and expand the solution.
By combining design and analysis in a single environment, enabling rapid iteration, and making decisions fully auditable, tools like InfoWorks ICM are changing how engineers approach preliminary pipe sizing. What was once a slow and opaque process is becoming faster, clearer, and easier to justify.
