When you upload your hydraulic data to Qatium, we begin by normalizing it—a behind-the-scenes process that makes sure your data is clean, consistent, and ready to simulate. Even if it's incomplete, inconsistently labeled, or comes from different sources.
We organize everything, fill in the gaps, and remove anything that might cause trouble. This step helps Qatium turn your data into a working, operable network.
Here’s a closer look at what happens during normalization.
We identify and standardize your asset data
We look at all the asset properties you’ve included (like pipe material, valve diameter, or pump orientation), and search for equivalent values—even if they’re labeled in different ways. For example, if you’ve called something “NominalDiameter” or “Diameter_m”, Qatium recognizes that and assign it the right categorization.
If a property’s value is expressed in various formats (e.g., “PVC”, “P.V.C.”, “polyvinyl”), we also normalize that to a consistent format so it can be used accurately in the model.
We also discard all values not supported or recognised by Qatium, and the ones with anomalies.
Learn more about asset properties
We filter out what's not needed
Some elements in your data might not be suitable for simulation. For example, if an asset doesn’t have coordinates, or if it's marked as abandoned or proposed, we’ll automatically remove it from the network to keep things clean and focused.
Learn more about assets' Life Cycle
We calculate missing values when possible
If certain information isn’t included in your data—like the length of a pipe or the diameter of a tank—we’ll calculate or assign it using standard methods. For example, we calculate pipe length based on geometry, or tank diameter using volume and height, if available.
If the information is still missing, we apply default values that allow the simulation to run without errors.
We assign unique IDs
Each asset in your dataset gets a unique ID inside Qatium. This helps the platform track and manage every pipe, node, or tank individually—even if the original file had missing or duplicated IDs.
Learn more about network elements' IDs
We prepare demand, curve and control data
If your dataset includes patterns for demands, pumps and/or supply sources, pumps or valve curves, or controls (Simple Controls and Rule Based), we make sure all that information is merged and matched with the correct elements in the network. This ensures your simulations include all available operating data.
Once your data is normalized, it’s ready for the next step: review network topology. With all asset properties cleaned up and completed, we can focus on how everything connects and behaves spatially in your network—getting it one step closer to being simulation-ready in Qatium.