MetaCalc - Hydraulic Pipeline Calculator

Overview

MetaCalc is a web-based hydraulic calculator that performs single-pipe pressure drop, flow rate, diameter, and length calculations for both gas and liquid pipelines. It connects to the Cascada SCADA backend solver engine for physics-accurate results using Colebrook, AGA, and compressible flow equations.

Challenge

Pipeline engineers needed a fast, accessible tool for hydraulic calculations without installing desktop software. Existing tools lacked integration with real fluid property databases, required manual unit conversions, and could not leverage the same solver engine used in the full SCADA platform.

Solution

We built MetaCalc as a React frontend that connects to the Cascada dispatcher API, which routes calculations to the C++ gRPC solver engine. The app fetches fluid properties and fitting K-values from the PostgreSQL database, supports 1100+ pipe specifications from industry standards, and handles gas/liquid mode auto-detection with gauge/absolute pressure conversion. Results export to PDF with full Unicode support.

Impact & Results

• Instant hydraulic calculations accessible from any browser, consistent results with the full Hydra digital twin solver, comprehensive fluid and pipe databases eliminating manual data entry, and PDF export for engineering documentation and reporting.