C ONNECTING THE F RAME TO P IPE

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In this section we’ll insert 2-point supports in order to define the connection between the piping and the structural frames. Understanding the capabilities of a 2-point support is an important concept when defining pipe/structure interaction since pipes may lift off a support rack or have gaps and/or exert friction forces on the support structure.

1. Sometimes it is easier to select points that are placed close together in the model by switching to a line mode view of the model. Select View > Single Line View to display the model as shown below.

2. Pick the two points shown in the graphic above to define the perimeter of the zoom window, then select the Windowed Zoom toolbar button shown at left. Your model view should appear similar to the one shown in the following figure.

Window this area by

CONNECTING THE FRAME TO PIPE

3. You will now add a support at B02. First, pick point B02 to make it the active point.

4. Select Insert > Support.

5. The Support dialog is displayed as shown below. A U-bolt will attach the pipe to the frame.

The U-bolt will have gaps of .25 inch {5} mm to the left and right of the pipe. Since the pipe is sitting on the frame we will also model the friction between the pipe and frame. Since the U-bolt supports perpendicular directions to the pipe, we use AutoPIPE's Guide support. Select Guide from the Support Type field.

Note Note that additional fields are presented once you enter Guide as the Support Type and the cursor advances to the next field. AutoPIPE makes frequent use of these “filtered”

dialogs to request only the information pertinent to the type of component that you have selected.

CONNECTING THE FRAME TO PIPE

6. By default the guide is connected to the ground. We instead wish to connect the guide to the center of the top beam of the support structure at point 1008. Input 1008 in the Connected to field. This is the frame point just below piping point B02.

7. In the Gap left and Gap right fields, input a value of 0.25 (inches) {5} mm. This will specify the gap on both the left and right sides to allow for movement of the pipe between the U-bolt.

8. Input a Friction coefficient of 0.4 to consider pipe friction on the support frame.

9. Press OK to close the dialog.

10. You will add an identical support at B01. Pick point B01 to make it active, and then select Insert > Support to re-open the Support dialog. Note that all defaults are correct and the only required input is to specify a new Connected to point of 1003. When the dialog appears as shown below, press OK to define the second support.

11. Both supports have been added to connect the frame to the piping as shown in the following figure.

CONNECTING THE FRAME TO PIPE

12. You will now complete this section by zooming to the extents of the model and restoring the 3D view. Select View > All, then View > Solid Model View. The model appears as shown below.

13. Select File > Save to save the model.

The two supports are added to the system.

CHAPTER REVIEW

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In this chapter you learned how to create a frame structure and import two instances of it into the piping model. Points were generated along the piping line and a frame was inserted at these points.

Finally, the frames were connected to the piping system using Guide supports.

Before continuing, review the following concepts/techniques that were introduced in this chapter.

+ Constructing a Frame: Use the Insert/Frame command to define beams in a model. The Beam dialog allows you to specify the Table Name (i.e., W), Section ID (i.e., W8X18), and Material ID (i.e., A36) associated with a frame member. After these values are defined, subsequent instances of the Beam dialog will default to the same values. A frame is constructed of several beams. The user specifies the From and To points, then inputs offset distances from the previous point.

+ Saving the Active Point: When a model is saved, AutoPIPE remembers the active point. This is useful when inserting the model because the saved active point on the model becomes the default reference point for placement.

+ Importing an AutoPIPE model: Models may be inserted into a current system with the

Insert/AutoPIPE model command. Using this technique, you can create libraries of frequently used configurations for insertion into new models. Models are inserted with respect to a reference point, and can either be connected to an existing point(s), or placed an offset distance from a selected point(s). If no points are selected, the offset is assumed from the origin.

+ Connecting Frame to Pipe: When inserting a frame, you can use the Point Properties information window to view coordinate information about a selected point. Using this info, you can specify the coordinates required to either connect to, or place a known distance from, a known point in the piping system. In this chapter, we purposefully placed the frames slightly below the piping line and then connected the frame to the pipe using a support.

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In the last chapter you will learn to analyze the second tutorial model. You will assign loads, perform a static analysis, review the results, and implement a design change.

CHAPTER REVIEW