Automated Finite Element Modeling
and Post-Processing of Ship Piping
and Foundations Using FEMAP API
FEMAP Symposium 14 April 2015
Dr. Chris Mairs
Principal Engineer
Cardinal Engineering LLC
213 Duke of Gloucester Street, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401
Phone: (202) 506-3962
E-mail: info@cardinalengineeringllc.com
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Website: www.cardinalengineeringllc.com
 Cardinal Engineering LLC
www.cardinalengineeringllc.com

Company Points of Contact Areas of Ex per tise

Roger Bagbey HM&E Systems Engineering
Founder, President and CEO Marine Energy Systems R&D
rbagbey@cardinalengineeringllc.com Structural Engineering
Shipboard Power and Energy Systems
John Hering System Survivability and Shock
Applied Physics Group Manager Qualification
jhering@cardinalengineeringllc.com Naval Architecture
Brian Lounsberry Acoustic Engineering
Power & Energy Group Manager Test & Evaluation
blounsberry@cardinalengineeringllc.com Composite Materials and
Manufacturing Processes
Office Locations Computational Analysis and Finite
Element Modeling (FEM)
Annapolis, MD (Headquarters) Programming and Custom Design
Washington, D.C. Tool Development
Fluid Mechanics
Gulfport, MS
Control Systems
Systems Integration

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 Points of Contact

Technical Presenter
Dr. Chris Mairs
Principal Engineer
cmairs@cardinalengineeringllc.com

FEMAP API Program Developer

David Batol
Senior Engineer
dbatol@cardinalengineeringllc.com

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 Project Overview

Project Objective: Conduct design Pipe Bend Pipe Reducers Hangers

analyses of over 1000 unique Pipe Tee

shipboard pipe hanger foundations

Project Challenges: Pipe Clamp

U-Bolt

6-month Period-of-Performance Pipe

Budget constraints Components

Pipe Linear

Winning Proposal: Develop a set of Segments

FEMAP API programs scripted and Pipe Elbow

compiled using Python to automate

and streamline the process of
developing finite element models and
post-processing analysis results

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 Project Tasking

Review technical data for pipe

hangers and piping systems
Piping System FEM
Develop analysis models of
Pipe hanger foundations
Piping systems

Conduct analyses of pipe hanger Pipe Hanger FEM

designs and redesign pipe

hangers (if necessary)
Finite Element Model of Piping and Hangers
Submit formal reports of analysis (cross-sections shown for clarity of beam elements)
work

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 FEMAP Application Program Interface
APIs Under Custom Tools
FEMAP API allows users to
Access the many built-in commands in
FEMAP for constructing models and
post-processing results
Write custom tools for a specific task

FEMAP provides documentation along with

examples and built-in Custom Tools that are
handy for learning how to use FEMAP APIs,
which are typically written in Visual Basic
API Programming Dockable Window
In FEMAP, APIs can be written using the API
Programming dockable window
For this project, FEMAP APIs were
written using the open source
programming language Python

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 Features of Our Application of FEMAP API

Reduced modeling and analysis time by roughly 80%

Enabled direct importation of piping and hanger

geometry data from CAD files

Enabled direct importation of technical data of system

components (i.e. valves, gauges, etc.) from Excel CSV
files

Accessible through a Custom Toolbar setup in FEMAP

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 FE Modeling a Pipe Linear Segment

CAD Geometry of a Converting to FEM in FEMAP

Pipe Linear Segment After importing CAD into FEMAP the API will automatically:

1. Measure inner/outer diameters of the pipe CAD geometry

2. Create a new or assign an existing property in FEMAP

Specify element type (Beam)
Assign material
Specify shape dimensions (NASTRAN Tube)
Specify non-structural mass (NSM) to represent the fill
condition in pipe

3. Create a new or assign an existing material in FEMAP

Specify modulus of elasticity, Poissons ratio and density

4. Create beam elements

Draw a reference geometry line at center points between
pipe ends
Specify mesh subdivisions for reference geometry line
Mesh reference geometry line using assigned property
Specify line element orientations for beam elements

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 FEMAP API Pipe Linear Segments
1. INPUT 2. AUTOMATED STEP 3. AUTOMATED STEP
Select CAD Solids for Create Line Geometry b/w Mesh Line to Generate Beam Elements &
Pipe Linear Segments Center Points of Pipe Ends Specify Beam Element Orientation Vector

(NASTRAN CBEAM
elements with orientation
vectors shown by arrows) (Beam cross-sections
shown for clarity)
(Iso view of transparent
CAD solid shown for
clarity of line geometry)

(NASTRAN PBEAM tube dimensions) 4. AUTOMATED STEP

Create FEMAP Property for Linear Segment
or Use Existing Property in FEMAP Database.
Assign Property to Beam Elements

(Pipe material outer/inner

(Pipe material and fill
5. AUTOMATED STEP diameters determined by
condition determined by
processing CAD geometry)
Continue Processing Next CAD active FEMAP group title)
Solid in FEMAP Selection Set

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 FEMAP API Demo Linear Segment
Pipe Material:
Copper

Pipe Fill Condition:

Full

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 FE Modeling a Pipe Bend/Elbow

CAD Geometry of a Converting to FEM in FEMAP

Pipe Bend/Elbow After importing CAD into FEMAP the API will automatically:

1. All steps for creating a Pipe Linear Segment apply but with
the following added steps.

2. Redefine workplane to draw a reference geometry arc

along path of bend/elbow

3. Determine shape profile of CAD geometry for bends/elbows

Bends with No Extended Straight Ends
Bends with Extended Straight Ends
Bends Less than 90-degrees
Elbows with (1) Set of Extended Straight Ends
Elbows with (2) Sets of Extended Straight Ends
Elbows Less than 90-degrees with (1) Set of Extended
Straight Ends

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 FEMAP API Pipe Bends and Elbows
1. INPUT 2. AUTOMATED STEP 3. AUTOMATED STEP
Select CAD Solids for Create Arc Geometry b/w Mesh Arc to Generate Beam Elements &
Pipe Bends/Elbows Center Points of Pipe Ends Specify Beam Element Orientation Vector

(NASTRAN CBEAM
elements with orientation
vectors shown by arrows)

(Iso view of transparent

CAD solid shown for
clarity of line geometry) (Beam cross-sections
shown for clarity)

(NASTRAN PBEAM tube dimensions) 4. AUTOMATED STEP

Create FEMAP Property for Bend/Elbow or
Use Existing Property in FEMAP Database.
Assign Property to Beam Elements

(Pipe material outer/inner

(Pipe material and fill
5. AUTOMATED STEP diameters determined by
condition determined by
processing CAD geometry)
Continue Processing Next CAD active FEMAP group title)
Solid in FEMAP Selection Set

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 FEMAP API Demo Bends / Elbows
Pipe Material:
Copper

Pipe Fill Condition:

Full

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 Piping API Programs

Similar API programs were developed

Piping
to model
Pipe tees and reducers
Nodal masses for pipe
components Pipe Component
(Nodal Mass)

APIs for modeling pipes accounted for

varying inner and outer diameters
from CAD geometry
Pipe Tee
(Beam cross-sections
Additional API program was developed shown for clarity)

to slice continuous runs of piping at

transitions (bends) and at attachments
to U-bolts
Pipe Reducer
(Beam cross-sections
14 shown for clarity)
 FE Modeling a U-Bolt Connection

CAD Geometry of a Converting to FEM in FEMAP

U-Bolt Connection
1. Create a rigid spider at center of bolt holes for pipe
hanger tab

2. Create bar elements at center of bolt holes for pipe

hanger tab
Create a new property or assign an existing
property in FEMAP
Assign element type (Bar)
Assign material
Specify shape dimensions (NASTRAN Rod)
Specify line element orientations for bar elements

3. Create rigid element to connect between the bar

elements (from Step 2) and the beam elements for
piping

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 FEMAP API U-Bolt Connections
1. INPUT 2. AUTOMATED STEP
Select CAD Solids for U-Bolts and 1. Process Center Point Locations for U-Bolts and Tab Holes
Pipe Hanger Tab Mid-Surfaces 2. Create Rigid Spider (at Centers of Tab Holes)
3. Create Bar Element (from Rigid Spider at Centers of Tab Holes)
Beam Elements 4. Create Rigid Element (from Bar Element at Centers of Tab Holes
For Piping Runs
to Beam Elements for Pipe)

Pipe Hanger FE Model

(Mesh associated with
mid-surfaces)

3. Bar Element

4. Rigid Element
2. Rigid Element

(Cross-sections shown for

clarity of beam elements)

3. AUTOMATED STEP
Pipe Hanger Mid-Surfaces
(FEM not shown for clarity)
Continue Processing Next Pair of Center
Point Locations for U-Bolt Solid and for
U-Bolt Nearby Pipe Hanger Tab Mid-Surface
CAD Solid

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 Piping U-Bolt Demo

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 Concluding Remarks

Additional FEMAP API programs were developed to:

Prepare geometry midsurfaces of pipe hanger foundations
Post-process analysis results

Our application of FEMAP API

Was an effective tool that provided cost savings to the
customer for analyzing 1000+ pipe hanger foundations
within 6-months
Resulted in additional tasking from customer
Worked well with Pythons programming structure and
available add-on modules (such as Numpy, Scipy, etc.)

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 List of API Programs
FEMAP
Custom Toolbar

Label pipe hanger IDs

Slice runs of piping into segments at transitions and at U-bolts
Create mesh for pipe linear segments (Slides 810)
Create mesh for pipe bends and elbows (Slides 11-13)
Create mesh for pipe tees
Create mesh for pipe reducers
Create nodal masses for pipe components using data from Excel
Create midsurface geometry of pipe hangers and assign property attributes to midsurfaces
Create mesh for square tubes
Create RBE3 elements to connect mesh of square tubes to mesh for piping runs
Create mesh representation for pipe U-bolts (Slides 15-17)
Create mesh representation for pipe clamps
Determine max stresses from output sets for selected elements and send results to Excel
Perform pull-through and tearout stress calculations and send results to Excel
Perform bolt stress calculations and send results to Excel
Create images of stress plots from output sets

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 Typical Compartment Arrangement

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QUESTIONS???

Cardinal Engineering, LLC

Headquarters
213 Duke of Gloucester Street, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401

Washington Navy Yard

810 Potomac Avenue, SE Suite 202
Washington, D.C. 20003

Phone: (202) 506-3962

E-mail: Info@cardinalengineeringllc.com
Website: www.cardinalengineeringllc.com

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