Description: Ring Main Wizard

Product: AutoPIPE
Version Number: 9.6.1
Submitted By: JT
Revision: 0.0

Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................................................2
FURTHER INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................2
NEW INPUTS IN AUTOPIPE V9.6 ......................................................................................................................................2

EXAMPLE #1: CREATE A CIRCULAR TEE-BRANCH RING ........................................................................................... 3

WORK FLOW – CREATE A CIRCULAR TEE-BRANCH RING ........................................................................................................3

OPEN THE WALKTHRU MODEL ......................................................................................................................................4
SELECT THE APPROPRIATE POINT AND OPEN THE RING MAIN WIZARD .....................................................................................4
DEFINE THE RING TYPE, BRANCH TYPE AND BRANCH PROPERTIES ...........................................................................................6

EXAMPLE #2: CREATE A POLYGON RUN-BRANCH RING ........................................................................................ 10

WORK FLOW – CREATE A POLYGON RUN-BRANCH RING .....................................................................................................10

OPEN THE WALKTHRU MODEL ....................................................................................................................................10
SELECT THE APPROPRIATE POINT AND OPEN THE RING MAIN WIZARD ...................................................................................11
DEFINE THE RING TYPE, BRANCH TYPE AND BRANCH PROPERTIES .........................................................................................12

EXAMPLE 3: CONCENTRIC RING EXAMPLE ........................................................................................................... 16

WORK FLOW – CREATE A CIRCULAR TEE-BRANCH RING ......................................................................................................16

OPEN THE WALKTHRU MODEL .....................................................................................................................................16
CREATE FIRST RING ......................................................................................................................................................17
CREATE SECOND RING ..................................................................................................................................................19
CONNECTING CONCENTRIC RINGS ...................................................................................................................................20

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION ......................................................................................................................... 22

DUPLICATING RING MAINS ............................................................................................................................................22

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Introduction
AutoPIPE can only place one mid-point on a bend element, making ring creation difficult. The
Ring Main Wizard is AutoPIPE’s solution to easily model ring mains for pipe stress analysis. A
ring main is constructed of bends (Angles) and short runs of straight pipe (Header Length)
between each successive bend (Angle) elements. Additional nodes / connection points can be
inserted on these short runs of straight pipe (Header).

The purpose of this tutorial is to explain the new capabilities of the ring main wizard. New fields
introduced will be covered, as well as how the geometry is automatically generated after
accepting the changes in the wizard dialog.

Further Information
For further information on how to insert ring mains to a pipe sections, refer to AutoPIPE’s
online help:

Help > Contents> Contents Tab> Command Reference> Insert & Modify Commands>
Component Reference> Ring

New Inputs in AutoPIPE v9.6

A new menu item has been created that opens the Ring Main Wizard dialog (Insert > Ring). This
new dialog makes generating a piping ring main for models convenient and quick to duplicate.

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 Example #1: Create a Circular Tee-Branch Ring
Work Flow – Create a Circular Tee-Branch Ring

Open WALKHTRU.DAT

Select appropriate point and Insert > Ring

open the Ring Main Wizard

Define the ring type, branch

Select Pipe ID
type and branch properties

Determine ring type and

number of points on the ring

Generate ring

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Open the WALKTHRU Model
Open the WALKTHRU.DAT model located under the Examples folder of the AutoPIPE install
directory. Before continuing, save this model as WALKTHRU_Ring.dat.

Select the Appropriate Point and Open the Ring Main Wizard
Select point B04 as the active point. Open the Ring Main Wizard dialog (Insert > Ring).

AutoPIPE automatically sets the offset point to the active point, B04. The Ring Orientation field
rotates the plane that intersects all point on the ring about the directional axis. Set this to 0.0
degrees. Check the Close Ring checkbox. This will generate a closed ring by generating a new
segment on the last bend. Set the DY Offset field to 3.0 feet, which means that the center of
the pipe will be +3 feet along the Y-axis from point B04. Set Branch Type to Tee. Note that new
fields become available; set Tee offset type to Radial, leave Pipe identifier set to 8SCH40, and
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for Tee Branch Offsets settings check the Radial Outwards radio button in addition set Length =
1.0 ft. This will generate a tee pipe on each point of the ring main facing outward radially from
the center of the ring by 1 foot. Click Next button at the bottom to continue.

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Define the Ring Type, Branch Type and Branch Properties
Set Ring Type to Circular Ring and note the available option on the dialog.

In the Circular Ring section, select Number of Angles radio button and set the Number of
Angles to 4 (number of successive bends used to create the ring main). The Header field
determines the run length of each ring point, with the midpoint being the ring point. Leave this
at 0.00 ft.

View Data, pressing this button will display all the component and locations automatically
calculated by AutoPIPE based on the settings entered from the 2 dialog screens.

Click the Finish button to create the ring main.

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View the segments generated through the Show Options dialog (View > Show Options). Select
Segments option and click OK. Note that each tee has its own segment, as well as the last
piping point in the ring (noted by dark green). This is done to close the ring on itself.

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Warning: For radially outward tees on rings connected to the existing model, the last radial tee
generated will also create “Tee Branch Offset” piping (Segment G) that overlaps the initial
segment, Segment B. To remove this segment if it is unneeded:

1. Press Select> Segment

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 2. Press Select button to highlight the selection red and press the Finish button.
3. With Segment G selected, press Delete> Segment
4. When prompted: “Delete Segment, Please Confirm:”, press Yes button to complete the
operation.
5. The extra segment has been removed.

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 Example #2: Create a Polygon Run-Branch Ring
Work Flow – Create a Polygon Run-Branch Ring

Open WALKTHRU.DAT model

Select appropriate point and Insert > Ring

open the Ring Main Wizard

Define the ring type, branch

Select Pipe ID
type and branch properties

Determine ring type and

number of points on the ring

Generate ring

Open the WALKTHRU Model

Open the WALKTHRU.DAT model located under the Examples folder of the AutoPIPE install
directory. Before continuing, save this model as WALKTHRU_Ring.dat.

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Select the Appropriate Point and Open the Ring Main Wizard

Select point A10 as the active point. Open the Ring Main Wizard dialog (Insert > Ring).

AutoPIPE automatically sets the offset point to the active point, A10. The Ring Orientation field
rotates the plane that intersects all point on the ring about the directional axis; set this to value
to 75.0 degrees. Check the Close Ring checkbox. This will create a closed ring main by
generating a new segment on the last run. Set the DZ Offset field to 5.0 feet. This sets the
center of the ring +5 feet along the Z-axis from point A10. Since this ring is connected to the
rest of the model, AutoPIPE will set the ring radius to the offset. Leave Branch Type set to Run
and Pipe Identifier set to 8SCH40. Click Next button on the dialog to continue to the next dialog
screen.

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Define the Ring Type, Branch Type and Branch Properties

Set the Ring Type radio button to Polygon Ring. Note depending on the Ring Type radio button
selection the images update and certain fields become available. Number of Faces determines
the number of sides that the polygon ring will have; leave this setting as 6 (default).

The Corner Radius has 4 different settings in a dropdown listing that relates to the bend size at
the corners of the polygon ring when the main is created. Change this dropdown to Long.

View Data, pressing this button will display all the component and locations automatically
calculated by AutoPIPE based on the settings entered from the 2 dialog screens.

Click the Finish button to create the ring main.

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Note: Ring Orientation causes the main to be rotated 75.0 deg counterclockwise from local
vertical alignment or 0.0 deg orientation.

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Open the Show Options dialog (select View > Show Options) and select the Segments radio
button in the Color Plots tab. Click OK to see how segments are generated in the ring.

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Since AutoPIPE cannot connect a segment onto itself, in order to create closed rings AutoPIPE
generates a new segment for the last corner of the ring, representing a closed loop. This is also
done for circular rings.

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 Example 3: Concentric Ring Example
Work Flow – Create a Circular Tee-Branch Ring

Open the WALKTHRU model

Select appropriate point and Insert > Ring

open the Ring Main Wizard

Define first ring connected to

Select Pipe ID
model

Define concentric ring

Select Pipe ID

Connect rings through various

runs

Review model

Open the WALKTHRU model

With the basics understood, example 3 will create a complex model with two rings concentric
of each other. Open the WALKTHRU model located under the Examples folder of the AutoPIPE
install directory. Before continuing, save this model as WALKTHRU_Ring.dat.

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Create First Ring
Select point B04 as the active point. Open the Ring Main Wizard dialog (Insert > Ring).

AutoPIPE automatically sets the offset point to the active point, B04. The Ring Orientation field
rotates the plane that intersects all point on the ring about the directional axis; set this to value
to 0.0 degrees. Check the Close Ring checkbox. This will create a closed ring main by
generating a new segment on the last run. Set the DY Offset field to 10.0 feet. This sets the
center of the ring +10 feet along the Y-axis from point B04. Since this ring is connected to the
rest of the model, AutoPIPE will set the ring radius to the offset. Leave Branch Type set to Run
and Pipe Identifier set to 8SCH40. Click Next button on the dialog to continue to the next dialog
screen.

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On the Ring Properties page, set up a Circular ring with Custom Angles

Since this ring is connected to the model, the projections here start at the connection of the
ring to the model, point B04. Each projection around the ring ends a bend and creates a header
run, in feet (meters). These projections are absolute to the angle of the original point, where
relative angles are automatically derived by AutoPIPE. Fill in the data as shown in the table
below.

Projection Angle Header

65.00 65.00 0.3
90.00 25.00 0.5
180.00 90.00 0.3
240.00 60.00 0.3
270.00 30.00 0.5
360.00 90.00 0.3

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Warning: Entering a table set that does not contain a 360.00 projection entry will create an
unclosed ring, regardless if the Close Ring box on the General Properties page is checked.

Create Second Ring

This second ring will be concentric to the first ring. To begin, select point B04 again, and insert a
new ring (Insert > Ring). You will notice that AutoPIPE has reserved the information from the
previously installed ring. Refer to Duplicating Ring Mains section for more information on this.

Check Create new segment, which will create a ring initially detached from the existing model,
which will be attached later. The Radius field becomes available, and will be set to 7 feet. Enter
84 inches. In order for this ring to be concentric to the existing ring, leave the offset at 10 feet
from B04 on the +Y axis. Click Next. Note on the Ring Properties field that all of the information
for the first ring is still available. Click Next to keep these inputs the same.

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Connecting Concentric Rings
In this section, the two rings will be connected through the radial tees created on the smaller
concentric ring. This is done by selecting the ends of each radial tee on the smaller ring (F01,
G01, H01, I01, J01 and K01) and opening the Run dialog (Insert > Run). Set the Name of point to
the corresponding run on the larger ring (B09, B13, B17, B21, B25 and B04 respectively).
AutoPIPE will automatically enter the offsets for these runs.

Enter the preferred tee type (Welding for all):

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Note: When creating concentric, connected rings, AutoPIPE may require additional user
information to clearly define the new tees.

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 Miscellaneous Information
Duplicating Ring Mains
The ring main wizard remembers the most recent settings created by the user. If the created
model requires multiple ring mains of the same geometric properties, generate those ring
mains first, before moving on to a new, unique ring main.

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