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
 Roger Bagbey
Founder, President and CEO
rbagbey@cardinalengineeringllc.com
 John Hering
Applied Physics Group Manager
jhering@cardinalengineeringllc.com
 Brian Lounsberry
Power & Energy Group Manager
blounsberry@cardinalengineeringllc.com
Office Locations
 Annapolis, MD (Headquarters)
 Washington, D.C.
 Gulfport, MS
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Areas of Ex per tise
 HM&E Systems Engineering
 Marine Energy Systems R&D
 Structural Engineering
 Shipboard Power and Energy Systems
 System Survivability and Shock
Qualification
 Naval Architecture
 Acoustic Engineering
 Test & Evaluation
 Composite Materials and
Manufacturing Processes
 Computational Analysis and Finite
Element Modeling (FEM)
 Programming and Custom Design
Tool Development
 Fluid Mechanics
 Control Systems
 Systems Integration
 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, Poisson’s 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 Python’s 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 8–10)
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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