White Paper

Efficient Communication Between Pipe
Stress and Structural Engineers Using
Hexagon Software

Pipe stress and structural engineers in offshore/onshore oiland gas, pharmaceutical, power, mining, nuclear and LNG
have traditionally relied on a manual, paper-based process
to communicate piping loads and support stiffnesses
between the two departments.
These departments operate under tight schedules toproduce the drawings and deliverables needed to orderpipes, pour concrete foundations and fabricate steel
structures. In recent years, the industry trend towardleaner workflows has companies looking for ways toimprove interdepartmental communication to reduce
duplication of effort and liability due to transcription andcoordination errors.
Some firms attempt to develop in-house software, whichis hard to maintain in a volatile industry with regularlychanging design codes, software versions and manpower
requirements. Others look to commercially available
software, which typically has rigid workflows that don’t
meet the diverse project and company-preferred workflows
and processes.
This paper will focus on a new LEAN workflow empoweredby GT STRUDL® and CAESAR II® for engineering tasks andsolutions such as Intergraph Smart® 3D and CADWorx® forplant modeling.

Figure 1: (Top) A model of a typical wide-flange structural beam supporting apipe in CADWorx, which can be used to generate both the CAESAR II and GTSTRUDL models. The beam needs to be designed to support pipe loads suchas pipe dead load, content load, thermal load, wind load, etc. (Bottom) Site
photograph of the piping and structural system.

Figure 2: A typical load sketch prepared by pipe stress engineers for structural engineers.

In a traditional engineering department workflow, thesupport loads obtained from CAESAR II are carefully copied(sometimes for up to six loads per node) and summarized onload sketches as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 4: Loads copied from a load sketch to structural analysis software.
This data needs to be entered using the user interface or in STRUDL
Language. The notes help engineering checkers verify if the loads were
copied properly from the load sketches provided to the structural engineer.

After all of the appropriate loads are copied from the loadsketches, they are checked by the engineer for accuracy.
These loads are used in structural load combinations to design
the supporting steel structures.

Figure 3: A piping isometric drawing with piping restraints hand marked.

This process quickly becomes complex for typical pipe rack
structures that have multiple levels and pipe runs. It also istime-consuming in today’s iterative and fast-tracked projects.
With any project, there is also a risk that later design changes
may not be communicated or verified.

These sketches are then given to the structural engineers
who apply these loads to their structure as shown in Figure
4. Depending on company and project requirements, there
may be multiple load cases per pipeline that need to becommunicated to the structural department, meaning thisprocess is repeated multiple times for each line.

The structural engineering department is the last to receive
all the information required to perform their analysis and isoften the first to deliver Issued for Construction (IFC) drawings
on a given project. While pipe stress and structural engineers
are coordinating bracing locations, foundation engineers arefacing a deadline to issue pile layout drawings or foundation
drawings.

Efficient Communication Between Pipe Stress and Structural Engineers Using Hexagon Software | White Paper

3Delays in getting the information from one entity to anotherwithin the structural engineering department in this complex
design environment has the potential to create a task-delayed
ripple effect, which results in major delays and unnecessary
conflicts between project scheduling, construction and client.
Some of the problems with the traditional manual
workflow are:Figure 5: CADWorx Structure model can be exported to GT STRUDL directly
using the gti export option.

Figure 6: GT STRUDL Model created by CADWorx Structure. The piping model
has been created using the CAESAR II analysis model. The piping model is not
used during structural analysis. This feature allows structural engineers toverify if the piping and structural models are in the same coordinate spaceand verify the pipe restraint locations.

•

It is prone to errors due to transcription or location
coordination•

It is very time-consuming for both the piping andstructural departments•

It can delay projects where piping changes continue
to occur late into the design cycle and effect beam,column or foundation design•Changes to the piping system throughout the iterative
project workflow resulting in changed supportconditions or values may not be properly documented,
communicated or vetted against the current structuraldesign, introducing the risk of excessive piping or
structural deflection or even failure during operations

These problems can be solved by leveraging theinteroperability of Hexagon solutions to improve thespeed and accuracy of communication between the piping
and structural departments. The CAESAR II/GT STRUDL
interoperability is flexible enough to support various
workflows without creating rigid pre-conditions.

Case Study
On a given project, the structural engineer was required
to obtain pipe restraint loadings from multiple pipe stressengineers. Leveraging the Hexagon interoperable solutions
allowed the structural engineer to visualize the piping layout
before importing the loads. Additionally, she was able toorganize the loads in different input files per pipe run to
manage any future changes to the restraint loadings.

Figure 7: CAESAR II model can be imported from CADWorx Plant which
will ensure that the piping and structural models are in the same
coordinate space.

When the pipe stress engineer was required to change thediameter of several pipe runs, these changes affected thedead and the wind loads that were previously provided tothe structural engineer. The structural engineers had not
anticipated that magnitude of change but were able tocompare the new loads with the old loads easily and without
a need to review other data that had not changed.

Efficient Communication Between Pipe Stress and Structural Engineers Using Hexagon Software | White Paper

4This allowed them to quickly provide an updated set ofsupport reaction loadings to the connection detailers andfoundation design engineers based on the new restraint loads.

•Leverage powerful search algorithms that allow thepiping model and structural model centerlines to havean offset, which is very typical when modeling software
such as Smart 3D or CADWorx is used to generate
CAESAR II or GT STRUDL models

Benefits for pipe stress engineers using CAESAR II:•Eliminate the time required to produce load sketches
and drawings as deliverables for the structural group•

Maintain control over which piping load combinations
are imported•Eliminate transcription errors in creating load stetchesor ISOs•

Quickly import loads to GT STRUDL•

Reduce coordination efforts of locating pipe runs andclarifying loads with structural department•

Automatic documentation of loads inside loading input
file in editable text format•

Quickly create and templatize standard load cases and/or combinations for the structural department•

Implement common workflows such as rounding loads
up to accommodate any expected future changes•

Easily create results database to transfer load
information, magnitude and location to the structuraldepartment•

Apply pipe loads on the structural members without
creating extra nodes on the members; the creationof extra nodes effects the design parameters andincreases run times and complexity of results reviewing•

Visualize and include the structural model in CAESAR II••

For critical pipe runs, easily import a GT STRUDL
structural model or a part of the model to run a
combined piping and structural analysis

Automated comparison and verification of load changes
during iterative design process•

Allow multiple pipe stress engineers to work on
different lines supported by one structure (a commonworkflow)

Benefits for structural engineers using GT STRUDL:•Eliminate the time required to interpret, locate andcoordinate piping sketches or ISOs to the structuralmodel•

Eliminate the transcription errors in keying load
location, magnitude, type and direction from paper tosoftware•

Easily apply the Z-Axis-up rule to your model without
running into any analysis issues•

Easily visualize piping run in relation to structure forconformation of geometry•

Visualize and retain CAESAR II restraint node
mapping to GT STRUDL members in a table that canaccommodate future changes and is compatible withMS Excel

The return on investment for this LEAN workflow is clear.
For a small structure with 25 restraints and 10 primary loadcases, this manual process would consume 16 work-hours ineach department. GT STRUDL’s interoperability with CAESAR
II can reduce the work-hours required to transfer piping loads
from four different pipe stress engineers to the structural
department down from 16 hours to just six minutes. Bothdepartments save additional time each time the pipe restraint
loads change.

Figure 8: Multiple CAESAR II piping models created by different pipe stressengineers imported into GT STRUDL in a matter of minutes.

Efficient Communication Between Pipe Stress and Structural Engineers Using Hexagon Software | White Paper

5Conclusion
4. Respond to changes faster: Because of the efficiency
offered by this integration, projects can now performchanges quickly and see how these changes will affectdisciplines such as process, piping, structure andfoundation.

Why use CAESAR II and GT STRUDL interoperability for yournext structure and piping project?
Among many reasons, the top ones for the plant industry toadopt this new technology are:
1. Double your team efficiency: As shown, thisinteroperable workflow can increase your teamvelocity up to 40% compared to the traditional manual
process.
2. Digital transformation: Stacks of load sketches are
replaced by digital information flow that is easily
extensible to common formats like MS Excel for error
checking or other project stakeholders to leverage.
Data control is retained by the engineer to meetvarying project requirements and workflows.

For more than 40 years, GT STRUDL has offered structural
engineers a complete design solution and is known for its
power and ability to handle challenging projects. Test theinteroperable workflow discussed here risk-free todaywith free datasets and training videos from our Smart
Support platform!

3. Change visibility: View changes in pipe restraint
loads faster and with trusted accurately. Issues canalso be resolved at the engineering level rather thanchanneling them through the design department.

About Hexagon
Hexagon is a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous solutions. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, andquality across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, safety, and mobility applications.
Hexagon’s PPM division empowers its clients to transform unstructured information into a smart digital asset to visualize, build and manage
structures and facilities of all complexities, ensuring safe and efficient operation throughout the entire lifecycle.
Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has approximately 21,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 3.8bn EUR. Learn
more at hexagon.com and follow us @HexagonAB.
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