Pipe User Provided Tables

In this pipe example, the same profile is described differently in Staad Pro and in AVEVA E3D Design.

Staad.Pro Type: PIPE

Example: 750OD35

In Staad Pro, the value of the first parameter is the Outside Diameter (OD) in meters or feet.

The second parameter is the Inside Diameter (ID) in meters or feet.

The member property that is required to be output is 750OD35 which, in this case, is the OD in mm and the wall thickness in mm. The other two parameters, AY and AZ, are only used in Staad Pro and have no relevance to the AVEVA E3D Design model.

E3D Type: DCTU

The equivalent AVEVA E3D Design specification reference is /DP-DCTU.

The two design parameters that describe the pipe geometry are DESP 1 (OD) and DESP 2 (wall thickness). The other three parameters are expressions regarding mass and area, they are derived from the DESP 1 and DESP 2 settings and have no relevance in Staad Pro.

DESP 2 = (OD – ID) / 2

ID = DESP1 - (2 * DESP2)

Mapping File

The mapping file must contain two entries for this example.

The following line is required in the mapping file, below the heading USERTABLES:

TABLE 2 %aveva_design_user%\saifiles\UPT2.upt

The table number can be any number and is relevant. The file must exist in the specified directory. It can be in a centralized location, project specific, or on a local machine.

The following line is required in the mapping file, below the heading MEMBER PROPERTY:

UPTABLE 2 <d1>OD<d2> , /DP-DCTU ,d1 d2,<d1> <(d1-d2)/2>,0,-90,0

Note:
The UPTABLE number must be identical in both line entries and must be delimited by ','.

Table Name Formula

The formula after the table number is the Staad Pro table name, based on the values of d1 and d2, whether they come from AVEVA E3D Design or Staad Pro.

AVEVA E3D Design Specification Reference

The value is the AVEVA E3D Design specification reference. For example, DP-DCTU.

AVEVA E3D Design Parameters

The values are the design parameters to be used in the formula from AVEVA E3D Design. For example, DESP 1 and DESP 2.

Staad Pro Parameters

The values are the parameters to be used in the formula from Staad Pro. For example, <d1> <(d1-d2)/2.

User Provided Table File Contents

The user provided table file must contain all the required sizes in AVEVA E3D Design for modelling and Staad Pro for analysis. The file must start with the following lines, the provided example is for a metric project:

UNIT METER KN

PIPE

Followed by a list of the required sizes. For example:

273OD8

0.273 0.257 0.00333 0.00333

273OD9

0.273 0.2544 0.0038 0.0038

273OD12.7

0.273 0.2476 0.00519 0.00519

323.9OD12.7

0.3239 0.2985 0.0062 0.0062

355.6OD8

0.3556 0.3396 0.004368 0.004368

406OD12

0.406 0.382 0.007427 0.007427

508OD20

0.508 0.468 0.0153 0.0153

600OD30

0.6 0.56 0.0182 0.0182

650OD20

0.65 0.61 0.01979 0.01979

The third and fourth parameters are required to be output to Staad Pro in the STD file, but are not used in AVEVA E3D Design.

Export

On export, the SAI looks for all ISECTs with the specification reference set to /DP-DCTU and with the same design parameter settings.

DESP 1 and DESP 2 are plugged into the formula to give 750OD35. The SAI checks the upt file to ensure that 750OD35 exists in the file. It also looks at the Staad Pro parameters to check that they are the same.

The SAI takes the first parameter , which is a simple 1 to 1 mapping of design parameter 1 (d1)to Staad Pro parameter 1 (<d1>). For example, 273mm to 0.273m

The SAI takes the second parameter, which checks that design parameter 2 (d2), 35mm is equal to (<(d1-d2)/2>) (0.273 – 0.257) / 2. For example, 8mm to 0.008m

If the Staad Pro table name cannot be found, or if the values are not the same, the export functionality outputs an appropriate warning. If all checks are satisfied, the following lines are output to the STD file.

START USERTABLE 2

TABLE 2 %aveva_design_user%\saifiles\UPT2.upt

END

and

MEMBER PROPERTY

20001 20002 20003 20004 UPTABLE 2 273OD8

10001 10002 10003 10004 10005 10006 10007 10008 UPTABLE 2 600OD30

It is important to note that table number 273OD8 is a Staad Pro table. If a different table is required to be output, an extra entry is required in the upt file. For example, a Staad Pro table named SPECIALPIPE with an OD of 500mm and an ID of 480mm:

SPECIALPIPE

0.5 0.48 <num> <num>

If the export functionality finds a GENSEC with a specification reference of /DP-DCTU and DESP 1 set to 500mm and DESP 2 set to 10mm, the SAI outputs:

MEMBER PROPERTY

20001 UPTABLE 2 SPECIALPIPE

This is because the design parameter settings are important for setting the table number, not the table number itself.

Import

On import, the SAI checks that the table number exists in the upt file, followed by a calculation to set the design parameters.

The SAI takes the first parameter, which is a simple 1 to 1 mapping of design parameter 1 (d1) to Staad Pro parameter 1 (<d1>). For example, 750.

The SAI takes the second parameter, which checks that design parameter 2 (d2), 35mm is equal to (<(d1-d2)/2>) (0.75 – 0.68) / 2. For example, 35.

The values are plugged into the table number formula, for example, 750OD35 and if they exist, an ISECT is created with specification reference /DP-DCTU and design parameters 1 and 2 are set to 750mm and 35 mm respectively.

If the UPTABLE table does not exist in the file, the ISECT is created with specification reference /DP-DCTU and the design parameters are left unset.

Note:
It is important that the values in the upt file are set correctly.

If a new UPTABLE number is used, for example, 750OD20, and the upt file is modified by copying the values for 750OD35 but not updated, the SAI outputs:

750OD20

0.75 0.68 0.0393 0.0393

The SAI creates an ISECT and sets the design parameters to 750 and 35 even if the MEMBER PROPERTY is 750OD20. The parameters are derived from the values associated with the table name, not from the table name itself.