Slope Pipe

Throughout the design process it may be necessary to apply a slope to any existing pipe, and all of the branches within it. To apply a slope to an existing pipe, navigate to an existing pipe and select it as the CE, then from the main menu toolbar, select Modify > Pipe Slope. The Slope Pipe window is displayed:

The Slope Pipe window is a dual purpose window which allows you to view the details of the CE and if required define and apply a slope to any number of branches contain within the pipe element. The window has three panes, the Pipe Details pane displays the details on the CE and the slope to be applied to it, the Branch legs pane below that displays the details for the branch legs which are contained within the CE. The pane on the right is 3D Preview pane which displays a 3D pictorial representation of the CE.

Note:
The CE is not actually sloped until Apply is selected.

3D Preview Pane

The 3D graphical view displays a translucent display of the CE with AID graphic lines that preview the effect of sloping the pipe. Arrows on the lines show the direction of slope while arrows within the pipe indicate the head to tail direction.

If any of the AID graphic lines are drawn in red, this indicates that there is a problem calculating the slope for that leg of the pipe.

Pipe Details

The Pipe Details pane of the Slope Pipe window displays the CE, the nominal slope and angle, the direction of the slope.

The Slope Pipe window does not have the track CE functionality of other modules and applications in PDMS. To display the details and a pictorial representation for the CE, select Current pipe, the Slope Pipe window is populated with the details of the CE.

Branch Legs

The Branch legs pane of the Slope Pipe window displays a numbered list of the branches and the components within the current pipe. In addition to the start and finish component for the branch leg, the list includes the length of the leg and the drop the leg will have when the slope is applied. Vertical branch legs are not sloped and therefore always have a drop of zero.

Once an entry has been selected from the list of available legs, the Branch leg pane of the Slope Pipe window is automatically populated with the functionality which allows you to anchor the selected branch leg and if available modify the slope. The pictorial representation of the CE is automatically labelled.

If the leg is nominally horizontal, you can modify the slope for the selected leg.

As vertical legs are not sloped, you cannot modify the slope for the selected branch leg, but the anchors for the branch leg can be defined.

Select the Slope leg checkbox to specify that the selected branch leg is to be sloped, or select to uncheck the Slope leg checkbox to forced the selected branch leg to be horizontal.

You must now specify the values for the slope, type the slope directly into the 1 in: field. The Angle field is automatically populated with the corresponding value for the slope. These fields can be populated the other way round if required.

The direction of the slope can be set by selecting Up or Down from the drop down list.

If necessary the selected branch leg can also be anchored to two different locations by, adjusting the vertical position of the leg to pass through the anchored positions. You can use one or two anchor positions. To select a anchor point, click First anchor and/or Second anchor.

Note:
If two anchors are used, the first anchor must be closer to the start of the branch leg than the second anchor.

The anchor type is used to specify the position of anchors, the anchor types available for selection from the Anchor type drop down list are:

When the Leg component anchor type is selected, the Branch leg pane of the Slope Pipe window is automatically updated with further fields requiring user input.

The Leg component anchor type selects the component to position the anchor, relative to its initial position or to another element.

To identify the element, type the name in the Of field or select Pick Element, to pick the element in the 3D Preview pane.

The Anchor point drop down list determines where on picked component the anchor is to be positioned, select Top, Centre or Bottom.

To offset each anchor from the previous one by a specified distance relative to a picked position on the picked element. Type the distance in the Offset field, then you must select where to position the anchor relative to a position on the picked element. The From drop down list determines the position the anchor relative to the Top, Centre or Bottom of the picked element

When the Leg position anchor type is selected, the Branch leg pane of the Slope Pipe window is automatically updated with further fields requiring user input.

The horizontal distance from the start of the leg to the fixed position can be entered in the Distance field or if Pick position is selected, you must pick the position on the leg in the 3D Preview pane. The position on the leg is marked in the 3D Preview pane by a thin circular disc.

To apply the slope, click Apply.

To discard any inputs, click Back, any inputs into the Branch leg pane of the Slope Pipe window can be reversed.