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The ASD Pipe Support Optimizer is a fully-integrated, knowledge-based piping stress analysis and support location optimization and design tool for both front end preliminary and EPC project-detailed design. Pipe Support Optimizer is a finite element package that performs pipe support location, type identification, and optimization, along with detailed piping stress analysis conforming to industrial standards and codes. Pipe Support Optimizer also designs pipe supports using the standard and user-defined support frame patterns stored in its library, ensuring that the designed supports are interference free with respect to adjacent pipes and surrounding plant buildings and structures. Pipe Support Optimizer also allows common supports location and optimization for multiple lines.

Pipe Support Optimizer streamlines the complete process of stress analysis and supports optimization and design, utilizing the centerline geometry of the pipe and the location of the various supportable structures in the vicinity of the pipe. The piping layout and supporting structural (walls, floors, pipe racks, etc.) geometry of a plant can be read directly as generated by ASD's Pipe Router or can be easily imported from Intergraph's PDS and CadCenter's PDMS tools.

In addition to pipe stress analysis and pipe support design, Pipe Support Optimizer helps to quickly determine the optimized configurations and type of supports required for a given piping system for a variety of loads. Currently, pipe support locations are determined primarily upon the judgment and professional experience of pipe support design engineers. The design process is basically a trial-and-error procedure. The more experienced and competent the engineer, the fewer the number of trials required to find a feasible solution. This process usually takes a substantial number of man-hours to satisfactorily determine the location and types of pipe supports for the thousands of meters of piping systems.

Equally important, because the judgment and professional experience of pipe support engineers can vary quite widely, the number, locations and type of supports determined by two competent pipe stress/support engineers will probably be different, even for identical piping runs. Further, because the design process is so tedious and time consuming, and the total length of piping in any plant is quite overwhelming, pipe stress/support design engineers cannot be expected to examine many of the alternatives in order to determine the least cost or optimal design solution. As a result, both the engineering costs and the cost of pipe support hardware, which is often designed, are unnecessarily high.

Pipe Support Optimizer can be used during conceptual, preliminary and detailed design stages of the project. During conceptual/preliminary design stage, when support structures and pipe racks are not yet designed, Pipe Support Optimizer can be effectively used to locate and optimize pipe supports by making selective and/or range of nodes (along the pipe route) as feasible support points. Based on the optimized support location results, primary layout and design for support structures and pipe racks can be carried out.

During detailed design stage, when the supporting structures and pipe racks are already modeled, Pipe Support Optimizer will automatically identify feasible nodes of the piping route which are within practical distance from supportable structures. Optimized support locations are selected by Pipe Support Optimizer from among the feasible nodes. Subsequent to this, Pipe Support Optimizer can be used to design the supports by selecting standard and/or user-defined support frame patterns, and to carry out steel member design for that pattern for the calculated support loads.

• Finite element modeling
• Automatic identification of feasible support points along the pipe route
• Supports location and type optimization
• Pipe stress analysis and code compliance checking
• Pipe support frame pattern selection and design
• Full 3D interference detection for designed pipe support frame structure and surrounding real plant environment to validate support design
• Generation of stress isometrics and supports BOQs
• The target piping system model along with plant geometry can be brought into the PSD environment, almost automatically.
• Plant/piping modeled using lead design systems, such as PDS/PDMS can be easily imported by PSD through built-in interfaces.
• Automated support location and optimization
• Automatic check for compliance with user-specified criteria
• Only uses feasible support locations
• Designs support frame
• Finds most economic working design
• Easily customized
• The target piping model and plant geometry maybe imported from PDS, PDMS or ASD Pipe Router
• Detailed stress analysis report
• Pipe support optimization report
• Automated support frame pattern selection and design
• Stress Isometrics and supports MTO's

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