Manager's Note

Dear Client

Spring is upon us, it is getting warmer and the flowers are showing their heads.

I have just ended a three day meeting with Intergraph Senior VPs and can say that the Intergraph acquisition of COADE is showing how good the future can be.  All users on all platforms will benefit from enhanced features as Intergraph’s technologies are integrated into both the CAD and CAE products.  In reverse, integration with the SmartPlant suite will bring upgrade options for CADWorx, along with enhanced performance with embedded CAE for Intergraph’s existing base.  New Intergraph branding is on the way for the complete product range, so expect this in the next few months.  Meanwhile, Intergraph recognise that CADWorx, CAESAR II and PV-Elite all hold top positions in their markets and future development monies will be increased (above what was already a high percentage) to further enhance their performance.

In late April the Global Network Partners are meeting with Intergraph’s Senior Strategic Presidents and Vice Presidents to coordinate planning for future business and product development. 

The future is bright.  There has never been a better time to buy CADWorx, CAESAR II, PV-Elite or other Intergraph products.

Best wishes
Ian Borrington
Director

New Builds for PRG Software

New versions of PRG software for piping and vessel FEA have been released for clients with active SMS accounts as of 1 January 2010 by download only, no CDs will be shipped.

FE/Pipe clients with active SMS accounts receive access to the FE Series (FE107, FESIF, FE661, FEBend) as well as the PCL-Gold pipe stress module.

NozzlePRO clients with active SMS accounts receive access to FE107 and FESIF.  This is a new feature for our NozzlePRO clients; as with FE/Pipe, if the SMS is allowed to expire then access to the additional modules will expire as well.

FE/Pipe Version 6.0, NozzlePRO Version 8.0, PCL Gold Version 3.1 will all include capability to address the now mandatory requirements of ASME Section VIII Div. 2 2007 Edition, A08 Addenda.
Full details can be found here. 

Also see our training course from 4th to 7th May covering these programs.

New Build for PV Elite

There is a new build for PV Elite 2010 which can be downloaded from here. 

The build is to be installed after installing the January version of PV Elite 2010.  In addition to program corrections, this build incorporates a number of improvements and new features including:

• Heat exchanger Tubesheet layout program now calculates the perimeter and area of the tube arrangement.
• Added the Gasket factors (m,y) from Flexitallic, Garlock and Lamons for lookup in the program.
• Enabled the analysis of ASME Sec. VIII Div. 2 heat exchangers using the UHX rules.
• Updates to Online (F1) documentation in saddle, support lug and other dialogs.

New Builds for AFT Software

New builds for a number of the products from the AFT suite of programs are available to download from the AFT website. 

For a list of the changes relating to these builds please refer to the release notes text file on the download pages.

Training

Advanced Piping & FEA using PRG Products

Multi-product training will take place from 4th to 7th May 2010.

This new course has content created by Tony Paulin (B31 committee member) and addresses advanced piping analysis issues on days 1 and 2 and the practical application of FE analysis on days 3 and 4. These 2 day sections may be attended individually.

The trainer will be Fred Hendrix from Paulin Research Group.

There will also be a focus on the new mandatory ASME Section VIII, Division 2 A08 Addenda.   See our training course page for full details, course topics and booking.

CAESAR II 5.20

Fern will be delivering a 3 day Statics Training course at the Fern offices 8th till the 10th  June 2010. For full information visit our website.

Consultancy

The Fern CAE team has again been very busy this month completing a number of stress analysis projects.     

Please contact Marijana Bicanic for more information on our range of CAE products and consultancy services.

Loop Optimisation Webinar

Last month Intergraph COADE presented a Webinar on the newly added CAESAR II Loop Optimization Wizard. This wizard has been incorporated into CAESAR II version 5.20 to help users with expansion loop design.

If you missed this then you can view a recording of this webinar at Intergraph COADE’s Past Webinars page.

Please look out for any future webinars on the Intergraph COADE’s webinar webpage.

Hints & Tips

CAESAR II

Stress Isometrics
A stress isometric drawing annotated with input and output data selected by the user can be created using the built in version of ISOGEN in CAESAR II. 
Choose from a default template or customise your own template to include detailed isometrics in your stress analysis reports.

Hanger Data Cold Loads
To include the actual cold loads for spring hangers in the hanger reports, check the option Calculate Actual Cold Loads in the Hanger Design Control Data options.  CAESAR II will make one additional pass after the hanger design is completed and the hangers are installed, to determine the actual installed loads that should be used when the hangers are first installed and the load flanges adjusted in the field.

PV Elite

App. 14 Large Central Opening
To analyse a single large centrally located opening in a welded flat head, whose diameter is greater than 0.5 of the welded flat head outside diameter, tick the check box  for App. 14 Large Central Opening in the General Input tab.  PV Elite will then compute the stresses and determine the required thickness of a welded flat cover to ASME VIII-1 Appendix 14.

AFT Impulse

Support for Partially Full Pipe
AFT Impulse is capable of modelling partially full pipes.  Used in conjunction with a vacuum breaker valve, spray discharge, assigned pressure or exit valve junctions to allow gas to exit or enter the system during the evaluation of pressure surges in piping systems.  This is particularly useful in the evaluation of transient events relating to system priming.  This feature can be activated in the Optional Input for pipes by specifying a percentage full and when selected the predicted level of the liquid surface and other related parameters can be graphed.