StressISO Troubleshooting

StressISO Troubleshooting Guide

Table of Contents Section A: Troubleshooting

A.1. Disconnected Pipeline

A.2. Pipeline Maybe dotted Instead of Solid

A.3. Direction Change without a bend

A.4. Flanges at bend Midpoint

A.5. How can I find more ISOGEN troubleshooting messages?

A.6. Where can I find Personal ISOGEN error codes?

A.7. Can I manually change some of the ISOGEN option switches?

A.8. How can I systematically find the cause of ISOGEN errors?

A.9. What format can I create my custom drawing border?

A.10. How can I change the color and size of the Pipeline plotted?

A.11. The nozzle flexibility element does not appear on my ISO

A.12. The dimensioning of the bend with a midpoint is skewed

A.13. Why are the flanges drawn incorrectly on the flanged valve?

A.14. One table data record is missing if it continues in the next drawing

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A.15. Can ISOGEN create isometrics with continuous dimensioning?

A.16. Can the StressISO options be saved for use by the entire engineering team?

A.17. Is it possible to only print data associated with the isometric plot sheet shown? Currently some of the data for the 1st iso drawing overflows to the next drawing sheet.

A.18. My stacked dimensions are shown with ‘strange’ characters

A.19. Why is there no dimension across my Valve?

A.20. Why is there no isometric generated?

A.21. Why does my isometric take so long to generate?

A.22. Why are there no messages in my ISOGEN message file?

A.23. How can I fit more of the isometric onto the plot with or without the data tables?

A.24. How can I suppress the North Arrow?

A.25. My Isometric shows “Disconnection Detected at this point” near a Flange.

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Troubleshooting

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A.1. Disconnected Pipeline ISOGEN Limitation Disconnected segments or ranges of piping are not supported by ISOGEN Examples:

Two disconnected piping systems or two different selected ranges

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Troubleshooting

• Isometric is not drawn inside the Border • No Dimensioning on the isometric • Only one isometric is created • Break Points do not work correctly • Data Tables are printed on blank drawing sheets • Reference items not plotted correctly

In Final.MES error message file will show the following message: ERROR - COMPONENTS NOT CONNECTED; PASS 1

Workaround One workaround is to select small desired ranges or hide segments and generate ISO's with "use select range" option which will only print data on the isometric for the selected range.

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Before creating a stress isometric either:

1. Select only segments or ranges which are continuously connected. View / Segments to selectively view segments. Note: Do not have disconnected segments visible in the model.

A.2. Pipeline Maybe dotted Instead of Solid ISOGEN known problem – 08/2006 Part of the isometric plotted pipeline maybe dotted instead of solid No Workaround

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A.3. Direction Change without a bend ISOGEN Limitation Dimensioning is disturbed if direction changes without a bend elbow or miter.

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Section C: Troubleshooting

A.4. Flanges at bend Midpoint ISOGEN Limitation Flanges at bend or elbow midpoints are not supported by ISOGEN. Flanges must be placed near or far point of the bend.

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Troubleshooting

A.5. How can I find more troubleshooting messaging information? ISOGEN Messaging ISOGEN problems can be variable with many combinations of option switches and settings therefore sometimes difficult to diagnose. When troubleshooting, the ISOGEN message file FINAL.MES found in folder …\PISOGEN\PROJECTS\APIPEPROJ\FINAL\OUTPUT\ provides increased message reporting using Option Switch 55=9 (Default = 1) for additional clues such as disconnections. 55 9 ! Program Running Messages

A.6. Where can I find Personal ISOGEN error codes? ISOGEN Messaging The file personal ISOGEN error codes.pdf is found in the default folder C:\Program Files\Bentley\Plant 2004\AutoISOGEN\isoutils

A.7. Can I manually change some of the ISOGEN option switches? ISOGEN Switches Yes open the apipe.opl file located in the AutoPIPE program folder with notepad.exe or Alias opted.exe program found in C:\Program Files\Bentley\Plant 2004\AutoISOGEN\isoutils. Refer to the PDF files option switches.pdf, pcf component guide.pdf, in this folder. Note: Many of the switches are set automatically from the StressISO options and ISOGEN options dialogs in AutoPIPE. See the AutoPIPE online help topics “ISOGEN Options – General”, “ISOGEN Options – OverFlow”, “ISOGEN Options - Dimensioning/Text” and “Stress Isometric Options – Plot”. Please contact Bentley for additional information on customizing ISOGEN.

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A.8. How can I systematically find the cause of ISOGEN errors?

1. First, what is the error? ISOGEN will usually tell the error code in the ISOGEN progress dialog. Sometimes, a limited amount of information is given. Here are some examples of the types of messages you might receive when ISOGEN did not process the components correctly.

a. ISOGEN errors: 0 Components exported. b. ISOGEN FAILED c. ISOGEN Iso: C:\Bentley Plant Project\PROJECT1\CONFIG\ISOGEN\FINAL\DRAWINGS\L100-1.PASS.DXF d. ISOGEN ERROR -13

Errors “A” and “B” are generic. Error “C” indicates there is a “disconnect” in the original AutoPLANT model. See question A.1 for details. Error “D” can be determined from the following PDF file: ..\PLANT 2004\AUTOISOGEN\ISOUTILS\PERSONAL ISOGEN ERROR CODES.PDF. But further investigation is usually required. In most other circumstances, the error information can be found in the following file …\PISOGEN\PROJECTS\APIPEPROJ\FINAL\OUTPUT\FINAL>MES) The component(s) causing the error will have *** to the right of the component. Please see the example below (an excerpt of the FINAL.MES): PIPE END-POINT 44.004 84.000 0.000 8.000 *** END-POINT 0.000 84.000 0.000 8.000 SUPPORT CO-ORDS 0.000 84.000 0.000 8.000 SKEY 01IN SUPPORT-DIRECTION WEST MESSAGE-SQUARE TEXT (A10 1) SUPPORT CO-ORDS 0.000 84.000 0.000 8.000 SKEY 01AN SUPPORT-DIRECTION UP

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Troubleshooting MESSAGE-SQUARE By finding the corrupted component using the specified coordinates in the affected model and replacing or correcting it, ISOGEN will usually successfully run.

2. Where and when does the problem occur? Evaluate the sub-questions.

a. Within the current model, does the problem happen on more than one pipeline segment?

b. Does the problem happen on sections of that segment if components are manually selected for running StressISO?

c. Does the problem happen in more than one model? As you will notice from the above questions, the problem can be narrowed down quickly and different avenues of trouble shooting can be pursued. Let’s discuss each of these in depth. Questions “A” and “B” are related to each other based on whether or not ISOGEN is running at all. Most ISOGEN issues are model specific. In other words, the components in the model have been created or connected in such a way that the PCF file is generated but not recognized as valid by ISOGEN. Thus, the following questions will determine if that is the case. Can we get StressISO to run successfully in the model? If at some point it does work correctly, then the affected components can be narrowed down by using “manual” selection for ISOGEN processing.

Hint: Run sections of the model to see which parts work and which ones don't. It's usually possible to narrow down the problem just by trial and error. Run one section. If it works, then try another. If that one fails, then run a smaller part of that section. Keep doing this until the problem is narrowed down to a few components. Sometimes an IDFGEN error or PASS_DXF file can be caused by an invalid component. By replacing this component, ISOGEN can run successfully. If ISOGEN doesn’t run at all on any pipelines or ranges of pipelines, then please contact Bentley Support.

c. Does the problem happen in more than one model? If the answer is no, the cause of the problem is within this model and further trouble shooting is recommended. Here are several suggestions which typically resolve ISOGEN errors. Repair possible disconnects by refering to question A.1

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Section C: Troubleshooting Contact Bentley Support if the ISOGEN issue cannot be resolved.

A.9. What format can I create my custom drawing border? ISOGEN Drawing Borders It is recommended to create the custom border file in Autocad R12 DXF or R2000 DWG formats and use a fixed spaced (e.g. monospaced) font for the text. The default borders can be modified which contain all the colors and fonts for table data and plot text as well as symbols, pipeline etc. It is recommended to start with the default border which has all the colors assigned to all the pipe, dimensioning, text, fitting and support layers etc already defined, then modify these layers if required. Delete the default border elements then copy/paste the custom border into the drawing and save.

A.10. How can I change the color and size of the Pipeline plotted? ISOGEN DDF File

Modify the THE DRAWING-DEFINITION FILE as shown below and change the color for the pipe, pipe1, pipe2 layers in the border drawing file then re-generate the stress isometric.

(…\PISOGEN\PROJECTS\APIPEPROJ\FINAL\OUTPUT\FINAL.DDF) Below is a default Final.ddf file. The bottom is cut off, but it continues with the layers

PIPELINE-ATTRIBUTES N.S. INCH N.S.RANGE 0 2 THICKNESS 2 1.50 LAYER 7 N.S.RANGE 2.5 6 THICKNESS 3 1.50 LAYER 29 N.S.RANGE 8 * THICKNESS 4 1.50 LAYER 30 N.S. MM N.S.RANGE 0 50 THICKNESS 2 1.50 LAYER 7 N.S.RANGE 65 150 THICKNESS 3 1.50 LAYER 29 N.S.RANGE 200 * THICKNESS 4 1.50 LAYER 30 PIPELINE-ATTRIBUTES-DOTTED DRAWING-SPLIT-POINTS THICKNESS 2 0.35 LAYER 19 SPECIAL-STATUS THICKNESS 2 0.90 LAYER 8 PIPELINE-CONTINUATION THICKNESS 2 0.35 LAYER 9

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Troubleshooting

A.11. The nozzle flexibility element does not appear on my ISO ISOGEN Components

Vessel Nozzle flexibility element is not a CAD supported component so this AutoPIPE FE component is mapped to a ISOGEN pipeline component.

A.12. The dimensioning of the bend with a midpoint is skewed ISOGEN Components Bends with midpoints may be plotted with the dimensioning skewed because of the round-off errors in the field display format in the Bend dialog particularly when the digits after decimal is set to 2 (Tools/model options/Edit > Digits after decimal for coordinates = 2). In other words, after opening the bend dialog at A01 and pressing OK without making any changes, results in a round-off error in the DZ offset, i.e. -4.67 ft compared to the actual value of -4.666667 ft. This round-off error can be significant when calculating the coordinates of the bend tangent points.

Bend Midpoint

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Changing from 2 to 3 significant digits shows small DZ offset = 0.003

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Troubleshooting Stress Isometric

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Section C: Troubleshooting Workaround Set Tools/model options/Edit > “Digits after decimal for coordinates” = 3

Edit offset to -4.667 , with “Apply offset “ = unchecked

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Troubleshooting

A.13. Why are the flanges drawn incorrectly on the flanged valve?

Flange is shown in the wrong orientation with respect to the valve

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Section C: Troubleshooting Workaround The Valve has been defined incorrectly as a Butt-weld instead of a flanged valve. ISOGEN can only plot a flanged valve correctly with correction pipe flange orientation if the valve is a flange type i.e. the Joint End type must be Weld-neck or Slip-on

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Troubleshooting

A.14. One table data record is missing if it continues in the next drawing

If tables in an isometric cannot be fitted in one drawing then some tables are shifted to the next drawing sheet. However, this causes one record to be lost from the data table which continues onto the next sheet. The lost record may be the last record in the current drawing or it may be the first record in the next drawing, e.g. if FLANGE table contains 11 records, out of which 5 are to display in the current drawing and the remaining 6 are to display in the next drawing sheet, then the 6th record will be lost resulting in the display of 5 flange records in the current drawing and 5 flange records in the next drawing. This problem exists with any table which continues in the next drawing sheet and is an know ISOGEN defect to be fixed in October 2006 timeframe.

1 record missing in the data table

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Workaround

1. Use a small table font size to fit all the table data onto one sheet. 2. Use Selected Range and generate an isometric with table data to fit on one

sheet. Note: Enhancement logged to generate a isometric using either a user-defined PCF or STS or both for AutoPIPE XM SR2. This will allow the user to edit the STS or PCF files then manually generate the stress isometric.

A.15. Can ISOGEN create isometrics with continuous dimensioning? ISOGEN Limitation Currently ISOGEN can create isometrics with continuous string dimensioning as shown below but supports are not included in this dimensioning format. The dimensioning below can be achieved by first setting the dimensioning options similar to the dialog below then editing the APIPE.OPL file to set OPL Switch 9 = 100 and OPL Switch 40 = 10 as below: 9 100 ! Type of Dimensions on isometric 40 10 ! Pipe Support information control

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Troubleshooting

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A.16. Can StressISO options be saved for use of engineering team? Yes all Stress Isometric options are saved to stressiso.ini file and ISOGEN options are saved to apipe.opl. Both these files can copied to other workstations to achieve same isometric settings e.g. default border drawing size, dimensioning, overflow etc. Note: The stressiso.ini file does store the absolute path to the apipe.opl and border files which may vary from machine to machine depending if Autopipe has been installed to different folders on different machines. Note: If the user changes any of the stressISO or ISOGEN options before generating the stress isometric these will be updated to the stressiso.ini and apipe.opl files which will be different to the original settings.

A.17. Is it possible to only print data associated with the isometric plot sheet shown? Currently some of the data for the 1st iso drawing overflows to the next drawing sheet.

Yes this would be useful but currently ISOGEN does not have smart logic to know beforehand which drawing sheet has which table data associated with it. The overflow of Table data is only continuous and not synchronised with the plot. Workaround One workaround is to select small desired ranges or hide segments and generate ISO's with "use select range" option which will only print data on the isometric for the selected range. Before creating a stress isometric either:

1. Select only segments or ranges which are continuously connected. 2. View / Segments to selectively view segments. Note: Do not have

disconnected segments visible in the mode.

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Troubleshooting

A.18. My stacked dimensions are shown with ‘strange’ characters Using the following dimensioning formats shows the linear dimension and elevation with '?' after the decimal instead of digits.

• Stacked format with dash • Stacked format without dash

Workaround Yes, this is a font issue - you need to be using a true type proportional type font (eg. Arial) which will contain these stacked fraction type characters.

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Section C: Troubleshooting The program sets the font in Option Switches 4 & 27 and also call in our 'Fontstd.fif' file in the 'isogen.fls' file (FONT-INFORMATION-FILE Fontstd.fif) which is located in the …\pisogen\projects\apipeproj\final folder ISOGEN limitation - The Table User Font is only used if a drawing border is defined. And a Autocad R12 DXF drawing border is defined with the embedded fonts defined as shown from the drop down list which want to be used.

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Troubleshooting

A.19. Why is there no dimension across my Valve? ISOGEN Isogen only shows valve dimensioning if it is a butt weld or flanged valve (with mating pipe flanges attached).

Flanged valve with pipe flanges

Flanged valve with no pipe flanges

No valve dimensioning

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A.20. Why is there no isometric generated? This can be due to many reasons but one common reason is the drawing size is too small for the table and plot font size (ISOGEN Dimensioning TAB) and the drawing content to fit onto the selected drawing sheet. The ISOGEN message file may show the following: Also see FAQ A8 for Isogen messages Personal ISOGEN : VERSION 5.5.3 (Full) *** IDFGEN VERSION 6.5.6 *** START OF ISOGEN.PCF PROCESSING PIPELINE-REFERENCE CLOSEDLOOP_BRANCH ALL COMPONENTS CONNECTED SOFTWARE KEY ID NO. = 0 NO. OF AUTHORISED PLOTS = 0 NO. OF UNUSED PLOTS = 0 ISOGEN VERSION 8.12.6 (Build 16) **** ISODAT **** START OF DRAWING CLOSEDLOOP_BRANCH TRYING TO SPLIT LINE CLOSEDLOOP_BRANCH INTO 2 DRAWINGS PIPELINE SPLIT INTO 2 DRAWINGS OUTPUT STAGE OF DRAWING CLOSEDLOOP_BRANCH Workaround Select a larger drawing size and also check the “Split control, no of drawings required” = 0 or a small number. Sometimes ISOGEN process may hang with the ISOGEN process dialog remaining open then this process should be killed and the program should be closed and restarted.

A.21. Why does my isometric take so long to generate? This can be due to several reasons but one common one is the amount of drawing content to be plotted. If the model is large, the ISOGEN engine must split the content onto multiple sheets which can take up to 5-10 mins for very large models. Other performance issues – plotting an isometric with a border can take 2-3 times longer than without a border. Note: Viewing the first isometric in Redline takes longer to load than the 2nd and subsequent isometrics since memory caching is used. Loading isometrics into AutoCAD can take even longer to display.

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Troubleshooting

A.22. Why are there no messages in my ISOGEN message file? The ISOGEN process may not have finished from the previous isometric generation. Either:

a. Re-run File/save as StressISO b. If a) is not successful, close and re-start the program then re-run a).

A.23. How can I fit more of the isometric onto the plot with or without the data tables?

Using the AutoPIPE model create an Stress isometric for the complete model

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Section C: Troubleshooting Using “…no drawings required = 0” [Default and usually recommended]

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Troubleshooting However the resulting plot looks as follows split into 2 sheets on a B size drawing.

Using “…no drawings required = 1”, and all the system piping appears on the plot. This may only work if limited drawing content.

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Section C: Troubleshooting Other Useful Hints:

• Try plotting with a different drawing viewport (Isogen Settings dialog > General Tab).

• Use a large drawing size (Isogen Settings dialog > General Tab) if permitted. • Reduce the plot font (Isogen Settings dialog > Dimensioning Tab) • Edit the OPL file switch 34 to a number > 100 to scale the plotted iso. • If plotting without the data tables, reduce the left or right margin size

depending which side the data table set to e.g. if “Data table printed on right side” then reduce the right margin to a small value. (Isogen Settings dialog > General Tab).

A.24. How can I suppress the North Arrow? Edit the Final.pos file located in the folder …\pisogen\projects\apipeproj\final and add the -700 line as shown below. Table Table Numb Numb Text X Y Char Char Offset Offset of of Table ID No Pos Pos Width Height in X in Y Cols Lines Dir ----- --- --- ----- ------ ------ ------ ---- ----- ----- -6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -9 41300 4300 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -10 41300 1550 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -11 31300 4300 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -600 41300 3850 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -601 41300 3400 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -602 41300 2950 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -603 31300 3850 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -604 31300 3400 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -605 31300 2950 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -606 31300 2400 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -607 31300 2000 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -608 31300 1550 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -609 31300 1100 200 250 0 0 0 0 0 -700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Troubleshooting

A.25. My Isometric shows “Disconnection Detected at this point” near a Flange.

The isometric error message may look like below

Workaround

Edit the Flange factor to a small value e.g. 0.02 in the PCFOUT.map file (located in the AutoPIPE program folder) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// [NODE_FACTOR] 0.75 tee 0.02 flange 1.50 support

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Documents

StressISO Troubleshooting