Connecting Pressure Vessel & Piping Models in Real Time

In vessel and piping engineering, designers typically design piping systems and vessel models separately. In several industries, piping engineers generally focus on designing and analyzing the allowables of a piping system (represented by the allowable loads), while vessel engineers design piping loads that get passed through the nozzles attached to a vessel.

On the piping side, the vessel nozzles are typically assumed to be rigid, which affects how the loads are distributed in that system, and in turn, affects how the loads are inevitably passed to the vessel engineers for nozzle models.

This way, vessels and piping are designed at the same time and with respect to each other, but they aren't modeled together. And usually, a lot of missing interaction can exist between them.

Why is this disjointed process the standard?

A simple answer is that nothing has ever really existed that can connect the two comprehensively to create a unified plant system with respect to the interactions, allowable loads, and stresses within each system. As a result, vessel and piping engineers often build-in rework/redesign time stacked on their already overly conservative designs so that these systems interact as they should regarding equipment safety and compliance that holds up over time.

But what if something like this existed? What would it do and what would it solve?

Bridging the gap between vessel and piping interactions for the first time ever.

The latest innovation from Paulin Research Group bridges the gap between vessel and piping design so that engineers can analyze and visualize multiple components together including sensitive equipment and CAD models.

So, what is Konnect?

Konnect is a comprehensive three-dimensional tool for active analysis and visualization, enabling seamless integration and evaluation of various components including piping, nozzles, branch connections, vessels, structures, and equipment. It offers powerful features such as 3D models, beam analysis, FEA, and the ability to modify and generate single or multiple piping and vessel systems, regardless of their interconnectivity. Additionally, Konnect provides an immersive analysis experience, offering a comprehensive 3D perspective on displacements, stresses, surrounding equipment, and CAD representations.

How does it work?

Design and Analysis

Konnect enables the integration of vessel models, piping systems, structures, and large equipment into a single project for simultaneous design and analysis. It offers the ability to connect vessel nozzles to piping models and interactive CAD models, facilitating plant design. Additionally, Konnect allows for the visualization of loads and displacements distributed across all plant components.

Visualize Comprehensive Interactions

In Konnect, projects can incorporate multiple piping and vessel models, along with pump and CAD models processed by PRG using beam elements. This integration allows for more accurate visualization of critical interactions within the plant model. Seamless integration of piping and vessel designs enables more precise determination of piping loads and facilitates better FEA on nozzles.

The software utilizes common readable format datasets to combine various models, allowing for the modeling and review of single piping systems, vessels, or entire units. It provides detailed insights into temperatures, pressures, displacements, and stresses for different piping systems and CAD constructs. Konnect automatically generates finite element models of nozzles and supports, offering accurate natural frequencies, loads, and displacements. The software enhances the usefulness of CAD models managed independently by engineers, who only need to provide the latest input files for integration. Each input model in Konnect is automatically converted into a readable XML format, allowing for graphical manipulation and connection with CAD models for visualization and analysis.

What does it solve?

As an analysis and visualization tool, Konnect enables vessel and piping engineers to seamlessly integrate their designs, saving time by avoiding missed interactions and overly conservative assumptions. It accurately evaluates combined loads on vessel nozzles, allowing for precise analysis of constructed vessels. In situations where a company's resources are at stake, Konnect can identify potential "what-if scenarios" such as local overheating, upsets, or relief events.

For a first look at how Konnect works from the creators themselves, visit https://www.paulin.com/konnect-from-prg