Design Checks for Bendable Pipes and Tubes

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This task shows you how to perform design checks on bendable pipes and tubes. The design checks will tell you whether the radius of a bend, the total length of the run and the rest length are within prescribed limits.

The rest length is the straight segment between two nodes (with bend radius).

ainfo.gif (980 bytes) Click the Update button  whenever you see it active (not greyed out) during this process. Also, don't forget that you need to have the Knowledge Expert product installed for this process. In the following example the maximum bend radius will be checked.
1. Click Start - Infrastructure - Knowledge Expert to enter the Knowledge Expert workbench.
2. Set up your options correctly or you will not be able to do the following steps correctly.
  • Click Tools - Options and select General from the left column of the window.
  • Click the General tab.
  • Select Automatic for the Update function.
  • Click Product in the left column of the window and scroll to the Product Structure tab.
  • Under the Specification Tree function make sure the Relations and Automatic Expand options are selected.
3. Make the run active.
4. Click the Insert Rules button buttoninsertrules.gif (554 bytes) and navigate to the KnowledgeRules directory.

5. Select Bendable_CheckMaxBendRadius.CATProduct and click Open.
6. If the desired bend radius violates the bend radius rules, a red light will show against the relevant CATProduct line icon in the specifications tree, in this case CATKWEBendRadiusCheck.1. If there is no violation then a green light will show next to it.  In the illustration below the red button is showing (with the mouse pointer pointed at it).

7. To change the maximum bend radius do the following: Each check has a parameter element beneath it in the specifications tree - in this case it is MaxBendRadius. Double-click on the element to display the Edit Parameter dialog box. Enter your maximum bend radius in this box.
ainfo.gif (980 bytes) To check for rest length and total run length select the appropriate CATProduct in the Load Report dialog box. Make sure it has the word "check" in it.