TRIFLEX® Version 3.3.2 Enhancements & Modifications
October 15, 2010

Enhancements

1. File Import Types – The dialog for File Import has been modified such that the import of Piping Component File (PCF format) as well as AVEVA’s PDMS Pipe Stress Interface file are clearly available as choices.

2. PDMS Stress Interface File Import – Several improvements have been made in the ability of TRIFLEX to import the base file format for the PDMS Pipe Stress Interface tools and export changes made in TRIFLEX back to PDMS.

 

3. PCF File Import – The program has enhanced its import of PCF file format files used to interface with a variety of CAD systems including DescView’s AutoCad Inventor and Plant 3D.   In addition, the piping code now associated with a PCF import will be that which the user currently has selected in his Modeling Defaults Dialog.

 

4. Flange Report – The flange reporting feature of TRIFLEX now has an option as to how the Equivalent Pressure is to be calculated, either using Kellogg NB-3641.1 or NRC NC-3851.1.

 

5. Chinese Spring Hangers Added – A selection of spring hangers available from Chinese vendors, Bergen Power, China Steel, China Petrochemical, and China GB have been added to the Spring Hanger Manufacturer window in the Modeling Defaults Dialog.

Modifications

1. Euro Code Material Stress Allowable – A logical oversight in the previous version (3.3.1) erroneously assigned a zero allowable to EN 13480, Euro Piping Code materials.  This oversight has been corrected.  To avoid future material incompatibility, the switching of piping codes using the Modeling Defaults Dialog once a piping system has been built is only possible if all materials are selected from the Generic Database.

2. Time History Nodal Excitations – The dialog and drop down menu choices for nodal excitation definition in Dynamic Time History Calculations have been modified to allow only those choices which the program currently works upon.  The node list dropdown is now restricted to piping system nodes only and the excitation type is limited to specifying only force input.

3. Stress Intensification Factor – The stress intensification factors for two dimensional components having an In-Plane and Out-Of-Plane component have been properly allocated to the calculated moment to which they refer.

4. Elbow Restraint Location – The location of restraints at the mid, far, near, and specified angular position on an elbow has been revised such that the Near location is now handled as 3.0 degrees from the beginning of the bend arc.  This is to make it symmetrical to the Far location which is located at 3.0 degrees from the end of the arc.  Previously defined at a location of 0.0 degrees, the location of Near was misinterpreted by the pre-processor.

5. Piping Component File Export – The export of PCF files has been modified such that the Bend Radius is properly given on ELBOW and BEND components when using SI, Metric, or IU1 units.

6. Expansion Joint with Pressure Thrust – The Expansion Joint Deflections and Rotations report is now correctly reported for expansion joints with pressure thrust data points.

7. Material and FRP/GRP Database Utility – The included utilities for adding or modifying Generic materials or FRP/GRP materials has been modified to correctly sort entered property data on the temperature field before it is saved to the  database file.

8. Euro Code Compliance Dialog – Modifications of allowable stress and creep rupture stress for Generic and FRP/GRP materials has been made possible in the Euro Code Compliance dialog.

9. Material Properties Evaluation from Euro Code Database – The manner and type of material property (density, Expansion Coefficient, and Modulus of Elasticity) calculations for materials selected from the Euro Database have been modified, yielding more accurate results.

10. Soil Loading – Soil loading applied to piping was reapportioned between primary and secondary effects.

11.  Code Compliance Tab – Occasionally program crashes could occur if the Piping Code was changed in the Model Defaults dialog and a component Code Compliance dialog was brought up without ever having visited the component Piping Properties dialog.  This problem has been resolved.

12.  Euro Code Materials in Creep Range – Euro Code materials in the creep range no longer give the “out of temperature range” error message when the operating or base temperature is beyond the elastic limit, as long as the material is still within the temperature range where creep analysis can be performed.

13. Piping Code Switching – An error was corrected when a piping system designed using one piping code was changed to another piping code and the unit system was other than Imperial.  This would erroneously do a double conversion on the allowable stress resulting in an extremely low value being reported in the code compliance dialog.

14.  B31.8 Ultimate Stress and SMYS – An error in the automatic calculation of ultimate and yield stress in B31.8 occurring when properties were re-evaluated following a change in the process data has been corrected.