Apply Slope

The slope tool allows you to specify the amount a pipe should slope over a specified distance and lets you to apply that to existing pipe runs in the drawing.

Accessed from:

Piping Ribbon > Manipulation ribbon group
HVAC Ribbon > Manipulation ribbon group

Note: The Slope Tool will parametrically adjust elbows to maintain aligned connections. It will not process through branch connections.

Setting	Description
Method	The different slope methods provide the following options, each provide a different way of define the slope. Rise/Run % Percent Degree Each method will display a different value field which is displayed below the method and next to the Direction list. If a slope is defined using one method, and another method is then selected, the value is automatically equated using the new method and displayed. For example, If the Rise/Run method is selected, and the Rise:Run is set to (6:12) for example, this equates to a 50% slope. If you then select the %Percent method, the Percentage value will display 50.000. If you then select the Degree method, it displays the Slope Degree as 26.565.
Slope Direction	The slope direction list displays next to the slope value field and provides two options: Up Down
Slope Selected Pipe	Enabled by default, this option determines whether the slope is applied to the selected pipe along with the connecting piping components. When disabled, the slope will apply to the connecting piping only and the selected pipe will not be sloped. Note: If you select an open end of a pipe with this option off, you will get a message saying No Pipe will be Sloped. This is because the selected pipe is not to be sloped and there are no connected components to the open end. (More about this in the Apply Slope Workflows below).
Trim Elbows	This option controls whether elbows will be trimmed per the slope angle when applying a slope to a piping network. (See example below)
Continue Through Risers	Enabled- the slope will apply to the entire route of the selected line including through any riser sections. Disabled - the slope will apply only to the components leading up to a riser section. (See examples below).
Process Pipe Within (degrees)	The value entered here defines the maximum angle in the vertical direction an existing pipe can be drawn and still apply a slope to it. Anything higher than this is considered a riser and will either be the end point for slope processing or will allow slope processing to continue beyond this section based on the Continue Through Risers setting.

Apply Slope Workflows

The slope tool is designed to slope a single pipe length, or an entire pipe run. The behavior of how the slope is applied in the model depends on both the settings defined in the Apply Slope dialog and the pick points on the components you are applying the slope to.

Below are a couple of basic scenarios on how the slope can be applied in a model.

Example 1

In the first example, the following settings are applied in the dialog:

Note: Note that for all of the examples below, the slope Method (and it's value), as well as the Process Pipe Within fields will remain unchanged.

When you pick a point on an open end of a pipe as shown below:

You will get the following error message in the Message Center:

This is because the Slope Selected Pipe option has been disabled and there are no connecting elbows to the selected end of the pipe.

Note: This message will also display if you have the Continue through Risers option enabled and select open end point shown above.

However, if you have the Slope Selected Pipe enabled and click the open end of the pipe, only that section of pipe will be sloped as shown:

Example 2

If both options are disabled as shown below:

and you select the pick point below,

then the resulting slope will display as shown below:

The slope applies to all of the components from the pick point to the riser.

Note: Since the Slope Selected Pipe option was disabled, the selected section of pipe is not sloped.

If the Continue Through Riser option was Enabled, then the resulting slope would display as shown below:

Note: Once again, the selected pipe is not sloped as the Sloped Selected Pipe option was disabled.

If both option are enabled and the same spot is picked, then the resulting slope would include the original selected pipe along with the other components as shown below:

Trimmed Elbow Example

When a slope angle is applied to a pipeline, and the Trimmed Elbows option is enabled, then the elbows in the pipeline will be trimmed per the slope angle.

In the following example, a pipeline was drawing in a Front view:

Then apply the following slope settings:

And select the first pipe:

OPM will slope the piping network. If you mouse over the first elbow, you will see it has been trimmed per the slope angle applied.