Pipeline Spacing

The actual placement of a pipe segment depends on several variables. For example, pipe diameter, commodity, insulation type and thickness, as well as previously routed pipes all impact the placement of the current pipe segment being routed.

All pipelines have two basic spacing rules: centerline spacing and bottom-of-pipe offset.

Centerline Spacing

A key placement variable (especially on pipeways) is the minimum centerline spacing between pipes. This value is the larger value of:

(insulated-outer-diameter-1 + insulated-flange-diameter-2) / 2.0, or
(insulated-flange-diameter-1 + insulated-outer-diameter-2) / 2.0

added to the Minimum Line Spacing value set in the Project Setup. Insulation thickness can be set on a per pipe basis or in the project setup. Flange diameters are set in the Pipe Size Properties table (see Appendix A - Default Data Tables).

By default, AutoRouter only insulates flanges with cold insulation; however, you can add or change flange insulation in the Pipeline Editor dialog.

Centerline spacing is based on diameters and Minimum Line Spacing.

Bottom of Pipe Offset

The bottom-of-pipe offset is the distance from the pipe center line to the support surface. Offset values depend on pipe size, commodity, and insulation type in variable combinations. These values are calculated from data table lookups and project parameters (see insulation variables). The bottom-of-pipe offset, a combination of insulation thickness and shoe or cradle height, can be determined in several ways.

First, you can define an insulation thickness in the Pipeline List when defining a pipeline. That thickness will be used in conjunction with the commodity code to find an offset value from Insulation project variables.
Second, a series of data table look ups will derive an offset.
And third, the Default Insulation Thickness value defined in the project setup will be used if an insulation code has been provided but not a value for the thickness; in turn, that default thickness will be used to calculate the bottom-of-pipe offset.

Bottom of pipe offset for HOT or ACOUSTIC insulated pipes.

If the insulation type is:

HOT (or undefined)

if diameter > Hot (default) Pipe Shoe Minimum Diameter
	then if insulation thickness ≥ Hot (default) Pipe Shoe Threshold
		then offset = (0.5 * outer diameter) + Hot (default) Large Shoe Height
		else offset = (0.5 * outer diameter) + Hot (default) Small Shoe Height
	else offset = (0.5 * outer diameter) + insulation thickness

COLD

offset = insulation thickness + cradle thickness
	(cradle thickness is from the cradle-dimensions data table)

Bottom of pipe offset for COLD insulated pipes.

ACOUSTIC

If an insulation code has been typed as ACOUSTIC, the bottom-of-pipe offset is based mostly on parameters defined in the Insulation section of the project set-up.

If insulation thickness is
	≥ Acoustic Pipe Insulation Shoe Threshold
	then, offset = Acoustic Large Shoe Height.
	else, the offset = Acoustic Small Shoe Height.

Other Type

	offset = insulation thickness.

Un-defined Type

If you define the insulation code as something other than those in the insulation-properties data table, the bottom-of-pipe offset will be determined in the same way as HOT insulation.