Three things you didn’t realize you could do with … Visual Vessel Design

In our monthly “Three Things You Didn’t Realize You Could Do With …” blog series, you will discover different features and benefits of CADWorx & Analysis Solutions.

This month, learn more about Visual Vessel Design, more commonly known as VVD, from our Senior Business Development Representative, Chris Bradshaw, who has over 15 years of experience in training, implementation and ensuring his customers are getting the most of their CADWorx & Analysis Solutions.

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1. Save time through simple vessel code-switching
Sometimes you may wish to check your design against different design codes to ensure standardization or compatibility. What if I evaluate this vessel to ASME rather than EN? Or vice versa? From having the ability to do this, you may find that the thickness requirements are slightly lower, meaning you can buy a thinner plate, enabling you to have a lighter vessel and save money. Or at least provide some justification to do that.

VVD makes the process of switching from one vessel code to another straightforward. Simply select the existing model from the VVD startup window, but instead of choosing to “Open” the file, simply click on the “Template” button to create a new file, using the existing one as a template.

Select the components to import into the new vessel file, any or all components can be selected.

You can then change the code on the next screen.

Remember to make any corrections to materials as required for a code change.

2. See instantly if your nozzles are touching
If you have multiple nozzles that are located close to one another, then depending on the spacing between the nozzles, you may find that the limits for reinforcement are reduced. Of course, the pressure vessel codes, such as Section 9.6 for Groups of Nozzles in EN13445, cover this.

Still, sometimes it is simply easier to have a look at the graphic, rather than checking the calculation to find the reinforcement limits again and then selecting which limits need to be reduced or if nozzles need to be moved. In VVD, it’s easy to see if the nozzles are interfering or not in the graphic, simply turn on the “Show Limit of Reinforcement of Nozzles” flag to display the nozzle limits.

You can then see instantly if the nozzles are interfering or not, like on the graphic below, and then determine your next move.

3. Share your custom materials easily with your team
If you have created a custom material in VVD, then it is probably going to be useful for your team or company to have those materials available to use as well if collaborating on a project or design. Fortunately, every user doesn’t need to repeat the exact creation of the material, which saves time, and increases the accuracy of the design. You can easily share the custom materials through the custom material database.

The “Location of Custom Material Library” is specified in the “Setup” menu, as seen above. Simply place the material library containing the custom materials, into a suitable network location. Once the user material library is located in the shared directory, simply have all VVD users change their settings for the Location of Custom Material Library to point to the aforementioned network location.

Want to learn more about VVD, sign up for our upcoming webinar, What’s NEW in Visual Vessel Design 2020, which I am hosting.