ABOUT ΣPipe - 3D Pipe Calculation Software

ΣPipe Capabilities and Limitations

There are currently 35 fluid types including Ar, O2, N2, H2O,CO2, CO,H2, light hydrocarbons from methane (C1) up to duodecane (C12), NH3, H2S, SO2, Cl2, R11, R12, R22 and R134a. Mixtures of components are allowed and, apart from the standard Raoult's Law (non-interacting) equation of state option, the user can select Peng-Robinson or Soave-redlich-Kwong equations of state.

Materials of construction include carbon steel, stainless steel, galvanized steel, copper, aluminium, PVC plastic, cement and refractory (plus special-purpose materials such as pipe cladding, wood and glass).

Gas, liquid and two-phase pressure drop/flow calculations are performed with critical (sonic) flow limits automatically incorporated.

Heat transfer can be evaluated between a user-defined process fluid (inside the pipes) and either (user-specified) ambient outside conditions or a user-defined external chamber. This external chamber may contain (i) hot air or furnace gas such as hot flue gas , (ii) a boiling/condensing steam-water mixture at constant pressure or (iii) cooling water.

Results may be viewed in the form of colour gradations on the pipe surface or in the form of a result graph showing user-selected variables along the flow path.

Thermal expansion of the pipe system at process conditions can be shown, and it is possible to incorporate mechanical fixed points and linear thermal expansion compensators.

Basic structural components such as foundation blocks, I-beams and roof sheeting may be added to provide suitable structural context around a 3D pipe network.

At times it may be necessary to "tune" a model to a set of actual measurements (as a precursor to "what if" investigations). ΣPipe allows access to pressure drop and heat transfer adjustment factors which may be used for this purpose.

pipenetworksteamboxPipe Network with Steam Box (Purple) and Structural Support Items 

 power circuit exampleSteam Power Circuit Example (red = vapour, blue = liquid)

 

Credits...

Original 3D graphics support (2009-2011) was provided by Alex Philp, an electrical engineering graduate (now) working for Rio Tinto Iron Ore.

Summer Vacation 2014-2015: Stephan Lilje and Daniel O'Keeffe worked together on SigmaPipe for 3 months.  Both were undergraduate chemical engineering students from The University of Western Australia (UWA) at the time.  This work involved "user experience analysis" and stress testing which led to several modifications and bug fixes.  Stephan and Daniel also developed complementary training videos (YouTube) as part of the exercise.

Summer Vacation 2015-2016: UWA chemical engineering students Jason Collis and Jurgen Hanekom each worked on SigmaPipe for 3 months.  Jason investigated equation-of-state calculation methods, leading to incorporation of PR and SRK methods in the latest version.  Jurgen worked on refrigeration cycles and this contributed strongly to the new refrigeration capability in version 3.1.

2016-2017: Curtin University student Adam Abdul Razak (final year chemical engineering) developed logic and screening procedures for several new light hydrocarbon fluid types.  This was part of his final year research project.  As a result of his work the SigmaPipe suite of fluid types has expanded significantly (15 new fluids have been added).