Noumenon Consulting Ltd

XMpLant parametric 3D ShapeCatalogues

The information that defines the details for piping and other components for process plant
design, originate from the standards bodies and the manufacturers of these components. The
XMpLant ShapeCatalogue allows the shape of components to be defined parametrically, the
parameters for which are those engineering parameters in the specifications. This provides a
standards driven definition of the components that can be used to create an explicit definition
such that 3D design models can be visualised downstream, independent of the design system
that created it. This can also form a company neutral ISO 15926 ShapeCatalogue library.

XMpLant parametric ShapeCatalogues

Key details from standards and manufacturers
Component Parametric Shape definition
Values defined using expressions
Internal parameters for simplification
Independent of any plant design system
ISO 15926 Catalogues
Shape explicit definition as
Dictionary compliant XML files
Part 8 OWL/RDF files - later
Use as master for Catalogues
Use to create system specific Catalogues
Create explicit geometry for a parameteric set
All process plant design systems have their own means of defining a cut down version of the specifications for piping,
steel sections and other components, as well as a means of defining their shapes parametrically. The actual component
shapes are usually created by programs specific to the individual class of the component and invoked as the component
is instanced. The resulting explicit geometric definition may be cached but is not easily accessible.
The cut down specifications enable the selection of the relevant shape and parameters to use for a given instance based
on the specification and nominal diameter of the piping segment into which the component is being placed. The form of
the specification and the parameters used to drive the shape for the component are specific to each system and as such
are very difficult to transfer. This is partly due to the different parameters that each system uses but mainly because
these are customised programs or macros using parametric expressions that are specific to the system.
The base information that defines the details originates from the standards bodies and the manufacturers of these
components which is the authoritative source. The details defined here are concerned with the key engineering aspects
of the overall component, face to face dimensions, flange sizes, end preparation, bolting etc rather than how the shape
can be constructed. For steel sections it is the profile type, cardinal point, size and key dimensions that are important.
The XMpLant component definitions use the engineering parameters and specify how to construct the shapes using
these parameters. The resulting explicit shape definition can then be used downstream as part of an ISO 15926 3D
model. The component shapes themselves can also be viewed and examined using the generic definition and a table of
available sizes for a given specification or standard.

XMpLant using ISO 15926 to provide parametric Catalogues

Defining parametric shapes

The manufacturers usually have diagrams for the components in their Catalogue and if it is a custom component for a
specific project then a detailed diagram should have been created by the project. This diagram is the key information
for the definition of the component and will have identified the parameters that control the shape.

Component definition
The parameters (P1 to P8 in this case) are used to calculate the dimensions, location and
of the various objects for the component.

Eg. <PCylinder Radius="P4/2" Height="P1 - P2">

Internal parameters can also be defined in the same way so that they too can be used in
the calculation of a value

<GenericAttribute Name="Radius1" Value="(P5-P6)/2"/>

<PTorus MajorRadius="Radius1" MinorRadius="Radius2" SweepAngle="360">
<PPosition>
<PLocation X="0" Y="0" Z="P1-P7"/>
Note also that the Position is a parametric Position PPosition containing a parametric
Location where the Z value is an expression.

The coordinate system used for defining the parametric

components is the normal Cartesian Coordinate system
where Z is up. The origin of the coordinate system is
chosen such that it is the key point in relation to the
engineering parameters that define the shape. In the
HandWheel example, the origin is the bottom centre of
the Body as this will be the location which will be used to
locate the HandWheel on the Valve it operates. The
orientation of the instance of the HandWheel will be
taken from that of the Valve. For many two port
components the origin will be central between the faces
of the component. Ie. InletFace will be in the negative X
half of the FaceToFace dimension.

Instancing parametric Components

Parametric components are used in the same way as non parametric ones. The
component will use the ComponentName Attribute to link to the parametric
component definition in the folder for Parametric components. It will also
have two sets of GenericAttributes Params which hold the parameter
values and Parameters which contains the Class names for the parameters.
The parameters for the instance and the component definition are used by
the XMpLant Geometry engine to create the explicit shape for each instance.

HandWheel

Valve

Engineering parameters
Any engineering parameters that were defined in the ShapeCatalogue that are
also with the instance will have their value overwritten by that of the instance.

ConnectionPoints
The ConnectionPoints locations are fixed for a given component and so they can be defined in the parametric component
definition using the same type of expressions that are used for geometry.

The use of parametric geometry classes enables a master definition for components for all
process plant disciplines that can be used for downstream as well as for managing the creation of
component definitions for design systems .XMpLant can use these definitions when working with
information from design systems removing the need to convert catalogues for these systems.

XMpLant using ISO 15926 to provide generic parametric Catalogues

Noumenon Consulting Ltd - solutions to plant information integration
For information: Call Adrian Laud on +44 (0)1234 376823 email: arlaud@noumenon.co.uk
XMpLant is a registered trademark of XMTools Ltd