Rigid Element

Rigid element may be used for modelling of valve, non-standard valve (3-way valve, valve with actuator, etc.), pipe to equipment connection, jacketed piping, pipe to pipe connection, etc.

If thermal expansion is needed then corresponding option should be checked, added the material and operating temperature.

START-PROF model the rigid element by pipe element with elastic modulus 2e8 kgf/cm2 if material is not set. If material is specified then elastic modulus is taken from material properties and multiplied by 100. So axial, shear, torsion and bending stiffness are 100 times greater than for connected pipe.

If rigid element weight is set to 0 then fluid, insulation, snow, ice, and wind loads for rigid element is zero. If rigid element weight is specified greater than zero then fluid, insulation, snow, ice, wind loads are taken from the connected pipe, insulation weight is multiplied by 1.75. Fluid weight, insulation weight, snow, ice, wind, and user defined uniform loads are got as average value from two connected pipes. It is used for modelling of 3-way valve etc.

General Properties

Property	Description
Name	Text field. Element can be sorted by name and selected in the project tree
Projections\sphere\cylinder¹	Projections - element dimensions are input as projections on global coordinate axes D_X, D_Y, D_Z; sphere - element dimensions are input as element length L and three angles between the element axis and the global coordinate axes j_X, j_Y, j_Z; cylinder - element dimensions are input as a projection on the XY plane, projections on the Z axis and two angles between the projection on the XY plane and X and Y axes
Manufacturing technology	When using GOST 32388-2013, pipe physical properties are taken from different materials databases depending on pipe type (seamless/welded). This property is used to calculate the thermal expansion of rigid element
Material	Material from materials database. Material is used to calculate the thermal expansion of rigid element
Operation temperature, Т_op	Temperature in operating mode. Temperature is used to calculate the thermal expansion of rigid element. More...
Uniform pipe weight	Uniform rigid element weight

Menu and Toolbar Access

To insert a flange, select the desired node and use the menu option: Insert > Rigid Element

To view properties of an existing element:

Double-click the element in the 3D view
Select the element and press the toolbar icon