Piping Software wishlist

Almost all the softwares handle 3D with much ease even they iso' pipes quickly but then generating piping plans requires lot of stuff before they become acceptable. And sometimes when that does not suffice you end up doing fine things and annotations in ACAD or microstation. I'd say these 3D to 2D modules are really good but perhaps they can be made better.

A "simplified" stress analysis tool in PDS/ PDMS/SmartPlant/ etc.. that would indicate basic failures in piping layout that could be avoided prior to a full Stress engg. review. This would be very helpful routing pipe materials with higher stress requirements or just simply unfamiliar with (ie thin wall (10S), fibreglass, etc.).

It could also:
- Provide warnings when nozzle loading has been exceeded on equipment/ tanks.
- Suggest support, anchor, guide, loop locations.
- Point out potential pipe clashes due to thermal expansion.

Maybe also allow Caesar II / AutoPIPE data to be imported back into PDS after Stress review, providing users with pipe support loading in the model and identifying other non-piping related failures (ie. exceeding allowable loading on grating, concrete, support beams, etc..)

This is not meant to replace thoughtful piping design or the need for Stress engineers. Just a handy tool to double check our work.

I know this an old subject, but where to begin. I find that instead of hand sketching , one can use 'CADPIPE'S" simple ISO program for the ISO's. As long as your dims are placed and there is a least one real world coordinate placed. You save the file and invoke a command UDEOUT. It generates a file from that ISO. A file called UDE - Universal Data Extract-. This file places exactly the entities according to that Real World coordinate.
The info also links to"Triflex, Caesar" for Stress analysis as well. Since Caesar was sold, their interests importing of the UDE file varies. They talk about bringing the file in the latest version but we have held back since we have found that Triflex works for us flawlessly..
It so happens this command not only places the "UDE" extension for "Stress analysis" purposes, but can also be read into the 3D model using UDEIN.
This UDE file is bi-directional.

Try it out- www.cadpipe.com. They have a 14 day download. It works on versions of Autocad 13 -Autocad 16. Hope this helps. There are videos on CADPIPES site as well
Thanks-