Software Extends Information Mobility Across Workflows, Enabling Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, and Storage Tank Manufacturers to Optimize Designs Within Context of EPC Contractor and Owner Requirements

EXTON, Pa., U.S.A. – Oct. 15, 2013 – Bentley Systems,

the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced the immediate availability of AutoPIPE Vessel V8i powered by Microprotol. The flexible new software extends information mobility across vessel manufacturer, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, and owner-operator workflows, improving engineering collaboration and supply chain efficiency. This results in reduced iterations and errors and safer, higher-quality, optimized designs for both greenfield and brownfield projects. AutoPIPE Vessel V8i also shares data with plant design software, further streamlining project workflows. In addition, it is the first product to automate the entire vessel design process – from design and analysis to drawing production, procurement, detailed cost breakdown, and manufacturing process, including full vessel optimization – improving productivity and reducing costs.

Santanu Das, Bentley senior vice president, design and simulation, said, “We acquired Microprotol last year to add still more breadth to the widely used Bentley AutoPIPE line of products for comprehensive pipe stress analysis. For more than 20 years, Bentley AutoPIPE has been the pipe analysis software of choice for leading EPCs worldwide due to its many capabilities, including the groundbreaking new hot-clash detection feature in the SELECTseries 5 release.”

Hot-clash detection in Bentley AutoPIPE reveals weak points in the operating plant design, including how a pipe will bend on a windy day or move during an earthquake. Bentley uniquely offers this interactive, 3D-rendered display of piping and structural systems deflecting under real-world conditions to help users evaluate actual operational clashes with 3D plant equipment of any type.

Das continued, “Microprotol brought to our world-class pipe stress analysis line rigorous performance simulation capabilities for the streamlined design, analysis, fabrication, and commissioning of pressure vessels and their associated pipework. Today, we are announcing AutoPIPE Vessel V8i, a new offering that extends its application reach to a global scale through support for all key pressure vessel design codes issued in the past 10 years across Asia, Europe, and America. This makes the software suitable for not only new vessel builds, but also for recertifying and revamping existing assets. Capabilities include running asset health modeling simulations and interactive inspections with corrosion and fatigue as key parameters to ensure a vessel’s safe operation throughout its lifecycle.”

Users of AutoPIPE Vessel V8i further benefit from the global support provided by Bentley’s extensive professional services teams. Moreover, because the software is available through a SELECT subscription, they gain access to anytime software upgrades at no additional cost, 24/7/365 support, flexible licensing, including Portfolio Balancing, and more.

AutoPIPE Vessel V8i provides vessel manufacturers:

• faster component fabrication and drawing production – through the ability to evaluate multiple options to optimize vessel designs for materials, delivery time, and fabrication costs;
• optimized and flexible vessel design and manufacturing – through the ability to design for manufacturing, installation, and operating conditions, and to quickly evaluate options to provide a comprehensive, high-quality solution for all loading and manufacturing scenarios that is the most productive, cost-effective, and accurate for the safe operation of the vessel;
• improved collaboration with EPCs and owner engineering departments – ensuring greater efficiency in the supply chain and greater alignment with engineering organizations, reducing iterations and errors, enhancing the quality of designs, and unifying workflows across a comprehensive set of tools.

AutoPIPE Vessel benefits EPC contractors and the engineering departments of owner-operators by:

• maximizing the productivity of skilled engineering resources – through optimized and flexible vessel design across the project team using a single application for pressure vessels, heat exchangers, air coolers, and storage tanks that:
  • includes automated drawing production (making drawings available in minutes, rather than days) as well as cost estimation;
  • provides fatigue analysis, pressure testing, and optimized flange and nozzle analysis;
  • features regional seismic and wind load codes;
  • provides the opportunity to design for greenfield and brownfield projects;
  • shortens design time and rework by eliminating guesswork with its powerful optimization engine;
  • is easy to use, lowering training costs and speeding project delivery;
  • facilitates the re-rating/recertifying and revamping of existing vessels through its support of older design codes and material standards dating back 10 years;
• supporting global markets – through the ability to design vessels to all major design codes in any region, including German AD Merkblatter, ASME VIII Div. 1 and Div. 2, British PD 5500, French CODAP, EN 13445, Russian GOST, ADM, AP650, and AP661;
• improving collaboration across distributed project teams, ensuring greater efficiency within the supply chain, reduced iterations and errors, and better quality designs – through advanced data interoperability across thermal design simulation tools; the ability to import thermal design data from HTRI, ASPEN, PROSIM, and Honeywell; and the ability to share data with major CAD and plant design software, including MicroStation, AutoPLANT, and OpenPlant; PDS; SolidWorks; and AutoCAD.

Features of AutoPIPE Vessel V8i include:

• integrated API650 Tank module for designing small or large industrial storage tanks, complete with all engineering drawings and cost estimation;
• French CODAP (2012 addenda), German AD2000/07-2012, and British PD5500 (2012) design code updates;
• free, built-in DGN Viewer for viewing automatically generated MicroStation DGN drawings using the latest platform technology.

To view an eSeminar on AutoPIPE Vessel, click here.

For additional information about AutoPIPE Vessel powered by Microprotol, or to download it on Bentley SELECT, visit www.bentley.com/autopipevessel. For additional information on Bentley’s acquisition of Microprotol last November, click here.

About Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Bentley Systems applies information mobility to improve asset performance by leveraging information modeling through integrated projects for intelligent infrastructure. Its solutions encompass the MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modeling, the ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and the AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations – all supporting a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and complemented by worldwide professional services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 3,000 colleagues in 50 countries, more than $500 million in annual revenues, and since 2005 has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

Additional information about Bentley is available at www.bentley.com and in Bentley’s annual report. For Bentley news as it happens, subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure publications. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Be Communities .