Group membership in joining pipes

When joining pipes that belong to different groups, the user must select which group membership to assign to the joined section of the pipe. Visual assistance makes it easier to see what the result of the selection will be. Canceling a group membership selection will cancel the whole join operation.

In this example we see two different pipelines, green and yellow, that are to be joined at the point where the two pipe ends meet and the pipeline changes. In the picture on the right the user has joined the pipes and selected to use the green pipeline, so that now the green pipeline extends to the next flange connection.

The user interface varies depending on what type of group the piping parts belong to.

• Isometric groups – If pipes belong to different isometric groups, you are prompted to select whether to keep group membership for the joined pipe or strip the information related to piping isometric. If you select to keep group membership, you are prompted to choose the required isometric group from a list, and to ease the selection a view opens showing the current members of these groups.

  

• Spool groups – If pipes belong to different pipe spool groups, you are prompted to select which spool group to preserve. As a result, all the members are assigned to the selected target group and the emptied spool group is deleted.

  

• Other groups that allow only one membership, such as pipelines. You must select which group membership to keep. When selecting pipelines the parts are highlighted and the preferred pipeline is selected. For other groups that allow only one membership the choices are shown in a list window, and to ease the selection a view opens showing the current members of these groups.

  

• Other groups that allow several memberships, such as units (aggregate group type). You must select which group membership to keep. The existing groups are selected and shown with blue color. If you deselect a group, it is not applied for the joined part.

  

Note: For a single join operation, you might be prompted to select group membership several times. Be careful to make selections that also make sense in practice.