Supports

Support Designer allows support constructions to be created using templates that define the parts of the support structure. There are standard templates for the typically used support structures and custom templates for more special support types.

Supports are always assigned to a specific location plan. The location plan defines the extents of the area where the supports are to be installed and references the support drawings that are to be published for that area. A support that was originally created in one location plan can later be moved to another location plan, if needed.

Pipe supports usually consist of primary parts that hold the pipe in position and secondary parts that attach the support to the other structures in the ship or in the process plant. Support Designer provides the tools for designing these primary and secondary parts and generating the associated drawings. There are several ways to create the supports:

• The user creates the primary and secondary parts at one go by using a support wizard. This process is completely template-driven. The user selects whether to create a standard support or custom support, and after selecting which support template to use, the user simply selects a few objects or points from the model and possibly defines some case-specific parameters.

• The user creates the primary and secondary parts of a standard or custom support separately. To create the primary parts, the user inserts onto-line parts from the library, in the same way as onto-line parts can be inserted in routing. To create the secondary parts, the user selects one of the secondary support templates.

• The user forms the support construction by assigning existing model objects to a support group. The parts have been created with the standard modeling tools, for example, while performing routing or by using the steel design tools on Structural tab.

Typically, custom supports require the user to combine different tools and processes, as appropriate. They can, for example, use a custom support template to generate the basic elements of the support, and then use the Beam and Edit tools in Plant Modeller to define the steels.

Support Designer must be separately selected when installing CADMATIC, and you must have a license for it.