Placing Pipe along curved path

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am part of a project where we are modeling fire protection services along a metro tunnel. I need to model pipes parallel to the tunnel which curves along the longitudinal path while there is a constant change in elevation. Can you please suggest on how this can be achieved?

Regards,

Rodney

[L.Maas]

I think you can't. But then, do you expect to have curved pipes in the tunnel? If not then it would mean to use straight segments with angles that slowly follow the shape of the tunnel with a slope if needed. It is good practice to keep in midn how things would be made in real life. That often gives an indication how it should be modelled in Revit.

If you are in the preliminary stages you could create a family or use inplace component with a sweep that follows the shape of the tunnel.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for you reply. There are victaulic pies and the angles for pipe fittings keep varying. I will try your suggestion and see how that works out.

Regards,

Rodney

[tuuletin]

But keep in your mind, that if you are using such family-based curvy "pipes" — their lengths won't be summed up into pipe lengths schedule (if you are going to use one of such schedules) — so don't forget to add those lengths somehow.

[fabiosato]

I have already done this before, I created a fitting and placed them one by one. In my case the pipes were actually bended on sight, I included a length parameter linked to the arc length

[www.TechRoom.bg]

Hello,

I am totaly sure that in tunel you cant use curved pipes. You must keep in mind how this will be build in real world. 

My advice is to use regular pipes with elbows with different angles for making you pipe route real.

Yeah its a little bit ugly and non-perfect but this is the way which will be used for real build on this pipe trace.

In revit have different way to create cured elements:

1. Create Family with curved geometry

2. Create mass like a family with curved geometry.

3.Create mass in place with curved geometry.

4. Use element with Dynamo which is able to folow dinamic curved geometry.

Maybe have more options but i have this 4 in my mind 😉

I hope this will help you.

[Anonymous]

In reality, you CAN curve pipe if you are using HDPE. It sweeps along any path within the tolerances of the specified pipe. Usually a safe radius is 30' for SDR11, but it also depends on the pipe diameter. If you look at ISCO's literature, you can get the data for the specific pipe you need to use (Diameter and SDR - which is the ratio of wall thickness to pipe diameter and is selected usually based on the design pressure) and its minimum bend radius. You can also look up HDPE pipe all over Google and youtube and see demonstrations of HDPE installation methods.

If your application does not allow HDPE, then you have to look elsewhere. STEEL pipe actually curves as well. NOT ductile iron - that's rigid - but steel pipe. We use it all the time in the natural gas industry pipelines. Pipe is usually installed so that it is buried at a minimum depth, following the surface of the ground until conflicts are encountered, then the pipe is deflected with curves or actual bend fittings as needed to avoid conflicts. Of course steel pipe has its maximum bend tolerances - so you need to do your due diligence and look up those tolerances.

With all this said, unfortunately Revit will not run curved pipe, at least not as pipe. As suggested above, you will need to create a specific family to sweep "pipe" (not actually classified as pipe when you do this so it wont show up on schedules). There MAY be a way to do it in Dynamo, but I am not familiar with Dynamo yet.

[pkolarik]

I'm reviving an old topic here....

Is it still the case that Revit won't do curved piping? (Revit 2021)

Thanks

[RobDraw]

No curved piping.

What is your application?

[pkolarik]

It has to be curved around the inside of a tank. The piping in the field is always curved in this situation. That Revit can't accomplish this with piping is unfortunate.

[RobDraw]

What's really unfortunate is that you give up so easily. Piping inside of a tank seems quite minor compared to the topic of this thread. So minor in fact that my first thought is why modeling it is required unless you're doing fabrication. 

[pkolarik]

And yet another condescending post from the "great RobDraw"....

You make so many assumptions and you're always wrong. Don't you get tired of it?

This "quite minor" assumption you made is actually 5 runs of 3" piping mounted to the interior face of a 95' diameter steel tank. It is required to be modeled due to the contractor we're working with needing it to do clash detection in Navisworks.

So your assertion I "gave up so easily" is also false. I currently have it modeled a just a solid mass. While having it as piping would be nice, it's certainly not stopping me from accomplishing what I need to accomplish.

In the future, how about if you lack the ability to actually address the question you just don't say anything at all?

[RobDraw]

How about you word your question in an intelligent fashion? Talking in generalities and then berating a response with all kinds of additional details when you were asked about the application is really bad form.

Good day.

[iainsavage]

My own take on this is that if you bought pipe from a merchant it would be straight. In order to curve it someone has to apply the curvature. By doing so, in my opinion, it then becomes a component rather than a pipe so I would model it as a pipe accessory or fitting (or multiple accessories or fittings).

When we compile bills of quantities for pricing we wouldn’t describe your curved pipes as just “pipe” with a linear length, we would describe it as a component because the bending process has to be accounted for in the costs.

In hydraulic calculations, a curved pipe is also not hydraulically the same as a straight pipe.

So I would model it as a component.

Clash detection should still detect such a component.

[pkolarik]

How about you try working on reading comprehension. I asked a very simple and straightforward question. You answered it. Case closed.

But wait... then you decided to throw a bit of your good ole' RobDraw condescension on there after the fact. And as usual, you try and spin it that a simple question wasn't worded simply enough for you to comprehend. The issue is on your end, not with the rest of the internet.

Again, if you can't address the question then don't reply at all.  We're done here.

[pkolarik]

Interesting behind-the-scenes take on curved pipe. Thanks for the info and suggestion!

[RobDraw]

You're worse than my baby sister. Quick to blame others without taking responsibility for your own actions.

[ToanDN]

Model it as a pipe fitting family with an instance radius parameter; or a a model-in-place under pipe category.

[Gert_Strydom]

I have a similar question regarding piping in Revit, but in my case, the pipe needs to curve around large bulk storage tanks.

Would the best approach be to create a family that hosts the fire protection sprays and connect the piping that way, use a flexible piping family, or perhaps try a pipe-to-line plugin?

Does anyone have a better solution?

[RSomppi]

Flex pipe is hard to work with.

I think you meant a "line to pipe" plug in. If there are any, that could be useful if this is something you will need in the future.

I would probably make my own families.