Is there a way to import or convert a Bently AutoPIPE stress analysis input file to Caesar II?

Thanks

Not that I'm aware of. If the model oritinated in Autoplant, you could generate a PCF and send that to CAESAR II.

Richard,

Thanks! I see that the PCF is listed in the Caesar II external interfaces, but I don't know what a PCF is and I would like to know what I am asking for. Apparently PCF is used for several file formats.

Thanks again

AutoPipe allows for exporting to Caesar II compatible neutral files.

File>Save As>Caesar II Neutral (.cii)

You can import that through CAESAR II's external interface, I believe.

You may have better luck with .PCF though. I've never tried that but have had problems with AutoPipe's .cii files.

"PCF" is the standaed ISOGEN format data file. Most CAD packages support this format. Many other applications can import data in this format.

We have exported AutoPIPE files to Caesar II neutral files and then imported them into Caesar, but I have to say that there is a lot of isses that need tidied up before you have a working CAESAR II file and you certainly need to complete a complete QA of the CAESAR II model once you have imported the neutral file. I imagine if you had a simple model (and only one pipe, ie no tees and other lines) then exporting to CAESAR II may be worthwhile, but anything complex can take days to fix and hence may not be worth doing, it might be quicker to re-model in CAESAR II.

In so saying it may depend on how well your AutoPIPE model has been built -we have sometimes worked with AutoPIPE models that were generated from AuoPLANT, and then imported these into caesar and really it was not fun. The nodes jump around all over the place and makes it very difficult to work on the CAESAR II model.

It is certainly not advisable to take an AutoPIPE file, convert it to a Caesar II neutral file and then give the neutral file to a client and say here you go, import this caesar II neutral file and you will have a working model in Caesar II.

Best Regards