What is the stiffness value of a valve in AutoPIPE?
An AutoPIPE valve is a graphical representation of a pipe of the same size with rigid properties over the length of the valve. This rigid pipe representing the valve is not linked to the Rigid stiffness factor on the Edit Options dialog. A hard coded stiffness factor is still applied to the rigid pipe section. The only settings to affect the valve stiffness is the Valve's PipeID Long. Modulus setting.
Example:
Given the following 2 segments. Segment A has a valve modeled, where segment B has a rigid pipe of the same length. Both segments have the same pipe properties. The valve weight, pipe contents, and density were set to 0.00 to remove any contributions to GR load case. The only force causing bending was the same weight added to the end of the each segment.
Run analysis, and check displacement results.
Change the Rigid stiffness factor from 1000 to 100
Change Rigid stiffness factor from 100 to 1
In all three cases as the Rigid stiffness factor was reduced the amount of movement in the segment with the Valve remained the same, while the segment with the rigid pipe, displacement increased.
Next change the Pipe properties Long. Modulus from 29.5 to 1.
Finally, change the Rigid stiffness factor from 1 back to 100
Note: both the displacement and rotation results of segments A and B are exactly the same.
A valve is represented by a rigid pipe that has a hard coded Rigid stiffness factor = 100. The only settings to affect the valve stiffness is the Valve's PipeID Long. Modulus setting.
Valves Piping Components - Modeling Approaches, Tips, Techniques used in AutoPIPE
Bentley AutoPIPE