Problems AFT Can Help Engineers Solve

Designing or troubleshooting, use AFT to engineer with confidence

Engineers of all levels and background use AFT pipe flow analysis software to model and
analyze their piping and ducting systems. Here are the top 5 ways AFT can help you:

Size your system to achieve the necessary operating conditions by verifying your design quickly with AFT products. We offer tools such as our scenario manager, and databases to make managing and analyzing different operating conditions quick and efficient. Our Intelliquip interface in AFT Fathom allows for pumps to be chosen and imported directly from a variety of manufacturers based off of scenario results.

Additionally, add-on modules such as GSC (goal seek & control) and ANS (automated network sizing) assist in automating the process to find the most efficient design by allowing the user to define a goal for the system to achieve to either meet necessary design requirements, or to minimize factors such as cost or pipe weight.

We help consulting, facility and pipeline engineers evaluate options in fluid systems to reduce energy and improve reliability of pumps, fans, compressors and components.

Using industry standards such as API, we help engineers to check that their equipment is operating as recommended by calculating values such as BEP, AOR, and POR for pumps. In addition, we offer calculations to find a reliability factor for the pump based on the pump’s capacity, impeller size, and speed.

Energy savings can also be quickly obtained by checking that other equipment, such as valves or heat exchangers are operating within the recommended range, in turn affecting the operation of the pump.

By modelling fluid systems as they were designed, engineers can calculate the expected operation of the system and compare this to field data. Studying these discrepancies can allow the engineer to identify improperly sized equipment, scaling in the pipes, leaks, or other phenomenon which are decreasing the system’s performance.  

Tools such as design alerts, graphing features, and visual report options such as color maps are available to assist the engineer in identifying these discrepancies quickly for the calibrated model.

AFT Impulse allows transient issues such as waterhammer to be further studied for various events such as sudden valve closures, pump startups and pump trips. Models can be imported directly from AFT Fathom to save time on this process, and to ensure that the system is safe and effective during transient operation as well as in the steady state.

Bringing your AFT Fathom model into AFT Impulse, or building a new model in AFT Impulse allows potential worst case scenarios to be analyzed efficiently for transient events. Waterhammer caused by events such as sudden pump trips, valve closures, and pump startups can add serious strain to the system due to high pressures, cavitation, and vibrational damage.

Multiple cavitation models are available in AFT Impulse to help engineers calculate pressures in the system from the collapse of vapor cavities. Forces in the system can also be calculated by AFT Impulse and exported to be analyzed using pipe stress software.

AFT Impulse helps engineers create multiple scenarios to model and compare different surge suppression devices for the system such as relief valves, accumulators, vacuum breaker valves, etc, or to test different operational changes to reduce or eliminate the damage caused by these occurrences.

AFT Impulse PFA module applies a pulse to the system to determine natural frequencies in the system, which can then be compared with the pump speeds to identify potentially damaging frequencies that could be excited in the system. Scenarios can then be created for each of the pump speeds being analyzed in order to determine the maximum pressures experienced in each case. Using this information, dampeners can be modelled to avoid these resonant frequencies in the system.