Civil3d 2012 Pipe Inverts at Structure walls Part 3

Well I have download Civil3d 2012 and loaded it and looked into this new pipe rule and the verdict for me is not good.Sure it stops the pipe short in plan view and has the grips there but the grips are not at the edge of the structure in ProfileView as I hoped.

Also the alignment from network parts command does not work correctly now and the alignment places the IP not at the centre of the structure but jumps to the end of the next pipe this error is most likely dependant on the angle of deflection between the incoming and out going pipes.

Peter Thomson’s comments on the subject

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D/C3D-2012-Pipe-and-Structure-Band-labels/m-p/2992024#M150345

 

Civil3d 2012 Pipe Inverts at Structure walls Part 2

From the 2012 Installation Readme file
Pipes
Set Pipe End Location
This rule allows the user to set the location of the pipe ends at an offset relative to the structure's wall.
When AutoCAD Civil 3D pipes connect to structures they connect at the center of the structure. This is typically not an accurate representation of the real-world connection or pipe length. Traditionally, the connection issue is solved graphically by using part masking in the structure style, but this is not available when displaying a structure in profile as a solid. Also, the pipe slopes are currently calculated using the center to center length as opposed to the actual length of pipe.
When using this rule the user may specify the start and end locations of the pipes to be located at the structure center or at a specified offset relative to the structures inner or outer wall. The ends of pipes will be shown in plan and profile at these specified locations. Grips for the pipes will also appear at these locations. Slope values will be calculated based on the actual length of the pipes.
Note: When structures are moved, AutoCAD Civil 3D behavior is to reconnect attached pipes to the structures. The pipes will still default to the structure center and the user will have to Apply Rules in order to re-set the pipe end locations.
Parameters
The following parameters govern the behavior of the pipe Set Pipe End Location rule.

• End Location. Specifies that the end of the pipe be located relative to the Structure Center, Structure Inner Wall, or Structure Outer Wall. Without the rule pipe ends will be located at the Structure Center.
  
• Start Location. Specifies that the start of the pipe be located relative to the Structure Center, Structure Inner Wall, or Structure Outer Wall. Without the rule pipe starting ends will be located at the Structure Center.
  
• End Offset. Specifies an offset distance from the specified End Location toward the center of the ending structure. This offset is not applied when the End Location specified is to the Structure Center. Negative values and values that would extend the pipe further than the structure center are ignored.
  
• Start Offset. Specifies an offset distance from the specified Start Location toward the center of the starting structure. This offset is not applied when the Start Location specified is to the Structure Center. Negative values and values that would extend the pipe further than the structure center are ignored.

Known Issues
The following issue is a known behavior of the pipe Set Pipe End Location rule.

• Length - Center to Center. By default the actual pipe length is to the center, however, with the new "Set Pipe End Location" pipe rule the user can easily set the actual pipe length relative to the inside or outside edge of structures. The 2D Center to Center Length and 3D Center to Center Length values are actually the true lengths of the pipes in 2D and 3D respectively from start to end.

Civil3d 2012 Pipe Invert Levels at Structure Walls

Rick Graham recently commented on his blog Simply Civil3d about the new pipe options that are going to be available in 2012 to layout pipes from structure to structure by

• Center to Center (as it has been before)
  
• Inside wall of structure
  
• Outside wall of structure

Now Peter Thompson and myself have been have been pretty vocal about the lack of ability in Civil3d to accurately model pipe networks and lack of access to pipe network data in the pipe bands over the years (since way back in 2007) for a number of reason but one in particular crops up more often than others. The transition from minimum sloped pipes to steep sloped pipes where the drop across the structure at the centreline can end up being positive and not negative.


Now I have not seen this new feature in action but do hope against hope that it will reduce the number of work arounds we have had to use to employ the pipe functionality in Civil3d.
In my opinion the pipe drafting and layout features in Civil3d still require a  considerable amount of work to improve there efficiency, but updates to this area of the program seem to always remain second fiddle to improvement in the roading and corridor section. Take for example watermains to model these correctly from an engineering perspective a true 3d pipe extruded along a 3d polyline/featureline path will have to be introduced as a base object into the program. To account for total pipe length and therefore pipe friction in head loss calculations.
Otherwise unnecessary pipe network complexity is required to model a flexible MDPE water pipe that typical changes in the horizontal and vertical position between gate values and hydrants. Currently to model this situation the only option is to introduce pointless null structures into the network at changes in pipe direction and elevation.