AUTOPIPE Vessels 2025: The Integrated Software for Pressure Equipment Engineering

AUTOPIPE Vessels 2025 (part of Bentley Systems’ plant design portfolio) is a specialized software application for the design, analysis, and code compliance checking of pressure vessels, heat exchangers, and other static equipment. It enables mechanical engineers to create detailed 3D models of vessels and perform rigorous stress analysis according to international design codes, ensuring safety, reliability, and regulatory compliance for critical equipment in oil & gas, chemical, and power plants.

Core Function: Model, Analyze, and Certify to Code
The software’s primary function is to provide a complete digital workflow where engineers build a parametric 3D model of a vessel, apply loads (pressure, thermal, weight, seismic, wind, nozzle loads), and automatically perform code-based stress checks to verify that the design meets the requirements of ASME Section VIII, Division 1 & 2, and other global standards.

Key Analysis & Design Capabilities:

1. Parametric 3D Vessel Modeling

  • Intuitive Component-Based Modeling: Quickly build vessels by adding and configuring standard components: shells, heads (elliptical, torispherical, conical), skirts, supports (legs, lugs, saddles), and nozzles.

  • Heat Exchanger Modeling: Includes specialized tools for modeling tube bundles, baffles, floating heads, and tubesheets.

2. Comprehensive Load & Stress Analysis

  • Code Stress Calculations: Performs detailed stress calculations per ASME Section VIII for all vessel components under combined loads, checking against allowable stresses and stability requirements.

  • Nozzle Flexibility & Load Evaluation: Integrates with piping stress analysis (like AutoPIPE) to import realistic nozzle loads from connected piping and evaluate their impact on the vessel using WRC 107/537 methods.

  • Foundation & Support Design: Analyzes and designs vessel supports (saddles, legs, lugs) and their foundations for structural adequacy.

3. Automated Reporting & Documentation

  • Code Compliance Reports: Generates comprehensive, detailed calculation reports that document all inputs, code references, intermediate results, and final pass/fail status, which are essential for client approval and regulatory audits.

  • General Arrangement Drawings: Can create dimensioned vessel outline drawings from the 3D model.