Use Case
Codes of construction and owner integrity management programs demand that welded joints comply with regulatory and corporate safety requirements.
OSHA and regulators like PHMSA all mandate that welds be identified so that each joint can be fabricated according to Weld Procedure Specifications by qualified welders. Everything from the materials being joined to the post-weld heat treatment needs to be traceable in some industries.
Weld placement is automatic within AutoCAD PLANT 3D (P3D) and these connectors establish a foundation for weld lifecycles. They are born with many properties like Weld Number. BUBBLEWorx processes Weld Numbers by populating numeric values because by default the field type is an integer.
BUBBLEWorx groups welds for numbering by selecting properties such as pipe class, line tag, work package numbers, or in many deployments, Management of Change (MOC) numbers.
P3D and BUBBLEWorx integrate to quickly assign a unique weld number starting at 1 to the maximum connectors in the selected group.
This article describes how BUBBLEWorx places weld markings that can be appended with design, engineering, construction, and compliance data. P3D Weld Numbers are the foundation for buttweld, socketweld, & tapweld connections. BUBBLEWorx and SOCKETWorx combine to provide a full life cycle solution and bridge the gap between the P3D environment to a web browser where others with weld lifecycle data/document roles can accomplish tasks.
BUBBLEWorx weld numbers marks can be set to automatically integrate with SOCKETWorx. This integration results in bubbles being populated with hyperlinks that SOCKETWorx reads to display all weld data to users with a web browser.|
Once Weld Map drawings are published as PDF files, they can be opened in SOCKETWorx where users can click click on them to look up properties, add compliance data, and even attach documents such as procedures, test reports, or certificates.
P3D Setup & Configuration
Establishing a 'Group System' using P3D Properties
P3D connectors can be best seen in 2D Wireframe mode. Users can click on the visual style control (1) in model-space.
This exposes welds (2). Click on them once to get the connector properties. Ctrl+Click shows the Accessory, or weld, data for weld joints.
The Properties palette is a data portal for P3D users.
The first header control (1) lists all selected objects. Usually, only one object is selected, but it is possible to select multiple.
The initial selection returns Connector. Subsequent Ctrl+Click on the same weld will display the Accessory or weld properties.
The key to this Use Case is that the Weld Number (2) property exists for both and they are connected. Therefore it can be populated on either and that value propagates to the other.
BUBBLEWorx will automatically populate values on the connectors.
The process of populating welds starts by choosing another Connector property, and then a value. For example, users want to number welds by Line Number Tag (3), or Work Order (4).
This Group System is designed to sequentially number every connector within a group starting at 1. So after executing the process, return to the Properties palette to lookup values.
Configure P3D so BUBBLEWorx will populate SOCKETWorx hyperlinks
Launch the P3D Project Manager
(1) Add a new Category named SOCKETWorx.
(2) Add two rows named 'connectonid' and 'domain' to the SOCKETWorx category
The values for connectionid and domain will be specific to SOCKETWorx instances.
Adding weld bubbles and tables
BUBBLEWorx Auto-Weld Numbering
Launch the palette and focus on the Bubbling By (1) controls.
Select a Category and then a value to establish a group or connections to populate with Weld Numbers.
(2) Use this button to populate values. Use the other button to clear them.
BUBBLEWorx Weld Mark Placement
Now that all the groups have been populated with numeric values, users can 1) Set the bubble Style, 2) Orientation, and 3) click the Add or Update buttons to place bubbles and place, or update, tables.
The results can look like this:
Using SOCKETWorx To Process Welds via a web browser
What is SOCKETWorx?
Related to this Article, SOCKETWorx is a web application that connects to P3D databases and supports data viewing, data entry, and drawing markup roles.
SOCKETWorx Integration
Once AutoCAD Drawings are published to PDF files, the embedded SOCKETWorx hyperlinks become purposeful.
The PDF Viewer is used to click on BUBBLEWorx marks so users can enter data directly into P3D records.
Numerous Data Views can be configured to provide data entry forms for roles like welders who have to complete welding logs. All data entered, simply extends the role of the P3D database record beyond the CAD efforts.
