Welcome to PIPESIM.

Please go to Help | Getting Started for information and a qu

ick tutorial.
Press the SHIFT key while changing the selection in a units combo box to keep th
e same value instead of converting it to the new unit.
Press the Shift key and run the mouse wheel to zoom in/out
Use Shift+Z, Shift+X, Shift+F, Shift+R to Zoom in, Zoom Out, Zoom Full view and
Restore the original view respectively.
Select multiple objects by dragging a box around them or click the left mouse ke
y on objects while pressing the Shift key.
After you have run a model, press Reports/View Output to look at the simulation
output.
Try to split the model into smaller networks, which can be solved independently,
before linking them all together. (This helps trouble-shooting of the model)
When first building the model, leave out equipment such as compressors and separ
ators, then build them in one at a time. (Again this helps trouble-shooting)
When using a compressor or pump, define it initially with a Delta P rather than
with a power or user curve. It can be changed as required later. Also avoid defi
ning a compressor by a discharge pressure, as this can have the effect of over c
onstraining a system.
Try to avoid unnecessary nodes in a network, as this increases the computing tim
e required to solve the network.
Avoid dangling or redundant branches.
If the sinks are flowrate specified, and are appearing consistently at atmospher
ic pressure (see messages in engine window), try changing the boundary condition
to an outlet pressure to see what flowrate can be achieved.
If minor changes have been made to a network such as flowrates, pipe dimensions
etc. the restart function should be used. However if structural changes (i.e. ne
w pipes, wells deleted etc.) have occurred then the model should be run from scr
atch.
Before using the restart function, make a backup of the restart file (*p00.rst)
in the model folder. If the model fails to solve, the previous restart file can
be used to make another attempt.
Under normal circumstances the default user estimates are satisfactory. However,
if the model has particularly extreme flowrates and or pressures, these should
be entered in the user estimates dialogue box.
When first attempting to solve a large network, increase the convergence toleran
ce to 5%, and check the validity of the results. If necessary the tolerance can
later be reduced and the model restarted.
If a branch appears to be behaving strangely or is ill conditioned, split it int
o smaller segments. This will aid trouble-shooting and improve continuity along
the branch.
If the program crashes part way through an iteration with file open errors or ma
copen errors, this is due to the processor running out of memory. The model can
simply be restarted and the program will start from where it left off.
Surf the net on http://www.slb.com.
The compositional option can display the hydrate curve automatically when a phas
e envelop is requested and water is an added component. A new set of Binary inte
raction parameters have been added to allow the hydrate lines to be computed cor
rectly. This new set, OILANDGAS4, is the default. The original set, OLANDGAS1,
is still available.
The Pedersen viscosity model has been added to the compositional option. Results
show that this method is better at predicting the liquid viscosity than the ori
ginal LBC method, hence Pedersen has been made the default.
Salt, or Sodium Chloride (as this is the dominant component) has been added to t
he compositional component list.
Try to avoid long flowlines and risers from being in the same branch.
To speed up the calculation engine - lower your windows colour resolution to 256
colours or less.
Tooltips can be activated on mouse move by hovering over the object, on mouse cl
ick, or they can be switched off. Go to View | Options | Objects to select the d

esired behaviour. For large networks switching tooltips off speeds up GUI proces
sing.
PIPESIM can be accessed from external programs such as Excel macros, Visual Basi
c, C++ via its Open Link interface. Check the document Open Link.pdf to find out
more about the published access functions.
PIPESIM supports reciprocating compressors. Click on 'Design | New Reciprocating
Compressor' to add a new compressor.
Well models in a network can be represented by well performance curves, known as
Wells Offline, rather than underlying single branch models, thus increasing the
speed to obtain the network solution.