Hydromax allows sounding pipes to be defined for each tank. One sounding pipe per tank is permitted and up to nine vertices per sounding pipe, allowing inclined, bent or curved sounding pipes to be modelled.

Hydromax creates a default sounding pipe when the tank is formed (either by running an analysis, or using one of the following commands: Analysis | Recalculate Tanks and Compartments; or Analysis | Update Loadcase. The default sounding pipe is placed at the longitudinal and transverse position of the lowest point of the tank. If the lowest point of the tank is shared between several locations (e.g. the bottom of the tank is flat either longitudinally or transversely) the default sounding pipe location is placed at the aft-most low point and as close to the centreline as possible. The top of the sounding pipe is taken to be level with the highest point of the tank and the default sounding pipe is assumed to be straight and vertical. Automatically created sounding pipes will be recalculated if the tank geometry changes. However, once the sounding pipe has been edited manually, any changes to the sounding pipe due to tank geometry changes will also have to be made manually.

To customise a sounding pipe, you need to use the Sounding Pipes table in the Input window, shown below.

You can activate this window by selecting from the Windows | Input | Sounding Pipes menu, by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the Input window, or by clicking on the  icon in the window toolbar.

To add vertices to create a bent sounding pipe, make the sounding pipe type User Defined, then click on the first row of a particular sounding pipe and choose Edit | Add or use the Ctrl+A key combination. A new row will be added to the sounding pipe and the longitudinal position, offset and height of the vertex can be edited. Unwanted vertices can be deleted by clicking on the relevant row in the table and selecting Edit | Delete or by hitting the Delete key. Note that each successive vertex in a sounding pipe must be no higher than the previous vertex i.e. it is not acceptable to have S-bends in the sounding pipes.

Hydromax allows user definable increments (or: intervals) for tank soundings. This is done by specifying a numerical value for the increment for each tank in the Calibration Spacing column of the Sounding Pipes Input window.

Ø  Type the value of the desired calibration increment in the Calibration Spacing cell for the tank calibration you wish to modify.

If no increment is entered, Hydromax uses its default value based on a reasonable division of the depth of the tank. In this case the Sounding Pipes table will display “Auto” in the Calibration Increment column for the tank.

Note

Increments are measured along the sounding pipe, not along the vertical axis of the tank. If the sounding pipe is inclined or if it has multiple angles, soundings will step evenly along the inclined length of the sounding pipe.