Clough automates pipe design checks

Engineering contractor Clough will use software maker Intergraph's SmartPlant software to automate checks of piping and instrumentation diagrams ahead of rollouts at customer sites.

The ASX-listed company, which has work on most major liquefied natural gas builds in Australia, said today it would take up SmartPlant P&ID Engineering Integrity software to automate the checks.

It is already an existing user of other Intergraph engineering software.

Using the new software, pipe and instrumentation designs can be validated against rules specified by American Petroleum Institute recommended practice (API 14C), which governs surface safety systems for offshore platforms, as well as by rules set internally by Clough.

"Clough's safety and pipe and process engineers can automatically and quickly execute checks against all piping & instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) to ensure the design basis is correct before execution, which reduces the risk of late changes and improves design quality," Intergraph said in a statement.

Clough's engineering general manager Paul Rushton said the software would also ensure that designs met "all operational needs of the project".