ETAP Knowledge Base

Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

Description: Exporting Ground Grid that was created in AutoCAD to ETAP
Category: Ground Grid Systems, Importing from AutoCAD
Type: Modeling
Keywords: AutoCAD, Ground Grid, GGS, XML

AutoCAD drawings representing a Ground Grid may be imported into an ETAP project. An
overview of the process is shown below:

Select & export

Ground Grid in entities representing XML file with New ETAP
Import XML
AutoCAD conductors and rod
conductor and File into ETAP Ground Grid
Drawing (DWG) rod location and Presentation in
File
dimensions FEM mode
The process involves two steps:

ƒ Creating an ETAP Extended Markup Language (XML) file from AutoCAD

ƒ Importing the ETAP XML file into an ETAP project

Creating an ETAP XML File from AutoCAD

This section explains the process of exporting the ETAP XML file from an AutoCAD drawing
with the ground grid laid out.

Setting up the “ETAP Tools” Menu in AutoCAD

The ETAP tools menu allows you to access the command for exporting the Ground Grid in an
AutoCAD drawing into an ETAP XML file. Following are the steps to set up the tool in AutoCAD.

On the command line type the command MENULOAD and press the Enter key. This will show
the Menu Customization editor as shown below:

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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

Click on the Browse button and select the file ETMenu.mnu located in the folder C:\ETAP
5.5\AutoCAD_GGS(1). Click on the Load button to load the file as an item in Menu Groups

This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
Operation Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

(1)
The location may vary if ETAP is installed in a folder different from the default installation
folder. In this case the contents of the file ETMenu.mnu also needs to be changed.
The contents of the file ETMenu.mnu are:
//ETAP Menu
***POP17
**ETAPTOOLS
M_ETAPTools [ETAP Tools]
M_ExportGGS [Export Ground Grid] -vbarun C:/ETAP 5.5/AutoCAD_GGS
/ExportToETAP.dvb!ThisDrawing.ExportGridAndRods;

If ETAP is installed in a folder different from the default installation folder, replace the underlined
portion with the fully qualified location of the file ExportToETAP.dvb.

Click on the page Menu Bar and select the Menu Group C:\ETAP
5.5\AutoCAD_GGS\ETMenu.mnu. This will add the menu ETAP Tools to the Menus list as
shown below:

Select the last item “Help” in the list “Menu Bar” and click on the Insert button. Finally click on
the Close button. This will add the ETAP Tools menu to the AutoCAD main menu, as shown
below:

This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
Operation Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

For AutoCAD 2006

On the command line type the command MENULOAD and press the Enter key. This will show
the Menu Customization editor as shown below:

Click on the Browse button and select the file ETMenu2006.cui located in the folder C:\ETAP
5.5\AutoCAD_GGS(1). Click on the Load button to load the file as an item in Menu Groups

Finally click on the Close button. This will add the ETAP Tools menu to the AutoCAD main
menu.

Creating up the ETAP XML File

Open the drawing file having the Ground Grid. Use the command “Export Ground Grid” in the
“ETAP Tools” menu in AutoCAD to export the ground grid data into an ETAP XML file.

This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
Operation Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

Clicking on the command “Export Ground Grid” will prompt for selection of entities in the
AutoCAD drawing that represent Ground Grid Elements as shown below.

Once the entities representing ground grid elements are selected, press the Enter button, the
Default Parameters editor is shown.

Conductor Type
Select the type of conductor material. The ground grid created in ETAP will have all conductors
with this type of material.

Rod Type
Select the type of rod material. The ground grid created in ETAP will have all rods with this type
of material.

AutoCAD Drawing Unit

Select the current unit of measurement. The unit of rods and conductors created in ETAP will be
converted into feet, inches, meters, and centimeters according to the unit systems.

Offset (in ETAP Drawing Units)

Type the X and Y coordinates of the top left corner of the ground grid in ETAP.

OK
This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

Click on the OK button to create the ETAP XML file with the name ETAP_GGS.XML in the
same location as the AutoCAD drawing file. If the file already exists, a dialog box is displayed to
confirm overwriting it. Once the file is created a message as shown below is displayed.

Cancel
Click on the Cancel button to cancel the creation of ETAP XML file.

AutoCAD Entity to ETAP Element Mapping

Following table shows the mapping of AutoCAD entities to ETAP Ground Grid elements.

AutoCAD Entity ETAP Ground Grid Element

Line One conductor
Polyline One or more conductors
Polygon 3-1024 conductors
Rectangle 4 conductors
Revision Cloud One or more conductors
Circle One rod
Ellipse One rod
Ellipse Arc One rod
Blocks will be exploded and broken down into
Blocks
one or more AutoCAD entity types listed above.
Other than above Disregard

For example, a polyline in an AutoCAD drawing will be converted to one or more conductors in
an ETAP project.

This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
Operation Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Import a Ground Grid in AutoCAD to ETAP

Importing the ETAP XML File into an ETAP Project
Import the XML file created in the first step into ETAP. Open an ETAP project and drop a
ground grid element on the ETAP one-line diagram. Double-click on the element to create a
new ground grid presentation by selecting Finite Element Method (FEM) study model. IEEE
Method study model does not support import of ground grids.

Use the command “Import From XML File…” shown below to import the ETAP XML file and
create a Ground Grid.

This document is confidential and proprietary to Operation Technology, Inc. and may not be reproduced, published or disclosed to
others without the written authorization of Operation Technology, Inc., 17 Goodyear, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92618, USA. © 2010 by
Operation Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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