Skip to content

Home > Version History > What was new in Version 5.2

What was New in Version 5.2

The upgrade to version 5.2 includes several significant improvements and bug fixes. The main changes and enhancements are listed below:

New features:

New FF and HH wind models: New wind types named FF wind and HH wind have been included in the Wind and Environment Set components. FF winds are used to model Full Field turbulent winds. HH winds are used to model Hub Height winds.

New steady wind model: A new wind type named Steady Wind has been included in the Wind and Environment Set components. Steady wind allows modelling steady wind profiles where the velocity and heading are defined as a function of the height above the mean sea-level.

Improved HAWT component: The HAWT component used to model Offshore Wind Turbines features additional data fields that may be used to define structural damping applied to the blades and the tower.

Upgraded aerodynamic solver: The aerodynamic solver used to model the loads on Offshore Wind Turbine components has been upgraded and is now based on AeroDeeP library Version 1.4. This library now includes advanced stall models, spline-based airfoil polar interpolation, improved robustness and CPU improvements.

New dynamic loads through DLL: Dynamic loads prescribed through external DLL have been upgraded and now comprise a Time-dependent loading with reference item in addition to the existing Time-dependent loading. The Time-dependent loading with reference enables specifying loads at a nodes based on the kinematics of another node. This feature is useful to model dynamic positioning systems where the motion recorded at a certain node produces dynamic loads at another node.

Loading components edition mode: Prescribed Loading components data setup and access is made simpler through the addition of a special edition mode. This edition mode may be activated through the tick box located above the sub-loadings data table. Activating the edition mode enables modifying the data straight from the sub-loadings data table. Changing the model component to which the loads apply, location or loading type therefore does not require deleting the existing loadings before creating the new ones.

New control displacement type: Controlled displacement of nodes with motion dictated through an external DLL has been included in the Prescribed Displacement components. Such displacements can be set by selecting the Control displacement type within the Prescribed Displacement data form. This feature was previously available through the HAWT component only.

3D mooring restoring loads: Mooring lines can be modelled through Load-Excursion Links which set the mooring line ends loads as a function of the horizontal and vertical distances between the end nodes, assuming that the shape of the mooring line remains in a plane. This feature has been upgraded and is now able to account for three-dimensional effects. The range of excursions can indeed be specified function of the Floater axes system rather than function of the mooring line heading.

Non-linear damping in Spring components: Damping applied to Spring components in addition to the stiffness may now be set variable as a function of the velocity. Multi-linear damping is in particular useful to model passive heave compensation systems used for the deployment of subsea items.

Enhanced control of frequency-domain analyses: New parameters have been added within the convergence and calculation parameters of dynamic analyses in the frequency-domain. These parameters include global Rayleigh damping, prescribed floaters motion limit and low frequency cutoff which offer better control over frequency-domain analyses.

Upgraded examples database: The examples database has been revised and upgraded with 10+ new examples. These examples are intended to illustrate some recent applications like power cables used in the marine renewable energy sector.

Improvements to the FE engine:

New *WTHUB keyword: This new keyword allows specifying user-prescribed rotational velocity to an offshore wind turbine. The rotational velocity can be either constant or variable in time. Parameters associated to this new keyword must be set in the analysis input LOG file through the User Defined Keywords frame of the GUI as they cannot be set through any other data form yet.

New *DAMPBODY keyword: This new keyword allows specifying general damping terms (translation & rotation) applied to any node based on its local axes system. Parameters associated to this new keyword must be set in the analysis input LOG file through the User Defined Keywords frame of the GUI as they cannot be set through any other data form yet.

New *HYDROBODY keyword: This new keyword allows specifying general stiffness terms (translation & rotation) applied to any node based on its local axes system. Parameters associated to this new keyword must be set in the analysis input LOG file through the User Defined Keywords frame of the GUI as they cannot be set through any other data form yet.

New *OUTWAVE keyword: This new keyword can be used to post-process wave kinematics time-history at any location. Outputs produced through this command include wave elevation, wave particle velocity components and wave particle acceleration components, function of time. These outputs are stored in an external text file echoed by the FE engine. Parameters associated to this new keyword must be set in the analysis input LOG file through the User Defined Keywords frame of the GUI as they cannot be set through any other data form yet.

Updated *WAVE keyword: The keyword includes additional parameters associated with the user-defined wave type that is used to specify the wave height at a certain position function of time. These new parameters provide better fit of the calculated wave elevation with the user-prescribed wave elevation time-history. The new parameters associated to this updated keyword must be set in the analysis input LOG file through the User Defined Keywords frame of the GUI as they cannot be set through the Wave Component data form yet.

Bug fixes:

  • Quick Data Access data backup: Changes made to the data through the Quick Data Access pane were not properly replicated in the individual components & types.
  • $CUR_PATH working directory: The $CUR_PATH characters string used to refer to the working directory could not be used within a few model components.
  • Export of XY-plots to CSV files: CSV files might not report the whole results table on some instances
  • Molins yaw damping moment: Data used to define the Molins yaw moment applied to Floater components were not properly assigned to the Floaters when multiple Floaters were included in the analysis. Data associated to the first Floater component where erroneously replicated and assigned to all other Floaters components.