Workshop 2.

1
14.5 Release

ANSYS Aqwa Hydrodynamic Diffraction

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The Aqwa Simulation Process

CAD

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DesignModeler

Hydrodynamic
Diffraction

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Creating geometry ready for import to WB HD

HD uses imported geometry from DesignModeler. This is used to create the
majority of the Aqwa model
Hull definition
Morison (TUBE) elements

For Aqwa specific geometry this is input via the HD user interface
Point masses
DISC elements

The main requirements for WB HD can be summarized as follows:

Each vessel (or structure) is represented as a single part, as generated in
DesignModeler.
The panel model must be such that the mesh is up to the waterline.
The water line defines the global vertical origin for the analysis.

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Vessel/Structure definition
Each vessel or structure may consist of
one or more bodies, but MUST be
contained within a Part
Here we have a ship and a pier.

The ship consists of two bodies, one above

the water line and a second below the

water line.
The pier has three bodies, defining above
and below water, plus the base, which has
special considerations (more on this later).

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Global axis system in AqwaWB

The water line defines the Aqwa global
reference axis (FRA)

The geometry is divided at this point to

allow meshing above and below the
water line

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Radiation/Diffraction Analysis Stages

WB HD for the diffraction analysis consists of five stages

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Insert HD system and associate geometry

Add Aqwa specific parameters
Add Aqwa specific elements
Mesh
Analysis and post-processing

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Worked Exercises
Three models are going to be considered

Single ship
Two ships demonstrating hydrodynamic interaction
One ship and a pier demonstrating specific requirements of including a
fixed structure in the analysis

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March 21, 2013

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Insert HD System and associate geometry

Create HD System (as shown in Lecture 1)

Import CAD geometry and/or create model directly

Repair as necessary
Position the model(s) in the correct vertical and horizontal locations
required for the analysis

Cut the model(s) at the water line to provide the required

delineation between above and below water (no element splitting)
Combine bodies associated with a single vessel to form one part.

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Create HD system

Set Units

Add HD system by drag & drop

onto WB Project Schematic
page.

RMB on Geometry cell, Import

Geometry > Browse, and
browse to ship.igs

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Import CAD geometry

Double click on Geometry cell to open
DesignModeler
Select meters as length unit
On details View for the Imported
geometry set Simplify Topology to Yes,
and Tolerance to Loose. This will repair
some geometry issues with the iges file.
Clicking on Generate
geometry within DM.

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will create the

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Position model to correct position

We can make use of the Body Operation > Translate to position the vessel in
the correct position. We select the body by clicking on the image of the ship.
Here we are offsetting by -8 meters in the vertical (Z) direction to adjust the
draft. Use Direction Definition Coordiantes. Click
to complete the
operation.

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Define the waterline

We now need to cut the model at the water
line so that we can mesh without elements
crossing this line
First use Tools > Freeze to enable the slice
operation. The model will become
transparent (the default action for DM is to
merge bodies together, which is not what we
require when we cut the model).

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... Define the waterline

The Slice operation uses the global
XYPlane to slice all bodies. In this
example we only have one body, but the
same effect may be applied to multiple
bodies. Once the Slice operation is
inserted click on XYPlane in the Tree
Outline to define the Base Plane.

Click

to complete the operation.

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... Define the waterline

We now have two parts, one above and one below the water line

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Make each vessel/structure into a single part

We can combine bodies by selecting them in the tree and right click > Form
New Part
Here we have renamed the combined part as ShipHull, and renamed the
individual bodies as UpperHull and LowerHull
Close DesignModeler

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Adding Aqwa Specific Parameters

Double-Click on Model Cell on Project Schematic
The units will adopt those used in the geometry creation, but may be modified
from the Units menu item

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Global parameters
Selecting the geometry object in the tree provides access to some
global data in the details window, such as water depth and density.
Set the water depth to 500m. Note that the default import
preferences exclude Line Bodies, but include Solid Bodies (which are
actually invalid in Aqwa).

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Vessel/Structure parameters
Selecting a vessel or structure in the tree provides access to data
specific to that vessel, such as whether it should be included in the
simulation, is free or fixed, whether an internal lid is required, and
additional damping information

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Bodies within Vessels/Structures

Selecting a body within a vessel or structure in the tree provides access
to data specific to that body, such as whether it should be included in
the simulation and whether it is diffracting or non-diffracting. When
first imported any body below the water line is assumed diffracting
(Surface Type Program Controlled).

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Provide additional Aqwa elements

DesignModeler can be used to create models consisting of panels and
Morison type elements, such as TUBEs and STUBs.

Some additional element types can be added directly within HD

Point masses PMAS

Point buoyancy PBOY
DISCs
As a minimum we must provide a point mass to describe the mass
matrix for the vessel

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...Provide additional Aqwa elements

For each vessel/structure defined provide a point mass element

This is inserted in the tree by selecting the required vessel, and

right clicking on Add > Point Mass

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Point Mass Properties

The program can compute the mass based upon the displacement of the
vessel, or this can be defined directly in the details window.
The mass inertia matrix must ALWAYS be defined, either via Radius of
Gyration or direct input
Values required are highlighted in yellow

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Point Mass Input

If Mass Definition is program controlled the
mass will equal the displacement.

Set kXX, kYY and kZZ to standard default values

(beam is 40m, length 200m)
For a regular ship;

kXX = 0.34*Beam
kYY = 0.25*Length
kZZ = 0.26*Length
Set the VCG (Z coordinate) to 8.5 m for this
exercise

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Meshing
The vessel(s)/structure(s) may now be meshed.
When Mesh is selected in the tree two additional toolbar items appear
The first invokes the meshing tool using the parameters defined in the details
window.
The second item provides additional control for localized parts of the model.
Both these items can also be accessed by RMB on the Mesh object in the tree.

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Mesh Control
In the details window the element size and meshing tool may be selected
If Program Controlled meshing is chosen the program will use a surface
mesher for vessels only containing surfaces (panels), and a combined mesher
if the vessel also contains line elements.

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... Meshing
When Generate Mesh is selected the meshing tool is instigated and a mesh
using the parameters defined is created. Mesh information is given in the
details panel.

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... Meshing
Change the frequency unit to rad/s from Hz
Adjust the Max element size to 2.5 and tolerance to
0.5
Generate Mesh
You will notice that the maximum allowed wave
frequency now becomes in the order of 2 rad/s,
however number of elements are more than tripled
(which affects the solver time).
For a quick solution set the Max element size back to 5
Generate Mesh

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Analyze
The model is now ready to be analyzed. The following additional
items will be seen in the tree

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Analysis Settings
Gravity
Structure Selection
Wave Directions
Wave Frequencies
Solution

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Analysis Settings
The options control how the analysis is to proceed,
and what types of results are to be reported and
stored.
They relate directly to the options used in the
Aqwa analysis that are described in the Aqwa
Reference Manual.
The Sea Grid Factor is used in determining the size
of the diffracted water surface plot in the
visualization window with respect to the size of the
model.
Set Ignore modelling rule violations to Yes (more
on this in Aqwa suite lectures)

Set Calculate Full QTF Matrix to No

Set Generate Internal Lid Option in Details of
ShipHull to Yes
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Structure selection and gravity

Structure Selection enables the definition of interacting structure groups (for
multi-body problems). By default all vessels are assumed interacting.
Gravity enables the definition of gravity for this analysis.

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Wave directions and frequencies

These objects permit wave directions and frequencies to be defined either as
a range or with individual values.
The initial maximum frequency is determined by the mesh size; attempting to
change this to a higher frequency will produce an error. If higher frequencies
are required the mesh size will need to be reduced.
Frequencies may be program controlled (with equal frequency or period
interval) or manually defined. Choose program controlled.

Reduce no. of frequencies to 10

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Save Project
Save the project from the Workbench Project Page, File > Save
Browse to the training working directory and save the project as ship.wbpj.
The title on the Project Page will reflect this change

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... Analyze
Two Analysis options are available:

Calculate hydrostatics only (compute displacement and small angle stability

parameters)
Compute full hydrodynamic properties and results

These are available thru the toolbar menu item

or using the context sensitive menu on the Analysis object (RMB click)

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... Analyze
If a full analysis is chosen the basic hydrostatic solution is internally run first to
ensure consistent mass and displacement.
Whilst a solve is being processed a progress bar appears to indicate how far
the analysis has reached.

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Single Ship Model

Solve full analysis
Insert results

Hydrostatic Table
Hydrodynamic Graphs
Pressures and Motions
Evaluate All Results must be
selected for the results to be
presented/updated

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Review Results
Results can be added when the Solution object is selected. This can be done
before or after an analysis has been undertaken.
Available sets of results are: Hydrostatic, Hydrodynamic, Pressures and
Motions

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Hydrostatics
When selected these
results appear on the
Properties tab.

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Hydrodynamic graphs
Graphs allow computed parameters to be
plotted.
Multiple graphs may appear on a single
plot, and multiple plots may be requested
by inserting additional Hydrodynamic
Graph objects in the tree.

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... Hydrodynamic graphs

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Hydrodynamic pressures and motions

This object presents plots of wave contours and hull pressures

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...Hydrodynamic pressures and motions

These are used to select the wave frequency
and direction to utilize in the plot. Choose
higher frequencies for more interesting
plots
Result type may be
Amplitude/Cyclic/Minimum/Maximum

Choose Cyclic if specific wave position required

If Cyclic chosen then Wave Position may be
0/90/Specified/Range

Choose Range if animation required

If Range chosen then No. of steps specifies
how many wave positions to display in the
animation

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...Hydrodynamic pressures and motions

Hull pressures may be interpolated or
individual panel results. Can also show
resultant (RAO) displacement.
This dims or shows the above water part
of the vessel(s)

Choose either head of water or pressure

for the hull contours
Wave contour can be displayed or
disabled

Include or exclude wave components

Change Incident Wave Amplitude to see
the effect of Second Order Terms

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Worked Exercises
Three models are going to be considered

Single ship
Two ships demonstrating hydrodynamic interaction
One ship and a pier demonstrating specific requirements of including a
fixed structure in the analysis

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Two Ship Model

This model uses two instances of the ship used in the first exercise
Set up the geometry

Open Workbench and select Component Systems > Geometry

Right click on the Geometry cell and select Import Geometry > Browse
Browse to ship2.agdb.

This is a DesignModeler database that was created from an imported IGES file
Double click on the Geometry cell to open up DesignModeler and view the vessel

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Modelling Generate the second ship

Generate a second copy of the ship using
Create > Body Operation

Set Type to Translate

Select All bodies by clicking on the two

bodies in the graphics window

Select Direction Definition as Coordinates
Set Preserve Bodies to Yes
Set Y Offset as 45.0

Click on Generate

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Modelling Generate the second ship

Combine bodies to form two ships
Close DesignModeler and Save Project as
TwoShips

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Import geometry to WB HD
Create HD system and share geometry

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... Import geometry to WB HD

Open HD system by double clicking the Model Cell
Add a point mass to each ship and define inertia values by radius of
gyration. Use the same values as for the single ship model.

Note that the program assumes hydrodynamic interaction for multi-body

analyses.

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 Manually specify wave frequencies

For the previous single ship
model Program Controlled
Wave Frequencies was
adopted. For the two ship
model select Manual
Definition for the Range, then
enter 4 single periods at 6, 7, 8
and 9 seconds

Note that this can also be

achieved using range
definitions, rather than single
values

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Two Ship Model

Mesh (with 5m element size) and Solve. Try comparing RAOs between the two
ships (for instance, Y RAO for the 90 degree wave case)

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Worked Exercises
Three models are going to be considered

Single ship
Two ships demonstrating hydrodynamic interaction
One ship and a pier demonstrating specific requirements of including a
fixed structure in the analysis

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Ship Pier and Model

For this model we model a ship alongside a pier. This is a bottom
founded structure that requires special treatment.
Since the pier sits on the seabed we need to make the underside of
the pier non-diffracting.

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Modelling set up geometry

Open Workbench and select Component Systems > Geometry
Right click on the Geometry cell and select Import Geometry > Browse
Browse to ship3.agdb. This is a DesignModeler database that was created
from an imported IGES file
Double click on the Geometry cell to open up DesignModeler and view the
vessel

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Modelling Create the Pier

Use Create > Primitives > Box

Set Base Plane to XYPlane

Box Type From Two Points
Point 1 and Point 2 coordinates as shown
As Thin/Surface No (otherwise generates
an open ended box)

Click on

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Modelling Define the waterline

We need to cut the model at the water
line as before.
First we must make the pier into a
surface model (currently solid)
Set Selection Type to Bodies Only
Select the pier as the geometry
Set Thickness to 0
Now slice both ship and pier using
XYPlane; remember to Freeze first

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Modelling Separate the Pier base

The base needs to be separated from the
remainder of the pier

Use the Create > Slice object as before

Set Slice Type to Slice By Surface
Choose the pier base surface as the Target

Face
Select the Pier body as the Slice Targets

Form two parts, one for Ship and one for

Pier. Rename bodies for easy
identification
Save Project as ..\Ship&Pier

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Import Model to WB HD
Create H-D system and share geometry
Add a point mass to ship and pier and define inertia values by radius of
gyration. Use the same values as for the single ship model. The pier model
can use dummy values since it will be fixed.
Set water depth to 60m
Set Pier to Structure is fixed in place
Set Pier Base to be Non-Diffracting

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Ship and Pier Model

Mesh (choose an element size of 7m), select wave periods of 5.5 and 8
seconds, and solve

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Ship and Pier Model

Look at wave surface plot for a 45 degree wave of period
5.5 s (.182 Hz)

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