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[] ANSYS AQWA – AN INTEGRATED

SYSTEM
ANSYS AQWA is an integrated system for undertaking hydrodynamic and mooring analyses.
Functionally it may be split into six operations:

1. Diffraction/radiation

2. Static and dynamic initial stability including the effects of mooring systems and other
physical connections

3. Frequency domain dynamic analysis

4. Time domain with irregular waves including slow drift

5. Non-linear time domain with large amplitude regular or irregular waves

6. Hydrodynamic load transfer to a structural finite element analysis

A graphical interface provides the common tool to facilitate visualization and results
processing for the AQWA system.

In addition an optional facility for coupled cable dynamics is available with the static and
dynamic solvers (in both the frequency and time domain) to provide more rigorous
modeling of the loading and response of mooring systems, especially in deep waters.
[] [] MODELING FLEXIBILITY
For large floating bodies ANSYS AQWA requires a description of the hull form. A standard
panel discretization of the hull is utilized in the radiation/diffraction stage of the simulation
(and may also be used in subsequent solvers, such as the static and dynamic time domain
solutions). This can be achieved in one of several ways.
For ship shaped vessels there is an automated mesh generator that works from the ship’s
lines plan (or offsets).

For more general vessel forms the ANSYS DesignModeler may be utilized to either generate
the geometry directly, or to import geometry from a wide range of CAD systems. This
geometry can then be imported into the new ANSYS AQWA hydrodynamic diffraction
analysis system that includes its own meshing capabilities. Alternatively, suitably defined
external CAD geometry may be directly imported into ANSYS AQWA hydrodynamic
diffraction.
[] [] TOTAL CAPABILITY FOR ALL
HYDRODYNAMIC APPLICATIONS
ANSYS AQWA is not just for moorings or diffraction/radiation but is a general purpose
hydrodynamics analysis tool providing enormous flexibility to address most types of
problem. Examples of its use include:

• Design and analysis of mooring systems including intermediate buoys and clump weights

• Motions analysis of FPSOs

 • Determination of air gaps

• Calculation of the shielding effects of ships and barriers

• Multiple body interactions during LNG transfer

• Coupled cable dynamics

• Sectional force calculations

• TLP tether analysis

• Dropped object trajectory calculations

• Concept design and analysis of wave and wind energy systems

• Simulation of lifting operations between floating vessels

• Discharging landing craft from mother ships

• Transportation of large offshore structures using barges/ships

• Float over analyses

• Motion analysis of spar vessels

HYDRODYNAMIC INTERACTION
BETWEEN BODIES
ANSYS AQWA can take account of hydrodynamic interaction between adjacent vessels and
structures. Thus the motions of one structure can affect the motions of another. The
structures can be articulated, connected by cables or independent. A typical application
would be shielding effects. Forward speed effects can be included in the interaction.
 This image shows the shielding effects of a pier adjacent to a ship, an important aspect 
in the design of breakwaters and how they affect mooring systems

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MULTIPLE BODY ARTICULATIONS

ANSYS AQWA has the ability to handle articulated structures, up to a maximum of 50
structures and 50 articulations. This permits the modeling of combined hydrodynamic and
mechanical dynamic configurations. Articulations can have stiffness, friction and damping
included. If the mechanical connections are represented as tubes these are allowed to
become wholly or partially submerged and Morison types forces are calculated.

POWERFUL MODELING AND RESULTS

INTERROGATION
The ANSYS AQWA-Graphical Supervisor is the key module within the suite. It can perform a
range of tasks including:

• Data review

• Automatic mesh
generation

• Scaling of existing
models

• Results
presentation

• Powerful graphing
facilities
 • Export to
spreadsheets

• Function
processing e.g.
Nodal RAOs

• Transformation
analysis e.g. time
domain to
frequency domain

• Bending
moment/shear
force calculation
including forward
speed

• Sectional force
calculation

• Online
tutorial/demos

• Control and
monitoring of
analyses

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COUPLED CABLE DYNAMICS

As an optional extra, it is possible for ANSYS AQWA to include the effects of line dynamics by
modeling the mooring lines as a series of rod elements. This has the added feature of
including drag loads and added mass effects of the line, something that can be significant
for the long lengths of line encountered in deep water applications. The feature is available
for both static (drag effects) and dynamic analyses. For the dynamic response the capability
is available within both the frequency domain and time domain. Frequency domain
solutions are very fast and can help determine whether cable dynamics need to be
considered as part of the analysis. Time domain solutions can provide much greater
accuracy but take longer to run.

As a further level of investigation, individual lines may be processed through the graphical
supervisor, providing detailed information about tensions and motions along the line.
 This screen shows the difference which can occur between including and excluding the
effects 
of coupled cable dynamics. Also shown is the distribution of energy during the analysis.

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EXTERNAL FORCE DYNAMIC LINK

LIBRARIES
ANSYS AQWA has the ability to include a user defined external force algorithm via a dynamic
link library (DLL). This feature permits the user to create his or her own DLL to calculate a
force based on the time, the position and/or the velocity of a structure. Example interfaces
are provided for C or FORTRAN, but any programming language that can produce a DLL can
be employed. An added mass matrix can also be computed at each time-step to simulate
inertia forces. The calculation can be controlled by a set of up to 100 integer parameters and
100 real parameters that may be input and then passed to the external force routine.

This facility could be used to model:

• A dynamic positioning system

• A steering system

• The towing force provided by a tug

• A damping system with unusual characteristics

• The suction force between two ships close together, or between a ship and the sea-bed

• Fluid transfer between vessels

• To calculate the energy extracted from a wave-power device

[] [] FUNCTIONAL INTERFACE TO
MICROSOFT EXCEL
When ANSYS AQWA is installed a Microsoft Excel add-in is made available to permit direct
interrogation of the ANSYS AQWA database via the insert function facility. This allows for
custom report generation, plotting, and additional post-processing that can be defined by
the user.

An example is shown below of the extraction of response amplitude operator information

from a diffraction analysis.

Available functions include:

FUNCTIONS DESCRIPTION

Aqlcogcoord Returns x, y or z coordinate of the centre of gravity of a structure

Aqlcoord Returns x, y or z coordinate of a node

Aqlelcent Returns x, y, or z coordinate of the centroid of a diffracting element

Aqlelpres Returns pressure at element centroid

Aqlfrequency Returns wave frequencies analyzed in ANSYS AQWA-LINE

Aqlglobals Returns global parameters

Aqlmessage Returns an error message for a given aql error flag number

Aqlndirns Returns the number of wave directions for a structure

Aqlnfreqs Returns the number of wave frequencies for a structure

Aqlnlines Returns the number of mooring lines in a model

Aqlnstructs Returns the number of structures in a model

Aqlposition Returns the position of a structure for a time history analysis

Aqlrao Returns RAO information from the hydrodynamic database

Aqlrao2 Returns interpolated RAO information from the hydrodynamic

database

Aqlstatmooring Returns mooring line information for a static (ANSYS AQWA-

LIBRIUM) analysis

Aqlstatposcog Returns position of the CoG for a static (ANSYS AQWA-LIBRIUM)

analysis

Aqlstatposnod Returns position of a specified node for a static (ANSYS AQWA-

LIBRIUM) analysis

Aqlthacccog Returns the acceleration of the cog for a time history analysis

Aqltharticulation Returns articulation reactions for a time history analysis

 Aqlthfender Returns fender information for a time history analysis

Aqlthmooring Returns mooring line information for a time history analysis

Aqlthnumsteps Returns number of time steps for a time history analysis

Aqlthposcog Returns the position of the CoG for a time history analysis

Aqlthtime Returns the time associated with a time step in a time history
analysis

Aqlthvelcog Returns the velocity of the cog for a time history analysis

Aqlwavedirn Returns wave directions analyzed in ANSYS AQWA-LINE

Aqlzcge Returns the ZCGE parameter for a structure in an ANSYS AQWA-

LINE analysis

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TRANSFER OF RESULTS FOR STRESS

ANALYSIS
ANSYS AQWA-WAVE is a linking program between the ANSYS AQWA diffraction calculation
and a finite element model. It takes the results in the form of pressures and motions for
given wave directions and frequencies and automatically applies them as pressures and
accelerations to an ANSYS or ASAS finite element model. Differences in mesh density
between the two models are automatically accounted for.
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