Orcina news

A new pipelines example is now available on our website: M01 Pipeline lateral buckling and walking. The example demonstrates two possible use cases for several recent developments related to pipeline thermal expansion and line / seabed interactions.

The tabular line contents method, when combined with line type expansion tables allows lines to expand and contract in response to the changing temperature and pressure of the line contents, thus improving pre-existing capabilities related to pipeline buckling, walking and stability analyses. Similarly, seabed tangential resistance profiles can enhance line breakout or slip modelling, while line / seabed contact properties that can change on a per arc length basis allow for the modelling of local variations in seabed properties.

The two models in the example show a simplified pipeline buckling and walking analysis for an in-place pipeline with buckle initiator sleepers in deep water. The thermal expansion is driven by changes in the pipe contents temperature and density as slugs of hot fluid travel along the pipeline.

We hope that the example is informative and helpful.

Before the end of the year we will be releasing a new version of OrcaFlex, version 11.6. This new version includes updated FlexNet libraries (version 11.19.8), which in turn means that if you are using FlexNet floating licenses, you must update the license manager that runs on your license server, before you upgrade to OrcaFlex 11.6.

If you are not using FlexNet floating licenses, then the rest of this post does not apply to you, and you can safely ignore it. As an aside, if you are still using legacy dongles with OrcaFlex, then can we take this opportunity to recommend that you consider switching to the modern and supported FlexNet licensing system. Please contact us if you would like more details.

For anyone who is using FlexNet floating licenses we recommend that you perform the upgrade of the license manager at the earliest convenient opportunity. Older versions of OrcaFlex will run with the upgraded license manager. Even though you don’t strictly need to perform this upgrade until you activate your 11.6 licenses, it is good practice to keep the license manager up to date.

To help with the upgrade, we provide the following step-by-step instructions to perform the upgrade. Note that these steps will need to be performed by your network administrator on the license server machine that runs your license manager.

1. Download the latest license server software from: www.orcina.com/downloads/public/ServerPack.zip and extract the files from the archive.
2. In the services control panel applet, stop the license manager service, named Orcina FlexNet license manager.
3. Update the FlexNet licensing service using <ServerPack>\LicenseService\Win64\FlexNetLicenseService.msi
4. Install the license manager using <ServerPack>\LicenseManager\Win64\lmadmin_orcina.msi
5. The installation should re-start the license manager service automatically. Check that the license manager is running and serving licenses by using the web interface at http://localhost:8090 (replace 8090 with the appropriate port if you are using a different port for the web interface).

This installation process will preserve any customisation of ports that you have made to the license manager. But if you have made more significant customisations then you will need to re-apply them. If you are unsure on how to do that, please do contact us for guidance.

We have just released a minor upgrade to OrcaFlex, version 11.5e. Version 11.5e fixes one significant GUI bug that was introduced in 11.5d. Full details of the changes are described in the documentation:

• OrcaFlex
• OrcaWave

We recommend that all users of 11.5 upgrade to 11.5e.

To upgrade to OrcaFlex 11.5e from any previous version, download the install program from your company’s Orcina software download page. A link to this page was sent to your software administration contact when we first released 11.5. If you do not have access to this page, please contact us.

We have just released a minor upgrade to OrcaFlex, version 11.5d. Version 11.5d fixes a number of bugs. Full details of the changes are described in the documentation:

• OrcaFlex
• OrcaWave

We recommend that all users of 11.5 upgrade to 11.5d.

To upgrade to OrcaFlex 11.5d from any previous version, download the install program from your company’s Orcina software download page. A link to this page was sent to your software administration contact when we first released 11.5. If you do not have access to this page, please contact us.

We have just released Distributed OrcaFlex 8.0c which you can download from the Distributed OrcaFlex page.

This is a minor update which introduces one minor feature and fixes one minor bug. More details can be found on the Distributed OrcaFlex page.

We have just released a minor upgrade to OrcaFlex, version 11.5c. Version 11.5c fixes a number of bugs. Full details of the changes are described in the documentation:

• OrcaFlex
• OrcaWave

We recommend that all users of 11.5 upgrade to 11.5c.

To upgrade to OrcaFlex 11.5c from any previous version, download the install program from your company’s Orcina software download page. A link to this page was sent to your software administration contact when we first released 11.5. If you do not have access to this page, please contact us.

We have recently made some updates to our wind turbine controller package, available on the Orcina GitHub page.

The main change is that we’ve reinstated the yaw controller example, now revised using the recently introduced indirect constraints feature which allows the controller to be much less convoluted. There’s a short new section in the accompanying PDF document that describes how it works. Note that the C++ wrapper also supports this.

Additionally:

• The Python wrapper now uses the function GetMultipleTimeHistories to improve efficiency.
• The Python and C++ wrappers now populate a few more slots in the swap array (in-plane root moments and hub moments).

We hope that you will find the latest updates helpful. We always welcome any questions or feedback, so please do contact us for any further enquiries.

A new diffraction example is now available on our website: L05 Panel pressures.

The example is a post processing exercise. Using the models built during example L04, we demonstrate how panel pressures are reported using the OrcaFlex interface to Python. We discuss panel pressure results reported directly from an OrcaWave results file. We also explore how features released in version 11.5 can be used to compute a time history of panel pressure.

Unlike the standard OrcaWave result set that describe wave induced loads per body, panel pressure results allow the user to disaggregate the wave induced load at finer resolution. Whilst OrcaFlex does not make use of these results, they may be used to inform structural analysis in another dedicated program.

We hope you find this new example useful!

Following the release of OrcaFlex 11.5, we can now announce our OrcaFlex 11.5 user group meeting. Once again, we are running this as a virtual webinar.

This webinar will cover all the new features introduced in version 11.5 of OrcaFlex and OrcaWave. In previous years we had separate webinars for the two programs, but this year we will cover both OrcaFlex and OrcaWave in a single webinar. This webinar will be delivered twice in the same day to give users in different time zones the opportunity to attend.

We anticipate that each webinar will be around 90 minutes in duration, and we will schedule a short break part way through the meeting. Attendees will be able to ask questions. A recording of the webinar will be available on our website shortly after it has taken place.

We are running the webinar over Zoom. You will need to register for whichever webinar you wish to attend, using the links below. Zoom webinars can be attended using the Zoom client, or directly from the browser if you do not have the Zoom client.

We look forward to catching up with our regular user group attendees, and hopefully some first timers too!

OrcaFlex and OrcaWave UGM

This webinar will cover the new features introduced in version 11.5 of OrcaFlex and OrcaWave.

We have just released a minor upgrade to OrcaFlex, version 11.5b. Version 11.5b fixes a single bug in 11.5a. If OrcaFlex 11.5a cannot find a license at startup, it reports an access violation error instead of an informative error message.

Full details of the changes in 11.5:

• OrcaFlex
• OrcaWave

We recommend that all users of 11.5a upgrade to 11.5b.

To upgrade to OrcaFlex 11.5b from any previous version, download the install program from your company’s Orcina software download page. A link to this page was sent to your software administration contact when we released 11.5a. If you do not have access to this page, please contact us.