Users Guide

USER’S GUIDE

BVB CAFE SHIP DESIGN TOOL

REVISION 2.2 12/27/2012

Table of Contents CAFE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 6

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................................................................... 7

Hardware Requirements .................................................................................... 7

Software requirements ...................................................................................... 7

INSTALLATION ................................................................................... 8

DTU ShipStar ............................................................................................... 10

UNIZG DYANA .............................................................................................. 10

MARIN FATIMA ............................................................................................. 11

BV HOMER .................................................................................................. 11

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE ........................................................... 12

GENERAL .................................................................................................... 12

MENU BAR .................................................................................................. 13

File Menu ............................................................................................ 13

View Menu ........................................................................................... 13

Plots Menu .......................................................................................... 14

Model Menu ......................................................................................... 15

Analysis Menu ...................................................................................... 15

Drawings Menu ..................................................................................... 16

TULCS Menu ....................................................................................... 16

Tools Menu .......................................................................................... 16

TULCS Menu ....................................................................................... 17

Windows Menu ..................................................................................... 17

Help Menu ........................................................................................... 17

TOOLBAR AREA ........................................................................................... 18

Explorer Window Tool ............................................................................ 18

Redo and Undo Action Tools .................................................................... 18

Selection Tools ..................................................................................... 18

Selection drop down menu ...................................................................... 18

Stiffener Show/Hide ............................................................................... 18

Reload Model ....................................................................................... 18

Collaboration ........................................................................................ 18

Dimension mode ................................................................................... 18

Legend Tools ....................................................................................... 19

Scale Factor Tools ................................................................................. 19

Animation Tools .................................................................................... 19

Information Window ............................................................................... 19

Multi-Purpose Window ............................................................................ 19

PROJECT EXPLORER & DATA TABLE .............................................................. 21

Design ................................................................................................ 21

Tools .................................................................................................. 21

FE Mesh ............................................................................................. 22

Properties ............................................................................................ 22

Materials ............................................................................................. 22

Plates ................................................................................................. 23

Profiles ............................................................................................... 23


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Stiffened panel (StiPanel) ........................................................................ 24

Masses ............................................................................................... 25

Rigids ................................................................................................. 26

Openings ............................................................................................. 26

Boundary Conditions (BCs) ...................................................................... 27

Loads ................................................................................................. 27

MODELS and Model Groups .................................................................... 28

STATUS BAR ............................................................................................... 30

Status Label ......................................................................................... 30

Vertex information ................................................................................. 30

Move Status ......................................................................................... 30

Guides status ....................................................................................... 30

Box View status .................................................................................... 31

Tolerance status ................................................................................... 31

Offset status ......................................................................................... 31

Modeling Toolbar Area .................................................................................... 31

Copy selected entity ............................................................................... 31

Mirror selected entities ............................................................................ 32

Split the selected entities ......................................................................... 32

Extend to selected Guide ........................................................................ 32

Snap Selected vertices to selected Guide.................................................... 32

Shift entity nodes ................................................................................... 32

Flip entities Normal ................................................................................ 32

Shift Stiffener orientation ......................................................................... 32

Select all or Invert selection ..................................................................... 33

Delete selected entities ........................................................................... 33

Rotate selected entities ........................................................................... 33

Offset curve tool .................................................................................... 33

Project Entity onto selected Surface ........................................................... 33

Free/Fix selected vertices ........................................................................ 33

Equipment rotation angles ....................................................................... 33

Add Point Entity .................................................................................... 33

Add Mass entity .................................................................................... 33

Add or Turn On/Off lights......................................................................... 34

Add Line.............................................................................................. 34

Add new Curve, Join existing curves, Create intersection Curve ....................... 34

Close/Open selected Curve ..................................................................... 34

Create Circle ........................................................................................ 34

Create Manhole .................................................................................... 34

Create an arc ....................................................................................... 35

Create a Rigid element ........................................................................... 35

Create Beam entity ................................................................................ 35

Stiffener angle ...................................................................................... 35

Add Triangle/Quad FE entity .................................................................... 35

Apply Opening ...................................................................................... 35

Add Triangular, Quad or NURBS Strake ..................................................... 35

Create Surface ..................................................................................... 35

Create Sandwich type strake .................................................................... 35

Add Equipment ..................................................................................... 36

Enable/Disable Surface Magnetic feature .................................................... 36

Insert/Remove point, convert to knuckle ...................................................... 36

Surface Subdivision parameters ................................................................ 36


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Mesh selected entities ............................................................................ 36

Repair Selected Vertices Mesh ................................................................. 36

Set Entity/Background Colors ................................................................... 36

Context Menus .............................................................................................. 37

Properties Submenu .............................................................................. 37

Properties Bar ...................................................................................... 37

TUTORIAL ........................................................................................ 37

PART 1: BASIC CAFE .................................................................................... 38

View management ................................................................................. 38

CAFE display options ............................................................................. 39

Box feature .......................................................................................... 40

File management .................................................................................. 41

Importing files ....................................................................................... 41

Importing Databases .............................................................................. 42

Selection Basics .................................................................................... 43

CAFE MODELING GUIDE ............................................................................... 44

Adding models and groups to the project..................................................... 44

Renaming and managing entities .............................................................. 44

Creating geometry ................................................................................. 45

Working with GUIDES ............................................................................ 46

Offset and guides .................................................................................. 46

Adding guides....................................................................................... 46

Strakes and Guides ............................................................................... 47

Split feature ......................................................................................... 51

General Guide (W guide)......................................................................... 52

Advanced geometry manipulation .............................................................. 52

Entities and Properties ............................................................................ 54

Plates ................................................................................................. 55

Stiffened Panels, Scantlings parameter ...................................................... 56

Stiffener orientation and node shifting ......................................................... 57

Beams ................................................................................................ 59

Openings ............................................................................................. 59

Applying Masses and Rigid Elements ......................................................... 61

Mass matrix ......................................................................................... 61

Rigid connections .................................................................................. 63

Basic curves and surfaces operations ................................................................. 63

Curve ................................................................................................. 63

Surface ............................................................................................... 65

More on Curves and surfaces ........................................................................... 65

Creating Manholes and Circles ................................................................. 66

Creating manhole .................................................................................. 66

Offset curves ........................................................................................ 69

Curve – Guide intersection tool ................................................................. 69

Projections and magnetic surface features .................................................. 71

Projection feature .................................................................................. 72

MESHING .................................................................................................... 74

REMESHING ................................................................................................ 75

Refine parameters explained .................................................................... 76

Mesh editing ........................................................................................ 77

MESH EXPORTING ....................................................................................... 77

General Notes ............................................................................................... 78

Running TULCS Tool modules .......................................................................... 78


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UNIZG DYANA ..................................................................................... 78

DTU SHIPSTAR .................................................................................... 79

BV HOMER ......................................................................................... 80

FINAL REMARKS .............................................................................. 82

Data Structure ............................................................................................... 82

Introduction CAFE

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INTRODUCTION

CAFE (CAD to FEM) is result of 12 years of experience of its authors in development and integration of different kinds of Naval Architecture Software. During the years of research of authors and their partners BVB was building a unique software library which is finally compiled into BVB Mathematical Modeling Framework. Prior to CAFE library was mainly used to integrate different projects starting from MGV (Mesh Generation and Visualization Tool, developed in cooperation with Bureau Veritas, Paris, France), CONSTRUCT (Conceptual Structural Design of Passenger Ships, AALTO University, Ship Laboratory, Helsinki, Finland), HOMER (Hydro to Structure Interaction Tool, Bureau Veritas, Paris, France), EU project TULCS (Tools for Ultra Large Container Ships) and other projects which are not related to shipbuilding. If we summarize knowledge collected during that period of time the perfect Ship Design Tool (SDT) could be described as follow:

• Fast modeling capabilities (no mater does one starts from the sketch or use existing prototypes from other CAD system during the whole lifecycle of ship) with shipbuilding specific capabilities (e.g. frame ruler with relative dimensions input etc.).

• Ship design calculations (e.g. hydrostatic and rule based calculation) with link to direct calculation software (e.g. CFD, FEM).

• User friendly postprocessing of results prepared by SDT or other software, including animation, optimization and simulation capabilities.

• Utilization of collaborative design principles at all stages of design process. Based on BVB Mathematical Modeling Framework CAFE is going to implement all previously mentioned features as well as all other requirements which will come from our customers. In pages that follow we will try to explain how to use CAFE to get maximum out of it.

Thank you for using CAFE! BVB CAFE Team

System requirements CAFE

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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Hardware Requirements

Minimum hardware requirements to run CAFE depend on operating system one is running. It also depends on model size which is going to be build. These are listed below for most of the operating systems (values in brackets are recommended). Windows XP family 600 MHz processor (2 GHz) 128 MB of RAM (1 GB) 50 MB of available hard disk space (200 MB) VGA with 32 MB RAM, supporting 32 bit color and minimum resolution of 1024x768 pixels including appropriate monitor (VGA with 256 MB RAM and resolution of 1400x1050 and higher, wide screen is recommended) Windows Vista / Windows 7/Windows 8 1 GHz processor (3 GHz) 1 GB of RAM (4 GB) 100 MB of available hard disk space (200 MB) VGA with 128 MB RAM, supporting 32 bit color and minimum resolution of 1024x768 pixels including appropriate monitor (VGA with 512 MB RAM and resolution of 1400x1050 and higher, wide screen is recommended)

In both cases it is recommended to have an optical or laser mouse to enhance modeling and selection precision.

Software requirements

CAFE is based on Microsoft .NET framework version 3.5 and it is required to run tool. If your system doesn’t have the appropriate version of .NET framework installation procedure will report that. Appropriate version of .NET framework is located on installation CD. You can also download it from Microsoft web site. In addition to .NET framework Windows Installer version 3.1 is required also and if not installed one can find it on installation CD. Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6 or newer is required for viewing documentation. Appropriate copy is located on installation CD. If you plan to prepare your database of materials and properties outside of CAFE than MS Office Excel is required.

Installation CAFE

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INSTALLATION

Installation of CAFE Tool is delivered on CD containing all necessary information to run it. You can also download it from http://www.bvbcafe.com. Put CD into your optical drive or extract ZIP file downloaded from official site, run setup.exe and follow the on screen instructions (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Starting Setup Wizard

Although one can change installation path it is recommended to keep the default one (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Select Installation Folder

Installation CAFE

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By clicking on button “Disk Cost…” you can check hard disk space requirements for installation of CAFE (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Disk Cost

Click Next to confirm setup information and begin installation process. When the process of installation is completed, you should get following window (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Completed installation

Then you can start CAFE by clicking on BV CAFE icon on desktop or in All Programs Menu Group, BVB Software =>CAFE => CAFE.exe. If one is using CAFÉ as TULCS Tool it is necessary to install additional modules one wants to use. NOTE: Licensing for this TULCS Tool is covered by “TULCS Consortium Agreement”, for details please contact: [email protected] (Sime Malenica, Bureau Veritas) [email protected] (Quentin Derbbane, Bureau Veritas).

Installation CAFE

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For additional information about TULCS Tool and BVB CAFE please contact: [email protected] (Svemir Bralic, BRZE VISE BOLJE).

DTU ShipStar

This module doesn’t have any installation package. It is enough to obtain ShipStar executable(s) and place it into CAFE folder C:\Program Files (x86)\BVB SOFTWARE\CAFE\ Following executable(s) are required:

• TICO3.EXE which is data preparation program for SHIPSTAR, • VBM.EXE which is basically SHIPSTAR.

Those executable(s) can be downloaded from http://www.fsb.unizg.hr/tulcs/ under Member Login pages. NOTE: Licensing for this module is covered by “TULCS Consortium Agreement”, for details please contact: [email protected] (Sime Malenica, Bureau Veritas) [email protected] (Quentin Derbbane, Bureau Veritas). For additional information about SHIPSTAR please contact: [email protected] (Professor Jorgen Juncher Jensen, Technical University of Denmark).

UNIZG DYANA

This module doesn’t have installation package. It is enough to obtain UNIZG DYANA executable(s) and place it into CAFE folder C:\Program Files (x86)\BVB SOFTWARE\CAFE\ Following executable(s) are required:

• STIFF.EXE which is data preparation program for SHIPSTAR, • DYANA.EXE.

Those executable(s) can be downloaded from http://www.fsb.unizg.hr/tulcs/ under Member Login pages. NOTE: Licensing for this module is covered by “TULCS Consortium Agreement”, for details please contact: [email protected] (Sime Malenica, Bureau Veritas) [email protected] (Quentin Derbbane, Bureau Veritas). For additional information about DYANA please contact:

Installation CAFE

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[email protected] (Professor Ivo Senjanovic, University of Zagreb) [email protected] (Nikola Vladimir, University of Zagreb)

MARIN FATIMA

FATIMA it consists of two parts. FACED software which has to be installed using its own installation package. FATIMA solver doesn’t have installation. Executable files have to be copied to user defined folder. NOTE: Licensing for this module is covered by MARIN. For additional information about FATIMA please contact: [email protected] (Tim Bunnik, MARIN) or [email protected] (Gert Kapsenberg, MARIN)

BV HOMER

HOMER has its own installation. Prior to installing HOMER user has to install all other modules he/she wants to use for example HYDROSTAR, FATIMA, NASTRAN, ANSYS or DYANA. HOMER setup will guide you through the installation process. Depending on user selection it will require you to point to installation folder of particular module. NOTE: Licensing for this module is covered by MARIN. For additional information about FATIMA please contact: [email protected] (Sime Malenica, Bureau Veritas) [email protected] (Francois-Xavier Sireta, Bureau Veritas)

Graphical User Interface CAFE

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GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

GENERAL

CAFE’s graphical user interface is presented in Figure 8. In line with the standard Menu bar there is the Property Bar. Toolbar is located just under the Menu bar. Then there are Information window and Multi-Purpose Window which acts as collaboration, command prompt, calculation window and text editor. The center area of the GUI is the View window (multiple views are possible), and above it is the Modeling Toolbar. On the right of the screen is the Project Explorer and Data Table. All items in CAFE have ToolTip text which explains the purpose of command. Interactive labels and toolbar buttons sometimes have multiple function which depends on which mouse button is applied. Colors in CAFE are selected so that they follow colors of coordinate system if tool is related to it (for example, X guides are colored red, same as X axis). If tool is used to enable/disable or set some parameter then blue/red color is used (e.g. Offset: 1.5 means that offset is defined - 1.5 but it is disabled-red). Similar situation is with colors in model tree where red color means that other user has ownership for given model.

Figure 5 Graphical User Interface


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MENU BAR

Menu bar, Located on the top of the GUI, holds commands used for file, data, view and geometry manipulation.

File Menu

File menu is the file and data management center of this GUI. Here’s the list and a short description of the commands found in this menu:

New: Starts a new CAFE project. Open: Opens an existing CAFE project file (*.cdf file extension). Save: Saves the working project under a current name. Save as: Saves the working project under a new name and location. Import: Import is used to Import other file types which hold different data (hull lines i.e.) Export: Export command can be used to export current model as some other file Database: This command has several options for loading MS Excel files which hold information about the materials, stiffener and beam profiles, plates or equipment. Exit: Leave and close CAFE.

At the end of this Menu there is a list of previously opened files (if there are any). Clicking on them will load them into CAFE.

View Menu

This menu is used for view manipulation. What follows is the list of commands that can be found here. New: Opens a new view window Delete: Deletes active view window Rename: Renames the active view window. Selecting it, Rename View input box will appear allowing the user to specify a new window name. Refresh: Refreshes active view window. Shading: Contains a submenu allowing the user to select from a range of model display options. Wireframe, Filled, Filled with Edges, Shaded and Transparent options are included. Normal's option is used to display the panel’s normal orientation (red color shows normal direction).

If some entity is selected than shading option will be applied only to its parent model.


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Projection: Contains a submenu with 3 View projection options. Perspective/Orthogonal and Camera View (First Person View) options are available. Zoom: Fit and Window options are available. Fit option will fit the whole model into the view window, and Window option allows zooming of the area of interest. Pan: Allows the user to pan the view up, down, left and right. Rotate: Allows the user to rotate the model view. From port board side: This is an isometric view option. Displays an isometric view of the model, from the fore. From starboard side: Displays an isometric view of the model, from the aft. After that lists of 6 available view projections is given. Front and Back, Left and Right, Top and Bottom respectively. Coordinate Axis and Planes: Toggles the display of View window coordinate axis and planes.

Extend box: Graphically shows the total dimensions of the model. Black dashed lines show total length, height and width of the object. Legend: Displays the legend of the selected property in the upper left corner of the view window. Copy: Copies the View window area into Clipboard so it can be pasted as a picture in any other software one is using, for example Microsoft PowerPoint or Word etc.

Figure 6 Model’s Origin, Extend Box and Coordinate Axis and Planes

Plots Menu

It is used to access Plots related commands New: Creates new Plot window. Delete: Deletes active Plot Window Rename: Rename the current Plot Window Copy: Copy plot content to clipboard


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Model Menu

Model menu is used to access commands specific to the project’s model. Menu’s commands are:

Mesh Selected Entities: Creates FE mesh of selected entities. Refine Selected Entities : it is used to refine generated mesh either by refining selected entities or entities whose vertices are selected. Clean All Models: Deletes unused vertices, invalid entities like quads with all nodes at same location etc. Main criteria to check the quality of entities is tolerance. Merge Selected Entities: It will merge any entities (vertices) within provided merge tolerance. Delete All Coincident Entities: Deletes all coincident entities if they are visible. Scale Selected Entities: Scales the selected entities at a predefined scale for 3 major axis. Scale factors are predefined in the Tools Data table area (Import Scale Factors). This is used when particular elements are to be scaled.

Scale All Models and Tools: It will scale all models ant Tools (guides) with predefined scale factors. This is used when complete model is to be scaled. Rotate the Selected Entities: Rotates the selected entities around user defined vector for given angle (vector tip and angle are to be defined: 1*0*0*90 will rotate entities about vector from origin to point which has x Coordinate 1 for angle of 90 degrees). Reload Equipment Display Lists: Reference to new equipment is added in order to visualize it one has to update equipment display list. Display lists are automatically reloaded when model is opened. Create Frames: Creates lines as intersection between selected entities and longitudinal X section. There are 2 possible options how X sections are defined: RULER, user input (if RULER is turned off Message window ask for start*end*step for X Sections). Create Water Lines: Creates lines as intersection between selected entities and horizontal Z section. There are 2 possible options how Z sections are defined: RULER, user input (if RULER is turned off Message window ask for start*end*step for Z Sections). Create Buttocks Lines: Creates lines as intersection between selected entities and

horizontal Z section. There are 2 possible options how Z sections are defined: RULER, user input (if RULER is turned off Message window ask for start*end*step for Z Sections).

Analysis Menu

It’s used for calculating various model Properties Hydrostatics: Calculate Ship Hydrostatics.


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Section Properties: Calculates Section Properties Classification Society Rules: Not yet active. Run FE Solver: Starts selected FE solver. Design Criteria: Not yet active. Design Optimization: Not yet active. Mesh CFD Volume: Not yet active. Run CFD Solver: Not yet active.

Drawings Menu

Purpose of this menu is to enable creation of AutoCAD drawings out of existing model. It has some user specific options related to standardization one is using inside of organization. Basic principles on how it works are as follow:

• Start AutoCAD • Disable File Dialogs in AutoCAD by typing "filedia" command and set value to

"0". • Select Model Entities you want to plot • Run Draw command from Drawing Menu for appropriate view.

NOTE: Additional information for particular element have to be set in entity description like for example if Rule Description for Stiffened Panels is set to WTBulkHead, bulkhead will be plotted as water tight.

TULCS Menu

TULCS Menu is used to run EU TULCS Project modules. It holds following commands. DYANA: Starts UNIZG DYANA. Submenu for this menu is STIFF. It starts data preparation program for DYANA. SHIPSTAR: Starts DTU SHIPSTAR modules; Read Hull Data: Reads SHIPSTAR Hull data for verification

purposes. Write Hull Data: Not functional yet. Run TICO: Starts preprocessing module for SHIPSTAR. Run VBM: Starts SHIPSTAR. User’s Guide: Shows SHIPSTAR User’s Guide.

Tools Menu

Split: Used to quickly split the selected entities at All X/Y/Z or W guides. Convert to: Convert entity to one of the appropriate object: Beam, Triangle or Quad FE, or Triangular, Quad, Polygon, NURBS or Cubic Strake, Polygon. Apply Knuckles: Reset Visualization Colors: Resets the entities colors to default values. Show Entities:


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List: Option List View Limits lists the current X,Y and Z view limits of the current model. This option will take the Box View settings into account. Delete X/Y/Z or W guides: Used to quickly delete all X,Y,Z or W guides. Settings: Used to define NASTRAN Executable path and AutoCAD Blocks Path.

Figure 7 Settings window

TULCS Menu

TULCS menu holds commands used to run TULCS Tool modules.

DYANA: Used to run preprocessor STIFF for UNIZG DYANA module. SHIPSTAR: Used to run preprocessor STIFF for UNIZG DYANA module. HOMER: Used to run BV HOMER modules (it is recommended to run HOMER modules from HOMER input Window).

Windows Menu

Windows menu holds commands used for managing view windows. Manual: Manual View windows arranging Cascade: Arranges view and plot windows one in front of the other. Active view or plot window will have the priority and be placed on top. Tile Horizontally/Vertically: Arranges view windows one above the other or side by side. Active view window will be placed on top or to the left.

At the end of this Menu there is a list of opened windows. Clicking on them will set them as active window.

Help Menu

Help menu contains following commands: User’s Guide: Launches this guide. Demo Movies: May not be supplied with all setup.exe. About: Displays information about the software version, authors etc.


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TOOLBAR AREA

Toolbar commands are in most cases shortcuts for Menu bar commands. This paragraph will explain only those commands that cannot be found among the Menu bar commands. It is important to note that some of the buttons has multiple function which depends on what mouse button is trigger.

Explorer Window Tool

Show/Hide Explorer Window: Toggles the display of Explorer Window.

Redo and Undo Action Tools

Redo Action: Repeats the previous action. Undo Action: Cancels the previous action.

Selection Tools

White arrow Selection tool is used for normal selecting of any entities displayed in the View Window. Multiple selections are possible by holding the Ctrl key or Shift key (activates selection box). Holding the CTRL + Shift key combination will activate the ‘trough all’ selection mode.

Selection drop down menu

This menu is used to filter the selection. User has several filtering options: Point , Mass, Line, Stiffener, Rigid, Triangle, Quad and various Strake entities. If set to None, Selection tool will take all entity types into account during selection.

Stiffener Show/Hide

This button is used to toggle the display of model’s stiffeners.

Reload Model

Reloads the current model

Collaboration

CAFE supports multiple user environment trough it’s Collaboration mode. Toggles Collaboration mode on/off

Dimension mode

Toggles the dimension mode ON/OFF. When active, CAFE will calculate and display the distance between selected vertices (Total [X, Y, Z].) In case 3


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vertices have been selected CAFE will calculate the radius of circle through selected points. Press Esc or Turn Off dimension mode to clear the dimension display.

Legend Tools

They are used to graphically display various information about the model Show/Hide Legend: Toggles the display of Legend. Legend Minimum Value: Enter minimum value for legend scale Legend Maximum Value: Enter maximum value for legend scale Legend Drop down menu: Specifies which property to display. Available options are: Material, Thickness, Profile, Number of

Stiffeners, Spacing, Group, Minimal Angle, Diagonals Ratio and Sides Ratio.

Scale Factor Tools

Deformation Scale Factor: Enter value for deformation scale factor. Motions Scale Factor: Enter value for motions scale factor. Wave Scale Factor: Enter value for wave scale factor. Loads Scale Factor: Enter value for loads scale factor.

Animation Tools

CAFE has the ability to record the contents and actions that take place within the View Window into an AVI format movie file. The command buttons are located in the Animation Tools Toolbar.

Animation Number of Frames per Second: Specifies the frame per second parameter of the animation Start / Stop Active View Screen Recording: Start Animation: Starts animation Stop Animation: Stops animation

Information Window

It displays different information about the ongoing CAFE actions

Figure 8 Information Window

Information window can be expanded to half of the screen’s height by double clicking on it.

Multi-Purpose Window

This window together with appropriate text box input is used for: • command prompt actions • collaboration window (select message to selected user)


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• calculation when "=" is input as first string (including relative alphanumeric values, for example if "=@FR:5+0.5" is typed in output to Multi-Purpose will be "=@FR:5+0.5=15.5" if position of FR:5 is 15.


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PROJECT EXPLORER & DATA TABLE

Project Explorer shows the structure of the current project. It is used to view, select entities and navigate through some of the CAFE’s basic features. Basic branches of the Project Explorer tree are: Tools, Models, Properties and Load&BCs. Data table is used to view and modify project’s parameters. Combined usage of Explorer tree and Data table enables the user to access and modify crucial project’s data. In short, Explorer Tree is used primarily for navigation and Data Table is used for data display and manipulation.

To toggle Data Table on/off use the button on the Project Explorer name bar. To enable Auto Hide Project

Explorer click the button. Following text will explain Explorer’s branches in detail.

Design

Deign branch sets the main project variables Length/Breadth/Height: Ship’s gross dimensions Draught: Ship’s draught Density: Water Density OuterShell: Group where the Outer Shell geometry is modeled. Displacement: ship’s displacement CB: ship block coefficient

Tools

Tools Branch combined with the Data Table is used to access general modeling and meshing options. Selecting Tools from the Explorer tree will load Tools parameters in the Data table as shown in figure below. Precision: specifies the rounding precision of the I/O data. Tolerance: It has two functionalities. First, it specifies the merging distance for entities (such as nodes or vertices). Second, specifies the sensitivity of entities’ movement with respect to the user’s mouse input. Higher value of tolerance requires more decisive mouse movement from the user.


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Offset: Sets the distance between the old and newly created entity (i.e. during entities copying or guide creation) Interaction: Specifies behavior of vertices. Three options are available: None, Snap and Snap & Merge. None option disables vertices interaction. Snap option will enable vertices coincidence in case distance between them drops below the specified Tolerance. Snap & Merge option will automatically merge coincidence vertices (it is not recommended for beginners). Scantlings: Scantlings Scale factor is the scaling factor of the profiles. It bridges the difference between the dimensions used in the model and those used in profiles’ database. For example, if we use meters in the model, and stiffener profile dimensions are in millimeters then the Scantlings factor should be set to 0.001. Every dimension from the profile database will be multiplied with this factor during stiffener generation. X, Y and Z Scale: These parameters define importing scale factors for X,Y an Z axis respectively. Also these scale factors are used with the Scale selected entities command which can be found under the Model menu bar option. X, Y and Z ruler: specify the model ruler. Ruler’s spacing and labeling can be modified using this option.

FE Mesh

This sub branch is used for controlling mesh generation and remeshing. EleLength : Specifies default finite element size (quad) for initial meshing. TraElements: Specifies the number of transient elements during remeshing of elements, ExpRatio: Resize factor of the transient elements during remeshing. It is the size ratio of old and

newly created elements. Diagonal Ratio: Specifies the maximum acceptable ratio of quad elements’ diagonals during meshing. If diagonal ratio of quad element exceeds this value it will be changed into two triangular elements. Merge ratio: Defines the merge ratio. DelRemeshed: If set to YES, during re-meshing elements will be deleted and replaced with new ones. NO option will keep old mesh.

Properties

Properties branch holds the properties of the model. This is where users can add new or modify existing Materials, Profiles and other properties. After the appropriate property has been set, user can apply it to the selected entity. This will be shown later.

Materials

Selecting this sub branch will load material properties into the Data table.


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User can Add new ( ) or Delete existing Materials ( ) from the project by clicking on the appropriate button. Use the mouse scroll to quickly view the loaded materials. Material properties are: ID: Used material’s unique ID Description: User can enter description of the material for easier recognition. YM: Specifies Young’s module of elasticity PR: Material’s Poisson’s ratio TS: Material’s tensile strength YS: Material’s yield strength eu: Tensile strain ro: mass density of the material cost: specific cost of the material. Materials can be added from the MS Excel datasheets using the Import Materials command in the File \ Database menu.

Plates

Plate properties can be loaded into the Data table by selecting it from the Explorer tree. Each plate has following properties: ID : Plate’s unique ID number Description: Entering description enables easier usage and management. Thickness: specifies plate’s thickness. Material: Specifies the material used for this plate. Plates can also be added using the File \ Database\ Import Plates command or using

the or buttons to add/delete certain plate. Description Drop Down menu can be used to quickly view and select any plate property. User can also type in the desired Plate property to narrow down the selection.

Profiles

Profiles are needed to define the Beam and Stiffener cross section. Profile properties are: ID: Profile’s unique ID number. Description: User can enter description for individual profile. Type: Specifies the profile’s shape. T, L and I shapes are supported and Bulb shape as well. Material: Specifies the material of the profile. HPW: height of the profile’s web.


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TPW: thickness of the profile’s web. BPF :Width of the profile’s flange. TPF: Thickness of the profile’s flange A: Profile’s cross section area ns_x : position of the profile’s neutral x axis. ns_y: position of the profile’s neutral y axis. Is_x: Profile’s moment of inertia about the x axis. Is_y: Profile’s moment of inertia about the y axis. Note: In the Description drop down menu Profile’s material is displayed next to the description of the Profile. Figure below shows the typical T-profile definition. Various profiles can be loaded into CAFE using File \ Database\ Import Profiles command.

Figure 9 T profile definition

Stiffened panel (StiPanel)

This sub branch is used to define custom stiffened panels with following properties: ID: Panel’s unique ID number Description: User can enter description of the panel to provide more information. CAFE will automatically generate description based on the Panel’s profile, spacing etc. NumOfStiffs: Number of stiffeners used on the

panel. StiProfile: ID of the profile used for the stiffeners. StiSpacing: Distance between stiffeners. Note: this parameter has precedence over Number of Stiffeners property for a given width of a panel.


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EdgeStiffeners: Activates edge stiffeners option. User can place stiffeners on First, Second or on both edges of the stiffened panel or set to None for no stiffeners on edges. Stiffeners: Activates dialog Data Input table where user can create custom stiffened panel made up of different stiffener profiles at arbitrary positions (right click inside the table to add rows). Note: this parameter has precedence over other two stiffener distribution parameters

Figure 10 Custom StiPanel Data Input Table

ContStiffeners: this option is used to set the Continuous Stiffeners on both or just one stiffener end. Weld Offsets: It enables user to set custom Weld offsets, weld types and stiffener offsets on strake’s edges.

Figure 11 Custom Weld and Offset Data input Table

Weld types are numerated according to ISO 2553 standard. To add new or remove existing row to the Data input Table right click on it and select the appropriate option. RuleDescription: This field enables the user to set the appropriate rule description to the stiffened panel via drop down menu. Available options are: Deck, Shell, Bulkhead/Waterproof, Double Bottom and Keel.

Masses

Masses are defined using this option. Mass parameters are: ID: Unique ID number of mass property Description: Description for this property Mass: Value for Concentrated Mass MassMatrix: User can define custom mass matrix. Clicking on this field activates Mass matrix input window were users can define their own 6x6 mass matrix. Right click inside the window area to add rows (just like with StiPanel property). During exporting to NASTRAN *.dat file, symmetrical mass matrix will be exported. Fill only the upper or lower segment of the mass matrix.


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Rigids

Rigids define degrees of freedom for Rigid Beam entity. Rigids’ parameters are: ID: Unique ID number Description: Description of this property DOFs: Constrained degrees of freedom. 1,2 and 3 correspond to translation in X,Y and Z direction and 4, 5 and 6 constrain rotation about the X, Y and Z axis.

Openings

User can define custom opening types with these properties: ID: Opening’s unique ID number Description: User can enter description for each opening. CAFE will automatically generate description based on opening’s properties. Type: Specifies shape of the opening. CAFE supports R (rectangular), E (manhole), C (circle)

shaped and general shaped openings (O type) A: Longitudinal dimension of an opening (not applicable to Manhole, see figure) B: Transverse dimension of an opening Area: Area of the opening Angle: Local orientation of the opening xRelPosition: relative position along the first side of the strake yRelPostion: relative position along the second side of the strake. CorRadius: Radius of the rectangle’s corners. Applicable to rectangular openings

Note on General Shaped openings The O type opening is defined relative to the supporting strake’s edges. Value A is the total distance of the openings edge’s from the strakes edges in longitudinal direction. Value B is the same but in the transverse direction. The XrelPosition value defines the distribution of the A value between the left and right edge of the strake. For example, if xRelPosition is 0.2 then the left edge of the opening will be at 20% of A from the strake’s left edge. That means that the opposite edge will be at 80% of A from the strake’s opposite edge. Same can be applied to the yRelPosition and B value.


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Figure 12 Manhole, Rectangular and Circle opening definition

Figure 13 O - type opening definition

Boundary Conditions (BCs)

This is where boundary conditions are defined. ID: Specifies the BC’s unique ID number Description: Enter description of the Boundary condition DOFs: Degrees of Freedom to be constrained. 1, 2 and 3 stand for translation in X, Y and Z direction respectively. 4, 5 and 6 stand for rotation about the X, Y and Z axis respectively.

Loads

This branch is used for defining wave load conditions ID: Specifies the unique ID number of a Load property Description: Enter the description for Load Property


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Draught: enter the ship’s Draught Amplitude: Specifies the amplitude of the wave Length: Specifies the length of the wave Phase: Set the wave’s phase Heading: Relative wave heading Gravity: Launches the Gravity Data input Table where the user is free to set the gravity constants along and about the 3 main axis. Roughness: Specify the Wave roughness OverPress: set the over pressure height Forces: Activates the Concentrated Forces input data table Moments: Activates the concentrated forces input table PerFIlled: Specify the fill percentage of the tanks Density: Enter the appropriate fluid density

Figure 14 Gravity Constants Data input table

MODELS and Model Groups

In the models branch user can manage models and groups. It is necessary to have models and groups in order to add entities and geometry to the project. User can create or add new models and within them add new groups. Also, user is free to activate or deactivate the display of appropriate groups and models by checking its check box. Right clicking on this branch brings up the Models context menu with the Add Model command which is used to add new models into the current project. Once a new model has been created it will appear in the tree as the Models sub branch. Right clicking on it will reveal these options: Rename Model: Used to rename the selected model. Type in the new name in the dialog box that pops up. Delete Model : deletes the model from the tree along with its model groups and all entities that were contained in them. Add Model Group: Used to add a new model group to the model. Model groups are essential for creating entities. Newly created model groups will appear as a new sub-branch of its parent model.


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Right clicking the any model group in the tree will bring up the model group context menu with following options: Rename model group: Brings up the dialog box to enter the name for that model group Delete model group: deletes that model group whit all entities in it. Copy selected entities here: Makes a copy of the selected entities and moves them to that group Moves selected entities here: Moves selected entities to that group without copying Switch selection state: Toggles the selectability of the entities in that group. Shift Ownership: Changes the authority over that group between multiple users Update: Updates the group


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STATUS BAR

Located at the bottom of the screen CAFE status bar holds several useful tools and controls for better and faster model manipulation.

Status Label

Displays CAFE’s action status. I will display the number of selected entities, Busy status if CAFE is doing some time consuming

operation or Idle status if no operation is performed. Active Model/Group Status

Displays currently active Model, Model Group and Group.

To activate a certain Model, Group or Model Group click on it in the Project Explorer Tree.

Vertex information

Vertex status has 2 modes. If the project’s Ruler is defined and enabled, the Vertex status information will display the selected vertex’s coordinates relative to the closest ruler tick mark.

In case the ruler is disabled, it will show absolute vertex coordinates. Vertices’ display in the current view window can

be enabled/disabled by clicking on the vertex status label. Ruler Status

Click on the label to enable/disable the display of the ruler in the current view window. When disabled, Ruler label is colored red.

Move Status

By activating degrees of freedom user can enable movement of entities in three main directions. To enable or disable movement in

X, Y or Z direction user can click the appropriate letter in this area.

Guides status

Guide status gives information about the currently selected guide.


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Only one guide can be selected at one time, and its coordinate will be displayed in this area. If Ruler display is enabled, the coordinate will be displayed relative to the ruler tick mark. This control is also used to toggle the display of a guide on/off, by simply clicking on appropriate letter. Clicking on the GUI label itself will toggle the display of all guides.

Box View status

Box View is a tool used for easier display of certain area of a large model.

Tolerance status

Tolerance status area provides information about the current tolerance value. User can change the tolerance by clicking on this

area and enter a new tolerance value via dialog box or use arrows on each side to increase or decrease the tolerance value. Another way to change tolerance is by using Tools Data table.

Offset status

Offset status gives information about the current offset value. User can change the offset by right clicking on this area and

entering new offset value via dialog box or by using two arrows on both sides of the value display. Offset Dialog box supports mathematical operators (algebra and trigonometry) and will calculate various mathematical expressions . Left clicking the Offset will disable it’s influence on the model (same as it was set to 0). When disabled the label is colored red.

Modeling Toolbar Area

This toolbar is located just above the View window area. It holds tools necessary for creating and manipulating entities. Left to right there are:

Copy selected entity

Makes a copy of selected entities. Copied entities will be placed at a distance set by the tolerance or offset value (if activated). If the offset option is

active (OFFSET label on the status bar is blue) the copied entity will be placed at offset distance. The direction is set by the MOVE option (X,Y and Z direction) or by the direction of the entities normal (Strake entities only). If the offset option is disabled (OFFSET label is red) then the copied entity will be placed at a distance set


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by the Tolerance value in the direction set by the Move option (direction of the entities normal will not be taken into account here). Note: If Right Mouse Button is used it will enable user to put number of copies to perform.

Mirror selected entities

Mirrors the selected entities about the XZ plane.

Split the selected entities

Splits the selected entities at the pre-selected guide position. Original entity will be split in two newly created entities (original entity will be deleted).

Extend to selected Guide

Extends selected entity to the pre-selected guide. If an entity is intersected with the selected guide, entity will be shortened from the closest end.

Snap Selected vertices to selected Guide

Works similar to the Extend tool. Selected vertices will be placed onto selected guide. It is useful for Curve vertices or Surface vertices i.e.

Shift entity nodes

Rotates the numbering of the entity’s nodes. Useful for adjusting the positioning of the stiffeners on the stiffened panel or rotating the vertices on the closed

Curves.

Flip entities Normal

Flips the direction of the entity’s normal. Also, when used on opened Curve it flips the vertices’ numbering order.

Shift Stiffener orientation

Rotates the position of the Strake’s first edge. First edge is used as a reference for the stiffeners. Rotating the position of the first edge will consequently

reposition the stiffeners.


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Select all or Invert selection

Selects all visible entities or inverts selection

Delete selected entities

Deletes selected entities

Rotate selected entities

Rotates selected entities. A Dialog box will appear. User is prompted to enter the appropriate rotation axes and angle. The appropriate input format is

X*Y*Z*Angle(deg). For example: to rotate an entity about the Y axis at an 35 degree angle enter 0*1*0*35.

Offset curve tool

Creates an offset Curve from the selected one at a distance set by the tolerance value.

Project Entity onto selected Surface

Projects an entity onto a selected surface in a direction set by the Status bar Move option. Select the Surface first, then the entity.

Free/Fix selected vertices

Fix or Free the vertices of an entity. Useful in case of complex models to avoid unwanted move of vertices.

Equipment rotation angles

Used to adjust the Equipment’s rotation angles about the X, Y and Z axis. Click on the arrows change the angle at a 5 degree increment. Click on the figure to enter an angle directly.

Add Point Entity

Adds a Point Entity to the currently active model group. If no entity is selected Point will be placed at a random position. To predefine the Point’s position pre-

select a guide or a vertex.

Add Mass entity


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Adds a Mass entity to the currently active Model Group. If no entity is selected Mass will be placed at a random position. To predefine the position of a Mass

entity pre-select a guide or a vertex.

Add or Turn On/Off lights

Used to add or manipulate a point light source (if selected). To add a light source click on the icon. To turn the light On/Off, select the light entity in the

model and click on the icon. Note: Maximum of 7 lights at same time are allowed. First added first turned off rule is used if more lights are added.

Add Line

Adds a line entity into the currently selected model group. Pre select 2 points or vertices to connect them with a line, or pre-select a guide to place a line in that

guide plane.

Add new Curve, Join existing curves, Create intersection Curve

Creates a new curve between several (at least 2) pre-selected points or vertices. It can also be used to join several curves into one curve (these curves

must have one coincident point). If a surface and guide are preselected a Intersection curve (if exists) between the two will be created.

Close/Open selected Curve

Used to make a closed curve out of an opened one or vice versa.

Create Circle

To create a circle pre-select 3 points before clicking on the icon. Distance between the first 2 selected points defines the diameter of a circle. Third point

(combined with the previously selected 2) defines the plane in which the circle is placed.

Create Manhole

To create a manhole shaped curve pre-select 4 points before selecting this command.

Distance between the first 2 points defines the width of the manhole and the last two points define the length of the manhole.


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Create an arc

Converts a curve into an arc. Select the curve for converting, then deselect a point trough which the arc will pass.

Create a Rigid element

Creates a rigid element entity. Pre-select 2 points to create a rigid entity between those 2 points.

Create Beam entity

Creates Beam entity into active model group. Pre-select 2 points to create a Beam entity between those 2 points or select a Chaikin curve to apply a profile to it.

Stiffener angle

Rotate the beam about its longitudinal axis using this tool.

Add Triangle/Quad FE entity

Add a Triangle or Quad Finite element entity to the currently active model group. Pre selecting three/Four points will define the elements position.

Apply Opening

Applies a currently active opening property to the selected strake

Add Triangular, Quad or NURBS Strake

Adds strake to the currently active model group.

Create Surface

Creates surface from previously selected curves (at least 2) into the active model group.

Create Sandwich type strake

Adds Sandwich type strake into the active model group (not active in current version).


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Add Equipment

Adds an equipment model into the active model group. At least one Equipment block property has to be specified before adding Equipment to the model group.

Enable/Disable Surface Magnetic feature

Enables or disables the magnetic feature of a surface. Pre-select the surface and click the icon to enable or disable this feature. Magnetic surface will attract

other entities’ vertices when they are positioned within the distance set by the tolerance value. Attracted vertices will move in direction set by the Move option only.

Insert/Remove point, convert to knuckle

These tools are used for Curve manipulation. Point is added behind the deselected point on a curve. To remove a point from a curve, select the curve, deselect the point of interest and choose Remove point button. To

convert to knuckle point, select the curve, deselect the point of interest and choose Knuckle point button

Surface Subdivision parameters

Manipulate the complexity of a surface by changing the order of surface transversal and longitudinal subdivisions.

Note: If middle button is applied exact number of elements in longitudinal or transversal direction will be created. If right button is applied element length is applied as definition of surface.

Mesh selected entities

Used to automatically mesh selected entities. Mesh parameters are defined in the FE Mesh data table which can be accessed using Project Explorer Tree

(Tools=>FE Mesh).

Repair Selected Vertices Mesh

Repair selected entities mesh using minimum energy relaxation algorithm.

Set Entity/Background Colors


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Used to apply different colors to the entities or the view background. To change a color of a selected entity, right click the button and select the appropriate color

(selected color remains as default). If nothing is selected, selected color will be applied to the background. Left click on the button will apply the default color to the selected entities/background. Note: Default color is also applied through Model Group Menu.

Context Menus

Context menu is accessed by right clicking in the view area. It has 2 major sub menus: Entities and Properties. Entities is used to create different model entities and to manipulate them. Properties is used to apply different properties to the created entities.

Properties Submenu

It is a shortcut menu used to quickly apply different properties to selected entities. User can select the appropriate entity from the drop down menu. In the Apply Stiffened Panel section user can alter the Stiffener orientation. Available options are : Perpendicular, Parallel and Percentage. More on these options is available in the Stiffener orientation and node shifting section of the CAFE’s tutorial.

Properties Bar

It is located on the right from the Menu bar. It is consisted from several drop down boxes, one for every

property type. It is used to quickly browse through the available properties and to apply them to the selected entities.

TUTORIAL

This tutorial will show how to use CAFE efficiently. First part will deal with basic application functionalities (view and file management, importing data and geometry, selecting entities etc.). Second part shows how to create model, work with groups, mesh and export model to FEM solver file.


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PART 1: BASIC CAFE

View management

Basic operations of view manipulation in CAFE are Rotate, Pan and Zoom. To Rotate the model about any axis do the following:

1. Press and hold the MIDDLE mouse button or Mouse Wheel 2. While holding the Middle mouse button, move the mouse in the desired

direction 3. Release the Middle mouse Button when you get the desired angle.

To Pan the view:

1. Pres and hold the middle mouse button AND the Ctrl key 2. While holding the key combination move the mouse in the desired direction 3. Release the keys when you get the desired result.

To perform Zoom in/out:

1. Roll the mouse wheel back and forth to Zoom in and out While performing the Zoom action, holding the Ctrl key will multiply zooming magnitude 10x. Advanced feature of CAFE is its Camera option. Camera option gives a First-Person-View of the model from within the model itself. User can “walk trough” the model using this feature. To activate Camera option:

1. Click the button on the Toolbar. 2. To rotate the view, click and hold the middle mouse button and move the

camera in the desired direction 3. To move forward or back, roll the mouse wheel accordingly.

User can also Pan the view while in this mode. 1. Press and hold middle mouse button and the Ctrl key. 2. While holding move the mouse to the desired direction.

To deactivate the Camera view press the W key or select any other Projection option (Orthogonal or Perspective ) from the View Menu or Toolbar Note: Best results are achieved using Camera option in combination with Transparent view display option (Figure 15)


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Figure 15 Camera view inside the model (Transparent display)

CAFE display options

CAFE offers several display options: Wireframe view, then Filled, Shaded, Solid or Transparent view (with or without edges) and Normal's view. You can select the mode that best suits your needs from the View =>Shading menu or by clicking the appropriate button on the Toolbar. If there are no entities selected, display changes will be applied to all visible models. In case an entity is selected the changes will be applied to the model that the entity belongs to. Some examples and comparisons are shown in figures below.

Figure 16 Solid vs. Shaded display mode


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Figure 17 Wireframe vs. Transparent display mode

Box feature

Box feature was just mentioned in the manual. This feature is used to view just a particular entity or section of a large model. The User has to select which section to view and use the BOX tool from the Status Bar.

Figure 18 Different Box feature displays


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We’ll show this on a more complex model. When you wish to view a particular slice: 1. Select the element that belongs to that section using the normal Selection tool

( ). 2. Left click (middle) the X,Y, or Z letter in the Box field of the Status Area (if

middle mouse button is used adjacent entity to selected will be shown as well). You can slice along multiple axes by selecting 2 or 3 letters at the same time.

3. Everything but the section of interest should disappear from the view. 4. Left (middle) click again on the appropriate letter to disable it and return to the

normal view User can specify the width of section to display by right clicking on the Box area. A dialog box appears and user can enter desired value of section’s width. Now that the basic view and display manipulation was covered we can move on to the next stage of tutorial which will cover file management.

File management

File management in CAFE includes creating new files, opening existing files, importing databases or other file types. To create new project: Select the New command from the File menu or press Ctl+N. New View window will automatically open and the Explorer tree will be reset. To open an existing CAFE project:

1. Select Open command from the File menu or press the button on the toolbar.

2. A Open dialog box will open. 3. Browse the desired file (*.cdf or *.cbf type) and click Open when done

Note: *.cdf is XML textual data file format. *.cbf is binary data format which has about 8 times smaller size than XML. Selected project will be loaded into the Project Explorer.

Importing files

Sometimes it is necessary to import some other type of files other than CAFE model files. To import file:

1. Select Import command from the File menu 2. Import Dialog Box will open 3. Browse the file for import and click Open when done.

CAFE can import various files. Supported file types are listed below: Excel lines (*.xls) MGV Hull Lines(*.mli) AutoCAD Data (*.dxf) NASTRAN Analysis Model (*.dat)


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NAPA Geometry file (*.ngf) CAFE binary file (*.cbf) CAFE data file (*.cdf) During importing a new model with appropriate model group will be created and added to the Project Explorer tree. That’s where all the imported geometry is stored.

When importing lines from Excel spreadsheets: First column must contain data (such as Point ID)

Second, third and fourth column contain the X,Y and Z Coordinates of the point A model group will be created for each sheet in the file.

Point ID X Y Z 0 20,5 40 10 1 20,5 23 15 2 20,5 20 20,3 3 20,5 18 23 4 20,5 15 37 5 20,5 13 60

Table 1 Example of a properly formatted xls file

When importing DXF lines: Select one of the X, Y, Z or W guides on which the lines will be drawn

Import the appropriate DXF file A model named after the file will be created along with 2 model groups within it

(POINTS and OBJECTS). The imported DXF drawings are scaled during importing. Scale factors can be found

under the Tools branch

Importing Databases

Databases are used to import Material, Profile and Plate data. CAFE supports MS Excel file type (*.xls). File format example is shown in Appendix. To import Database:

1. Select Database from the File menu and choose which database to import (Material, Profile or Plate)

2. Select data sheet.. Dialog Box will open. 3. Browse the file of interest and click open when done.

Information window will provide information about the loaded entities. To clear the Database from memory:

1. Select Database from the File menu. 2. Choose the appropriate Clear option from the menu

Database will be cleared from local project memory.


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Selection Basics

CAFE has all standard selection options. Single selection is done by using the Arrow

Selection Tool . This tool enables selection of any entity in the view window. When disabled user can select only vertices (if they are visible). Multiple selection is performed either by holding the Ctrl key and selecting entities one by one, or by using the selection box which is enabled by holding the Shift key. To select all visible entities press the Ctrl + A key combination. To enable the ‘trough all’ selection mode, hold the Ctrl + Shift key combination when selecting. Guide selection is performed by right clicking on the appropriate guide or holding the Alt key pressed and selecting the appropriate guide with the pointer.

When selecting complex entities like Stiffened Panels: Selecting the plate or strake will load Plate property into the Data table

Selecting Stiffener will load StiPanel property into the Data table


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CAFE MODELING GUIDE

Adding models and groups to the project

Every action in CAFE has effect on the currently active group which is a member of a model. To add Model and model Group to the project:

1. Right click the MODELS branch in the Explorer tree and select Add Model option.

2. To add a new group to the model, select any model in the tree and select Add Model Group option.

Figure 19 MODEL context menu

Renaming and managing entities

To rename a Model or Group: 1. Right click a group or model and select Rename option from the menu. 2. A dialog box will open where the user can enter new name.

To move entity to another group:

1. Select the entities of interest 2. Then right click the desired group and select Move Selected Entities Here

option.

Figure 20 Model Group Context Menu

Now we’ll create a new model and a group for our simple example. To create a new model select New from the File menu to open a new CAFE project, and then:


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1. Right click on the Models branch of the Explorer tree and select Add Model command. New model will appear (Model-0)

2. Rename model by right clicking on it and select Rename Model. Enter a new name in the dialog box (for example BOX-1).

Next, add a new group to the BOX-1 model:

1. Select the BOX-1 from the Explorer tree. 2. Right click on it and select Add Model Group. New group will appear in the

tree (Group-0) 3. Rename the group: right click on it and select Rename Model Group. Enter a

new name in the dialog box (for example STRUCTURE) After that is done Explorer tree should look something like this:

Figure 21 Simple Tree Structure

Creating geometry

Basic operations are done. It’s time to add some entities. CAFE models consist mainly of plates and some form of stiffeners, which make up stiffened panels. These plates have thickness, and some of them have openings of some sort. All entities are made of some material (steel, aluminum etc). All of that is assembled into one or more functional models. To make a model we need some building material. Add Material, Plate and Profile Database to the project (check Importing Databases section). Another way to add custom entity is by using Data table. To add custom Material:

1. Select Materials from the Properties brunch in the Explorer tree.

2. Click to add new material 3. Fill out the table with data (enter values in the appropriate fields)

This procedure can be used to add any other entity. We’ll work with the imported data for now. If you click on the Profiles in the Properties branch, and list trough them in the Data Table, you should notice various profiles that were loaded into the project. Most important field in this case is the ID of the profile which will be used later for building Stiffened panel entities.


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Working with GUIDES

Guides are an important feature of CAFE and they have many functionalities. They form the frame of our model. Before we start adding entities it’s necessary to configure Tolerance, Offset and Scantling parameters. It is also recommended to define Frame Ruler. These parameters can be accessed via Tools branch in Explorer tree.

Offset and guides

Offset parameter dictates the distance between the old and newly created Guides and other entities (such as strakes). There are 4 types of guides that can be used to manipulate geometry. They are basically planes in 3 perpendicular directions (X,Y and Z) plus one general Guide W. X guides (red) are perpendicular to the X axis (that is parallel to the YZ plane), Y guides (green) are perpendicular to the Y axis (XZ plane) and Z guides (blue) are perpendicular to the Z axis (XY plane). General Guide W is shaded grey.

Adding guides

This example will show how to create Guides and how offset works: 1. Click the Offset field in the Status Bar or in the Tools Data table. 2. Enter new value of 1000 and press enter 3. Press the X key two times, then Y two times and finally Z key 2 times.

By pressing the key 2 times we actually create 2 guides. Distance between them should be 1000. If everything is done correctly you should see something like this in the View window (rotate the view to get the best angle) or press one of these :

Figure 22 Empty Model with X, Y and Z Guides

Next, do the following:


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Select one of the Guides, for example Y guide, by holding the Alt key pressed and selecting the guide on the screen with the mouse. You can also select the guide by right clicking on its boundary Result is:

Now, change the Offset parameter to -500. Press the Y key once. Notice a new Y guide has been added in the middle of the box. It has been added 500 mm behind the selected Y guide. That is the purpose of Offset parameter and guides. It is possible to move guides directly by mouse (using right button or ALT+LMB). Guide is moving by Tolerance distance. Exact position is given in Status Bar for particular Guide. Third way how guide can be moved is using Arrow Keys. In combination with CTRL and ALT move distance can be 10*Tolerance or Tolerance/10.

Strakes and Guides

Guides are the starting point when creating geometry from scratch. Also, guides are an important tool for strake manipulation. To add a strake: Select STRUCTURE group from the Explorer tree Select the bottom Z Guide (blue handles)


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Click the button on the Modeling Toolbar, or press Alt + S key combination to add strake to selected Z Guide. Strake has been added onto the guide, and more important, to the STRUCTURE group.

It is possible to add Guide at the predefined location. To add a guide at the location of the strake’s node do the following:

Select one node (vertex) of the strake. Press X, Y or Z key to add the appropriate Guide at that location

We’re going to “spread” the strake across the Z Guide. Before we do that set the Tolerance value to the value of 50 by clicking on the TOL field on the Status bar and entering new value. Tolerance value dictates the range of the merging and snap operation between entities (like grid lines). It also specifies the sensitivity of entities to user action. If the tolerance value is low, it is easier to move an entity. To move an entity follow the procedure:

1. Enable the X and Y degrees of freedom by clicking the appropriate letter in the Status bar

2. Select the Strake and move it around the XY plane (or within the Z guide) 3. If you move it closer to the edges of Guides (within the Tolerance distance) it

will automatically snap on to the guide. 4. “Spread” the strake between the guides as it is shown in figure.


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It is possible to move a single corner of a strake: Select a corner of the strake by clicking on one of the vertices.

Its coordinates should appear in the Status bar: Drag the corner to the left as indicated. Another feature of guides is the “Pick Up” feature. To show this we will pick up the corner that we just moved using middle Y guide. Do the following:

1. Select the corner that we just moved 2. Select the middle Y guide (remember hold the Alt key) 3. While holding he Alt key drag the guide to the corner 4. As soon as the distance between the corner and guide drops below tolerance,

guide will pick up the corner. 5. Drag the guide (with the corner) back to the middle of the box

Pick up feature acts like a magnet to those entities that are selected. This feature can also be used to align multiple entities to the “grid”. We’ll demonstrate this by creating another strake:

1. Select the Y guide in the back 2. Create a new strake (Alt + S) 3. “Spread” the new strake across the guide ( Move in XZ plane) 4. Select both strakes while holding the Ctrl key. 5. Select the middle Y guide while holding the Alt key 6. Move the guide (holding the Alt key) to pick up the old strake 7. Move the guide to pick up the new strake.

The two strakes should now have one side joined and. User can move the strake with the guide and the bottom strake will change its length accordingly.


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Guides can be moved using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Selected guide (and anything it has picked up) will move from the current position at distance set by the Tolerance value. Holding Ctrl key will multiply that distance 10 times, Shift key

will attenuate the movement by 10 and Alt key by 100 times.

To create a strake at a predefined position it is necessary to select at least one vertex on the model before adding a strake. The first node of the strake will be

located at that position. Select more than one vertices to get the best result.

Two strakes are now joined at the bottom . Note: these two strakes are NOT yet merged and can be moved independently. To merge entities together:

1. Select both strakes 2. Select Merge Selected Entities from the Model menu.

Now the two strakes have been merged at the joined side. If we move just one strake, the other strake’s position will be altered.


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Another way to connect two strakes is by using the Connection Line. It is used to connect strake’s corners one by one. To use the Connection Line:

Hold the Ctrl key pressed Right click the corner of the strake you wish to connect

Release the Ctrl key Red dashed line appears

Connect the line to the corner of interest (left click). Repeat the process for the other corner(s)

Another way to select strake nodes using the guide is by selecting all vertices on the guide. To select all vertices on guide:

Place a guide at the location of interest (at the end of a section for example) or select one vertex and press X,Y or Z (depending which guide you want) to create a new

guide. Make a right double click on the guide

All vertices that were within the Tolerance distance from the guide should be selected.

Split feature

There is one other feature that Guides have and that’s Split feature. Guides can be used to split selected entities at the intersection between the guide and those entities. To split a strake:

1. Create a new Z guide in the middle of the box or move one of the existing ones using the Alt key and the mouse.

2. Select the vertical strake 3. Click the button or press the Ctrl + D key combination

The selected strake is now split in two at the position of the Z guide. Notice that the two strakes were also merged during the split operation. To make sure: Pick up the upper strake with one of the Y guides and place it on the back of the box.


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We showed that guides are a powerful tool and they should be used as much as possible to get the most out of the CAFE.

General Guide (W guide)

W guide is a universal guide which is defined by 3 points in space. To create a W guide:

1. Select 3 points on a model 2. Press W key on the keyboard

A W guide should appear on the display colored grey.

Every entity picked up by the W guide will move in the direction of the guide’s normal.

Advanced geometry manipulation

This is where we’ll show how to make the most out of the capabilities that CAFE has to offer. We’ll use a bit more complicated model of a tanker section this time.


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This tanker section has no transversal structure. Let’s make some:

1. Make a new Model group and name it Transversal 2. Select that group and adjust the viewing angle to your preference 3. Select the four corners of the bottom compartment (make sure the vertex

display is active) in clockwise or counter clock wise order. 4. Add new strake (Alt + S)

One compartment is closed with a strake. We’ll use copies of this strake to close other compartments. Before copying takes place:

1. Make sure the Offset parameter is set to 0 or Disabled (click on the label). This ensures the copy of the strake will remain in the same plane as the original.

2. Next, enable the Y and Z DOF in the Move status bar. By doing that we’re telling CAFE in which direction new copies of strake are being offset, and in which directions we want to move the strake.

3. Set the Tolerance to approx 400 mm. New copies of the strake will be created at this distance from the original. It will also make snapping easier.

4. Hide the Guides to prevent unwanted snapping.


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If all of the above tasks are complete:

1. Select the strake 2. Copy the strake (Ctrl + C) 3. Press and hold Ctrl key to disable the snapping 4. Click and hold the left mouse button anywhere in the view (but not on the

model) 5. Drag the mouse around and the strake will follow. 6. Place the strake so that some of its nodes are in the vicinity of the appropriate

nodes of the compartment you wish to close. 7. To snap the strake nodes to the compartment nodes release the Ctrl key.

(pressing Ctrl key again will free the strake, and you can move it around again).

8. Snapped nodes will remain in place. Move the rest of the strake around to snap the remaining nodes onto desired position.

When working with the Ctrl key and Move command it is recommended to have 2 degrees of freedom enabled at the most to avoid unwanted results.

Use Connection Line to connect problematic strakes. To avoid unwanted movement of the entities set Tolerance to a higher value.

Entities and Properties

Properties exist only in the database. They can be imported (like Plates, Materials and Profiles) or user defined (such as Openings, StiPanels, Rigids etc.. ). Entity is a physical building block of a model, and Property puts the Entity in a right context. For example, Plate property gives a Strake entity it’s thickness and material, Profile property gives the Beam entity it’s stiffness properties etc.. New properties are added using the Explorer Tree and Data Table. To add new property to the database:


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1. Expand the Properties branch in the Explorer and choose the property you wish to add in the Explorer Tree.

2. Click the button to add new property in the Data Table 3. Fill the necessary data in the Data Table.

The newly added property should now be visible in the Properties bar. To apply a property to an entity: Select the Entity in the model you wish to apply a Property to. Click on the appropriate combo box in the Properties bar Select the appropriate property from combo box Table below shows compatible Entity – Property types in CAFE.

Entity Property

Strake Plate, StiPanel, Opening Beam Profile Mass Mass Rigid Beam Rigid Connection or Rigid

Table 2 Compatible Entity and Property types

This means that it is not possible to apply a Profile Property to a Rigid Beam entity, i.e.

Plates

It’s time to make a Plate Property and apply it to the strake: 1. Select Plates from the Explorer tree

2. Click in the data table 3. Fill out the fields as it is shown in the figure

We’ve just made a new plate named Plate-12 and 12 mm thick. We’ll apply this plate to one of the strakes in our BOX-1 model. To apply a plate to the strake:

1. Select one of the strakes in the model 2. From the Properties bar Select the appropriate Plate to apply it to the strake

Thickness parameter is multiplied with Scantlings parameter during exporting and weight calculation.

Make two more plates of different thickness( for example Plate-10 and Plate-8) and apply them to other 2 strakes in the model. We now have 3 strakes with different thickness. To prove that we’ll use the Legend tool:


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1. Select Thickness from the Legend drop down menu

2. Click the button to activate the Legend display or select the Legend command from the View menu

The resulting image should look something like this:

Now we’ll add some stiffeners using the Stiffened panel from the Properties branch in the Explorer tree. Before we proceed we have to make sure we have at least one Profile in the memory. If there aren’t any it’s best we import some or make new ones (using the Profile’s Data Table). We will use the database profiles this time. Importing Profiles has been covered already and it will not be discussed now. We’ll assume we have at least one profile loaded in memory.

Stiffened Panels, Scantlings parameter

Very important thing to pay attention to is the value of the Scantlings parameter (Tools branch). Sometimes the units of the loaded Profiles do not match those of the model. If we load the Profile database where all units are in millimeters , and we make our model in millimeters as well, then the Scantlings parameter should be set to 1. But, if our model is made in meters, then the Scantlings parameter must be set to 0.001 (which is the default value). BOX-1 model was made in millimeters so the Scantlings parameter must be set to 1 (because the Profile’s dimensions are also in millimeters). To change Scantlings parameter:

1. Select Tools from the Explorer Tree 2. In the Data Table, enter 1 in the Scantlings field

Now proceed with the creation of the Stiffened panel. To make a new Stiffened Panel follow the procedure below:

1. Select Stiffened Panel (StiPanel) from the Properties branch in the Explorer tree area

2. Click twice button to add two new Stiffened Panels 3. Fill out the fields as it is shown in the figure 4. Select one of the strakes on our model (the middle one i.e.) 5. Select the StiPanel-1 from the StiPanels properties bar to apply it.


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The resulting model should look like this:

If the stiffeners appear on the bottom side of the strake do this:

1. Select the strake 2. Right click and select Flip Selected Entities or press CTRL+ F key combination

If you don’t see any stiffeners make sure the that their display is activated ( the

button in the Toolbar). Also check that you have loaded Profiles in memory, and that the right ID number is entered under the Sti Profile field.

The reason why we made 2 Stiffened Panels earlier will now be explained. The first Stiffened Panel is always the default one, which has no stiffeners (empty panel). This gives us the ability to quickly apply an empty panel ( or delete stiffeners from strakes). If we want to remove stiffeners from panels, we simply select them, find the default or empty Stiffened Panel in the Data table and apply it to the selection. Refer to the next section of this manual to learn about the stiffener orientation.

Stiffener orientation and node shifting

It is sometimes necessary to change the stiffeners’ direction. It is defined by the panel’s node numbering. If we rotate the numbering, the direction of the stiffeners will change accordingly.


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Figure 23 Node rotation

1. To rotate the panel’s numbering: 2. Select the panel of interest 3. Right click it and select Shift Entity Nodes from the menu or press the

CTRL+R key combination. 4. Repeat step 2 until you get the wanted result.

Stiffener orientation was mentioned earlier and we are going to explain it now. Stiffener orientation can be set to one of 4 options: Perpendicular, Percentage, Parallel and Parallel Reversed. Option Perpendicular will set the stiffeners perpendicular to one of the sides of the strake. Percentage option distributes the stiffeners along the first side and the side opposite to it by preserving the spacing along the first side and total number of stiffeners. Parallel orientation places the stiffeners parallel to one of the strake’s sides (see figure below)

In case of NurbsStrake stiffeners can be placed only as Percentage. Default direction of stiffener is normal to surface at given position.

Figure 24 Stiffener Orientation

Best results are attained by using Orientation options with Node shifting (rotation) operations.

The Strake’s reference edge (the one the stiffeners are perpendicular to) is bolded black when the strake is selected.


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Beams

Now we are going to add a single beam to our model: 1. Select the bottom Z guide

2. Click the button or press the Alt + B key combination to add a Beam entity 3. A beam will appear somewhere in the Z guide ( XY plane) 4. Select it and use the Guides to move the beam to the bottom strake like it is

shown in the figure.

If Curve is selected when Beam button is pressed it will be converted to curved beam applying selected curve shape.

To apply a different Profile to the beam do the following:

1. Select the beam 2. Choose the appropriate Profile from the Properties Bar

Note: Beams have orientation just like Stiffeners which means you can flip them (Alt + F) to get the preferred orientation or use the Stiffener angle tool ( button,

next to the Beam button) Now we can add some Openings to complete our model before we proceed to the meshing.

Openings

To create and add an Opening to the model follow the procedure below: 1. Select Openings from the Properties branch of the Explorer tree

2. Click the to add a new Opening property. 3. Fill out the Openings data table as it is shown.


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Opening property has been created. To apply it to the strake:

1. Select the strake 2. Select the appropriate opening from the available ones in the Properties Bar

An opening has been added to the upper strake like it is shown in the figure. The longitudinal and transverse dimensions are clearly visible, and relative positions of the opening’s centre are obvious. The relative position and orientation of the opening is defined by the orientation of the strake, so the expected results may not always be satisfactory.

Openings can also be added on Stiffened Panels. Let’s apply one now:

1. Select the stiffened panel on the model 2. Select the Openings from the Properties branch 3. Add a new opening to the collection (Circle shaped, diameter 300 mm) 4. Apply it to the selected panel

When creating oval shaped openings such as circles (C) or manholes (E), the A dimension will always specify the diameter of the arc. Manholes are usually elongated and in that case A dimension is the diameter of the oval part (or width) and B is the total length of the opening (see Figure 14).


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It is possible to add more than one opening to the strake. To do that: Select the strake that already has an opening

Select another opening from the Properties Bar Make sure that these openings are not coincident

When calculating mass of the model opening’s surface will be subtracted from the calculation, resulting a more accurate calculation

Applying Masses and Rigid Elements

Before we apply a mass property it is necessary to add an Mass entity to the model. It is also necessary to have at least one Mass property defined. Create one if there isn’t any.

1. Select the group to add mass entity in. 2. Click the button in the Modeling toolbar

A mass symbol ( ) should appear in the model. It is recommended to pre select a point, vertex or some other entity so that the mass entity appears at a predictable position. To apply a mass property to the mass entity:

1. Select the mass entity 2. Choose the appropriate mass property from the Properties Bar

Mass matrix

To create MassMatrix:

1. Add new mass property (select Masses from the Explorer, then click the button)

2. Click on the empty MassMatrix field


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3. To add new rows to the matrix right click in the Data Input table window and select Add new row command

4. When done fill out the appropriate fields

Figure 25 Adding new rows to the Mass Matrix

CAFE’s Mass matrix conforms to the CONM1 mass matrix definitions. CONM1 is a 6x6 symmetrical mass matrix. Fill out the diagonal elements and only one half of the mass matrix (upper or lower) because the matrix is symmetrical. See figure below

for explanation.

Figure 26 Mass matrix definition, CONM1


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Rigid connections

Rigid connections are applied in a similar way. It’s necessary to add a Rigid Beam entity. Position of rigid beam is defined by 2 points or vertices (mass points will work as well). To add a Rigid beam into the model:

1. Select group in which the rigid beam is to be added 2. Select 2 vertices for rigid beam to connect to.

3. Click the button on the modeling toolbar to add a rigid beam entity A line representing rigid beam should appear. Applying rigid connection to rigid beam will constrain DOFs of a rigid beam entity. Before applying rigid connection to a beam make sure there is at least one Rigid defined as a Property. If there isn’t any, create one using Data table. To apply a Rigid property:

1. Select the Rigid Beam entity on your model 2. Choose the appropriate Rigid Connection Property from the Properties Bar.

Basic curves and surfaces operations

CAFE has its own definition for curves and surfaces. This section will show how to work with those entities.

Curve

To create a Curve you need to pre-select at least 2 points or vertices. Selecting any entity such as Strake or Beam will work just as well, CAFE will use the vertices from the selected entity. We’ll use our BOX-1 example. The middle strake will be replaced with a surface created from 2 curves. Before proceeding do the following: Create a new model group within the BOX-1 model. Rename it to CURVES. This is where all Curves will be placed in the future so make sure that group is active when creating curve entities. Create one more model group and name it SURFACES. Save As model under a different name and proceed. Select the middle strake (the one with the stiffeners) and delete it (press Delete) Now click on the CURVES model group in the Explorer tree to make that group active. Now we are ready to create a new curve:

1. Select the bottom node of the top strake and left node of the bottom strake 2. Click the button on the Modeling toolbar

A new curve has been created and added to the CURVES model group.


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We’ll need to add more points to the Chaikin curve in order to deform it. To do that:

1. Select the curve 2. Hold CTRL key and click on the first point of the curve (this will deselect it) 3. Click on the button to add new point to the curve.

A new point has been added to the curve. Make note: new points are added in behind the deselected point. If you happen to deselect the last point of the curve during point adding, no points will be added. Repeat the process of point adding, this time add a point behind the newly added point.

Now we’re going to deform the curve simply by moving the points.

1. Enable the movement in Y and Z directions and disable it in the X direction ( )

2. Drag the points using mouse and rearrange the curve’s points similar to the figure below (you can hold the CTRL while moving to avoid unwanted point snapping)


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To create a surface from curves we need at least one more curve. We’ll need only the X guides this time, so disable the display of Y and Z guides using the status bar ( )

1. Enable the movement in X direction, disable the rest. 2. Select the curve and press the Ctrl + C key combination to copy the entity. 3. Move the new curve to the back X guide, it’s points should snap onto it (check

the tolerance value)

Surface

We’ll use these two curves to create a simple surface: 1. Select the SURFACES model group from the Explorer tree 2. Select both curves 3. Click on the button on the modeling toolbar to create the surface.

A surface has been created and added to the SURFACES model group.

More on Curves and surfaces

This is where some more advanced curve and surface capabilities will be shown.


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Creating Manholes and Circles

To create a circle we need 3 points or vertices. 1. Pick a guide and add 3 points to it (select a guide and click the button 3

times). 2. Rearrange 2 points so that the distance between them is equal to the diameter

of the circle which is to be created (let’s say 500 mm). 3. Make sure the 3 points are not in line. 4. Select the 3 points in the following order: first 2 points that define the diameter,

then the third point which defines the circle’s plane. 5. Click the button on the Modeling tool bar to create a circle.

A circle is created and is placed in the plane defined by those 3 points. Left figure shows the order in which the points should be selected.

Creating manhole

To create a manhole we’ll need 4 points. We’ll use the previous points and add one more. You can delete the circle or move it to another model group.

1. Add a new point to the guide 2. Rearrange the points so that distance between the first 2 defines the width of

the manhole and the distance between the other two defines the length of the manhole

3. Select the points in similar order: two points to define the width, then other two to define the length

4. Click the button to create the manhole. The created manhole will be drawn trough the width defining points, and the those points will be positioned at the middle of the manhole. The length defining points do not have be a part of the manhole, but the third selected point will define the manhole’s plane. See figures below for example.


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Make note that the vectors that are defined by these two pairs of points define the orientation of the manhole. Best results are attained when those two vectors (width vector and length vector) are perpendicular.

We’re now going to use the manhole to create a surface with the manhole type opening on it. Some other features of CAFE will be shown also. To define a rectangular surface quickly do the following:

1. Create a Strake in the plane of the manhole (fastest way is to select 4 vertices

of the manhole and click to add strake.


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2. Expand the strake beyond the manhole’s edge (use guides and extend to the guide option, button)

3. When done, select the strake and click the button to create a Chaikin curve from the strakes nodes.

Now we can delete the strake and continue to work with the curves:

1. Select the strake and delete it 2. Select the new curve and click the button to close it 3. Deselect the couple of points of the curve as it is shown and click the to

transform them into knuckle points. 4. Select both curves and click the button to create the surface

As we can see, the surface seems to be twisted. Enable the Wireframe view to see in more detail ( View =>Shading => Wireframe). The reason for that is the relative position of the first points of the two curves. We’ll need to rotate the nodes of the inner (it has more points) edge of the surface. Rotating nodes will position the nodes in a better relative position To rectify the situation:

1. Select the surface 2. Deselect the one of the inner nodes of the surface (not the curve) and click the

button to rotate the nodes.


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Repeat the process deselecting different nodes if not successful the first time around. Deselected node will be the next first node when node rotation action is performed.

The surface nodes act just like the curve points. It is possible to add a node to the surface, remove them or transform them to knuckle points and so on. Surfaces

can be split in two using guides or extended to the guides just like strakes.

Offset curves

This tool is used to create offset curves. We’ll use the curve from the previous example to show this feature. The new curve will be offset at the distance defined by the Offset value. Positive offset means the new curve will be offset outside the original curve and vice versa. Set the Offset parameter to the value of -250 mm Select the outer curve Click the button to create the offset curve The new curve is created within the original one because the Offset value was negative.

Curve – Guide intersection tool

This function creates a curve as a result of a surface – guide intersection. It is useful for defining transversal structure of a ship for instance (frames or such). We are going to demonstrate this by using our old model with a curved surface. To create a transversal bulkhead at the middle of the curved surface do the following:

1. Place one X guide somewhere around the middle of the surface (see figure) 2. Select the surface. Make sure the guide is selected to and that the appropriate

model group is active

3. Click the button to create the intersection curve This intersection curve can be used as any other Curve and it will be used to create a new surface.


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We’ll copy the curve and place it on the opposite Y guide.

1. Select the newly created intersection curve 2. Enable the movement in the Y direction using the Move option

( ) 3. Press the Ctrl + C key combination or click the button 4. Move the curve towards the Y guide until it snaps to it (make sure the guide is

visible) 5. When done, select both curves and click the button to create the surface

The resulting image should look like something like this.


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Projections and magnetic surface features

Magnetic surfaces are used when we already have finished surfaces but for some reason they are not aligned the way we want them to. For example:

1. Enable the Y guides on the BOX-1 model and movement in Y direction only. 2. Select the transversal surface and move it slightly beyond the curved surface.

Now we are going to use the magnetic surface feature to return the model to the previous state

1. Select the curved surface and click on the button to make it magnetic. 2. Select the transversal surface and slightly move it in Y direction.


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The points should snap onto the magnetic surface. It is advised to check the tolerance value, disable the guides in the vicinity and preferably disable the vertex display. Magnetic surfaces will attract Chaikin curves as well. This can be used to conform a Chaikin curve to a curved surface which can be then used to make a new surface.

If the selected surface has the magnetic feature enabled, the magnet button will

be highlighted -

Projection feature

Sometimes it is necessary to create a complex intersecting surface geometry. We’ll create a cylindrical surface intersecting our old model. To do that we’ll use the model without the newly created transversal surface:

1. Create a circle on the opposite Y guide as it is shown 2. Place it so that it’s side projection is completely within the bounds of the

curved surface’s side projection. 3. Enable the movement in Y direction 4. Make a copy of that circle for future use (in the Y direction) 5. Select the curved surface then select one of the circles 6. Click on the button to project the circle curve onto the surface in Y

direction. 7. Select both circles and click on the button to create a cylindrical surface


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We could have easily used a magnetic feature to conform a circle to the surface instead of projection. Projection is easier since it’s not influenced by tolerance or visible guides.


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MESHING

Meshing in CAFE is very simple and fast. We’ll show this on our BOX-1 model. We’ll create another model group to store the FE mesh of the model and name it MESH: Select the BOX-1 model, right click it and select Add Model Group Rename the group to MESH

Now it’s time to proceed with meshing: Select FE Mesh from the Tools branch of the Explorer tree Select the EleLength field in the FE Mesh Data table Enter the appropriate value for the element length ( 30 mm i.e.) Select the MESH Group from the MODELS branch

Select the Selection tool Press and hold Shift key to enable Selection Box and select the entire model using the mouse (left mouse button) Select Mesh Selected Entities from the Model menu Disable the display of the STRUCTURE group by unchecking its check box in the Explorer tree. The resulting image should be similar to this one:


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Blue rectangles are plate elements and rods are displayed yellow. Rods replace the stiffeners’ flanges.

REMESHING

Remeshing is used when were not satisfied with the mesh quality of a certain region of our model. It’s possible to refine mesh on an element or around the node. Let’s take the corner of the rectangular opening for example.

We’re going to refine the mesh around that corner: Zoom in on the region of interest Select the finite element in the corner Select FE Mesh from the Tools branch in the Explorer tree Adjust the refining parameters as it is shown in the figure (explanation will follow) Select the group MESH from the MODELS branch Select Refine Selected Entities from the Model menu


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Refine parameters explained

The most important mesh refinement parameters are Element Length, Maximum Number of Transient Elements and Expansion Ratio. The Element Length specifies new size of the elements in the refined region. Number of Transient Elements defines the maximum number of elements to be involved in refinement in each direction. When entering value for this parameter you should pay attention to Expansion Ratio parameter. If the Expansion ratio is to small then the mesh refinement will not be complete, since it has to be done trough finite number of transient elements involved. The basic rule is: For finer ExpRatios a higher number of Transient Elements is required. Figure below shows what happens if the refinement parameters are not set correctly. It’s obvious that the refinement process was not completed properly.


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Mesh editing

Mesh can be edited just like any other entity in CAFE. User can move nodes and elements either via Move command from the Status bar or by using Guides and their pick up feature. This procedure is the same as with any other entity encountered so far. Just select the element or node and pick it up using the appropriate Guide.

MESH EXPORTING

CAFE can make export files to NASTRAN (*.dat files) and LS-DYNA (*.k). To export mesh: Activate the group which contains the mesh to be exported and select it Select Export from the File menu Enter file name and choose the appropriate export file ( NASTRAN or LS-DYNA) Click Save when ready

As it was mentioned CAFE will export only ACTIVE(checked) group mesh.


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General Notes

Since TULCS Tool is built on top of BVB CAFE some of TULCS Tool functionalities are implemented directly into CAFE interface and they can be accessed through standard menus. These are:

• Import and export of NASTRAN *.dat files, • Import of HYDROSTAR mesh files *.hs0, • Import of FATIMA Mesh *.vtk, • Import of Stiff section data files.

Main purpose of those functionalities is to verify models used in TULCS Tool prepared by other software. If user has appropriate BVB CAFE license additional functionalities like modeling etc. can be used.

Running TULCS Tool modules

Activation of particular TULCS module is done first by selecting Design (marked as D in toolbar of CAFE Explorer). After that by clicking on appropriate module inside of Explorer tree data input table (on the bottom of explorer tree) or data input Form will appear (in case of BV HOMER where more data input exists).

UNIZG DYANA

Data preparation for this module consists of two parts. First part is data preparation for preprocess module STIFF. Second part is data preparation for DYANA which is done through BV HOMER interface. Using TULCS Tool user can import STIFF cross sections in order to verify them and to use them later on. It is important to create link between particular stiff section and 3D model. It is done through usage of CAFE RULER (how to create ruler see in appropriate section of this manual). Every section in its comment line (first line) at the end contains name of frame where it belongs (for example FR135). When stiff data is imported system will automatically create proper position for given cross section). Once when all input sections are prepared and verified, user can run TULCS/DYANA/Run STIFF what will generate most of the input data needed for DYANA software. Rest of the data can be added through Explorer Tree/UNIZG DYANA Data Table or manually (see. DYANA Users’ Manual).


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UNIZG STIFF Verification of section thickness

DTU SHIPSTAR

Data preparation for SHIPSTAR consists of selecting SHIPSTAR Input file, defining Output file and selecting Hull data file. It is possible to visualize Hull data by selecting TULCS/SHIPSTAR/Read Hull Data). Once when all input is selected user have to run TICO module which is preparation for SHIPSTAR. Next step is running VBM module which is basically SHIPSTAR. Output data can be viewed through Plots on Explorer tree. In order to start post processing user have to define new plot (Plots/New) or open existing plot from drop down list on Explorer Tree. Next step is to switch Explorer tree to Plots (selecting P in tree toolbar). Inside of SHIPSTAR branch there are different plots available.


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SHIPSTAR Input and Output

BV HOMER

This is the most complex module of TULCS Tool. It integrates other software (NASTRAN, ANSYS) and modules like MARIN FATIMA and UNIZG DYANA. From that point of view amount of input data is larger and additional Graphical User Interface is created. In order to run the interface user has to switch to Design Tab of Explorer tree and select BV HOMER. If link to existing HOMER data file is defined in Data Table it will load data into GUI and show HOMER input file on the bottom of HOMER Data Input Window. Otherwise, user has to define all those data. Description of data needed for HOMER is defined in its manual. Other module data which are specific for HYDROSTAR, FATIMA and DYANA (modules that HOMER is integrating) are explained in module documentation. It is important to know that user has to obtain particular licensing for every module from module manufacturer: BVBCAFE License is required only if user wants to use it for modeling) SHIPSTAR No license required for TULCS Partners HYDROSTAR Bureau Veritas FATIMA MARIN UNIZG DYANA University of Zagreb NASTRAN Market ANSYS Market Once when user prepares data he/she can run modules of HOMER (if all appropriate licenses for module exists). It is recommended to run modules from HOMER Data Input Window. There are toolbars with appropriate description in ToolTip. Output from modules is displayed in MULTI PURPOSE WINDOW. When module is running


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MP Window is blue. At any time user can save content of MP Window in form of text file. Menus are accessible using right mouse click on window area.

BV HOMER Data Input Window


User's Guide .doc

FINAL REMARKS

Data Structure

CAFE Data files are structural data bases (not relational) what means that no relations exists between data. For example it is allowed to delete all plates from model and save it without error. When user try to process plate data, system will report an error. CAFE can store project files in both XML and Binary format. Advantage of XML data format is that it is structured text file format what enables user to read it with any XML editor if needed. Binary format is on the other side more compact (about 8 times smaller in size).

Documents

Users Guide