SESAM RELEASE NOTE

SIMA
Sima is a simulation and analysis tool for marine
operations and floating systems — from modelling to
post-processing of results.

Valid from program version 3.5-00

SAFEGUARDING
LIFE,
PROPERTY
AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
SAFER, SMARTER, GREENER
Sesam Release Note

Sima

Date: 10 April 2018

Valid from Sima version 3.5-00

Prepared by DNV GL – Digital Solutions

E-mail sales: digital@dnvgl.com

© DNV GL AS. All rights reserved

This publication or parts thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including copying or recording, without the prior written consent of DNV GL AS.
Table of contents
1 DOCUMENTATION ........................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Installation instructions 1
1.2 Updated drivers for graphics card 1
1.3 Upgrading from earlier versions 2
1.4 Verify correct installation 2
1.5 Changing default workspace path configuration 2
1.6 License configuration 3

2 NEW FEATURES .............................................................................................................. 6

3 BUG FIXES ..................................................................................................................... 7

4 REMAINING KNOWN ISSUES ............................................................................................ 8

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1 DOCUMENTATION

1.1 Installation instructions

Required software
The following software must also be installed to run Sima 3.5:

Required:
• Sima uses the calculation engines SIMO and RIFLEX and they must be installed separately.
This version of Sima requires SIMO and/or RIFLEX 4.12.
• DNV GL Digital Solutions Application version manager (AVM). This is used to set which
versions of Sesam software to be used on the computer. The AVM must be started and set
to use SIMO and RIFLEX 4.12.
• DNV GL Digital Solutions license manager.

System requirements
Required:

• 64 bit Windows 7/8/10

• 4 GB RAM available for SIMA (e.g. 8 GB RAM total in total on the computer)
• 1 GB free disk space
• Updated drivers for graphics card

Note that Windows Server (all versions), Windows XP, Windows Vista, 32-bit Windows
7 and 32-bit Windows 8 are not supported.

Recommended:
• 64-bit Windows 8 or Windows 10
• 16 GB RAM
• Fast quad core processor (e.g. Intel i7)
• High-resolution screen (1920 × 1200 / 1080p)
• Graphics card: DirectX 10.1 or 11.X compatible; 512 MB or higher
• Fast SSD disk, as large as possible (capacity requirements depends heavily on
simulation settings, e.g. 500 GB is a good start)
• 3-button mouse

High disk speed is important if running more than 2 simultaneous simulations in parallel.
Example: If the user has enough SIMO-licenses and has configured SIMA to run 4 SIMO-
calculations in parallel, then the simulations will probably be disk-speed-bound, and not CPU
bound (with the above recommended hardware). Note that this is heavily dependent on the
simulation parameters, so the result may vary.

1.2 Updated drivers for graphics card

The driver of the graphics card should be upgraded to the latest version. This is especially
important if you experience problems with the 3D graphics. Note that the version provided by
Windows update is not necessarily up to date – download directly from your hardware vendors
web-site.

Installing graphics drivers may require elevated access privileges. Your IT support staff should
be able to help you with this.

SIMA should work with at least one graphics-mode (OpenGL, OpenGL2, DirectX 9 or DirectX

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11) for all graphics cards that can run Windows 7 or 8. However, graphics cards can contain
defects in their lower-level drivers, firmware and/or hardware. SIMA use the software “HOOPS”
from the vendor “Tech Soft 3D” to draw 3D-graphics.
For advanced users that would like more information on what graphics cards and drivers that
does not work with SIMA (and an indication on what probably will work), please see the web
page http://developer.techsoft3d.com/hoops/hoops-visualize/graphics-cards/.

Before reading the compatibility table you may want to figure out which version of HOOPS
SIMA is using. To do this open Help > About > Installation Details, locate the Plug-ins tab and
look for the plug-in provider TechSoft 3D (click the Provider column title twice for a more
suitable sort order). The version number is listed in the Version column. Also remember that
all modes (OpenGL, OpenGL2, DirectX 9, DirextX 11) are available in SIMA

1.3 Upgrading from earlier versions

After upgrading to a newer version of SIMA, your workspaces may also require an update.
This will be done automatically as soon as you open a workspace not created with the new
version. You may not be able to open this workspace again using an older version of SIMA.

Preference settings should normally be retained after upgrading, however you may want to open the
preference
dialog (Window > Preferences) in order to verify this.

1.4 Verify correct installation

To verify a correct installation of SIMA, perform the following steps:

1. Start SIMA (by the shortcut created when installing, or by running the SIMA executable)
1. If you are prompted for a valid license, specify a license file or license server.
(If you need advanced information on license options, see “License
configuration”).
2. SIMA auto-validates upon startup: A successful installation should not display
any errors or warnings when SIMA is started.
2. Create a new, empty workspace:
1. You will be prompted to Open SIMA Workspace: Create a new workspace by
clicking New, select a different folder/filename if you wish, and click Finish.
3. Import a SIMO example, run a SIMO simulation, and show 3D graphics:
1. Click the menu Help > Examples > SIMO > Heavy lifting operation
2. Expand the node Condition in the Navigator in the upper left corner
3. Right-click Initial, and select Run dynamic analysis. After a few seconds, you will
see the message Dynamic calculation done. No errors should occur.
4. Right-click HeavyLifting in the Navigator in the upper left corner, and select
Open 3D View. 3D-graphics should be displayed, showing a platform and a
crane.
4. If there were no errors when doing the above steps, then SIMA can be assumed to be
correctly installed.

1.5 Changing default workspace path configuration

When creating a new workspace SIMA will normally propose a folder named Workspace_xx
where xx is an incrementing number; placed in the users home directory under SIMA
Workspaces.

The proposed root folder can be changed by creating a file named .simarc and place it in the
users home
directory or in the application installation directory (next to the SIMA executable). The file
must contain a property sima.workspace.root and a value. For example:

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sima.workspace.root=c:/SIMA Workspaces/

A special case is when you want the workspace root folder to be sibling of the SIMA
executable. This can be achieved by setting the property as follows:

sima.workspace.root=.

1.6 License configuration

SIMA will attempt to automatically use the license files it finds in this order:
1. Use path specified in the file “.simarc” if present. See details below
2. Use the path specified in the license wizard.
3. Use the system property SIMA_LICENSE_FILE.
4. Use the environment variable SIMA_LICENSE_FILE.
5. Use all “*.lic” files found in C:/flexlm/ if on Windows.
6. Use all “*.lic” files found in the user home directory.

If any of the above matches, the search for more license files will not continue. If there are no
matches, SIMA will present a license configuration dialog.

The license path can consist of several segments separated by an ampersand character. Note that a
license segment value does not have to point to a particular file – it could also point to a license server.
For example:

c:/licenses/sima.lic&1234@my.license.server&@another.license.server

In this case the path is composed on one absolute reference to a file. Followed by the license server at
port 1234 and another license server using the default port number.

RIFLEX and SIMO license

When starting SIMO and RIFLEX from SIMA the environment variable MARINTEK_LICENSE_FILE will be
set to the home directory of the user. This means that a license file can be placed in this directory and
automatically picked up.

Specifying a license path

When starting SIMA without a license the dialog below will pop up before the workbench is shown. If you
have a license file; you can simply drag an drop it into the dialog and the path to this file will be used.
You may also use the browse button if you want to locate the file by means of the file navigator. If you
want to use a license server; use the radio button and select License server then continue to fill in the
details. The port number is optional. A host must be specified, however. Note that the host name must
be in the form of a DNS or IP-address.

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You can now press Finish or if you want to add more path segments; you can press Next.
this will bring up the second page of the license specification wizard. The page will allow you
to add and remove licence path segments and rearrange their individual order.

Modifying a license path

If the license path must be modified it can be done using the dialog found in the main menu;
Window >Preferences > License.

This preference page works the same as the second page of the wizard.

Specifying license path in .simarc

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The mechanism described here works much like specifying the environment variable, however
it will also lock down the SIMA license configuration pages, thus denying the user the ability to
change the license path. This is often the better choice when installing SIMA in an
environment where the IT-department handles both installation and license configuration.

The license path can be forced by creating a file named .simarc and place it in the users
home directory or in the application installation directory (next to sima.exe). The latter is
probably the better choice as the file can be owned by the system and the user can be denied
write access. The license path must be specified using the sima.license.path key and a path in
the FLEXlm Java format. The license path can consist of several segments separated by an
ampersand character. For instance:

sima.license.path=c:/licenses/sima.lic&1234@my.license.server&@another.license.server

Note that the version of FLEXlm used in SIMA does not support using Windows registry
variables. It also requires the path to be entered in the FLEXlm Java format which is different
from the normal FLEXlm format. Using this mechanism one can also specify the license path
for physics engines such as SIMO and RIFLEX started from SIMA. This is done by specifying
the key marintek.license.path followed by the path in normal FLEXlm format.
For example:

marintek.license.path=c:/licenses/
sima.lic:1234@my.license.server:@another.license.server

Viewing license details

If you would like to view license details, such as expiration dates and locations you will find
this in the main menu Help > License.

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2 NEW FEATURES
Key release note
SIMA-8325 The figure contribution; i.e. the calculated fatigue damage scaled by the relative
duration or probability of the current condition; may be calculated from a VIV
analysis.
SIMA-8323 Plot configuration is moved into the plot editor
SIMA-8289 Wind turbine responses are now available when selected in the RIFLEX dynamic
calculation parameters editor.
SIMA-8288 The user may select body to import into when importing from SIF
SIMA-8286 It is now possible to set up a DNV OS F201 Combined loading analysis in the RIFLEX task.
Right click the model and choose new DNV OS F201 Combined loading analysis. This will
then be performed directly after Dynmod or it may be rerun pressing "rerun result
processing" on the condition.
SIMA-8282 Wave kinematics at updated position (cosine series) may now be used. The wave
kinematics will be calculated during the simulation, based on the updated position of the
nodes for which kinematics are calculated.
The wave components may now have stochastic amplitudes. This will cause the wave
spectrum to vary between realizations.
Wave kinematics may now also be stored on an additional file in ASCII format.
SIMA-8275 It is now possible to iterate over folders in workflow using manual input mode. The
algorithm will use workflow run folders if present or all top level folders that have signals in
them.
SIMA-8273 The user may now specify to copy files into the working directory of the external program in
workflow
SIMA-8122 Use the compare operation in the post processor to compare two signal trees
SIMA-8107 The default behavior of saving the undo history in SIMA is now changed due to performance
issues when loading. The user can go back to the old behavior by going to preferences-
>Workspace->Save undo. The possibility to save the undo history will probably be removed
in a future release
SIMA-8103 Comparing two objects in the navigator now use naming and not order to compare.
References are also considered to be the same if the name is the same
SIMA-8026 It is now possible to give a sequence of control signals to thrusters. This may be used to
model manual control of thrusters as well as drive off scenarios. See thruster context help
for further details.
SIMA-8022 It is now possible it model wind turbine generator faults and blade pitch faults in RIFLEX.
Wind turbine shutdown with generator fault conditions may be applied in a time domain
analysis. The generator fault options include total loss of generator torque and backup
power formulated as following scaled torque control. In addition a mechanical brake in form
of linear torque damping may be modeled.
Wind turbine blade pitch fault conditions may be applied in a time domain analysis. The
following blade pitch fault types may be modeled:
- Seized, i.e. fixed blade pitch from a specific time
- Runaway, i.e. blade pitch change at a specific rate until reach of final pitch angle
- Actuator bias, i.e. constant pitch deviation from required pitch
The blade pitch fault conditions are modeled individually for blades with pitch fault.
SIMA-7980 An extreme wind event from "IEC 61400-1 Wind turbines – Part 1: Design requirements –
2005" may be applied in a time domain simulation. The wind event can be applied to a
stationary uniform wind with shear. The following extreme wind events are available:
- IEC 2005 extreme coherent gust with direction change, ECD
- IEC 2005 extreme vertical wind shear, EWSV
- IEC 2005 extreme horizontal wind shear, EWSH
- IEC 2005 extreme operating gust, EOG
- IEC 2005 extreme direction change, EDC
The EWSV and EWSH events can only be used for systems which include a wind turbine.
The ECD, EOG and EDC events may be used for systems without a wind turbine, but some
event parameters must then be specified; e.g. velocity change, direction change and

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 duration of event for an ECD vent.
SIMA-7972 It is now possible to change iteration mode in WorkflowSet. A new "Grid" option is added to
enable condition space equivalent functionality.
SIMA-7966 The user can now create folders within folders. Another important change is that deleting
the folder also deletes the content
SIMA-7874 Numerical integration operation is added to the post processor
SIMA-7834 It is now possible for the user to define custom applications by importing custom editor
tasks from stask file. Right click menu new->Application task and choose an stask file with
a custom editor task within. The users will now only see the custom editor interface and not
the underlying tasks and workflows.
SIMA-7782 External processes (e.g. Simo, Python scripts and other external programs in workflows)
now have a standardised way of communicating error messages back to the Sima user.

-After running the external process Sima checks if a file {{status.xml}} exists in the
working directory where the process was launched
- If the file exists, Sima reads it and presents the content in the error pop-up

The file should have the following format:

<status>
<severity>error</severity>
<title>Single line title describing the error</title>
<description>Multiline text with details about the
the problem and what the user
might do about it.
</description>
</status>
SIMA-7751 It is now possible to find out current os by utilizing the helper functions system.isLinux() or
system.isWindows() in scripting.
SIMA-7688 It is now possible to model marine growth on RIFLEX lines by defining a relation between
water depth and growth thickness and density. The marine growth is then added to each
element during a separate load step in the static calculation procedure.
SIMA-7449 Several storage options have been added to SIMO: Slender element forces, catenary
system forces and node positions. Visualization storage is required
SIMA-7406 It is now possible to import Sum and Difference frequency quadratic transfer functions from
SIF and SIMO sys file.
SIMA-7267 Static and dynamic 3D visualization in RIFLEX have been improved. Some results may now
be visualized as vector results. Airfoils that have a defined geometry are now drawn in
static and dynamic visualization as well as the modelled view.
SIMA-7248 Short crested waves can now be visualized in the 3D-view for SIMO. Wave method must be
visualization
SIMA-7004 It is now possible to automatically compute the initial position of a super node in RIFLEX.
The position is calculated based on a reference line.
SIMA-7003 The user now has the option to skip creating a dummy line when setting up a Slender
system connection for a SIMO body. Use the super node connection type in Slender System
connection

3 BUG FIXES
Key release note
SIMA-8302 When unchecking the box for heading correction in SIMO dynamic calculation
parameters heading correction would still be used in the simulation. This has now
been resolved.
SIMA-7953 Fixed reading of RIFLEX 3D bottom file with extra comment in header

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SIMA-7795 Docking Cone visualization is now updated during animation
SIMA-7808 Symmetry option is removed for Diffracted waves
SIMA-7829 Improved performance for the F201 codecheck in the post processor
SIMA-7768 The file browse functionality in RIFLEX support vessel wizard is back
SIMA-7488 Calculation of main direction for tabulated (numerical) spectrum has been
corrected.
SIMA-7762 Drag and drop reordering update issues in the Navigator has been fixed
SIMA-7589 All non-SIMA wizards are removed from the import and export menus
SIMA-7907 Fixed import of SIF file into an existing task which would overwrite value set for
requested time series length and other important properties for calculation
parameters

4 REMAINING KNOWN ISSUES

Key release note
SIMA-7876 Text fields in SIMA could sometimes become unreadable when using Windows 7
with the classic theme. Users experiencing this problem should switch back to the
"Windows 7 Basic" theme by going to Control Panel - Personalization - Change the
theme.
SIMA-7559 In plot of retardation function with value at timelag zero+, i.e. h(0+), the value
should be multiplied by 2.
SIMA-8157 Storage task content is not copied when using 'save as'
SIMA-7813 Opening Click Help -> About -> Installation Details -> Installation History (tab)
does not work
SIMA-7699 It is not possible to copy and paste a text into, for instance, value field of a
string(text) in signal generator.
SIMA-7459 Changing unit in preferences does not update the plots in custom editor. The
editor needs to be reopened.
SIMA-7090 SIMA crashes in some cases when screen-saver starts or an external screen is
connected and SIMA window is opened. If this occurs the user should test
alternative graphics drivers in settings and turn of screen-saver.
SIMA-7554 Visualization of time dependent volume mass is wrong

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