Makers of MOSES - The Final Answer in Marine Simulation
What Is New In Rev 5.10

The User Interface:

The user interface has had several enhancements. Perhaps the most apparent one is that there is now a Tool Bar at the top of the MOSES window. This fellow works as most tool bars do and can be used for most of the basic settings and for getting basic reports. It is not complete, however, in being a total replacement for the command line. This will come.

The "pop up" graphics window is gone. Graphics will now be drawn directly on the display area. This was prompted by the desire to be able to directly see a picture of what is happening whenever one wants. Consequently, the Illustration Menu and the &PLTMODEL commands are gone from the documentation (the &PLTMODEL command still work as before, but new options have been added). Replacing this is a new command &PICTURE which directly plots a picture to the display area. This new command has a short cut of Alt P. Short cuts are also available to rotate the picture, zoom, and translate around in the zoomed picture. Click Here to see the documentation for &PICTURE and follow the "NEXT" for about five links to see how this works.

The command history can now be browsed by a pop up window as well as by "printing" it. Additionally, one can use the pop up window to select previous commands for editing and/or execution.

MOSES can now deal with more than eight colors. This was necessary to add some special effects in the pictures such as changing the color of panels when they are below the water. A new command &COLOR defines colors and color schemes and styles now have a color scheme attribute. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

Stiffeners:

In the past, stiffeners were not completely implemented. With this release, they are reasonably complete. They now add stiffness to a model, have weight, stiffen joints for both crushing and punching, and reduce the stress concentration factors in tubular joints. Click Here to see the documentation for stiffeners in general , or Here for documentation on joints. To make using stiffened plates easier, PLATES can now have a reference node to orient the local system. Click Here to see the documentation

Structural:

  • There is now a SP_PLATE which is similar to a SP_BEAM except that it is a plate. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The flags controlling the behavior of the AISC code check have been moved from parameters following the code name to an option themselves, and a new option for code checking has been added. By being stand alone options, they can now be specified in a custom file and they will never need to be changed.

  • The new code check option {{-EQUIVALENT}} changes the way in which buckling is considered for non- prismatic elements. It is now possible to use an estimate of the critical load for the element to compute section slenderness properties instead of using individual properties of the sections. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

Hydrostatic Stability:

A new way of filling compartments is now available, -DOWN_FLOOD. This lets MOSES flood compartments when the lowest down-flooding point goes below the water surface. This can be used for the same purposes as -OPEN_VALVE except that here one does not specify a maximum. Also, it can be used to look at what really happens during stability instead of simply stopping the curve at down flooding. Click Here to see the documentation or Click Here to see the an example.

Also, a new option has been added to the STAB_OK and KG_ALLOW macros so that a user can define a macro to set the wind coefficients as a function of yaw and draft. Click Here to see the documentation.

Slings:

In the past, slings were treated as constraints. They are now true assemblies of tension only elements. This will change some of your answers, but we have not noticed anything important. The new approach will now properly account for the flexibility of the sling assembly when it is important; i.e. when lowering something in deep water. Another benefit of the change is that you can now use &CONNECTOR to change the length of the boom line or to move its attachment point. Finally, the nomenclature of slings has been changed. In the past, the name used for a tip-hook assembly was the name of the first element. Now, you specify a name. If you omit the name, a name will be created which is &NAME where NAME is the name of the first element. Click Here to see the documentation.

General Changes:

  • Error checks have been added to trap non closed pieces and errors in the permeability of compartments.

  • A new action -L_DELTA can be used on the &CONNECTOR command. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The parameters used when executing the &EQUI command are now remembered from one use to the next and the names of the options have been changed. The old names are still valid, but have been removed from the documentation. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The string function, &NAMES, has been extended to have an optional selector for the names returned. If the selector is omitted, the function operates as before. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The string function, &RESPONSE, has been removed from the documentation. In its place is a new one, &GET. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The maximum number of macro arguments has been increased from 50 to 300.

  • A new option, -TOL_OFF, has been added to the PGEN command. This defines a tolerance which will evict offsets from a model if they are colinear to within this tolerance.

  • Cargo forces in the Frequency Response Menu has been been extended to produce "G" forces if one does not specify any data to the FR_CARGO command. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • A new option, -G_TABLE, has been added to the &CONNECTOR command. This option force MOSES to recompute the lookup table for ALINE connectors at the current position. This option is useful when simulating a body being moved vertically. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The automated transportation macros have been extended to make it easier to do several things. In particular, one can now have the macros generate a complete set of rational tiedowns and/or a set of vertical braces. Also, one can now add a point for the computation of cargo forces. This allows one to get forces on unmodeled cargo and equipment on a deck. Finally, the MOSES output for the tow analysis now has "g" values reported instead of the earlier forces in unit seas.

What No Longer Works:

  • The UGX menu has been changed. Now, one must define a macro containing the UGX commands and the &UGX command specifies the macro to be executed. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • You can no longer get "plots" to the screen in UNIX when you use an xterm window for running MOSES. To get screen graphics, MOSES must be run in its own window.

What Answers Will Change:

  • Since slings are now treated as flexible connections instead of constraints, some answers will change. This is mostly numerics, but some of it is due to the deflection of the sling and the resulting position of things with respect to the water.

  • The way that wind force is integrated has been changed to be conservative in almost all cases. This may make the wind force increase, especially if one is using a power law for the height variation.

  • Joint Rings will now change the punching shear check for X joints.

  • Rings will now be used to stiffen joints only under special cases. Thus, stiffeners which used to be used for joint stiffening may now be omitted from the joint crushing. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • MOSES now checks the inertia requirement for hydrostatic rings when doing an API code check. Now, some members may fail because of inadequate ring size.

  • A new report in the Structural Post processing Menu has been added. As a result what was previously called "LOADS" is now called "STRESS" and the new report is "LOADS". (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The "connection" of a LLEG element to a node has been changed from the centroid of the section to the center of the tubular portion.

  • The manner in which "non tubular" elements framing into tubular joints are treated has been changed. In the past, these elements were used for joint classification, but were ignored when checking the joint itself. Now, they are considered when computing offsets and when checking joint crushing, but they are still ignored for "joint code checks".

  • The way reduced slenderness is treated for non-prismatic beams has been changed. The old method is available as an option. With using this option, the code check values will change. The changes are normally small, but they may be dramatic. (Click Here to see the documentation.)

  • The computation of the section properties for beams has been rewritten and several minor bugs have been fixed. This causes small changes in the results for structures which have angles, channels, etc. As a result of these changes, the stresses are now correct for non tubular shapes. Also, the warping normal stresses are now added into the stresses.