Filling Interior Compartments - Ultramarine.com Filling Interior Compartments

Interior compartments can get "contents" in several ways:

Any of these processes is controlled by one of two commands. One of these "automatically" pumps water into compartments and will be discussed below. The other one is: 


     &COMPARTMENT, -FLAG(1), -OPTION(1), ... -FLAG(n), -OPTION(n)

Now, this syntax is different from the normal in that here there are two things which begin with a -. The basic distinction between a FLAG and an OPTION is that FLAGS specify a class of action and OPTIONS are more specific. A single FLAG can apply to more than one OPTION.

To control accidental or intentional flooding one uses the four flags: 


     -FLOOD, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n)

     -NO_FLOOD, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n)

     -OPEN_VALVE, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n)

     -DOWN_FLOOD, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n)

     -DYNAMIC, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n)

The -FLOOD flag tells MOSES that the compartments which match :CMP_SEL(i) will be open to the sea and that they will normally be full of water up to the waterline. The -NO_FLOOD flag is used to reverse the process. When this is used, compartments revert to being filled as before it was flooded, but with the current filling type (filling type is discussed below).

The -OPEN_VALVE specifies that all flood valves attached to the compartment are open. Here, ambient water will flow into the compartment, or contents will flow out depending on the location of the valves, internal pressure, and amount of ballast in the compartment. This change of fluid in the compartment occurs statically, and can be observed using &STATUS COMPARTMENT. The maximum volume of fluid in the compartment is artificially limited by that specified using the add ballast options.

The -DOWN_FLOOD option instructs MOSES to fill the compartment up to the waterline whenever the lowest vent point goes below the water. Here no maximum need to be specified. This option is particularly useful for hydrostatic stability and capsizing studies. Down-flooding points on tanks that have been marked with -DOWN_FLOOD are not used when computing down-flooding during a RARM command. Thus, this option can be used to get a correct picture of the stability. Notice that when this command is issued, water may be drained from the compartment.

The -DYNAMIC option defines tanks which will be flooded dynamically when a time domain simulation is performed. In essence, this option opens the valves of all holes with a type of F_VALVE at the beginning of a time domain simulation. Using this option is reasonably delicate. It should be the last item specified on the command. Any reference to "dynamic" compartments after they are selected will turn off the dynamic behavior.

There are three options which influence this flooding: 


     -INT_PRE, :CMP_SEL(1), .... :CMP_SEL(n), INTPRE, EMP_FRACT

     -COMPRESSOR, :HOL_NAME(1), .... :HOL_NAME(n), PCOMP, FLCOMP

     -PUMP, :HOL_NAME(1), .... :HOL_NAME(n), PCOMP, FLCOMP

The -INT_PRE option is used to define the initial internal gage pressure (air pressure in the compartment minus atmospheric pressure) in the compartment (ksi or mpa). If INTPRE is zero, then all vents in the compartment are open, if INTPRE is greater than zero, then all vent valves on the compartment will be closed. If there are holes with a type of VENT, then there will be no internal pressure, otherwise the internal pressure will limit the capability of the compartment to flood. EMP_FRACT specifies the percentage full of air in the compartment at the stated internal pressure. If this value is left blank, MOSES assumes INTPRE is the pressure acting when the compartment is 100 percent full of air. The -COMPRESSOR and -PUMP compressor or a pump attached to a compartment which will act during a time domain simulation. Here, PCOMP is the rated gage pressure (ksi or mpa), while FLCOMP is the rated flow rate of the pump or compressor in cubic feet per minute or cubic meters per minute. The pump or compressor are connected to holes in the compartment and here :HOL_NAME(i) are selectors for the holes which will receive the pump of compressor.

Now, to pump contents into a compartment one has the flags: 


     -CORRECT, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -APPROXIMATE, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -APP_NONE, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -APP_WORST, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -FULL_CG, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -FCG_NONE, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -FCG_WORST, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -INPUT, AL, AT, Gx, Gy, Gz, :CMP_SEL(1), :CMP_SEL(2), ...

     -INITIAL,

     -ADDITIONAL,

and the options: 


     -PERCENT, :CMP_SEL(1), PERC(1), SPGC(1), ...

     -FRACTION, :CMP_SEL(1), FRAC(1), SPGC(1), ...

     -AMOUNT, :CMP_SEL(1), BAL(1), SPGC(1), ...

     -SOUNDING, :CMP_SEL(1), S(1), SPGC(1), ...

are available. In essence, the flags tell MOSES how to treat the contents and the options tell the amount of contents.

Before this can be described intelligibly, a bit of history is in order. When a compartment is not filled completely, its center of gravity moves about relative to the body when the body changes angle. Now, we simply compute the correct location of the center of gravity. In the past, however, this was a laborious computation and several methods were developed to approximate its location; i.e. 

     Xg = Xo + Ac

where Xg is the current CG location, Xo is the CG location in a reference position, A is a matrix (with only two non zero terms) of the derivative of the CG with respect to angle changes, and c is the change in angle from the reference position. In perhaps more familiar terms, the A matrix contains all zeros except for the first and second diagonal elements and these are the "free surface moments" divided by the current amount of ballast in the tank. We are being a bit vague here for a reason. Different stability rules require that certain values be used for Xo and A in certain conditions. Thus the different filling types specified by the flags above - a way to treat the problem approximately and satisfy the rules!

The filling FLAGS correspond to different choices of Xo and A as follows:

The two flags -INITIAL and -ADDITIONAL define whether or not the compartments will be emptied before adding, or whether the following fluid will be added to that which exists. For all of these flags, :CMP_SEL(i) is a selector which defines the compartments which will have their properties altered.

The -FLAGS define how the amounts defined with -PERCENT, -FRACTION, -AMOUNT or -SOUNDING will be treated. These options instruct MOSES to add ballast to the specified tanks; the only difference is the manner in which the amount of ballast is specified. With -PERCENT, one specifies the percentage full, with -FRACTION, he specifies the fraction full, with -AMOUNT, he specifies the amount of ballast (bforce), and with -SOUNDING he specifies a sounding (feet or meters). SPGC is the specific gravity of the contents of a tank. If it is omitted, then the last specific gravity provided for a tank will be retained. For new tanks, the default is the specific gravity of ambient water. If none of these flags is specified, then all tanks mentioned will have a fill type defined by the -FILL_TYPE option of the &DEFAULT command. The values :CMP_SEL(i) which may follow these options allows one to change the type of filling without altering the amount of ballast in the tanks.

This command is quite complicated and a few examples are in order: 

     &COMPARTMENT -CORRECT ONE TWO S@

will change the type of filling for tanks ONE, TWO, and all tanks which match S@ to CORRECT. A tank half full can be specified as: 

     &COMPARTMENT -PERCENT ONE 50

or 

     &COMPARTMENT -FRACTION ONE .5

A tank full of two different fluids can be defined by: 

     &COMPARTMENT -PERCENT    ONE 50 1.025
     &COMPARTMENT -ADDITIONAL ONE 50  .800

Here, the heavier fluid will be at the bottom of the tank, and the ballast will correctly reflect the combination of the fluids. The vertical CG, however, will be approximated by the center of volume of the two fluids.

For an example of moving water in a compartment statically, consider: 

     &COMPART -OPEN_VALVE -PERCENT ONE 50 -INT_PRE ONE 3 100

In this case, fluid will flow out of the compartment if the specified internal pressure is greater than the ambient pressure at the valve location.

To initially ballast a tank half full and have it flood dynamically, one issues: 

     &COMPARTMENT -PERCENT ONE 50 -DYNAMIC ONE

and to turn off dynamic flooding, 

     &COMPARTMENT  -PERCENT ONE 50

To simulate a compressor attached to a compartment, consider the following: 

     &COMPART -DYNAMIC ONE -PERC ONE 50 -INT_PRE ONE 1E-5 .5  \
     -COMPRE ONE .05 10000

Here, the vent valve is closed by providing a non-zero value for INTPRE. To analyze what happens as the compartment empties, one should issue a TDOM command.

To automatically ballast a body to achieve a desired condition, one should use the command: 


     &CMP_BAL, BODY_NAME, :CMP_SEL(1), -OPTIONS, ... :CMP_SEL(n) -OPTIONS

where the available options are: 


     -LIMITS, MIN, MAX


     -HARD

Here, BODY_NAME specifies the name of the body to be ballasted and :CMP_SEL(i) specifies the compartments in which ballast will be altered. MOSES will then move water into and/or out of specified tanks until the body is in equilibrium. The minimum and maximum amount compartments will be ballasted can be defined with the -LIMITS option. All compartments mentioned after this option will not be ballasted below MIN percent full, nor will they be ballasted greater than MAX percent full. If a -LIMITS was not used, all active compartments will have a minimum of the minimum allowed in the tank and a maximum of 100.