Makers of MOSES - The Final Answer in Marine Simulation
What Is New In Rev 6.00

With this release, we are no longer supporting SG, IRIX machines.

The User Interface:

We plan to continue on with the user interface to make it more efficient to use the "buttons" and to make this a complete substitute for the command line.

Categories:

Category is a new MOSES concept. Categories are a set of names and a name is associated with each load attribute in the model. One can control multipliers for force types by category. In essence, Categories are a generalization of the previous concept of -USE, -NUSE, and -MARGIN. Now one can change whether or not a load attribute contributes to a particular load type "on the fly". As an example of the use of this, suppose that one has a set of pipes that are sometimes full of fluid and sometimes empty. Now, one could have treated this as contents in the pipes, but now, one can define a set of #ELAT's all of which belong to a single category which can be turned on or off at will. Click Here to see the documentation.

In addition to providing control over the force computation, Categories are used for reporting. There are &STATUS's for categories as well as the old CATEG_SUM. Click Here to see the documentation. This is a quite useful and powerful concept. Unfortunately, it is a global concept in that a category does not belong to a body or part. This makes it somewhat inconsistent with the old concept of MARGIN which was applied to parts.

Notes:

NOTES is a new MOSES concept which allows one to associate a 72 character description with almost any of the database items. This is accomplished with an option, -NOTE on any modeling command. One can obtain a list of the names and notes with an &STATUS command. Click Here to see the documentation for the -NOTE option and Here to see the documentation for the new &STATUS. The -DESCRIPTION option on the &DESCRIBE COMPARTMENT command and the D_COMPARTMENT report of the &STATUS command has been removed from the documentation, since the NOTE concept replaces them.

Quantities of Interest:

The &INTEREST Menu is now obsolete. Down-flooding points are now holes, Draft Marks are now defined with &DESCRIBE BODY Click Here to see the documentation, and REPORT Interest Points are defined by &DESCRIBE INTEREST. Click Here to see the documentation.

Holes:

In the past a compartment could have down-flooding points, a single flood valve and a magic vent. A "hole" is a generalization of these things. Now, a compartment can have many "holes", each one of which has a type. Holes with a type of WT_VENT are the same as the old down-flooding points, those with a type of VENT are the ond non weather tight down-flooding points, this with a type of F_VALVE are the old valves, and those with a type of M_VENT are like to old vents. A new type, V_VALVE, has been added. In the past, if a compartment was vented, it was assumed that the vent always stayed above the water, hence M_VENT or magic vent. A V_VALVE is a vent which can go below the water. If all vents are either closed or below the water, then the compartment can develop an internal pressure. No pressure exists if an open vent is above the water. Now, a -COMPRESSOR now is attached to a hole instead of a compartment and a -PUMP can also be connected. Click Here to see the documentation or Here to see how the valves are opened and closed.

As a result, the reports on compartments obtained in the Process Post-Processing Menu have changed. Click Here to see the documentation.

Connectors:

Flexible connectors have changed considerably:
  • First, MOSES now has a "spring" what has zero length and can create a moment,

  • Next, a new type of connector, a H_CAT, is a catenary between bodies,

  • RODS can now be connected between bodies,

  • ALINES have been replaced with B_CATs,

  • TRUSELMs have been replaced with SL_ELEMs,

  • TENSELMs have been replaced with an approximate H_CAT, and

  • COMPELM have vanished completely.
Click Here to see the documentation.

Structural Post-Processing:

Several changes have been made in the structural post-processing. Perhaps the most important of these is that one can now perform LRFD AISC and API code checks. click Here to see the documentation.

The RESTRAINT command has been changed. In the past, the -DETAIL, -STANDARD, and -SUMMARY options have been ignored for RESTRAINT LOADS. Now they are not. A new "type" for restraint, FOUNDATION, has been added. This produces a report similar to the FOUNDATION report in the Process Post-Processor. See below for details, or click Here to see the documentation.

A string function, STR_POST has been created to give information about what happens with STRPOST commands. Click Here to see the documentation.

The AMOD command has been removed from the documentation. Now one defines allowable stress modifiers with an option on the CASES command. Also, two new options -NOMINAL and -PRELOAD have been added. The define "special" load cases for the FOUNDATION report. Click Here to see the documentation.

Foundation Check:

A "foundation" check has been added to both the structural and process post-processing menus. Here, four checks are performed: preload, overturning, capacity, and sliding. The preload check compares the maximum vertical load with that in a "preload" condition and the overturning check compares the difference between the maximum vertical load with that in a "nominal" condition. These two condition are defined with an option on the &CONNECTOR command for process post-processing and optionally with the CASES command for structural post-processing. Click Here, or Here, or Here to see the documentation.

String Functions:

Several thing have changed with respect to string functions:
  • A new type, DRAFT has been added to the &BODY string function.

  • The string function &D_SET has been replaced with &INFO which will provide information about things other than device settings. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new option, O_NUMBER, has been added to the &STRING string function. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new option, DEFLECTION, has been added to the &POINT string function. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • Two new options, INTENSITY and L_OD_T have been added to the &ELEMENT string function. Also, the option OD_T has been removed from the documentation. Click Here to see the documentation.

General Changes:

  • The SACS conversion now converts SACS AREA and MEMB2 cards.

  • The &WEIGHT command has been extended so that one can now use the -TOTAL and -DEFINE option for a part. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • The &REPORT internal menu is now documented. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • The -NUMAVAIL option on the SET_VAR command in the Disposition Menu has been changed to -NUM_COLUMNS. A new option -NUM_ROWS has also been added. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new physical device, TEX, has been added. This allows one to use MOSES documents and output as input to the popular document formatting program LaTeX.

  • The TANK_BAL command in the Process Post-Processing menu now reports sounding, ullage, and amount of ballast in addition to percent full.

  • A new type of compartment summary, I_PIECE, has been added. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • The document formatter has been completely rewritten.

  • New selection options and a new color option have been added to the &PICTURE command. Also, the -CATEGORY option has been replaced with -PARENT. Now, points are selected by virtue of being a vertex of a selected element. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • The critical down flooding points are now reported the results of a RARM command.

  • A new option has been added to the RARM command to instruct MOSES to compute the lateral center of pressure for each heel angle. Click Here to see the documentation or Click Here to see the test, CLR.

  • A command to fill a polygon has been added to the UGX Menu. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new type of &STAUTS, PRE_COMPARTMENT, has been added which reports on differential head, pressure, and flow rate information in compartments. Click Here to see a test.

  • New option have been added to &PARAMETER to control computation of drag and wind force and sea kinematics. Click Here or Here to see the documentation.

  • Several new options have been added to beam class definition commands to allow one to define properties used in LRFD code checks. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • The way models are converted has been changed to use the Category concept. Now, "loads" are assigned to categories. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • Load Groups no longer require a set of points to define the load map. In the past if this was omitted, the default was to all points in the part. Now, the default is the points where load attributes are applied. Also, the default is to apply all load groups with a multiplier of one. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new option, -EXTREME, has been added to the STATISTIC command of the Disposition Menu. This allows one to control the predicted extremes of the statistics. By default, a new algorithm is used for the prediction, so these results will change. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new &STATUS report, SEA, has been added. This gives statistics about the sea for the current environment and is quite useful in checking a sea before doing a time domain simulation. Click Here to see the documentation.

  • A new way to define the time for a simulation has been added. This allows one to specify a number of cycles and then MOSES will attempt to find a beginning time so that in the interval from the beginning time to the end time, there will be a peak about that predicted in the number of cycles specified. This is a way to put a big wave in a time domain of limited duration. Click Here to see the documentation, or Here to see a test.

What No Longer Works:

  • Previous Installation Templates will not work with this release. The must be completely rebuilt.

  • The command for defining an alias between nodes is now ALIAS. The old command, ALIAS_NODE is no longer honored.

  • The input of coordinates on a #PLATE command is no longer supported.

  • Two lines in the file install.dat that one uses with the automatic installation macros have changed. In previous versions, one had 
               &SELECT :nodsel -EX *b@
           &SELECT :n_fat  -SELE @ -EX *b@
    These should be changed to: 
               &SET n_code = -SELE @ -EX
           &SET n_fat  = -SELE @ -EX
    Notice that in the files, these two lines are separated by three comment lines.

  • The MUDMAT command has been removed since the foundation report offers better information.

  • The -COMPRESSOR option on &COMPARTMENT has been changed so that the selectors now select holes instead of compartments.

  • The -CATEGORY option on &PICTURE has been replaced with -PARENT.

  • The options -MARGIN, -LG_MARGIN and -SELECT options of the &WEIGHT command have been removed from the documentation since they are conceptually inconsistent with Categories. They still work, but the reports may be misleading.

  • The document formatting has been completely rewritten. Many of the old things will still work, however, there are no guarantees.

What Answers Will Change:

  • The TANK_BAL command in the Process Post-Processing Menu now report sounding, ullage, and amount as well as percent full.

  • The numerics of computing the heeling arm have changed. The numbers for the heeling arms may be different, but this is nothing more than the order of computation.

  • The AISC code check has been completely rewritten. As a result, your answers may change. The -AISC option is now ignored and the code basically operates as did before with -AISC YES YES.

  • In the past, the still water level was used in computing the forces on load group attributed. This has changed so that now the incident water surface is used. Thus, now buoyancy and other water forces are correctly computed.

  • The predicted extremes from the STATISTIC command in the Disposition Menu will be different because a new algorithm is used. See the above for details.

  • Load Groups no longer require a set of points to define the load map. In the past if this was omitted, the default was to all points in the part. Now, the default is the points where load attributes are applied. Also, the default is to apply all load groups with a multiplier of one.

  • The default moses.cus now has a -use @ instead of -nuse @. This will change the force computation for some models.

  • The CATEG_SUM report has changed. It now produces a single report for all selected parts instead of a report for each. Also, it now incorporates the Category concept. Category multipliers are reported and the entries for MARGIN are omitted. It now accepts the -BRIEF option which produces only totals by Category.