Flexcom > New Features! > Known Software Faults

Overview

The following faults are present in Flexcom 8.13.3. More detailed information on each fault is provided in the following sections.

No	Issue	Severity
1	*FLOATING BODY keyword ignores node label information, leading to incorrect application of hydrodynamic loading	Minor
2	Sliding pipe-in-pipe connections may be assigned an incorrect orientation vector	Major
3	Snapshot plot of axial strain displays one spurious point for the first element in the set	Minor
4	Job execution service can report simulations as "Terminated" () even though they have completed successfully.	Minor
5	Network licensing client app can fail to acquire available license	Minor
6	Hydrodynamic Data Importer does not read QTF data from ANSYS Aqwa files	Minor

Detailed Information

Issue 1: *FLOATING BODY keyword ignores node label information, leading to incorrect application of hydrodynamic loading

•Related Topics: Floating Body

•Description: The *FLOATING BODY keyword accepts nodal inputs, allowing you to identify the centre of gravity, centre of buoyancy, centre of hydrodynamic forces (also known as the force RAO reference point) and centre of drag. These inputs may be specified as node numbers or node labels. If you specify node labels, the program ignores the CoB, CoF and CoD labels, and applies all forces at the centre of gravity location. This includes hydrostatic stiffness, force RAOs, added mass, radiation damping and (concentrated) viscous drag.

•Workaround: Specify node numbers rather than node labels.

Issue 2: Sliding pipe-in-pipe connections may be assigned an incorrect orientation vector

•Related Topics: Sliding Connections

•Description: Sliding pipe-in-pipe connections may be set-up incorrectly by Flexcom 8.13.2 and Flexcom 8.13.3. The algorithm which selects the appropriate primary and secondary elements does not function correctly in all cases, following a restructuring process undertaken during the development of Flexcom 8.13. This fault relates only to models with sliding pipe-in-pipe connections and it is usually encountered when there are several elements which share the same node (e.g. when several elements meet at a branch/intersection point in the model). If the program selects an inappropriate element, the connection stiffness can be applied in an incorrect direction.

•Workaround: There is no workaround, so you are advised to upgrade to Flexcom 8.13.4 or later. If it is not possible for you to upgrade, you could perform some spot-checks on the connected node pairs using the *PRINT keyword. If you are satisfied that the connections are set-up correctly for your particular model, you may continue to use Flexcom 8.13.2 or Flexcom 8.13.3.

Issue 3: Snapshot plot of axial strain displays one spurious point for the first element in the set

•Related Topics: *SNAPSHOT

•Description: If you request a plot of axial strain, the plot will contain a large and spurious value for the first node of the first element. All other axial strain data is correct barring this point, but the plot looks totally incorrect as a result.

•Workaround: Manually edit the relevant file (e.g. MPLT, TAB, XLSX), replacing the incorrect data point with an adjacent one.

Issue 4: Job execution service can report simulations as "Terminated" even though they have completed successfully

•Related Topics: Job Execution Service

•Description: Occasionally the job execution service can report simulations as Terminated () even though they have completed successfully. This is caused by a delay in the communication services between the user interface and the finite element engine. The problem only occurs sporadically, but seems to be most prevalent in large batch runs, when the machine is fully loaded and all CPUs are busy. It can be a source of inconvenience as a large analysis job can stall halfway through, as it can prevent files in a restart chain from starting if earlier ones are deemed to have failed.

•Workaround: One way to reduce the likelihood of the problem occurring is to keep the user interface open at all times. Flexcom reserves one CPU for the user interface while it remains open, and this helps to alleviate congestion in the communication services. Some users close the user interface while a large batch run is in progress in an effort to make all CPUs available for simulations, but this is not recommended. Where the problem does occur, you should manually re-run any simulations which are marked as "Terminated", and then run all dependent analyses in the restart chains.

Issue 5: Network licensing client app can fail to acquire available license

•Related Topics: Network Licensing Client

•Description: If you are using a network license, the Network Licensing Client app can occasionally fail to acquire a license, even though there are free seats available. Where this happens, your Flexcom simulation will fail to run. A related issue is that the app can launch several instances of itself, whereas only one is required, and these can be seen in the Windows taskbar (near the Windows system clock). The problem seems to affect web-hosted licenses in particular.

•Workaround: Contact Wood if you experience issues and we will provide you with a new Client app which you can install on your machine.

Issue 6: Hydrodynamic Data Importer does not read QTF data from ANSYS Aqwa files

•Related Topics: Hydrodynamic Data Importer

•Description: Any QTF data contained in .LIS files generated by ANSYS Aqwa is ignored during the data importation process.

•Workaround: Manually import the relevant QTF data. Contact Wood if you need assistance.