Orcina news

Upcoming in OrcaFlex 10.2: Documentation

Continuing our series of posts on upcoming developments for version 10.2, we will now turn to some functionality entirely outside of the program, namely the documentation. OrcaFlex is an ever growing program, and as it grows, so too does the documentation. For version 10.2, we decided to make a number of significant changes to the […]

Upcoming in OrcaFlex 10.2: Vessel calculation mode

As mentioned in a recent post here, we are going to publish a series of articles introducing some of the new features being developed for release in version 10.2. This article is the first of that series, discussing a new vessel option that allows users to make a choice between two methods for the interpretation […]

Mooring Chain Bending Fatigue (following Bureau Veritas Guidance Note NI 604 DT R00 E)

Mooring line fatigue damage normally considers only tension load cycles. However, sometimes the mooring chain immediately adjacent to the fairlead (the ‘Top Chain’) can experience significant in-plane and out-of-plane bending which causes additional fatigue damage. BV guidance note Fatigue of Top Chain of Mooring Lines due to In-plane and Out-of-plane Bendings, [NI 604 DT R00 […]

OrcaFlex Development plans for 10.2 and beyond

In the past we have not been very expansive about our development plans for OrcaFlex – usually nothing more than a short bullet list on our website. We’d like to engage more with our users about upcoming OrcaFlex developments. This post is intended to kick-start us in that direction. But before we get into the details, […]

Less Common Applications for OrcaFlex

OrcaFlex is primarily used in the offshore oil and gas industry, typically for installation analysis and in-place design of riser and mooring systems, pipelay analysis, field construction, etc., as well as being widely used in the oceanographic community. However, OrcaFlex is an extremely versatile package, and over the years we have seen it used for […]

Bugs in Python 2.7.11 and 2.7.13 that directly affect OrcaFlex

OrcaFlex has a number of features that take advantage of the Python programming language. We work hard to ensure that OrcaFlex is compatible with a wide range of Python versions. However, a couple of recent Python releases have contained bugs that have broken functionality that OrcaFlex relied upon. Python version 2.7.11 is affected by issue […]

OrcaFlex 10.1 released

A year has elapsed since we released OrcaFlex 10.0, which means that it is time for the next version. We are very pleased to announce the 2016 release of OrcaFlex, version 10.1. The software was finalised and built on 19th October. We are currently preparing the installation program, and will then dispatch the software. All […]

An introduction to the Python interface to OrcaFlex

The Python interface to OrcaFlex was introduced in 2008 alongside version 9.2 and has been steadily growing in popularity. The Python interface exposes the functionality of OrcaFlex to the Python programming language. The ability to automate OrcaFlex this way is extremely powerful. However, writing programs to automate OrcaFlex can be a daunting task, especially to […]

DNV OMAE paper, “Impact of Bathymetry on the Mooring Design of an Offshore Floating Unit”

In a recent paper (Impact of Bathymetry on the Mooring Design of an Offshore Floating Unit, OMAE2016-54965), DNV GL authors Jaiswal, Vishnubholta, Cole, Gordon and Sharma examine the effect of using an accurate seabed bathymetry on typical mooring results. Their motivation was to understand potential limitations in the assumption made by most mooring software that […]

OrcaFlex 10.0 released

Once again, it’s the time of year when we issue a new release of OrcaFlex. This year, for the first time since 2006, sees an increment to the major version number! We are delighted to announce the 2015 release of OrcaFlex, version 10.0. The software was finalised and built on 20th October. We are currently […]