Formation Design Systems Releases "Seakeeper" - Seakeeping Performance Prediction Software.

Fremantle, WA, Australia, June 25 1999; Formation Design Systems today announced the release of Seakeeper, a new hydrodynamic and seakeeping analysis program which provides fast, reliable calculation of seakeeping characteristics for many types of designs. Seakeeper, which runs on Windows 95/98/NT forms a part of the widely used Maxsurf suite of naval architecture and ship construction software.

Seakeeper predicts vessel heave, pitch and roll in response to a range of sea states, providing designers with the tools necessary to quickly predict seakeeping performance. The program uses the well established Strip Theory method to predict the motions of a vessel in head to beam seas. The hull geometry required for the analysis is read directly from the trimmed Maxsurf NURB surface model without the need for offsets or batch file preparation. This makes it possible to read in a Maxsurf design and calculate the vessel's seakeeping characteristics in just a few minutes. Seakeeper produces a series of response amplitude operators (RAOs) in both graphical and numerical forms.

Formation Design Systems' Managing Director, Philip Christensen, describes the Windows release of Seakeeper as being "another step in our on-going plan to deliver ground-breaking, interactive design, analysis and construction tools to naval architects and shipbuilders. Seakeeper offers advanced analysis capabilities combined with Maxsurf's renowned ease of use."

Seakeeper is based on a Strip Theory analysis code originally developed at the Australian Maritime Engineering Co-operative Research Centre at Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia. A joint project between Formation Design Systems and the Centre was carried out to add more advanced analysis capabilities and make it available on the Windows platform. Seakeeper has been validated against a variety of data from various independent sources: model tests, full scale trials and other numerical methods. It is now integrated with the Maxsurf range and features the same graphical interface found in the other programs.

Seakeeper is finding application at Industrial Research Limited (IRL), a New Zealand based research and development company. Under the leadership of Graeme Finch, IRL has initiated an investigation into the loads and motions experienced by a vessel operating in a seaway. This research program is supported the local marine industry and has involved both field trials and computer predictions of vessel motions. IRL have made extensive use of Formation Design Systems' motions prediction software Seakeeper and have found good agreement between the computer predictions and on-board measurements.

Mr Finch said that the rapid reductions in computing costs and improvements in computational techniques had brought analysis tools that were once the domain of academics within reach of designers and engineers; Seakeeper is one such example. Mr Finch said that Seakeeper had been a useful analysis tool for his research into the motions and loads experienced by vessels operating in Auckland Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf area.

Integration with other applications in the Maxsurf range gives designers access to powerful numerical techniques for predicting vessel motions, making seakeeping analysis straightforward and fast - Seakeeper is able to compute the heave and pitch response over a complete frequency range in a matter of seconds on a Pentium II 400MHz computer. A number of alternative designs can easily be assessed by comparing the RAOs or by computing the significant motions and accelerations of specified sea spectrum. All data generated by Seakeeper can be graphed or exported for further analysis.

The Windows release of Seakeeper includes a range of new Windows specific capabilities including floating and dockable toolbars for frequently used commands and a new searchable on-line help system for both novice and experienced users. It also offers data exchange with Microsoft Word and Excel for presentation and post-processing purposes.

Seakeeper for Windows will be available in July 1999 and is priced from US $3995

Seakeeper forms a part of the Maxsurf suite of naval architecture and ship construction software. Maxsurf is used by over 600 naval architects and shipbuilders worldwide to design and build vessels from 3-300 metres in length.

Formation Design Systems develops computer aided design software systems for naval architects, shipbuilders, engineers and designers. Its products are available on Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh platforms and are used by industry, educational institutions and government defence organisations.