Hydrocomp News

HydroComp is a well-established, small engineering firm focused on hydrodynamic and propulsion system simulation, providing design tools for engineers and naval architects to focus on vessel performance, including emissions. Don MacPherson, HydroComp’s long-tenured Technical Director, discusses the impacts of tightening emissions regulations, with insights on maximizing new vessel designs and refits.Don, maritime has been in the crosshairs of regulators to reduce emissions. What do you see as the top new regulatory issues that are impacting ship and boat design…

We all acknowledge the environmental impact of Underwater Radiated Noise (URN) from ships, and the challenges it poses for shipping companies and shoreside organizations. While noise is produced by drive systems and other mechanical components, noise specifically from the propeller can be particularly damaging since it is the source with the greatest URN strength and propagation distance. Mitigating this type of URN production is also of timely interest, as certain whale populations…

Development in 2021 for HydroComp PropElements offers new features across the range of applications, including improved wake-adapted propeller design and analysis.PropElements + FINE/Marine couplingUser testing is underway for the new coupling of HydroComp PropElements with NUMECA’s FINE/Marine CFD software. One of the challenges of full self-propulsion analysis with CFD is the computational load required to model the propeller within the 3D space. When coupled with FINE/Marine as a higher-order actuator disk replacement…

HydroComp released its latest version of PropExpert with new Windows “visual styles” option and other technical updates.During 2021 HydroComp has undertaken a significant in-house initiative to enhance product “look-and-feel” for contemporary themes available in Windows 10/11. The overall workflow process remains unchanged and will be familiar to users, but new controls and graphs now support Windows “visual style”. This is available as a “Flat UX” theme option.New performance…

Inland river pushboats operate in a harsh environment. Transiting our rivers, bays, lakes and inland waterways, these vessels push barges between hubs of commerce. Swift currents, trash and debris, heavy traffic and narrow waterways are day-to-day realities for these vessels and operators.Pushboats have two typical modes of operation: steady-state (long haul running) and transient-dynamic operations (backing, maneuvering and acceleration). Unlike almost any other vessel type,…

HydroComp launched its new PropCad 2020 software for the geometric design of marine propellers. PropCad automatically prepares 2D drawings, 3D CAD models and much more.All HydroComp 2020 products have been upgraded with a new internal code-and-control set. This has increased the speed and stability of the program across existing Window’s platforms. These changes are largely behind the scenes, but users will notice some visual changes in PropCad and HydroComp’s other programs.The Propeller CAD Import utility includes algorithm revisions to greatly increase the supported file-size…

New features greatly improve process workflow for propeller designers…HydroComp PropCad 2019 includes several new exciting additions to make PropCad more effective and easier to use – whether you’re extracting design data from full 3D CAD files or you’re inputting your own custom distribution data, these new features greatly improve the workflow process for propeller designers, manufacturing engineers, and marine researchers.Full-Screen Mode for 2D Drawings, 3D Models, and ReportsTo support the continuing trend of larger screens and multiple monitors, PropCad has been extended to support a dockable and fully sizable display window. To access this feature…

From the standpoint of vehicle propulsion physics, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is little different from your personal ski boat or a tanker. It shares the Vessel-Propulsor-Drive system model, which allows a Propulsor to convert Drive energy into thrust for the purpose of moving a Vessel. The basic principles of thrust equilibrium and motion are common to all three, as are the translation of rotational energy into axial thrust by the central element of the system – the…

A new utility automates feature extraction from 3D CAD data.Marine propellers can last a long time – it is not uncommon to find a vessel running on its original set of propellers. Sometimes, these propellers even outlive the companies that produced them. For example, some large volume propeller manufacturers have permanently closed their doors and patterns, molds, and design data have been scattered to unknown corners of the globe. It’s fair to say that while the propeller manufacturing industry has seen growth…

The latest release of HydroComp's PropCad 2018 Premium Edition includes a new utility to simplify the extraction of propeller features from full 3D CAD files, drastically reducing the time and effort needed to recreate an existing propeller or product model.HydroComp, a Durham, N.H. based maritime software and consultancy services provider, released the new utility as part of the PropCad Premium feature set. The Import CAD File utility provides a way to reverse the propeller design process, allowing for the rapid extraction of propeller design data from 3D geometries.

HydroComp NavCad, internationally recognized for resistance and propulsion prediction for naval architects, can also leverage analysis capabilities with features that support optimized hull form and propulsion system design. NavCad may be most well-known for its library of parametric-statistical hull form and propulsion system models (often called “1D” models). The recent introduction of the Premium Edition now brings a higher-order distributed-analytical (“2D”) hull form analysis to design optimization.

HydroComp PropElements 2017 – the propeller “design for performance” code from HydroComp,Inc. of Durham NH USA – is the latest build of the company’s commercial software for marine propeller design and analysis. Propeller specialists will find it an essential addition to their software tools, and also tackles the component-level hydrodynamic needs of naval architects. Why PropElements? Still an uncharted domain for many naval architects, propeller design is an iterative process following a typical design spiral – from initial sizing through detail design. System-level propulsion design and analysis tools (such as HydroComp NavCad) are used in early design stages to identify principal propeller parameters (e.g.…

Hydrocomp’s ProCad facilitates in-house Process Control of Propeller Design and Manufacture. Maritime Tactical Systems Inc. (MARTAC) is a Florida-based company building next-generation unmanned vessels for military applications. In preparation for the “Rim of the Pacific” (RIMPAC) military exercises in Pearl Harbor this last July, MARTAC needed a new propeller design for their MANTAS series high-speed vessels. Unfortunately, their current supplier was not meeting delivery schedules for the high-quality surface-piercing propellers that they need…

HydroComp, Inc. announced 6Sigma Naval Architects of Capetown, South Africa as its new representative. 6Sigma Naval Architects & Offshore Engineering Pty Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa was founded in 2012 based on the backing of exposure to the European market. 6Sigma core competencies are engineering design (EPC) for shipbuilding and offshore structures, and engineering courses for R&D and software. 6Sigma’s mission is to provide top end engineering for the African market, and via its 6Sigma Shipyards Support initiative, bring engineering courses and software training for all shipyards to develop and expand their business in the Africa.

HydroComp, Inc. was established in 1984 to provide powering analysis services to naval architects and shipbuilders. Best known for its award-winning NavCad software, HydroComp is regarded as the premier source for performance prediction software, consulting, and knowledge. The firm’s offerings include NavCad, NavCad Premium, PropCad, PropCad Premium, PropElements, PropExpert, SwiftCraft, and SwiftTrial software. The firm has 8 employees. Sometimes the least sophisticated vehicle is the hardest to analyze. With respect to resistance, this is definitely the case with barges.

It is common practice to inspect marine propellers to ensure the manufactured product meets the thickness and pitch specified by the design. PropCad Premium now introduces a tool for propeller builders and manufacturers - Inspection Maps, which allows users to create customized layout templates for measuring blade coordinates, blade thickness and local pitch. HydroComp’s Inspection Maps is a tool to aid in the measurement and inspection of marine propellers during the manufacturing process.

HydroComp announced its PropCad software for the geometric modeling of marine propellers has receieved an upgrade. Now, PropCad Premium introduces another powerful feature, the Pattern Corrections tool. HydroComp’s Pattern Corrections tool reduces manipulation of the propeller design within a 3D CAD tool. Pattern Corrections allows users to directly specify machine stock and shrinkage to create machining models, casting patterns and mold geometries. An advantage is that these corrections are applied directly to the propeller parameters…

HydroComp, Inc. of Durham, N.H. Rapid Design Space Optimization (RDSO) with HydroComp NavCad Premium allows a naval architect to focus CFD resources on high-value computations and avoid irrelevant time and expense. HydroComp NavCad provides resistance and propulsion prediction for naval architects. With the recent introduction of the Premium Edition, NavCad is now able to provide integrated support for design optimization. To ensure that process efficiency and cost-effectiveness of resource-intensive CFD calculations are as high as possible…

Make no mistake, the commercial maritime industry will always revolve around heavy duty machinery and mega-machines designed to weather some of the toughest operating conditions on earth. But in recent years a proliferation of Software Solutions has evolved to help the machines operate more efficiently and cost effectively. MR editors report on latest developments in maritime specific Software Solutions. Kværner Verdal AS selected AVEVA Bocad Steel and AVEVA Bocad Offshore for use at its design and fabrication yard in Verdal…

HydroComp is releasing a major upgrade for its NavCad software tool, the company announced today. NavCad has been used for resistance and propulsion prediction for nearly three decades, and a "Premium Edition" is now available for users wanting a greater level of analytical capability. New features include a scripting (macro) API. This includes an easy-to-use scripting language that provides batch processing capability. Premium users will also be able to run NavCad from third-party software, including spreadsheets or simulation tools, as a calculation engine (i.e., coupled solver).

Hydrocomp’s newest release of PropCad incorporates 3 years of enhancements. Propellers are surprisingly complex devices, especially considering most are a solid piece of metal with no moving parts. The variation in vessels and operational requirements leads to wildly different designs, from noise-sensitive propellers for luxury cruiseliners to wide-blade sets for tugs. With different combinations of diameters, pitches, blade styles, and blade counts, there is no limit to the design alternatives available.

HydroComp PropCad is software for geometric modeling of marine propellers for design and manufacture that provides automatic preparation of 2D design drawings, 3D offsets, thickness classification reports and CAD/CAM data. Used in more than 40 countries for quickly generating propellers and design variants from small outboard production lines to large merchant ship propellers, manufacturers, researchers and designers rely on PropCad for their modeling needs. The latest 2014 release of PropCad features a new table-driven interface…

The impact of technology on one of the world’s other oldest professions has been nothing short of revolutionary, in some cases forcing the marine industry to finally lay aside centuries of thinking and time-honored, if not always accurate, tools. The digital age has not only transformed almost every aspect of seafaring vessels and the processes undertaken on board, but it has sharpened and strengthened the calculations and equations used to measure, shape, process, speed, track and image the steps involved in creating parts, solving problems and rendering reality-based training.