NAPA Releases 2003.1

At press time, NAPA Release 2003.1 was scheduled for launch this spring. Efficiency and user-friendliness are promoted by enhancing the availability of the graphic user interface, and by designing tools for entire processes. For instance, the NAPA Manager process handling tool supplies the user with templates presenting complete calculation chains. The new version includes a number of new features, among them a generic optimization tool. NAPA Geometry now supports the renewed interactive parametric surface definitions. The user can design and choose the parameters desired, as all the main particulars of the ship are always available whenever the software is in use. The NAPA Manager, introduced in 2001 for organizing complex tasks, has forged ahead. The software now includes a number of template applications. The NAPA Manager allows experienced users to streamline their work processes in NAPA, and helps new users learn the system quickly. Also included in NAPA's new release are additions to the special features designed to handle the stability analysis of semisubmersibles, TLPs and other floating offshore structures. Of major significance is the development of a NAPA Manager application to guide the user through the stability evaluation process for offshore structures. This Manager application features special treatment of wind moment calculations, including the effect of underwater drag coefficients and thruster forces for dynamically positioned units.

NAPA Steel Enhancements

Many new features of the NAPA Steel system, developed to increase the speed of modeling at the early stages of ship structural design, are also being introduced in conjunction with Release 2003.1. NAPA Steel can efficiently build a ship model of any ship type within 100-200 working hours. The system offers a wide variety of output possibilities. For instance, steel weight, welding lengths and production planning data can be calculated for the whole vessel, building blocks or for any other group of structures. The model can also be output to any FEM system as surfaces or nodes and elements.

Among the newest features of the NAPA Steel system are a number of interfaces made to support the flow of data between NAPA Steel and other software systems, such as Tribon Hull and Nupas-Cadmatic. Interfacing with some classification societies' systems is also available.

The new NAPA Steel - Tribon Hull interface produces Tribon schema from the NAPA Steel model. Details, such as cut-outs and corner notches, are added by the interface, based on organization-specific design rules. One of the benefits of the interface is that detail design is less prone to errors when it is based on a 3-D model from the start. The interface produces the basis for the detail design model for the whole vessel, and thus there will be no differences in modelling styles for one designer to another. Experiences gained so far have been very encouraging, showing that use of the interface can lead to significant time savings. The NAPA Steel - Nupas-Cadmatic interface is currently under development at Numeriek Centrum Groningen.