6. Release Notes

6.1. Version 3.1

Version 3.1.0 (Current)

Release date: April 1st, 2024

Simulation Types:

  1. Added Material Point Method via ClaymoreUW.

  2. Updated Finite Volume Method + Finite Element Method via FOAMySees (OpenFOAM + OpenSees).

  3. Partially deprecating Shallow Water Equations + Finite Volume Method via (GeoClaw + OpenFOAM). Pending an update in an upcoming minor release.

Physics

Broad capabilities of the underlying physics simulation now include:

  1. Large deformations

  2. Nonlinear materials

  3. Multi-material and multi-phase interaction

  4. Debris-fluid-structure interaction

Debris

  1. Added debris modeling to MPM simulations.

  2. Added support for complex debris geometries (e.g. vehicles, shipping crates, composed primitives).

  3. Added support for advanced debris material models (e.g. Fixed-Corotated, Neo-Hookean, Drucker-Prager, Non-Associative Cam-Clay).

User Interface

Significant overhaul of the Event GUI to allow for a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. Includes backend updates to the schema and application logic to support the new features.

  1. Settings

    • Panel for setting simulation parameters (e.g. time step, characteristic length, domain size, CFL number).

    • Panel for setting computer parameters (e.g. number of cores, number of GPUs, etc.).

    • Panel for setting similitude parameters (e.g. Froude scale, Cauchy scale, etc.).

  2. Bodies

    Any entity in a simulation that is not a boundary condition or sensor is considered a Body. Bodies, the collection of Body objects, may be composed of particles, or meshes. Each Body is specified by its Material, Geometry, Algorithm, and Partitions.

    1. Material

      1. Supports elastic, hyperelastic, and elasto-plastic material models.

      2. New constitutive laws:

        • J-Fluid: Weakly-compressible isotropic fluid with viscous shear stress. Uses the Tait-Murnaghan equation of state.

        • Fixed-Corotated: Hyperelastic material model for plastic and rubber-like materials.

        • Neo-Hookean: Hyperelastic material model for plastic and rubber-like materials.

        • Drucker-Prager: Applicable to granular materials, concrete, and other materials with a yield surface.

        • Non-Associative Cam-Clay: Applicable to clays, concrete, and other topology-changing material bodies

    2. Geometry

      • Added a composable geometry editor for creating and modifying geometry.

      • Implemented boolean operations for geometry (e.g. union, intersection, difference).

      • Implemented array operations for geometry (e.g. create an array of the same geometry at specified spacings in X, Y, and Z).

      • Implemented rotation operations for geometry (e.g. rotate a geometry about an axis by a specified angle).

      • Implemented translation operations for geometry (e.g. translate a geometry by a specified distance in X, Y, and Z).

      • Implemented geometry file import from .sdf files.

      • Added geometry primitives (e.g. sphere, box, cylinder).

    3. Algorithm

      • Implemented Affine Particle-in-Cell (APIC) algorithm for MPM

      • Implemented Fluid-Implicit Particles (FLIP) algorithm for MPM

      • Implemented Affine-Separable Fluid-Implicit Particles (ASFIP) algorithm for MPM

      • Implemented F-Bar volumetric antilocking algorithm for MPM

      • Implemented quadratic B-Spline shape functions for MPM

    4. Partitions

      • Bodies may be split across multiple hardware partitions.

      • Accelerates simulation times by running multiple bodies in parallel.

      • A valid hardware partition may be a core, a GPU, or a node in an HPC cluster.

      • Each partition may hold some maximum number of bodies at once (specific to the system on which the simulating tool was compiled).

  3. Boundaries

    Any object in a simulation that is not a sensor or body is considered a Boundary. Boundaries, the collection of Boundary objects, are enforced boundary conditions that may apply to parts of the simulation (e.g. on grid nodes or particles).

    • Added boundaries for geometry primitives (e.g. sphere, box, cylinder).

    • Added selectable contact models (e.g. Sticky, Slip, Separable).

    • Added boundaries for the OSU LWF and WU TWB digital twin bathymetries.

    • Added boundary for the OSU LWF moving piston wave-maker.

    • Implemented array operations for boundary conditions (e.g. instance a boundary at specified spacings in X, Y, and Z).

  4. Sensors

    Any object in a simulation that is not a boundary condition or body is considered a Sensor. Sensors, the collection of Sensor objects, are used to monitor the simulation, collect desired data, reduce said data, and report the aggregated output as a time-series. In effect, they replicate instruments/sensors used in experiments (e.g. load-cells, wave-gauges, piezometers, velocimeters).

    • Sensors may be placed on numerical bodies (e.g. on particles or grid-nodes for MPM) to monitor the simulation.

    • Supports force, pressure, velocity, and elevation sensors by default.

    • Custom sensors may be added to the simulation through the GUI.

    • Supports automatic reduction operations (e.g. sum, average, max, min) to reduce sensor data to a single scalar or vector value per sampling step.

    • Allows specification of sensor output frequency.

  5. Outputs

    Collection of simulation settings that do not affect the simulation itself, but rather the output it gives to the user.

    • Supports output of simulation geometry data in the form of .bgeo files, .vtk files, and .csv files.

    • Supports output of simulation sensor data in the form of .csv and .txt files.

    • Supports output of simulation state data in the form of .bgeo files.

    • Enable/disable tracking of and output of simulation energy (kinetic, strain, etc.).

    • Enable/disable output of simulation checkpoints (allow for a simulation to be resumed if stopped).

Visualization

  • Enabled visualization of the Event (EVT) using Qt3D

  • Added support for mouse controls of the camera in 3D visualization.

  • Added support for visualizing simulation Bodies in 3D.

  • Added support for visualizing simulation Boundaries in 3D.

  • Added support for visualizing simulation Sensors in 3D.

Digital Twins

  • Added Oregon State University’s Large Wave Flume (OSU LWF) as a digital twin for MPM.

  • Added Waseda University’s Tsunami Wave Basin (WU TWB) as a digital twin for MPM.

  • Digital twins now allow for debris and floating bodies.

DesignSafe Support and Hardware

  • Multi-GPU accelerated simulations are now supported in certain simulation types (e.g. ClaymoreUW MPM).

  • Updated support for the TACC Frontera supercomputer:

    • Access the rtx queue. Includes 4 NVIDIA RTX Quadro 5000 GPUs (16GB memory each).

  • Added support for the TACC Lonestar6 supercomputer:

    • Access the gpu-a100 queue. Includes 3 NVIDIA A100 GPUs (40GB memory each).

    • Access the gpu-a100-small queue. Includes 1 NVIDIA A100 GPU (40GB memory).

  • Updated support for the Tapis API used to run jobs remotely.

Tools

  • Events (EVT) may now run as standalone tools (i.e. does not require a SimCenter workflow for UQ, etc.)

  • Added Tapis API support for running Tools remotely, allowing for specialized Tapis applications and system/queue selection

Examples

  • Added example simulations for OSU LWF digital twin in FOAMySees

  • Added example simulations for OSU LWF digital twin in ClaymoreUW.

  • Added example simulations for WU TWB digital twin in ClaymoreUW.

6.2. Version 2.0

Version 2.0.0

Release date: November 30th, 2023

  1. Simulation types:

    1. Finite Volume Method + Finite Element Method via FOAMySees (OpenFOAM + OpenSees). Two-way FSI coupling between CFD and structural solvers.

  2. Digital Twin

    1. OSU LWF digital twin now supports FOAMySees (OpenFOAM + OpenSees).

    2. Added options for adjustable bathymetry and flexible two-way coupled structures.

  3. New multi-model and multi-fidelity modeling options

6.3. Version 1.0

Version 1.0.0

Release date: Apr 30th, 2021

  1. Supports run on DesignSafe only. Local run on the user’s desktop is not supported.

  2. HydroUQ app v1.0.0 currently requires the users to ensure that the inputs provided are

  3. Supports two-phase isothermal flows only. Water and air are considered as the two primary phases. However, this can be modified in the material properties to accommodate any other alternative two-phases instead.

  4. Simulation types:

    1. CFD to resolve SW (Using SW results), CFD using bathymetry data, CFD of wave flume is supported.

    2. For simulation type with SW-CFD coupling, v1.0.0 considers one point on the interface. However, if you would like more flexibility, please let us know using the lblBugs.

  5. Geometry:

    1. Geometry can be imported as Bathymetry files (GeoClaw format - type 1), STL files, or the Hydro flume digital twin.

    2. Shallow-water to CFD interface can be imported as a .csv file only.

    3. Buildings of cuboid shapes are supported in v1.0.0. For other shapes, the user can upload them as an STL file. The buildings need to be specified in the table or can be generated parametrically. Importing buildings as a .csv file is not currently supported in v1.0.0 but can be requested using the lblBugs.

    4. Floating bodies and debris modeling are not supported in v1.0.0. Support will be added in upcoming versions. If you are interested in this feature, please write to us at lblBugs.

  6. Meshing:

    1. Supports blockMesh and snappyHexMesh for internal meshing.

    2. Supports import for the following mesh formats: Ansys Fluent (.msh), Ansys I-DEAS (.ans), CFX mesh (.geo), GAMBIT mesh (.neu), Gmsh mesh (.msh).

    3. Supports import of OpenFOAM mesh dictionaries, namely the blockMeshDict and snappyHexMeshDict. Additionally, surfaceFeatureExtractDict is required if STL files are used to define the geometry.

  7. Materials:

    1. Supports Newtonian materials only.

    2. Supports kinematic viscosity and density of the two phases in addition to the surface tension between the fluids.

  8. Initial conditions:

    1. For CFD simulations that resolve the shallow-water solutions, the initial conditions are derived from the shallow-water solutions.

    2. For all other simulation types, the user-specified initial conditions include phase only.

  9. Boundary conditions:

    1. The boundary conditions can be selected based using standard patch names. Here standard patches include entry/exit / inlet/outlet / left/right.

    2. Velocity boundary conditions for inlet conditions include shallow-water solutions, moving wall, and constant velocity; for outlet conditions include zeroGradient and inletOutlet

    3. Pressure boundary conditions include zeroGradient and fixedValue. Alternatively, the user can also leave the default option. An appropriate boundary condition relevant to the velocity boundary will be chosen.

    4. It is recommended to use the wall boundary conditions for walls

  10. Domain decomposition and solver:

    1. Allows simple decomposition techniques from OpenFOAM.

    2. Can set start and end times for simulation

    3. Can set time intervals and write intervals

    4. Restarting facility is supported

  11. Turbulence:

    1. Presently, only RANS is supported for turbulence modeling.

    2. If you would like to use LES, please let us know about it using lblBugs.