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Hi everybody, I recently tried my hands on integrating CAESES with fluent and i think its worth sharing for those who work with fluent and will like to use CAESES parametric models. Please find attached a copy of my project file. its a simple meta-surface elbow i designed with an ellipse curve.Functions for the "width and "height" of the curve are defined. you can have a look at how parameters are set from function curves. I used ICEMCFD as my meshing tool and Fluent as CFD solver. specific files such as the *.rpl and *.jou were used as input files( checkout the attachments). Absolute paths should be changed to relative paths via "getdesigndir()...." (not all paths are necessary!). A *.bat file, RunFluent.bat, was used to run both ICEMCFD and Fluent in batch mode. Snapshots, graphs etc from fluent can be included as results files for post processing. Details on post processing can be found in CAESES tutorials " getting started". You can have a look. Suggestions are welcome. Best regards, Richard "N.B: CAESES is one of the most powerful softwares for tight integration with CFD softwares for DoE and Optimization. All you need to know is to understand how your External CFD software handles its files to know exactly which input and result files to use. it must also have the capability of running in batch mode." Project1_elbow.fdbc

Hi together, please find attached a parametric model of a costa bulb and a feature definition. To recover the energy which gets lost by the hub vortex of the rotating propeller a costa bulb can help. I integrated the rudder bulb setup into the feature "Spade Rudder" which is shipped with CAESES/FFW. The bare hull to which I attached the appendages is also shipped with CAESES/FFW. All you need as input are some propeller parameters. Please find the feature here: baseline > abdy > appendages > feature:rudder Cheers Matthias (fdb file edited, 30.09.2014) containerVesselCosta.fdb

Hi Gabriel, Maybe using fv_all() command would be a better alternative. Please check the picture below; Basically, the fv_all command provides an objectlist. MyCurve.fv_all(0,myPoint:x) The command is applied to a curve. The first argument "0" refers to x-axis The second argument refers to the value on the selected axis. So result will be a list of points that have the same coordinate component value in the referred axis. As seen on the picture above, the curve would have two locations with the same x-coordinate value. Using "at(1)" I pick the second item within the objectlist (0 would be used to pick the first one). And finally I cast the entity to a FVector3 type object. Please let me know if you need further assistance. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi, you can select the option "Response Surface Optimization in the Optimization workspace. Afterwards, you can check the option "Use Result Pool" It will ask you to select the pools which you want to utilize for the surrogate based optimization after starting the design engine. Please note that if you do not have sufficient samples in your result pool, it will do additional samples before starting the optimization. It will then perform the optimization on the surrogate in the background without calling CFD. After that, a new design will show up in CAESES, which is then evaluated using the CFD to check if it matches the prediction from the surrogate.

Hi Furkan, If you set up a "Response Surface Optimization" and choose to "use result pool", a surroate will be created (if your pool is large enough, otherwise samples will be added first). An optimization on that surrogate is performed automatically in the background (a Genetic Algorithm is used here) and the optimal candidate (or multiple if you choose so for a multi-objective problem) is returned. The design you see created in CAESES is therefore either an additional sample or already the potential optimum. Check the dakota.out file in your design directory to see the details. Also, the finaldata file will show you the predicted performance of the optimum... If you keep this Algorithm running, the actual (CFD) result(s) of the optimum-candidate(s) will be added to the pool for the next iteration and the process repeats. Cheers, Heinrich

HI everyone， I'm having a hard time. I created the blades and tips. As shown in Fig. However, when I create the propeller with Model-propeller-propller, I only get incomplete blades. The tips were not created together. This is shown in the image below. Also, due to the language, I may have a problem with the description not being clear, so please forgive me. Looking forward to your answer. prop_para.cdbc

Hi CJ Coll, I edited the feature so that the labels are not on top of each other anymore and the points are removed inside the profile view. You can find the edited linesplan feature attached to this reply. To toggle the visibilty of the orientation points from the group section curves, you can use the command .setShowOrientation(true/false). If you want to further edit the feature yourself, you can access the it in your CAESES installation directory under "CAESES...\etc\features\features\Maritime". To add a line that follows the topdeck, my solution was to create an image curve from the hull's surface/brep upper edge. I hope that solves your problem. If not, don't hesitate to ask. Linesplan_edited.fde

Hi Furkan, at the computation object, there is an option to set a list of constraints. If one of these constraints is violated, the computation will not be executed for that design. Cheers, Mattia

Hi Yukai, The force in the last line is the converged value from the solver. I would suggest to use a python code only for post-processing. For example, if you want to plot the convergence history of the forces over OpenFOAM iterations. By parsing various values, such as force in x-axis to parameters and establishing a robust integration CAESES with OpenFOAM, then you can continue with a Design of Experiments and/ or with a Optimization process. Best Regards, Andreas

Hi Yukai, OpenFOAM is notably complex when it comes to managing numerous processed files. To address this complexity, I've included a screenshot featuring a standard connection input file, geometries, output files, and corresponding values. It's advisable to consistently employ relative paths by utilizing the subfolder option, as illustrated in the second screenshot. To extract parameters from the force.dat file, you can directly navigate to the last line, which typically represents the converged value from OpenFOAM. This can be achieved using the -1 option in the command line. Moreover, consider incorporating a Python file for post-processing and integrating it into your connection. This can be facilitated by incorporating the Python script as a command line within the Allrun.sh executable file. Best Regards, Andreas

Hi Carlos, In principle you are right. The SSH Resource Manager is part of the "entire functionality of CAESES". However, due to the low demand and the current revision of that piece of software, we only grant access on request. So please write your demand via email at license@friendship-systems.com with a short explanation on what you want to achieve with it. And please remind: "CAESES® must be installed on a personal PC/notebook rather than on University computers." "By granting you this free license we expect you to send us a summary report of the work that you have accomplished with CAESES® or a PDF copy of your thesis if applicable." Best, Carl

Hi Yukai, you can set the sub folder by adding it to the file name of your template like this: If you have an allrun script which you execute for each design this would normally be executed in the same location as your STL file is exported to. Hence, typically referring to it by its name instead of full path works. Alternatively, you could add an entry an specify a path with getResultsDir() to have it adjust dynamically... Cheers, Heinrich

Hi Carlos, unfortunately, I cannot give you any hints regarding the integration of the .jar libraries in CAESES. Generally, a typical approach would be to - keep the setup (*.jar / *.java) on the cluster separate from CAESES. - just create a text file with all variables to be edited by CAESES and write that to the cluster. - Use a bash wrapper similar to the attached example for SLURM to fetch the setup and launch the runs. This script is called from the CAESES software connector. It is important that the bash script stays alive as long as the run in active as CAESES will be monitoring it and look for the results as soon as it ends. Hope this helps. Cheers, Hannes slurmExample.tar.gz

Hi Carlos, there are two ways to do that: 1) You could write a script that sends the computation to the cluster, waits until it is finished and copies the result back. You can run this as a local computation on your workstation where CAESES is installed. 2) You can install CAESES in your cluster, there is a CRT version, that does not require a GUI (CAESES runs in batch mode). Then you can start design engine runs from the command line. Note, that you have to set up an appropriate software connector before, e.g. if you use a resource manager to submit the computations you need a script that submits the job and waits for the result to come back. Best regards, Hedi

Hi Carlos, the SSH Resource manager is an addon to CAESES which has to be purchased separately. After purchase, the SSH Resource Manager Server must be installed on a host in your network, e.g. the cluster main node. If you have installed this already, please ask your network manager where it is installed. Best regards, Hedi

Please insert a reasonable knotspacing value in the BRep and datareduction afterthe transformation. The transformation might otherwise rip the geometry apart, since it moves the control points of the vessels representation. In the flat of bottom area there might be only a few and that needs to be refined. Cheers Claus

I think so ...

Hi Hedi, thanks a lot! Problem solved! Now it runs really smooth on my computer. 🙂 Best regards, Yanxin

Hi David, You can display calculated values in the input dialog by defining an additional argument and editing the advanced settings of the feature argument. Here is a video tutorial on how to show result values in the input dialog. Drop down list for input values In addition, you can use String Options to choose an input value from a drop down list. Make sure you switch off the field "Allow Expression" when you use it. By using a "switch" you can define the method you would like to use for your calculations. FString chosenmethod(method) switch (chosenmethod) case "A" echo("using calculation method A") case "B" echo("using calculation method B") case "C" echo("using calculation method C") endswitch Here is the feature definition example that includes the result values in the input dialog and the switch cases with the string options for your reference. DynamicArguments_WithResultField_DropDownListOptions.fdf Have a nice day. Hedi

There is something, that seems to be related to the weight of the third point. But maybe it also comes from the curve intersetion point, there seems to be a discontinuity in the definition, see screenshot of control polygon. That is where the "folding" appears in the visualization.

Hi David, You are on the right track 🙂 In the "Advanced" Edit Menu of the input Arguments you can set the "Is Hidden Condition". You need to make sure that each time you insert a first input value, your editor gets refreshed. So for your first input argument you toggle the "refreshes editor" button (see screenshot). For the following dynamic input fields you can reference the first input value for example with this.getARGUMENTNAME() and add a condition to it. I will attach a simple example feature definition here for you to test. DynamicArguments.fdf I hope this helps. Cheers, Hedi

Hey, I am doing some hydrostatic calculations. I did not find a way to calculate the wetted surface of a boat in the hydrostatic tool. How do you calculate the wetted surface? Thanks.

Hi together, The software CAESES is a CAD and optimization platform. For students and PhD students there are free non-commercial licenses available. In addition, there are low-price offers for start-ups and smaller companies. CAESES can be used for 2D and 3D parametric modeling, see this link for some information about its CAD capabilities. Here are some screenshots: Compared to traditional CAD systems, CAESES is a bit different. It comes with a strict object-oriented approach, i.e. the user sets up dependencies between objects and these dependencies are then kept. This makes it easy to automate the geometry generation process. Here are some features of CAESES: Full 2D and 3D modeling capabilities (NURBS-based)Roughly 20 curve types and 15 surface typesStandard transformations (translation, rotation, scaling)Writing of custom features and functionsBoolean operationsTrimmingFillets between surfacesMorphing functionality for deformation of existing geometrySurface tessellation control through e.g. trimesh objects to create and fine-tune custom STL dataCommon import and export formats e.g. IGES, STEP, PARASOLID, STLIndustry-specific modules for blade and ship designBatch mode for non-GUI (hidden) geometry generation in the background Cheers Joerg LAST UPDATE: NOV 2017

CAESES provides comprehensive functionality for propeller and fan designers so that it can be used as an expert blade design software. Basically, any kind of propeller blade (e.g. boat propeller, aircraft propeller, blowers, fans etc.) for any application can be created with it. CAESES focuses on the variable geometry of blades for design explorations and shape optimization (mostly, together with CFD). Here is a screenshot for an axial blade design, taken from one of the samples that are shipped with CAESES: For general information about modeling of propellers, see the MARINE SECTION. For other rotating machines, please see the TURBOMACHINERY SECTION. 2D PROFILES 2D profiles can be defined by the user. These can be either parametric (e.g. camber curve + thickness distribution) or based on profile data from an air foil data base. There are models available with special definitions such as Wageningen B-Series. NACA curves are also available in CAESES via the menu > curves > naca. When generating the 3D propeller surface, the profile parameters can be changed by means of radial functions for each 2D parameter (e.g. chord, camber, thickness). IMPORT AND EXPORT In order to import or export the blade in a proprietary format, feature definitions can be used which allows you cope with e.g. company-specific ASCII formats. The PFF (Propeller Free Format) is directly supported. EXTERNAL TOOL / CFD AUTOMATION Any preliminary design tool (XFOIL etc) or even CFD packages (in-house, open source, commercial) can be integrated so that a new design can be analyzed within CAESES. BLADE ANALYSIS There is a functionality that can analyze an imported blade surface (given as NURBS) to give you the chord, rake, skew, pitch, thickness and camber distributions. CUSTOMIZATION There is a lot of scripting possible in CAESES so that any specialized design process can be fully transferred into the platform. For instance, if you use Excel sheets for your profile definitions, you can access them through CAESES but also re-implement your methods using the feature definition programming editor. EXAMPLES Some propeller design case studies can be found in this section. If you are interested in drone design, then check out this post here. Here are some videos - the last one I put there only to give you an impression about how the geometry controls can be wrapped and accessed for applying changes, this can be done for all other types of blades as well. Wageningen Propeller ModelPropellerBlade Tip DesignGeometry Changes for an Axial Fan (and a Ship Hull) - Demo Video ONLINE TOOL Finally, check out the new online geometry creator for the Wageningen B-Series. Browser-based, intuitive web app.Allows you to generate typical B-Series propellers with just a few clicks.Requires very little propeller design expertise.The final geometry can be downloaded as STL or STEP file. LAST UPDATE JANUARY 2018 Note that there are FULL FREE ACADEMIC versions of the pro edition CAESES for students and PhD students as well as trial licenses with variable time frames. There are also special editions for small companies, start-ups and freelancers.

Hi Rizuan, very good. FINE and CAESES are well known combination so hopefully it will be 'smooth sailing'... Cheers, Heinrich

Hi Rizuan, On our webpage please go to Support > "Your Licenses" Once logged in, please check the status of your license. By clicking on the manage button on the right side, you may have the option to release a hanged webfloat slot. Please let me know if this resolves your problems. Cheers Ceyhan

Hello, Lately, I’ve been trying to run CAESES coupled with StarCCM+ in batch mode for Linux. Checking previous discussions, is it possible to reactivate again for downloading the zip file with the example on how to run CAESES in batch mode? and if you have suggestion please feel free to tell me Thanks in advance, Best, Nuttarat

Sorry Christina, if you set up the linesplan, you can export the feature to IGS, that will write out the lines as curves, but not the label.

Hi Nikolas, The naming for the "STL (Extract Colors)" export should be as follows; <base name provided for exported stl>+"_"+<color name>+".stl" In the example provided, I gave a name "fanExported.stl". So the base name would be "fanExported" For the blades, during the blade creation process I have assigned a user created color with a name "w_blades" As a result the stl file for the blades ends up being "fanExported_w_blades.stl" To conclude, if you would like to change the stl file names for the exported geometry, one has to modify the assigned color names. I think the Tutorial; Geometry Modelling > BRep and Solids refers to color assignment to operations. Please let me know if you have further questions. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Nicolas, The Export type you require is "STL (Extract Colors)" In CAESES, please create a scope, let's say "02_Export". Then please locate the BRep/s you want to be exported. Please be sure that, the geometrical entities you want to be seperated do have separate colors assigned. Then select the folder, change the file type to "exportStlExtractColors" and provide a file name. Using this procedure, whenever you create an fsc file, the export information will be written automatically. Please let me know if you have further questions. Cheers Ceyhan

Hi Farzan, The operation "Solid From Intersections" tries to obtain a solid "water-tight" geometry from the combination of several provided geometries. The reason why the operation provided some unsatisfactory result maybe due to your provided inputs were not much intersecting but flush maybe? From the pictures it is not quite clear but is there even some fillet? I will recommend you to extend the blade geometries a bit so that there can be a proper intersection among the geometries and create the fillet afterwards as a separate operation. Please let me know if you need further assistance. Cheers Ceyhan

I have used the Hydrostatic tool with closed trimeshes. The sections displayed below the hull look broken like in the attached example. If I use an open trimesh, the sections look alright. In both cases the calculated values are the same but I am not sure what the broken sections want to tell me. In my current project I only got .stl-files with closed trimeshes of hulls so i can not use the surfaces to do the calculations. surface_trimesh_trimeshclosed.fdbc

Hi, Sometimes diagrams with important data are available only as graphics files (e.g. after scanning from a report or upon exporting from a pdf-file). CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework can be quickly utilized to read off data from diagrams with high accuracy. To do so, import the graphics as an png-file within a "GL Picture Frame" (1st step). Upon setting the scales of abscissa (x-axis) and ordinate (y-axis) (2nd step) you can readily position a point in your diagram and get your x- and y-coordinates (3rd step). (You may want to use such a point to check the level of accuracy.) Furthermore, you can approximate a graph with a curve, say a B-spline curve (4th step) or interpolate it (5th step). Using the curve representation you can "inquire" the y-value for any given x-value (6th step). The attached fdb-project illustrates the work flow for an imaginary speed-power curve. In addition to using CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework to extract data points from diagrams, you can follow the same approach to replicate a lines plan of a boat, yacht or ship, circumventing classic digitization. Offset data are thus produced effectively. Nice side effect is that you can adjust selected points, for instance to improve accuracy of lines remodeling and "repair" apparent outliers. Kind regards, Stefan ExampleDiagram.zip

When working with Meta Surfaces a good way to keep things well organized is using two 3DWindows at the same time (e.g. one as a central widget, the other one as a docked widget below). Using the filter options (points, curves, surfaces and name filter at the bottom of each 3DWindow) you can display only the surface in one window and just the distributional functions in the other. This way you can alter the functions conveniently while observing the immediate effect your changes have on the Meta Surface.

Hi together, If you want to change the rotational direction of a propeller blade (type FGenericBlade), then you can simply switch the orientation. See the attachment for more information. Cheers Joerg

The easiest way to flip the normal of a given surface is by reversing one of the surface directions u or v. In a NURBS/B-Spline surface this can be done with the command .reverse(1,0) or .reverse(0,1). In a Metasurface you can reverse start and end position or you create an image surface and in the u or v domain you enter [1,0] instead of [0,1].

Parametric models are typically built from various geometric or non-geometric entities, e.g. a projection curve depends on the curve that is going to be projected and the surface it is supposed to lay on. In most programs the user creates the desired object first (in this case the projection curve) - and is subsequently asked to supply the necessary objects (surface, curve and possible projection direction) until the configuration is complete. In CAESES/FFW missing information is indicated by a * next to the required attribute and you can set the relationship via drag and drop or typing. However, if you have selected a surface and a curve already when creating the projection curve, they will be automatically associated to the attributes. Note: Whenever the selection set fits to a creator called, the attributes will be set immediately. For every object you will find a list of available creators in the type documentation.

Hi, One of the famous hull forms found in literature is the so-called Wigley hull. It is mathematically defined, see attached formula, and used regularly for tests and validation work. By definition the Wigley hull is a (simple) fully parametric model with beam, draft and height as parameters to control the shape (often normalized by length). A realization of the Wigley hull via a MetaSurface that captures the mathematical formula is given in the attached CAESES project. In addition, some partially parametric modifications are shown, namely, Lackenby type swinging of sections that is realized via a DeltaShift. (Please note that a Generalized Lackenby variation would also be available but was not used here in order to keep the project light.) If you need the hull for your CFD validation work you can use the various exports for panels, offsets, STL, iges etc. More information about ship hull design can be found in the marine section of the CAESES website. Kind regards, Stefan standardWigley.fdb

Hi, please find attached an example for a so-called black box optimization problem. For optimization problems in technical applications it often happens that there is no information on the target function. The research area for the optimization is inside a "black box". So it is very difficult to find the optimum. Time is money. For this reason it is very important to investigate the unknown area quickly and effectively. In order to solve this kind of problem Friendship-Framework contains many optimization algorithms ranging from single-objective strategies for fast and simple studies to multi-objective techniques to investigate a non-linear design space with many local minima and maxima. In the attached file you can try out and compare different algorithms by yourself. Inside the black box (curtain) is a b-spline surface with some local minima and maxima. With the two design variables "usValue" and "vsValue" you can search for a minima by your own. The vertical transparent red surface represents a constraint. Feasible solution can be found only on the right side of the constraint. Sobol, TSearch and NelderMeadSimplex are already performed. Sort the column "objective" within the result table for the smallest value and check the first feasible design. Use the values of "usValue" and "vsValue" from the result table to see where the minimum is found on the b-spline surface (of course you can untoggle the visibility of the blackbox by clicking on the scope "curtain" to see the b-spline surface). Use the feature "optiVisualization" to visualize the way of the optimization algorithm on the surface. Please feel free to try out your own optimization setups. Maybe set the start values "usValue" and "vsValue" on a local minima and see what happens. File for CAESES versions below 4.0.3: optimization.fdb Project file for CAESES 4.1.x: optimization41x.fdb Cheers Matthias

Hi, Suppose you have several educated guesses about the possible shape of your product but you are not sure which one of your shapes or which combination of these shapes will be the most suitable for a particular purpose. (Examples from naval architecture: Three different bulbous bows or two different stern configurations -- all look good and reasonable but what is the best mix?) One way to set up a parametric model (a partially parametric model to be more specific) is to use morphing, i.e., the smooth transition from one object to another by weighting. Suppose you have a cat and a dog. They look reasonably alike (two ears, two eyes, one snout etc.), meaning their topology is the same even though their geometry differ. If you set your weight to 100% cat and 0% dog, well, you get the cat. If you do it the other way round you would have the dog. Anything in-between, say 60% cat and 40% dog, makes an interesting mix, a cat-dog so to say. (No way to produce a donkey, not even by extrapolation.) Within CAESES / FRIENDSHIP-Framework you can build on this idea by utilizing one or several interspaceSurfaces. Assuming you have the same topology for your surfaces (matching orders and matching numbers of vertices when it comes to B-splines), you can interpolate between your shapes. Attached please find an example in which several surfaces are morphed. Cheers, Stefan surfaceMorphing.fdb

Dear CAESES/FFW Users, I would like to use CAESES with OpenFOAM: - make very simple parametric geometry - use of snappyHexMesh (as mesh generation tool) - use of OpenFOAM (as flow solver) - modify some basic geometry parameters of the geometry - rerun CFD computations with the modified geometry - use of post-processing tools to compare CFD results between configurations I was wondering if someone has already done this kind of exercise and maybe could share it trough the CAESES/FFW forum ? Best regards, Stephane Sanchi.

Hi Rohan, yes this is possible. You can create a shortest distance line: Best regards Carsten

Dear Rohit, the design variables are used to describe/modify the functions given in 01_blade/functions. You can see how they affect their shape in 3D: You can find detailed information on their exact definitions in the documentations. To get there, just click the little blade icon next to the name of the blade: Best regards, Heinrich

If you created the other surfaces with "Coons Patch" by use of 4 boundaries, you could divide the current 2 lines into 4 lines with "image curves" and use them as boundaries for a "Coons Patch"

Hi Roopesh, find attached the sample model. best regards Carsten pistonbowl.fdb

Dear Matheus, you are absolutely right. Indeed, complex models can benefit a lot from parallel computing. Unfortunately, up to the latest CAESES 4.x no such option is available (except for the settings referring to multiple external tools running in parallel during an optimization that you mentioned). However, one of the mayor changes of our upcoming release CAESES 5, is in fact the full parallelization. If you are particularly interested in this feature you can stay tuned via our newsletter here: https://www.caeses.com/news/newsletter/ P.S: Often times it makes sense to take a closer look at what particular part of your geometry slows down the update -- you can use the profiler (go to help > start profiling, then trigger a model refresh, i.e. by changing a design variable and then go to help > stop profiling) to get statistics of the most time consuming objects in your model. Cheers, Heinrich

Hi Mlysyshyn, Please find attached the modified version. Some modifications I have performed; 1) Within the Runner for the "Local Application" I have selected the AllRun.bat which I have created. Please note that I am not using any arguments. 2) The RunAll.bat executable includes commands within the "C:\OpenFOAM\19.10\cygwin64\Cygwin.bat" executable (lines 4-9) and the path to my script file which is the AllRun.sh (line 9) 3) Finally made a little modification to the script file. The final configuration seems to be working but didn't pay attention to the OpenFoam setup. Cheers Ceyhan Sduct_with_openfoam_2_FSYS.fdbc

Hi Mlysyshyn, I can see that the files are are moved to their related locations. Can you please share any console output? Or some OpenFoam logs where the problem can be tracked? Cheers Ceyhan

Hi folks please find attached a Feature Definition for a "Bulbous Bow Shape Analysis" and a Feature Definition which can be used in a CurveEngine for creating a MetaSurface. shapeAnalysis_Bulbous_Bow.fdf bulbous_bow_section.fdf [edited 05.10.14 - tangent analysis included] In order to replace a Bulbous-Bow-IGES-Import by a fully parametric MetaSurface you can use this Feature by execute the following steps: Create a Surface Group including all the IGES-surfacesCreate a new Feature Definition and reload the Analysis-Feature, apply and create the Feature by right click on the Feature Definition>Create FeaturePass the Surface Group to the Analysis-Feature and enter (if necessary) start- and end-position in x-direction of the bulbous bowAdditionally give a number of offsets (30-50 should be a good choice)Run the Feature This will create function curves which can be used to create a MetaSurface. The next steps should be: Re-model the function curves by e.g. FSplineCurvesCreate parameters for some values of the new curves, like start/end position, start/end tangent or area Create a CurveEngineCreate a new Feature Definition, reload the Section-Feature and applySelect the Bulbous-Bow-Section-Feature and pass the new function curves to the EngineAdditionally you can set start- end end-tangent valuesCreate a MetaSurface, select the Curve Engine and set the base positions according to the start- and end-position in x-directionNow you will have a single Metasurface, which is parametric and ready for a design study. Cheers Matthias

Hi folks, please find attached a fully parametric model of a WED - Wake Equalizing Duct. Such a device can increase the wake homogeneity and the hull propeller efficiency. In the project (baseline > abdy > appendages > duct) you can find three sets of parameters (in the scope 04Parameters): The first set controls the path of the duct which consists of three parts, an upper flat, an round mid-part and an lower flat. The parameters for the path are shown in the figure below. The second set of parameters controls the section of the duct. The standard parameters for a NACA 4 digit profile (chord length, maximum thickness, camber and camber position) are kept constant but can easily be replaced by functions. The angle of attack can be varied for three positions (shown in the figure below). The third set of parameters controls the global position of the duct. With xpos and zPos you can move the duct to the destination. With totalScale you can scale the duct. Taking into account the direction of the skeg surface (the red line shown in the figure below is a surface curve on the skeg at the height of the center of the duct) the duct aligns to the surface and to the surrounding flow. With the parameter addFlowAnlge you can apply an additional angle which results in a rotation around the z-Axis. The parameter AOATotal effects a rotation around the y-Axis. For external CFD computations you can find a watertight trimesh (imDuctMesh) and the parameter openEdges which checks the watertightness. This parameter can be used as a constraint for the computation. Cheers Matthias WED.fdb