APPLICATIONS

ANSYS, a global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, today announced its selection as one of four software manufacturers providing expertise to the SAFEDOR project, which is charged with improving the safety, security, environmental impact and competitiveness of Europe's maritime industry. ANSYS will work in tandem with other SAFEDOR partners to develop innovations applicable to cruise ships, ferries, tankers and container ships. SAFEDOR (Design, Operation and Regulation for Safety) is a 50-plus-member European consortium whose mission is to provide cost-effective solutions to improve waterborne transport while treating safety as a design objective rather than a constraint. This holistic approach uses a risk-based framework, which from the outset considers safety levels such as probabilities and consequences of sinking, structural failure, collision and fire alongside standard design objectives (including speed, cargo capacity, passenger capacity and turnaround times). SAFEDOR's members include a number of industry stakeholders: government agencies; ship owners, operators and builders; component and equipment manufacturers; engineering consultants; universities and research institutes; classification societies; and software manufacturers. ANSYS, Inc. is contributing expertise to a SAFEDOR sub-project named "Probabilities of Fire and Explosion Events." The tasks include modeling of fires on ferries and cargo vessels as well as analyzing associated fluid- structure interaction. ANSYS has provided simulation solutions to the marine industry for many years. "ANSYS has long served the marine industry with superior technology, giving customers an advantage in fire prevention and suppression as well as hydrodynamics, HVAC, fuel sloshing, mast and sail design and rotating equipment such as propellers and compressors," said Chris Reid, vice president and general manager at ANSYS, Inc. "Our partnership with SAFEDOR will allow us to develop further expertise and contribute to marine safety, innovative technologies and prototype designs that may set new standards for the global maritime industry. Similar to the work we've done in fluid structure interaction, it will enable us to test the further integration of ANSYS technology on real-life problems - for example, explosion modeling and simulation." The staff at ANSYS became actively involved in the safety sphere during the forensic investigation into the underground fire at London's King's Cross subway station in 1987, where 31 people were killed. The ANSYS engineering analysis team identified a phenomenon known as trench effect (in which a fire burns next to an inclined surface) as the explanation for the rapid flame spread. Subsequently, the knowledge gained as a result of ANSYS simulations was an important factor in changing operations and safety strategy for sub- surface railways. "As a proven innovator, ANSYS brings much value to the SAFEDOR project by allowing us to model and understand complex phenomena," said Pierre Sames, chairman of the SAFEDOR Steering Committee. "The company's engineering expertise and advanced software can provide answers to questions that couldn't previously be answered - and even the questions themselves were once inconceivable. ANSYS solutions will be instrumental in contributing to safe shipping." Sames is also head of Strategic Research at Germanischer Lloyd (GL) AG, the company coordinating the SAFEDOR project. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, GL is a leading provider of technical and engineering services to the global shipping industry. ANSYS software is a powerful engineering tool that can be used to simulate many types of industrial flow and heat transfer processes. The Company is active in the fire research community, developing and testing new models for different types of fires and fire scenarios - including well-ventilated and under-ventilated fires; backdraft; fire suppression and smoke movement in buildings, tunnels, aircraft and ships; blast waves; and vapor cloud explosion in congested regions. ANSYS solutions have been used to analyze wind effects on oil-pool fires on oil platforms. The software also is employed in more diverse areas: for example, to predict the interaction between the hull of a ship and its propeller (leading to improved propeller design) and to analyze fuel/water mixing in ship compensated fuel/ballast tanks (to reduce the potential for pollution during refueling). Century Dynamics Inc, a subsidiary of ANSYS, also is active in the marine safety sphere with two products: ANSYS AQWA, a complete hydrodynamic and structural analysis system for floating structures, and ANSYS AutoReaGas, for explosion modeling. SAFEDOR is an integrated project in the sixth framework programme of the European Commission (CEC) designed to increase the effectiveness of the European shipping industry through innovative design and operations and modernization of the regulatory system. Conceived in 2002, the consortium today comprises more than 50 partners, including major European ship operators, international equipment manufacturers and service providers such as ANSYS, Inc. With a total volume of 20 million Euros and a fund of approximately 12 million Euros spread over four years, SAFEDOR expects to apply state-of-the-art first-principle analysis tools within an integrated and holistic design approach to achieve an optimal balance between costs, safety and performance. Specific projects focus on developing methods and tools to assess operational, extreme, accidental and catastrophic scenarios, accounting for the human element, and integrating these into a design environment; developing innovative solutions and products for safe, secure and economic operation of ships; establishing a risk-based regulatory framework to facilitate first principles approaches; and developing prototype designs for European safety-critical vessels to validate the proposed methodology and show its practicability. Visit its Web site for more information.