OrcaFlex 11.5e is the latest minor update in the OrcaFlex 11.5 series, a market-leading software package from Orcina for the dynamic analysis of offshore marine systems. Released on July 10, 2025, this version primarily addresses a significant GUI bug introduced in the prior 11.5d release, ensuring more stable user interactions during model setup and visualization. OrcaFlex excels in simulating complex offshore structures like risers, mooring lines, umbilicals, and pipelines under environmental loads, supporting industries such as oil & gas, renewables, and aquaculture. It uses advanced time-domain and frequency-domain solvers to predict responses to waves, currents, wind, and seismic events, enabling safer and more efficient designs.

The 11.5 series, of which 11.5e is the current culmination, was initially launched in December 2024, introducing over 20 major enhancements focused on pipeline integrity, hydrodynamic modeling, and computational efficiency. This update maintains full backward compatibility with earlier 11.x models while optimizing performance on modern hardware.

Key Features and Enhancements in OrcaFlex 11.5 Series (Including 11.5e)

OrcaFlex 11.5e inherits all core advancements from the 11.5 base release, with targeted stability fixes. Below is a breakdown of the primary functionalities:

1. Advanced Pipeline and Line Modeling

  • Buried and Covered Lines: New capabilities for simulating pipelines under soil cover or burial, including upheaval buckling and pipe ratcheting effects. This allows realistic assessment of lateral and vertical movements due to thermal expansion or external loads.
  • Line Interaction Enhancements: Improved handling of contact between lines, vessels, and seabeds, with options for frictional soil models and embedment calculations.
  • Restart Analysis: Supports static and dynamic restart simulations to tackle convergence challenges in large models, reducing computation time for iterative designs.

2. Hydrodynamic and Environmental Analysis

  • Frequency Domain Solver Updates: Now fully supports multibody groups for modeling hydrodynamic coupling between multiple vessels or floaters, enabling faster preliminary assessments without time-domain runs.
  • Wave and Current Modeling: Enhanced irregular wave spectra (e.g., via Python-defined expressions) and current profiling, with better integration of metocean data for extreme event simulations.
  • Vortex-Induced Vibrations (VIV): Refined SHEAR7 integration for VIV analysis, fixing issues with duplicate x/L values in fine-segmented models to ensure accurate amplified drag coefficients.

3. Usability and Workflow Improvements

  • GUI Stability (11.5e Specific): Resolves a critical interface bug from 11.5d, improving reliability in object selection, property editing, and 3D view manipulations.
  • Python Integration: Embed scripts directly in model data for external functions, post-calculation actions, and custom results, eliminating the need for external files and enhancing portability.
  • Data Import/Export: Expanded support for panel mesh files (e.g., from OrcaWave), converted to editable wireframe drawings for quick geometry overlays.
  • Reporting and Visualization: Streamlined graph outputs for line feeding ranges and node results, with fixes for omitted data in growing/shrinking segments.

4. Performance and Solver Optimizations

  • Next-Generation Solvers: Up to 25% faster simulations for models with millions of segments, leveraging multi-core processing and optimized memory usage.
  • Error Handling: Graceful management of input file issues (e.g., no crashes on malformed SHEAR7 .plt files), with clearer diagnostics for undefined behaviors.
  • Extensibility: Variable data sources now support Python expressions for custom formulas, offering flexibility in defining complex behaviors like nonlinear stiffness.