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Release Notes

Version Number: 11.1 September 2001

Copyright (c) 1996-2001 by Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Aspen Custom Modeler, Aspen Dynamics, Aspen Engineering Suite, Aspen Plus, AspenTech, Plantelligence and the Plantelligence logo, Polymers Plus, Properties Plus, and the aspen leaf logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, MA. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. This manual is a guide for using AspenTechs software. This documentation contains AspenTech proprietary and confidential information and may not be disclosed, used, or copied without the prior consent of AspenTech or as set forth in the applicable license agreement. Users are solely responsible for the proper use of the software and the application of the results obtained. Although AspenTech has tested the software and reviewed the documentation, the sole warranty for the software may be found in the applicable license agreement between AspenTech and the user. ASPENTECH MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS DOCUMENTATION, ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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Aspen Technology, Inc. Ten Canal Park Cambridge, MA 02141-2201 USA Phone: (617) 949-1000 Fax: (617) 949-1030 URL: http://www.aspentech.com

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Design, Simulation, and Optimization AspenTech Ltd Sheraton House, Castle Park Cambridge CB3 0AX UK Phone: +44 (0)1223-819700 Fax: +44 (0)1223-366980

Table of Contents
About these Release Notes.............................................................................................................. 1 Related documentation........................................................................................................... 1 New features ................................................................................................................................... 2 Simulation of reversible flow................................................................................................. 2 Support for flowsheet hierarchy............................................................................................. 2 Support for multi-phase RPlug .............................................................................................. 2 Feed forward controller.......................................................................................................... 2 Stream Selector ...................................................................................................................... 2 Steam pressure to temperature conversion............................................................................. 2 Compressor model enhancements.......................................................................................... 3 Other model enhancements.................................................................................................... 3 Improved performance for dynamic simulations ................................................................... 3 Improved diagnostics ............................................................................................................. 4 Detection and analysis of high index problems ..................................................................... 4 New solvers for optimization and estimation ........................................................................ 4 Save changes to table and plot appearance ............................................................................ 4 Profile plotting enhancements................................................................................................ 5 Change unit of time for GUI display...................................................................................... 5 Ramp a variable from a table ................................................................................................. 5 Print flowsheet on multiple pages.......................................................................................... 5 Generate DXF file from flowsheet......................................................................................... 5 Enhanced capture screen layout ............................................................................................. 5 Intelligent paste to estimation from Excel ............................................................................. 6 Snapshot enhancements ......................................................................................................... 6 Delay function in estimation and optimization ...................................................................... 6 Compatibility with previous versions ............................................................................................. 7 .dynd Files .............................................................................................................................. 7 Compatibility with Aspen Plus .............................................................................................. 7 Ramps in Tasks ...................................................................................................................... 8

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

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Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

About these Release Notes

Aspen Dynamics is AspenTechs easy-to-use dynamic modeling tool for plant operations and process design. It enables users to study and understand the dynamics of real plant operations, thereby achieving increased operability, safety and productivity. Aspen Dynamics is closely integrated with other AspenTech products. With Aspen Dynamics you can transform an Aspen Plus steady-state simulation into a rigorous dynamic simulation within a few minutes. You can also use Aspen Custom Modeler to customize the Aspen Dynamics models. These Release Notes describe the new capabilities in Aspen Dynamics 11.1, and also summarize compatibility considerations in migrating from previous Aspen Dynamics versions.

Related documentation
You should read these Release Notes in conjunction with: AES 11.1 Installation Manual Aspen Dynamics document set, which comprises the Reference Manual, User Guide, Getting Started, Aspen Dynamics Examples, and (if applicable) Using Aspen Traflow

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

New features
This section outlines the new features in the Aspen Dynamics 11.1 release. The new features are:

Simulation of reversible flow

Processes where the flow direction may reverse can now be simulated. This can be useful in applications such as: Simulation of steam systems Simulation of fuel gas networks Some pressure relief simulations

Support for flowsheet hierarchy

Aspen Plus simulations that include hierarchy blocks can now be exported to Aspen Dynamics.

Support for multi-phase RPlug

An Aspen Plus simulation that includes an RPlug block with valid phases of vapor-liquid or vapor-liquid-liquid can now be exported to Aspen Dynamics.

Feed forward controller

A new feed forward controller model has been added.

Stream Selector
Support for the Aspen Plus Stream Selector model has been added. This model allows easy switching of feed stocks during a dynamic simulation.

Steam pressure to temperature conversion

A new model has been added which uses the extended Antoine correlation to convert a saturated steam pressure to its corresponding temperature. This means you can specify the steam pressure and calculate the steam temperature. This can be used with together with models where the Fixed Temperature heat transfer option is being used to simulate steam heating.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Compressor model enhancements

The compressor model has been enhanced to include support for: Polytropic with piecewise integration and positive displacement with piecewise integration calculation methods. Extended polynomial performance curves.

Other model enhancements

A number of models have been enhanced: Liquid head calculations can now include the difference in height between the outlet of a vessel and the inlet of the downstream unit operation. The RadFrac simple hydraulics option has been modified to allow specification of the ratio of weir length to column diameter and the % active area. By adjusting these two parameters a wide range of tray configurations can be simulated, including multi-pass trays. A more compact faceplate has been added for the PID model. For models where two liquid phases exit in separate streams, the initial volume fraction of the first liquid phase can now be specified. The temperature of the vessel wall can now be modeled for Pipe, Flash2, Flash3 and Mixer as well as RCSTR. The RCSTR model now supports separate product streams for each phase.

Improved performance for dynamic simulations

Extensive tuning and optimization of the Aspen Custom Modeler code has resulted in significant reductions in the amount of CPU time required for dynamic simulations. Testing has shown typical reductions of over 20%.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Improved diagnostics
The Diagnostics node in the Aspen Dynamics Explorer contains information on the simulation variables and equations for use in diagnosing simulation failures. To make diagnosis easier the information available has been extended to: Show and allow access to the group in which a variable has been previously calculated. Show the current residual value for an equation Show a list of equivalences and the variables they contain Mark variables which have an indeterminate value Allow the display of all variables in a group. You can toggle between this view, and the existing view which shows a list of equations. Show the description, lower and upper bounds and spec attributes for each variable.

Detection and analysis of high index problems

For dynamic and initialization runs the status window now enables you to check the index of your simulation. You can also use the specification analysis window to obtain recommendations on how to reduce the index of the problem to 1 or less.

New solvers for optimization and estimation

For optimization runs you can use the existing Feasopt feasible path SQP solver, or one of two new solvers. The new solvers are a full space SRQP infeasible path solver, and a reduced space Nelder-Mead direct search solver. A full space method solves the simulation equations and optimization problem together. A reduced space method solves just the optimization problem, and uses the existing non-linear solvers to solve the simulation equations. For parameter estimation you can use either Feasopt or Nelder-Mead.

Save changes to table and plot appearance

It is possible to change the appearance of a table or a plot that belongs to a specific block in the flowsheet, for example to add a variable to a table or change the color of a line on a plot. These changes are now stored, and saved in the simulation file. This means that any changes are preserved next time you open the simulation. There is also an option to revert back to the original form appearance.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Profile plotting enhancements

The profile plot facility has been improved: A profile table is now available. This shows the same data as the plot but in a tabular form. You now have the option of using 3-dimensional plots to display surface plots of variables distributed in 2 dimensions, or to display how a 1 dimensional profiles changes with time. The dialog for defining profiles has been updated to support 3-d plots, and to make it easier to use. For example you can now use drag and drop to create and copy profile variables.

Change unit of time for GUI display

On the run option dialog the units of measurement for time for the GUI can be selected. Anywhere time is displayed in the GUI these units will be used. This includes plots, tables and the GUI frame.

Ramp a variable from a table

It is now possible to interactively implement a ramp change for any Fixed variable, without the need to use a Task to do this. Whenever a fixed variable is being displayed on a table a context menu item Ramp is available. This brings up a dialog which allows the duration and amplitude of the ramp to be set. The ramp starts as soon as the dialog is closed, and the value field of the variable is shown is red while the variable is being ramped.

Print flowsheet on multiple pages

The Page Setup item on the File menu can be used to select to print the flowsheet on multiple pages vertically and horizontally.

Generate DXF file from flowsheet

A DXF format file representation of the flowsheet can be generated using the Generate DXF menu item on the Tools menu. This file format can be read by a number of graphics software packages.

Enhanced capture screen layout

The script generated on using capture screen layout now includes the size and location of all flowsheet windows (including hierarchies), all Explorer windows and the Simulation Messages window.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Intelligent paste to estimation from Excel

A Paste Special option is now available when pasting data from Excel into a dynamic experiment. This allows you to select which rows of data are to be copied using specified selection criteria. It also enables you to adjust the time values. This is designed to help you sample from large quantities of automatically generated time series data.

Snapshot enhancements
On the snapshot management dialog the automatic generation of snapshots can now be switched off. In addition the maximum number of automatically generated snapshots can be set. When this limit is reached new snapshots are still generated but the oldest automatically generated snapshots are deleted. A single snapshot or result can now be exported to an ASCII text file, and imported into another simulation.

Delay function in estimation and optimization

Use of the delay function in dynamic optimization and dynamic estimation runs is now supported.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Compatibility with previous versions

Aspen Dynamics version 11.1 can be installed and used at the same time as Aspen Dynamics version 10.2. Aspen Dynamics Language (.dynf) files generated using Aspen Dynamics 10.0, 10.1 and 10.2 are compatible with Aspen Dynamics 11.1, and do not need to be re-exported from Aspen Plus. If you see warning messages when loading an Aspen Dynamics 10.0, 10.1 or 10.2 dynf file into Aspen Dynamics 11.1, no action is necessary. Please note that this is a result of improvements to some of the Aspen Dynamics models.

.dynd Files
Aspen Dynamics Document (.dynd) files exported from previous releases of Aspen Dynamics cannot be loaded in Aspen Dynamics 11.1. Please load these files into the previous release and export them as .dynf files, which can then be loaded into Aspen Dynamics 11.1.

Compatibility with Aspen Plus

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 is compatible with Aspen Plus 11.1. Aspen Dynamics 11.1 is not compatible with earlier versions of Aspen Plus. An .appdf file is created when you export a dynamic simulation from Aspen Plus. This contains all of the physical property information required for the dynamic simulation. The .appdf files are not compatible between different versions of Aspen Plus. If you try to load a physical properties file (.appdf) which was generated using an earlier version of Aspen Plus you will get the following error:
SAIPIN-F-Error in APPDF file handling. Please refer to the Properties Plus error messages first or it may be due to an incompatible APPDF file version.

After you receive this error you will need to exit Aspen Dynamics before you can load any further simulations. To continue you must regenerate the .appdf file using Aspen Plus 11.1. To do this: 1 2 3 4 5 Make a copy of your .dynf file. Load the simulation backup file into Aspen Plus 11.1 Run the simulation. Export the dynamic simulation. Delete the .dynf file created and replace it with your saved copy.

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes

Ramps in Tasks
For ramps in tasks, the default ramptype has been changed from discrete to continuous. If you are using discrete ramps in tasks, you must explicitly specify the ramptype type. For example: Ramp (S1.F, 2000, 3.0, discrete);

Aspen Dynamics 11.1 Release Notes