Rapid Structrual Modeling
MAESTRO’s modeling paradigm is organized to rapidly generate a finite element model of an entire ship. Using high-level building blocks (i.e., MAESTRO substructures and modules), MAESTRO can leverage longitudinal uniformity typically found within portions of a ship (e.g., plating thickness or frame size throughout a cargo hold, etc.). Each module has its own local coordinate system, and can be copied, rotated or transformed. This paradigm not only supports the rapid creation of the finite element model but also the modification of the finite element model, which is routinely required during the design process. Hull girder properties such as inertias, cross-sectional area, neutral axis, and section modulus can be plotted and queried for any section cut within the model.
In addition to its built-in modeling capabilities, MAESTRO can read geometry from FEMAP, Nastran, NAPA Steel, DXF, and polygon mesh (.ply) files. Once a model is loaded into MAESTRO from another source, all of the hull girder properties, ship-based loading, post-processing, and advanced capabilities are available to the user just as if the model had been created in MAESTRO.
MAESTRO also provides fine meshing capabilities which allow the global model to be automatically refined while maintaining the original scantling properties and loads. The fine mesh model(s) can be analyzed as a separate model or integrated into the global model. Either option automatically applies the appropriate boundary conditions to impose the global loads onto the fine mesh model(s).