Opinion about AQWA

Hi to all,
I'm a new user, I have read various posts and I think it's a really helpfun forum.
I'm writing to have sosme opinions about AQWA software ( I have read that some of you use it).

I'm an italian PhD Student looking for a software that can simulate a floating offshore wind turbine.

I would like to compare experimental results about floating wind turbines with the results of a good software simulation.

I have never used AQWA or ANSYS so I ask you:
- Has AQWA a good and detailed manual with some tutorials and examples?
- Has AQWA a friendly graphic user interface?
- in your opinion, how long need to get familiar with the code and to prepare your own case study??

thank you very much

aelvira

 

AQWA is a seriously useful suite of solvers...once you know how to use it.

The learning curve for me was about four months to learn every single module (AQWA-LINE, LIBRIUM, FER, NAUT, DRIFT, FLOW and WAVE) simulating everything from hulls, barges and wave energy converters. I also took a training class in Houston, TX USA.

It's not yet fully integrated into the ANSYS Workbench front-end with an intuitive point-and-click interface. It'll take another couple of years for it to achieve that state.