Aspen Simulation Workbook
Aspen Simulation Workbook
Aspen Simulation Workbook
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in Aspen HYSYS V8
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First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Organizer Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Creating a Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Edit a Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Scenario Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Creating Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Protect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Deploying Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Activate on Startup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Activate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
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Introduction
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Aspen Simulation Workbook (ASW) is a powerful tool that allows Aspen HYSYSand Aspen Plus® simulation experts to
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easily create a clean user interface for their models in Microsoft Excel
. This makes it easy for other users to manipulate
complex Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Plus simulations without being intimately familiar with the models themselves, or even
the software used to create them. Using Aspen Simulation Workbook allows different members of the design team to
communicate effectively, without complex technology barriers. Ultimately, this results in more efficient use of time for the
entire team.
This guide will walk the reader through the most common progression of how an Aspen HYSYS simulation designer will
create a workbook with ASW and how an end user will manage the workbook. This is not meant to be used as a stand-
alone reference document. We would recommend that a range of other resources be called upon to give the new user a
comprehensive view of how to use Aspen Simulation Workbook. These may include:
• AspenTech support website (http://support.aspentech.com) - which contains a wide range of knowledge base items,
provides answers to frequently asked questions.
• AspenTech courseware available in on-line and in-person versions - which provide formal training on process modeling
and economic evaluation
• Pre-recorded tutorials and webinars that provide another view of the information contained in this document (refer to
the AspenTech support website:http://support.aspentech.com)
This document covers Aspen Simulation Workbook used with Aspen HYSYS. This guide assumes that the user has Aspen
Simulation Workbook V8 or higher and Aspen HYSYS V8 or higher installed on his or her computer.
First Steps
Familiarize Yourself with the ASW Tab
The ASW tab is organized into five groups. The following describes the general purpose of each:
• “Design” – Create and manipulate objects in the workbook
• “Simulations” – Determine which simulation is active if the workbook is connected to more than one
• “Run” – Run, pause, and reinitialize the simulation from Microsoft Excel
• “Tags” – Control tags that relate plant data to simulation variables
• “Support Group" – Several links to support, online training, and the AspenTech website
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Designing th e Workbook
Enable
In order to use Aspen Simulation Workbook, you must first click
Enable. This will check out a license key for the
software and unlock access to the other buttons in the tab. When the license is checked out, the button will
change to readDisable. Once you are done using ASW, click onDisable to release the license key.
Organizer pane
There are two ways to open the Aspen Simulation Workbook Organizer pane: either click the
Organizer button, or
select <Manage Simulations…> from the dropdown window in the “Simulations” group (Figure 2).
Next, select the green “+” at the top of the pane to add a new simulation and select a simulation from your computer
(Figure 3).
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Tables
Creating tables in ASW allows you to manipulate variables directly in Microsoft Excel without having to find them in the
Aspen HYSYS model. Once you have created a table, you simply have to change the cell values in your workbook to adjust
the model.
Creating a Table
Once you have entered your variables into the Organizer pane, you can select the ones you want to make into a table in
Microsoft Excel. You can select multiple variables by holding the shift key, or non-adjacent variables by holding the control
key. Next, click on the “Table Wizard” button (Figure 5). The alternative is to right click on the selected information and
choose “Create Table.”
You will now be prompted to select a location for your table. Do so by clicking the cell desired to be the upper left hand
corner, then click “OK.” This will bring you to the table wizard.
The “Table” tab contains inputs for formatting the table, such as border design and title. The “Columns” tab (Figure 6)
allows you to adjust what information will appear in the columns. Here, you can choose what information to include and
omit. ASW will automatically suggest the information that you will most likely want to include. To remove a column, select
the heading and click “Remove.” To add something that has not been suggested, click “Add” and choose from the provided
list. You can also add empty columns by clicking “Add Blank.”
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Another feature of the “Columns” tab is that it allows you to arrange the order of columns in your table. Items appearing
at the top of the list will appear the farthest left on the table. To move an item up and down the list, select it and click the
up and down arrow buttons.
You can also set the style for a particular column by selecting a style from the dropdown list in the “Properties” section.
These styles may be those provided by Microsoft Excel, or ones that you created yourself.
Many of the property names that ASW assigns to your model variables, such as “Object ID1,” are not descriptive. To
determine what properties are actually being represented, visit the Row tab. This gives you a preview of the table. In
Figure 7, it is clear that “Object ID1” actually represents a sub stream type. Going back to the Column tab, you can rename
these items by highlighting them in the “Properties” section and typing in a new name (Figure 8).
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As with the “Columns” tab, the “Rows” tab allows you to change the order of the rows, add and remove rows, and insert
blank rows.
Once you are done managing the properties of your table, click “Finish.” Your table will appear on the spreadsheet.
Edit a Table
Tips and Tricks: You can easily change the units for a property on the table by right clicking in
the appropriate row and clicking “Simulation Workbook Tables,” “Convert Units,” and selecting
the new unit from the list. This option will only appear if there is a units column.
To modify any aspect of a table, right click anywhere on it and select the appropriate option under “Simulation Workbook
Tables” (Figure 9). You can use these functions to edit the properties listed in the table, to move it on the worksheet, etc.
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Figure 10: The Quick Table button. If you have no preexisting templates, the only option will be <Manage Templates…>.
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Once you have opened the Table Template Wizard, you can begin to specify the settings on your template. You can also
enter a name for your template at the top of the “Table” tab. You can use the “Columns” tab just as you would with the
normal table wizard. Instead of a “Rows” tab there is a “Variables” tab. For the purpose of this guide, you do not need to do
anything with the “Variables” tab.
If you have already formatted another table that you intend to replicate with different data sets, right click anywhere on
the table and select “Simulation Workbook Tables,” “Create Table Template…” (Figure 12).
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Scenar io Tables
Scenario tables allow users to conduct case studies or sensitivity studies. You can manipulate a variety of inputs and see
the influence of these changes on a number of model results.
You will be prompted to select a location for your scenario table, and then you will be taken to the Scenario Study Wizard.
From here you can format your scenario table and pick how many cases (including or excluding the base case) you want
to assess (Figure 14).
When you select the “Input Vars” and “Output Vars” tabs, you will notice that ASW automatically determines which
variables are inputs and which are outputs. You can add or remove variables from these lists by clicking the “Add” and
“Remove” buttons on the right. You can also rearrange the order in which variables will appear on the table by using the up
and down arrows on the right. When you are ready to make your table, click “Finish” at the bottom.
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Figure 15: Input values for scenario table. Be sure that all active cases have an asterisk in the Active column.
To run the active scenarios, right click anywhere on the table and select “Simulation Workbook Tables,” “Run Active
Scenarios…” Be sure all the scenarios you want to run are checked off in the pane that appears, and click “Run Scenarios”
(Figure 16). Click “OK” when the run is over to return to the workbook. The “Output” section will be filled out.
Scenario tables can be continuously reused by adjusting any of the values in the “Input” section. To only adjust a few cases
at a time, remove the asterisks from the “Active” column before running or uncheck cases in the “Run Scenarios” panel.
Note: Running scenarios will actively adjust the simulation. The state defined by the last
scenario run will be the final state of your simulation until you make further changes.
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The model summary grid is a tabular summary of selected variables from the Aspen HYSYS case. The tabs represent
classes of flowsheet objects, such as unit operations or streams. Each tab is associated with a table. The columns of each
table represent all of the instances of the flowsheet object in the tab, while the rows of each table correspond to different
parameters that are associated with that class of objects. In the example shown below, the selected tab represents all of
the material streams in the Aspen HYSYS model (Figure 18).
This grid can be customized to include many additional variables that do not appear by default. Different model summary
templates can also be created.
Clicking the “Send to Excel” button in this form opens up a dialog where the Excel formatting options can be customized.
Here you could also choose to export a static Excel report of the data from the Model Summary Grid, or a live, fully-linked
Aspen Simulation Workbook case as shown in the screenshots below in Figures 19 and 20.
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Now click the “Export tables to Excel” button. Aspen HYSYS and ASW will work together to create a new Excel workbook
with the user selected tables and formatting. Links between Aspen Simulation Workbook and Aspen HYSYS for the
selected variables will also be made at this time. You will be prompted to save the case. Another dialog will be raised
when the export is successfully completed (Figure 21).
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Once the links are created, you can see the fully linked ASW case in Excel (Figure 23).
Note: The case has been already linked to the running Aspen HYSYS simulation. Each model summary grid tab is
recreated as a worksheet tab in Excel. Additionally, standard formatting for inputs and outputs is persisted between
Aspen HYSYS and ASW automatically. This means that user specified values are formatted as bold and blue, while
calculated results match the formatting for the chosen table style. Now you can make changes to specified values in
this worksheet, and use the ASW tab run controls to run and update the Aspen HYSYS model.
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To create data tables in Aspen HYSYS, navigate to the “Customize” ribbon tab and click the “Data Tables” Icon, as shown
in Figure 24.
Once a data table is created, choose to export it to Excel by clicking the “Send to Excel” button (Figure 25).
An “Export Data Tables” dialog will allow you to choose tables (if there are multiple) to export, format, and link to
simulation (Figure 26).
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After making these choices and opening the Excel workbook, the data table will be available in Excel as a fully linked ASW
case (Figure 27).
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Tags
Tags allow users to input plant data into the simulations. It is possible to both map tags to the simulation and to do the
reverse, but here we will only discuss mapping tags to the model.
Creating Tags
In order to create a tag, you must first import plant data to your Microsoft Excel workbook. This is typically done with an
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external program, such as Aspen InfoPlus.21. We will assume that you have already done this, and have a table with the
desired tag information such as the one depicted in Figure 28.
To create tags, highlight the table and right click. Now choose “Simulation Workbook Tables,” “Import Selected Tags”
(Figure 29). This will open the Map Tag Attributes panel. If you selected header rows, ASW will automatically use the
header titles to determine which attributes to link to each column. Notice that the “Has header row” box will be checked
(Figure 30).
Figure 30: Map tag attributes panel with correct header row
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If you did not select a header row, or the headers you chose do not exactly correlate to ASW’s attributes, you will get a
warning. Do not panic! You have two options. If the column is blank or contains information that you do not wish to map to
the model, select the heading and chose “Do not import (ignore).” Otherwise, set the attribute manually using the
dropdown under “Map column to attribute” (Figure 31).
Once you click “OK” you will be brought to the “Tag Variables” section of the Organizer pane. After this step, altering any
of the tags directly in the spreadsheet will change their value in “Tag Variables” automatically.
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ASW will automatically map any tags to model variables with the same name, as shown in Figure 33. If there is no model
variable with the same name, the “Model Variable” column will show “(null).” Use the dropdown to change all null
variables to correspond to the appropriate variables in your model (Figure 33).
You can also set the model to update automatically when the tags change by checking the “Automatic Update” box in the
“Tags” group.
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There are a variety of functions you can insert; a veryversatile one is “AspenSimulationAttribute.” Select this and click
“OK.” For the Name box with any ASW function, use double quotes to reference the active simulation. By clicking into the
“Attribute” box, you will see a list of the retrievable attributes, such as “Status,” which will tell you the status of your
model. Once you have picked an attribute, click “OK” (Figure 37).
Protect
It is possible to lock certain settings in the completed workbook to prevent end users from making design
changes. To do this, check the “Protect” box in the “Workbook” group. This will give you the option of using a
password to lock the workbook.
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Deploying Models
There are a few things the workbook author can do to help make the simulation easier for the end user to run.
To embed a simulation, check that it is not active and open the Organizer pane. Select “Simulations” on the left sidebar
and click “Import/Embed case” (Figure 38). You will be asked to select which case you want to import. Choose and click
“OK.” Do not forget to activateyour case before youtry to run anything.
Activate on Startup
It is possible automatically activate the simulation when the workbook is opened. To do this, go to the organizer pane and
click on “Simulations” on the left sidebar. On the right, scroll down until you see “Startup/Shutdown” and change
“Activate On Startup” to True (Figure 39).
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Activate
By clicking the “Activate” button on a workbook, you check out a license key for your Aspen HYSYS model. This
ensures that the simulation is open and able to run. As stated in the previous section, developers are encouraged to
set the workbook to automatically activate.
Run
In order to update the simulation output after making changes to model variables, you must be sure that it is running.
Within Aspen HYSYS, check that the “Solver Active” button is selected.
Additional Resources
For further information on Aspen Simulation Workbook, please consult:
Public Website:
http://www.aspentech.com/products/aspen-simulation-workbook.aspx
Support Website:
The support website provides an extensive and growing knowledge base.
http://support.aspentech.com/webteamasp/My/FrameDef.asp?/webteamasp/My/product.asp?id1=3027&id2=''&id3
=all
AspenTech Community:
http://www.aspentech.com/community/
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