Whats New
Whats New
Whats New
+ addition
o changes
x bug fix
(x.y.z) update version/build in which a feature was first available
(Major.Minor.Build)
this format is used for features that were released in between major
releases
===================================================================================
===============
v2023.1 (February 2023 - Symmetry Major Release)
Thermodynamics
o Improved the accuracy of the Ethylene hydrate calculations in the APRNG2 property
package by updating the hydrate formation parameters using experimental data from
the NIST Gas Hydrate database.
o Components are now blocked from being added twice to a property package via the
CLI.
o Updated structure type parameters for all hydrate formers (except H2S and Xe) and
two inhibitors (Methanol and Glycerol) in Symmetry pure component database, the
updated parameters are based on data obtained in NIST Database and Sloan and Koh,
2018. These parameters are only used in the APRNG2 property package.
o Updated Aniline's Enthalpy of Combustion at 298K, the value is now calculated
from an internal estimation method based on the combustion reaction.
x Fixed a bug that prevented the Solid port from displaying in the Equilibrium
Results tab when activated in Steady State if the first component in the component
list was not a solid former.
Flare Workspace
+ Added reporting functionality to Flare Scenario Manager, which exports input and
results for all scenarios in Excel or PDF format.
+ Added support for API correction factors in the relief valve (steady state and
dynamics) and the rupture disk (steady state). The viscosity correction factor is
available in both unit operations when sizing or rating. The capacity correction
factor is available in the relief valve when the user specifies that there is an
upstream rupture disk. The user may enter correction factor values directly when
rating with vendor data, otherwise API recommendations are used to determine these
values.
Flaresim
x Contour plot legend now updates with the contour visibility rules.
x Fix for "Add Variable" window coming up when deleting the last input or results
variable in a case study.
x Fix to block the selection options for Flash Method when a .thm file is imported.
Pipe Workspace
o The Well Number column on the UI has been set to read only.
x Fixed an issue where the lack of appropriate license would result in a frictional
pressure drop of zero instead of not solving when using the VMG_TUFFP_3P
correlation
x Fixed an issue with the copy/paste functionality in the Well/Source data window
that was causing the program to close unexpectedly.
x Fixed calculation error when solving for the inlet pressure of a pipe in the
Process workspace and that pipe has an enlarger or contraction along with other
pipe sections. The acceleration DP term was being bypassed in calculations for the
pipe sections within the unit operation that did not have an enlarger/contraction.
x Fixed Symmetry crash when solver fails to calculate pipe inlet pressure.
x Modified Symmetry configuration file to be able to select eligible pipe segment
variables for generation of summary sets and project report.
Network Solver
o Improved sonic flow handling for tailpipes at rated flow.
Dynamics
x Fixed dynamics air coolers erroneously calculating zero duty.
x Fixed dynamics flash convergence check with extremely heavy components.
x Fixed for missing LeadLag and Outlier operations in Data Filter when in dynamics.
x Fixed initialization of dynamics streams and holdups from steady-state.
x Fixed recall of Dynamics Distillation Tray hole K values when specified per-tray.
Emissions
x Reset of Fuels and Electricity in Utility Manager now properly clears manually
entered Unit Costs.
Productivity Tools
o Added warning and option to proceed with sequential run or to quit running a case
study if Excel unit ops are present in the flowsheet and the case study is set to
run in parallel.
x Corrected the description for the Optimization Method variable to align with the
optimization methods available.
x Updated the optimization case in the Gas Production System Application Example to
have limits on the manipulated variables such that the optimized case properly
solves.
Unit Operations
+ New Electrolyzer unit operation with solid oxide mode. Calculates the required
voltage, power consumption and water conversion for water electrolysis with a
mobile O- ion.
o Allow component splitter unit operation to solve when splits and composition lead
to an outlet port with zero flow.
x Changed to use analytic derivative for isentropic coefficient calculation in
orifices, as this provides a closer reflection of the EOS properties than the
numerical derivative, particularly for cases where a non-default Liquid Volume
method is used in the property package.
x Correct unit conversion from cmH2O(4C) to mH2O(4C).
x Fix for issue where a component splitter that had a directly assigned property
package would not successfully clone its splits specification on copy/paste.
x Fix to calculation of isentropic coefficient for hybrid method to ensure measured
orifice DP at choke is properly calculated.
x Fixed calculation of boiler steam side inlet pressure when outlet pressure and
delta P are specified.
x Populate temperature in outlet port when zero flow is detected in mixers to be
able to propagate results and solve unit operations downstream of it. This fix can
be optionally switched off by setting the "AllowZeroFlowHandling" parameter in the
mixer to 0.
User Interface
+ Economics variables are now available to be included in Summary Sets and PFD Data
Sheets.
o In the Case Study window, the Results tab was updated to improve performance and
reduce loading times for the "All Data" view.
o Standardized scrollbar style in all Symmetry windows, utility panels, etc.
o Summary Sets refresh performance improved when opening and closing the Summary
Set window multiple times.
x Case Study results grid now displays appropriate headers and values for variables
pointing to internal simulation objects, including tower sizing variables.
x Cases saved with unit operation windows opened or minimized will now recall
faster than before.
x Convergence tab in Tower form now refreshes regularly when Unit Op is solving in
32-bit installations.
x Fixed an issue that caused Symmetry to freeze when calculating the pipe length in
the Network Design view and the Pipe Flow Path Viewer window was open.
x Fixed behavior where decimal points were lost when pasting data that was copied
from the Exp. Data tab of the Regression window.
x Fixed Check PFD for Cross Connectors (Prevent duplication of shape).
x Fixed error that appeared when using navigation links in the Help tab of unit
operations.
x Fixed Material Balance Table creating new & empty SummaryItems when doing Check
PFD.
x Fixed status colors for the PFD shapes of Furnace, Reboiler and Chiller.
x Help tabs in extension unitops now properly populate content from the extensions
folder of the Symmetry Program Data directory.
x Mouse cursor now properly returns to default arrow icon from scroll wheel once
long running processes are finished.
x Outlet ports of Separator Tank PFD shape are now correctly aligned with the edge
of shape.
x PFD Datasheet was fixed to display inlet material port variables correctly for
unit ops with multiple inlet ports.
x Restore close button for the Delete dialog.
x Stop button in Tower form is now enabled when Unit Op is solving in 32-bit
installations.
x Unit Op tooltips in the Simulation Tree and Windows List now properly display the
first underscore in the unit operation name.
x Unit operations will now only display the recycle indicators if one of their
visible ports is a recycle port.
x Visible status for series within the Stripchart are now preserved when saving and
recalling cases.
x Warning message now displays when user attempts to enter non-numeric values for
numeric coefficients of temperature dependent properties of hypothetical compounds.
x When any connection is made in the Data Filter, Selector Block, and Digital Logic
unit operations the dropdown for units will now be properly displayed.
Documentation
x Cryogenic Demethanizer Application Example now properly displays case preview.
Miscellaneous
o Implemented the GetItemID method from the OPC standard to be able to browse OPC
tags with characters other than "." in the OPC client.
o HYSYS XML export - Improved conversion of connections from process calculators
and controllers to properties in unit operations, material streams, and energy
streams.
x Fixed the enabling of the RunTimeDynamics license, the Full Dynamics license is
no longer used when running the integrator if the RunTimeDynamics license is
enabled instead.
x OPC Client - Fixed distribution and registration of OPC DA Components used to
browse and connect to OPC Servers by OPC Client.
x Fixed an issue in ModelBuilder.exe that prevented generated ML models to be
loaded properly into Symmetry.
===================================================================================
===============
v2022.3 (October 2022 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added support for OLI calculations to Symmetry 64-bit. A 64-bit version of the
OLI Engine must be installed to enable this functionality.
o Added Polyfunctional Amines, Brines and Physical Solvents to the list of
components that are removed in the dry basis calculation of phase envelopes in the
Envelope unit operation.
o Messages used to inform user about database version updates are now shown after
the simulation case has been loaded instead of holding the recall process.
o Solid formation calculations are now individually enabled for each type
(Hydrates, Waxes, Asphaltenes, Solids) via a checkbox. Formation warnings are
enabled and displayed in the Material Stream status bar by default for each active
solid type.
x Fixed calculation failures of solid formation temperatures by improving the solid
formation calculation method and internal initialization.
x Fixed issue in some recalled cases where the Oil Analysis unit operation does not
retain cut names.
x Fixed partial enthalpy calculations by performing the correct normalization
procedure.
x Fixed the calculation of critical points for narrow boiling point binary systems
in the Envelope unit operation.
x Fixed wax appearance temperature (WAT) calculation behavior so that it
successfully calculates when non-default property package settings are in use.
x Improved the CO2 and Ethylene Glycol solubility in the APRNG2 property package by
adding new CO2 / Ethylene Glycol binary interaction parameters.
Flare Workspace
o Added warning when changing flowsheet type to Flare to indicate that source
specifications may be lost.
x Fixed issue where only the first 10 source compositions could be specified from
the Scenario Manager window.
x Fixed loading of liquid properties for KO drum or separator sizing when the phase
doesn't exist at current fluid conditions and the separator is in a Flare or Pipe
network.
Flaresim
+ A new option has been added to calculate the pressure drop across the flare tip
and/or seal using vendor-provided (user-specified) curves. This feature is
available in the new "DP Curves" tab in the Flare Tip, which also enables users to
save their curve data for use in other tips or cases, and load data from any
previously-saved curve.
+ Added new radiation method ("Modified Chamberlain-H2") which targets pure
hydrogen flaring from vertical stacks.
+ Tip Dynamics now allows fluid temperature and molecular weight to be specified as
input as a function of time.
+ Tip sizing enhanced to support pressure-based design parameters (Tip Inlet P
(Static/Total), Seal Inlet P (Static/Total), Tip DP (Static/Total), Seal DP
(Static/Total)), and enhanced to take into account pressure drop when it is
specified with existing design parameters (Mach No, Tip ID).
x Fixed a minor discrepancy in the Combustion Efficiency calculation method when
accounting for the impact of partial combustion on CO2, CO, H2O, O2 and CH4
amounts.
x Fixed Check for Updates not working. Now checks for the same update version as
with Symmetry.
Pipe Workspace
o Updated the naming convention of pipe flowsheets created by the Network Designer.
x Fixed Apply To Pipe functionality in the sizing tab of the Pipe Segment to
correctly apply results to Pipe Data.
Field Workspace
o Removed Field and Reservoir Modeling section of the user manual (related to Field
Workspace).
o Removed Field Workspace ("VMGField") from the Symmetry installer.
Dynamics
+ A Vapor-Liquid-Liquid-Solid (VLLS) flash can now be enabled in dynamics for
components identified by the user as solid formers in order to model solid
formation in multiphase systems. This will also enable tracking of solid phases
through the flowsheet in the Equilibrium Results tab of dynamics unit operations.
o Enabled more signal stream connection options in the Short List for Data Filter
and Digital Logic unit operations.
o Improved performance of dynamics process calculators to allow parallelization of
calculations. This can double the real time factor for process calculator-bound
cases.
x Fixed backwards compatibility issue for dynamics cases that were saved in
Symmetry 2022.2. A dynamics case saved in Symmetry 2022.3 will now be able to be
run in Symmetry 2022.1.
x Fixed Dynamics initialization from Steady State for Separator holdup.
x Fixed recall of cases with rare corruption of historian data.
x Fixed reporting of densities in dynamics in streams downstream of choke flow. The
density was reported at conditions upstream of choke, which was inconsistent with
the other properties reported downstream of choke.
x Fixed Water Velocity Calculation for 3-phase pressure loss models.
Emissions
+ Duty Cycle multiplier added to Emissions from Energy usage (Utility Emissions).
+ Electricity Sources in Utilities Configuration now have a Power Factor which
accounts for transmission losses.
+ For rotating equipment using Electricity as their Energy type a Motor Efficiency
variable has been added.
o Global Warming Potential (GWP) values for GHG's in Emissions are now exposed for
customization.
x Fixed error when importing cases containing combustion unit operations that were
not configured to use the Utility Manager.
x Fixed issue with Energy tab not automatically solving on copy/paste of unit
operation when Fired Heating option selected.
Productivity Tools
x Fixed Productivity Tools LogY1 Axis chart setting also changing x-axis to log
when window is re-opened.
x Fixed the Case Study not to attempt to clean up objects that no longer exist.
This removes errors reported for previously deleted objects.
x Fixed the OPC Server to automatically open Symmetry when the tag Main.RecallModel
is set.
x OPC Client window was fixed to display correct connection status and refresh if
connection is initiated or terminated.
Unit Operations
+ Adsorber - A new Simplified Isotherm mode has been added to the Adsorption unit
operation. This mode calculates either the loading of an adsorbate from a partial
pressure (when adsorbing) or the partial pressure of an adsorbate from an initial
loading (when desorbing) using the following isotherm forms: Henry, Langmuir,
Freundlich, Extended Langmuir. The adsorption unit operation calculates the steady
state exit composition and time for the bed to reach equilibrium on a lumped
parameter basis. Mass transfer limitations can be accounted for by adjusting the
Flow Bypass and Mass Transfer Rate Limit. Departure from plug flow can be
accommodated by adjusting a Capacity Factor.
+ Adsorber - Isotherms will be graphically represented. The temperature dependency
of the isotherm can be seen by superimposing the trend at an alternative
temperature.
+ Adsorber - There are default Langmuir isotherm parameters available for Oxygen
and Nitrogen for a Zeolite 5A adsorbent.
+ Adsorber - There is an option available to calculate the heat of adsorption from
the isotherm temperature and pressure dependencies.
o Controller now explicitly shows the minimum range required between Min and Max OP
when the range is too narrow to attempt to solve.
o Improved Zero Flow Recycle Handling.
o O2 Excess and O2 Outlet calculations in the bath heater, burner, and fired heater
now take into account all oxygen atoms in both the fuel stream and the oxidant
stream.
x Added guiding message to ask user to check data when compressor curve
interpolation fails to produce a feasible pressure.
x Bath heater can now solve with an O2 Outlet Fraction spec.
x Fixed a problem where the retrograde flash flag in material streams was not
properly synchronized to connected operations.
x Fixed copy/paste of towers with a specified efficiency, where the cloned tower
did not apply efficiencies in its solve.
x Fixed partial pressure profile for counter-current Membrane that under some
scenarios was reversing the permeate side outlet with the inlet.
User Interface
o Added scrollbars to unit operation windows with many frames.
o Separator no longer displays "Feed Based" entrainment option when in dynamics,
where it is not available.
o Stripchart Performance Improvement. The performance when running with
stripcharts open has been improved up to 65% in some cases.
o The Diagnostics tab in the Flowsheet window now exposes a Convergence Status
variable.
x Case Study 3D Bar Plot now displays labels for X, Y and Z axes.
x Compound properties window - Added a Vertical scroll bar for visualizing larger
numbers of coefficients for T dependent properties, currently particularly useful
for the Ideal Gas Heat Capacity.
x Data Set window fixed to prevent crash after closing the window and stopping the
integrator.
x Fixed behavior in Property Table density plot where color of grid cells would
change unexpectedly when hovered over.
x Fixed Case Study window such that cases containing notes properly display Notes
Tab icon when recalled.
x Fixed Check for Updates utility to show the available minor version and build
number.
x Fixed crash when using "Bring Forward" PFD functionality.
x Fixed Oil Assay Liquid Properties tab to ensure all plots display properly.
x Fixed Project Report Data Blocks Selection windows so that both steady state and
dynamics data blocks are displayed properly when both engines are present in the
case.
x Fixed Project Report to properly generate for all Data Blocks when using in
Chinese and Russian display languages.
x Grids were fixed to only walk through visible cells.
x Non-Default Axis Title remains after plot is resolved for unit operations (except
for towers and property table).
x Reduced UI flickering when loading a case. The PFD and the workspace is displayed
only once when loading a Symmetry case.
x Removed unused default Strip Chart settings.
x Simulation tree was fixed to refresh accordingly when a property package is
added, removed, or updated.
x Strip chart now correctly displays data that has been recorded at different
historian frequencies.
x Strip charts - Fixed chart X Axis when historian frequency is lower than step
size.
x Strip charts - Fixed issue preventing user to drag history scroller when the
scroll bar width is very small.
x Strip charts - Fixed X Axis Span to start from 0 and display appropriate
intervals.
x Stripchart overview scrollbar position is now in sync with the data being shown
in the main chart.
x Summary Set report for Oil Source can be created successfully when SARA
Precipitation data is included in the report variables.
x Tank shaped Separator's Feed port's relative position will no longer change with
resizing.
x User can now connect energy stream to equilibrium reactor from the PFD.
x Variable selection lists for connections dropdown in the Controller now show only
steady state variables when in steady state.
Miscellaneous
+ Exposed setting to enable FlexLM license "per instance" mode, which will allow
the option to run more than three instances of Symmetry per computer at the expense
of consuming one license per instance.
x Fixed handling web API requests that contain a Symmetry path and the slash
character (/ or %2f) in the URL.
x Fixed issue that prevented copying of a flowsheet that is set to solve as Nested.
x HYSYS XML export - Symmetry to HYSYS converter now generates xml files with
correct top level code element name for compressor objects.
x HYSYS XML import - Connections to the material stream NHV property in both
StdGasVol and mass basis are now successfully imported into Symmetry from HYSYS.
x HYSYS XML import - Fixed issue with the xml import where a flowsheet would not be
created if it contained a unit operation with the same name as its parent
flowsheet.
===================================================================================
===============
v2022.2 (June 2022 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added a third set of minimum specifications that can be used to specify
hypothetical components; by providing at least Molecular Weight, Critical
Temperature, Critical Pressure, and Acentric Factor.
+ Added option to generate, view, and export OLGA PH Fluid Tables in Property Table
unit operation which can be imported into OLGA simulation runs.
o Improved Critical Compressibility values in the Symmetry database for Nitrogen,
Methane, n-Heptane, Methylcyclohexane, and nC20 to nC40 alkanes; updated values are
based on the definition Zc=Pc*Vc/R/Tc.
o Improved Critical Properties, Acentric Factor, Viscosity, Density and Heat
Capacity for Ortho Hydrogen.
o Improved Viscosity, Density and Ideal Gas Heat Capacity for Para Hydrogen.
o REFPROP Symmetry supported Thermodynamic Models (REFPROP, REFPROP GERG, REFPROP
AGA8, and REFPROP PR) no longer require a separate license, they are now included
in the default suite of Symmetry's Thermodynamic models.
o The Ideal Gas Heat Capacity for Pure and Hypothetical components can now be
defined with temperature dependent polynomial functions up to the 20th degree; this
gives more flexibility to match experimental data that contains multiple maxima and
minima with respect to temperature.
x Fixed error in Oil Prop unit operation when no components are added to the
Symmetry case.
x Improved phase equilibrium prediction for NaClBrine+Water binary system.
x Wax Appearance Temperature calculations and solve time were improved in cases
where the wax phase amount is smaller than the specified phase fraction criterion
and when the fluid contains a heavy hydrocarbon phase.
Flare Workspace
+ Added option in the relief valve to "Smoothen Mass Flux Profile", which will
apply a digital filter (Savitzky-Golay) to the calculated mass flux profile when it
is discontinuous. Filter parameters are exposed so the tuning of the profile can be
tuned.
+ "Rated Flow" profile was added to the relief valve profile and plot tabs. This is
available when the orifice area has been specified.
o A second Y axis was added to the relief valve plot tab to allow displaying two
different profiles in the same view.
o Added message to guide the user when the inlet pipe cannot be solved at rated
flow and relief valve settings may improve convergence.
o Increased the maximum number of devices allowed per leg.
x Fix missing calculation of acceleration pressure term in reducer between an inlet
pipe and the relief valve's inlet nozzle.
x Fix steady-state to dynamics synchronization of pressure drop method in tee
mixers and splitters.
x Fixed reporting of pipe DP contribution (acceleration, friction) when the pipe
(inlet or tailpipe) is solving at rated flow.
x Include warning messages indicating when API correlation is out of range or when
Overflow conditions are reached.
Flaresim
o Flaresim upgraded to use .NET Framework 4.8.
o Intel Fortran libraries upgraded to version 2022.1.3.
x Fixed missing display of dynamics results when case study is active.
x Fixed threading issue when updating progress of calculations which particularly
affected cases with dynamics.
Pipe Workspace
o Added support for negative flow in the valve unit operation when in the Process
workspace.
x Added validation for the shape of the IPR curve before attempting to solve to
help with non-monotonic deliverability curves.
x Fix to update fitting diameter when pipe diameter changes for Hooper and Darby
modes.
x Fixed failure to report network solver results when a pipe section is longer than
12,000 ft and has detailed heat loss calculations enabled.
x Fixed issue where model audit could wrongly report an over specified pressure in
a network when the Source had a reference fluid in a different flowsheet.
x Fixed water handling in fittings for 3-phase models.
x Fixes to enable a change of flow calculator specification when Source unit
operation is in dynamics.
Network Solver
x Fixed friction factor (K value) reporting for reducers and expanders.
Dynamics
x Fixed display of Min/Max Tracker values.
x Fixed instability in outlet conditions of dynamic valves, mixers/splitters,
orifice plates, and relief valves.
x Fixed reporting of MTD in dynamics Air Cooler Rating. A temperature delta was
being calculated in the wrong order, leading to a negative sign. The issue only
affected the reported value.
x Properly report dynamics compositions in the pipe segment component tracking tab.
Emissions
o Improved layout of Emissions Summary; the selection of sources will be performed
in the different emissions types tabs, and the Summary tab will be used only to
summarize results.
x All remaining fuels in the Economics Summary will retain their OPEX information
after other fuel(s) have been deleted in the Utilities Configuration.
x Copying a unit operation with an energy user multiple times no longer interferes
with the refresh on changes to the Utility Configuration.
x Fix for manipulating sources from Utility Manager in Case Study, Optimization,
and Regression features.
x Fixed Emissions Summary Bar Plot so that it now displays correctly when All
Pollutants are being plotted.
x Utilities Configuration and OPEX variables will be synchronized after clearing
Utilities Configuration variables.
Productivity Tools
o Case Study - Renamed setting "Log Extra Stream Data" to "Log Extra Flowsheet
Data". It now includes more information when logging progress to file. Extra
information includes Duty Variables - from rotating equipment, heaters, and
coolers, and Process Calc Variables - including cells with formulas and Import
variables.
o Optimizer - The Optimizer Results table Solve Status column now indicates if the
constraints are not satisfied for each objective function evaluation.
x Case Study - Fixed "Solid Formed" status handling to appear in case study
results.
x Optimizer - Fixed issue in the Optimizer Results table where the values became
misaligned with the iteration count when the history points exceeded the Max
History Points.
x Optimizer - Max history points variable is now displayed in the settings tab for
optimizer when optimization mode is MIGA.
Unit Operations
+ Adsorber - Added a new Adsorber unit operation. Operating mode can be selected
between "adsorption" or "desorption", which affects the PFD layout as well as
schematic.
+ Adsorber - Adsorber unit operation provides options to specify a fixed Delta P,
or to calculate a pressure drop based on specified bed geometry. Also provides an
Ambient Heat loss variable (Q-simple) to consider non adiabatic systems.
+ Adsorber - Implemented a simplified solve mode in Adsorption unit operation. The
unit allows separation of a stream based on components by assigning manual split
values (defined as accumulation/inlet for adsorption and inlet/outlet for
desorption). The option to initialize all splits using a default split value is
also provided.
+ Data Filter - Added "Clear History" button to reset history of filters that rely
on last output values.
+ Data Filter - Added explicit display of the mapping between an exposed filter and
an output port. Enable the user to change this mapping, and keep the selection when
filters are moved up or down.
+ Data Filter - Enabled support for filters that use the last output value in the
steady-state data filter (NaN, EWMA, OutOfRange).
+ New date functions implemented in process calculator, TIMESTAMPTODATE and
DATETOTIMESTAMP. These functions may be used to convert string dates into numeric
time stamps representing the date in seconds and vice versa.
o Calculate component split in component splitter even when it has zero flow.
o Change to hide signal connections on PFD by default for signal-connection centric
unit operations (process calculator, Excel unit operation, digital logic, and data
filter). Improved PFD performance when these unit operations have hidden signal
connections.
o Improved solve speed of Plant unit operation blocks by ~100x.
x Corrected the tooltip and documentation for the Pressure Ratio in the Expander
unit operation.
x Fixed failure to solve multisided heat exchanger when feed temperatures are too
close.
x Fixed port corruption during copy/paste of a tower when the tower is directly
assigned a property package.
User Interface
o Project Report - Implemented visibility rules to hide variables that are not
relevant for the current unit operation configuration.
o Removed button to launch Field workspace from the Symmetry user interface.
o Symmetry desktop icon resizes correctly with higher DPI settings.
x Boiler, Desalter, and Gibbs Curve unit operations now properly change their
window view when in Dynamics (they are currently not supported).
x Combo box size in plot tab now changes based on the the size of selected option.
x Correct units are shown for tank emissions case variables in the datasheet
configuration window.
x Excel UnitOp now blocks loading of COM based Excel Add-ins (dll and ocx) to
prevent appearance of secondary spreadsheet.
x Extra red dot removed from connection point for heat exchanger PFD shape.
x Fixed an error when changing layer name in detailed heat transfer for
depressuring assistant.
x Fixed failed cloned shapes not deleting, consolidated failed cloned messages all
into one.
x Fixed missing refresh after assigning property package when using PFD Assign
Property Package feature.
x Fixed PFD Material Balance Table refresh, now properly updates to indicate when
the table is out of date.
x Fixed unit conversion dropdown in the Specify Hypo Compound window.
x Mathias-Copeman (MC) Alpha function results now display in the compound
properties window when multiple compounds are being compared.
x Oil Source Cn Analysis grid now resizes to fill space when window height is
adjusted.
x Pig Launcher, Pig Catcher, Tee Mixer 90 and Tee Splitter 90 unitop windows now
show schematics.
x When saving cases a limit is now applied on the file name length to ensure case
can be recalled smoothly.
Documentation
x Updated wording in Syngas Production From Natural Gas By Steam Methane Reforming
Application example to indicate location of the Refinery additional properties for
material streams.
Miscellaneous
+ Added Production Allocation tool in steady state to track the contribution of
components from different sources at any stream in the simulation. The feature is
enabled in the material stream Settings tab.
o HYSYS XML export - Expanded export to xml functionality. Additional unit
operations supported: Cross Connector, Relief Valves and Selector Block. Improved
distillation towers to support Pump Arounds, Side Strippers and Vapor Slips.
Improved spreadsheet connections and general flowsheet connections. Updated
property package translations.
o HYSYS XML import - HYSYS subflowsheets will now be imported as flowsheets in
Symmetry.
o HYSYS XML import - HYSYS case notes are now imported into Symmetry.
o Optimizations made to reduce the size of the Symmetry Installer.
x Distillation curve unit operation can now be loaded into IAM without errors.
x Fixed issues importing a case or copy/pasting unit operations when user ini file
has an invalid setting for GridStyle.
x Fixed OPC Client use of "DelayedCmd" for Steady State applications such that
cases now solve after writing to simulator (Write to Sim).
x Fixed OPC Server crash when OPC Client tries to navigate its tags.
x Fixed saving of user settings (e.g. Grid Setting) to user.ini file.
===================================================================================
===============
v2022.1 (March 2022 - Symmetry Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added a new property package toggle, "Database Version" to select a specific
version of the Symmetry's Database for pure components and binary interaction
coefficients.
o Improved n-Undecane Expanded Fluid viscosity calculations by updating its
parameters using experimental data from NIST.
o Improved Oxygen-Methanol VLE calculations in APRNG2 by updating their interaction
parameters using Saturation Pressure data from K. Fischer and M. Wilken J.
Chem.Thermodyn., 2001, 33, 1285-1308.
o Paraffin pseudo-components from imported ".mfl" files will be assigned the
"Paraffin Petroleum Fractions" chemical family in Symmetry so they can be
recognized as wax formers in calculations.
o Updated list of component synonyms from ".mfl" files in Symmetry's dictionary,
list contains synonyms for nC7 to nC40 alkanes, C7 to C8 Cycloalkanes, Sulfur, HBr,
N2O and TTEG.
x Fixed an issue that was preventing the update of Henry Constant Activity
Coefficient parameters when Kij tables were reset in the Amines property package.
x Fixed PV Flash to avoid flash failures when flash is initialized with different
K-values.
Flare Workspace
+ A global design workflow was added for knockout drums. The Separator Unit Op has
A new Scenarios tab, where The user can select A vessel design for cross-Scenario
evaluation. Sizing and preliminary rating results per Scenario are shown in The
same tab, including The determination of The governing scenario. The Flare Scenario
Manager has A new knockout Drums tab which summarizes Sizing and preliminary rating
results for The governing Scenario of each separator. preliminary rating results
are also visible with The results of each Scenario in The Scenarios tab including
Liq. Level, Droplet Diameter, and status fields. The user will be notified if The
calc. Droplet Diameter is smaller than The global constraint or if The Liq. Level
is above The vessel limit.
+ Added integration of knockout drum droplet diameter and liquid level results into
the scenario manager so these can be evaluated against their respective
constraints.
+ Added support for importing knockout drum design cases from Flaresim files.
+ Automatically update knockout drum status in Scenario Manager when knockout
vessel design spec changes.
o Improved layout of knockout drum vessel design "Case Overview" to better display
detailed status information.
o Improvement on handling of negative flow in junctions in a large networks.
o New warning added for elevation inconsistency around network loops.
x Fix for PSV variable mapping in datasheet for operating and set pressure,
operating and relief pressure, valve orifice area.
Flaresim
o Default settings for isopleth plot display have been improved for better image
clarity and text readability. Changes include thicker legend lines, larger plot
dimensions, improved export resolution, and larger font sizes. A setting was also
added to allow legend line thickness to be independently customized. Cases created
in previous versions can take advantage of these new defaults by clicking on the
"Update all plots..." button available in Global Preferences.
Pipe Workspace
o Case will be converted to Pipe workspace and unsupported format data are treated
as "0". A warning message will pop up to prompt user to check data in Pipe
workspace.
o Max. number of characters for device (sink, well, choke, ...) names has been
increased to 100. Device name longer than 100 characters will be clipped and will
not cause Symmetry to crash.
Network Solver
o Improve the stability of the pressure-flow solver to model liquid flow networks.
o Improvements to the network solver's ability to solve large, complex flare
networks, including improvements to: enthalpy initialization in junctions and line
heaters, pressure loss calculation in junctions and pipes through use of analytic
derivatives, and Auto option for kinetic energy pressure loss formulation
Dynamics
+ Added support for additional tubes per odd/even rows in dynamics Air Coolers.
o Component Tracking tab in Pipe unit operation and Flowpath Viewer is not shown in
Dynamics (not supported).
o Improved Performance of OPC Client in dynamics, particularly when groups are not
subscribed.
o Updated default extension of Snapshots Save As from ".vmp" to ".vsym".
x Fix for missing extended properties in Equilibrium Results tab when in Dynamics.
x Fixed display of hydrates and wax status for pipes in Dynamics.
x Fixed error on recall of cases with min/max tracker active.
x Fixed GUI refresh of process calculators when integrator is running.
x Fixed issue in dynamics relief valve not popping open when the expected back
pressure is much higher than the actual back pressure.
x Fixed issue where dynamics engine would not be re-activated when creating a new
case.
x Fixed issue with depressuring assistant license not being recognized.
x Fixed issue with snapshots and pigging where pigs would be restored to the
baseline case rather than the snapshot.
x Fixed setting "Invert" on Effect side of Cause/Effect Unit Op.
Emissions
+ Emissions offering has been expanded to include the estimation and reporting of
indirect emissions (Scope 2) of facilities.
Easy to use workflows guide the user to configure the estimation of utility
emissions at the unit operation level,
with a wide variety of customizable Energy types, supported and entered in one
place and used across the simulator.
Emissions are conveniently summarized in a report for easy interpretation and
comparison.
+ New Utility Configuration Tool to configure Fuels, Heat Transfer Fluids, and
Electricity used by a facility.
Costs and emissions data can be entered in one place and used across the
simulator. Includes a default list of common
Heat Transfer Fluids, Electricity sources and Fuels. Default items are
customizable. Electricity sources provide for the
calculation of indirect CO2, NOx, and SO2 emissions. Default Electricity include
electricity generated by Coal, Natural Gas,
and the US national average. Heat Transfer Fluid sources provide for the
approximate calculation of CO2 equivalent emissions.
A variety of configured fluids are available. Steam 97 used to estimate water
properties. Fuels, can be used in the combustion
operations Fired Heater, Burner, Bath Heater, and Boiler. The default fuels
include Natural Gas, LPG, Gasoline, and Diesel,
pre-configured as a thermodynamic package build with the PIONA framework.
+ New Energy tab available in most steady-state unit operations in the simulator.
The energy tab is used for configuration
and estimation of emissions per unit operation. Various energy types are
available: Heat Transfer Fluid, Fired Heat,
Electricity, Motive Fluid. This tab allows for easy calculation of one of a flow
rate of a fluid, a fuel consumption,
or an amount of electricity consumed.
+ New Utility tab in Emissions Summary to report emissions calculated by the
various Energy tabs of unit operations.
+ Added support for importing of cases using Utility Manager heat transfer fluids,
electricities, and fuels.
The import matches the utility selections up to the existing utilities in the
case using their name only.
o Electrical power requirements of Air Cooled Exchangers are now calculated
rigorously using the air-side pressure drop,
flow rate, and a new variable called Fan Efficiency. The air-side pressure drop
is rigorously calculated when using a detailed calculation engine.
Productivity Tools
x Case Study - Fix for component normalization when running a case study in Local-
Parallel mode where multiple compositions are being set to the same port.
x Optimizer - Fix to enable Interior Point optimizer method in 64-bit Symmetry
installations.
Unit Operations
+ Added 3 new Functions for the Process Calculator: IsBlank, IsEmpty, IsUnknown.
+ The Data Filter unit operation has been enabled in Steady State with a subset of
the filters available in Dynamics (HighLimit, LowLimit, Clip).
+ Towers now have a dropdown selection of options for specifying anchor pressure.
o The relief valve inlet enthalpy/entropy (based on isenthalpic/isentropic mode)
will now pass to the outlet port even when other specifications are missing.
x Fixed consistency error in desalter salt concentration calculations.
x Fixed Initialization of Pressure Specification section when switching from
"Pressure Profile" to "Delta P Per Section" for the first time in towers. This
issue resulted in not having the section visible for user input and visualization.
x Property Table - Fixed calculations for "Wax Concs (mol/mol)" when creating
".wax" files with the OLGA option in the Property Table unit operation. "Wax Concs
(mol/mol)" is now calculated based on the solubility of the wax components in the
liquid hydrocarbon phase.
x Property Table - Fixed OLGA name labels for mass density derivatives with respect
to P and T (DRODP,DRODT) in OLGA application from the Property Table unit
operation.
x Property Table - Fixed XYZ Table Titles when using the OLGA Application in the
Property Table unit operation.
x Property Table - The following properties from the OLGA application in the
Property Table unit operation have been updated: TotalWaterFraction and RSW are now
calculated based on aqueous components, and RS is calculated as the ratio of the
mass phase fraction of gas to the sum of the mass phase fractions of gas and oil.
User Interface
o Added checkbox to stripchart which allows linking the data set name with the
stripchart title.
o Prevent custom non-unit op shapes from being hidden.
o Show Custom non-unit op shapes in the Hidden Shapes dialog in recalled cases.
x Fixed inconsistent paste operations in the user interface, prevent duplicate
copy/paste operations in certain scenarios that could lead to issues.
x Fixed LogY1 axis setting so that it no longer resets after a full refresh of the
case study / regression plot.
x Fixed missing or incorrect headings when displaying case study results as XYZ
table.
x Fixed Notes tab icon not displaying when notes are present in tower windows.
x Fixed Show Hidden Shapes dialog not showing.
x Fixed tower plot not showing curves when missing values are part of the selected
profiles.
x Fixed warning message when changing Unit Set in Oil Characterization Environment.
The message now reads as "Change active unit set to <unit set>?".
x Notes icon no longer appears in new XYCurve and Shortcut Distillation unit
operations without notes.
Documentation
+ New Bath Heater example added to the Fired Equipment manual example case.
+ Updated user manual with definitions for properties present in the Natural Gas
Properties grid from the Natural Gas Tab in the Material Stream unit operation.
Miscellaneous
+ Added export to xml functionality. Exported xml can be ready by HYSYS. The export
captures all relevant information to recreate the simulation case including:
thermodynamic packages, component and pseudo-components list, process flow diagram.
All unit operations including material and energy streams will export: name,
location, connections and inputs. Supported unit operations with basic
specifications: Air Cooler, Cooler, Component Splitter, Compressor, Cross
Connector, Expander, Heater, Heat Exchanger, Pipe Segment, Process Calculator,
Pump, Relief Valve, Separator, Set, Splitter, Towers (No support for Side
strippers, Pump arounds and Vapor slips), Valves. Unit operations not supported are
converted to a balance unit operation.
o Economics Summary - OPEX calculations can use energy sources from the Utilities
Configuration window.
o Installer now uses the Schlumberger digital signature.
===================================================================================
===============
v2021.4 (December 2021 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added Mathias-Copeman parameters to the list of component properties in the
APRNG2 property package to calculate modified alpha functions of special components
and user selected hypothetical components. In the case of hypothetical components,
the parameters can be fitted to match user specified vapor pressure curves.
o Hypothetical components cannot be created if insufficient properties are
specified by the user, a message window will display a message when this situation
happens.
x Fixed a crash when attempting octane number calculations when the fluid includes
a hypothetical component that is missing its normal boiling point.
x Fixed an issue in the Pedersen Viscosity model that was producing a consistency
error when the method was applied to the vapor phase.
x Fixed the import of some *.mfl files that contain two sections of pseudo-
component definitions.
Flare Workspace
+ Added knock-out drum design capabilities to separators in the Flare workspace.
This includes support for sizing and preliminary rating calculations (powered by
Flaresim), vessel schematic display, and the ability to generate reports. A "Case
Overview" is available to display information for all knock-out design cases in a
separator.
x Fixed buffer overflow issues when the networks solver fails to solve.
Flaresim
o Shield layer thickness is now calculated even when the shield does not intersect
the space between the flame and any receptor grid.
x Fixed calculated F factor set to zero for inert components, since their lower
heating value (LHV) is zero and correlations do not apply.
Pipe Workspace
o Added model audit warnings to indicate when unit operations in the network are
assigned to a different property package than what is being used to solve the
network.
o Enhancement to composition calculations at limit water cut values (0 and 100%).
o Improved handling of Network Design Mode when an object name exceeds the
supported length, so instead of a crash the name will just be truncated.
o Improved mixture enthalpy calculation for 3-phase pressure loss models.
x Fix to automatically propagate modifications to unit operations that are linked
to the same database entry in a case-only database.
x Fix to store Length Profile data in the pipe's equipment database when
applicable.
x Fixed an issue where deliverability curve calculations would not run if the flow
was specified in a different basis.
Network Solver
o Improved loop back detection in pipe network models and added Model Audit
messages describing possible solutions.
o Skip phase split calculations when negative flow is detected on separator
streams.
Dynamics
o Improved convergence of dynamics flash near the critical point.
o Summary tab now uses an overall average height to represent the stage height as
opposed to the heigth of the first stage.
x Fixed crash when opening stripchart after importing dynamics case.
x Fixed duplicate integrator start/stop messages in integrator log.
x Fixed recall issue for the stage height in distillation towers.
Emissions
+ Added CH4 emissions component group to provide dedicated methane emissions
tracking.
+ Added combustion emissions calculations to Boiler, Burner, Fired Heater, Bath
Heater, CCR, FCC, and Ethylene Cracker. Combustion emissions consider the
rigorously calculated flue gas to be wholly emitted out of a stack.
+ Added Total Emissions column to Emissions Summary to facilitate overall emissions
minimization.
+ Turned on combustion emission calculations by default in the Boiler, Burner,
Fired Heater, Bath Heater, and FCC.
o Improved performance of Emissions Summary and emissions calculations in general.
There should no longer be a slowdown from the use of Emissions.
o Removed ~15 seconds delay in opening Emissions Manager on Symmetry startup.
o Revised components in HAP group to include o-CHLOROANILINE, 2-(1-
methylethoxy)phenyl methylcarbamate, and DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOBUTYL EHTER.
x Fixed plot size of Emissions Summary, Envelope, and other unit operations to
maximize use of space.
Unit Operations
+ Added weep fraction calculation to trayed towers hydraulic calculations. Weep
fraction calculations allow the user to estimate a lower bound operating range of
trayed towers that would compromise the fractionation efficiency.
o Fixed bug overwriting *.pvt files when the envelope option was selected for the
export feature in the property table.
o Heat exchanger API reports modified to show duty as an absolute value to abide by
API convention.
o UA user-provided values that cause crossed temperatures will no longer be
assigned to the flowsheet to avoid consistency errors. Instead, the user will be
notified that the UA value provided might not be fully matched due to temperature
cross.
o Units specified in process calculator are now retained even after the copy paste.
o User Variables in Reactors can be configured through the UI.
x Fix to include active flow curve selection in the data synchronized by rotating
equipment database.
x Fixed display order of Component Selectivities in reactors to have the same order
as the component list in the Thermodynamic Model.
x Fixed string labels in exported .env, .hyd and.wax files from OLGA application in
the Property Table unit operation.
x Rate expressions in the CSTR and PFR for zero order reactions rendered as r = k
x Tower Specifications - Fixed ability to add spec type "Vapor pressure of LPG
(D1267)".
x Tray hydraulic calculations updated to use vapour data from tray below at tray
pressure.
Productivity Tools
+ Added option to Case Study to minimize change in independent variables while
running case in "Run All Combinations" mode. This can improve speed and likelihood
of convergence, particularly for complex cases with recycles and controllers.
x Fixed issue rendering some values in the Case Study results grid.
User Interface
o Improved detection system to find UI elements (PFD shape and Views) from
extension unit operations.
o Improved performance of Tower Window. Opening window is faster, especially the
first time opening a tower window in the instance of Symmetry.
o Improved performance when adding envelope from simulation tree.
x Distillation curve table in oil source now resizes properly.
x Fix corrupted PFD flowsheets and sub flowsheets when renaming a flowsheet and
creating a new one that matches the original name (e.g. FS1).
x Fixed inability to reset the zoom on charts when crosshairs are enabled.
x Fixed Reporting variables for Recombination Unit Op. Fixed variables available
for datasheets and summary sets.
x Fixed scaling of controller faceplate OP slider to match the behaviour of the PV
slider.
x Fixed Summary Sets to properly show material streams from Extension Unit Ops for
report creation.
x Fixed unsynchronized PFD zoom indicator when creating new cases.
x Integrator log is now cleared on recalling cases.
Documentation
o Updated Hydrate unit operation documentation example simulation file and user
manual pages.
x Fixed description and PFD image for SS - Gas Production System application
example.
x Fixed EPA Version in "EmissionsWithVMGSim" manual example case.
Miscellaneous
o Changed default extension when exporting thermo files from *.vth to *.thm, and
when importing them from *.vth to All Thermo Files (*.thm, *.vth).
x Excel Add-in - Fixed file freezing when a worksheet contains a user defined named
range with scope set to worksheet.
x Fixed Diagnostics feature "Log Solve Pass" which was showing a unicode error when
active.
x Fixed VMGStandaloneServer deleting input folder when SolveCase API is called.
x Localization improvement; Fixed numerical inputs and display on unit conversion
for summary grids; Fixed numerical input and display for Case Study input data;
Fixed numerical format copied from the Equilibrium Results table.
x Shortcut Distillation unit operation can now be registered successfully even when
Symmetry is installed in a directory whose name contains spaces.
===================================================================================
===============
v2021.3 (September 2021 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added Ionic Strength and Osmotic Pressure as part of the supported physical
properties in Symmetry, these properties will be calculated only when OLI
calculations are enabled.
+ Electrolyte property calculations executed by OLI Systems' OLI Engine have been
added to Symmetry. Calculations can be triggered in two ways: at a flowsheet level,
when the new OLI Thermodynamic model is selected, where all equilibrium
calculations in the unit operations are dictated by the OLI Engine; or in user-
selected Material Streams from any Thermodynamic Model (except OLI model) by
selecting the OLI electrolyte property calculator option.
o Improved solubility of H2S in NaCl brine for the APRNG2 property package by
tuning their binary interaction parameters to match the data from Geochimica et
Cosmochimica Acta, 58, 2433-2444 and Chemical Geology,130, 15-20.
x Fixed a bug in the OilProp unit operation that wrongly allowed the use of the
TRAPP model for viscosity regression when the Property Package contains TRAPP as
the default liquid viscosity model.
x Fixed display label for Extended Physical Properties option in the More
Properties Tab from the Material Stream to better describe the properties
calculated with this option.
x Fixed hydrate calculation in the multi-inhibitor case
x Fixed liquid check in stability test when PIONA components and a large amount
water are present.
Flare Workspace
o Improved interpretation of Max Mach and Max RhoV2 in tailpipes to not include the
effects of expansion from the PSV nozzle into the pipe inlet.
x Fix for scenario manager not detecting active network when relief valve nozzle
sizes are used.
Flaresim
o Dispersion plot settings will be copied from the appropriate plot type in Global
Preferences whenever the reporting type is changed between Mass and Volume
Concentration.
x Fix for issue where case study runs could be impacted by the solution of the
previous point, and the case results could be impacted by the solution of the last
case study run.
x Fix for issue where changing the type of units for Gaussian or Jet dispersion
plots required a solve before the Customize/Contour Details window reflected the
newly selected units.
Pipe Workspace
o Decoupled energy specification at sources from the type of flash that can be used
in solving the network.
o Flash Type "Auto" defaults to using PH flash, unless all sources are specified
with temperature (note that valves and orifice meters are automatically specified
with enthalpy from the network solver point of view).
o Improved default behavior to automatically apply enthalpy-based network results
when any source has a vapor fraction specification, preventing energy imbalances
when the fluid is saturated and narrow-boiling but it's not a pure component.
o Improved support for vapor fraction specification at sources where outer network
boundary iterations are no longer necessary.
x Fix to prevent energy imbalances between mixers/splitters and sources/sinks when
applying enthalpy-based network results and the fluid is saturated and narrow-
boiling.
x Fixed energy balance error when solving a network that has a node between two
pipes and where the fluid requires using enthalpy results (for example, in steam
networks) .
x Fixed inconsistent bulk viscosity calculation for 3phase mechanistic models.
x Raise error and clear results when sonic flow is detected in the pipe sequential
solution.
Network Solver
x Fixed consistency error in pressure calculation in valves with fixed Delta P
specification.
x Support more than one component in the steam network modeling.
Dynamics
x Fixed corruption of variance in the outlier filter of the Data Filter.
x Fixed recall of Historian when using Database Mode.
Unit Operations
+ Ability to specify pressure profiles in the tower based on pressure drop per
section. Number of pressure-drop sections can be customized. A pressure anchor
point defined by the user anywhere in the tower acts as a pivot for the pressure
drops. Smart anchor mode option to choose lowest inlet pressure to the tower as
anchor point. Feed and product stream pressures can determine the anchor pressure
at a specified stage.
+ Display selectable list of compatible rating cases. Import pressure drop values
from the rating section of a compatible case to populate pressure drop values in
tower sections. Option to Initiate rating cases from pressure drop profile.
+ Explanation of Boiling Critical Flux added to documentation.
x Fix for backward-compatibility issues that would prevent OilProp and ConfinedPVT
unit operations saved in version 2021.2 from solving in version 2021.1.
x Fix for error in heat exchanger flash models that could happen when the fluid is
in a narrow boiling region with constant enthalpy at a changing temperature
x Fix for error when saving specific cases with a Property Table unit operation
x Fix for issue where a pipe unit operation's ability to solve with temperature,
flow, and composition specifications at the outlet was dependent on the solve order
(appeared as random)
x Fix to prevent an infinite loop in Multisided HX when solving with "Use Wall T
Solver" method and a pure component is saturated and pinched at the exchanger exit
x Recombination Unitop no longer sensitive to solve stack order.
x Tower will be unsolved if there is an unfeasible flash in a pump around.
User Interface
+ Flaresim Version Available in Installation Information window.
x PFD Fixed freeze after running a tst script or importing a 3rd party simulation
model.
x Property Table Phases Density Plot now shows correct results.
x Reports now show new Symmetry logo.
x Right clicking on some grids (i.e Equilibrium Results) with multiple selections
will retain their selection.
x Switching the unitset while faceplates are open now do not reset the set point of
the controller.
x Tower Condenser Degree Subcool Temperature not visible when condenser type is
Partial.
Miscellaneous
o HYSYS XML import - Improved PFD conversion of imported cases from other process
simulators. Imported PFD now include the size of the shapes in the diagram.
o Prevent error messages related to numerical failures in the tower or flash
failures in general from appearing at the end of the solve in cases where these
errors apply only to earlier iterations but not to the final results at the end of
the solve pass.
x Economics Summary will update calculations when reference streams are deleted.
x Fired Heater can solve when the O2 outlet fraction is specified and calculate the
O2 Excess.
x Fixed not being able to run cloud case studies one hour after DELFI login.
x Fixed diagnostic timers for Internal Performance and Performance per Type.
x HYSYS XML import - Valve actuator min and max position parameters handled by XML
converter.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will correctly translate UniSim heat loss mode.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will not enable valve curves by default.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now compute K values for Fittings for
UniSim XMLs.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now import Hypo properties for UniSim XMLs.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now map the acentric factor for Hypos.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now properly convert a connection between
an adjust unit op and a spreadsheet.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now properly set the pressure drop
correlation for Beggs-Brill correlations.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will now use schedule OD and ID in case schedule
and nominal size is provided.
x HYSYS XML import - XML converter will recognize pressure drop specifications in
the valves.
x Mole Fraction values will no longer always turn into a specified variable when
added to a Regression as an independent variable.
===================================================================================
===============
v2021.2 (June 2021 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ 9 new components have been added to database: (Z)-1,1,1,4,4,4-Hexafluoro-2-
butene, cis-1,3,3,3-Tetrafluoropropene, (Z)-1-Chloro-2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene,
1,1,1,2,2,3,3-Heptafluoro-3-methoxypropane, 2,2,2-Trifluoroethyl-difluoromethyl-
ether, Methyl-pentafluoroethyl-ether, Methyl trifluoromethyl ether,
1,1,1,2,2,4,5,5,5-Nonafluoro-4-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pentanone, 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-
Heptafluoropropane.
+ Updated list of supported mixtures in REFPROP property packages to include those
that use the 9 new added compounds.
o The default for the Physical property Estimation Setting "Use Steam 97 in Phys
Props" has been changed from "Disable" to "Enable" in order to match the
calculation of Transport Properties phase values in both Steady State and Dynamics
engines.
x Changed the hydrate message when formation calculation is done through bisection
method.
x Fixed a bug that prevented the calculation of Solid Formation information in the
Solids tab from the Material Stream when a different set of Solid Formers was
selected.
x Fixed bug in the PH flash algorithm that made the direction of the zero search go
sideways with no phase present.
x Improved the hydrate formation temperature calculation for non-linear objective
functions.
x Improved the stability test in rigorous flash.
x Improved Water and Heavy Naphthenes (MW > 200) solubility in APRNG2 property
package by updating their binary interaction parameters.
Hybrid Modeling
+ New Hybrid Modeling Platform. Hybrid simulation allows to combine rigorous
models and machine learned models in the same simulation. There are two hybrid
modeling solve modes: Molecular ROM and External ML. Molecular ROM, encompasses the
previously the existing ROM functionality. External ML, allows to use external
machine learned models to replace the rigorous calculations in Symmetry. Unit
operations in Symmetry can import a machine learned model, generated outside of
Symmetry, to replace or enhance the internal physics-based calculations. Symmetry
provides tools to create, train and evaluate ML models as well as support for
using ONNX models. Unit Operations that support External ML: Mixer, Heat Exchanger,
Multisided Heat Exchanger, Membrane, Component Splitter, Balance OP, Claus
Converter, Distillation Column, Claus Reaction Furnace, Hydrate unit operation.
External ML is also available in new Plant Blocks.
+ Added Ability to load ONNX machile learning model files into selector block in
Steady State and Dynamics. Helpful for matching plant data, interpolating from
tabular data and accelerating slow computations
+ New Plant blocks used represent a process or part of a process without the need
to model the internal details in the flow sheet. These blocks are particular useful
in the Hybrid Modeling platform. Plant blocks available: Fractionation, NGL
Recovery, Sulfur Recovery, Amine Sweetening and Gas Dehydration.
+ Selector Block new calculation mode to use an ONNX model to calculate output
based on selector block inputs.
x Energy balance added to ROM mixer to improve temperature prediction
Flare Workspace
+ Improved kinetic energy formulations in simultaneous network solver
x Changes in Flaresim isopleth plot sizes and layouts prevent legend title from
being cut off in Flare Safety Manager when the case is solved in computers with
smaller resolutions.
x Fix for failure to import a Flaresim case into Symmetry when objects in Flaresim
do not have unique names
x Fix for stack length reverting to a different value when Flaresim stack sizing is
activated
x Fixed failure to initialize network when directionally there is no source of flow
to a loop
Flaresim
+ Added an option to report Gaussian dispersion results in terms of trace volume
concentration, in ppm units (previously could only be reported as mass
concentration). Plot contour values are configured based on this reporting
selection, and global plot preferences can be configured specifically for the new
Volume Conc. mode.
+ Added an option to report jet dispersion results in terms of approach to LEL
(previously could only be reported as concentration). Plot contour values are
configured based on this reporting selection, and global plot preferences can be
configured specifically for the new LEL Basis mode. Calculations in approach to LEL
are not available when multiple fluids are active.
+ Added History to the Flaresim Help menu, which displays a text file listing
Flaresim Release updates
+ Added Manual Examples to the Flaresim Help menu to direct the user directly to
the stored case files for the examples listed in the manual
+ Added receptor points to Gaussian dispersion contour plot.
+ Added receptor points to receptor grid contour plots for radiation, noise,
temperature, and concentration. The plot legend includes the calculated value at
each receptor point.
o Added a warning when the calculated fluid composition cannot match the specified
molecular weight, which will affect the accuracy of combustion results.
o Updated "VMG" and "VMGThermo" rigorous property calculation methods to refer to
new naming, "Symmetry" and "Symmetry Fluids Engine"
o Updates for Schlumberger branding and version change, including a new splash
screen and new locations for Program Data and Samples files
x Fix for failure to import Symmetry Fluids engine thm file when it includes
hypothetical components
x Fix for wrong combustion results when the fluid is calculated using Welltest API
method. Combustion results will now match the Flaresim method when Welltest API is
selected.
x Fixed fluid saturation calculation when using VMG property package
Pipe Workspace
x Fix to control pressure overshooting when phase change occurs in steam networks
x Fix to delay temperature update for steam networks with an unstable pressure
profile
Dynamics
o Improve stability of Transient dP calculation for hammer cases in dynamics
x Allow REFPROP to be used in dynamics when multi-threading is enabled.
x Fix rare crash when deleting streams and towers at the same time
x Improve the dynamics behavior of pinched heat exchangers to avoid predicting
temperature cross.
Oil Source
+ Added a new calculation option for Light Boiling Point Range Distillation curves
in the Oil Source unit operation. This new option, "High resolution Mode" apart of
improving the calculated component distribution uses an optimization algorithm to
better match the initial and end boiling points of the user entered curve. The
option will be available when the Distillation Curve Calculation Mode is "Direct"
and the end boiling point of the entered curve is below 200 C.
+ Added a new example (Example 7 - Light Boiling Point Fractions) to the Oil Source
Examples user manual section.
+ Added new "Fluid Source" option in Settings tab for Oil Source unit operation
that defines the nature of the selected fluid in "Load Parameters for:" option
+ Added new pre-defined Regression Parameters to Oil Source unit operation based on
the selected fluid in "Load Parameters for:" and "Fluid Source" options.
x Fixed missed Light Ends tab when copying and pasting and Oil Source unit
operation that has a Light Ends Active option.
Unit Operations
o (Property Table) Fluid ID names for OLGA Property Table files (*.tab) cannot have
a name that start with something different than a letter. OLGA only accepts files
where the Fluid ID name start with a letter.
o (Separators) MySep section is not included by default in the Project Report
x (Mixer) Energy balance added to ROM mixer to improve temperature prediction
x (Separators) Fix for missing connection column in the separator Entrainment frame
x (Separators) Fix for separator imbalance when a high MW fluid is a trace of a
vapor fraction below the dew point
x (Property Table) Fixed a bug that prevented exporting OLGA and PIPESIM table
files from the Property Table unit operation when this unit operation was not
located in the main flowsheet.
User Interface
x Application no longer crashes when searching for Unit Operations in the
Simulation tree that have no associated thermodynamics package.
x Fix Drag to Plot feature for Productivity tools and Tower plots.
x Fixed Boiler 3D shape. The shape now shows properly the connection points for the
ports.
x Fixed color encoded strings showing ? information in Datasheets and Reporting
x Fixed Symmetry crash when selecting a thermodynamic model that had no license
available.
x Fixed the crash when user clicks the Bring All Windows To Front button to open
multiple windows in the windows list.
x PFD Localization - Right click custom menu options (Switch Shape To.., Refresh
Tables, etc) fixed for Hebrew.
Miscellaneous
+ HYSYS XML import - Added support for missing Overall Phase Molar Flow in
connections
x Excel Add-In - Fixed localization support when working with Polish and other
foreign Office Display languages
x Fixed a bug that prevented the use of Leda licenses in FlexLM installations
x Fixed a bug that prevented the use of Runtime licenses in FlexLM installations
x HYSYS XML import - Fixed units for Std Gas Vol Flow which prevented signal
connections
===================================================================================
===============
v2021.1 (March 2021 - Symmetry Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added 43 new fluids from REFPROP Release 10.0 to VMGREFPROP property packages
+ Added Hydrocarbon Saturation and Carbon Number to the list of pure component
properties
o Improved liquid density predictions in APR and APRNG2 for binary mixtures of
water + 1,3-propylene glycol and water + 1,2-propylene glycol
o Improved saturation pressure predictions in APR and APRNG2 for binary mixture of
CO2+1,2-propylene glycol
o Improved saturation pressure, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity predictions
in APRNG2 and saturation pressure and thermal conductivity predictions in APR for
1,2-propylene glycol
o Improved saturation pressure, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity predictions
in APRNG2 and thermal conductivity predictions in APR for 1,3-propylene glycol
o Updated Hydrogen Standard Liquid Density in database based on the value from the
GPSA Engineering Data Book 13th edition
o Updated VMGREFPROP property packages with fluids and libraries from REFPROP
Release 10.0
x Fix to converge Saturation unit operation when the Main Feed is close to the dew
point
x Fixed calculation of Thermal Expansion Coefficient in VMGREFPROP property
packages
x Fixed Phase Weighted Average Speed of Sound method when dealing with bulk liquids
x Hydrate status has been updated to reflect unresolved material port
x Improved error messages when recalling cases that contain components or
interaction parameter tables not in the database
Flare Workspace
+ Added nozzles to steady-state relief valve, including automatic calculation of
expansion/contraction effects with kinetic energy tracking. Default sizes set based
on selected API designation
x Fixed missing error message when there are consistency errors in a case with a
Flare flowsheet
Pipe Workspace
x Fixed convergence issues in steam network modeling by stabilizing temperature
calculation
x Region settings with a non-period decimal symbol will no longer cause network
case conversion to fail
Dynamics
x Fixed an issue where cases with multi-sided exchangers would fail to run after
recalling due to incorrect number of equations and variables
x Fix HX Rating (dynamics) predicting 0 UA when inlet is slightly two-phase but
outlet/holdup is single-phase
Unit Operations
+ (Mixer) Add ROM engine UI to Mixer
x (Compressor) Pasting values in a new compressor curve will now maintain precision
x (Process Calculator) Fixed a spurious error message when deleting a process
calculator cell
Documentation
+ Added Desalter example page to the Symmetry user's manual
+ Added Specifications Summary page to the Symmetry user's manual
o Symmetry Excel COM Automation examples can run in 32- and 64-bit without
requiring user modifications
o Updated Excel Add-in documentation regarding out of process automation mode
Miscellaneous
o Symmetry upgraded to use .NET Framework 4.8
x Fix crash that can occur when changing the stripchart axes min or max value
x Fixed instability of Highcharts plot when left running for a few days
x Fixed row and column headers in Case Study Results tab when using the XYZ Table
view
x Fixed VMG Standalone Server not processing HTTP server requests without user
input
===================================================================================
===============
v2020.4 (December 2020 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
o Improved calculation of APR Z factor by increasing the fugacity calculations
speed
o Optimized TRAPP viscosity model calculations, speed up in calculations increases
with number of components, about 100x speed up for 200+ components
o Speed up for PH and PT flashes between 1.5 and 2.5x for EoS and Activity
thermodynamics models. (Speed up from Symmetry 2020.2 performance)
o Speed up to other flashes (PS, T-V) between 1.5 to 1.8x speedup. (Speed up from
Symmetry 2020.2 performance)
x Fix for OLGA import files created from Property table unit operation when a fluid
does not have a critical point
x Fixed display name of MF files from "mf Files (*.mfl)" to "mfl Files (*.mfl)" in
Import Property Package window
x Ortho Hydrogen and Para Hydrogen are now supported in the VMG RefProp
thermodynamic model
Emissions
+ Added the latest EPA guidelines (2020) for Tank Emissions calculations (AP-42
Chapter 7)
+ The emissions tool now has a link to the case's ambient pressure
+ Added tool to estimate tank cleaning emissions
Flare Workspace
+ Added a global flare safety Manager (Flaresim) window to navigate Flaresim design
cases and settings.
+ Allow a flare Tip unit operation to be associated with multiple Flaresim Tip
objects. Flow will be split evenly between all Active tips when appropriate
+ Enabled add and delete Flaresim Receptor grids from Symmetry
+ Enabled add and delete Flaresim Receptor Points from Symmetry
+ Enabled add and delete Flaresim tips from Symmetry
+ Enabled viewing of Flaresim isopleth plots for radiation, noise, and surface
temperature for up to four grids simultaneaously in the new flare safety Manager
(Flaresim) global window
+ Exposed additional settings for Receptor Points in Flaresim flare safety
calculations: "Emissivity", "Absorptivity" and "Area Ratio".
+ Exposed additional settings for Tip in Flaresim flare safety calculations:
"Burner Opening" and "Calc Burner Opening"
+ Flaresim objects grouped as flare Configurations where a configuration is defined
as a set of associated Fluid, Stack, and tips
o FlareNet import determines pressure drop correlation from xml file and assigns to
Symmetry Pipe Segments
Dynamics
o Wall temperatures in Pipes are now included when initializing from Steady-State
x Fix a rare crash when connecting feed streams to pipes when no product stream is
connected
x Fixed dynamics crashes when configuring multi-sided heat exchangers
x Fixed issue where phases would end up in the wrong slot when initializing
dynamics from steady-state
x Improved consistency of conversion of potential energy to enthalpy in dynamics
VMGField
x User will not get a license error if there are more thantwo instance of Symmetry
opened and tries to convert a GIS model into the Pipe Workspace
Productivity Tools
+ Case Study now has a new mode to run simulations using scalable cloud on-demand
engine services. "Petroleum Engineering – Engine Access" and "Process Facilities
Engineer" subscriptions in DELFI are required to use this option
Unit Operations
+ (Air Cooler) Add feature to allow Air Cooler air side to use the air composition
defined in the Flowsheet Settings and the current property package in the
flowsheet. Legacy mode continues to use a pre-determined composition with the APR
thermodynamic model.
x (Air Cooler) Add warning to Air Cooler when humid air side calculation in Legacy
mode is incorrect
x (Compressor) Fixed issue where rotating equipment could either fail to converge
or converge to a wrong solution when solving for inlet pressure
x (Excel Unit op) Fixed issue where non-default units in Excel unit operations
would be reset to the default unit if user clicked on "Refresh Connections" button
x (Fired Heater) Allow pinch detection for a unit without a convective section
x (Heat Exchanger) Fixed issue where the PSF file generation would not properly
account for pahse transition near or at the bubble or dew points
x (Oil Source) Fixed and issue in which the gas compositions from the Black Oil
option in the Oil Source unit operation were including non-hydrocarbon components
with boiling points higher than nC5
x (Orifice Metter) Allow Orifice Meter Blowdown Sizing to size when Measured
Orifice Delta P is specified
x (Orifice Meter) Fixed the orifice meter blowdown calculation on orifice plates
with pipe diameters specified
x (Property Table) Fixed number format in *.pvt files created from Revision A Table
Format in the PIPESIM Application of the Property Table unit operation, previous
number format provided truncated values to PIPESIM
User Interface
x Check For Updates should now be able to connect to server in 32-bit installations
x Fixed application hang for some rare situations when inspecting pipe holdup plot
in dynamics
x Fixed Spec From functionality for cases where the material stream is in the same
sequence as the source material stream
Miscellaneous
+ Added auto calculation of Flowsheet global ambient pressure from elevation
+ Added Location selector to Flowsheet Settings with GIS lookup to calculate
elevation
+ Add Time/Date picker to Flowsheet Settings
+ (Documentation) Added description for the severity ranges available in the
hydrotreater feed severity selector to the user manual
+ (Excel Add-in) Excel add-in now displays errors found during solve in status bar
+ (XML import) Enhancements to the xml import from HYSYS. Support for additional
distillation column specifications, basic and rating specifications for LNG
exchanger, rating specifications for shell and tube heat exchanger and air coolers,
rotating equipment curves, pipe fittings and detailed heat loss, specifications for
dynamics cases (separators, valves, controllers, nozzles). Some improvements to
unit operations location on the PFD
o (Documentation) Revised the description for the Equilibrium Results tab
documentation in the user manual and added missing property descriptions
o (Installer) Use program data directory to store program files. Remove writing
privileges from program files directory
x (Solver) Fixed recycle status reporting "converged" when the connected port
solves on the first solve pass but does not solve in a subsequent solve pass
===================================================================================
===============
v2020.3 (September 2020 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
o Hydrate inhibitors (Methanol, Ethylene Glycol, Triethylene Glycol, Ethanol,
Glycerol, 1,2-Propylene Glycol and 1,3-Propylene Glycol) are now allowed to be part
of the Aqueous phase
x Fixed compounds containing ";" in their names. Compounds fixed are:
1,1':2',1''-terphenyl, 4'-phenyl-
1,1':2',1''-terphenyl, 3'-phenyl-
2-BUTENEDIOIC ACID (Z)-, DIPROPYL ESTER
x Fixed label mismatch in hydrate parameters for APRNG2 and APRNG
x Fixed sub-flowsheets not using the Global Liquid Reference T and P. They were
using the parent flowsheet settings
Flare Workspace
x Fixed issues related to missing updates when importing cases with networks or
scenarios
x Fixed issue with flare XML file import adding flare tip curve points out of order
x Fixed issue with flare XML file import not recognizing # as a special character
Pipe Workspace
+ Added support for check valve functionality for valves in networks with multiple
sinks and loops
o Added warning to tabular IPR when solved operating point is outside the specified
data range
o Enabled network specifications to be passed from calculated values of networks in
the same flowsheet, including solving recycles between connected networks.
Network Solver
+ Added 2-K (Hooper) and 3-K (Darby) K methods for supported pipe fittings in
steady state
+ Added support for flow specifications (Mole, Mass and Std Liq Vol) at sinks
o When the network is solving with PH flash, it will now solve all devices within
the network with PH flash (including valves with Cv specifications, orifice meters,
rotating equipment, and flare tips)
x Fixed fitting diameter when changing a pipe diameter not changing to new diameter
x Fixed phase calculation errors when initializing IPR curve
x Fixed issue where results for zero-flow legs in a network may not be calculated
with zero flow but instead show values from a previous solver iteration, which
could result in consistency errors
x Improved separator stability in network solver when running with low vapor flows
in networks with a single stack and no loops
Flaresim
x Fixed files association for .fsw and .fsz files to the Flaresim executable in the
Symmetry installation
GIS Network tool
x Fixed importing GIS shape files when they contain extra information in UTM zone
field
x Fixed crash when renaming wells with more than 29 characters
x Fixed conversion of GIS model to pipe for cases where the demand names were
longer than 19 characters
Unit Operations
+ Exposed a k value for pressure drop calculation based on mass flow for heater,
cooler, air cooler, heat exchanger and multisided heat exchanger.
+ Property Table - New option to invert the Z-density and phase plots
+ Property Table - Added option to generate, view and export OLGA Fluid Tables
which can be imported into OLGA simulation runs. Fluid tables can also be exported
in Fixed (Legacy) format for users of OLGA-ROCX
+ Property Table - Added option to generate, view and export PIPESIM Fluid Tables
which can be imported into PIPESIM simulations. Fluid tables can also be exported
in Revision A (Legacy) format
+ Towers - Improved solve time of towers with pump arounds or side strippers
o Heat Exchanger - Improved default simple flash model building criteria to speed
up heat exchangers with pressure drops over 15-20 psi, and exposed criteria to
validate and tune
o Valve - Improved valve convergence and consistency validation when solving in a
network at choked flow
x Heat Exchanger - Fixed PSF file exporting to handle multiple property packages
x Heat Exchanger - Fixed multisided heat exchangers to use flash cache. This speeds
up iterations when solving with more than 2 sides and UA specifications
x Multi-Sided HX - Fixed a crash in dynamics when the top and bottom layer are the
same
x Pipe Segment - Fixed fitting angle not resetting when changing fitting type
x Refinery Reactors - Fixed visibility issue for the Catalyst and Thermal Database
in CCR, FCC, HCC and Hydrotreater
Miscellaneous
+ Enabled the shortcut distillation extension unit op example for Symmetry 64-bit
x Economics - Fixed calculations for Feeds and Products to be independent of each
other
x Fixed conditional visibility in grids that were not properly displaying when the
Language setting was set to non-English
x Fixed rare issue where Symmetry would crash in some computers when trying to open
a material stream in a case without compounds
x Fixed rare issue where Symmetry would not be able to generate the Support File in
some installations
===================================================================================
===============
v2020.2 (July 2020 - Symmetry Update Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added Parachor pure component property, calculated from Macleod-Sudgen equation
+ Added Macleod-Sudgen and Power Law Mixing models to the list of surface tension
models
+ Added Pedersen's Classical and Heavy Oil viscosity methods to the list of
Viscosity models
+ Added Interfacial Tension as part of the physical properties calculated in all
thermodynamic models
+ Added Macleod-Sudgen, API, Kalantari and Sutton methods to the list of available
Interfacial Tension models
+ Multiflash files can be imported to Symmetry through the import button in the
thermo window. Symmetry will read and set components and EOS parameters read from
the file to create a new case, the case will include a Material Stream if a defined
fluid composition is included in the file
+ Added the following analytical derivatives to PR-based thermodynamic models:
dZ_Factor/dT, dZ_Factor/dP, dZ_Factor/dn, dln Fug/dT, dln Fug/dP, dln Fug/dn,
dmolar_Vol/dT, dmolar_Vol/dP, dMass_Density/dT, dMass_Density/dP,
dMolar_Enthalpy/dT and dMolar_Enthalpy/dP
+ Added Partial Molar Enthalpy and Volume to the list of physical properties
calculated in Symmetry, only available in property packages where Translated Volume
and Ln Fugacity Coefficient are based on the Peng-Robinson EOS
+ Added Linear Gradient Theory for surface tension and interfacial tension
calculation for PR and SRK cubic equation of state. This model is not applicable
for other thermodynamic models
o Changed the display name of 'dV/dT @ Constant P' physical property to 'Thermal
Expansion Coefficient' to better describe the result of this calculation
x Min of Phases and Phase-Weighted Avg Speed of Sound Bulk Mixing methods can now
be selected without being reset to the Default Frozen Flash method
Flare Workspace
+ Enabled pressure specifications for relief valves to be set per scenario,
allowing for different types of specifications (Accumulation, Overpressure, Inlet
Pressure, Relieving Pressure) in addition to the default (Max Allowable). The
specification type can be changed from the scenario manager Sources table. If the
specification type is changed in the flowsheet, only the active scenario will be
updated
+ React to a change in the mass composition (not just mole composition) of a source
in the active flowsheet to update scenario specification (relevant for automation,
COM engine work)
+ Added collapsed view option for Scenarios table in Scenario Manager
+ Added a specification status column next to Composition in the Active Sources
table in the Scenario manager
x Fixed the display of the schematic in tee junctions to show the proper connection
x Fixed flarenet import when objects have non-ascii names
Pipe Workspace
+ Added ability to fit a pipe network from Network Designer (GIS-based) to a user-
specified number of Visio pages, choose streams or connector to link unit operation
in a pipe network, and a pipe merging rule that minimizes the number of pipe
segments in the imported flowsheet
Dynamics
+ Added relief valve opening characteristics to dynamics Relief Valves. Supported
types are Proportional, Spring Loaded, Pop Action Pilot, Modulating Action Pilot,
ASME VIII, ASME I, and Custom. A plot was added to better visualize the
characteristics and to make it easier for users to find inconsistencies in their
input
x Fixed a rare issue where the Claus Furnace unit operation would not mass balance
the first time the integrator runs
x Fix unit issue causing Std Gas Volume Flow profile to report incorrect results in
the Pipe Segment unit operation
x Fix the reporting of the Mechanical Loss in rotating equipment when using
variable friction torque
x Fixed initialization of catalyst temperature in Claus Converters
Network Solver
+ Exposed Energy Balance Tolerance in Network Solver Settings
+ Added new setting "Kinetic Energy Formulation" in Network solver settings
+ Auto mode of "Kinetic Energy Formulation" selects a Kinetic Energy formulation
for each device type for improved convergence, stability, and accuracy
o Handling of sonic flow conditions in looped or multi-stack networks
x Fixes to avoid negative flow conditions while solving as a result of separator
flow updates
x Fix for solving tailpipe at rated flow in looped or multi-sink networks
x Fix to collect Reynolds number and friction factor profiles directly from network
solver results and added a warning to pipe status and model audit when a
correlation not supported in the network solver is selected
Productivity Tools
+ Added the AOL Methods: Downhill Simplex Method with a Lexicographic Approach for
the Treatment of Linear and Nonlinear Constraints (LEX), Augmented Lagrangian
Multiplier (ALM), Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP), and Mixed Integer
Genetic Algorithm (MIGA) to Optimization and Regression Tools. All these methods
support the use of the Radial Basis Function (RBF) proxy method
+ Added additional end conditions for AOL methods in Regression and Optimization
tools: Max Optimization/Regression Time and % Improvement
+ Added Integer capabilities for Mixed Integer Genetic Algorithm (MIGA) and Mixed
Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) methods, which also allows for optimization
of string variables
+ Added option to Enable Discrete Optimization which allows for designation of a
regressed variable as a discrete variable with a specified number of digits to
manipulate
+ Added bar chart visibility for error contribution in regression tool, which
updates when the scale is modified to facilitate tuning
+ Results per iteration in the Regression tool and a plot of the regression history
results are now exposed
+ Solve status in the regression iteration results is now exposed
+ Regression and Optimization tools can now specify an iteration state to the
flowsheet
+ Sour Water Stripper Design using mixed integer optimization to automate
profitable design added to Application Examples
+ Gas Production System using MINLP optimizer to find CAPEX/OPEX optimal design
added to Application Examples
Unit Operations
+ Component Splitter - Added a new temperature mode to the Component Splitter unit
operation for Equal Outlet Temperatures
+ FCC - Added the option to include a Double Riser FCC Modelling option in
Symmetry's FCC unit operation
+ Pipe Segment - Added ability to display and plot the Bulk Std Liq Volume in Pipe
Segments (per section and cumulative)
+ Process Calculator - Added ability to name Process Calculator cells for
visibility when referencing in other tools
+ Process Calculator - Added a Summary tab with the key information of every cell
(connection, units, formulas, display name and value)
+ Property Table - Added segmentation type (linear and logarithmic) and
specification for independent variable points
+ Property Table - Expanded list of properties available: H Mass, S Mass, Cp Mass,
Cv Mass, Interfacial Tension, Cp/Cv, Ideal Gas Cp/Cv, Internal Energy, JT
Coefficient, Pseudo Tc, Pseudo Pc, Pseudo Vc, Specific Volume, Speed of Sound, Z
from Density
+ Property Table - Property Table unit operation won't re-calculate when switching
the phase specification
+ Relief Valve - Added support for back pressure curves in steady state
x Desalter - Added error message for over-specification of product streams and
excessive oil withdrawal
x Pipe Segment - Fixed bug for buried pipe + radiant heat transfer coefficient
calculation in the Network Solver when the inner and outer wall temperatures are
very close
x Towers - Enabled stage location of distillation column draws to be used in case
studies
Miscellaneous
+ Model Audit - Added error message with suggestions for configuration or solver
setting changes if solution has Mach > 1
o Model Audit - Will now explicitly block from solving if relief valve inlet
pressure is not specified (previously would still solve assuming constant
temperature)
x Line List - Fixed sorting on a numerical column with blank values
===================================================================================
===============
v2020 (March 2020 - Symmetry Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added Dense Phase ID Labeling system. This new variable can label dense fluids as
vapor or liquids, based on the current Phase ID option or based on a special dense
fluid flash calculation
+ Added Asphaltene Precipitation calculations like Asphaltene Onset Pressure and
Asphaltene precipitated fraction at given conditions. The calculations are
available in the More Properties Tab and only visible when Asphaltene components
exist in the case and the property package is APR, APRNG, APRNG2 or Refinery APR
+ Added correlations to calculate Hydrocarbon and Asphaltene-like components Kij's
for APR Z Factor matrix in APR, APRNG, APRNG2 and Refinery APR property packages
+ Added "Critical Volume (Lohrenz)" pure component property that can be used to
tune the Lohrenz viscosity model
+ Added Volume Translation coefficients to the list of pure component properties in
Peng-Robinson EOS based property packages
+ Added Alias names for database compounds that contain "sulf" in their names, now
they can be searched as "sulph"
+ Added Phase Basis (Bulk or Liq Hydrocarbon) for properties in the Hydrocarbon
Properties Tab from Material Stream, basis is Bulk by default except in the
PipeNetwork workspace where default is Liquid Hydrocarbon
+ Added a message to the “More Properties" Tab from the Material Stream to indicate
that all properties are based on Bulk compositions unless option are given
+ Added Paratherm Heat Transfer Fluids to Symmetry’s component list (Paratherm CR,
Paratherm GLT, Paratherm HE, Paratherm HR, Paratherm HT, Paratherm LR, Paratherm
MR, Paratherm NF, Paratherm OR)
+ Solid CO2 phase (Liq1) in APR Solid CO2 property package is now named "CO2 Solid"
+ Added Solid CO2 curve to Envelope unit operation for APR Solid CO2 property
package
+ Added new Property Package variable to enable use of non T-dependent APR Z Factor
kijs for Water / HC pairs in Amines Thermo Model
+ Added a status message to Material Stream to let user know if Solids calculations
are available in the selected property package
o Improved Pour Point special property calculation by using actual liquid phase
densities instead of bulk phase density in the calculation method
o Improved phase labeling to correctly identify mixtures with large water content
o Improved CO2 solid calculations in APR, APRNG and APRNG2 packages, results match
those from APRSolidCO2 package
o Improved tooltip descriptions for all thermodynamic physical and special
properties calculated in Symmetry
o Improved N2 and CO2 APRNG2 alpha functions to avoid Cp discontinuities at T >
1000 K
x Improved Envelope unit operation calculations to take into account requested
number of points for Solid curves when requested
x Added missing families for R1234yf, R1234ze and R1233zd compounds
x (2018.0.381) Improved the calculation of consistent Volume Translation
Coefficients when recall APRNG2 cases use the "Don’t Upgrade APRNG2" option
+ (2018.0.349) Added API Gravity and Specific Gravity as calculated properties in
the Hydrocarbon Properties tab from the Material Stream
+ (2018.0.349) APRNG2 - Added option for updating old cases to the upgraded APRNG2
thermo model. This upgraded version estimates properties from fixed alpha term and
interaction parameters based on a comprehensive review of available experimental
data
+ (2018.0.349) Actual name of default Liquid and Vapor Property Methods will be
displayed instead of the word "Default" in the Settings Tab from Property Package
form
o (2018.0.349) APRNG2 - Fixes to alpha term, for non-special compounds this term
will be calculated based on the standard Peng-Robinson formulation
o (2018.0.349) APRNG2 - Fixes to update derivative calculations for the fugacity
coefficient
o (2018.0.349) APRNG2 - Updated 35 APRNG2 Z Factor Kij's to match experimental data
from NIST and GPA reports, binary pairs include key components in gas processing
such as water, H2S, glycols, BTEX and light hydrocarbons
o (2018.0.349) Improved status messages in Hydrate unit operation
x (2018.0.349) Improved Cp calculations to allow continuity between liquid and
vapor regions in the Steam 97 Thermodynamic model
x (2018.0.349) Updated Methane / Water and Ethane / Water APR Z Factor Kij's in the
Amines property package to improve hydrocarbon solubility and water content
calculations
x (2018.0.349) Improved Critical Point calculation for binary systems with narrow
boiling points
x (2018.0.349) Fixes to APR Z Factor Kij matrix for Amines and Amines LLE property
packages when the HC Kij version is switched
x (2018.0.349) Updated Triethyl Aluminum Pc, changed to a value that agrees with
Antoine's equation extrapolation
x (2018.0.349) Updated calculation of Water/HC solubility parameters in
VMGExtraction property package
x (2018.0.349) Fixes to broken PIONA Slate Characterization due to empty variables
x (2018.0.349) Updated Carbamic Acid (CARBAMICACID) name in compound search
x (2018.0.349) Updated TEG Normal Boiling Point from 551 K to 561.5 K
x (2018.0.349) Updated Exergy calculations from More Properties Tab to match those
from Special Properties unit operation
x (2018.0.349) Improved Wax and Solid calculations when using Advanced property
packages with the same definition for the liquid and vapor models
x (2018.0.349) Updated NaHS MW
x (2018.0.349) Improved the creation of Advanced Property Packages using Literature
and Obsolete Thermo Models
x (2018.0.287) Updated Solids Formation Temperature, when the temperature of
formation is in the retrograde region
Oil Source
+ Added Asphaltene Precipitation for Live Oils to the list of characterization
options, calculations include Asphaltene Onset Pressures and Saturation Pressures
for Live Oils (i.e. Light Ends data needs to be included), calculations are
available in APR, APRNG, APRNG2 and Refinery APR property packages
+ Updated Oil Source Example 1 from User Manual to show how distillation curves can
be matched directly
+ Added a new variable “Saturation T based on" to allow users specify their desired
Saturation T that will not change when the “Load Parameters for" variable is
switched
+ Added "Washed" Asphaltene Yields to Asphaltene Precipitation Experiments results
+ Oil Source regressions can be stopped anytime by clicking in the "Regress
Parameters" button while the regression is running
o Added better definitions to the PIONA Family Inclusion variable tooltips in the
Oil Source unit operation
+ (2018.0.349) Added Stop regression feature through the Regress Parameters button.
Click on the Regress Parameters button while regressing to stop the regression
o (2018.0.349) Improved selection of variables to regress based on experimental
data provided
x (2018.0.349) Updated BP's definitions in Cut Ranges Characterization
+ (2018.0.349) Added Density @ 60 F curve to the list of Experimental Curves that
can be defined in the Oil Source unit operation
x (2018.0.349) Improved Status messages in Oil Sources that are used as references
sources in the Source unit operation
x (2018.0.349) Improved Total Wax Content calculation when the actual amount of
paraffin components is zero
Oil Characterization
+ PIONA Characterization - Added a new Cn definition group option ('VMG") to the Cn
Cuts PIONA Slate characterization style, this new group will make that single Cn
groups create components matching the Cn specified in the group
+ PIONA Characterization - Added a Full Refinery Slate check box to the Cn Cuts
PIONA Slate characterization style, this box will automatically create a PIONA
Slate with pre-defined Cn Groups suitable for the simulation of a refinery case,
the check box is only available when the Cn Groups definition is VMG
x Added better messages when an Oil Characterization assay return non-physical
values for bulk properties
x (2018.0.349) Updated list of Oil Characterization assays that can participate in
a Blend, already cut assays were missing in this list
x (2018.0.349) Updated list of assays that can participate in a Blend, already cut
assays were missing in this list
x (2018.0.349) Improved Oil Characterization Blend form to only include assays that
can be cut
XML Import
o (2018.0.377) Hypos are now imported with Chemical Family = OIL
x (2018.0.377) Fixed mapping for cases with Acid Gas property packages when
importing xml cases
x (2018.0.377) Fixed coordinate conversion for cases with duplicate tower flowsheet
names
x (2018.0.377) Delete default property package (VMGThermo) when importing an xml
case
Dynamics
+ Added Dynamic Filtering unit operation to clean and filter data from online
sources
+ (2018.0.349) Allow Users to choose how many CPU cores will be used to run the
integrator
+ (2018.0.349) Scheduler can now be created and configured from the command line
+ (2018.0.287) Slug Catcher Sizing utility
x (2018.0.377) Fix for missing Time header when exporting Historian data
x (2018.0.349) Fix pig propagation across split streams
x (2018.0.349) Miscellaneous robustness improvements to the flash and PFS calcs
x (2018.0.349) Historian - Fixed performance issue when selecting a dataset with a
large amount of properties
User Interface
+ Molecule Builder - Molecule builder functionality from VMGSim now available in
Symmetry
+ User Interface Automation - Added ability to automate Symmetry.exe
+ Excel Add-In - Ability to run with UI automation now available. This mode allows
to toggle the visibility of Symmetry.
+ PFD - New tools to streamline the use of watermarks. Symmetry logo is the default
for new cases.
+ GIS Functionality built-in to create pipe networks from maps
+ (2018.0.349) Specifications Summary. Provides a summary of the specifications in
the simulation case
+ (2018.0.349) Case Pinner - New feature to pin simulation cases from recent files
to make them accessible
+ (2018.0.349) New license manager with no dependencies to old windows libraries to
avoid dll and ocx registration issues
+ (2018.0.349) Project report - New notes data block to export notes from unit
operations
+ (2018.0.349) PFD Shapes - New shapes available for Valves and Heat Exchangers
+ (2018.0.349) Windows Management - New refresh all windows button and shortcut to
refresh all window while solving
+ (2018.0.287) Added Vertical 3 phase separator shape
+ (2018.0.270) Automatic migration of unit sets, compound groups, and VMG.ini from
VMGSim installation
+ (2018.0.270) Auto generate support file when Symmetry fails to start
+ (2018.0.270) New stream view default for Flare and Pipe workspaces, sets stream
option to None instead of hiding the label of streams
+ (2018.0.270) New right-click option from Summary sets to Find Unit Op in PFD
o Localization Support - Enhanced support for Chinese and Russian
o (2018.0.358) Thermo environment - Added missing legacy literature thermodynamic
models (i.e. Redlich-Kwong)
o (2018.0.349) Localization Support - Enhanced support for correct number
formatting that takes into account all relevant setting used by the selected region
o (2018.0.349) Enhanced DPI support - Minor improvements to rendering of checkboxes
and some scaling issues.
o (2018.0.349) Strip charts - Improved configuration. Provides a new summary view
for quick configuration. The relationship between Y Axes and its series is now
visible in the Y-Axes tab. New search and bulk editing functionality is available
for faster series configuration.
o (2018.0.349) Provide more specific messages when a recycle is not converged
because it ran out of iterations
o (2018.0.349) Summary sets now can copy paste checkboxes from to excel
o (2018.0.349) Recent files - History of cases can be cleared with the button
'Clear recent cases'
o (2018.0.349) Project report- Material data block adapts to material streams to
show fractions and flows side by side
o (2018.0.349) Windows management - Improved position of recalled windows to avoid
overlap with ribbon
o (2018.0.349) Notes tab - Notes icon indicates when the tab contains notes
o (2018.0.349) Selection Control - The sections are now expandable for long names
and a search box is available to find unit operations and variables
o (2018.0.349) Unit Operation Windows - Scroll bars were added to various tabs
o (2018.0.287) Improved performance for flowsheet deletion
o (2018.0.270) Recalled cases remember the saved Stream Display option
o (2018.0.270) Stream Display option now can be set per flowsheet
o (2018.0.270) Stream Display option new shortcuts from PFD toolbar
o (2018.0.270) Improved color selection control
o (2018.0.270) Improved DPI awareness. Ribbon icons scale better in different DPI
settings.
o (2018.0.270) Symmetry is now DPI aware
o (2018.0.270) Added hyperlinks to dynamics Specification Analysis unit operations
o (2018.0.270) Errors pane now has a clear button and an option to copy errors to
the clipboard
x (2018.0.358) Composition window - Fixed table showing zeroes when default number
format was different than CUSTOM
x (2018.0.358) Composition window - Fixed inserting cursor on the right of a number
when moving up and down with arrow keys
x (2018.0.358) Composition window - Fixed crash in some PCs when scrolling long
lists of compounds
x (2018.0.358) Localization Support - Fixed problems inputting values in dynamics
x (2018.0.358) Localization Support - Fixed historian data set number formatting
when copying whole table
x (2018.0.358) License Manager - Fixed crash when reading license in foreign
languages
x (2018.0.358) License Manager - Fixed order of License and MSU in text file
x (2018.0.358) License Manager - Fixed license manager registering changes in Proxy
IP Address or Port
x (2018.0.358) Windows List - Fixed renaming unit operation undo when closing a
unit operation window that was renamed while minimized
x (2018.0.358) Property Package Assignment - Enable assignment button when main
flow sheet is not linked to any property packages
x (2018.0.349) Project report - Reduced number of warnings when reporting Improved
project report
x (2018.0.349) Summary sets - Report collection of objects
x (2018.0.349) PFD datasheets - Refresh in dynamics now is linked to 'Auto Refresh'
setting (PFD toolbar--PFD-->Datasheets-->Auto Refresh) to avoid refreshing when
setting is turned off
x (2018.0.349) Recall cases crash. Fixed crash when recalling some cases. This
crash introduced by a Visio 2016 update in Nov 2018 for PCs that run in the Monthly
update channel
x (2018.0.349) Main environment - Setting the solver to inactive (hold) now stops
the steady state solver first
x (2018.0.287) Fixed material balance table configuration window
x (2018.0.287) Fixed PFD datasheet update issues
x (2018.0.270) Added support for comma as decimal separator
x (2018.0.270) Fixed check for updates feature
x (2018.0.270) Provide license messages when no license found
x (2018.0.270) Various Project Report and Summary Sets reporting issues fixed
x (2018.0.270) Fixed pasting multiple rows in compressor and expander curves
x (2018.0.270) Fixed pressure specifications in towers not clearing
x (2018.0.270) Fixed Equilibrium results tab doesn't remember the extended
selection
x (2018.0.270) Fixed recycle color for old cases
x (2018.0.270) Fix for Schedule/NPS sorting
x (2018.0.270) Fixed scaling when running in Windows 7 and 8 with DPI > 100%
Links
+ (2018.0.358) HTRI Link - Symmetry 64 now supports HTRI link
x (2018.0.358) HTRI Link - Fix to prevent specifying invalid delta P when results
are not converged
x (2018.0.358) HTRI Link - Fix issue with particular flow direction arrangements in
multisided heat exchanger
x (2018.0.358) HTRI Link - Fix issue when using non-SI HTRI unit sets
Fired Equipment
+ Bath heater available in efficiency mode to avoid any mechanical data
requirements
+ Burner can recognize from the feed composition when a Gibbs flash is necessary
+ Burner can handle hydrocarbons in oxidant stream
+ Fired heater can handle operating conditions where the unit has a temperature
pinch
+ Steam injection into combustion chamber is handled by the Burner unit op
o Burner can handle iterations spanning lean / rich boundary
x Bath heater handles radiative heat transfer from flame to firetube
+ (2018.0.349) Efficiency based solve option
+ (2018.0.349) Added detailed heat loss calculation
Network solver
+ Support for PH flash for pure components
+ Support for fluids with a narrow boiling point
+ Added detailed heat loss to model audit
+ (2018.0.349) Support for initialization from last converged
o Improved convergence and speed for networks with large sections with zero flow
o Improved convergence and speed for networks with three-phase flow
o Improved convergence for networks with loops or multiple stacks
o (2018.0.349) Improvements to initialization
o (2018.0.349) Improvements to zero-flow composition solution
o (2018.0.349) Relaxed network caching criteria to rebuild networks only when
necessary to improve solver speed
Case Study
+ (2018.0.349) The status bar of a unit operation now supports right-click option
to add the status message to the case study
+ (2018.0.349) Added option to start case study at a specific point
+ (2018.0.349) Option to log the results to a file as soon as the values are
available while running case study
+ (2018.0.349) Option to reduce the amount of messages sent to the status tab
+ (2018.0.349) Option to clone case study as a case regression and viceversa
+ (2018.0.349) Option to only run the case study points that are not solved
+ (2018.0.349) Option to generate random points for the case study between the min
and max limits
Productivity Tools
x (2018.0.287) Fixed OPC Server update for Steady-State cases
x (2018.0.287) Fixed Excel Unit op removing links
x (2018.0.270) Fixed OPC Client not importing the first tag of a group
Compressor
+ Reciprocating Compressor - Added single-acting and double-acting cylinder actions
o Compressor - Improved fidelity of compressor curves when doing interpolation and
extrapolation to match the accuracy of the dynamics engine
o Compressor - Added guide vane to compressor curves to match feature set from
dynamics engine
Heat Exchanger
+ Pinch Analysis Operation - Added feature to track multiple pinch points
+ (2018.0.349) Heat Exchanger Rating - Area overdesign reference option
o Multisided Heat Exchanger - New display for delta temperature variables between
sides
Miscellaneous
+ Added a Confined Fluid unit operation that perform flash calculations for
confined fluids that take into account capillary pressure. Saturation Temperatures
and Pressures curves are included in the unit operation
+ Added a Boiler unit operation
+ Added a unit operation to reconcile variables
+ PVT Analysis - Added experimental values and error analysis for each property in
all PVT experiments
+ PVT Analysis - Added Regression Manager to automatically include selected
experimental values in regression cases that involve Oil Source unit operations
o PVT Analysis - Revamped PVT Analysis unit operation user interface
x PVT Analysis - Improved Saturation Pressure calculations to better identify oils
and gas condensates
+ Property Table - Added status messages to warn the user about invalid variable
specifications
+ (2018.0.349) Makeup Operation - Added H2/HC ratio as an optional outlet
specification
+ (2018.0.349) Enabled equipment database for more unit operations including
Heater, Cooler, Membrane, PVT Analysis
o Separator Sizing - Added support to connect variables from separator sizing to
other variables in the simulator
o (2018.0.287) Psychrometric Operation - Increase speed when solving at the same T,
P, and compositions as previously solved
x (2018.0.349) Saturation Operation - Tightened tolerance to consider a fluid as
Saturated Vapor
x (2018.0.349) Tower - Fix to Tray Dimensions tab visibility when using hybrid
property packages
Pipe Workspace
+ New Network Design mode allowing users to create pipe networks using map (GIS)
view
+ Add new flow model: Tulsa Unified Fluid Flow Project (TUFFP) model for 2 and 3
phases (Steady State and Dynamics)
+ Extended list of parameters available in summary sets for Sources and Sinks
o An average of 10x improvement in performance in network import from GIS based
Field files (vpif)
o Additional "Leg" mode in pipe merging in Field import and network generation
+ (2018.0.358) Support vapor fraction specification in a network source
+ (2018.0.358) Support steam networks
+ (2018.0.358) Enable negative flow specification at network sources
+ (2018.0.349) Ability to select absolute/relative elevation profile in pipe viewer
+ (2018.0.349) Dynamics support for flow calculator
+ (2018.0.349) Allow the shortcut slug catcher sizing utility to be accessed in
streams as well as sinks
+ (2018.0.270) Automatic creation of flow paths in Pipe and Flare workspaces
o (2018.0.349) Improvements to handling connections from the liquid port of a
separator
o (2018.0.349) Adjustments to internal tolerance in energy balance calculations in
looped networks
x (2018.0.358) Fix for missing network resolve when upstream sequential unit
operations change
o (2018.0.278) Pipe Split feature - allows to split a pipe given a section number
o (2018.0.278) Pipe Move Section(s) feature - allows to move pipe sections to a
different position in the profile
o (2018.0.278) Pipe Delete Section(s) feature - Allows to delete pipe sections from
the pipe profile
Flare Workspace
+ Rupture disk unit operation
+ Stack design based on flame constraints, including thermal radiation, noise, and
exposed surface temperature
+ Flame details exposed in the Flare Tip unit operation
+ Flame model integrated from Flaresim, industry-standard flare radiation software
(see section below for more information)
+ Stack sizing to meet radiation limits at multiple receptor points
+ Scenario manager tracks radiation constraints when Flaresim is enabled
+ Support importing/exporting Flaresim files (.fsw/.fsz)
+ Full flame model capabilities are kept when a Flaresim file is imported, even
when not all input is exposed through the Flare Tip views
+ View multiple Flaresim objects of imported cases when applicable
+ Exposed fitting details in velocity tab
+ Support including inlet losses in relief valve relieving P calculations
+ Blowdown sizing added to valve and restriction orifice
+ Support adding a fitting in the last pipe section connected directly to a flare
tip
+ (2018.0.349) Added Mechanical BP Limit field in relief valve, and support as a
scenario constraint
+ (2018.0.270) Added ability to ignore MABP violation in non-relieving (inactive)
relief valves for the scenario pass/fail status
+ (2018.0.270) Added segregated network to application examples
+ (2018.0.270) Added ability to solve the entire network at the rated flow
+ (2018.0.270) Added exit velocity calculation to flare tip
+ (2018.0.270) Added ability to store relief valve sizing/rating results for the
active scenario when a sizing/rating variable changes
o Scenario manager improved error status reporting
o Scenario manager color coding to only show active relief valves failed
o Angle of implicit enlargers now estimated based on diameters
o (2018.0.349) Improvements for MW initialization when solving tailpipes at the
rated flow
o (2018.0.349) Improvements to the stability of the solver when solving inlet pipes
at the rated flow
o (2018.0.349) Relaxed criteria of when a network can solve with PH-Based iteration
to improve convergence and speed
o (2018.0.349) Improvements to support of unit operations like vessels connected
upstream of relief sources in steady-state network
o (2018.0.270) Modified PFD data sheet and summary set defaults for relief valves
x (2018.0.358) Fix for issue solving inlet pipe at rated flow when the relief valve
rating is solving at the network BP
x (2018.0.358) Fix to pipe diameter profile when solved with implicit
enlarger/reducer upstream
x (2018.0.358) Fix for separators in narrow boiling point region to apply network
results of enthalpy rather than temperature
x (2018.0.349) Fix for check of when the relief valve is ready to solve when the
inlet pipe is solving at rated flow and the relief valve at the network BP
x (2018.0.349) Fix to relief valve sizing/rating status when switching scenario
x (2018.0.349) Fixed error removing default scenario
x (2018.0.349) Fixed consistency error when pipe choked at exit to atmosphere
x (2018.0.349) Fix for some network detection failures when solving the network at
rated flow
x (2018.0.349) Fixes to looped case xml imports
x (2018.0.270) Fixed consistency error when solving fire scenarios after non-fire
scenarios
x (2018.0.270) Fixed flare tip curve failure to handle a K value of 0.0
x (2018.0.270) Fix to prevent not applicable "out of Cv curve range" message in
flare tip
Flaresim (V6)
+ Industry-standard safety analysis software for flare stack design, now integrated
with Symmetry
+ Model effects from the flame (thermal radiation, noise levels, surface
temperature of exposed equipment) to protect personnel
+ Flaresim model and calculations are integrated with the flare & relief system
model in the Symmetry Flare workspace (see section above)
+ Symmetry Thermo for fluid property calculations (more than 20,000 components and
70+ property methods)
+ Stand-alone user interface installs with Symmetry for more detailed modeling,
including:
+ Multiple stacks and multiple flare tips per stack
+ Gas dispersion models (uncombusted gas and combustion products)
+ Purge gas calculations
+ Assist fluids
+ Shielding effects
+ Wind rose definition
+ Isopleth graphic reports
+ Dynamic calculations for verifying flare flow with time
+ and more...
===================================================================================
===============
v2018 (October 2018 - Symmetry Major Release)
Highlights
+ New user interface
+ Support for 64 bit version
+ Added new simulation environments
Pipe Workspace - Rigorous multiphase pipe network systems solver (Steady State
and Dynamics)
Flare Workspace - Integrated environment for flare system evaluation and design
(Steady State and Dynamics)
* These workspaces can be used as standalone products or integrated with Symmetry
+ Several enhancements and additions to the Petrochemical and Refinery Reactor
suite
+ New unit operations
Bath Heater
Digital Logic
Direct Column
User Interface
+ New modern and appealing environment
+ Customizable workspace. Panels like simulation tree and PFD Shapes can be docked
or grouped on any side of the screen. Ribbon and panels can be set to auto hide to
maximize the PFD space
o Enhanced windows management with the new Windows list feature. This feature
provides easy access to the windows you are working with.
+ Windows can be moved to a second screen and pinned to remain visible when you
click on the PFD
+ New ribbon for quicker shortcuts to the simulation features
o Faster transition between simulation cases
o Improved errors reporting now makes errors easier to investigate
o Redesigned thermodynamics interface
o Redesigned stripcharts interface
+ Versatile Shapes panel makes it easier to find unit operation shapes
o Exporting project report to excel is now 20x faster
+ Direct export to PDF now available
+ Seamless integration with Visio 64-bit
Pipe Workspace
+ Multiphase steady state and dynamics pressure flow network solver
Support Pipe Segments, Separators (2 and 3 phases), Pumps, Compressors,
Expanders, Valves, Sources and Sinks
+ Ability to import pipe networks from VMGField (based on GIS / shape files)
+ Source unit operation
Source can be defined locally or from other sources
Support for GOR and Water Cut as specifications
Support for gas composition estimation based on MW or Density
Support for Deliverability curve input (Tabular, Linear Eq., Fetkovich Eq., Vogel
Eq.)
Support Phase flow specifications (Gas, Oil, Water)
+ Sink unit operation
+ Node unit operations (multiple feeds/products)
+ Allow streams to define or calculate flow per phase at conditions
o Improvements to initialization of dynamics pipe networks from steady state
solutions
Flare Workspace
+ Scenario manager
Main features,
Add, modify and remove scenarios
Run scenarios
Define and monitor constraints
Monitor PSV constraints
Inspect main equipment from network
+ Active case in PFD is set based on active scenario
+ Track kinetic energy across piping network
+ Use miller equations for losses in junction nodes
+ Flare tip
+ Relief valves can run in sizing or rating mode while monitoring rated and actual
flows
Thermodynamics
+ Added solids curves to the Envelope unit operation. User can define the
components to plot
+ Addition of NH4ClBrine/water parameters in APRNG2
+ Options and defaults for new phase ID criteria based on property derivatives:
d(Cp)/dT, d(Cp)/dP, d(Isothermal Compressibility)/dT
+ Material Stream - Added option to trigger warnings in the flowsheet based on
solid formation. This is available in the solids
tab (enabled through "More Properties") and these warnings can be adjusted to
trigger when the stream is close to solid formation based on a
user defined criteria
+ Liquid Phase Splitting flash setting to allow multiple hydrocarbon phases or to
force at most one hydrocarbon liquid phase and one aqueous phase
+ Added 1,1-DIMETHYLINDAN compound to VMGSim database
+ Added Acetone-Chloroform interaction parameters to improve the VLE of these
components in APRNG and APRNG2
+ Added WOF4 compound to VMGSim database
+ Added DIPENTAERYTHRITOL and 1,3-DIOXANE-5,5-DIYLDIMETHANOL compound to VMGSim
database
+ Added Auto Ignition Temperature to the list of Pure Component Properties, an
estimation method (from Keshavars et al.) is employed to obtain the values for
hydrocarbons
+ (10.0.116) New APR/APRNG/APRNG2 kij for acetylene/propylene
+ (10.0.127) Added Butoxytriglycol alias for 2-[2-(2-Butoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethanol
+ (10.0.127) Added Butoxytetraglycol alias for 3,6,9,12-tetraoxahexadecan-1-ol
o Added a message to Special Property when pH calculations are performed in
property packages that do not support these calculations
o Updated the database physical properties parameters for DOWTHERM and SYLTHERM
thermal fluids
o A couple of parameters have been added to the Antoine Vapor Pressure equation to
make it compatible with any shape of this equation
o Improved molecular structure based property calculations such as solubility and
viscosity across ranges from light to heavy
o Updated nitrogen tetraoxide Antoine coefficients
o (10.0.85) Changes for HC dewpoint to be independent of phase fraction and
consistent with other dew point calculations
o (10.0.127) Improved Cp and liquid viscosity for 1,2 and 1.3 Propylene Glycol for
the pure components and mixture with water
o (10.0.127) Improved ideal gas Cp for H2 at high temperatures
o (10.0.127) Improved Water-Oxygen solubility predictions for APR, APRNG and APRNG2
property packages
o (10.0.127) Improved NaclBrine-Oxygen solubility predictions for APRNG2 property
package
x Fixed TRAPP Thermal Conductivity model calculations
x Fixed error when replacing any applied property package for RefProp and the
number of components is zero
x (10.0.85) When creating a hypothetical component, a warning message will be
prompted if there are user-entered property values tat are outside of validity
ranges based on the chemical type of the created compound
x (10.0.85) Fixed VMG RefProp property package for problems near H2 phase boundary
near the critical temperature (~32K)
x (10.0.85) Fixed problem with property estimation options being reset to default
when adding support for inert solids
x (10.0.116) Fix when using hydrogen in multiple property packages using Refprop
x (10.0.116) Fixed GOR Special Property calculation, now calculation is carried out
in dry basis at the reference conditions of 60 F and 1 atm
x (10.0.116) Fixed the enthalpy calculation for gSiO2, when using the
Gasification_2010 property package
x (10.0.127) Fix to recognize NaClBrine from NaCl in APRNG2 property estimations
x (10.0.127) Fixed NaclBrine family switched from OILS to Sodium Salts
Oil Characterization
+ Distillation Curve, Oil Source and Towers - Added a new End Points Smoothing
Option to create continuous curves in the lower and higher ends of distillation
curves created in flowsheet unit operations
This option can be activated trough the Thermo form
+ Distillation Curve and Oil Analysis - Added the option of using Local (new
default) and Global (old default) cut ranges. Local cut ranges are defined per unit
operation whereas global are for the entire thermo case
x Distillation Curve and Oil Analysis - End Temperature of the last Cut Range will
be set as the value of the highest boiling point found in the component slate
x Distillation Curve - Improvements to calculate distillation curves when less than
4 boiling point groups are present in the feed
x Cross Connectors - Oil connection types can now be solved when the source or
target component slates include PIONA pseudo-components
+ Added a new PIONA Slate Characterization option based on Carbon Number Cuts
+ Added a new PIONA Slate Characterization option based on Black Oil
Characterization settings
+ Oil Analysis - Added Watson UOP K factor and Average Boiling Point to the list of
physical properties
+ (10.0.116) Added API-VMG viscosity correlation for PIONA slate characterization
+ (10.0.116) Added option to Reset Range Settings to Default values in PIONA Slate
Characterization
o (10.0.116) Avoid calculations when given distillation curve has less than 4
points in Direct method
o (10.0.116) Improved variable descriptions and display names in PVT Analysis unit
operation
Calculations are now made in dry basis, if Water is present a warning
message will be displayed
x Distillation Curve and Oil Analysis - Fixed the setting of the End Temperature of
the last cut range, now this value is set to the highest boiling point found in the
thermo component slate
x (10.0.116) Fix to PVT, Cn and Oil Analysis unit ops to avoid solving when ignored
x (10.0.116) Fixes in messages when empty values are present in Density, Viscosity
and Th. Cond. curves
x (10.0.116) Fixes to Vc and Pc Twu estimation method when using PIONA components
with NBP > 1000 K
x (10.0.116) Fixes to Expanded Fluid viscosity method kij's (Set Naphthene-
Dehydrated Aromatic pairs to zero)
x (10.0.116) Fix to avoid assigning duplicated names to oil assay pseudo components
x (10.0.116) Fixes in Oil Assay Cn Characterization option to avoid non-monotonic
molecular weight, boiling point and liquid density curves curves
Oil Source
+ Added a new Cut Ranges characterization option to enter Oil Assay data in terms
of boiling temperature distributions
+ Added Black Oil option to characterize PIONA components based on typical black
oil input
x (10.0.116) Fixed Light End lists in the Oil Source unit operation to account for
changes when swapping, deleting and adding components to the main list of the
thermo case
x (10.0.116) Fixed Light Ends list from Oil Source unit operation to allow the user
add light ends with unknow compositions to unit operation calculations
Relief Valve
+ Modified display names and views for relief valve sizing/rating modes
+ Added backpressure limit calculations to relief valves
+ Added a Scenarios tab when used under VMGFlare
Air Cooler
+ Added air side volume flow rate calculation with and without rating
+ (10.0.116) Added Simulated Performance and Rated Overdesign modes to air coolers
so unit specifications can be kept with detailed geometry solution.
o (10.0.116) Improved fan duty calculation
Fired Equipment
+ Added Bath Heater unit operation. This unit can do the rigorous modeling of the
indirect heating of a process stream by using
a heating medium (the bath) which is heated with the combustion of a fuel gas.
Some important features are,
Allows for flame geometry input in order to capture detailed heat distribution
Flexible input for burner data
Heating media (bath) can be defined with any composition
Flexible input for tube configurations
Detailed profiles of the key variables along the process and furnace tubes
API efficiency calculations
+ Units that include a furnace side utility (e.g. Cracking Units, Visbreaker or
Fired Heater) have been significantly upgraded. For example,
Ability to account for burner location by specifying temperature profiles
Reviewed convergence with both simple and new more detailed configuration
scenarios for improved mechanically realistic results
+ Fired Heater - API efficiency calculation
o Burner - Upgraded to handle a wider range of combustion conditions. This extended
range allows this unit to combust
hypothetical feeds including solid fuels and any excess of partially oxidized
environment.
o Furnace units temperature profile adjustment upgrade
x (10.0.116) Check to identify bad solution when unit is pinched
Heat Exchanger
+ Heat Exchanger Rating - Addition of critical heat flux activation option in heat
exchange and air cooler unit's rating and performance modes.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Added Simulated Performance and Rated
Overdesign modes to heat exchangers so unit specifications can be kept with
detailed geometry solution.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Boiling roughness input added to air cooler and
heat exchanger rating features.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - New K-Type exchanger rating option to add or
remove suppressed nucleate boiling considerations.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Vibration calculation option added to the TEMA
shell rating feature in heat exchangers.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Addition of new optional boiling HTC
correlations in the exchanger and air cooler rating features.
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Added Hairpin shell type option in the heat
exchanger unit operation rating feature
+ (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Added longitudinal fin option to double pipe,
E-type, and F-Type TEMA shell rating feature
o (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - Changed tab name from "Rating" to "VMG Detail".
o (10.0.85) Heat Exchanger Rating - New heat exchanger rating input view that
compresses all previous input frames into one that is always visible.
o (10.0.116) Improved shell diameter auto-calculation for exchanger rating with low
tube count
o (10.0.116) Improved tube count auto-calculation for exchanger rating with given
shell diameter
x (10.0.127) Fix for multisided exchanger HTRI link to allow specification of
multiple outlet temperatures from HTRI
x (10.0.127) Fix to vibration value in rating mode when negative critical velocity
is reached x Fix to tube per shell diameter and visa versa for hairpin exchangers
Pipe Segment
+ Slug / unit cell model
+ Ability to specify size based on schedule right on the main form
+ Added a sizing tab
+ (10.0.116) Added commercial steel database ASME B36.10M - 2015 (new default) and
stainless steel database ASME B36.19M - 2004 to Pipe Selection
+ (10.0.85) Pipe Segment - Added epoxy as an option for coating materials for pipe
heat transfer
o (10.0.85) Pipe Segment - Always display "Ground Temperature" even if it will not
be used in calculations
x (10.0.116) Fix for LockhartMartinelli for fluids that go from all gas to all liq
(or vice versa) in one single segment
x (10.0.116) Fix to show External T when Outer HTC Corr is constant
Claus
x Fix for oxygen deficient Claus Furnace where hydrocarbons would not react
x (10.0.116) Fix for oxygen deficient Claus Furnace where hydrocarbons would not
react
x (10.0.116) Fix for WHB profiles when using kinetic reaction model
x (10.0.127) Improved behaviour when CS2 or COS are using a conversion
specification but the components are in trace amounts in the feed
Miscellaneous
+ Added Direct Column Unit Operation. This unit allows to run a simplified
distillation column where the cuts
are defined based on cut ranges or distillation curves per cut. Some important
features are,
Detailed profiles with distillation curves for each calculated cut
Support for any type of distillation curve input (e.g. TBP, D86, etc) in any
basis
It is designed to calculate results fast
Several modes of solution to balance accuracy with solve time
Flexible options to handle water
+ Line list. This tool provides an interactive tabular interface for pipe segment
speficied and calculated variables
+ Model auditor tool for Dynamics and Steady State
+ Line Sizing - Option to size to nearest nominal size
+ Steady State diagnostics tab
+ Material Stream - Added tab to handle access to most physical properties. Tab is
called "More Properties"
+ Material Stream - Added Act. Solid Formed and Act. Solid Formation T to vars
inside Solids Formation Tab
+ (10.0.116) Show Delta P correlations in Material stream Line Sizing
+ (10.0.116) Added button to store all the data from the historian database to a
text file (csv)
+ (10.0.116) Added a warning when changes in historian size may run out of memory
x (10.0.116) Fixes to stripcharts when using database for historian
Unit Operations
o (10.0.85) Make up unit operation - Changed name of Blowdown port to Purge when
"Specify Circulating Solvent" is not checked
o (10.0.85) Make up unit operation - Purge composition now uses the composition of
the feed
o (10.0.85) Changes to recycles with more than a dozen solve levels to improve
speed considerably
o (10.0.127) Distillation Curves - Set the End Temperature of the last cut range to
the highest boiling point found in the thermo component slate
o (10.0.127) PVT Analysis - Improved variable descriptions and display names
x (10.0.85) Make up unit operation - Fixed some numerical errors when the purge
port was positive and close to zero
x (10.0.85) Distillation Tower - Added rigorous flash for proper phase ID of
reboiler liquid near critical point
x (10.0.85) Burner will now be able to handle unusual (high CO2, SO2 and other
combustion products in the oxidant feed) oxidant compositions
x (10.0.127) Distillation Curves - Fix to consistency errors when connecting
distillation curves to process calculators and resolving
Economics
x (10.0.127) Escalation indices will always use the nearest value to the current
year if the cost indices are out of date
x (10.0.127) Tower cost and operating cost can be solved partially
Dynamics
+ Digital Logic Unit Operation. This unit is designed to capture entire digital
logic blocks by combining several logic gates.
+ Valve / Controller malfunction options
+ Setpoint hysteresis (bang-bang control)
+ External (cross-model) Tear Streams
===================================================================================
===============
v10.0 (January 2017 - Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Implementation of Wax Phase modeling. Waxy oil characterizations can be achieved
using PIONA Characterization technique.
Wax Precipitation calculations include Wax Appearance temperature, Wax Envelopes
and Wax Precipitation curves.
These calculations are available through the Special Properties, Oil Source,
Envelope and Pipe Segment Unit Operations
+ Comprehensive enhancement of the estimation of interaction parameters (kij) for
Hydrocarbon/Hydrocarbon, H2/Hydrocarbon and H2/Water.
This new estimation method is designed and validated for refinery applications
including heavy oils and the different
hydrocarbon component families (Paraffins, Iso-paraffins, Olefins, Naphthenes and
Aromatics) but is applicable to any hydrocarbon mixture.
This new estimation method for kij is default for new simulations. Old cases can
use it by specifying the variable
"Hydrocarbon Interaction Parameter Method" to "3.0" in the Settings tab of the
Thermodynamics form.
+ Enhancement of interaction parameters for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in APR
and APRNG2.
Generalized interaction parameters for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons as well
as database values for:
Methane, Ethane, Propane,n-Hexane, n-Octane, n-Dodecane, n-Hexadecane, n-
Octacosane, n-Hexatriacontane, p-xylene, n-Eicosane, Benzene,m-xylene
+ Enhancement of interaction parameters for hydrogen and hydrocarbons in APR and
APRNG2.
Generalized interaction parameters for hydrogen and hydrocarbons as well as
database values for:
Methane, Ethane, Propane, Isobutane, n-Butane, n-Pentane, n-Hexane, n-Heptane, n-
Octane, n-Decane, n-Dodecane, n-Tetradecane, n-Hexadecane,
n-Octadecane, n-Eicosane, Squalane, Benzene, Toluene, Cumene, m-Xylene,
Naphthalene, 1-Methylnaphthalene, 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydronaphthalene
+ Enhancement of interaction parameters for ethylene glycol and hydrocarbons in
APRNG2.
Generalized interaction parameters for ethylene glycol and hydrocarbons as well
as database values for:
n-Hexane, n-Heptane, Toluene, Benzene, Ethylbenzene, m-Xylene, Methylcyclohexane
+ Enhancement of interaction parameters for triethylene glycol and hydrocarbons in
APR and APRNG2.
Generalized interaction parameters for triethylene glycol and hydrocarbons as
well as database values for:
n-Hexane, n-Heptane, Benzene, Cyclohexane, 2-Methylpentane, n-Octane, 2-
Methylheptane, 2,2,t-Trimethylpentane, n-Dodecane, Ethylcyclohexane
+ Lower and Upper Explosive Limits have been added to the list of Pure Component
properties of VMGSim.
The Pure Componet values come from the database and if missing thay are
calculated based on Jones' method.
The mixture calculation for these properties has also been added to the Special
Properties Unit Operation inside
the Natural gas tab and it is based on the Le Chatelier formula.
+ Special Properties - Added CO2, SO2 and NO2 Combustion Emission Factors to the
list of calculated properties
+ Added support for the VMGRefprop GERG property package
+ Added 95 components to the pure component database
+ Improvements to liquid and bulk speed of sound calculations
+ (9.5.62) Allow through the user interface the selection of different
thermodynamic cases (property packages)
per side of a heat exchanger
+ (9.5.62) Display component contents in trace fractions (ppm) for some components
such as H2S and Mercaptans from the Natural Gas tab in the Material Stream
+ (9.5.62) Added Methane Number and Stoichiometric Air to Fuel Ratio calculations
to the Refinery Special Properties unit operation.
The Methane Number is a measure of the gaseous fuels propensity to cause knock in
an engine.
The Stoichiometric Air to Fuel Ratio is defined as the air to fuel ratio (by mass)
such that there is just enough oxygen to burn all the fuel.
o Improved solubility of Hydrogen in Water for APR and APRNG2
o Improved interaction parameters of Hydrogen Fluoride / Water and Hydrogen
Fluoride / Hydrocarbons in APR and APRNG2
o Improved liquid viscosity of Formaldehyde
o (9.5.93) Air can no longer be searched for as a single component. Users are
encouraged to add O2 and N2 separately.
Old cases with air as a component will still work.
o (9.5.93) Speed up when importing a thermodynamic case and merging the components
into an existing case
o (9.5.62) Improved fit of water/methane dew point
o (9.5.62) The following Refinery Special Properties will be calculated if the
mixture of interest is exclusively formed by hydrocarbon compounds:
Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) (D323), Vapor pressure of LPG (D1267), Vapor pressure
of Crude Oil (D1267, RVPE(pressurized vessel),
RVPE (non-pressurized vessel), True Vapor pressure @ Storage T Active, Pour
Point, Bromine Number, Carbon Residue, Aniline Point and Smoke Point
o (9.5.62) Improved Cp predictions of Water-MDEA mixtures
x (9.5.93) Improved the criteria for the CO2 solid phase formation temperature
prediction when using the
APR for CO2 solid package
x (9.5.62) Fixed the Ideal Gas Heat Capacity pure component parameter for all
Therminol compounds.
New parameters will produce the right heat capacity values including the ideal
gas and residual values
x (9.5.62) Fixed enthalpy estimation of TTEG/H2O mixtures when using APR
Characterization
+ Added Oil Analysis Unit Operation. This unit operation is able to produce oil
analyses similar to those reported by
analytical laboratories. Physical properties and curves are calculated for whole
crude oils and their cuts.
The boiling point range of the crude oil cuts can be customized
+ Added Swelling Test (Swe) to the list of experiments available in the PVT
Analysis unit operation
+ Cn Analyses - Added a Calculation Mode in the Carbon Number (Cn) Analysis unit
operation.
This variable sets the way the Cn Analyses are calculated, based
either in the attached
Composition Slate (previous mode) or the TBP distillation curve
from the composition slate.
Cn Analysis distributions from the Distillation curve mode are
smooth and continuous on the carbon numbers
+ (9.5.62) Bulk Properties (Molecular Weight, Density and Saturation Pressure)
calculations have been added to the Cn Analysis unit operation
+ (9.5.62) Added a new Direct calculation mode for distillation curves inside the
Oil Source unit operation.
This mode allows an automatic calculation of distillation curves with good
matches to user entered data without needing a regression
o Changed default value of NHV multiplier for Aromatic PIONA Slate components in
order to improve temperature profile predictions
versus hydrogenation of the aromatic content of the feeds
Emissions
+ (9.5.93) Added a module for Loading emissions to the Tank Emissions utility
+ (9.5.93) Added an overall emissions summary (flash, tank, loading) to the
Emissions Manager
x (9.5.93) Tank Emissions - Removed some unnecessary variables from the emissions
report when using non fixed roofs
x (9.5.62) Fixed units for total losses in Tank Emissions
x (9.5.62) Added ethylbenzene to the list of HAPs in Flash and Tank Emissions
Pipe Segment
+ Added global setting to identify the application of the piping system as Upstream
or Process.
The user interface options and layout is different depending on the selection
+ Added a dedicated tab to display profiles that are typical to flow assurance such
as
hydrates, waxes, phase envelope.
+ Added a module to inspect profiles of "pipeline paths" by allowing users to
select a list of connected
pipelines and inspect the main variables from them in a single plot
+ (9.5.62) Pipe Import with GIS data (lat / lon)
o Improvements to the layout of form to input pipe details. This includes new
options to input elevation profiles,
an elevation profile plot and several options to customize the details of the
pipe
o Report velocity profiles at the end points as opposed to average per segment
o (9.5.93) Use the same roughness default value for the pipe segment and the line
sizing utility
o (9.5.93) Considerable speed up when pasting big profiles of data to pipe (e.g.
elevation profile)
o (9.5.62) Improve consistency of Mechanistic Models
o (9.5.62) Report mass inventory in pipes
x (9.5.93) Fixed labeling problem when using water as the only component with OLGAS
3 phase.
It was labeling the holdup volume of water as hydrocarbon
x (9.5.62) Fixed wrong label for Water Inventory in pipe when there is no Oil in
the system. Water Inventory was being labeled as Oil
Dynamics
+ Ability to integrate different parts of a model with different stepsizes, and to
adjust the stepsizes based on convergence and error magnitude
+ Option in integrator to use 2nd order BDF integration
+ Feature to accelerate to steady state / stop when steady state reached
+ Shortcut thermodynamic models for faster simulations
+ Clipped transient dP in pipes
+ Pipe rupture / blowdown
+ Flow in pipe annulus / concentric flow
+ Separator internals (buckets and weirs)
+ Column Builder assistant
+ (9.5.93) Faster thermodynamic calculations to improve performance
+ (9.5.93) Set T and P profiles in pipes for initialization
+ (9.5.93) Alternative hydrate calculations for faster performance
+ (9.5.62) Unequal phase split in tee junctions
+ (9.5.62) Diener Schmidt method (ISO 4126 part 10) for flashing choke
o (9.5.93) Better utilization of threading
o (9.5.62) More efficient store and recall
Miscellaneous
+ VMGSim can now be used as a user interface for VMGThermo. The program adapts the
features available
based on the license
+ Enhanced foreign language support for PFD Stencils, Case Study, Model Regression,
Optimizer, Towers & Oil Characterization environment
+ (9.5.62) Support for integers in Optimizer when using Nelder Mead
x (9.5.62) Fixed display of proxy settings of web key when using the license
manager
===================================================================================
===============
v9.5 (November 2015 - Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added component 2-ethyl-3-hydrohexanal
+ Added Gibbs Energy of Formation data for sulfuric acid (H2SO4) based on JANAF
tables
o Improved accuracy of property prediction of Mercury in APR for Natural Gas 2
o Improved speed of Lee Kesler property package
o Improved prediction of Sulfur viscosity in the region between 600 K and 720 K
o Improved solubility prediction of mixtures of EG-Mercury and TEG-Mercury
o Improved Methanol-CO2 interaction parameters for NRTL
x (9.0.78) Fixed the Expanded Fluid Viscosity parameters for Helium-4
x (9.0.67) Fixed import of Thermodynamics cases that were not overriding user
defined kij values when the components
were already present in the case
x (9.0.60) Fixed saturation conditions check in VMGRefprop that would prevent
convergence for certain conditions
x (9.0.60) Improved water content of CO2 for lower temperatures in APRNG2
x (9.0.60) Fix PH flash discontinuity near critical point for Steam 97
x (9.0.60) Improved bubble point line calculations for certain systems in APRNG and
APRNG2
x (9.0.60) Fixed units problem in the pure compound property plot
Oil Characterization
+ Automatically add components when importing light end data from the oil database
+ Added Warning messages to the Oil Characterization environment to let the user
know when problems happen while cutting an Assay
o Updated the Dadgostar-Shaw estimation method to match latest modification
published in Dadgostar & Shaw 2015,
"On the use of departure function correlations for hydrocarbon isobaric liquid
phase heat capacity calculation"
This method is available in the list of Ideal Gas Heat Capacity estimation
methods in the
range sets of the Oil Characterization environment.
Emissions
+ Flash Emissions - Material streams now have the ability to report flash emissions
as CO2 Green House Gas Equivalent or grouped by,
HAP, VOC, GHG, BTEX, NOx, SO2, CO and CO2
+ Emissions Summary - A summary of all emissions can be inspected and configured in
the new Emissions Summary module
+ Tank Emissions - Emissions results can now be displayed by component group
+ Tank Emissions - Added emissions tab to separators (enabled in Settings tab)
+ Tank Emissions - Added option to display losses in either mass or flow units
o Tank Emissions - Reports are based on pollutants only (instead of all components)
Dynamics
+ Accelerate to Steady-State
+ Mass Transfer Model
+ Pipe Segment - Added Axial Dispersion and Collocation models
+ Heat Exchanger - Use rigorous HTC and dP correlations for shell/tube HX
+ Heat Exchanger - Add internal level control
+ Separator - Add L/D ratio as specification
+ Separator - Add liquid entrainment/carryover warning
+ Report momentum in nozzles
+ Automatic estimation of rotating equipment inertia
o (9.0.78) Depressuring Assistant - Expose variables to select integrator mode,
step tolerance and step ratio
+ (9.0.62) Compressor - Support for IGV angle / MW for compressor curves
+ (9.0.62) Material Stream - Added TSensor variable
+ (9.0.62) Added ability to process pipe fittings during flarenet import
+ (9.0.62) Relief Valve - o Add tailpipe diameter as variable and use for reaction
force calc if specified
o Enhancements to Pigging capabilities
o Support for pigs with holes
o Automatically shrink stepsize during fast transients such as valve open/shut
o Improve convergence for unit ops with small volumes
o Fire heat input - limit heat input when temperature is too high
o Add isChoked flag for valves
o Cause/Effect input override
o Allow for different conventions when specifying guide vane angle
o (9.0.62) Material Stream - Allow copy/paste into stream record/playback
x Fix for holdup duties when efficiencies are used
x (9.0.60) Fix for zero loss option for mixer/splitter
x (9.0.60) Fix for automatic calculation of enlarger angle for pipes/nozzles
x (9.0.60) Fix for guide vane interpolation
x (9.0.60) Fixed outer heat transfer coefficient under prediction
x (9.0.60) Fixed compressor curve regressions to handle temporarily inconsistent
curves
x (9.0.60) Fix for boundary stream dp/df when step size is not 1 second
x (9.0.60) Fix for CauseEffect input not resetting when error condition clears
Miscellaneous
+ Economics Module - This module is enabled in most unit operations for basic CAPEX
and OPEX calculations. The calculations are summarized
in the Economics Manager and the details are presented in each of the unit
operation forms
+ Added support for Sentinel's Soft Key license system
+ Added feature to 'check out' users for Web Key based Network licenses
+ Added methods in COM Automation engine to allow for flash and property
calculations directly from the Thermodynamics object
+ Added an Excel Add-In
+ Case Study - Support for parallel processing
+ (9.0.78) Visio - Added Piping Stencil
+ (9.0.78) Support for COM automation of the user interface
x (9.0.62) Case Study - Fixed refresh problem when renaming case studies
x (9.0.78) Case Study - 'Remember' selected variables for plots. This behavior was
not working for variables that contain spaces in their names
===================================================================================
===============
v9.0 (November 2014 - Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Released a new version (2.0) of the APR for Natural Gas property package.
+ Added interaction parameters to Advanced Peng Robinson for Ethanol-CO2 and
Ethanol-N2 (based on data from NIST)
+ Pure Component report now shows the descriptive name of the compound's chemical
family
+ Added the possibility of using liquid densities at different temperatures when
creating hypothetical compounds
+ Added the following components,
Hydroxyacetone MW= 74.08, CASN = 116-09-6
Dimethylbenzyl Alcohol (DMBA) MW=136.19 CASN = 16308-92-2
Sodium Formate MW=68.01 CASN = 141-53-7
Sodium Phenate MW=116.09 CASN=139-02-6
o Improved NRTL parameters for Isopropanol and Water
o Improved liquid density of Ammonium Thiosulfate
o Improved the Rackett Liquid Volume calculations at pressures above the saturation
point
by enhancing the calculation of critical properties used for pressure corrections
to the Rackett Liquid Volume
o (8.0.85) Improved tolerance for dew point calculation for certain systems
o (8.0.85) Improved H, Cp and S calculations in certain compositions of
glycol/water systems
o (8.0.73) Hydrate saturation curve now estimates saturation at 25 C and 1 atm when
no Pressure and Temperature are provided
o (8.0.73) Envelope unit operation gives a warning message if Hydrate calculations
are enabled without Water in the compound list
o (8.0.73) Changed default value for Single Property - Compressibility criterion in
Phase ID Settings to 0.307
o (8.0.50) Hydrates - Improved data fits for H2S. Improved convergence.
Fixed problems in hydrate curves that would not extend to a reasonable
high pressure.
x Fixed discontinuity in thermal conductivity of water at 270 K when using Advanced
Peng Robinson
x (8.0.85) Fixed a problem when selecting TRAPP for Liquid Viscosity in the
Gasification 2010 property package
x (8.0.85) Fix crash when changing the Thermal estimation method in APR for Natural
Gas
x (8.0.85) Fixed calculations when both "SODIUM CHLORIDE" and "NaClBrine" are
present in APR for Natural Gas
x (8.0.77) Improved Cp estimation for liquid sulfur species in Claus property
package
x (8.0.73) Fixed Cp deviations for TEG-Water in APRNG caused by changes to
interaction parameters in original release of VMGSim 8.0.
x (8.0.60) Fixed the Expanded Fluid Viscosity model calculations that involve
characterized Oils with Light Ends
x (8.0.60) Fixed estimation of coefficient of thermal expansion (DVDTP) of water
for certain conditions
x (8.0.60) Do not clear inputs when creating a hypo and changing the unit set
before applying the changes
x (8.0.60) Fixed the Pour Point Special Property calculation by using the correct
definition of liquid density in the API correlation used for its estimation
Oil Characterization
+ Added an oil database. It includes a built-in database and also allows users to
create their own databases.
It can also be used with the Oil Source unite operation to create PIONA based oil
databases.
o Added a new bulk assay property in the Oil Characterization to assign a Chemical
Family to all the
pseudo components of a specific assay
o Improved the Cn Compositional Analysis option in the Oil Characterization when
using the
bulk Molecular Weight or Liquid Density at 60 F to perform the characterization
of Cn Compositional Analysis
x Changed the naming of Cn Compositional Analysis oil pseudo components to match
the Cn in their names and Chemical Formulas
Dynamics
+ Pipeline pigging calculations
+ Flare Net file import
+ Chimney tray calculations
+ Material Stream feature to Record and Playback.
+ Pipe slug frequency calculations
+ Support for historical Min/Max
+ Inclined separators / heat exchangers
+ Orifice plate calculations
+ Line Sizing calculations now supported for two phase correlations
+ Multi-CPU support for dynamics engine
+ Variable Step Size option for integrator
+ New plots for valves, including installed characteristic
+ Relief valve - default inlet and outlet flange sizes
+ Allow Cause flags in Cause/Effect to be set manually when no variable connected
+ Propagate stream recording history when initializing from another stream
+ Warning for valve size inconsistent with valve/pipe diameter
+ Add two flash zone option for separator
+ Add convective boiling heat transfer option for separators
+ Add valve noise calculations
+ Add relief valve reaction force calculations
+ Add relief valve inlet dP calculations
+ Add pump internal motor
+ Add pump minimum flow recycle
+ Add pump low flow trip
+ (8.0.73) Add default PV filter to controller - value is 4x stepsize
+ (8.0.60) Flare tip calculation
+ (8.0.60) Level Taps for separator type equipment
+ (8.0.60) Separator internal level control
+ (8.0.60) Internal level control for claus condenser
+ (8.0.60) Add enlarger angle to nozzle
+ (8.0.60) Add PFS diagnostics to subflowsheet form
o (8.0.73) Allow initializing/setting velocity profile in pipe
o (8.0.73) Improve T/MW correction for compressor curves
o (8.0.73) Changed recip compressor to default to adiabatic calculations (as
opposed to polytropic)
o (8.0.73) Updated default xT curve for globe valves - full open xT is now 0.68
o (8.0.73) Matches Steady State Phase ID Criteria for Default and Legacy options
o (8.0.60) Petalas friction factor for slug flow
o (8.0.60) Make valve holdup pressure match outward flow for reverse flow case
o (8.0.60) Improve convergence for cases with check valves
x Fix for cross connector problems when inlet stream close to phase boundary
x (8.0.73) Fix for electric tracing duty changing while integrator running
x (8.0.60) Fix for setting tray spacing in distillation section
x (8.0.60) Fix for cross connector problems when inlet stream close to phase
boundary
x (8.0.60) Fix for ambient temperature for heat loss calculations
x (8.0.60) Fix for temperature profile during depressuring when using very small
step sizes
x (8.0.60) Fix for special properties sometimes displaying zero just after
integrator starts
x (8.0.60) Fix pump convergence for small negative flows
x (8.0.60) Fix heat loss calcs when efficiency specified for separator feeds
Miscellaneous
x (8.0.60) Fixed problem recalling cases from previous versions with Japanese
characters
Utilities - OPC
o Items in the OPC Client form has been reorganized for improved work flow
===================================================================================
===============
v8.0 (November 2013 - Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Added and re-regressed the hydrate calculation package to include the most up to
date published data:
nitrogen
carbon dioxide
hydrogen sulfide
methane
ethane
propane
isobutane
n-butane
cyclopentane
cyclohexane
neopentane
benzene
isopentane
2,2-dimethylbutane
2,3-dimethylbutane
2,2,3-trimethylbutane
3,3-dimethylpentane
methylcyclopentane
methylcyclohexane
cis 12 dimethylcyclohexane
ethylcyclopentane
1,1-dimethylcyclopentane
cycloheptane
cyclooctane
ethylene
acetylene
propylene
3,3-dimethyl-1-butene
xenon
2,3-dimethyl-1-butene
2,2-dimethyl-pentane
ethylene oxide
cyclopropane
carbonylsulfide
sulfur dioxide
methyl mercaptan
Inhibitors
Methanol
Ethylene Glycol
Triethylene Glycol
Ethanol
Glycerol
+ Added the Expanded Fluid Model, developed by Marco Satyro and Harvey Yarranton,
to the list of available viscosity models in VMGSim.
This model was developed and tested for light hydrocarbons, conventional crude
oil, heavy oils and
their mixtures as a function of temperature and pressure and can be extended to
natural gas processing applications
+ Added the Product Distribution curve to the DistCurves unit operation.
Cut names and end temperatures for the Product Distribution can be modified by
the user and are global to the thermodynamic case
+ NHV calculations have been enhanced to take into account metals that could be
present in the formula of an oil pseudo component
+ Allow to merge the components of an exported thermodynamic package into a
thermodynamic package under use
+ Added interaction parameters for TTEG/H2O in APR
+ Added display of residual properties for Kalina property package
+ SARA Regular Solution property package. This property package will allow for
enhanced modelling of asphaltene precipitation,
enabling estimation of asphaltene yield, asphaltene precipitation onset and
asphaltene properties.
+ New "Water-Oil Residue" flash option for difficult heavy oil and water phase
separation process conditions
when a maximum of 2 liquid phases is desired
+ (7.0.50) Added liquid density and CASN to database for component 1-butyl-3-
methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide and 1-ethyl-3-
o Improved solubility of mercaptans in natural gas based on GPA Research Report
113, GPA Research Report 135
o Use Steam 97 as the default for steam calculations in APR/APRNG (changed from
slower Steam 95)
o Update TEG/Water interaction parameters in APR for Natural Gas property package
to match correlations developed by Parrish et (1986)
o Hydrate - Changes to hydrate calculation block,
Calculates as saturated or unsaturated automatically
Calculations will not proceed if water is not present in the system.
Enabled option to force water saturation before calculations
Enabled option to expose the hydrate fluid as an active phase to inspect the
phase amount and composition. Only available and APR for Natural Gas when not using
inhibitors
o Improved correlations for the calculation of the PIONA distribution special
property for oil pseudo components
o Speed up for sorting of components when system contains several components (>
50)
o Improved property estimation of EG/Water, DEG/Water and TEG/Water in APR to match
predictions from APR for Natural Gas.
( based off the GPSA Thermal Conductivity, Viscosity, Heat Capacity)
o Improved the calculation of viscosities for mixtures involving PIONA Slate pseudo
components by employing in house-developed interaction parameter
correlations used in the Empirical Viscosity method (Default method for APR and
APRNG)
x Hydrate - Enhanced overall convergence of hydrate calculations
x Liquid density @ 298 K is now estimated for pure compounds that are missing this
property in the database
x (7.0.65) Fix to prediction of hydrates when methanol is present caused by a
problem with methanol solubility in APRNG
introduced in version 7.0
Oil Characterization
+ Live plot added to the Gamma tab displaying the "Gamma to TBP" and "Gamma MW
Distribution" curves
+ Addition of a PIONA slate characterization form. The pseudo components created
within this form
represent different types of PIONA chemical families with different boiling
points
+ Added a new extrapolation method for heavy oil�s normal boiling point curves when
asphaltene information is available
+ Oil pseudo component Chemical Formulas can contain metals (V, Ni, Fe) in their
formulas if the metals
content curves are provided
+ Improved the Cn Compositional Analysis option in the Oil Characterization by
allowing the use of oil�s bulk Molecular Weight or Liquid Density at 60 F
to perform the characterization when Plus Fraction Molecular Weight or Liquid
Density at 60 F are missing
+ Added "Heavy Oil FBP Extrapolation" to the list of Estimate End T options in the
Distillation Curve Tab
+ Added the Beggs-Robinson correlation to the list of viscosity estimation methods
in the Oil Characterization ranges.
The data set for which this relationship was obtained included an API gravity
range between 16 and 58 and a temperature range of 70 to 295 F.
This correlation is recommended for light to medium oils
o Improved the calculation of oil bulk ABP when a D86 distillation curve is added
as Experimental Information.
In this case, the bulk ABP will be obtained directly from the available D86
curve. The different definitions for
bulk oil ABP�s were also added and shown in the Report form of the Oil
Characterization
o The default Chemical Formula estimation method in the Oil Characterization
changed from API (Auto) to
API/Content Curves (Auto / Content Curves) in order to always take into account
any user elemental
distribution in the calculation of the pseudo components Chemical Formula
x Avoided the calculation of non-monotonic distillation curves by automatically
changing the interpolation method to Linear when local minima or maxima are found
x The API-VMG viscosity estimation method is not reliable for very light
hydrocarbons (API > 70 and KW < 12).
This estimation method is replaced with the Letsou Stiel method when the wrong
slope of viscosity vs. temperature is obtained
for light oil pseudo components
x Fixed the interpolation of the D86 Distillation Curve when experimental data is
available below 10% or above 95% distillation
x Updated old viscosity calculations for the Viscosity vs %Dist Result curve and
for blends that involve assays
with at least 3 bulk experimental viscosity values in the Oil Characterization
environment
x EFV distillation curves will not be calculated when the API92 conversion method
fails. A message in the Report tab will warn the user about this issue
x (7.0.65) Fixed cutting oils in the Cn+ Compositional Analysis option from the Oil
Characterization when values from
the Carbon number table are deleted or modified
x (7.0.52) Fixed the Auto/Content Curves Formula estimation method in the Oil
Characterization
in order to correctly take into account the weight percent of each element with a
Content Curve in the Chemical Formula of the correspondent pseudo component
Dynamics
+ Added integration of separator sizing with dynamics. The separator sizing tool is
able to load separator dynamic
values as input and to specify sizing results back to the separator.
+ Added Cause and Effect unit operation
+ Controller - New options for split range control
+ Controller - Output ramping
+ Expander - Radial expander curves
+ Pipe Segment - Slip exponent / pressure drop tuning
+ Pipe Segment - Electric tracing
+ Mixer/Splitter - Zero loss mode
+ Separator - Torispherical head calculations
+ (7.0.58) Added functionality to reset heat loss wall temps. Wall temps are also
reset after using "init from init case" functionality
+ (7.0.58) Added ability to calculate axial heat conduction in pipe/equipment
walls. Currently supported unit ops are pipe, mixer, tee, valve, relief valve
o Overall speed up of pressure flow solver
o Relief Valve - Improved accuracy for relief valve two phase flow (requires
pressure dependency in density model)
o Compressor - Improve extrapolation for user supplied compressor curves
o Compressor / Pump - Switch to ramp speed up or down
o Infer equipment elevation from adjacent equipment
o Pipe Segment - Enhancements to Oliemans pressure drop calculations
o Process Calculator - Faster solved method while in dynamics. Considerable impact
when case uses several cells
o Improve ability of Claus unit operations to handle trace components
o Surge controller calculates default range
o Improve use of known nozzle sizes from adjacent equipment - e.g. valve adjacent
to pipe of known diameter
o Valve doesn't set flange sizes when the valve size is set
o Improve accuracy for transient kinetic calculations for very small step size
o Automatically add enlargers/reducers to tees when using Crane calculations
o Allow controller output ramping even if no PV connected
o Improve handling of L->VL transition in separators
o (7.0.58) Improve valve sizing calculations to account for xT and Fl factors
o (7.0.58) Extra options for controller split range to simplify configuration for
users
x Pipe Segment - Fixed calculations when fittings for contraction or enlargement
are used
x Fix cases where turning off kinetic head calculations didn't work correctly until
you save and reload the file
x Fix problem with compressor curves getting out of synch with their steady state
counterpart when deleting curves
x (7.0.67) Fixes to fire heat input
x (7.0.67) Fixes problem recalling cases with selector block custom code
x (7.0.67) Fixes problem with incorrect shaft connections message after importing
compressors/expanders
x (7.0.67) Fixes problem with item visibility for compressor curve correction
x (7.0.58) Fixes to Petalas/Oliemans
+ (7.0.50) Pipe slip exponent and friction factor tuning constant
o (7.0.50) Equilibrium Reactor - T approach is now applied to all equation types
except constant
o (7.0.50) Don't set nozzle elevation when connecting/disconnecting fluids
o (7.0.50) Improved accuracy for relief valve flashing flow
x (7.0.50) Add check for physically infeasible nozzle elevations, as they break the
level calculations
Miscellaneous
+ Ability to define reference T and P for Standard and Normal Gas conditions.
These reference values can be configured in the Flowsheet form and are defined
independently for
metric units, English units and normal conditions.
+ Added Heat Loss Calc type to the list of variables available in summary sets for
Pipe, PFR and Claus Reaction Furnace
+ Added button to Options form to restore default configuration
+ Silent mode in the options form under Configuration -> General. This mode
prevents any dialog boxes from popping up thus requiring user intervention
to close them. Useful when running in on-line or automated situations using OPC
Client or Server.
o Re-organized Example Cases into directories
o Units - Reviewed all unit conversions to consistently match all decimals reported
in 'NIST Special Publication 811'
o Units - Reviewed all unit names to be consistent and adhere to SI standard
convention as defined in 'NIST Special Publication 811'
o Report consistency errors in formatted display units
o Allow TH flashes to be triggered when a material port has H specified and T
calculated.
o Changed all controls in the case study, regression and optimizer to consistently
use display names for variables
x Fixed the show port location on density maps for different computer DPI screen
settings
x Fix to problem when connecting variables from heat transfer object to a selector
block and then deleting the unit operation that contains the heat transfer object
x (7.0.52) Fix to web key license check for some special cases where client
computer was not being identified correctly
Utilities - OPC
+ OPC Client - Added setting to OPC client to automatically connect to OPC Server
when case is recalled
+ OPC Client - Added the concept of dependent group for an OPC group to trigger its
associated transactions after another group finishes
o OPC Client - Overall speed up when processing information
o OPC Server - Prevent integrator from running from OPC Server if the active engine
is steady state
===================================================================================
===============
v7.0 (July 2012 - Major Release)
Thermodynamics
+ Support for phase diagrams with more than two phases
+ Allow hypos to estimate viscosity with the new API-VMG method when their family
is OIL
+ Added configurable options for estimation methods for specific property packages
(e.g. user TRAPP thermal conductivity in APR)
+ Added data for ideal gas heat of formation @ 298 for SiH4, SiClH3, SiCl2H2,
SiCl3H, SiCl4, AlCl3, FeCl3, B2H6, PCl3, PH3, BCl3
+ Included Refractive Index when estimating pure component properties
+ Added a new property called �Physical Properties Estimation Methods� this new
property will flag the group of physical property estimation methods used for
hypothetical compounds. So far, this property has two values: �VMG_2011� and
�VMG_2012�
+ Added Ideal Gas Enthalpy of Formation and Gibbs Energy of Formation for Hydrogen
Fluoride (298K - 3000K) based on Janaf
+ Added a report tab to hypo creation form. The report includes any relevant
information for the estimated properties.
o Increased speed in APRNG property package
o Upgraded RefProp version to 9.0
o Improved estimation for pure components with no data for heat of formation
o Updated properties for C20-C100 (Pc, Tc, Vc, NBP, LD@25C, Ideal Gas Cp). New
components were added if they were missing
o Chemical formulas are calculated for any hypothetical compound with chemical
family set as "Oils", "Resin Petroleum Fractions" or "Asphaltene Petroleum
Fractions" independently of the initial data given by the user for its construction
o Use default physical property estimation methods from Oil Characterization when
creating hypos with the Oil family
o kij fit for Hg-H2O systems in APR and APRNG to match data from Glew and Hayes
(1971)
o Improved estimation of solubility of alcohols in water when using Advanced Peng
Robinson (APR) and APR for Natural Gas
o The Standard phase labeling in dynamics was changed to match the Standard phase
labeling as used in steady state.
o Settings tab in the property package form has been reorganized for better
workflow and visual appearance
x Fixed problem to change interaction parameters of components with quotes ( ' ) in
their names
x Fixed estimation of Ideal Gas Cp for some refrigerants at high temperatures
x Fixed a bug in the Pour Point special property calculation, an internal mistake
in unit conversion overestimated the result by a factor between 5 and 10 depending
on the T units
x Fixed calculation of Wobbe Index. The calculation was using a wrong mixing rule.
It now conforms to ISO 6976
x Removed a warning about missing dynamics license when changing bulk viscosity
method. This warning did not affect calculations in any way.
x Fixed crash in Amine property package when adding Potassium Carbonate as the
first component
x Fix to reference conditions for Exergy. This property was also moved to the
special properties unit operation and removed from streams.
x Fixed the CO2 Freezing algorithm to handle systems with up to 3 phases (VLL) plus
an incipient solid CO2 phase.
x Fixed reported value of Ideal Gas Gibbs Energy of Formation @ 298 per component.
Oil Characterization
+ Added a new characterization option, Cn Compositional Analysis, to be used for
oil assays based on Carbon number and Plus fraction information
+ Kinematic oil bulk viscosities @ 100 and 210 F are calculated based on provided
experimental data or selected estimation method
+ Chemical formulas for OIL pseudo-components are now calculated in the OIL
environment
+ Added calculation of heat of formation (NHV) for bulk oil and oil pseudo
components
+ Allow users to specify oil bulk heat of combustion to OIL characterization
+ Added several estimation methods to OIL characterization
Molecular weight: API (API2B2), Brule, Goosens and Tsang-Aspen
Standard liquid density: Lee-Kesler
Critical temperature: Winn-Mobil, Coal Liquid, Brule, Standing, Roess, Nokay and
Penn State
Critical pressure: Winn-Mobil, Coal Liquid, Standing, and Penn State
Critical volume: Lee-Kesler, API and Brule
Acentric factor: Twu
Ideal gas Cp: Lastovka-Shaw, Dadgostar-Shaw, API, Brule and Harrison-Seaton
Thermal Conductivity: Penn State
+ Added option to estimate formulas based on content curves
+ Added a new cut style to gamma characterization to be based on MW
+ Created dedicated characterization option for Resins and Asphaltenes in Gamma
characterization
+ Pseudo component chemical families correspond to the characterized type of fluid
(Oil, Resin or Asphaltene)
+ Added the Gamma Probability Density curve in the Gamma Distribution grid from the
Oil environment
+ Added a new Range Set �Resin-Asphaltene� to define the physical property
estimation methods for these kind of fluids
+ Added physical property (Fraction, MW, LD60 and NBP) vs Carbon Number curves to
the list of Result Curves
o Increased T ranges for plots of viscosity and thermal conductivity
o Adjusted T range for plots of density, viscosity and thermal conductivity to show
the whole experimental data set that has been provided
o Gamma characterization using only dynamic viscosity and density curves
o Replaced Bitumen range Set for Heavy_Oil Range Set
o Enhancement of Twu's critical properties correlation based on the paper:
(Castellanos et al., �Modeling the phase behaviour of heavy oil and solvent
mixtures�, Fluid Phase Equilibria 304 (2011) 74-85)
o Enhanced Twu�s Critical Temperature estimation method for pseudo components with
boiling points above 1400 K
o New menu for oil pseudo-components formulas, formulas can be calculated based on
the hypo's physical properties or user provided content curves
o Automatic range Set selection is made depending on the active Experiment type
x Fixed problem with some light-ends specifications not being saved with the case
x Fixed cloning of oil ranges and oil default methods when cloning an oil
x Fixed a problem when installing or uninstalling renamed oils
x Avoid dependency in the input order of liquid property curves in the Gamma
Characterization option
x Fixed a bug in the Autocalculate option for the Light Ends that produced
different results depending on the order in which the light ends were added
x Fixed the calculation of standard liquid density and liquid density @ 298 K of
oil pseudo components to match the values from the Rackett equation when the pseudo
components come from oils that are cut using liquid density vs. T data
Reactors
+ Display extent of reaction in equilibrium reactors
+ Added a stiff integrator to PFR
+ Specific reactions can now be ignored in CSTR, PFR, Conversion and Equilibrium
reactors.
+ Addition of inner MERT to the list of fin types in the ethylene cracking unit.
+ Added feature to copy reactions between reactors (CSTR, PFR, Conversion and
Equilibrium)
+ Added serrated fin option for the ethylene cracker tube coils
+ Added automatic Steam97 utility package feature in the ethylene cracker for
convection section accuracy.
o Report in status message when a reaction is ignored
o PFR - Change units of Roughness from m to cm when using the SI unit set.
x PFR, CSTR and Equilibrium reactors now preserve kinetic and equilibrium
information when deleting reactions.
x CSTR. Reactor was not solving when the property package had solid support and the
reactor was splitting the phases and a solid port was not explicitly added.
Unit Operations
+ Added Pinch Utility unit operation.
+ Selector Block - The logical functions AND and OR are now supported.
+ Special Properties - Added hydrocarbon dew point to special properties
+ Special Properties - Added support for Heat of Vaporization at constant T or P in
mass basis.
+ Relief Valve - Added mass flux to list of calculated variables
+ Added warning to Set unit operation when it is being used with inconsistent units
due to the fact that the calculations are always carried out in internal units.
o Special Properties - Improved the special property for the prediction of
composition of petroleum fractions by adding Isoparaffin and Olefin to the current
Paraffin, Naphthene and Aromatic compositions and modifying the estimation method
with an in-house developed PIONA distribution procedure
o Psychrometric Utility. Improve status messages for unfeasible specifications.
o Relief Valve - Improved consistency in the calculations to find choke pressure.
Answers used to vary up to 5 kPa for minor changes in feed.
o HV Unit Operation - Added a missing flash call (it would not solve for some
combinations of specifications)
x Psychrometric Utility - Fixed a missing consistency error check when over
specifying relative humidity and outlet composition.
Case Study
+ Added button to specify a specific point into the flowsheet
o Preserve the last case study selected when the form is closed and re-opened
o Plot tab enhanced to accommodate for larger variable names in the X, Y, and
series combo box
x Do not render decimals in case study for integer variables
x Failed to read variables of a particular point when linked to a process
calculator and the linked cell had "#UNKWN!" as its value
x Enabled the use of integer variables related to number of segments in Pipe, PFR
and FTR
Reporting
+ Added button to delete Project Report templates
+ Blank lines can be added to the summary sets to help organize items. Blank line
will appear in the exported Excel and word files as well
o Improvements to Project Report when reporting an oil characterization
x Fixed problem when display Pseudo Tc and Pseudo Pc in summary sets
Miscellaneous
+ Added right click menu to variables to display unit conversion and edit contents
of unit conversion tooltip.
+ Added Ounces/square inch pressure unit
+ Added mm/day as a unit of velocity
+ Added an option for streams to display the bulk liquid properties in the
equilibrium results
+ Display K values and water free properties in Extended list of equilibrium
results
+ Display atom counts in Extended list of equilibrium results
+ Display gas specific gravity in Extended list of equilibrium results
+ Added a button in the main toolbar to open the manual
+ Line Sizing - Added angle as a variable to specify inclination.
+ Separator Sizing - Added mist eliminator parameters (height and support ring
allowance) in vertical separator sizing
+ Added outside heat transfer correlations to detailed heat loss models for forced
convection of air or water (the correlations are a blend between force convection
and natural convection)
o Steady state speed up of around 2X for large cases
o Redesign of unit sets form
o Line Sizing - Avoid re-solving stream after a change in line sizing
specifications
o Plots are now fully customizable. Default behaviours can be set in the Options
form. Changes made to each individual plots are stored with the case.
o Regression - Hide plots when there is nothing to plot (e.g. one experimental data
point)
o OPC - Enhanced speed in OPC Server when processing data being written to the
dynamics engine while running integrator.
x Fixed problems in reactors and component splitters when renaming hypos
x OPC - Fixed a crash in OPC server when writing to an integer variable when the
simulator is not open
x Model Regression - Fixed model regression plot for composition variables
x Excel - Fixed problem that was causing the Excel unit operation to "forget" the
loaded Add-ins.
x Separator Sizing - Fix to unit conversion in separator sizing when estimating
disengagement height
x Separator Sizing - Fixed situations in which it would report answers even if it
failed to converge
Distillation Column
Tower - The interface was revamped to streamline the workflow of the user.
Primarily on the specifications tab. Additions and changes include,
+ Display current error and internal value for specifications.
+ A monitor section was added visualize the behaviour of the tower as it converges.
This section includes a profiles view and a plot view.
+ Specifications can now be edited (e.g. change name, change components used in a
recovery spec, etc)
+ Added button to stop calculations from the distillation column
+ Improved convergence when starting from scratch without needing estimates
+ Added a settings tab
+ Added an option to ignore efficiency values in feed or draw stages
o Changes to user interface when adding specifications
o Use of display names makes it easier the identification of the specs.
o Support for numbering stages from the bottom
o Estimates can be input directly without having to create "estimate" objects
o Units used in specifications can be changed in place without changing the whole
unit set
o Merged specifications and viewed variables into one grid.
This grid includes different options to sort the variables (by stage, by type,
etc)
x Fixed situations in which a liquid draw would end up with a partial vapor and
viceversa.
Process Calculator
+ The logical functions AND and OR are now supported.
+ New function CELLVALUE. This function allows for extracting values of specified
cells using row and col as parameters.
o Faster loading of forms.
x Fixed problem with backward propagation of data when an export cell is connected
to a material port.
x Fixed slow loading of form caused by unused cells.
x Fixed problem with back propagation when exporting values to a material port in a
stream.
Heat Exchanger
+ Added all the previously missing TEMA types to hx rating (G-type, H-type, and J-
type split flow)
+ Display LMTD profile
+ Added calculation of shell stream fraction flows in heat exchanger rating
+ Exposed phase-specific flow profiles in heat exchanger unit operation
+ Added extra 2-phase pressure drop correlations to the heat exchanger and air
cooler rating features.
o Multisided HX - Improved convergence for large UA values that result in pinched
approach temperatures.
x Multisided HX - Fixed criteria for temperature cross when cold side gets colder
due to pressure drop despite gaining energy.
Dynamics
+ Full support for Claus plant modeling
+ Miller method for calculating pressure drop in tees
+ Added variable with "Max Mach" value and "Mach Profile" in Pipe
+ Added "Is Choked" and "Is Choked Profile" to Pipe
+ Report Mass Flux in Relief Valve
+ Ability to specify fin geometry for individual layers and to tune HTC and dP
correlation predictions
+ New options for calculating vapor and liquid choke in control valves
+ New option for expanders � �Radial Des. Pt� � Estimates nozzle/guide vane area
from design point, and
uses that to determine flow through machine
+ Elevation for MultiHX
+ Exposed separate layer for control layer
+ Added support for Claus Detail and Amine Detail
+ Added support for Line Sizing
+ Pipe Segment - Support for Dukler correlation
+ Controller � Added feedforward control functionality
+ HX - Auto mode for Side Model (i.e. for handling boiling/cond)
+ Compressor - Curve correction using either MW or sonic velocity
+ Event Scheduler - Sequence action can start/stop another sequence
o Increased speed of faceplates by 40%
o General speedup and additional speedups when "Fast" is selected for flash
settings
o Process Calculator - Faster refreshing when the integrator is running.
x Process calculator does not solve when not integrating if it belongs to a
subflowsheet
x Flowsheet assistant not copied on copy/paste
x Fix for efficiencies in distillation section view
x Fixed pump duty value showing non-zero when pump switch is off
x Fixed pump handling when using curves and switch is off
x Update X axis in stripcharts when units of integrator time change
x Fixes to equilibrium reactor in gibbs minimization mode when using gCarbon in the
Gasification 2010 property package.
x Block diameter from being changed while running integrator
Pipe Segment
+ Added Mach number and Volume as profiles
+ Added cumulative length and vertical/horizontal distance to profiles and plot.
o Increased performance when pasting large sets of data to define the geometry of
the segments
x Fixed problem when receiving external temperature from Excel unit operation
PFD - Visio
+ PFD - Short cut Ctrl + W to zoom whole PFD is now enabled for Visio 2010.
+ Variables in the Unit Operations can now be added to the PFD Datasheets via the
right click menu
+ New Import border function allows to seamlessly import borders from Visio files.
o Moved liquid liquid extractor to the "Towers" stencil
x Fixed display of side strippers when using detailed icon for tower
===================================================================================
===============
v6.5 (April 2012 - Maintenance Update - Build 45)
x Claus Converter: Fixes to list of components that should not be reacted to take
into account unusual operating conditions where the feed may contain components
like C1, BTEX, etc
===================================================================================
===============
v6.5 (March 2012 - Maintenance Update - Build 44)
Miscellaneous
x Fix to process calculator when doing copy paste on multiple cells starting in
column Z
x Fix to calculation of CO2 Freezing profile in distillation towers
x Fix to some specific problems caused by round off error when calculating angle in
vertical pipes
x Fix to Petalas/Oliemans for some conditions of annular flow
x Fix to correct pipe external temperature connection
x Fix to Beggs-Brill when using fittings in pipe (they were being ignored)
x Added "Distribute" function to the Shape menu in the Visio PFD
x Fixed specification status of ambient temperature in pipe when connected to Excel
unit op
x Fix in line sizing to report velocity and Re at stream conditions as opposed to
doing it at average pressure drop conditions
x Removed tube side contraction/expansion header dP calcultions in double pipe hx
rating option (not required)
Thermodynamics
o Changes for amyl nitrite, triethyl aluminum, TTEG, cyclopentane, methyl
cyclopentane
o Fix for Ighf for Si, SiH4, SiH3Cl, SiH2Cl2, SiHCl3, SiCl4, HCl, AlCl3, FeCl3,
B2H6, PCl3, PH3, BCl3
o Ighf@298 added for SiH4, SiClH3, SiCl2H2, SiCl3H, SiCl4, AlCl3, FeCl3, B2H6,
PCl3, PH3, BCl3
o Changes made to Igcp data for refrigerants
Dynamics
x Fix to units when using alarm variables from a controller in a stripchart
x Pump duty showing non-zero value when switch is off
x Fixed problem in pump when using detailed curves and switching to off
x Fix to calculation of static head contribution to energy balance in pipes
x Fix to Petalas/Oliemans for some conditions of annular flow
o Improvement to energy balance for wall metal when using phasezone heat loss and
level is changing
o Change to interpolation for head curves in expander when speed is different to
curve speed
o Improved extrapolation for efficiency curves when flow is less than first point
===================================================================================
===============
v6.5 (December 2011 - Maintenance Update - Build 34)
Miscellaneous
x Fixed user interface access to modify properties of inert solids
x Fix to separator when completely specifying the vapour port expecting back
calculation of feed and liquid
Thermodynamics
x Fix to Cp, viscosity and thermal conductivity of Glycol/Water mixtures when there
are multiple glycols present and all but one are zero composition.
Dynamics
x Fix to pipe when using a fitting for Reducer or Enlarger. It was being accounted
for twice
x Fix to HTC/dP for Kays correlation for MultiHX where channel height/width ratio >
8
===================================================================================
===============
v6.5 (September 2011 - Maintenance Update - Build 28)
Thermodynamics
o Improved density data for mixtures of EG/Water. Data was taken from NIST
x Fixed BWR/BWRS when using Helium in the component list
Dynamics
o Improve initialization of unit operations when using the �Init from� button
o Improve flash convergence near plait point / critical point
o Ignore specified curves if compressor type is recip. Warn about pRatio and dP
specs
x Fixed problem with Delta P correlation selection when recalling old cases
x Fix for heat loss cylindrical correction on recall when using more than one layer
x Fix initialization for holdups with zero volume
x Fix overwrite of phase fraction specification in stream
x Fix calculation of phase Std Gas Volume Flow
x Fix error during import case when thermodynamic cases do not match
x Fix units handling when controller connected to selector block input port other
than the first port
Miscellaneous
x Fixed missing refresh when connecting or disconnecting heat loss variables
or when connecting unit operations that are not ready to solve.
x Project report was not reporting datasheets until they were manually selected.
x Fixed problems when cloning a pipe with fittings of type Contraction, Expansion,
Mitre Bend, Pipe Bend, Return Bend, Elbow, Standard Tee - Through Run, Pipe Exit
===================================================================================
===============
v6.5 (June 2011)
Main Features
+ Added OPC Client unit operation. Separate license required
+ Incorporated RefProp property package from NIST. Separate license required
+ Added detailed heat loss models to pipe and PFR (including catalyst model in PFR)
+ Added 2 phase pressure drop correlations to pipe
+ Added heat transfer fluids to database and improved properties from refrigerants
+ Added Gibbs reactor to dynamics engine
Claus
+ Take into account more combustion reactions in Claus Oxygen Calculator (NH3, HCN,
H4N2, CO, CS2, COS, PH3)
o Enhanced convergence of Claus reducing gas generator and direct fired heater
x Fix to the "S in Cmps" variable in the Claus detail unit operation
Dynamics
+ Add on/off switch for pump/compressor
+ NatConvWater/Buried Pipe implemented for pipe heat loss
+ Gibbs reactor
+ Global Heat Loss Tab in pipe
+ Entrainment calculations for separators
+ Catalyst pressure drop correlations for PFR
+ Petalas/Oliemans mechanistic correlations for pipe
+ HTC /dP correlations for multisided heat exchanger
+ Pop and Proportional types for relief valve
o Separator radiant heat input improvements
o Improved heuristics for default initialization sets
x Fixed problem to directly specify initial compositions in depressuring assistant
wizard
+ Added ability to define different heat transfer coefficients in separators for
the roof, wall and floor zones.
Excel
+ Allow Excel unit op to use charts as sheets
x Fix to Excel unit op when using special characters in worksheets
Exchangers
o Changed display name of heat exchanger duty from "Energy Lost Tube" to "Duty"
o Changed display name of "Baffle Cut" to "Baffle Cut (area fraction)"
o Tag as error when a heat exchanger is over specified
o Changed default number of segments in heat exchangers to 5
x Fix temperature cross for air cooler rating with excessive overdesign
x Improved calculation of surface area for U-tubes in heat exchangers in rating
mode
x Fixed error message in hx when doing phase tracking in the dense phase region (no
dew or bubble point to be found)
x Fix in heater/cooler when specified with a redundant value of 0.0 for
superheating or sub cooling.
Miscellaneous
+ Added Gas Specific Gravity to special properties. Calculated with typical
assumption of Gas SG = MW Gas / MW Air
+ Enable copy paste in hypo form table from plot
+ Added Duty/Draw specification in distillation tower (in mole, mass, and std vol
basis)
+ Added cricondenbar and cricondentherm to envelope plot
+ Added options to Store and Recall cases from OPC Server . Also exposed most
integrator variables by default.
+ Enable toggle to deactivate experimental variables in the model regression
utility
o Changed display name of Cp/Cv variable from "CpCv" to "Cp / Cv"
o Show status in flowsheet form as not solved when there are unit operations that
are not solved
o Display progress and allow stopping of large property table calculations
o By default assign water phase as the second liquid phase in generic separator
o Allow users to define proxy server for the web key right in the license manager
o Minor changes to layout of curves tab in compressor, expander and pump
o Improved speed when searching for components
x Fixed problem in case study when rendering results after the case study is
renamed
x Fixed problem with copy/paste of unit operations from an imported flow sheet
x Fixed problem in tower to edit efficiencies when reboiler type is thermosyphon
Pipe
+ Allow selection of feed or product velocity of pipes in Visio datasheets and
reporting
+ Added pressure drop correlations for 2 phase modeling in pipe
Dukler
Duns Ros
Fogarasi
Eaton
Orkiszewski
Mandhane
Petalas
Oliemans
+ Added Dp/100ft profile variable to pipe. Also enabled as a scalar for Visio
datasheets
+ Detailed heat transfer correlations for pipe segment
o Defined minimum values of 0.0 for length and diameter in pipe
o Changed behavior when specifying elevation profiles in pipe to only re-calculate
values that have not been specified
x Fixed units in roughness when selecting a pipe schedule
Process Calculator
o Include format in the copy/paste of process calculator
+ Allow users to insert or delete rows in a process calculator
+ Enabled short-cut features: Ctrl+b, Ctrl+i, Ctrl+u for bold, italic and underline
respectively
o Spill text to adjacent cells whenever possible
Reactors
+ Added detailed heat transfer calculations to PFR including a catalyst option
+ Added pressure drop correlation for catalysts in PFR
o Allow equilibrium reactor to specify outlet temperature in liquid port as well as
the vapor port.
Reporting
+ Added several datasheets to many unit operations in the simulator
+ Improved API 661 reports in air coolers to include extra information
+ Added some variables to stream for reporting purposes (P&ID, Fluid Description)
o Improved speed when refreshing summary sets
o Enhancement when reporting material ports when using the "As Summary" mode
Thermodynamics
+ Added RefProp property package from NIST
+ Added API-VMG viscosity estimation correlation for the oil characterization.
This correlation improves the original API correlation beyond its limits (10 < KW
< 12.5) and (0 < API < 50).
It was also regressed to include experimental data found in literature.
+ Added settings to select blend rules for phases when estimating transport
properties
+ Added settings to thermodynamics to allow users to change the phase
identification criteria in dense phase region
+ Added settings to change the phase ordering for liquids
+ Added a setting in material streams to calculate a retrograde flash
+ Added dissolution of SO2 to API Sour model
+ Exposed some flash settings to deal with difficult scenarios (e.g. Heavy
components)
+ Allow users to store and recall thermodynamic cases (property package selection,
components, oil, kij, etc)
+ Implemented interaction parameter estimation for Ethyl Mercaptan, Dimethyl
Sulfide, tert-Butyl Mercaptan, and n-Propyl Mercaptan
o Updated density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity calculations
for EG-Water, TEG-Water and DEG-Water mixtures
o Face lift to hypo/pure component form
o Reordered property packages in the Thermodynamics form
x Fixed bug when adding some components with more than one single quote ' in their
names
x Fixed APR to use volume translation when calculating speed of sound
o Improved property estimation in the following refrigerants
Trichlorofluoromethane
1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane
1,2-dichloro-1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane
Chloropentafluoroethane
Hexafluoroethane
Dichlorodifluoromethane
2,2-dichloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane
1-chloro-1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethane
Pentafluoroethane
Chlorotrifluoromethane
1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane
Tetrafluoromethane
1,1-dichloro-1-fluoroethane
1-chloro-1,1-difluoroethane
1,1,1-trifluoroethane
1,1-difluoroethane
Dichlorofluoromethane
Octafluoropropane
Chlorodifluoromethane
1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane
Trifluoromethane
1,1,1,2,3,3-hexafluoropropane
1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropane
1,1,2,2,3-pentafluoropropane
1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane
Difluoromethane
1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane
Fluoromethane
Octafluorocyclobutane
o Added the following heat transfer fluids to database
Therminol 55
Therminol 59
Therminol 62
Therminol 66
Therminol 72
Therminol 75
Therminol LT
Therminol VP-3
Therminol VLT
Therminol D-12
Therminol XP
Therminol VP-1
Visio
+ Enable unit and format selection for special properties in Visio datasheets
o Moved Visio menus directly to the Visio form
o Added button to Visio toolbar to open the depressuring assistant form (when
applicable)
o Render controllers in Visio as warnings (red dashed) instead of unsolved (green
dashed) if they are stuck at a boundary
o Improved Copy/Paste in Visio to paste onto a more intuitive location
x Fix to Visio when doing a copy/paste of unit operation with Ctrl+Drag
x Fix to order of feeds in absorbers with more than 10 stages
x Fixed Visio rendering of connections for multiple energy feeds/draws in towers
x Fixed rendering of Visio icon when doing a copy paste of an unsolved unit
operation from a steady state flow sheet into a dynamics flow sheet
x Fixed the updating of mole flow values rendered by Visio while integrator is
running
===================================================================================
===============
v6.0 (build 18, September 2010)
Thermodynamics
+ Implemented Steam97 property package
o Improved the viscosity estimation in the oil package for better handling of
heavier fractions
Visio
x Fixed icon coloring after a copy/paste of units ops from st state to dynamics
+ Connections tooltip now show direction of the connection
Visio 2010
+ Now the option Visio2010 is recognized by the simulator
x Fixed problem caused by ribbons that caused VMGSim Menus to not be shown at all
+ Added the items missing from Right click of the flowsheet (Create Mat Bal table
and refresh tables)
Dynamics
x Fixed problem in dynamics engine caused by copy/paste of some streams
x Fixed problem in dynamics engine caused by copy/paste on full flowsheets that
have unit operations with connectors instead of streams
x Fixed convergence issue with conversion reactor in dynamics engine
x Fixed issue of recalling cases with reactors in dynamics engine from version 5.0
into 6.0
x Fix to faceplates when variable goes out of range
Miscellaneous
x Fixed problems in gibbs reactor when running it in situations in which there are
not enough components to react
x Fixed labelling problem in license manager when under certain scenarios it would
say that the license was not found even though it was indeed found
+ Added basis to distillation curve unit operation
x Fixed behaviour of Ambient P when using units of gauge pressure
o Updated pipe database values to include more decimals for outer diameter and
thickness
x Fix to compositions form for the initialization step of the assistant
x Excel unit op fix when worksheet contains spaces in the name
x Excel unit op fix when saving a case when a cell in Excel is in "edit" mode
+ Added a "detailed" section to heat exchanger and air cooler rating to display
extra output
+ Added 45/60 degree tube layouts for heat exchanger and air cooler rating
+ Added segmental baffles to heat exchanger rating
===================================================================================
===============
v6.0 (build 7, July 2010)
Main features
+ Optimizer
+ Model Regression
+ Ethylene cracking reactor. Separate license required.
+ VMGSim OPC Server
+ Process calculator to perform multiple input, multiple output calculations in a
spreadsheet like fashion
+ Integration to OLGAS 2/3 phase pressure drop correlation for steady state pipe.
Separate license required
+ Gasification 2010 property package that allows gibbs minimization prediction of
typical gasification compounds. Separate license required.
o Considerable enhancements to gasification reactor to operate in predictive mode
by estimating equilibrium conditions based on the Gasification 2010 property
package
+ Support in dynamics engine for amine efficiency calculations for distillation
section
+ Support in dynamics engine for reactors of type Conversion, Equilibrium, CSTR and
PFR
User Interface
+ Added tool bar to Visio PFD with the following buttons,
Auto Stream Tool - Creates streams on the fly to interconnect material ports
Flip Horizontal/Vertical - Rotates Visio icons
Lock/Unlock Connections - Shortcut to the current feature from the right click
menu of a shape
Extend Visio Window - Visio window grows/shrinks following the main VMGSim Visio
tool
Send Visio to Back � ShortCut to the feature to push the Visio form behind all
forms
o Data Sheets - Configuration interface upgraded to match what is available for
summary sets.
User Data Groups enabled. Now the user can store different groups and choose a
default one for the next time they make a datasheet of the same unit operation type
o Material Balance Table upgrade � New interface for selecting properties.
User has control over the order of the streams in the table.
Faster Refresh
o Moved reactors to a separate pallete in Visio
o Changed reactor forms to enhance usability and flexibility
o Face lift to XY and Gibbs curve form
+ Option to display with contrasting colors when viewing phase diagram in a
property table
+ Option to hide Visio lines going into an Excel Op or Process Calculator.
x Fixed crash when minimizing structure builder form
x Fixed "Show Object Data" in Excel for pipe profiles
x Fixed missing units in UA and LMTD profiles in heat exchanger
Unit Operations
o Selector block. Custom equation exposed the "Advanced" option to enable users to
add code to define a complex equation
+ Support for double pipe in heat exchanger rating
+ Added fittings to pipe segment
+ Added Cp/Cv to special properties
x Enhanced convergence of pipe segment when specifying outlet temperature and feed
pressure
Reactors
o Added different ways to define kinetic expressions: Molar Concentration, Partial
Pressures, Fugacities. These options do not need to use Advanced Kinetics.
o Allow users to define concentration and reaction rate units when not using
Advanced Kinetics
o Allow users to define level in steady state CSTR
o Faster calculation of kinetic reactors
+ Added pressure drop estimation to PFR
Dynamics
+ Multisided heat exchanger now supported in dynamics
+ Added side feeds, draws and heat loads for distillation section
+ Support for packed columns in distillation section
+ Support for liquid liquid extraction in distillation section
+ Support in dynamics engine for Distillation Curves, Hydrate Op, Special
Properties Op, Water Dew Point Op, Amine Detail Op
+ Support for reactive distillation in distillation section
+ Tracking of kinetic energy (option on flowsheet form)
+ Level control for HX
+ Autotuning for Controllers
+ Gain Scheduling for Controllers
+ Screw Pumps
o Column profiles
+ Entrainer Columns
+ Overall tray efficiencies for Distillation Section
+ Nozzle entry/exit losses for separator/HX etc. Reducer/enlarger losses
+ Added delay time to selector block.
o Improved pipe choke calculations, including selection of choke calculation
method.
+ Report velocity in nozzles
+ Separators allow for dP spec.
+ Added Integrate mode to selector block.
x Bug fix in component splitter in dynamics when running with more than one phase
x Fixed bug when running integrator in dynamics and switching to steady state
without stopping integrator first
Miscellaneous
o Automatic file association to vmp files when installing and when registering.
+ Case Study Clone
+ Data Sets Clone (Dynamics StripCharts)
o Equilibrium Results tabs now has the "extended" option to see every property that
can be calculated by the property package
o Extended option to select profiles from tower, distillation section, pipe,
cooler, heater and PFR. Includes all physical properties, special properties and
hydrates.
+ Enable kij as variables that can be added to a case study through the copy
connection paste connection feature
+ Enable hypo properties as variables that can be added to a case study through the
copy connection paste connection feature
+ Added several variable descriptions to the variable tool tips
+ Added CO2Freezing Approach T variable to special properties and profiles
+ Added several variables related to thermodynamics objects to the COM interface.
x Bug fix in which special property failed to propagate values when connecting both
GHV and GHVStdGasVol to Excel
x Fixed a problem that prevented users from changing reference T and P for exergy
calculations
x Fixed case study composition variables not being removed when removing the
component
===================================================================================
===============
v5.0 (build 3, August 2009)
Dynamics
+ Released full dynamics engine
Oil Characterization
Re-designed user interface
+ Allow renaming assays and blends
+ Cloning assays
+ Cloning oils
+ Specifying variables to adjust the names of the hypos (e.g. end up with
MyBaseName_[123]F instead of OilName_AssayName_[123]F
+ Ability to re-cut blends (for example, useful if one would like to cut with
[123]C instead of [123]F)
+ Visc Vs % Dist curves @ T, KinVisc Vs % Dist curves @ T, ThCond Vs % Dist curves
@ T,
+ Visc Vs T curve, KinVisc Vs T curve, ThCond Vs T curve,
+ Content curves specification, inspecting them in streams and using them as
specifications in towers
o More guiding messages as the assays are being built and also a more up to date
log of actions and failures
o Interactively enable and disable Cut and Install buttons
+ Added reporting for oil
Fischer-Tropsch Reactor
+ Added a new Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis reactor unit operation
Unit operations
+ F-Type TEMA shell in exchanger rating
o Improved convergence of heat exchanger
+ Cross Connector now includes an option to automatically select the variables to
keep synchronized
+ Added Tc, Pc and GOR to special properties
x Fixes to pH variable from special properties
+ Added an "Ions" tab to Amine Detail unit operation
x Improved convergence of tower when a water draw is close to zero flow
+ Added Cv and xT curves to Valves
Miscellaneous
Allow multiple connections when connecting to input of controllers and selector
blocks
+ Enabled right click menu "Copy Connection" to connect variables around flowsheet
+ Allow interconnection of variables that come from profiles
+ Allow addition of variables to Case Study from right click menu from unit
operation forms
o Allow Case study to have the Min Value greater than the Max Value
+ Added a dedicated OutT variable to heater and cooler
x Fixed Excel 2007 problem in which cases would always resolve before saving
o Redesigned Options form to enhance functionality
+ Exposed a detailed list of properties per phase in the summary sets for
equilibrium results of streams
o Enhanced convergence of controllers when they hit upper and lower boundaries
+ Added an option to controllers for users to define a "search direction" to aid in
the convergence of difficult systems.
+ Added a comprehensive list of Alias names for refrigerants
+ Property package cloning now includes oil cases
+ New web based security system for licensing VMGSim
x Fixed problem in Excel unit operation to copy and paste plots
===================================================================================
=================
v4.0 (build 11, December 2008)
Dynamics
x Fixed connections for compositions.
+ Added Noise Variables to Controller and Selector Block.
x Fixed the frequency variable in the historian in recalled cases.
o Improved calculation speed.
+ Elliptical head for separators.
+ Heat exchanger in dynamics engine.
+ Added options to modify the behaviour of Mixers and Tees in dynamics.
+ Improved auto scaling in the x axis in stripcharts.
===================================================================================
=================
v4.0 (build 3, October 2008)
Unit Operations
o Pipe Segment decreased flash calls.
+ Enabled custom equations and user units in the selector block.
+ Added specs to distillation tower for draw to feed ratios in mole, mass, std vol.
+ Saturation op now has options to saturate liquids.
+ Amines. Added support for multi pass trays.
o Amines. Improved mass transfer model for tower efficiency calculations (including
pressure dependency).
+ Added selectivity to Claus Direct Oxidation.
o Improved convergence and speed up to claus direct fired reheater.
Thermodynamics
+ Added ideal gas Gibbs free energies for the following components: NO, NO2, N2O,
NH3, ethylene, propylene,
cis2butene, trans2butene, isubutene, 1-pentene, cis2pentene, trans2pentene,
2methyl1butene, 2methyl2butene,
3methyl1butene"
x Fixed enthalpy offset for CARBON (inert solid) such that it can be used in
reactors.
+ Added Cadmium, Manganese, Lead, Tin, Copper, Nickel, Zinc, Cadmium Oxide,
Manganese Oxide, Lead Oxide,
Tin Oxide, Copper Oxide, Nickel Oxide and Zinc Oxide, ammonium thiosulfate
x Fixed cp, liquid viscosity and thermal conductivity for therminol Q "
+ Added close to 20000 components to the pure component data base.
Dynamics
+ Dynamics. Added Initialization sets.
o Dynamics. Change default coloring of streams in visio to follow Pressure flow
specs when in dynamics (instead of coloring by phase)
x Dynamics. Fixed problem in stripcharts in which they would get offset by 1 if
changing the number of data points.
+ Dynamics. Added Pressure Flow Analysis.
+ Dynamics. Added radiant heat transfer option for detail heat transfer model.
===================================================================================
=================
v3.2 (build 1, April 2008)
User Interface / Generic
+ Plot in towers remember the last selection of variables.
+ Static plots are stored with the case
x Fixed units conversion problem when defining tray dimensions for Amine towers
with GPSA method
+ Access to help file when case has not been created
x Fixed display names in hydrate forms
x MassFlows shows 00X where Fraction is set to % in material balance table
o Expander Include all the curves as compressor
Reporting
+ Added a "Reporting" Menu to VMGSim
+ Added Summary Sets
+ UserDataGroups (Templates) hooked to Summary sets, Material Balance Table and
Stream Summary
+ Customizable Word template
o Face lift to current printing form, headers and footers
+ Add functionality to Stream Materials Summary. Able to configure them, Excel
export, Word export
+ Add functionality to Stream Energy Summary. Excel export
HTML Report
x Fixed problem in which it was not using the .css (Style) ile to format the html
file
+ Added a .css (Style) file to format in black and white and with grid lines (user
can select from two .css files)
o Equilibrium results only display the selected stream properties (it used to
display all)
o Option to not show equilibrium results at all
o Option to not render the material ports from unit operations (that are not
streams) to avoid duplication
o By default it can render hypo compounds with a reduced set of information
+ Can export to Excel without having an Excel unitop
Visio
+ Synchronize the name of the flowsheet with the Visio page name.
x Fixed bugs in cut/paste Visio that was happening under certain conditions.
x Fixed problem in Visio when removing many unit operations including their
datasheets at the same time
HX
+ Added TEMA clearances options in HX rating
o Changes to pressure drop calculation in shell side in HX rating when using
baffles
Dynamics
x Fixed dashed lines in stripcharts
+ Added Reciprocating Compressor option to the Compressor unit op.
o Improved choke calculations for pipe
+ Split range control in controller
+ New correlation for heat loss - Horizontal tube hybrid laminar/turbulent
+ Support for Beggs Brill in pipe
o Improved Pressure Flow Solver robustness
+ Electric motor has default NEMA B curve available
o In coolers of compressor train, set OutT as spec = 90 F and take out OutQ as spec
+ Support for three phase chemical systems
St State / Generic
o Preserve tray dimensions when adding stages to amine towers.
x Fixed units in controller "history"
+ Solve compressor / expanders when Out T is specified.
+ Enabled Median calculation in selector block and fixed copy/paste
+ Added PRatio (Pressure Ratio) variable as a spec in Pump, Compressor, Expander
+ Gasification Unit Operation
Reactors
o Keep comments in kinetic expressions
+ Equilibrium reactors added approach to equilibrium per reaction and approach
temperature per reaction
+ Equilibrium reactor fixed "SolveFromLastConverged" and exposed numerical method
settings to the form
o Kinetic reactors now expose A and E from kinetic expressions as signal ports
Thermodynamics
x Improved viscosity calculation in amines
+ Added thermodynamic "Settings" tab to Basis form
+ Added COASTAL-AGR and PEGDME-280SM.
+ Support for CO2, H2S in the Steam95 package
+ Added iso,sec and tert butylcyclohexane to pure component database
+ Added 1-Bromo-2-Chloroethane
+ Gasification package
Nomenclature
o changes
x bug fix
+ addition
===================================================================================
=================
v3.1 (build 44, January 2007)
+ Support for Excel 2007
===================================================================================
=================
v3.1 (build 42, November 2007)
+ Improvements to assistant interface
+ Convergence improvement in dynamics engine, particularly the pipe.
+ Configurable color scheme for stripchart.
o Enhanced display of variables for heat transfer models in dynamics unit ops.
+ Added correlations for heat transfer coefficient in pipe in dynamics.
===================================================================================
=================
v3.1 (Version released Sept 2007)
Dynamics Assistants
+ VMGSim now includes a dynamics engine with support for a limited set of unit
operations.
This dynamics engine is used to run the "Dynamics Assistants"
+ Created Depressuring Assistant. Creates and runs different depressuring scenarios
in nested flowsheets.
The calculations are carried out by the dynamics engine.
The unit operations created can be modified within the Assistant form or from
the unit operation form directly.
+ Created Compressor Train Assistant. Creates and runs different compressor train
scenarios in nested flowsheets.
The calculations are carried out by the dynamics engine.
The unit operations created can be modified within the Assistant form or from
the unit operation form directly.
User Interface
o Redesigned unit operation forms.
o Added new entries to right click menus of visio.
o Added TEMA report to heat exchanger form.
o Can specify compositions other than mole from an excel unit operation.
Unit Operations
+ Heat exchanger rating with E-type and X-type shells and all combinations of front
and rear TEMA type covers.
+ New option called "Reactive Basis" in balance operation option allowing energy
balances around custom refinery type reactor models with defined product
distributions.
+ Added Deg_SubCool, Deg_SuperHeat, DT to Cooler / Heater
+ Added Valve Cv vapor calcs including choke calcs
+ Added selector block unit op.
+ Line sizing utility to streams.
+ Tower added CO2 freezing profiles.
+ Tower added more guiding messages when there are problems with the configuration.
+ Added CalcP mode and CalcT mode to cmp splitter.
+ Added approach temperature per compound option to equilibrium/gibbs reactor
+ Streams can report sulfur related variables or amine related variables when the
corresponding property package is selected.
+ Added common physical properties to the special properties unit operation
o Changed default to lump phases once a liquid-like vapour phase is detected and
the maximum number of phases was reached to avoid spawning too many heavy oil
phases.
o Revamped hydrate to produce smoother and faster plots.
o Revamped hydrate algorithm for faster and more robust calculations.
x Bug fix for TH flash to address consistency errors in narrow boiling systems.
x Bug fix for PH flash that could lead to inconsistencies between VL and LL phases.
x Bug fix of PS flash for flash failure in heavy hydrocarbon + water systems.
x Bug fix for PS flash that could produce trivial solutions in the single phase
region.
x Bug fix for PH, PS and PT flashes that resulted in an inconsistent VLL solution
with the PhaseFrac = 0.0 for the middle liquid.
x Changed PT flash for handling unstable LL solution to be consistent with PH
flash.
x Fixed access to 1,4 diiodobutane (it was marked as 1,2 diiodobutane), tri-n-
decylamine (it was marked as tridecylamine).
x Fixed access to Dowtherm-T (was marked as Dowtherm-Q).
x Bug fix for divide-by-zero error when calculating surface tension in vapour and
liquid when inert solids were in selected compound list.
x APR for Natural Gas: Major overhaul of TRAPP viscosity and thermal conductivity
methods to address the load deadlock allowing faster initialization and more robust
predictions.
x Steam95: Bug fix for disconnect errors in Steam95 package from viscosity and
thermal conductivity.
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.10 (Patch released May 2007)
o Changed pumps to use a simpler calc that is only valid for incompressible fluids.
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.9 (Patch released April 2007)
x Bug fix for MargulesSour property package at low gas concentration added
smoothing
x Bug fix for hydrates to handle a minimum in hydrate formation pressure
x Fixed problems with blends and light ends - Changed total curve reporting to make
results more intuitive by taking into account light ends when displaying curve
x Enhanced pseudo component back calculation in blend
x Bug fix for APRNG property package for water + CO2, water + H2S, water + N2 at
low temperatures
x Bug fix for pressure dependence in Claus entropy calculation
x Fixed oil blend problem when final or initial pseudo components have identical
boiling point but different mw or ld
x Fixed asymptotic value of liquid sulfur viscosity correlation in Claus
x fixed ic5 and nc5 thermal conductivity (liquid) in database
x Bug fix for FlashPHn for handling pure compounds at supercritical temperatures
o Changed TrayTowerEfficiency; Acid Gas Default to only reset the acid gas values
o Optimized viscosity and thermal conductivity model parameter computation
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.8 (Patch released March 2007)
x Problem with the use of network path
x Fix some problems with Visio 2007. Please note that it is advisable to start a
new VMGSim instance for each case.
x Fix vessel Sizing and allow user to specify the target L/D ratio
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.7 (Patch released January 2007)
+ Allow users to enter hypo LiquidDensity@298 with SG(60/60) units
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.6 (Patch released January 2007)
x Problem with case report with tray sizing in rating mode
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8.1 (Patch released October 2006)
x Failed to recall cases with case studies
x Problem of renaming Excel sheets in the Excel unit operation
===================================================================================
=================
v2.8
+ Compound sorting by NBP, MW or std. liquid density
+ Compare multiple compounds
+ Email from VMGSim to obtain license for new users
+ New orifice plate unit op
+ New Psychrometric unit op
+ Sieve and valve tray sizing
+ 2-phase, 3-phase separator sizing
+ Multi-variable case study
+ Added physical properties: Exergy and ZfromDensity
+ Added acid gas concentration ports to AmineDetail unit operation.
+ Added "Detail" tab to the pipe segment to allow data input in a per segment basis
(e.g. elevation, diameter, ambient temperature).
+ Added a detailed schematic for the Pipe Segment.
+ Added Cp/Cv profile to heat exchangers.
+ Added piperazine as reacting compound in the Amine package
+ Added acid gas concentration ports to AmineDetail unit operation
o Added "Custom Variables" to case study including, composition or flow per
compound, assay flow in blend and assay bulk property.
o Added default split ratio to component splitter
o Added VMGSim Logo to print outputs
o Added default chemical family and CASN for user compounds
o Changed COS/Selexcol kij
o Modified the distillation curve estimations scheme in the oil option
x Fixed unifac structure for n-HENEICOSANE n-DOCOSANE n-HEXACOSANE n-OCTACOSANE n-
HEXATRIACONTANE n-DOTRIACONTANE n-TRICOSANE n-TRIACONTANE n-TETRACOSANE
x Fixed program crash on editing hypo when the component form is maximized
x Fixed unit conversion of LMTD in heat exchangers when displayed in Excel
x Fixed memory leak in Gibbs reactor and Claus property package
x Fixed physical property estimation for very low molecular weight hypos
x Fixed methane thermal conductivity calculation
===================================================================================
=================
v2.7.1
x CO2 freezing point temperature calculation
+ INI setting to offset the PFD stream labelling
+ New properties ZfromDensity, Exergy
===================================================================================
=================
v2.7.0
Nomenclatures
o changes
x bug fix
+ addition
+ Added support for mixtures with special compounds: amine + acid gas + solvent
+ Regressed data for improved accuracy in amine + water + acid gas mixtures
+ Regressed data for improved accuracy in sulfolane + acid gas mixtures
+ Regressed data for improved accuracy in mixtures of sulfolane + DIPA + water +
acid gas
+ Regressed data for improved accuracy in mixtures of sulfolane + MDEA + water +
acid gas
+ Added hydrocarbon solubility in amine solutions
+ Added "Tray dimensions" tab to towers under amine package
+ Added "GPSA Estimate" to the "tray dimension" tab to estimate the size of amine
contactors and regenerators based on the correlations in the GPSA databook
+ Automatic calculation of efficiencies in towers under amine package
+ "Default efficiencies" option for towers under amine package
+ Added multipliers for both CO2 and H2S efficiencies when "Automatic calculation"
or "Default efficiencies" options are selected for towers under amine package
+ Automatic damping adjustment for amine towers for better convergence
+ Added Q/Feed tower specs in different basis
+ Added "AmineDetail" unit operation to summarize information in amine streams
+ Added documentation and example for Amine package to the manual
Property Packages
+ Added new Amine property package for natural gas sweetening (see above for
detail)
+ Added new GasWater property package to model ideal separation of water and
hydrocarbons
o Sped up calculations for Advanced Peng-Robinson (APR) and Advanced Peng-Robinson
Dynamics (APRD) packages
x Fix to address potential disconnects of property package in HV and PH flashes
x Fix for flash when handling ultra-small equilibrium constants
x Fix for T-VapFrac flash at low pressures that could lead to imprecise results
Heat Exchangers
o Improved calculation of composite sides
o Improved handling of pinches and zero flow
x STX pressure drop returned value fix for hot fluid in shell geometry
Pipe Segment
o Sped up pipe segment unit operation
o Added new solution modes. Can solve for inlet pressure, solve for outlet pressure
when Q and U are unknown
Oil
x Fix to address occasional memory leaks in oil package when blending
x Fix for handling zero compositions of light ends when blending
x Fix for handling the cut-off in distillation curves
Others
+ Added extra guiding messages to Controller and Tower.
+ Added option to separate the vapor feed to a tower and send it directly to the
stage above
+ Added ideal gas Gibbs Free Energy of Formation for dimethyl sulfite
+ Added drop down menu to automatically re-arrange all child forms to fit into the
VMGSim main window.
o Improved behavior when cloning a tower to start from the last converged solution.
o Improvements to equilibrium reactor convergence
o Improved response when stopping a simulation. The hold button can also be used
for stop stopping a simulation
o Updated several sections of the manual
o Automatic filtering cloned stream ports, tower internal streams in the overall
balance
o Clone compounds will now generate their own unique CASN numbers
x Fix for Gibbs Reactor to handle hypothetical compounds that caused an infinite
loop
x Fixed cloning of towers with Gap Temperature specs or pump round�s
x Fix to D2887 Cut Temperature spec in tower
x Fixed controllers such that they can not cross boundaries
x Fixed memory leaks when importing cases
x Fix for consistently handling negative compositions caused by unusual
specifications
x Fix for occasional disconnect in property package caused when volumes were
calculated using Tait's equation
x Fixed problem of cloning a non-oil hypo and the component type changed to Oil
x Fix up printing, Html export and excel export for the XY-curve, Gibbs curve and
distillation curve unit ops
===================================================================================
=================
v2.6.9 (Patch released January 2006)
x Phase identification problem for Predictive-SRK package
x Initial BP problem for curves being converted to mol or mass
+ Overall material and energy balance
+ Add 'Refresh' button for tower plots
+ Bug fixes and improvements in initialization of crude towers
+ Added H2S k-value in special properties using GPSA chart 25-24
+ Added pressure correction for subcooled compressed liquid for all packages using
Rackett as liquid density model (e.g. RefinerySRK and RefineryAPR)
+ Added Refinery-APR property package (liquid density calculated according to API
method)
+ Mods for the beta Amine version:
- Added AMP and K2CO3 to amines package
- Added Physical Solvents for natural gas sweetening. Supported
solvents: selexol, n-formyl morpholine, methyl-2-pyrrolidone, propylene
carbonate, genosorb 1753, genosorb 300, genosorb 1843
===================================================================================
=================
v2.6.6 (Patch released December 2005)
+ Allows density curves for assay
+ Allows user specified component groups
o Refined viscosity matching in oil char
o Speed up the PH flash
x Fix the status of Excel export values. All are now tagged as user-specified.
x Fix the oil viscosity calcualtion with light-ends
x Fix the incorrect-initial-K-value problem when the initFromPrevious flag is used
in flashes.
===================================================================================
=================
v2.6.5 (Patch released November 2005)
x Fix Sim42 and GUI for AutoLightEnd calculations
x Fix the kij problem when re-ordering compounds
x bug fix for composition mapper to handle unusual inputs
- when source oil composition is zero set target oil composition to zero instead
of undefined
- fixed case when all oil pseudocomponents in trace amounts (xi < tol)
x fixed warning string for pure compounds that was leading to memory accumulation
x in VMGAssay destructor forced explicit deletion of potentially hanging arrays
o changed output of standard state Henry's constants to include more description on
estimation method
===================================================================================
=================
v2.6.2 (Patch released October 2005)
o Some speed-up to the PH flash
x Fixes to the oil option
Added pro-II style blending
Fixed problem with chromo analysis when zero compositions are input
Added warning for temperatures above 1000 K
Added warning for mw lower than 16
Added try/catch when generating distillation curves at the end of cutting
procedure for display
Fixed mass balance for non-overlapping blends
Fixed light ends for reentry
Fixed mass balance error in blend introduced by maximum temperature in assay
distillation curve
Changed d2887 default to be TBP in mass as recommended by gerry kaes
x Fixed latent heat calculation passed to STX and ACX for multi-component streams
in the 2-phase region
===================================================================================
=================
v2.6.1 (Release October 2005)
Property Package:
+ Added efficiency calculation for amines
+ Added method to estimate gross heating value for undefined hydrocarbons (paraffin
based)
+ Added checks in amine fugacity coefficient calculations to trap bogus
compositions
+ Added special correlations for HF/hydrocarbon for APR to allow simulation of HF
alky towers
+ Added special correlations for HF/H2O and HF/HC for NRTL to handle decanters
+ Added 93 new compounds to the pure component database
+ Created special correlations for pesticides
+ Added the ability to ignore 2 phase feeds in saturation method
o Corrected flash point calculation to use ASTM D86 10% values
o Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in APR (value does not fit with
N2/HC progression)
o Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in PR (value does not fit with
N2/HC progression)
o Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in SRK
o Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in ESRK
o Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in ZSRK
x Fixed initialization problem in solid
x Fixed initialization problem in hayden-oconnell
x Fixed initialization problem for APRNG and GPA-PR
x Fixed bug in heating value calculations
x Fixed OK message for gross heating value calculations
x Fixed initialization problem with Claus
x Fixed interaction parameter between N2 and nC5 in APR
x Removed interaction parameter between N2 and nC8 in APR-NG (value does not fit
with N2/HC progression)
x Fixed interaction parameter between N2 and nC5 in APR-NG
x Fixed interaction parameter between N2 and nC5 in PR
Oil/Blend:
+ Added handling of light ends when distillation curve is not consistent with le
analysis
light end analysis is always honored and the distillation curve is smoothed in
case it overshoots
light ends or stretched in case it undershoots light ends
+ Added ability to generate distillation curves in any basis
+ Added ability to have cut specs or gap specs in any basis
+ Added ability to optimize for MW or SG in getGasComposition() method
+ Added light end adjustment
+ Added new reconciliation procedure for light ends and distillation curve
+ Added a new procedure for the calculation of bulk physical properties based on
pseudo component data
+ Added new procedure for the calculation of bulk physical properties consistent
with light ends
Sim42:
+ Added support Unicode characters in the simulator.
+ Added Gibbs Free energy plot
+ Added XY, TXY, PXY plots
+ Added TS phase envelope
+ Added new unit operations air cooler, relief valve, multifeed 2-phase separator
and multifeed 3-phase separator
+ Added Cv calcualtion in valve
+ Added new unit types for tray dimensions.
+ Added new mass flow units, ton/d etc.
+ Added a UtilityHV unit opertion where known quantities of various fluids could be
charged to a tank and it calculates the final tank's P, T and fluid phase
split.
o Speed up when cleaning up large cases.
o Sim42 now verifies each Excel object inspection links upon recall
x Bug fix when recalling some cases (magic number issue).
x Better handling of balances with 0 flow. If a port has 0 flows, then don't use it
in the balance operations (mixer, splitter, balance, etc).
x Bug fix when storing large oil cases.
x Fixed crash when displaying the composition/flow of hypo's in profiles
Tower Calculation:
+ Added tray dimensions (tray diameter, wier length and weir height).
+ Added support for automatic calculation of efficiencies in amine towers.
+ Added a mole, volume, mass % option to Cut T and Gap T specifications.
o Enhancement to temperature initialization.
o Reduced amount of flashes in initialization.
o Improved convergence behavior on most towers particularly amine, e.g., TEG, DEG
towers.
o Speed up to tower calculations with many compounds.
o Speed up to tower cleans up.
o Better scaling of specifications of flow per compounds.
o Improved convergence behavior for 0 flow specs.
x Bug fixes when restarting from a last converged solution but the configuration of
the tower had changed.
VMGSim GUI:
+ Added support for units when adding specs.
+ Format efficiencies with a fixed amount of decimal places.
+ In amine towers, allow a user to decide if the efficiencies should be calculated
automatically.
+ Amine towers display a "Tray Dimensions" tab.
+ Added an estimation method for tray dimensions in amine towers based on the GPSA.
+ Added unit selection to the case study.
+ Added heat of reaction at 25 C and a "reaction balance" to the reaction forms.
+ Air cooler with ACX and HTRI integration
+ Pesticide/Phosphorous Joback contribution group additions to the molecular
structure builder
+ Molecular structure based liquid density estimation method for
Pesticide/Phosphorous family type
+ Added right click menu to all the plots, allowing capturing plots to new windows
+ Allow superposition of multiple plots
+ Added natural gas properties page to special property form
x Fixed crashes when closing a form during solving
x Fixed problem of store/recall cases in directory whose name contains quotes
x Fixed unit conversion problem in the MW/TBP curve in a cut oil
x All plots now show the actual data value instead of the formatted value as
appeared in the grid.
x Fixed problem of displaying components with commas in material tables and data
sheets
===================================================================================
=================
v2.5.1 (Release June 2005)
+ Claus process modelling. Additions of unit operations:
ClausConverter
ClausCooler
ClausHeater
ClausInlineBurner
ClausOxygenCalculator
ClausReactionFurnace
ClausSulfurDetail
ClausWasteHeatBoiler
ClausHydrogenator
+ True Gibbs Reactor
+ HoneyCombe dehumidifier unit op. This unit op requires a license file to run
+ RVP speed / convergence enhancements
x Fix excel store problem after deleting rows containing cells with object data
definition
x Bug fix for unit operations being deleted when recycle ports were still active.
x Fix MDEA package creation problem
===================================================================================
=================
v2.4.2 (Release May 2005)
x Lee-Kesler Entropy computation. This causes some PS flash to fail at low
temperatures
x Crash in case study with compound fractions are used as dependent variables
x Recall problem with the USB key
x Crash in envelope when no data points are present
+ Heat exchanger schematics
+ Relief valve form
===================================================================================
=================
v2.4.1 (Release April 2005)
x problem of displaying the help file in non-English windows
x flickering when connecting a stream to any unit ops in the compact stream form.
x Broken T approach specs in hx.
x Can't recall saturation ops created in the beta versions of 2.4.0.
x Separator consistency errors for extreme sub-cooled liquids.
x Recycles on nested flowsheets won't solve automatically when a values is changed
in
the recycle port and the recycle is in a nested flowsheet.
x Recycles will not resolve automatically when an estimate is removed.
x Fix some consistency errors in the outlet of separators on the Vap port.
x Zero flow bug on splitters
x Compressors/expanders don't extrapolate to different speeds (now I pass a
warning)
x Pipe segments now warn when they can't solve because they are going above the
speed of sound.
x Problem of closing the component splitter or its edit form while solving.
o New database for ic5-nC5 database
o Option to use the hardware security key
o Option for the user to set the STX security key status
===================================================================================
=================
v2.4.0 (Release March 2005)
Thermo Changes and Fixes
o Changing a thermodynamic case in a unit operation now preserves the ordering of
compounds.
x Resolve unit operations when kij changes.
o Solve a PH flash before a TH flash when P, H and T are known (even when T is
fixed)
o Fully resolves cases that contain hypos and were saved in versions before
vmgsim 2.1.5.
This solves a problem in the CompressorTrain from the manual.
+ Allow for renaming thermo cases
+ Able to clone property packages (without the oil assays)
+ Molecular structure builder for hypothetical component property estimation.
Consistency error changes
o Ignore SurfaceTension, SpeedOfSound, ThermalConductivity and Viscosity from
consistency errors.
o Allow for ignoring any property by specifying its scaling factor to a negative
value.
Solver Changes and fixes
+ Allow for user specified custom ordering of recycles and controllers by
assigning levels to each iteration item.
+ Added a dedicated Flowsheet form to input the calculation levels
+ Added new recycle methods, Wegsteing and Successive Substitution
+ Added new controller method, Bisection. This method is only available when a
controller is being solved by itself.
+ Added a Secant method which calculates the numerical derivative in every
iteration.
This method is time consuming but is more stable than Broyden's method
+ Controller form now displays an AbsoluteError entry.
o Always resolve consistency errors so a user is forced to fix them
o Always monitor recycles to check for convergence.
o Messages for recycle convergence were redesigned to only display one compound
and only display consistency errors in recycles when they are meaningful.
o Keep track of the thermodynamic unit operations that do not need to be solved
in every recycle iteration.
They are solved only when the recycle has converged. This behavior can be
changed by the user.
The unit operations are: PropertyTable, Envelope, Hydrate, DistillationCurves,
and SpecialProperties.
o Easier to stop long computations
Stream Fixes and changes
o Stream form with option to show a single set of merged port properties
+ Convert a material connector into a stream and vice versa
+ Able to label a material connector
Other Unit Operation Changes and fixes
+ Allow setting unit operations defaults in the INI file
+ Able to copy and paste a single or a group of unit operations and retaining
their connections
+ Added more specs in the Equlibrium Reactor to allow user to type (A, B, C, D)
to calculate K or supply K directly
+ Ability to specify a port as a recycle port
x Bug fixed a typo in Naphthalene signal port in SpecialProperties
+ Show XY grid diagram in property table
x Fix the previous limitations on the max number of allowable data points in
property tables
+ Tower converged-results and last-results are kept when a compound is removed,
added or moved.
o Reactors changes
- Fix up form to accept object (Conversion, Yield, Selectivity) names that
contain " ", "/" or ";" in their names.
- Better feedback on which unit set is being used by each reaction.
o Changes and bug fixes to the Pipe segments
- New solve schemes allowing solving for Q and U or combinations of Q, P and T.
- User can define if energy calculations are based on LinearT, LinearQ or equal
U along the pipe segment.
- Allow user to select type of flash being used (PTFlash, or PHFlash). PHFlash
is the default but slower. PT is faster but not applicable to narrow boiling
fluids.
- User can select the method of solution.
- Default method was wrongly displayed as Churchill. Now it was corrected to
Colebrook.
- The parameters page now displays some parameters as drop down boxes.
- Pipe scheduling and roughness selection made available
- Added a more detailed guidance on degrees of freedom and specs needed.
+ Added Volume balance to mixers
+ Added Enthalpy-Temperature and Enthalpy-Pressure phase to envelopes
+ PSF file generation
Masc. changes and fixes:
+ unit set information are now stored with the case file
x Fix problem of auto-saving while saving a project.
o Re-order the hypo exports in a tabular form
STX Changes
+ Retrieve calculated results from STX
PFD changes and Fixes
+ Added live data sheet functionality for individual unit operation to show user
configured information
+ Allow user to specify which hidden unit operations to show
+ Added connector tool so that user can directly drag from a unit operation and
connect with another unit operation. F5 (or right click) to toggle functionality.
+ Allow user to clone unit operations on PFD by Ctrl+C (Ctrl+V), right click menu
or drag-drop while holding Ctrl key
+ Able to show more tool-tips on PFD for streams and unit operations
+ Able to toggle connector/stream on PFD and name a material connector
+ added a warning window to Visio 2002 and 2003 users (Save PFD As 2002 format)
on future Visio 2002 support
o In Material balance table user can now select all or none, sort streams and
define the font style and size in INI
o PFD settings support two versions with the new version as the default
===================================================================================
=================
v2.3.4 (Release January 2005)
+ Unit op to saturate a fluid with water
+ Options to back calculate mixer pressures
x Some fixes to phase envelope
x Fix store/recall problems when the file path contains the "#" character
===================================================================================
=================
v2.3.2 (Release November 2004)
x Fix hydrate calculation problem when the fluid contains water
+ Extra checks to disallow flash calculations with unphysical specifications, e.g.
negative absolute P
x Recall problem when the case contains overflow, underflow or undefined values
x Minor fix to the monitor form
x Property table when deleting all Z-variables
x Allow users to specify heating or cooling for the energy stream in the conversion
and equilibrium reactors.
x Further fix to the PFR solution scheme.
o Allow specifying T in a PFR while allowing Q to change
x Fix in the PFR and CSTR GUI to always display the actual reaction kinetic stored
in the simulator
x Check the user specified kinetics forcing decimal points in the numeric numbers.
x Minor fix to the monitoring form: 'Cancel' button in the browser, 'format' field
x Incorrect package display when recalling MDEA cases
===================================================================================
=================
v2.3.1 (Release November 2004)
x Problem when the new vmp project file name contains a '.'
x Problem with defining the reaction kinetics when comments, #, are used
x The binary coefficient references are truncated.
x Reactors now works with solids
x Cut temperature discrepancies
x Inert Solid data in the pure compound database
x Fixes for full support for solids in 2-phase separators, Pumps, Expandes and
Compressors
+ Allow editing of compounds after selection
+ Option to show all case files, vmp and VMG, in the recall dialog window
x Minor PFD material balance table fix
===================================================================================
=================
v2.3.0 (Release November 2004)
x If VMGSim is on hold before entering the basis form, it remains on hold when exit
x Fix PFD icons so that when they are dragged and dropper on to PFD, their ports
are "activated� and the hollow parts
are removed.
+ Allow setting of network-wide INI file
+ Live HTRI link
+ Live STX link
+ Add standard gas volume flows in material ports
+ Add mass Cp, mass Cv, mass H and mass S to the property option
+ Right click to allow copying material port data from another port
+ Allow multiple properties for the same phase in the property table
Multiple properties from different phases are not allowed in this version
+ Schematic for heat exchanger
+ Auto save case in regular interval as specified in the INI setting
'LogFile.AutoSaveInterval'
+ Tutorial examples
+ Export of multiple variables to Excel
+ Alternative mechanism for Excel to extract object properties from VMGSim
+ polytropic efficiency for compressors and expanders
+ "Water Free" profiles for the tower
+ Added GapTemperature spec to the tower.
+ Can create signals for Mass Flow per compound, StdLiqVolFlow per compound and
StdGasFlow per compound
+ Enable SteamEjector in VMGSim
+ Added "Switch icons to ..." short cut menu item to allow replacement of icons.
Currently it works only for towers.
+ added a legend box for spec/estimate viewer "balloons".
+ Add new property packages
BWR - BWR EOS as proposed by Starling with compound specific constants for
C1 through C8 N1, CO2 and H2S
BWRS - Generalized BWR EOS as proposed by Starling
LK - The original Lee-Kesler EOS
LKP - Full implementation of Lee-Kesler EOS with Plocker mixing rules
APR-LKP - APR with LK for H, S, Cp, Cv calculations
RefinerySRK-LKP - Refinery with LK for H, S, Cp, Cv calculations
o Horse power unit for compressor/Expander duties
o Attempts to unify the coloring scheme
o Controller changed such that when connecting, the user does not need to manually
remove the spec from
the connecting port and re-enter in the controller port
o Zipped all case files into a single 'vmp' file
o General speed up of case recall and loading of the kij form.
Some changes that used to take minutes now are done immediately.
o For any material ports associated with an assay, when the assay re-cut, the
composition will be updated
o Super-impose the calculated oil curves with the input distribution data in the
oil form
o General speed up in the processing of information. More noticeable in larger
flowsheets.
o The heater and heat exchanger forms are a lot faster when calculating profiles
when many variables
are selected. For example, if VapFrac, Cp, Cv, etcetera were selected, it used
to do a PH flash
in every segment for each variable. This version calculates all the profiles
in one shot.
o Allow creation of more than one material table in one page in PFD. Two right-
click menus were added for this:
"Refresh Tables" is to refresh all material tables, "Create new material
balance table" is to create a new
material table
===================================================================================
=================
v2.2.0 (Release August 2004)
x Fix the kinetic energy calculation bug in pipe segment
x Fix the new APR (APR for Natural Gas) phase identification problem at low
pressures
x Fix the oil light end problem that sometimes give negative composition
x Proper adjustment to the bulk MW and SG in oil characterization
x Prevent redundant 'solve' upon case recall
x Heat exchanger composite side index bug
x Access case file across the network bug
x Report export bug when not all port data are available
+ Include heater/cooler profiles and envelope curves in the report export
+ Allow flow specs for internal streams in a tower
+ Allow estimates for side strippers in a tower
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.19 (Release July 2004)
x Dew point calculation problem
x PFR bug fixes
x Oil characterization bug fixes
o Transpose the signal port and energy port display grid
o New controller form
+ New APR property package tuned for gas processing
+ Profiles in heater / cooler
+ Material summary in PFD
+ Specification viewing in PFD
+ Hydrate curve in envelope
+ Dynamic tower image in PFD
+ Temperature approach in multi-sided heat exchanger
+ Composite sides and energy exchanges in multi-sided heat exchanger
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.12 (Patch, June 2004)
x Oil characterization and blending problems
x Crude tower convergence problems
x Reactors to handle hypothetical and oil compounds
x PFR profile unit conversion problem
+ Allow specification of the standard temperature value in the INI file
+ Profiles for heaters and coolers
o Property Table form
o PureCompound form
o compressor/expander curve edit form
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.11 (Patch, April 2004)
x The stop button does not work during recycle
x Crash when closing the tower form during tower solving
x Zero flow in the first port in mixers
x When switching fixed variables to estimates, VMGSim does not clean up the
propagated values
+ Add tower specs for pump around's
+ Extra check for flash variable over-specification in material ports
+ Tower initialization options
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.10
x Fixed DistCurve unit operation
x Minor changes to the Property Table form
+ Release with property package v4.0.40407
+ Remove the 'Automatic' option from the monitor form
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.9 (Patch)
x Creating infinite SOP unit ops when drag and drop in the PFD
x Crash when attempting to view the tower PFD while the tower form is maximized
x Delay showing Visio 2002 to speed up VMGSim loading
x Allow modifications of unit operation string parameters
x Property table rounds the user specified x and y values to the nearest digit
x Restore the unit of the PFD ruler back to inches
x Remove the centering-PFD-upon-recall mechanism
x Fix the tower degree-of-subcool
x Incorrect Gross-Heating-Value calculation
x Remove extra redundant solves when editing split fractions in component splitters
x P and T unit conversion for the property table z-variable
o Add compounds c27 and c29 to the pure compound database
o Minor cleanup in the printHtml.css
o Add restart-from-last-converged-solution button to the tower form
o The 'solve' and 'restart' button optionally solves the tower only once
(set the INI setting [Tower].AutoSolve = F)
o The menu 'Tools|CloseAllUnitOpForm' has been changed to 'Tool|Close All Unit Op
Form Except Current'.
It closes all except the current unit op form.
o Rename unit op PropertyCurve to DistCurve
+ Choice of speed of sound and velocity profile in pipe segments
+ Phase property profiles for heat exchanger and pipe segments
+ Export case notes to HTML
+ Add a 'Release Notes' to the Help menu
+ Release the first version of a PFD-icon-creator program for creating Visio PFD
pallets
+ Allow cut temperature specification for towers
+ Add Maxwell-Bonnell property package
+ Add phase envelope warning message for pure water stream when 'dry basis' is
selected
+ Add warning message when the user specified reactions are not balanced.
+ [F1] key to show the help file (download separately). No case sensitive helps
yet!
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.7 (Patch)
x Error trap 'Cancel' when exporting case file
x PFR profiles were missing
x Importing cases with Excel unit op
x Importing case with one single unit op
x Title specifications in HTML export
x Renaming subflowsheets from the CLI problem
x Problem exporting energy stream
x Recalling cases where the PFD.Engine is not set correctly. (PFD.Engine=Visio2003
but Visio2002 installed)
x Memory leak in the kinetic reactor
o Adjusted the default sizes of all PFD icons
o More intelligent unit op sorting in export reports
o Be able to stop the calculation during tower Jacobian building
+ Extra unit items for gas industry
+ Include PFD in HTML export
===================================================================================
=================
v2.1.6
x The name of the tower specifications and estimates must be unique even though
their parents
are different. i.e. /T1.Stage_2.est and /T1.Stage_2.drawV.est will crash
x Envelope with pure compound fluids
x Tighten the flash's trivial k-value criterion
x Stabilize the flash by damping the changes in k-values between iterations
x Tower degree of freedom counting especially with the presence of side stripper,
pump around
x Grid column copy and paste
x Verify the Excel connections upon case recall.
Dangling connections are removed.
===================================================================================
=================
v2.0.50
x Tower convergence
x Degree-of-Freedom refreshes
o Tower specification
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.41
x The property package problem involving EG (missing kij)
x The TEG tower convergence issue
x The heat exchanger recall problem
x Right-click-on-grid-blank-area-and-crash problem
x Crash when printing PFR/CSTR when there are no reactions
x Problem of crash spec panel when examining compositions for heat exchanger.
x Crash when double click on new case during startup
x Problem of unable to Store form settings in the personal INI file
x Surface tension inconsistency problem
+ Formula alias
+ check box to hide schematics in the forms
+ New tower form
+ Option to hold solver when entering the basis (INI setting)
+ Curves in heater exchanger
o Behavior of component selection options
===================================================================================
==================
v 2.0.37
x Fix tower convergence problem near azeotropes,
x Fix Occasional errors when calculating StdLiqMolarVol
x Got rid of error message that pops up when storing cases
x Fix Sim42 memory leaks
x Fixes to import different s42 files into one same case.
x Fixes to the CSTR
x Fix problem allowing User to add/remove physical properties by editing the INI
file
o The gas constant for the British unit changed from psia-ft3/lbmol-R. to
Btu/lbmol-R.
o Change default INI setting to use Field unit and automatic showing the prop pkg
form on new cases
o Remove automatic-30-days-license option
o For the tower form, the user has to manually put the tower on hold
+ Added PFR
+ Add automatic generation of user INI file
+ Automatic detection of Visio
+ Add the PAUSE and QUIT keyword in the scripting language
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.34
x In a recalled case, deleting/disconnecting unit op without viewing the PFD shall
messed up the PFD.
That has been fixed in a recalled case
x Fix the PT flash bug for 2 components in the 3-phase region
+ Allow editing of the basic variable scaling factors
x Fix the problem of returning false saturation P or T for supercritical single
compound fluids
x Bug fix the PT flash which under certain conditions could return all phase
fractions = 0
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.32 (August 20, 2003)
x Fixed the cut-oil-returns-1 bug
+ Add Tower PFD
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.30 (August 8, 2003)
x Problem of closing the unit op tree view and lost the unit operations
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.29 (August 7, 2003)
x Fix the tower initialization problem
x Fix the PFD losing text problem
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.28 (August 6, 2003)
+ When storing cases, write the VMGSim version number in the tst file
x Fix the problem that the Navigation form and the Spec as form show only the free
ports
+ Add new unit ops: special properties, multi-sided heat exchanger, Liq-liq
extractors, monitoring object
+ Add multi-flowsheets support with cross-connector
+ Add case import
+ Add chromatograph oil experiment
o Rearrange the basis form
o Dropped the support for Windows 95 OS
+ Add standard volume flow calculation to material ports
x Fix the problem concerning VMGSim using the Japanese version of Visio
x Memory leakage in Sim42 that leads to out-of-memory error after running VMGSim
for a long period of time
===================================================================================
==================
v2.0.7
x Fix the referencing drive E during store problem
x Fix the 'Settings not recalled properly' problem
x Fix the oil problem
x Fix the equilibrium reactor reaction input problem
x Fix the component splitter problem when the component name contains blanks
o Removed the unit op flow sheet from VMGSim for the time being
x Fix the Excel problems
x Fix the Visio problems
x Prevent duplicated hypo compound names
===================================================================================
==================
V2.0.0
+ Add Printing
+ Allow separate specifications of Vapour and liquid thermodynamic model
o Delay Visio initialization until viewed to speed up loading
x Fix a PS flash problem with pure fluid with other zero-composition compounds
+ Add gridwalk key to the VMGSim ini file
+ Add the oil characterization option
o Remove license settings in VMGSim.ini. It is now optional
===================================================================================
==================
v1.0.341
o Changes to property package 3.84 (new build = 30413)
x Polings et. al. criteria for phase identification based on isothermal
compressibility
o Changes to property package 3.84 (new build = 30423)
x Fix a PH flash problem caused by the new phase identification logic.
Problem occurs when with 2 liquids system.
x Fix the envelope problem that when it fails, the downstream calculations are not
performed
===================================================================================
==================
v1.0.340
x Fix the Stream summary refresh problem
o Change the component splitter form for uniformity
o Fix PFD problem in clone port connection
o Changes to property package 3.84 (new build = 30409)
- Modify the phase identification logic
===================================================================================
==================
v1.0.338
x Fix the problem of releasing the hold button
x Fix the PFD connection replacement problem
x Fix recall with opened form problem
===================================================================================
==================
v1.0.337
x Numerous bug-fixes.
+ Add Hold/Go button.
x Fix component cloning bug, the complete information is now stored.
x Fix a PT flash bug that can lead to an infinite loop under certain conditions.
o Use the absolute path to reference an object instead of the object name.
o Speed up form refreshing in Sim42 callbacks.
o Numerous changes in the PFD display.
+ Add support of subflowsheet and direct port connections.
+ Add advanced plot settings for phase envelope
+ Allow user to specify the phase envelope starting pressure
+ Add (tower/recycle) Convergence monitoring form
+ Add equipment schematics to forms
o Enable curves in pump
+ Display/Edit of property package binary coefficients
o Changes to SeaPkg 3.84
x fixed critical pressure calculation when using Twu's estimation method
x fixed Steam95 crash at un-physically low temperatures
x oil characterization package
x Fix std liquid density for hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen
sulfide, methane, ethane,
propane, isobutane, n-butane, isopentane, n-pentane
x fixed kij estimation for light hydrocarbons / water (UOPK was too high for C1
and C2) in APR
x fixed kij estimation for heavy oils in APR
x fixed hypothetical estimation when UNIFAC structure was absent
x fixed up units databases to support kinematic viscosity
+ Documentation for oil
+ added new physical property kinematic viscosity
+ added new physical property conversion units for MolarFlow, MassFlow, DeltaT and
DeltaP
+ added information in all interaction parameter matrices to tell what type of
pane we have (sym or assym) for
GUI support
+ now property packages can inform the flash about how many liquid phases they can
support - handy for reactive
systems
+ added Benfield property package (not ready for prime time as I am still working
on the steam balance)
+ added potassium carbonate to pure component database
===================================================================================
==================
v.1.0.300
+ Add 2 phase Envelope
+ Add 3 phase separator
o Redesigned the controller form
o Display unit operation message
o Use red border to indicate field that must be specified.
o Remove cross-connector from the version
+ Drag and drop case file support
x Numerous bug-fixes
===================================================================================
==================
v 1.0.290
+ Option to check the VMGSim version from the internet (Help|Version)
+ Add equilibrium reactor with options to generate default reaction K-values
o Removed all unit operation summary form, except the stream summary.
o Redesigned stream summary table
o Change the message broadcast mechanism between forms and Sim42.
o The 'connection object' drop down list is sort alphabetically
x Fix bug related to data transfer between cloned ports
x Numerous other bug-fixes
x Keep port compositions when replacing property package.
===================================================================================
==================
v 1.0.282
o When starting new case, option to automatically open the basis form.
+ Add vmgsim.ini key "User.Industry" to help property package selection.
+ Add 'sum of selected' field in the composition input form.
+ Add 'description' to unit operations
o Stores the 'spec as' location for streams
+ Ability to recreate PFD automatically when recalling cases created without the
PFD.
===================================================================================
==================
v 1.0.263
+ Add access keys
+ Auto-Assign button in the composition input form
o Default is to use reaction order in VMGSim
x Fix recall problem when a component Splitter form is opened
o Conversion reactor now has optional parameters where users can prioritize the
reaction orders.
+ Allow creation of unit set on the fly
+ Speed up PFD refresh
x Enhancement to Excel unit op
+ User specify reaction order in conversion reactor
+ Copy and paste connections between excel and unit operations
+ Allow multi-compound selections
o Set the default number of feeds to mixer to be 2 (was 1 before)
===================================================================================
==================
v 1.0.262
x Fix the cannot-specify-compound-mass-fraction-in-the-composition-input-form
problem.
+ Show mass fraction, mass flow and mole flow for individual compounds for material
ports.
+ Add connection lines for clone ports in the PFD.
x Refresh case title when starting a new case after recalling an old case.
x Fix recall problem when a heater form is opened.
+ Add more compound aliases.
o Fix the 'set' form to hide the multiplier port for non-absolute signals
x Fix missing-vapour-fraction-value bug
x Fix problem of deleting composition for compounds with white space in their names
+ Better error message reporting from Sim42