Bladed Knowledge Centre Help library Linux
Overview
The Bladed calculation engine (dtbladed) has been ported to the Linux platform. This allows simulations to be run either on Linux in the cloud or on local Linux clusters.
The main motivation for developing the Linux version of dtbladed is to provide a more cost-effective option for the most time-consuming part of using Bladed, i.e. running time-domain calculations, given that running a Linux machine (either locally or in the cloud) is usually cheaper than an equivalent Windows machine.
However, other Bladed functionality is not yet available, and so Windows must still be used for certain tasks (see Unsupported Functionality section for further details).
dtbladed for Linux is available for Bladed 4.10 and later versions.
Getting started
Downloading installers
The latest installers can be downloaded from the Downloads page.
Installation
The Getting Started Guide available on the Downloads page, and the User Manual included in the installation package provide guidance for installing and setting up dtbladed on Linux.
The package should be installed on a machine running the following OS version:
- Bladed 4.15 - 4.16: Ubuntu 22.04.3
- Bladed 4.10 - 4.14: Ubuntu 18.04.3
DNV cannot guarantee correct functionality or provide any support if any other Ubuntu version or other Linux distribution (e.g. Red Hat, CentOS, etc.) is used. If you wish to use a different version/distribution this is done at your own risk.
Licensing
A Processor-only network license is required to run dtbladed on Linux - a Standard or Hybrid license cannot be used. Please contact DNV if you are unsure which license types you have available.
The Processor-only license can be hosted on either a Linux or Windows license server (the dongle can also be plugged into the Linux client machine itself).
In addition to the User Manual, the Bladed Licensing Guide also includes additional information regarding setting up licensing on Linux (search for "Linux" within the document to find all relevant references).
Unsupported functionality
Only the Bladed calculation engine (dtbladed) has been ported to Linux. Therefore, some Bladed functionality is not yet available in Linux, and so the following tasks must still be carried out on Windows:
- Use of the Bladed GUI
- Pre-processing calculations (generation of wind files, SEA files, earthquakes)
- Post-processing of calculation results
- Bladed Hardware Test Module
Furthermore, it is not possible to use the Batch Framework on Linux. A custom batch system must be created if similar functionality is required (click here for more details).
The table below provides an overview by module of the functionality that is not available (note that some functionality spans several modules, and is listed separately at the bottom of the table). Please refer to the Release Notes documents on the Downloads page for a summary of the features that are not available in the Linux version for a specific release.
| Module | Functionality | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Pre-processing: Wind file generation | |
| All Pre-Processing not listed explicitly below | ||
| All Post-Processing not listed explicitly below | ||
| All Batch functionality | ||
| dtbladed calculation: Campbell Diagram | ||
| Control | dtbladed calculation: Model Linearisation | |
| Post-processing: Linear Model | ||
| Seismic | Pre-processing: Earthquake file generation | Running dtbladed calculations including earthquakes is supported |
| Offshore Support Structure | Pre-processing: SEA state file generation | |
| Pre-processing: Moorings | ||
| Post-processing: Offshore Code Checking | ||
| Advanced Transmission Interface | - | |
| Advanced Pitch Actuator | - | |
| Advanced Hydrodynamics | - | |
| Blade Stability | dtbladed calculation: Blade Stability | |
| Hardware Test | All functionality | |
| Functionality spanning multiple modules / miscellaneous functionality | Rotors with more than three blades | |
| Floating simulations in Bladed 4.15 and earlier | Floating simulations are supported from Bladed 4.16 onwards | |
| Pseudo rotors | ||
| 6 degree of freedom drive train DLL in Bladed 4.10/4.11 | Version 2 of interface is supported from Bladed 4.12 onwards | |
| Catching external controller floating point exceptions | See table in Release Notes for further advice |
Batch processing
The Batch Framework included with the Windows version of Bladed uses Windows-specific technology, and therefore cannot be used to manage simulations on Linux. However, many third-party solutions are available for setting up highly parallelised Bladed workflows on Linux.
The document and webinar below explain how to set up a batch processing system on Linux using HTCondor:
- Bladed Linux Batch Processing
Instructions for setting up a batch processing system for Bladed Linux using HTCondor - Setting up your Bladed environment for Linux tutorial
Includes how to perform batching using HTCondor