HydroChrono 0.4.0 – Major Refactor with Modular Hydrodynamics Core, New HydroSystem Façade & Chrono Coupling Layer

HydroChrono 0.4.0 introduces a fully modular hydrodynamics architecture with a clean HydroSystem façade and a dedicated Chrono coupling layer. This release preserves all existing behaviour while making HydroChrono cleaner, safer, and easier to extend.

Highlights

• New HydroSystem façade — the main user-facing entry point (replaces TestHydro)
• Chrono-free HydroForces core for hydrostatics, radiation, and excitation
• Dedicated ChronoHydroCoupler linking Chrono bodies to the hydrodynamics core
• Unified C++ and YAML workflows (both now use the same hydrodynamics engine)
• Radiation logic consolidated into a single component (IRF processing, history, convolution)
• Exceptions replace critical assert()s; public headers cleaned and namespaced
• Full regression test suite passing (PDF included)

What’s New

• Core
  • Introduced hydrochrono::hydro::HydroForces, SystemState, BodyForces, GeneralizedForce
  • Modular force components: Hydrostatics, Radiation, Excitation
  • Standardised 6-DOF indexing and sign conventions
• Façade & Coupling
  • HydroSystem is the new user-facing class (aliases TestHydro and HydroForces retained for compatibility)
  • New ChronoHydroCoupler builds SystemState and bridges to the core
• Modules & Layout
  • Clean directory structure: core/, chrono/, radiation/, waves/, config/
  • New radiation modules for IRF preprocessing and convolution
• Robustness & Cleanup
  • Replaced assert() with descriptive exceptions
  • Removed using namespace from public headers
  • Explicit Chrono includes; improved file-level documentation

Install (Windows x64)

• Download HydroChrono-0.4.0-win64.zip
• Unzip — all required DLLs included (Chrono, HDF5, yaml-cpp, Irrlicht, MSVC)
• Run regression tests:
  python .\tests\run_hydrochrono\run_tests.py --all

HydroChrono 0.2.8 - Fixes for gcc compilation and wave kinematics

This patch fixes the following issues:

• Fix compilation issue with gcc for demos (+ explicitly include <algorithm>)
• Add wave stretching option for regular waves
• Deep water check done with a common function (condition k*h>89.4 to be considered deep water)
• Wheeler wave stretching done with a common function, and corrected when mwl=/=0

HydroChrono 0.3.2 – CLI polish & YAML/HDF5 & GUI robustness improvements

HydroChrono 0.3.2 focuses on CLI polish, robust wave inputs, exporting irregular wave data to HDF5 files, and a fix to the GUI pause/play button.

Highlights

• Progress bar updates in-place and respects --quiet
• Wave parsing shorthands: h/H, t/T/tp/TP/p/P, amplitude/A - with validation
• HDF5 export of irregular inputs: frequencies, spectrum, and free-surface time/eta
• Larger Play/Pause button with fixed label

What’s new

• CLI
  • Progress bar fixed
• Waves
  • Shorthand keys for height/period/amplitude
  • Validation errors for missing/invalid regular wave inputs
  • Irregular waves: corrected forcing, reproducible via seed
• Export
  • Writes /inputs/simulation/waves/irregular/{frequencies_hz, spectral_densities, free_surface_time, free_surface_eta}
• GUI
  • Enlarged Play/Pause button and improved text rendering

Install (Windows x64)

• Download HydroChrono-0.3.2-win64.zip
• Unzip; all required DLLs included (Chrono, HDF5, yaml-cpp, Irrlicht, MSVC)
• Run regression tests:
  python .\tests\run_hydrochrono\run_tests.py --all

HydroChrono 0.3.1 – 5× faster radiation damping with Savitzky–Golay smoothing, SIMD & Linux fixes, and --profile support

HydroChrono 0.3.1 delivers major refactoring and performance improvements across hydrostatics and radiation damping, adds profiling and smoothing features, and introduces full Linux build support.

Highlights

• Refactored hydrostatics and radiation damping modules for clarity, safety, and maintainability
• Unified Eigen-only math backend; resolves vectorization/SIMD compatibility issues
• Refactored & Parallelized radiation damping convolution integral (5× faster)
• Added Savitzky–Golay smoothing and tapering for more stable convolution results
• New --profile flag for runtime performance breakdowns
• Auto-enable Irrlicht GUI when IrrlichtDir is configured
• Fixed and verified Linux builds

What’s new

• Core
  • Refactored hydrostatics and radiation damping code paths
  • Parallel convolution integral with Savitzky–Golay smoothing
  • Unified Eigen-only vectorization backend
• CLI
  • Added --profile flag for timing and performance reporting
• Build
  • Linux build support (tested on Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04)
  • Updated build.ps1 with Irrlicht auto-detection and improved dependency handling

Install (Windows x64)

• Download HydroChrono-0.3.1-win64.zip
• Unzip; all required DLLs included (Chrono, HDF5, yaml-cpp, Irrlicht, MSVC)
• Run the regression tests:
  python .\tests\run_hydrochrono\run_tests.py --all

HydroChrono 0.3 - YAML CLI app with HDF5 outputs, logging and regression tests

HydroChrono 0.3 delivers a YAML-driven CLI app, portable Windows packaging, consistent HDF5 outputs, and a new regression test suite for the main binary - run_hydrochrono.exe.

Highlights

• New CLI app: run_hydrochrono.exe (YAML-driven)
• HDF5 writer for analysis-ready results
• Unified logging API
• Regression tests for the CLI (CTest + Python)
• Deterministic Windows build; packaged DLLs (Chrono, HDF5, MSVC); tests ON by default
• Updated website documentation with quick start guides and new build instructions

What’s new

• CLI/YAML
  • YAML parsing (SEA-Stack-IO schema)
  • CLI for running the code
  • Demos and batch runs included
• I/O
  • HDF5 writer; safe open/write handling
• Logging
  • Unified API + backend; consistent usage across src/
• Tests
  • Python suite with plotting: python .\tests\run_hydrochrono\run_tests.py --all
• Build
  • build.ps1 for VS2022 x64 with fixed package discovery
  • Packaged HDF5 + MSVC runtimes; Chrono/yaml-cpp/Irrlicht DLL support
  • Tests enabled by default

Install (Windows x64)

• Download HydroChrono-0.3-win64.zip
• Unzip; all required DLLs included (HDF5, MSVC; Chrono/yaml-cpp/Irrlicht)
• Run the Python test suite with plotting: python .\tests\regression\run_hydrochrono\run_tests.py --all

HydroChrono v0.2.7 – Testing framework & Windows build script

Highlights

• Introduces regression testing framework and helpers.
• Migrates suites: sphere decay, RM3, OSWEC, F3OF DT1/DT2/DT3.
• Unifies reference data & comparison scripts; improves test logging.
• Adds quick-build.ps1 and build-config.example.json; updates README with config-driven Windows build steps.
• CMake: link Chrono/Eigen as imported targets (PUBLIC) and make include discovery robust when Chrono_DIR points to a build tree.
• Updates .gitignore.
• No breaking changes.

Compatibility

• Project Chrono v9.0.1
• Windows 10/11, VS 2022, CMake 3.18+, HDF5 1.10.8+, Eigen 3.4+
• Irrlicht optional (required for GUI helper)

Windows quick build

# from repo root
copy build-config.example.json build-config.json
# edit build-config.json with your local paths, then:
.\quick-build.ps1 -Clean
ctest -C Release --output-on-failure --test-dir build

---

v0.2.6 – Chrono 9.0.1 Upgrade

• Upgraded Project Chrono dependency to v9.0.1.
• 28/29 tests pass with the new version.
• One demo test (demo_rm3_reg_waves_01) is still failing and will be tracked separately.
• General build and test process improvements.

Thank you to @dariomangoni for their contribution and patience!

HydroChrono v0.2.5 - patch for ramp and eta dt

This patch brings the following updates:

• If a ramp is used, apply it from time = 0.0 and zero out precomputed elevation for time < 0.0
• Use provided simulation dt exactly for irregular wave elevation precomputation
• Increase precision for output files of spectral densities and precomputed wave elevation

What's Changed

Full Changelog: v0.2.4...v0.2.5

HydroChrono v0.2.4 - patch for HDF5 dependency

This patch allows HydroChrono to HDF5 dependency in a more standardized way, tested with HDF5 1.10.8 (originally recommended version by HydroChrono) and newer version HDF5 1.14.4.

What's Changed

Full Changelog: v0.2.3...v0.2.4

HydroChrono v0.2.3 - patch for matching irregular wave elevations

This patch ensures that precomputed wave elevations and wave elevation returned directly from calling GetElevation are matching.

What's Changed

Full Changelog: v0.2.2...v0.2.3