The COMPRESS Development Team is committed to providing customers with the latest Code Addenda as well as features and functionality upgrades.  The following summaries provide a sense of the types of software enhancements routinely made available. To view a detailed listing of all new features and changes per release, select Help > View History from within COMPRESS.

January 27, 2010 - COMPRESS Build 6310

• The new Long Seam Wizard allows multiple longitudinal seams to be added to cylinders, transitions, skirts, and hemispherical heads. Specification of longitudinal seam locations allows COMPRESS to check for seam interference with adjacent seams, nozzles, and other attachments such as clips, lugs, or legs. Seams may be added based on plate length, equal spacing, or angular position. A 2-D Shell Rollout with seam and attachment locations is present to aid in positioning the seams. A Long Seam Summary report is generated that includes an image of the shell rollout and the top view of hemispherical heads. Additional information can be found in the help file.
• A new input for the pin diameter has been added to the lift lugs dialog. The pin size is used in the lug bearing and shear calculations and the lug pin diameter shear stress calculation.
• Lift lug collars may now specified as hollow bars. This type of collar is considered integral to the lift lug with a full groove weld and fillet weld.
• Collar weld size may now be specified on the lift lug dialog. Previously, the collar to lug weld was assumed to be the same size as the lug to vessel weld. The collar weld size is used in the collar weld shear calculation.

December 08, 2009 - COMPRESS Build 6300

• COMPRESS now includes the ASME Section VIII, Division 1 and Division 2 2009 Addenda.
• The National Board Inspection Code R-2 Report of Alteration form is now available.
• For the nozzle test stress and allowable determination, the following changes were made. The nozzle's general primary membrane stress (P_m) is now calculated on the actual nozzle geometry using the thick shell equation from Appendix 1. The allowable for the maximum local primary membrane stress (P_L) is no longer based on the rules in VIII-2 4.1.6.2.a.2 for P_m plus P_b (VIII-2, AD-151.1(b) for A06 and before). The allowable for P_L is now always taken as 1.5 times the percentage of yield times the vessel's yield stress.
• The impact test requirements of UHT-(c) and post weld heat treatment requirements of UHT-56 are now included.
• A new Material Properties dialog is available on the general component dialog that displays every available detail for the currently selected material.
• A project export feature is now available which allows a COMPRESS project and all of its files to be exported to a folder or a zip file. This can be used as a means for backing up projects and files or for transferring projects to another computer.
• The Set Mode Options dialog now uses an improved tree style view.
• Figure UG-34 sketch (a) welded cover design is now available.
• In order to improve usability, toolbars are now only displayed when they are functional.

July 13, 2009 - COMPRESS Build 6263

• It was not possible to change the skirt base plate thickness (t_b) in Build 6262.

June 29, 2009 - COMPRESS Build 6262

• COMPRESS has been updated to include the ASME Section VIII, Division 2 2007 Edition and 2008 Addenda.
• When viewing the report in HTML format, there is a new option available in the Window menu to split the report window. This makes it possible to view two reports at the same time and is useful for comparing and checking values.
• Items in the Project Toolbar are now sorted alphabetically
• A check has been added for the lethal service restriction of UCS-6 (b)(1). The check for USC-6 (b)(3) has been extended to include SA/CSA-G40.21 38W.
• COMPRESS now includes an option to exclude the flange portion of a heavy barrel nozzle. This applies to type 9 and 10 nozzles, with flange types HB, FVC / FCI and custom integral forgings.
• A new option is available on the FEA Details dialog to manually specify the Merge Nodes Tolerance for nozzle FEA calculations. This input is useful for correcting the FEA model in the case when gaps or tears occur in the deformed state.
• The Minimal Reports and PDF Report Settings menu items have been added to the Report menu, which is visible while viewing a report.

March 02, 2009 - COMPRESS Build 6261

• The ability to specify between ASME B16.47 Series A and Series B flanges is now available.
• A circumferential RT setting is now available on the ASME B16.5 / 16.47 flange dialog when a weld neck flange is attached to the left (top) end of a head. This enables the RT setting to be set for the circumferential seam. Previously the RT value from the preceding cylinder was used for this joint.
• UHA-51(g) is now considered when determining the MDMT for ASME B16.5 / 16.47 flanges.
• COMPRESS now includes a check on the test pressure to ensure it meets the minimum requirement of UG-99(b) or UG-100(b).
• Area available for nozzle reinforcement no longer includes any area from an ASME B16.5 weld neck flange. Previously an option switch was available to exclude this area.
• New options have been added to the PDF Report Options dialog to use the vessel name or the file name in the header or footer of the PDF reports.
• The "Limits of Reinforcement per UG-40" section of the Nozzle report now shows the limit of reinforcement calculations, both normal and parallel to the vessel wall.
• COMPRESS now includes an ambient temperature input value. This value is located on the Set Mode > Defaults page. The ambient temperature is used for the Empty design conditions. Previously the Empty design conditions used the test temperature when determining material properties.
• For the 2008 Addenda shell axial membrane stress check, a message box and warning deficiency are now present to the alert the designer that an increase in the thickness of the shell and/or shell band may provide a reduction in tubesheet thickness.
• The UHX-9.4 check is now performed for the stationary tubesheet of a floating exchanger. This calculation is only performed for the shell side hydrotest condition when the stationary tubesheet is gasketed on both sides.
• For Appendix 2 flanges with external pressure and a corrosion allowance specified, the hydrotest stress reported in the Hydrostatic Test report was overly conservative. This issue was isolated to Build 6260.
• The Barrel O.D. for ASME B16.5 Class 400 HB Flanges has been updated to be consistent with the most recent values from the online Forged Vessel Connections (FVC) catalog.
• For corroded cylinders that have dimensions near the App. 1-2 thick wall cylinder requirements COMPRESS was incorrectly using the thick wall cylinder equations for the required thickness and MAWP but reporting the App. 1-1 equations. This affected builds 6259 and 6260.
• In the Appendix 1-10 calculation of the limit of reinforcement along the nozzle wall projecting inside the vessel surface (L_I), the vessel's internal corrosion was not properly removed from the nozzle's nominal thickness.

December 2, 2008 - COMPRESS Build 6260

• COMPRESS has been updated to include the ASME Section VIII, Division 1 2008 Addenda.
• The new "Project" feature allows users to organize, view and backup files of any type from within COMPRESS. For example, multiple COMPRESS files along with supporting Microsoft® Excel spreadsheets, technical specifications, pictures, etc. can all be grouped together under one project name. All of the files grouped in the project can be directly loaded from the project dialog.
• The Rigging Analysis, disabled in previous builds, is available again with several improvements. The analysis includes shear, moment and bending stress diagrams which describe the vessel during horizontal lift.
• A new option is available to perform flange rigidity calculations for the MAP condition. In addition, the calculations for the MAP condition are now reported when in rating mode.
• COMPRESS now provides an option to select the flange type from Appendix 2 Figure 2-4 (1) through (10), excluding (6a) and (6b). This adds flange types (9), (9a), (10) and (10a) as well as the new (4b) and (4c) types for the A08 Addenda.
• Per the note in Appendix 2-5(e), the full available bolt load A_bS_a may be used where additional safety against abuse is desired.
• A new Appendix 2 flange facing type has been added for all applicable flanges (excluding full face gasketed, split loose and lap joint flanges) but primarily for tubesheet flanges. The new facing type has a confined gasket facing design. The new flange facing will have the same effective gasket width calculations as flange facing sketch 1(a) right and 1(b) left in Appendix 2, Table 2-5.2. The new flange facing design will not affect any of the flange stress calculations but will affect the flange geometry which may affect overall vessel length.
• COMPRESS now includes the ability to specify a raised face diameter and height for applicable Appendix 2 flanges. This option is available if a Sketch 1a Right, Sketch 1b Left, or Confined Gasket (Raised Face) facing sketch is specified. The raised face option is not available and does not apply to full face gasket or lap joint type flanges.

July 22, 2008 - COMPRESS Build 6259

• The tubesheet and channel configurations may now be changed while editing an existing heat exchanger. This includes changing the channel type, bonnet type, tubesheet flanges and other related options. The flexibility available when initially creating a heat exchanger is now available when editing a heat exchanger.
• New configurations have been added to the heat exchanger wizard. These are available for new and existing heat exchanger models and include flanged connections between channel heads and channel cylinders, cylindrical sections on ends of reducer channels and welded flat channel covers.
• A new file tab feature is now available when multiple COMPRESS files are open. A tab for each open file is now present at the bottom of the COMPRESS window. Clicking on a tab will immediately switch the view to the desired file.
• Elliptical manway design is now available on the nozzle design dialog whenever the nozzle is specified as an Access opening. Common elliptical manway sizes can be saved using the Choose manway from list option. In addition, a user defined pressure rating and coincident temperature rating, supplied by the manufacturer, may be input.
• COMPRESS now includes an option to include longitudinal shell loadings in the calculation of shell required thickness tr per UG-37(a). This option is listed in the Action > Set Mode Options > Nozzles 1 dialog. Selecting the Consider longitudinal stress in UG-37(a) shell 'tr' calculation option will cause COMPRESS to perform additional tr calculations for windward and leeward loadings. The largest calculated tr value from circumferential stress or longitudinal loading will be used in the area calculations.
• Two new MDMT options are now available allowing greater flexibility in MDMT rating. It is now possible to deactivate consideration of the UCS-66.1 MDMT reduction and/or the UCS-68(c) MDMT reduction. These new option switches are located under the Codes > ASME menu.
• Tube side and shell side liquid levels can now be specified for floating tubesheet configurations. Previously, a liquid level could not be specified for both the tube side and shell side simultaneously.