Autodesk® Nastran® 2017

Installation Guide
Installation Guide

© 2016 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Autodesk® Nastran® 2017

Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by
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Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.

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Autodesk Nastran 2017 ii

Installation Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 4
2. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS.......................................................................................... 5
3. INSTALLATION .................................................................................................................. 7
4. LICENSING ......................................................................................................................... 8
4.1 Activating Autodesk Nastran ................................................................................................. 8
4.2 Testing the Autodesk Nastran Installation ............................................................................ 8
4.2.1 Running Autodesk Nastran from the Autodesk Nastran Editor ........................................ 9
4.2.2 Running Autodesk Nastran from the Command Prompt................................................ 10
4.2.3 Configuring the Model Initialization File ......................................................................... 10
5. UNINSTALLATION ........................................................................................................... 13
5.1 Through Autodesk Uninstall Tool ........................................................................................ 13
5.2 Through Control Panel ......................................................................................................... 14
6. TECHNICAL SUPPORT.................................................................................................... 15

Autodesk Nastran 2017 3

Installation Guide Overview

1. OVERVIEW

This document will help guide you through the setup of 64-bit Autodesk® Nastran® on your computer.

The installation utility requires Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 to setup
Autodesk Nastran on your hard disk.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 4

Installation Guide Hardware Requirements

2. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

There are no special hardware requirements for Autodesk Nastran beyond those imposed by
Windows. The table below shows the minimum, budget and high-end requirements for workstations
and laptops necessary to achieve maximum performance with Autodesk Nastran.

Minimum Workstation Budget Workstation High-End Workstation

Computer, CPU Intel Pentium or AMD Intel Core i5/i7 – Dual or Quad Dual Intel Xeon Quad-core
based Core at high clock speed CPUs at high clock speed
(3.5+GHz). or single Xeon 8-
core CPU at high clock speed
(2.8+GHz)
Memory, RAM 2GB 8GB 32GB+
Graphics Card 256MB workstation 1GB dedicated video card 2+GB NVIDIA Quadro K4000
video card or similar
Hard Disk 40GB free space 1TB SATA 7200RPM and 2TB 7200 SATA for file
256GB SSD for temp files storage and 512GB SSD for
temp files
Note: High write speed is
critical (at least 400MB/sec is
good)
Network Card Required for network Required for network Required for network
installation with FlexLM installation with FlexLM installation with FlexLM
licensing licensing licensing
Operating System Windows 7 SP1 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 Professional Windows 7 SP1 Professional
64-bit, or Windows 8 64-bit, Windows 8
Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit, Windows
8.1 Professional 64-bit, or
Windows 10 Professional 64-
bit

Minimum Laptop Budget Laptop High-End Laptop

Computer, CPU Intel Pentium or AMD Intel Core i5 – Dual or Quad Intel Core i7 – Dual or Quad
based Core at high clock speed Core at high clock speed
Memory, RAM 2GB 4GB 16GB+
Graphics Card 256MB workstation video 1GB dedicated video card 2+GB NVIDIA or equivalent
card ATI
Hard Disk 40GB free space 1TB SATA 7200RPM 512GB or 1TB SSD.
Note: High write speed is
critical (at least 400MB/sec is
good)
Network Card Required for network Required for network Required for network
installation with FlexLM installation with FlexLM installation with FlexLM
licensing licensing licensing
Operating System Windows 7 SP1 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 Professional Windows 7 SP1 Professional
64-bit, or Windows 8 64-bit, Windows 8
Professional 64-bit Professional 64-bit, Windows
8.1 Professional 64-bit, or
Windows 10 Professional 64-
bit

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Installation Guide Hardware Requirements

There are many types of hardware that will allow you to use Autodesk Nastran. Proper choice of
hardware however, can often make the difference between frustration and productivity. Here are a
few suggestions:

 Add more memory (RAM) above the minimum configuration. This will allow you to specify
more memory for the Autodesk Nastran and reduce the likelihood of memory thrashing
(excessive paging of virtual memory to disk).
 Required hard disk space is difficult to estimate, but in general you will never have enough.
This is especially true when running large models. If you are continuously running out of disk
space, you may want to invest in a larger and faster hard disk. Disk compression software
may also help, but may also degrade performance.
 Purchase or upgrade to the latest versions of Windows. The improvements in performance
and reliability will more than outweigh the initial cost - even if you only use Autodesk Nastran
occasionally.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 6

Installation Guide Installation

3. INSTALLATION

To successfully install Autodesk Nastran, you must have approximately 1GB of free disk space. A
quick check prior to beginning the installation may save you some time. Then follow the steps below:

1. Log into your computer as Administrator.

2. Install the Autodesk Nastran by right-clicking on Setup.exe and selecting Run as
Administrator on the installation DVD. If you are running the single file executable, you must
first unzip the files on your computer.
3. Click on the Install button to start the installation.
4. Accept the License Agreement page.
5. Click Next to continue with the installation.

6. Click on Install button and installation starts.

7. After installing the software, uninstall all versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader less than V7.0.
This is required to access the online manuals.
8. Download and install Adobe Acrobat Reader from www.adobe.com.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 7

Installation Guide Licensing

4. LICENSING

A license is an authorization to run Autodesk Nastran. Possession of a license indicates that the
software has been obtained legally and is an authorized copy which may be executed. There are two
licensing options available for Autodesk Nastran, stand-alone and network. For more information on
the types of licensing used and the licensing setup, go online at:

http://help.autodesk.com/view/INSTALL_LICENSE/2015/ENU

4.1 Activating Autodesk Nastran

To activate Autodesk Nastran, follow these steps below:

1. Start the Autodesk Editor and select the Enter a Serial Number or Use a Network License.

2. Click on Activate button.

3. Enter licensing information (Serial Number and Product Key).
4. Log in using your Autodesk User ID account. If you do not have an account, go to the Autodesk
Account portal (https://accounts.autodesk.com/) can create one.
NOTE: Your login is not the same one used to access the Autodesk Feedback Community site.

4.2 Testing the Autodesk Nastran Installation

After you have successfully installed Autodesk Nastran you should test the installation and make any
of the suggested changes to the configuration settings, as described in Section 4.2.3 below.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 8

Installation Guide Licensing

4.2.1 Running Autodesk Nastran from the Autodesk Nastran Editor

You can now test Autodesk Nastran by using the Autodesk Editor to open the Test.NAS file located
in the installation folder (by default C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Nastran 2017\Example
Files\en-us\). Launch the Autodesk Editor from Start, All Programs, Autodesk, Autodesk Nastran
2017, Autodesk Nastran 2017 menu item.

Open Test.NAS file, select Analysis, Run (or press F5) to run the model. The Autodesk Editor
should terminate with no error or warning messages as shown in the picture below.

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Installation Guide Licensing

Note: Make sure everything works when you are logged in as Administrator.

4.2.2 Running Autodesk Nastran from the Command Prompt

To run Autodesk Nastran from a Command Prompt window inside of Windows, see the Autodesk
Nastran Reference Manual, Section 1, NASTRAN Command Line. You must open the Command
Prompt using the right-click “Run as Administrator” command.

4.2.3 Configuring the Model Initialization File

The Model Initialization File (Nastran.INI) configures Autodesk Nastran to run on your system. It is
divided into the following five sections:

Section Purpose
[File Management] File Management directives allow the user to specify
the names and locations of input, output, and database
files.
[Output Control] Output Control directives allow the user to control what
output files are generated and what they have in them.
[Memory Management] Memory Management directives allow the user to
control what type of memory (virtual or physical) and
how much will be used for memory intensive tasks such
as matrix assembly and decomposition. By optimizing
memory usage the user can optimize performance.

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Installation Guide Licensing

[Program Control] Program Control directives allow the user to customize

program execution by controlling how and what tasks
are to be performed.
[Parameters] Parameter statements that are specified using the
PARAMETER command or entry can be specified in
this section using the directive format. See the
Autodesk Nastran Reference Manual, Section 5,
Parameters.

Each section has associated with it a group of related directives and each directive has a default
setting (see the Autodesk Nastran Reference Manual, Section 2, Initialization for directive syntax and
default settings).

For most configurations, the default settings in the Nastran.INI file will provide optimal performance.
There are a few directives you may want to change depending on your configuration. Changes can
be made either using a standard text editor or through the Autodesk Nastran 2017 Editor Options
menu.

The easiest way to modify the Nastran Model Initialization File (Nastran.INI) is to open the Autodesk
Nastran Editor by clicking on the Windows Start, All Programs, Autodesk, Autodesk Nastran 2017,
Autodesk Nastran 2017 menu item. Then select Setup, Default Analysis Options and click on the
desired section and option. To set model specific options, open the Model Input File and use the
options menu displayed to the left.

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Installation Guide Licensing

The first directives you may want to modify are the scratch file folders. Double-click on File
Management, then on the FILESPEC directive to change the folder. You will want to select a folder
on a disk with a large amount of available space.

The RAM directive setting can greatly affect performance and is automatically optimized for your
particular computer when you install the Autodesk Nastran. If you want to modify it, you can do it
under Memory Management Directives section.

Another directive you may want to modify is under Geometry Processor Parameters,
SHELLRNODE. Turning SHELLRNODE to ON converts all CQUAD4 and TRIA3 elements to
CQUADR and CTRIAR. The CQUADR and CTRIAR elements are complete 6 DOF/node elements,
which typically give more accurate results.

One last directive you may want to modify is under Solution Processor Parameters,
SOLUTIONERROR. You can avoid getting a fatal error when a non-positive definite caused by a
modeling error is encountered by setting SOLUTIONERROR to ON and FACTDIAG to 0.0. You can
also avoid getting a fatal error when a singularity is encountered by setting SOLUTIONERROR to ON
and FACTDIAG to 1.0E-10. Note that while these options are useful for detecting modeling errors,
they may lead to solutions of poor quality or fatal messages later in the run. It is recommended that
SOLUTIONERROR be set to OFF for production runs.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 12

Installation Guide Uninstallation

5. UNINSTALLATION

To uninstall Autodesk Nastran 2017 use the Autodesk Uninstall Tool or Control Panel/Uninstall
Programs, as described below.

5.1 Through Autodesk Uninstall Tool

1. On Windows 7 OS, click the Start button.

2. Click on All Programs.
3. Expand Autodesk and click on Uninstall Tool utility.
4. Check the box next to Autodesk Nastran 2017.

5. Click on the Uninstall button.

6. On Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 OS, search for Uninstall Tool, then follow steps 4. and 5. from
above.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 13

Installation Guide Uninstallation

5.2 Through Control Panel

1. Go to Control Panel and select the Autodesk Nastran 2017 component.

2. Click on the Uninstall button.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 14

Installation Guide Technical Support

6. TECHNICAL SUPPORT

If you need help or feel you have discovered a problem in the software, go to
subscription.autodesk.com. Based on your subscription terms, you can get some online help or
you can place a web-request.

Please provide the following information to help us locate the problem and solve it faster:

1. A detailed description of the problem (error messages, problem size, directive, command, and
entry types used).
2. Total free physical and virtual memory and free disk space at program execution.
3. If applicable, include a copy of your Model Initialization (Nastran.INI), Model Input
(filename.NAS), Model Results Output (filename.OUT), and System Log (filename.LOG) files.
4. Any other information you think might be useful.

Autodesk Nastran 2017 15