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Finite Element Analysis: Introduction Using MSC - Patran and MSC - Nastran
Finite Element Analysis: Introduction Using MSC - Patran and MSC - Nastran
Results basics
Example problems
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Patran basics
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Patran basics
Menu bar Quick-icons
Form area
Main workflow icons
Model window
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Patran basics
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Patran basics
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Patran basics
Forms follows the same basic layout for all forms. For forms that need
to perform different tasks, a series of drop-down lists at the top is used
to change into the mode required.
Object: On what do you want to perform this action (Curve / Surface / Solid /
Element / Node etc)
Method: What method do you want to use to perform this action (Extrude / revolve
etc.)
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Patran basics
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Patran basics
When a new command is given to Patran, the model is first saved and the
command then executed. This means that you never lose more than one step
even with a power-failure. The downside is that only the last command can be
undone (because it is not yet saved)
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Model building process
The first part in building a model is to get geometry available so that a mesh can
be generated. Most commonly the model comes from a CAD package. The
following types of CAD files are supported:
ACIS (Used by Autocad)
Parasolid (Used by Unigraphics, Solid Edge, Solid Words and a couple of others)
Catia
Pro Engineer
Unigraphics
IGES
STEP
Patran has its own geometry engine as well as the Parasolid geometry engine
built in. Therefore, the geometry that gives the least amount of problems is
Parasolid, although ACIS, CATIA and Pro Engineer import interfaces also works
very well.
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Model building process
After geometry exists, the Finite Element model creation process can
start. The workflow mentioned earlier is not a fixed method of working:
As long as geometry exist the sequence can be changed at will
This means that you can re-mesh the model without having to update
every load, BC and material property.
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Model building process
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Model building process
Create / Mesh / Surface gives two options for the
meshing Algorithm: Isomesh and Paver.
IsoMesh is only allowed on 3- or 4-sided surfaces
(Green surfaces). It transforms this surface onto a
square or triangular surface, subdivide this mesh to
get elements and transforms back to the original
surface.
Paver is valid for all types of surfaces (Green and
Magenta). It starts Paving at the edges and then
continues paving towards the inside until the area is
filled.
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Model building process
If two separate pieces of geometry next to each other is meshed, they may have
nodes at the same location in space but they are NOT connected by default. To
connect them, use the Equivalence option. It forces the elements to share the
boundary nodes instead of having duplicate nodes. Remember, if they dont
share nodes, the elements are not connected!
To check that the mesh is connected, use the Verify / Element / Boundaries
option. It will show where there are element edges that is not shared. In other
words it tells you where there are elements that are not connected to others. If
the model is correct, there should only be lines at the boundary of the model.
Correct
wrong
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Model building process
Applying loads and boundary conditions is relatively
straightforward:
Choose the load-type
Give the load a unique name (without spaces)
Choose to what elements (1D / 2D / 3D) the load is
applied to if applicable
Go to Input data to fill in the load value. The value
may be a scalar or a vector (more on vectors later).
Select OK
Go to Select application region. Select whether you
want to apply the load to FEM or Geometry. Select the
entities to apply the load to and press the Add
button. Repeat this selection and Add until all the
entities are in the Application region. Press OK
Press Apply
Check that the Load / BC has been added to the
Existing sets. If not, either there was an error (an
error window would appear with some kind of
message), or you did not press apply.
To check what the properties was of a specific load /
BC, select it in the Existing sets (Typing its name is
NOT good enough). It will then fill in its data in the
name, Input data area and application region.
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Model building process
Applying materials to a mesh is a two-step
process:
First, create a material. Note that the materials
do not have an option to link them to any
elements: They are simply made available to
be used on the properties menu.
To create a Material:On the materials menu,
select Create / [Property type] / Manual input.
[Property type] is:
Isotropic for materials that do not exhibit varying
properties in different directions. Typically used for
metals. Required properties is two of Modulus of
elasticity (E), Shear modulus (G), or Poisson ().
Density is needed if either inertial loading (gravity /
rotational velocity) is applied, or if a type of dynamic
analysis is to be performed
Orthotropic for materials that has properties that can be
defined be specifying a different stiffness in 3
orthogonal directions. A layer of composites is typical of
this.
Anisotropic has more terms for the material stiffness
than even Orthotropic and can have for example
coupling between membrane stress and bending. A
complex composite lay-up has this kind of behavior,
although it will more commonly be set up using the
following option
Composite is used to define material properties for a
material that is built up in layers of materials that has
already defined
Fluid is used to specify material properties for acoustic
analysis
Select Input material properties and fill in the
required data. Press OK and Apply
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Model building process
To apply the material properties to a mesh, go
to the properties menu:
Create / [Dimensionality] / [Type of element]
[Dimensionality] can be from 0D to 3D.
[Type of element] vary for each
dimensionality. Most commonly used is:
0D:
Mass element
Grounded spring - Has a stiffness in a specific
direction that is between one node and ground.
Used to model foundations that are not
perfectly stiff
1D:
Beam
Rod Truss element
Bush spring element that can define different
stiffness for each DOF as well as Damping
between two nodes.
2D:
Shell An element that acts in 3D space but
which is modeled without nodes in the
thickness direction. Have membrane, shear
and bending stiffness by default
2D solid: Options are Plane Strain or axi-
symmetric. They are defined in 2D but define a
thick component.
3D: Only option is Solid.
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Model building process
Select the type of property to apply and go to input
properties, fill in the properties and press OK. The smaller
the dimensionality of the element is, the more properties is
needed:
3D: Only a material is needed
2D: A material and a thickness
1D: A material, Cross-sectional area, Inertia values, direction to
determine in which direction the normal direction for the
element is (i.e. what is the orientation of the beam)
0D: Mass properties (Mass and Inertia) or Stiffness for each
direction
Select the geometry or elements to which to apply and press
.
Add to fill in the Application region. Select Apply to
generate the properties
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Model building process
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Submitting the analysis
You are now ready to start the analysis. On the
analysis menu, select Analyze / Entire model / Full
run. The Job name is what the Nastran model will
be called (it defaults to the Patran model file-name)
as well as what the results-file is called.
On translation parameters:
Switch off Print. The print file is the .F06 file,
and having print on will write all results to this
text file as well as to the normal results file. This
will then be a HUGE file and make it difficult to
scan it for errors. More on the F06 later.
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Submitting the analysis
Make a Direct text input in the Bulk data section: Param, PRGPST, NO
to not print the grid-point singularity table to the F06 file, and select OK.
This will reduce the size of the F06 significantly.
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Submitting the analysis
Go to Sub cases to change settings for any load
case to be run. This is needed to change the results
requested (default is stress, reaction force and
displacement). For non-linear analyses, load
increment info is set here. For Transient analysis
types, time steps or number of modes are set here.
[A sub case is a load case with extra info about
settings for the load case]
Select the sub cases to be run on the Sub case
select menu, OK and Apply to submit the analysis.
If all goes according to plan, a Command window
will open that shows that Nastran is running. This
window will stay open for at least a couple of
seconds (up to several hours depending on the
model size). When the analysis has completed,
check the F06 file for errors. Search for FATAL in
this file. If its there, the results file will contain NO
RESULTS!
To Access the results:
On the Analysis menu, select Access results /
[Attach XDB or Read OP2] / Result
entities. Select the results file and press
Apply. The results should now be available on
the Results menu.
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Results basics
The most common result plots used are:
Displacement - showing deformed shape)
Fringe - showing contours
Quick Plot - combines the a Fringe and Displacement plot. It has less options than
Fringe / Displacement plots, so is used to generate the first impressions of the
results
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