Simcenter Femap 2019
The latest release provides a variety of improvements that will improve your productivity across the simulation work- flow. Model creation enhancements range from entity selection and geometry splitting operations to meshing, including new sweep and mesh transition options. There are also several updates to solver integration for Nastran®, Ansys® and Abaqus®, and new results viewing selections in postprocessing.
CAD-Independent
Simcenter Femap is CAD-independent and can access geometry data from all major CAD systems including CATIA, Pro/Engineer, NX, Solid Edge, SolidWorks and AutoCAD.
User interface updates
The modernized Femap look is evident with new color schemes that provide better viewing on large displays and high-reso-lution monitors. The panes and dialog boxes have also been updated and standardizedto reflect the control and behavior model of the of latest Windows version, enhancing the user experience and providing a cleaner look to the software.
Visualization enhancements
Visualization enhancements include new feature and silhouette lines that outline finite element (FE) model features to aid model viewing. Feature lines display hard edges while silhouette lines highlight curved areas where the model disappears from view.
Improved graphics performance
Simcenter Femap now offers a new “best possible” graphics preference that examines the available graphics hard-ware and automatically sets a configuration that yields the best graphics performance.
Entity selection
Entity selection methods have been enhanced to allow you to select only from those entities that are visible on the screen at the time of selection, using the new “select visible” icon button on the entity selection dialog. Also, elements can be selected based on a reference to an orientation node. These additions enhance the current array of available tools, making entity selection more versatile and flexible. You’ll also notice that the ID fields in the entity selection and other dialog boxes throughout Simcenter Femap have been widened.
Previous vector
Simcenter Femap 2019.1 includes the ability to recall a previously defined vector in any operation that requires a vector direction definition to be created. Accessing previously defined data accel- erates the model creation process, enhancing productivity.
Locate in model info
A new “locate in model info” toggle is added as a new selector mode to the selector toolbar that highlights the selected entity (solid, CSYS, property, material or layup) in the model info tree. This makes it easier to locate the selected item in the model info tree when there are many items of that type in the mode.
Modfem preview and tooltips
Even before you launch Femap, in the fileexplorer you can preview the modfem file model image, and via tooltips, review basic model statistics including version, size, save date and numbers of FE and geometry entities. This capability helps you locate and select the model you want earlier, without having to start up Femap first.
Solid material coordinate systems
Simcenter Femap 2019.1 now supports the Nastran solid material coordinate definition system on elements, which allows each element to refer to a sepa- rate coordinate system ID. Support for reading and writing the solid element coordinate system ID entity (MATCID) is also added.
Libraries
Version 2019.1 adds greater flexibility in the use of libraries to save and load modeling data including materials and properties. In addition to the Femap standard libraries, you can now create your own personal libraries in a directory of your choosing, instead of in the instal- lation directory. Also, you can define a library that can be shared with other users – the shared library path is set within the file preferences dialog.
LBC and solid data propagation with geometry splitting or slicing
Any existing geometry-based definitions of loads, constraints or regions will be automatically propagated during geometry split operations. Therefore, the original intent of the load and boundary condition (LBC) definition is maintained, which eliminates any need to rebuild the definitions after splitting, facilitating model setup. For solid entities, all solid data is main- tained after geometry slicing operations as well. All definitions of loads, con- straints, regions, colors, layers and solid attributes are fully propagated. These enhancements also add flexibility to the model setup workflows making these types of operations order- independent.
Sweep elements, element faces and edges
In the mesh sweep command there is a new option to sweep along element edges. The element edges form a path for the sweep operation which acts on a number of selected elements or element faces. Only a single element edge pick is required, and the sweep operation continues until it connects back on itself (around a circular structure for example) or an end is reached. There is also an option to specify a stop node. As the elements are swept, the mesh morphs to maintain a match with existing mesh edges. In addition to sweeping plates and solid faces to create solids, you can now sweep element edges and beams to create 2D plates.
Solver support
Solver interface updates include extensions to Simcenter Nastran support for multi-step nonlinear solution sequences and enhancements to the design optimization capability. In addition, this release also includes further enhancements to the ANSYS and Abaqus solver translators.
Contour plots
New contour plot options are available to view models with partial results, such as contact forces and stresses. Previously, all elements were contoured with a value of zero applied to all nodes without results