FEMAP Student Guide

SIEMENS

Femap 101

Student Guide

Version 10 1 1

Siemens PLM Software

Version 10.1.1

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 ii Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide

Proprietary and restricted rights notice

This software and related documentation are proprietary to Siemens Product

Lifecycle Management Software Inc.

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Reserved.

All trademarks belong to their respective holders.

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iii Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide

Femap 101

Training Class Agenda

Day 1

Lesson No Topic Workshop(s)

1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap

2 The Femap User Interface – Part 1

3 Geometry Creation and Editing

4 Materials and Properties

5 Boundary Conditions – Loads and Constraints

Day 2


6 The Femap User Interface – Part 2

7 Model Display and Visualization

8 Meshing

9 Analysis Set Manager

10 Postprocessing

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iv Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide

Day 3


11 The Meshing Toolbox

12 Midsurfacing

13 Assembly Modeling

14 Finite Element Modeling Debugging

Student Topics

L 1 Th FEA M d li PLesson 1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of general overview of Finite Element Modeling and Analysis and the tools in Femap available to generate FEA models.

Topics

• What is Finite Element Analysis?

• What comprises a FEA model?

• Femap Modeling Process Flow

• Femap Model Objects and Commands

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 1 - 1Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide

Lesson 1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap

A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a mathematical simulation of a physical structure when internal and external forces are applied to it.

It can be used to simulate the following types of physical behavior:

What is Finite Element Analysis?

• Structural• Thermal• Fluid Flow• Optical• Electromagnetic

Femap can be used to model the first four types of FEA models.

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1 - 2Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide


A Finite Element Analysis model is a collection of:• Finite Elements - well-defined mathematical models of:

• Beams and RodsS f Sh ll l t

What comprises a FEA model?

• Surface or Shell elements• Solids (Tetrahedral or Hex)• Miscellaneous elements such as Springs, Mass, Rigid, and Contact

• Material attributes• Boundary conditions (loads and constraints)



A FEA model is at best, an approximation of a physical structure.

The accuracy of the results from a FEA model are only as good as the quality of the mesh and the accurate application of material attributes and boundary

diti t d l

Takeaway

conditions to a model.



Femap Objects and Workflow for Generating a FEA Model

Geometry

MaterialsBoundary Conditions• Constraints

Properties• Loads

Mesh

Analyze

Postprocess



Import Geometry Create Geometry Modify Geometry

File, Import GeometryGeometry commands Geometry, commands

Geometry

yFile, References

Geometry, commands yModify, commands

Direct CAD geometry interfaces Solid Edge, NX (Unigraphics and I-

deas) ProE CATIA anddeas), ProE, CATIA, and SolidWorks.

Industry standard CAD geometry Interfaces Parasolid, ACIS, IGES, STEP, STL

Femap geometry creation and editing Points, 2D and 3D curves Surfaces Solid creation and editing

operations Midplane surface extraction and

editingediting



Materials and Properties

Materials Properties

Model, Material commands Model, Property commands

• Isotropic

• 2D and 3D Orthotropic

• 2D and 3D Anisotropic

• Elastomers – Hyperelastic, Foam, etc.

• Line elements• Plane elements• Volume elements• “Other” elements

etc.

• Analysis program specific types (NX Nastran, MSC Nastran, LS-Dyna, Abaqus, Marc)



Boundary Conditions

Constraints Loads

Model, Constraint commands Model, Load commands

Femap models can contain multiple Constraint Sets and Load Sets

Constraints and Loads can be assigned to geometry or meshes

For loads, the Model Info window allows: Creation, editing, highlighting, and deletion of Load and Constraint sets. Creation, editing, highlighting, and deletion of individual Loads, Load Definitions,

Constraints, and Constraint Definitions. Creation and editing of Body, Nonlinear, Dynamic, and Heat Transfer loads and

settings.



Mesh Control and Multi-element Meshing Single Nodes Single Elements

Femap Model Objects and Commands – Meshing

Mesh, Mesh Control,commands

Mesh, Geometry commands

Model, Node…command

Model, Element… command

Additional mesh creation and editing tools are available through the Meshing Toolbox



Analyze View Results (Postprocess) Report

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Analysis

Model, Analysiscommand

View, Select… (F5)View, Options… (F6)View, Advanced Post… commands

List, Output, commands

Data Table operations


Th FEMAP U I t fLesson 2 The FEMAP User Interface –Part 1

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of the Femap User Interface.

Topics

• Femap Main Window Layout• Femap Main Window Layout

• Graphics Windows

• Femap Main Menus

• Toolbars and Customizable Menus

• View Manipulation – Part 1

Dockable Panes• Dockable Panes

• Model Info Tree

• Entity Editor

• Status Bar and Tray

• Right Mouse Button

E tit S l ti• Entity Selection

• Setting the Pick or “Snap” Mode

• Locate and Vector Dialog Boxes

• Shortcut Keys

• Online Help

• Units


Lesson 2 The Femap User Interface – Part 1

Femap Main Window Layout

Femap Title BarFemap Main Menu

Femap Graphics Window

Named Tabs for Graphics Windows

Tabs for “Stacked”Tabs for Stacked dockable panes

Floating dockablepane

FEMAP Status and Tray bar

Current Model Status (FEMAP Menu Help when

in command)

FEMAP Trays

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 2Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide


Femap’s graphics windows have the ability to display:• Wireframe, hidden line, or rendered FEA models• XY plots of functions and analysis results.

Graphics Windows

Multiple Models can be opened at the same time each with multiple views.• A single model with multiple views has the view name displayed in the view tab• When multiple models

are open, each view hastheir view tab displayedas Model Name : View Nameas Model Name : View Name



Dynamic Viewing

• Views can be dynamically rotated, zoomed, and panned using the mouse.

• Through the use of a supported SpaceBall device

Graphics Windows (continued)

True Windows - provide easy transfer from Femap to other Windows programs.• Cut and Paste• Windows Metafiles• JPEG, BITMAP, GIF, TIFF, and PNG picture file formats• AVI and Animated GIF animation files



Provides access to most Femap operations through drop-down menus.• Menu commands displays short-cut keys (hotkeys) and shows toolbar icons on

menu (includes user-defined shortcut keys and icons, when assigned)

Femap Main Menus



Toolbars

• Turns toolbars on and off• Create and delete user-

defined toolbars

Customize Dialog Box

defined toolbars.

Commands

• Add regular and user-defined commands to an existing menu or toolbar.

K b dKeyboard

• Designate and manage shortcut keys (hotkey) combinations for specific commands.

User Commands

• Create and manage user-defined commands.

Options

• Set options on the toolbars such as using large icons, showing tooltips (with or without shortcut keys), and menu animation options (options are selected for ALL toolbars).



Dockable Toolbars• Toolbars can be

docked anywhere around the perimeter of the main Femap window.

Toolbars

p• When “docked”, toolbars can be placed

next to one another or “stacked” on top of one another.

Floating Toolbars• Toolbars can be “peeled” off the perimeter of the main Femap window and made toToolbars can be peeled off the perimeter of the main Femap window and made to

“float” anywhere within the main Femap window.• “Floating” toolbars can be reshaped.



Three (3) methods to customize or create a new toolbar:• Select the Tools, Toolbars, Customize command• Right-click in a toolbar pane or outside of any Femap pane

Cli k th C t i i (d i ) d k d fl ti t lb d th

Customizing Toolbars

• Click the Customize icon (down-arrow icon) on a docked or floating toolbar and then select Customize from the context-sensitive menu.

Clicking the Down icon in a toolbar allows direct access to that toolbar and has options to disable commands in that toolbar.

Clicking the Down icon in a toolbar allows direct access to that toolbar and has options to disable commands in that toolbar.



Click the New button inside the Toolbars tab, then give the new toolbar a unique name.1. Click the Commands tab and choose a category.2. “Drag” the desired command or menu onto the blank toolbar 3 Alt i i th i di id l i diti t l l i d th i

Creating Custom Toolbars

3. Alter any icons using the individual icon editing tools explained on the previous page4. Close the Customize dialog box and start using the new user toolbar.



While the Customize Dialog box is open, you can also edit individual icons by placing the cursor over any icon and clicking the right mouse button. This will bring up a menu as follows:

Toolbars – Icon Editing Menu



View Rotation, Zooming and Panning

View Orientation Toolbar

Entity Display Toolbar

View Manipulation


View Toolbar



Views can be dynamically manipulated with the mouse by holding a mouse button and keys and dragging the mouse in the Graphics window:

View Rotation, Zooming and Panning

Action No command active While a command is active

Rotate Left or Middle mouse button Middle mouse button

Pan Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Middlemouse button Ctrl+Middle mouse button

Zoom Shift+Left or Shift+Middlemouse button Shift+Middle mouse button

The mouse’s Scroll wheel can be used for dynamic zooming.

Femap Preferences can be modified to swap the use of the Ctrl and Shift keys for dynamic viewing

mouse button

dynamic viewing.

• Located under the User Interface tab, Mouse Interface options.



The View Orientation toolbar allows you to rapidly reorient a view to one of Femap’s standard nine (9) views.• This toolbar is not activated as part of the standard Femap GUI layout, you will need

to activate and place it.

View Orientation Toolbar

p

The Isometric, Dimetric, and Trimetric view orientation(s) can be modified using Femap’s Preferences.Femap s Preferences.• Select the View tab and set the angles for these views under the View and Dynamic

Rotation section.

As an alternative, you can use the View, Rotate, Model command (F8 hotkey) to rotate or orient views. • Version 10 added the option to “Rotate Around” any coordinate system, including

those defined by the user.



The Entity Display toolbar toggles the display of different entity types within a Graphicswindow.


Surfaces

Text

Coordinate Systems

Nodes

Constraints

View Analysis Model Toggle

Regions Elements

View GeometryToggle

View Labels Toggle

CurvesConnectors

Loads

Points



Entity Display Control with the

The View Visibility dialog box controls the display of entities in a manner similar to the Entity Display toolbar, but in more detail.• Access via the View, Visibility command, the Ctrl+Q hotkey or by clicking the View

Visibility icon on the View toolbar.

y p yView Visibility dialog box

y



The View toolbar allows control of the active view orientation, magnification, view style, and layers.

View Toolbar



The View Style menu controls settings for view type (wireframe, hidden line, etc.), mesh display, element colors, mesh size indicators and other commonly used display settings.

View Toolbar – View Style Icon Pulldown Menu



There are seven (7) standard dockable panes• Model Info

• Meshing Toolbox

Dockable Panes

Two other dockable panes are available for customization of Femap:

P FilMeshing Toolbox

• Entity Editor

• Entity Info

• Data Table

• Data Surface Editor

• Messages Window

• Program File

• API Programming

Can be turned on and off using the Toolsmenu and the Panes toolbar.

Panes can be resized when docked or floating.



Panes can be shown on the screen in a few different configurations• Floating• Docked

D k d d “St k d” ( li k T b t ti t P )

Dockable Panes – Display Configurations

• Docked and “Stacked” (click Tab to activate Pane)• Docked and Tabbed (Retracted) – Place cursor over tab to have pane “fly-out” and

be used (Docked and Tabbed Panes can also be “Stacked”)

The Push Pin Icon is used to toggle a dockable pane from simply “Docked” to “Docked and Tabbed”.



Docking position indicators are used to position Dockable Panes in specific places in the interface and can also be used to “stack” the panes. • Docking locations appear as arrows.

Dockable Panes - Positioning

Docking position indicators only appear when a dockable pane is being dragged from one position to another. • An outline of where the pane will be positioned will appear when the cursor is placed

over a specific Indicator.



Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Other Windows, Messages menu• Provides information on commands Femap is performing, and their status.• List and error information

Messages Window

U d k i d b d bl li ki th Titl B t t i d k d i bUndock window by double-clicking on the Title Bar, return to previous docked size by double-clicking Title Bar again.• Messages window can be resized when docked or floating.

Copy or Save Information from List • Highlight and Cut

S t Fil• Save to File

Note: When typing in the Messages window, anytime you type a shortcut key, the command assigned to the key will be invoked.




Format contents of the Messages window with the context sensitive pop-up menu (right-mouse click).

Messages Window – Other Options



Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Model Info command or with the Panestoolbar.

Provides quick access to “top-level” entities in Femap through an easy to navigate tree t t

Model Info Tree

structure.

Top-level items found in the treeinclude:• Coordinate Systems

• Geometry – Solids and Sheet SolidsOnlyOnly

• Connections

• Properties• Regions• Connectors

• ModelModel

• Elements

• Materials

• Properties

• Layups

• Loads and Constraints

• Functions

• Data Surfaces

• Analyses – Analysis Sets• Results – Output Sets• Views

• Groups

• Layers

• Selection List



Context-Sensitive menus available for each item in the Model Tree by highlighting an item then clicking the right mouse button.

Multiple entities can be highlighted at the same time in order to perform operations on all f th titi t

Model Info Tree – Addition Features and Selection List

of the entities at once.

Active Entity of each entity type is displayed with Blue text in the tree.

Selection List – used when Select Multiple is active in the Select Toolbar. • Lists each entity type currently in the selection set • Displays the number of entities of each entity type in parenthesesDisplays the number of entities of each entity type in parentheses



• Collapse/Expand All • Collapses or expands ALL categories in the Model Info tree at once. Can be

used to only show what you need to view specific entities.• Reload From Model

Model Info Tree – Icons

• Reload From Model • Reloads the Model Info tree with all current information from the model. Always

collapses the whole tree completely. • Reset All Visibility Options

• Toggles the display of all entities on• Send To Data Table

• Sends selected data to the Data Table pane for sorting, filtering, and evaluation. Data Table MUST be open and unlocked for this icon to be used.

Show When Selected pull down Toggle on/off and settings for highlighting

of selected objects. Similar to theof selected objects. Similar to the Window, Show Entities command.

Note: Defaults for Show When Selected can be set in the Show Entities Defaults section found on the User Interface tab of the Preferences dialog box.

Note: Defaults for Show When Selected can be set in the Show Entities Defaults section found on the User Interface tab of the Preferences dialog box.



Model Info Tree –

Context-Sensitive menus are available for each item in the Model Tree by highlighting an item then clicking the right mouse button.

Menu is different for each entity type in the tree.

Context Sensitive Menus

Some context sensitive menu commands require that multiple entities be chosen to activate a command. (e.g., MultiSet Animate)• Select individual

entities while holdingdown the CTRL key.

• Hold down the SHIFT• Hold down the SHIFTkey and select a firstentity and a last entityto select a continuouslist of entities.



Turn on and off with the Tools, Entity Editor menu or with the Panes toolbar.

Provides information of specific entities in Femap displayed using different types of fields. The types of fields include:

Entity Editor

• Numeric Value - Enables you to enter a numericvalue for a specific field

• Text - Text can be typed directly into these fields.Usually in a Title, Text, or Notes field

• Drop-down menu button - Button has arrowfacing down. Lists options for that can beselected for a particular field.

• Options button - Button has three dots. Bringsup the color palette or a dialog box that is usedto change the information in that specific field.

• Read Only - Cannot be changed. Shown inBlue text.



Entities can be sent to the Entity Editor using the following entry methods:• Model Info pane

• When an entity in the tree is highlighted, it will appear in the Entity Editor (Analyses and entities in the Selection List from the tree will not populate the

Entity Editor (continued)

(Analyses and entities in the Selection List from the tree will not populate the Entity Editor when highlighted)

• Select Toolbar

• When activated, the last chosenentity will appear in theEntity Editor pane.

D t T bl• Data Table pane• Once the Data Table has entity

data in it, every time a rowcontaining entity data in the tableis highlighted, it will appear in theEntity Editor.



Entity Editor – Icons

• Lock/Unlock Toggle - When unlocked, the Entity Editor will always display the entity that was last selected using an entity entry method. When locked, the data in the Entity Editor will remain there until the pane is unlocked.

• Copy to Clipboard - Copies the current data in the Entity Editor to the clipboard so it can be pasted into the Messages window or an outside program

• Clear All – clears the contents of Entity Editor window Does not delete theClear All clears the contents of Entity Editor window. Does not delete the entity.

• Categorized - Default listing method of the Entity Editor. For each entity, groups similar parameters, options, and settings together for more efficient use.

• Alphabetic - Displays all the fields without any categories in alphabetical order

• Collapse/Expand All - Collapses or expands ALL categories in the Entity Editor at• Collapse/Expand All - Collapses or expands ALL categories in the Entity Editor at once. Can be used to only show what you need to modify specific entities.

• Reload From Model - Reloads the Entity Editor fields with the values that are currently in the model for the chosen entity. Use this to recover the original values for all the fields, except for modifications made with a prior Update Model action.

• Update Model - Applies any changes made in the Entity Editor to a chosen entity and saves the changes to the model database



Expand/Collapse toggles• Allow you to collapse and expand individual categories and sub-categories inside

the Entity Editor.

Entity Editor – Other Options

Entity Editor Help

• Shows a title and short description of what each field of every entity represents. Also documents the Nastran Bulk Data entry (if applicable) the field will produce when a Nastran Input File (*.DAT, *.BDF, or *.NAS file usually) is exported.


• Different menus appear when the right mouse button is clicked depending on what type of field is currently highlighted. For instance, when a Text or Numerical Value field is highlighted, a menu will pop-up

hi h ill ll t U d ( t t l twhich will allow you to Undo (reverts to last saved value while field is still highlighted), Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, or Select All.

Note: You can use calculator functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), as well as exponentials (i.e. 1.234E4 for 12,340 OR 5.67E-3 for 0.00567) in any real number field.



Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Other Windows, Status Bar command.

• Located at bottom of Femap Main Window

• Provides running total of nodes and elements in model.

Status Bar and Tray

• Displays a short description of commands when in the menu structure of Femap or positioned over icon.

Tray on Right

• Provides Access to Current Entities

• Displays Active Property, Load Set, Constraint Set, Group, and Output Set

• Change Current Entity or create a new one

• Right-clicking the Status Bar brings up a customization menu which can be used to toggle individual Tray items on and off



Provides quick and convenient access to common commands.

OK and Cancel for commands and dialog boxes

Previous Command

Right Mouse Button

Previous Command

• Recalls the last command executed

Modify the Workplane.

Show Tooltips

• When activated, shows information for ahighlighted entity in a “Tooltips” window(small yellow window in the main graphicswindow)

• Works much like Dynamic Query inprevious versions of FEMAP when thereis entity active in the Select toolbar



Picking Options - Snap To, Pick Query, Pick Any Inside, Pick All Inside

• See section on setting the “snap” mode”Select

Thi f ti ll t t l

Right Mouse Button - continued

• This menu of options allows you to controlwhich coordinates will be selected when ou use the graphics cursor to pick alocation.



Equations

• Brings up the Equation Editor in FEMAP (a field must be highlighted in a dialog box for this option to be available).

Right Mouse Button - continued

p )

Visibility, Post Data, and XY Data

• Convenient method of changing view parameters

• Menu commands for these optionseveral layers down, right mouse button provided easy access



The Entity Selection dialog box is used by commands to build a list of entity IDs that will be used for the operation.• The Add method allows you to graphically, and through Methods, add entity IDs to

the list of IDs.

Entity Selection Dialog Box

• The Remove method allows you to graphically remove entity IDs from the list, and is dependant on the order you removed the entities. So if you were to add the entity ID after removing, it would still be included in the list.

• The Exclude method allows you to exclude entity IDs permanently from the list (Used primarily with Groups)

• The Delete command will delete the entity ID from the list• The Delete command will delete the entity ID from the list.• Selection methods with the Method button vary depending on the entity type.



The Entity Selection dialog box is used by commands to build a list of entity IDs that will be used for the operation.The Pick button allows you to:• Switch between Normal Front and Query picking

Entity Selection Dialog Box - Continued

• Switch between Normal, Front, and Query picking• Select entities graphically from the screen using a Box, Circle, Polygon, or Freehand

shape• Hotkeys are available for the following:

• Box – press and hold the Shift key• Circle – press and hold the Ctrl key• Polygon – press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys

• Select based on Coordinate(s), Around a Point, Around a Vector, or Around a Plane

• Specify options for selecting Combined Curves and Boundary Surfaces

• Add additional entities based on entities already selected using Add Connected Fillets and Add Tangent Surfaces

S l t titi t hi th C l l t d f l l tt• Select entities matching the Color selected from a color palette.• Select From List button. For objects that have "Titles" the "Select from List"

button can be used to choose entities from a list dialog box. Ctrl+L in a dialog box field brings up the list of "Titled" entities.

• The Preview button graphically highlights the entities selected.

Note: Clicking the icon in a Femap Entity Selection dialog box takes you directly to the Femap User Guide through on-line help and has a table of all the Selection methods for each entity type.



Using the Filter in the

With Femap v10.1.1, when the Select from List dialog box is used, you can filter the selection list to reduce the number of entries to select from .• Enter the filter string and push the Filter icon to reduce the search list to the

those entries that contain the filter string

gSelect from List Dialog Box

g• You can enter additional filter strings or push the Clear All Filters

icon to clear your filter and return to the original, unfiltered selection list.



For any Femap operation where a location is used to specify a coordinate, you can set the Pick or “Snap Mode” to one of four types:• Snap to Screen (default)

Setting the Pick or “Snap” Mode

p ( )• Snap to Grid – snaps to the nearest grid

location on the current XY Workplaneregardless whether the workplane’s display is toggled on or off.

• Snap to Point – location snaps to the nearest point on the visible model. Points pdo not need to be displayed.

• Snap to Node – location snaps to the nearest node on the visible model. Nodes do not need to be displayed.

The snap mode can be specified by either:by e t e• Using the standard context-

sensitive menu activated by clicking the right mouse button in the Graphics pane.

• Using the Snap Mode pulldown menu on the Select ptoolbar.

The current Snap Mode is always displayed on the Select toolbar.



Whenever a location is required in Femap, the Locate – Enter … dialog box will appear.• Enter coordinates directly (relative to specified Coordinate System) or• Click the Methods button to change the method of specifying a location

Locate Dialog Box

• See section 4.3.1 Entity Selectionin the Femap User Manual(user.pdf).

N t S tti th M th d i th L tNote: Setting the Method in the Locatedialog box does NOT change the Snap Mode



Whenever a vector is required in Femap, the Vector Locate – Select Vector … dialog box will appear.• Enter coordinates directly (relative to specified Coordinate System) or• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of the vector

Vector Locate Dialog Box

• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of the vector.

Note: To change the Method of specifying the coordinates of the vector, place the


cursor in one of the coordinate boxes, and press the Ctrl+Z hotkey.


Whenever a Plane is required in Femap, the Plane Locate – Specify Plane … dialog box will appear.• Enter coordinates directly (relative to specified Coordinate System) or• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of a plane

Plane Locate Dialog Box

• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of a plane.

Note: To change the method of specifying the coordinates of the plane, place the cursor in one of the coordinate boxes and press thecursor in one of the coordinate boxes, and press theCtrl+Z hotkey.



Femap contains preprogrammed shortcut keys for commonly used commands.• F5 - View Select, F6 - View Options, F8 - View Rotate, Ctrl+D - View Redraw,

Ctrl+A - View Autoscale Visible, Ctrl+G - View Regenerate, Ctrl+Z - Undo, and Many More. (See Appendix A of User Guide)

Shortcut Keys

y ( pp )• Preprogrammed Keys shown on Menu Structure.

Dialogue Box Keys – available when in a command.• Ctrl+A - Measure an Angle• Ctrl+C - Windows Copy• Ctrl+D Measure a Distance• Ctrl+D - Measure a Distance• Ctrl+Z - Use Standard Coordinate Selection Dialog Box to define location.• And Many More (See Appendix A of User Guide)

Customizable Shortcut Keys – Use the Tools, Toolbar, Customize command• Customized shortcut keys can be saved to a .LAYOUT file and imported into other

installations of FEMAPinstallations of FEMAP.• In some cases, importing a .LAYOUT file with customized shortcut keys only into a

new version of FEMAP will recreate some or all of the customized shortcut keys.



Click the customize triangle on any toolbar and select Customize from the menu, then choose the Keyboard tab.

Choose a Category from the drop down list, then highlight the command from the C d li t

Creating Customized Shortcut Keys

Commands list..

Once the command is highlighted, place the cursor in the Press new shortcut key field and key in a new character or keyboard combination.

If the key or keyboard combination has already been defined, FEMAP will bring up a dialog box stating “This shortcut is currently assigned. Do you want to re-assign this shortcut?”

By clicking the Yes button, the key orBy clicking the Yes button, the key or keyboard combination will be added to the “Key assignments:” list and replace the previous command assigned to that key.

After you have chosen the correct key or keyboard combination, click the o eyboa d co b at o , c c t eAssign button.




Menu Help - Femap provides description of each command while pointing at it or accessing it on the Status Bar .

Help is context sensitive

On-Line Help

• Access a command• Click F1 to access HELP• Shift + F1 to choose a command with the “What’s This?” cursor.• Help Window will appear with description of the current command.



Full On-Line Help System accessed through the Help Menu.• Toolbars

• Dockable Panes

FEMAP Help Menu

• Dockable Panes

• NX Nastran – access the complete NX Nastran documentation set

• What’s New

• Examples

• Using Help

• Programming – access the API Programming Guide

• Basic Language – access when the API Programming window is open

• Tip of the Day

• Femap on the Web• Femap on the Web

• Technical Support – access FEMAP Technical Support via the web

• About – access to licensing info and input of license keys



Femap is unit less and does not track or maintain consistent units

But…• Femap standard material and beam section property libraries use in-lbs units

Femap Model Units

• Solid geometry defaults to inches on desktop, meters in model file database• Parasolid (regardless of product) always stores data in meters

Units conversion tool lets user convert units of data in model

User must be aware of current units system being used• You can use the File, Notes command to make a notation for future reference and

to add a comment in the analysis file.



Use the Tools, Convert Units command to convert units.• Convert all quantities using conversion of basic units• Convert specific entities with individual conversion factors

Units Conversion

E.g. convert N-mm units in model to N-m• Length: 0.001 m = 1 mm• Mass: 1000 kg = 1 tonne• Force: 1 N = 1 N• Energy: 0.001 N•m = 1 N•mm


G t C ti d EditiLesson 3 Geometry Creation and Editing

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of the Femap’s geometry import, creation and editing tools.

TopicsTopics

Geometry Overview

Parasolid Geometry Kernel

Geometry Import

Solids Overview

Geometry Cleanup

Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification

Surface Geometry Creation and Editing

Solid Geometry and Editing

General Geometry Modification Tools

Additional Geometry Tools for Meshing


Lesson 3 Geometry Creation and Editing

Femap supports the creation and modification of wireframe, surface, and solid geometry using the Parasolid geometry kernel

Femap reads multiple CAD formats

Geometry Overview

Femap geometry creation and editing• Points, 2D and 3D curves• Surfaces• Solid creation and editing operations

• Supports Solid, Sheet and Non-manifold Bodies

• Midplane surface extraction and editing (to be covered in a separate lesson)



Parasolid geometry is always stored in SI (meters) no matter what unit it is created in.

• Parasolid has a “box” with dimensions of 1000 x 1000 x 1000 with it’s origin at the center of the box

Parasolids Geometry Kernel

• Default Coincident Point Tolerance of 1.0E-8

• Parallel Tolerance of 1.0E-11 Radians

• Independent of product (Femap, UG NX, Solid Edge, etc.)From the Parasolid documentation:• “To allow precision to be handled correctly, all parts of a body must be within this

b ”box…”

• “It is highly recommended to set the default unit in your application code to one meter…”



Scaling of geometry is managed in Femap with the Solid Geometry Scale Factor.• Set in Femap’s preferences under the Geometry/Model tab• e.g - When the models length is in millimeters, a length of 1.0 mm on the desktop

will be stored as 001 meters in the database

Solid Geometry Scale Factor

will be stored as .001 meters in the database• Effectively scales the “box” to +/- 500,000 mm in X, Y, and Z from the origin.

Can also be set in the Solid Model Read Options dialog box for Parasolid and ACIS files and the STEP Read Options dialog box for STEP.

• When the dialog boxes are opened, the Geometry Scale Factor reflects Femap’s preference.p• Geometry Scale Factor for Meters = 1

• Geometry Scale Factor for Inches = 39.37

• Geometry Scale Factor for Millimeters = 1000

Note: If you change the Geometry Scale Factor to a value other than the value of Femap’s preference in one of these dialog boxes, this will update Femap’s preference to the value input.



Import geometry with the File, Import, Geometry command.

• Import Geometry icon can be found on the Main toolbar

Geometry Importing

Direct CAD Interfaces• Solid Edge (.par, .psm, .pwd, .asm)• NX Unigraphics (.prt)• NX I-deas (.idi)• Pro/Engineer (.prt, .asm)

C ( )• Catia v4 (.mdl, .exp, .dlv)• Catia v5 (.catP*) – optional• SolidWorks (.sldprt, .sldasm)

Standard CAD Interfaces• Parasolid• ACIS• STEP (AP 203 Solids, AP 214 Surfaces)• IGES• DXF• STL – reads .stl files as triangular surface mesh



When solid geometry is imported from a CAD file, a reference to the source file of the geometry imported is created in the Femap model.• The reference is based on the time/date stamp of the CAD file(s) imported, including

modification(s) to components in an assembly.

Geometry Updates from CAD

( ) p y

The File, References command is used to view the status of a reference in Femap.• If the time/date stamp is modified due to changes in the CAD model, this will be

shown in the Reference Manager dialog box.• Femap’s default preferences are set to generate references upon import and to

automatically check for reference updates when opening a model.



A Solid body is completed enclosed by surfaces and has no gaps or dangling surfaces.• Any Solid body is shown in the Model Info pane’s Geometry tree with this icon:

Solid Bodies

Note: Running the Tools, Mass Properties, Solid Properties command will show that a Solid body has Volume.



Sheet bodies have one or more contiguous surfaces that do not enclose a volume.• For multi-surface Sheet bodies, all surfaces must connect on a common edge with

one other surface as with solid 2 below.

Sheet Bodies



Non Manifold bodies are connected solids that can be a combination of Solid and/or Sheet bodies.• Creating Non Manifold bodies from mid-surfaced geometry can also be very useful

for meshing purposes, as surfaces coming together at “T-Junctions” share a

Non Manifold Bodies

g p p , g gcommon curve.



After importing geometry, it is strongly recommended that you check and fix all solid geometry before attempting to mesh• The Solid, Geometry, Cleanup

command checks the validity of

Geometry Checking and Cleanup

yselected solids in your Femapmodel file.

• The Meshing Toolbox has the Entity Locator tool to locate curves and surfaces within solids by specifying a search method and size. This will be covered in detail in Lesson 11 – The Meshing Toolbox.



Remove Redundant Geometry

• Cleans curves imprinted on surfacesand merges surfaces that are part ofthe underlying original surface.

Geometry, Solid, Cleanup Command

y g g

Remove Sliver Surfaces

• Removes small “sliver” surfacesresulting from inaccuracies in solidgeometry operations.

Check GeometryCheck Geometry

• Checks the validity of the solid.Will show that an imported solid bodyis in reality a sheet solid if imperfections are detected.

Match Model Scale Factor

• Use when solids imported are at a different Solid Geometry Scale Factor than theUse when solids imported are at a different Solid Geometry Scale Factor than the factor set in Femap preferences.

• Adjusts the selected solid(s) to the factor set in Femap preferences.• Must have Check Geometry option enabled.

Advanced cleanup options - See section 3.4.2.22 of the Femap Commands manual.• Has options to repair and remove small featuresHas options to repair and remove small features.• Surface Heal and Stitch option is similar to Explode and Stitch commands. Can

only be used on one solid at a time.

Note: If you still have problems cleaning geometry for meshing, an alternative technique is to Explode the problem solid, then Stitch it back together.



Workplanes

Wireframe Geometry Defaults

Lines

Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification Topics

Lines

Arcs

Circles

Splines

Wireframe Geometry Modification

Boundary Surfaces



The Workplane is used to define the local “X-Y” plane for 2D wireframe and some solid geometry creation commands.

Access via the Tools, Workplane command or the F2 hotkey.

Workplanes

• Snap Options control display of the grid spacing, etc. of the workplane

• Workplane display can be toggled on and off with the View Style, Workplane icon on the View toolbar

• Grid display options in the View Options – Tools and View Style dialog box controls color and fill settings for the workplane



Default colors for curves are set in Femap’s Preferences dialog box.• Color can also be set for a model with the Tools, Parameters command or in the

View Options dialog box.

Wireframe Geometry Defaults

Color, ID, Default Length, Spline Order, etc. are set in the Geometry Parameters dialog box.• Press the Parameters button in the Locate - … dialog box to access the Geometry

Parameters dialog box



Creation with the Geometry, Curve – Linecommands:• Locate on the Workplane:

• Project Points

Lines

• Project Points

• Horizontal

• Vertical

• Perpendicular

• Parallel

• MidlineMidline

• At Angle

• Angle to Curve

• Point and Tangent

• Tangent

• Rectangle

• Locate in 3D space:• Continuous

• Points

• Coordinates

• Offset

• Vectored



Arcs are always placed on the Workplane

Arc creation with theGeometry, Curve – Arc commands:

Arcs

• Center-Start-End

• Radius-Start-End – two points on the arc define the start and end of the arc. A positiveradius will create an arc less then 180degrees while a negative radius will generatean arc greater than 180 degrees.

• Angle-Start-End– two points on the arc define the start and end of the arc; a positive angle will generate the arc from the start to the end in a counterclockwise direction – a negative angle will generate the arc clockwise from the start point to the end point..

• Chord-Center-Start – locate the center, start point for the arc, and a chord length less than twice the radius.

• Points – locate the start point, a point on the arc, and the end.• Center and Points – use this to create an arc in 3D space. Specify by four points:

Center, start, end, and a fourth point that defines the direction of the arc.• Start-End-Direction – specify the start and end points, and the tangent direction for

the start point.



Circles are always placed on the

Workplane

Circle creation with the

Circles

Circle creation with theGeometry, Curve – Circle commands:• Radius – two points define the

center and a point on the circle.• Diameter – two points on the circle

define the diameter.C t d fi th t d th• Center – define the center and theradius of the circle.

• Two Points – locate two points on thecircle and enter the radius.

• Point-Tangent – locate the centerpoint and a tangent curve.

• Concentric – create a circle by selecting an existing circle and the new circle’s radius.

• Points on Arc – create a circle by three points.• Center and Points – create a circle by defining the center, starting point on the

circle, and a point defining the positive direction of the circle.



Splines can be generated by Control Pointsor by Points on the spline (the spline’s controlpoints are automatically generated by

Splines

Femap).

Four (4) point Bezier splines are created whenusing the following commands:• Ellipse

P b l• Parabola

• Hyperbola

• The Equation spline is created by specifying coefficients of parametric cubic equations.

• A Tangent spline is created by specifying the start and end points of a spline and the tangents at those points.

• The spline created by the Blend command creates a spline blending two curves. A Blend Factor controls the interior shape.

• The Offset spline uses a point projected onto the Workplane to determine the offset location.

• Combine a set of contiguous curves into a single curve using the Multiple Curves command. Not to be used with sharp corners.



The Geometry, Boundary Surface command creates planar surfaces made up of a boundary curves. This command is very useful when the wireframe geometry needs to be converted to surfaces and/or solids.• Can include multiple holes.

Boundary Surfaces and Sketching

p• Boundary Surface(s) are non-Parasolid surface(s) – use the Geometry, Surface,

Convert command to convert into a Parasolid surface.

The Geometry, Sketch command creates a Boundary Surface from curves created during the Sketch command sequence.• Also accessible from the Solid toolbar – once the sketch is completed, you have the

option to extrude or revolve the “sketched” boundary surface.

The Modify, Edit, Boundary command allows you to add or remove curves from an existing Boundary Surface.



Wireframe geometry can be edited with the following commands:• Modify, Trim

• Trims the intersection curves These

Wireframe Geometry Editing

• Trims the intersection curves. These curves must extend past one another –will not extend to the intersection.

• Modify, Extend

• Extend the end point of the selected curve(s) to a point projected from the point normal to the curvepoint normal to the curve.

• Modify, Break

• Splits the selected curve(s) at a point projected from the selected point normal to the curve.

• Modify, Join

• Trims and/or extends the selected curves to their intersection point.

• Modify, Fillet

• Creates a tangent arc between the two selected curves.

• Modify, Chamfery,

• Creates a chamfer between the two selected curves.

Note: Except for the Break operation, these commands cannot be applied to solid or surface geometry curves


or surface geometry curves.


Edge Curves

• Creates a surface from 3 or 4 curves.

Aligned Curves

Surface Creation and Non-Manifold Geometry Commands

• Lofts a surface through curves.

Sweep

• Used to sweep multiple-curve cross sections along a curve

Convert

• Used to convert boundary surfaces and surfaces made with the standard FEMAP geometry engine into Parasolid surfaces. Only planar boundary surfaces will be converted with the Convert command.

Remove Hole

• Used to remove interior voids in surfaces.• Can also be used to remove holes in solids.

N M if ld AddNonManifold Add

• Used to combine surfaces which do not enclose a volume and/or contain non-manifold features (i.e., T-junctions) into a Parasolid “General Body”

• May also be used to combine solids and surfaces into a Parasolid “General Body”

Recover Manifold Geometry

• Used to “break” a Parasolid “General Body” created using the NonManifold Add• Used to break a Parasolid General Body created using the NonManifold Add command into manifold sections.



The Geometry, Curve - From Surface set of commands are used to create curves on surfaces with the following techniques:• Intersect – select two intersecting surfaces and/or solids. • Project – project the selected curve(s) normal to the selected surface(s)

Surface Curves

• Project – project the selected curve(s) normal to the selected surface(s).• Project Along Vector - project the selected curve(s) along the specified vector onto

the selected surface(s).• Parametric Curve – specify a location to generate a curve along a U or V direction

on the selected surface.• Slice – split the selected surface(s) and/or solids by a plane.• Split at Locations – generate a parametric curve on a surface by specifying the

start and end locations of the curve.

When the Update Surfaces option is enabled (default for new models), the curves become part of the surface and will “split” the surface into multiple surfaces (if the curves selected make up a closed loop). Otherwise, the curves generated by this command are simply internal curves of the surface.p y



The Offset Curve/Washer command generates curves offset from the selected curves.

• The Washer option is used to generate concentric arcs around the selected arc(s).

• Offset Curves is used when the curves to be offset are around non-planar holes or d i l i t i f t

Surface Curves (continued)

around non-circular interior features.

• For cases where offsets of non-planar curves are requested, deselect the AutoSelect Surfaces option.

• The Save Split Lines option creates connecting lines from the selected arc(s) to the concentric arcs and tags the surface around the arcs to use mapped four corner meshing.



The Pad command generates a square centered at the selected hole.

• Pad Width = 2 X Hole Diameter X Pad Size Factor

Pad Size Factor = Pad Width / (2 * Hole Diameter)

Surface Curves (continued)

• Setup Mapped Meshing sets the mesh sizes around the four surfaces on the pad area for Four sided Mapped Meshing

• Three (3) options for aligning the orientation of the pad:

• Auto Align

• Vector Align

• Tangent Align



Finally, three additional commands exist for creating curves on surfaces:• Point to Point – select two points on a

surface and a parametric curve is generated.

Surface Curves

p gSimilar to the Split at Locations command, except that the points must exist on the surface. The surface is automatically selected by the first point.

• Point to Edge – generates a curve on a surface by selecting a existing point on a surface and a curve on the interior or exterior boundary of the surface to project that point onto.

• Edge to Edge - project the end points selected curve(s) along the specified vector onto the selected edge on the same surface.

Point to Edge curve Edge to Edge curve

Point to Point curve



Extrude and Revolve 2D profiles

Primitives

• Block

Solid Geometry Creation

• Cylinder

• Cone

• Sphere

Stitch

Explode

Editing operations• Fillet

• Chamfer

• Shell

• Thicken

• Remove Face



Boolean operations

• Add

• Remove

Additional Solid Modeling Creation and Editing Tools

• Common

• Embed

• Intersect

Face imprint and splitting

• Slice and Slice Match

• Slice along Face

• Embed Face



Copy geometry via the following commands:• Geometry, Copy

• Geometry, Radial Copy

G t S l

General Geometry Modification Tools

• Geometry, Scale

• Geometry, Rotate

• Geometry, Reflect

Move geometry via the following commands:• Modify, Project

• Projects points onto curves, surfaces, vectors and planes• Modify, Move To

• Moves a point from its current location to the selected location• Modify, Move By

• Modify, Rotate To

f• Modify, Rotate By

• Modify, Align

• Modify, Scale

• Allows scaling in three directions of the specified coordinate system

Modify a points location with the following command:• Modify, Edit, Point

Change color and transparency with:• Modify, Color

• Modify, Transparency

Ch l ithChange layer with:• Modify, Layer

Modify the ID of the geometry with:• Modify, Renumber



In some cases, you may need to modify geometry for meshing . In addition to the Geometry tools covered in this lesson, there are additional techniques that will be covered in subsequent sections:• Midplane Modeling

Additional Geometry Tools for Meshing

p g• Feature Suppression• Meshing Toolbox

• Entity Locator

• Feature Suppression

• Feature Removal

• Combined / Composite Curves

• Combined / Boundary Surfaces


M t i l d P tiLesson 4 Materials and Properties

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of creating and editing materials and properties with Femap.

Topics

• Types of materials supported

• Defining Materials

• Other Types of Materials

• Modifying Materials

• Defining PropertiesDefining Properties

• Beam Properties

• Composite Laminates


Lesson 4 Materials and Properties

Isotropic

• Properties are constant in all directions (values entered as a single value).

Orthotropic – 2D and 3D

Materials Supported by Femap

• Direction dependent.• Define in two planer or three principle directions.

Anisotropic– 2D and 3D

• Properties specified as a general 3x3 (2-D) or 6x6 (3-D) elasticity matrix.

Hyperelasticyp

• Materials subject to large deformations• Input distortional and volumetric deformations or stress/strain data.

Other Types – material definitions unique to specific solvers• Nastran Fluid material (MAT10)• NX Nastran Hyperelastic Materials (MATHE, MATG)

• MSC.Nastran Hyperelastic (MATHE)

• LS-DYNA, MARC, and ABAQUS/Explicit.• User Defined material types for custom program interfaces.



“Other” Materials are for solver specific materials such as Nastran, NX Nastran, MSC.Nastran, LS-DYNA, MARC, and ABAQUS/Explicit Material types. The “other” material types specific to NX Nastran are shown in the Define Material dialog box below.

“Other Types” of Materials



Create new materials with the Model, Material command or use the Model Info window (right-click on the Material object and select New).

Defining Materials

Default material type is Isotropic

• To select different material model, choose Type which appears on the top right of every material definition dialog box, and then select a different material type e g Hyperelastictype, e.g., Hyperelastic.

• The default material type changes to the last selected type after changing the material type.

Type values directly into the fields provided; or

Access the material library by selecting Access the material library by selecting the Load button



The Function Reference tab in the Define Material dialog box can be used to define Stress/Strain and Temperature dependent material values.• Create new Functions without leaving the Define Material dialog box by clicking the

fxy (function) icon button.

Defining Materials with Functions

xy ( )



Use the Modify, Edit Material command:• Enter the Material ID you want to edit; or:• Select an element with the material you want to edit; or:

Alt ti l li k th S l t f Li t i

Modifying Materials

• Alternatively, you can click the Select from List icon; or:• Use Method to select a material by Element, etc…

In the Model Info pane – right-click an individual material to be edited.• Right-clicking on the Materials heading in the tree will select ALL materials for

editing.

Note: The Visibility Toggleicon to the left of the material name indicates whether orindicates whether or not objects using that material are displayed in displayed views of the Femap model.



A Property defines the element shape and associated material.

Create new properties with the Model, Property command or in the Model Info pane, right-click on the Property object and select New.

Defining Properties

The default property (element type) is Plate. Other types are selected with Elem/Property Type dialog box.

Selecting a different element/property type makes that type the default type.

Properties define additional analysisinformation for each element type,and are controlled by the elementand are controlled by the elementtype.



Property data includes (depending on Element / Property Type)• Material selection

• Select the Material icon ( ) to create a new material if the material for the new property has not yet been defined.

Define Property Dialog Box

p p y y• Property Values

• Thickness• Area, etc• Mass and inertia• Radius• Stress Recovery Points (Beams)



For Elem/Property Type Bar, Beam, or Curved Beam

• Enter values directly; or• Use the Shape button to enter cross-sectional data

Bar and Beam Properties



Choose either a Standard or NASTRAN (PBEAML) category of Beam.

Choose a standard shape from the Shape drop down list in the Cross Section Definitiondialog box.

Bar and Beam Shape Input

• Enter appropriate values for a shape and determine stress recovery points (Arrows can be used to dynamically position Stress Recovery and Reference points).

Choose General Section under Shape to select any planar surface as the cross section of a beam.

Beam properties will be automatically calculated by after clicking OK.



Nodes on beams are located by default at the shear center of the beam.

Offsets can be preset when creating or editing a Beam element.• Offset is from the shear center unless the option to Compute Shear Center Offset

i t d ff

Beam Orientation and Offsets

is turned off.

The Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Curve command has options to preset beam Offset and Orientation.

Use the Modify, Update Elements, Line Element Orientation command to change orientation of the selected beam elements.

The Modify, Update Elements, Line Element Offsets command is used to change the ff t f th l t d b l toffset of the selected beam elements.

• Can also change the offset by setting the location of the node to the beam Reference Point.



Bar and Beam elements have a local coordinate system for each element.• X axis of the beam is along the length of the beam

• Pt A is the start of the BeamPt B i th d f th B

Beam Coordinate System

• Pt B is the end of the Beam• Y and Z axes are determined by the beam’s property definition.• FEMAP prompts

|for an alignmentvector whencreating beaml telements.

• This vector isused to specifythe direction ofthe Y-Axisspecified in theBeam PropertyBeam Property.



Femap’s View Options (View, Options or the F6 hotkey) has several settings to help in displaying line and planar element attributes.

In addition, the View Style pulldown menu on the View toolbar has shortcuts to toggle li l t di l tti d ff

View Settings for Line and Planar Elements

line element display settings on and off.• Offsets – toggle display of line (and planar) elements offsets.• Orientation – toggle display of line (and planar) element orientations.• Thickness/Cross Section – toggle display of line (and planar) element cross

sections.



Reassign Element Properties and Materials

Line Element settings

Plane Element settings

Modify, Update Elements Commands

Plane Element settings

Element Order



Type – assign a different property to the selected element(s). The element(s) must be of the same shape (Line, Plane, etc.)

Formulation – modify formulation of elements of the same type.

Modify, Update Elements General Commands

• e.g. Change a Nastran Spring element to a Nastran CBUSH element.

Property ID – assign a different property ID to element(s) of the same type.

Material ID – assign a different material to the selected physical property.



Modify, Update Elements Commands

Line Element Orientation – update beam/bar element orientations

Line Element Offsets – update beam/bar element offsets

Line Element Reverse Direction reverse element connectivity i e ; Swap A and B

y, pfor Line Elements

Line Element Reverse Direction– reverse element connectivity. i.e.; Swap A and B nodes.

Beam/Bar Releases – update beam/bar element end releases

Beam Warping – update beam warping as defined using NASTRAN SPOINTs

Remove Cross Section – removes beam/bar element section shape while retainingRemove Cross Section removes beam/bar element section shape while retaining properties



Modify Update Elements Commands

Reverse Normal/Orient First Edge – offers options for setting the normal direction and orientation of 2-D element(s).

Material Angle – set or modify the material angle of selected element(s). Used for di ti d d t t i l d l i t

Modify, Update Elements Commandsfor Plane Elements

direction-dependent materials and laminates.

Split Quads – splits quad element(s) into triangles

Adjust Plate Thickness/Offset – modify the thickness or offset of the selected element(s).



Modify, Update Elements,

Used to modify Element Offsets or Thicknesses of Plane Elements

Modify the Offset distance of the selected plane elements.• By default, nodes are located at the midplane (1/2 the thickness) of shell elements.

Modify, Update Elements,Adjust Plate Thickness/Offset Command

• Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Surface command to preset the offset.

• Constant element offset can also be set in FEMAP 10 and above when meshing surfaces by pressing “More Options” button and setting the appropriate options in the “Offset” section.

Ch th Thi k f th l t d l t i l di ti d/ dif iChange the Thickness of the selected elements, including creating and/or modifying variable thickness shells• Automatically creates new properties for the variable thickness planar elements.



Linear/Parabolic Order – update the Order of the selected element(s) to/from Parabolic.• To convert from Parabolic to Linear, select No in the first dialog box presented in

the command.

Modify, Update Elements Miscellaneous Commands

• You must manually delete and/or merge any midside nodes for elements converted from Parabolic to Linear.

Midside Nodes – moves the midsidenodes on the selected element(s) to the midside of the element. Use after nodes have been moved.

Rigid Thermal Expansion – assign a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (α) to the selected Rigid Element(s).

• elements converted from Parabolic• elements converted from Parabolicto Linear.



Layups are a Femap object that designates multiple composite plies• Practical limit of 5000 plies per Layup

A Ply has the following attributes:

Composite Layups

y as t e o o g att butes• Ply ID (number)• Material

• Thickness

• Angle

• Global Ply ID – Used todesignate a common ply IDfor use in other layups.e.g. The OML or Outer SkinPly for all layups.



New Ply - Once you have a Material, Thickness, and Angle specified, click this button to add the ply to the layup.

Update buttons - Once a ply has been added to the list, the definition of that ply can be d t d i

Creating and Updating an Individual Ply

updated using:• Update Global Ply

• Update Material

• Update Thickness

• Update Angle



Duplicate

• The selected ply or plies will be copied to the top of the Layup.

Delete

Duplicating and Modifying Ply Sequences

• Delete the selected ply or plies from the Layup.

Symmetric

• The “mirrored” plies will be added to the top of the Layup in reverse order of selection.

Reverse

R th d f th l t d li b d th i i l iti (i th• Reverse the order of the selected plies based on the original position (i.e., the selected ply which was closest to the “Bottom of Layup” will now be closest to the “Top of Layup” in the list).

Move Up and Move Down

• The selected ply or plies will be moved closer to the “Top of Layup” (Move Up) or “Bottom of Layup” (Move Down) in the order selected.Bottom of Layup (Move Down) in the order selected.

Rotate

• The selected ply or plies are rotated by the angle input in the Rotate Ply By dialog box. The order of the plies in the Layup is not effected.

Copy and Paste


• Copy and paste the selected ply or plies to the top of the current or another Layup.


The Layup Editor dialog box has the Layup Viewer icon that launches the Layup Viewer.

Options to control display of:

Layup Editor – Layup Viewer

• Thickness

• Ply Angles

• Titles

• Color

• Scale

The Copy icon pastes picture of the layup to Windows clipboard.



When the Entity Info window is active, the Laminate Equivalent Properties are automatically calculated and displayed when a

Composite Layup Mechanical Properties

Layup is created or edited. These properties are updated continuously along with modifications to the Layup.

When the Entity Info window is not activated, selecting the Compute, g pbutton will display the calculated Laminate Equivalent Properties in the Messages window. These properties are NOT updated until the Compute button is reselected.



Composite Laminate Materials are generally designated as 2D Orthotropicmaterials.• A Bond Shear Allowance should be specified for the Laminate element

property. This value represents the bond strength between the bonded laminate

Composite Laminate Materials and Properties

property. This value represents the bond strength between the bonded laminate sheets and is used to calculate a factor of safety against shear failure between laminate panels.

• A Failure Theory must also be specified for the Laminate element property.


Lesson 5 Loads and Constraints

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s capabilities in managing, creating and editing boundary conditions .

Topics

• Constraint Sets and Constraints

• Load Sets

• Body Loads

• Load Categories – Structural, Thermal, and Fluid loads

• Creating and Editing LoadsCreating and Editing Loads

• Structural Load Types

• Thermal Load Types

• Fluid Load Types

• Advanced Femap Loads

• Load Set Options for Advanced AnalysesLoad Set Options for Advanced Analyses

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 1Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide


The Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command creates a new Constraint Set or activates an existing Constraint Set.• This command is also available in the Status Bar Tray and the Model Info tree.• You may create as many different Constraint Sets as necessary

Constraint Sets

• You may create as many different Constraint Sets as necessary.• Combine multiple Constraint Sets with the Model, Constraint, Combine command.



Activating the Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command opens the Constraint Set Manager dialog box.• The selected constraint set becomes the active set when the Done button is clicked.

Constraint Set Manager Dialog Box

With this dialog box, you can:• Create a New Constraint Set.

• Change the name of an existing constraint set by selecting a constraint set and then clicking the Update Title button.

• Renumber the selected constraint set.• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s)• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s).• Copy the selected constraint set.• Create Referenced Sets for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD constraint sets.

• Requires that a combined set already be created and selected.



Selecting the New Constraint Set button in the Constraint Set Manager dialog box activates the New Constraint Set dialog box.• When a model has no constraint sets, you can only create a Standard constraint

set. A Standard set is used to contain geometry and nodal constraints.

Creating New Constraint Sets

g y

• Clicking the More button will create the constraint set with the ID and Title and will then resets the options in the New Constraint Set dialog box to enable the creation of a new constraint set.

• If one or more constraint sets are in a model you can also create a Nastran• If one or more constraint sets are in a model, you can also create a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination constraint set.• A combined set references one or more Standard constraint sets.• When a Nastran deck is created by Femap, it writes out the Nastran SPCADD

and MPCADD cards as needed.



To reference Standardconstraint sets, select a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination set the

Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination Constraint Sets

Constraint Set Managerdialog box, or right-click the constraint set in the Model Info pane and select and select Referenced Setsbutton in the dialog box or the context-sensitive menucontext sensitive menu.

The Reference Constraint Set for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD dialog box will list the Available (standard) Sets and the Referenced Sets.

Manage references by selecting one or more Standard reference sets and click the Add Referenced Sets or Remove Referenced Sets.

Note: Nastran combined sets are not displayed in the graphics window unless the Show Constrained Entities is selected from the context-sensitive menu in the Model Info pane.

Note: Nastran combined sets are not displayed in the graphics window unless the Show Constrained Entities is selected from the context-sensitive menu in the Model Info pane.



Use the Model, Constraint commands, Constraint toolbar, or the Model Info tree.

Creating Constraints



Nodal Constraints - specify six (6) specific degrees of freedom with the Model, Constraint, Nodal command• X translation = 1, X rotation = 4• Y translation = 2 Y rotation = 5

Nodal Constraints

• Y translation = 2, Y rotation = 5• Z translation = 3, Z rotation = 6• Specify Coordinate System

Constraint Equations relate the motion or displacement of one node to the motion or displacement of one or more other nodes.• Often referred to a MPCs



Geometric constraints - applied to geometry and “expanded” to nodes during export to an analysis file.• Model, Constraint, On Point

• Model Constraint On Curve

Geometry Constraints

• Model, Constraint, On Curve

• Model, Constraint, On Surface

• “Expand” Geometric constraints manually by using the Model, Constraint, Expandcommand.

Available when constraining a surface.

Available for arcs or cylindrical


Available for arcs or cylindrical surfaces.


Edit Constraints with:• Modify, Edit, Constraint –

Definition command• Modify Edit Constraint –

Editing Constraints

• Modify, Edit, Constraint –Individual command• Individual constraints in

a Constraint Definitionmay be edited. If the Constraint Definition is subsequently edited, q y ,the individual edit is overwritten by the value of the Constraint Definition.

• You can convert a Constraint Definition to Individual Constraintsby right-clicking a Constraint Definition in the Model Info pane and selecting Remove Definition.

• Model Info tree

• Includes the option to Edit Where Applied – add and/or remove entities where a constraint is applied. (new in v10.1)

• Entity Editor

Note: Constraints created prior to Femap v9.3 are shown in the Model Info tree as Other Constraints.

This also applies to all FEMAP models created by importing analysis files.

Note: Constraints created prior to Femap v9.3 are shown in the Model Info tree as Other Constraints.

This also applies to all FEMAP models created by importing analysis files.



The Model, Load, Create/Manage Set command creates a new Load Set or activates an existing Load Set.• This command is also available in the Status Bar Tray and the Model Info tree.• You may create as many different load sets as necessary

Creating Load Sets

• You may create as many different load sets as necessary.



Activating the Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command opens the Load Set Manager dialog box.• The selected constraint set becomes the active set when the Done button is clicked.

Load Set Manager Dialog Box

With this dialog box, you can:• Create a New Load Set.

• Change the name of an existing constraint set by selecting a constraint set and then clicking the Update Title button.

• Renumber the selected constraint set.• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s)• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s).• Copy the selected constraint set.• Create and manage Referenced Sets for Nastran Load Combination sets.

• Requires that a combined set already be created and selected.



Selecting the New Load Set button in the Constraint Set Manager dialog box activates the New Load Set dialog box.• When a model has no constraint sets, you can only create a Standard load set. A

Standard set is used to contain geometry, nodal, elemental and body loads.

Creating New Load Sets

g y, , y

• Clicking the More button will create the load set with the ID and Title and will then resets the options in the New Load Set dialog box to enable the creation of a new constraint set.

• If one or more load sets are in a model you can also create a Nastran Load• If one or more load sets are in a model, you can also create a Nastran Load Combination constraint set.• A combined set references one or more Standard constraint sets.• When a Nastran deck is created by Femap, it writes out the Nastran LOAD

cards as needed.



To reference Standard constraint sets,

Nastran Load Combination Constraint Sets

,select a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination set, the Constraint Set Manager dialog box, or right-click the constraint set in the Model Info pane and select and select Referenced Sets button in the dialog box or the context sensitive menucontext-sensitive menu.

The Reference Load Sets for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD dialog box will list the Available (standard) Sets and the Referenced Sets.( )

Manage references by selecting one or more Standard reference sets and click the Add Referenced Sets or Remove Referenced Sets.

Set the Overall scale of the combined load set.

Set the scale of the For Referenced Set.

.



You can also create a standard combined load set by combining multiple Load Sets into a new Load Set or another existing Load Set with the Model, Load, Combine command.• Allows you to specify the Scale Factor of the Load Set(s) combined

Standard Combined Load Sets

y p y ( )



Body or Global Loads – applied to the entire model.• Translational Acceleration (gravity) and Rotational Acceleration

• Use to apply the weight of the structure as a load• Rotational Velocity and Center of Rotations

Body Loads

• Rotational Velocity and Center of Rotations• Thermal – Default Temperature

• Required for all Nastran Heat Transfer analyses



Use the Model, Load commands, Load toolbar, or the Model Info pane to create a Load Definition.• A Load Definition is a container of all the loads created using one of the techniques

above.

Creating Load Definitions

• Load Definitions can be Removed which takes all the loads in the load definition and converts them to “Other Loads”.

Note: Loads created prior to Femap v9.3 are shown in the Model Info tree as Other Loads.

This also applies to all FEMAP models created by importing


analysis files.


After selecting the mesh or geometry to be loaded, the Create Loads on (Entity Type)dialog box is opened. In this dialog box, you specify:• Title

• Color and Layer

Create Loads Dialog Box

• Color and Layer

• Coord Sys

• Direction – this option is only available when specifying directional loads• Load Input Values• Phase - used for Frequency Response loading only• Midside Node Adjustment – follow the distribution of loads as specified in Femap’sMidside Node Adjustment follow the distribution of loads as specified in Femap s

preferences under the Geometry tab• Total Load – when multiple entities are selected to apply the load to, check this

option to distribute the load across the selected entities so that the sum of the loads equals the load input value.



Edit Loads with:• Modify, Edit, Load – Definition command• Modify, Edit, Load – Individual command

• Individual loads in a Load Definition may be edited If the Load Definition is

Editing Loads

• Individual loads in a Load Definition may be edited. If the Load Definition is subsequently edited, the individual edit is overwritten by the value of the Load Definition.

• You can convert a Load Definition to Other Loads by right-clicking the Load Definition in the Model Info tree and selecting Remove Definition.

• You can highlight any number of individual Loads of the same type found in the Other Loads section of a Load Set in the Model Info tree and combine them intoOther Loads section of a Load Set in the Model Info tree and combine them into a Load Definition using Create Definition

• Model Info pane

• Includes the option to Edit Where Applied – add and/or remove entities where a load is applied. (new in v10.1)

• Entity Editor



S l L d d b FStructural Load types supported by Femap

Load Type Points Curves Surfaces Nodes Elements

Force

Force Per Length - - -

Force Per Area - - - -

Force Per Node - - -

B i F Bearing Force - - - -

Moment

Moment Per Length - - -

Moment Per Area - - - -Moment Per Area

Moment Per Node - - -

Torque - - -

Displacement -

Enforced Rotation -

Velocity -

Rotational Velocity -

Acceleration -

Rotational Acceleration -

Distributed Load - - - -


Pressure - -


Beginning with version 10.1.1 of Femap, you can apply a Bearing Force to a surface or surfaces eliminating the need to create Radial Coordinate System(s) and distribute the load using an Equation or Data Surface.• Femap automatically adjusts the value of the individual nodal forces created when

Bearing Force on Surface

p y jthe analysis deck is generated to equal the Magnitude input in the Create Loads on Surfaces dialog box



Bearing Force on Surface (continued)

• The Load Angle (default = 180 degrees) is the total angle that the bearing load isThe Load Angle (default 180 degrees) is the total angle that the bearing load is applied across the selected surfaces. The direction of the bearing force is the bisector of the Load Angle

• Uncheck the option for Normal To Surface to align the load with the vector used to define the direction of the bearing force

• When multiple surfaces are selected, the Total Load option is automatically enabled spreading the specified Magnitude among all the surfaces selectedenabled spreading the specified Magnitude among all the surfaces selected, otherwise, the magnitude will be applied to each surface

• When the Traction Load option is selected, the distributed load will “pull” on the surfaces pointing away from the solid volume instead of pushing on the surfaces pointing towards the solid volume

Once the inputs for the Bearing Loads are completed and the OK button is pushed, you will be prompted to specify the direction of the bearing force.



In this example, a 100 lb Bearing Force is applied to the each of the two holes on the vertical tabs on the bracket.• Two different load sets are used – Load Set 1 uses the Normal Loads option and Load Set 2

disables the option for Normal Loads

Bearing Force on Surface Example

p• The upper bearing load in both load sets has the option for Traction Loads disabled while the

lower load has the option enabled



Note the difference as to what nodes have loads applied around the two holes and the relative magnitude of the forces when Traction Loads are enabled or disabled once the loads are expanded.

Bearing Force on Surface Example (continued)

Note the differences in the stress distribution and the elongation of the holes where traction is applied on the right vs. the hole on the left where traction is not applied.



Also beginning with version 10.1.1 of Femap, you can apply a Torque to a surface or surfaces eliminating the need to apply individual forces to surfaces or by assigning a moment to a node and connecting it to the surface nodes with a rigid element.• Femap automatically adjusts the value of the individual nodal forces created when

Torque Loads on Surfaces

p y jthe analysis deck is generated to equal the Magnitude input in the Create Loads on Surfaces dialog box

• Once the inputs for the Torque are completed and the OK button is pushed, you will be prompted to the location and orientation of the axis about which the torque is applied.



In this example, a 10 in-lb torque is being applied to the six grey surfaces below. The axis is being specified by using the Vector Global Axis method.

Torque Example



Once the load is applied, the torque load is displayed as a double-arrow vector representing the axis the torque is applied about with lines connecting the loaded surfaces to the torques moment axis.

Torque Example - continued

When the Torque load is expanded, it appears as below.



Thermal Load types supported by Femap


Temperature

Element Temperature - - -

Heat Flux (Heat Energy /Unit Area)

Heat Flux per Length - - -

Heat Flux per Node - - -

Heat Generation (Heat Energy / Unit Volume)

Element Heat Flux - - -

Convection - -

Radiation - -

Element Heat Generation - - -



Fluid Load types supported by Femap


Static Fluid pressure -

Total Fluid pressure -

General Scalar -

St Q lit Steam Quality -

Relative Humidity -

Fluid Height Condition -

Unknown Condition -

Slip Wall Condition -

Fan Curve -

Periodic Condition -



NX Nastran Displacement and Enforced Rotation loads require constraining the loaded object in the direction of the applied load• e.g. A Displacement Load of x=.10, and y=.10 applied to a point requires that the

corner be constrained in X and Y.

Notes on Loads

For NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear (SOL601), loads should be applied with a time-based function.

For solvers other than NX Nastran, refer to the Femap Users Guide for details on the loads supported by Femap for the solver used Also refer to that solver’s documentation on how to apply loads.on how to apply loads.



Femap has the ability to create variable loads via:• Functions – time and frequency dependant loads• Variables – distributed or position dependent loads

D t S f d d th d f ti i bl l di diti

Advanced Femap Loads

• Data Surfaces – advanced methods for creating variable loading conditionsIn Create Loads …dialog box:



A Function allows you to create general X vs. Y tables of information.• Only Time or Frequency dependant functions can be used to create loads.• Can also be used define nonlinear material properties.

Advanced Loading with Functions

Data can be created in four ways:• By choosing a Single Value to enter in the X and Y values one

at a time.• Using a Linear Ramp, you pick a starting and ending X and Y value.• An Equation where you specify the starting and ending values of X

and delta X and then enter Y as a function of Xand delta X and then enter Y as a function of X.• Use the Get function to attain data from a two column spreadsheet, or a listing of

two comma separated values from a text file.



You can make load equations as a function of a coordinate, nodal, or element centroidal location without having previously created a function.• !x, !y, and !z return the X, Y, and Z coordinates of nodes, elements etc.

Advanced Loading with Variables

The Equation Editor is accessible with the CTRL+e hotkey.

You can also combine Variable loads with Functions

Note: Use the command Tools, Check, Sum Forcescommand to calculate

f th f dsum of the forces and moments applied.



The Data Surface Editor pane allows more flexible and complex load definitions.

After setup, the data surface can be edited directly using the Data Surface Editor.

Access to all Data Surface types (except Tabular) available through the Create Load

Data Surfaces

Access to all Data Surface types (except Tabular) available through the Create Load dialog boxes. allowing setup on the fly



Along Coordinates Data Surface

• Interpolate linearly between at least three data points

• Multiple piece-wise linear data

One-dimensional Data Surfaces

5 0• Multiple piece-wise linear data points

• Multiple splined data points

Enter or select the 3-D point locations and data values, and FEMAP does the rest

5.0

10 010.07.5



Between Coordinates Data Surface

• Bilinear interpolation between 2, 4, or 8 data points• Parametric interpolation between 2 or 4 data points

O ti t l t C f 2 i t S f f 4 i t t d fi th

Two-dimensional Data Surfaces

• Options to select a Curve for 2 points or a Surface for 4 points to define the parametric space.

Simply enter the 3-D point locations and data values, and Femap does the rest.

25.0

15.0

5.0

10.0

15.0



Maps output from one model as a data surface source for another

Output Map Data Surfaces



Mesh Data Surface

• Node / Element ID surfaces

Tabular Data Surface

Other Data Surfaces

• 2-D / 3-D spreadsheets• Multi-dimensional – array of points• Linear interpolation

Arbitrary 3-D Data Surface

• Enter Scalar or Vector dataEnter Scalar or Vector data

Equation Data Surfaces

• Similar to using Variables



Support for Advanced Load Definitions

Load Type Functions Variables Data Surfaces

Force / Forces Per Length / Force Per Area - -

Force Per Node / Moment Per Node

Bearing Force - - -

Moment / Moment Per Length / Moment Per Area - -

Torque - - -

Displacements / Rotations / Velocities /

pAccelerations

Distributed Loads / pressure

Temperatures

H t Fl / H t Fl P A Heat Flux / Heat Flux Per Area - -

Heat Flux Per Node / Heat Generation / Element Heat Flux

Convection / Radiation

Fluid Loading



The Model, Load, Dynamic Analysis command sets the Solution Method and dynamic response analysis control parameters for:• Direct Transient

• Modal Transient

Dynamics Analysis Load Set Options

• Modal Transient

• Direct Frequency

• Modal Frequency

• Random Response

• Shock Spectrum Generation

Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load SetMany of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set has been selected using the Model Info tree.



The Model, Load, Load Nonlinear Analysis command sets the Solution for these three types of Nonlinear solutions:• Static

• Creep

Nonlinear Analysis Load Set Options

• Creep

• Transient

Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set has been selected using the Model Info tree.

Note: After selecting the type of Nonlinear Analysis, click the Defaults button to automatically enter the NX Nastran Nonlinear defaults and modify as needed


needed.


The Model, Load, Heat Transfer command is used for:• Radiation

• Free Convection

F d C ti

Heat Transfer Analysis Load Set Options

• Forced Convection

Not required for conduction only models.

Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set has been selected using the Model Info tree.


Th F U I t fLesson 6 The Femap User Interface –Part 2

Purpose

This lesson provides an introduction to selection, viewing, and data collection tools in Femap’s user interface.

Topics

• Select Toolbar

• View Options

• Data Table

• Programming Interfaces



The Select Toolbar allows you to select entities one at a time or create a list of selected entities that will remain active until you toggle off or clear the selection list. This functionality allows you to choose entities of different types first and then perform multiple commands from the menus or the toolbars on the selected entities.

Select Toolbar

The Select toolbar is essential to the use of the dockable panes, especially the Entity Editor and Data Table because the selector is often the best way to place an entity into either of these panes.

The Select toolbar consists of 5 items which aid in the selection process:• Selector Entity MenuSelector Entity Menu • Selector Modes Menu • Selector Actions Menu • Selector Clear (Clear current selection list)• Snap Modes (Snap to Screen, Snap to Grid, Snap to Point, Snap to Node)



This menu allows you to choose which type of entity you would like to select. The current entity type available

Select Toolbar – Selector Entity

to be selected will be marked with a check mark in an orange square.

The Selector Entity icon visible on the toolbar will change to the icon of the gcurrent entity type being selected. You can toggle this icon back and forth between no selection and the current entity by clicking the icon.

The entity types areThe entity types are separated into geometric entities, finite element entities, and text.



The Selector has different modes to help you select the correct entities, create a “Selection List”, and modify a Selection List.

• Add To Selection - Adds entities to the current selection list when Select Multiplei ti i l h titi h S l t Si l It i ti Thi i th

Select Toolbar – Selector Modes

is active or simply chooses entities when Select Single Item is active. This is the default

• Remove From Selection - Removes entities from the current Selection List when Select Multiple is active. Only allows selection of entities currently in the Selection List. Does not highlight anything when Select Single Item is active



Normal - This mode highlights entities which are able to be selected when the cursor is placed over a specific entity. This is the default selection mode.

Query - This mode allows you to choose a position on the screen near the entity you i h t l t th “d ill d ” i t th hi i d d l t ll th titi th t

Select Toolbar – Selector Modes (continued)

wish to select, then “drills down” into the graphics window and selects all the entities that would be touched by an imaginary line perpendicular to the screen. After the entities have been identified, it opens a dialog box and places them in a list for you to choose the correct entity. As you highlight entities in the list, they will be highlighted in the graphics window as well. Once you have found the correct entity, click the OK button.

Front - This mode always selects the entity “closest to the front of the screen”. It uses the same premise as Query to “drill down” into the screen with the imaginary line and then simply selects the top-most entity in the current view. If the “top-most” entity is already chosen, it selects the next one along the line, moving into the screen.



Select Any Inside - This is a “box” pick mode which signifies that any entity entirely enclosed or has a start or end point within the outline of a selection “box” will be included in the selection. “Box” picking includes Circle, Polygon, and Freehand picking and is only available when Select Multiple is active.


Select All Inside - This is the other “box” pick mode which signifies that only entities completely inside the “box” will be included in the selection.

Select Related - When this mode is toggled on, it selects ALL other entities that are related to the selected entities and places them in the selection list. To toggle it off, simply select it again. By default this mode is OFF. When Select Related is turned on, Select Multiple is also automatically toggled on.



Select Single Item - Restricts selection to only one item at a given time. As each entity is selected it will update the Entity Editor dockable pane. This is the default.

Select Multiple Items - Allows you to create a Selection List. A Selection List can t i lti l titi f t lti l tit t A h tit i l t d it


contain multiple entities of one type or multiple entity types. As each entity is selected it will update the Entity Editor dockable pane, as well as add the entity to the running totals of the Selection List in the Model Info tree.



Show Tooltips - When this mode is activated, a “Tooltip” note will pop up with useful information about the entity which is currently highlighted.


To toggle this option off, select it from the menu again. It can also be turned on and off using the right mouse menu in the graphics window, when the Entity Selector is set to None.• e.g. When entity selection is set

to Node the “Tooltip” ill containto Node, the “Tooltip” will contain Node number, Coordinates, Definition Coordinate System, and Output Coordinate System. When post-processing, the Contour Output Vector will appear in the “Tooltip” for pp pelements and the Deformation Output Vector will be appear in the “Tooltip” for nodes.

While a “Tooltip” pop-up window is displaying information, if you click the left mouse button, the information will be sent to the Entity Editor and/or the Data Table dockable panes, as long as the panes are visible in the FEMAP interface AND unlocked.



This menu contains “Actions” the Selector can use for specific types of selections. There are various “Box” pick options, grow and shrink

Select Toolbar – Selector Actions Menu

commands to build up or cut down a selection, use of the typical FEMAP entity selection dialog box, group commands, copy and paste, and the ability to send a selection over to the Data Table.

Bo Creates a rectang lar• Box - Creates a rectangular selection box to pick multiple entities at once. Holding the Shiftkey also activates this option.

• Circle - Creates a circular selection “box” to pick multiple entities at once Holding theentities at once. Holding the Control key also activates this option.

• Polygon - Allows you to create a selection area by creating a multi-sided shape using a click of the mouse to end one “side” of the polygon and begin the next “side”. The polygon can have as many sides as you would like and is very helpful in selecting individual nodes in uniquely shaped geometry.

• Freehand - Allows you to create a selection area by holding down the left mouse button and “drawing” a freehand sketch. Works very similar to the Polygon mode, but the shape is not limited to the use of only straight lines.




Coordinate – Select objects by X, and/or Y, and/or Z coordinates by:• Above or Below a specified

value.• Outside or Between minimum

and maximum values.• At Location within a tolerance.

Around Point – Specify a coordinate (In a specified coordinate system) and select by:• Farther Than or Closer Than a

specified radial distance from the point.

• Outside or Between minimum and maximum values of the specified radial distance.

• At Location within a tolerance of the specified radial distance.



Around Vector – Specify a vector and a radial distance from the vector. Select objects:• Farther Than or Closer Than a


specified radial distance from the vector.

• Outside or Between minimum and maximum distance from the vector.

• At Location within a tolerance.

Around Plane – Select a plane and the normal distance from the plane. Select objects by:• Positive Side or Negative Side

distance from the plane.• Outside or Between minimum

and maximum distance from the plane.

• At Location within a tolerance of the specified distance.



Grow - Adds the elements surrounding the currently selected elements to the Selection List. In general, it will start with the selected element and expand out one element in all

Select Toolbar – Selector Actions Menu (continued)

directions to non-selected elements. The selection will move out an additional element layer every time the Growcommand is used

Shrink - Removes the outer-most layer of selected elements from the Selection List. Works in the reverse direction as the Growcommand.


1st Growth Iteration 2nd Growth IterationInitial Selection


Dialog - Brings up the specific FEMAP Entity Selection dialog box for the entity currently active in the selector. This allows you to use all of the entity specific selection


methods available on menu when the Method button is clicked inside the dialog box

Create Group - Brings up the Save Selection as Group dialog box. Allows you to create a new Group or to add, remove, or p , ,exclude the entities in the Selection List from the active Group.

Load Group - Allows you to add the entities of any existing Group to the current Selection List.

Export Neutral – Takes the objects in the Selection List and writes a Femap Neutral File.



Copy - Allows you to copy all of the entities in the Selection List and “Paste “ them into a different model. When the Selection List is copied, the entity data is sent to a modified


version of a FEMAP neutral file and is placed on the clipboard. Once on the clipboard, it can be “pasted” into a different model using the Paste command on the Selector Actions menu (Ctrl+v will not work in this case)

Yo MUST be s re that all entities• You MUST be sure that all entities related to a specified entity are included in the Selection List before using the Copy command. This will assure an accurate transfer between models occurs. One way to assure a Selection List will be complete for copying p py gpurposes is to use the Select Related mode of the Select toolbar.

Paste - This command allows you to “paste” a copied Selection List into a another opened Femap model. The Paste command recognizes that a modified FEMAP neutralrecognizes that a modified FEMAP neutral file is on the clipboard and reads that neutral file into FEMAP. • When the Paste command is used it will

bring up the Neutral File Read Options dialog box to allow you enter an ID offset and select other options to aid in the prevention of overwriting entities in the current model.



Add to Data Table - Takes all of the entities in the Selection List that are the entity type currently active in the Selectorand sends their data to the Data Table. The


Data Table MUST be “unlocked” in order for this command to be available.



Select Toolbar –

While a certain entity type is active in the selector, only that entity type will be available for picking in the graphics window. Since FEMAP is only highlighting one specific entity type at a time, there are context sensitive menus for each entity type (except Text). These menus can be accessed by highlighting an entity in the graphics window and then


clicking the right mouse button. These Context Sensitive menus contain frequently used commands for each entity type.

Any time there is an active entity in the Select Toolbar, clicking Alt + clicking the right mouse button in the graphics window will bring up the Quick Access Menu instead of the context sensitive menu related to the active entity. This can very helpful for picking mode purposes and to toggle Show Tooltips.mode purposes and to toggle Show Tooltips.



Select Toolbar has two options for clearing a Selection List:

• Clear All – clears the entire Selection List

• Clear Active Entity – clears only the active Selector Entity

Select Toolbar – Clear Selector Options



The View, Options (F6 hotkey) command allows you control the way your view is displayed.

There are three major categories in the View Options dialog box:

View Options

• Labels, Entities and Color – controls the way text, geometry and mesh entities, and the color of entities are displayed in the active view.

• Tools and View Style – controls view entities, style and display of view objects such as Symbols in the active view.

• PostProcessing – controls the options for displaying graphical and XY plots of analysis results.

See the View Options section of the Femap Commands manual for details on the multiple options available in these dialog boxes.



The view background can be modified with the View, Background command. With this command, you can specify a background that is either• Transparent

• Solid

View Options (continued)

• Solid

• Shaded

• You also have the option to specify a bitmap as a logo background. The bitmap for the logo is specified in the Femap Preferences dialog box in the Views tab.

A view with its View Options, Entity Display settings, and Background can be saved to a View Library within the Visibility dialog box (activated with the Ctrl+Q hotkey or fromView Library within the Visibility dialog box (activated with the Ctrl Q hotkey or from the View toolbar) by clicking the Save View button.• A saved view will

update the activeview’s settings byclicking Load View.

• Changes made togthe active view canalso be removedvia the Reset Viewbutton in this dialogbox.

Saved views can alsoSaved views can alsobe set as theStartup View for allnew models via theView tab of the FEMAPPreferences.



Use the Tools, Data Table command or the Panes toolbar to turn the Data Table on and off.• When the Data Table is first opened, it is “locked”. The Lock/Unlock icon must be

selected to unlock it to enable it to receive or update data.

Data Table

p

Data is placed into an interactive, dynamically changing “table” using various methods to fill the table provided it is unlocked Each item appears as a single row separated into a number of columns when it

enters the Data Table. Information of entities of the same type can be sorted, filtered, and evaluated to help

d d h i i i d l b f d f l iyou understand what is occurring in your model before and after analysis. In many ways, the Data Table is a complement to the other dockable panes and can

also simply be an alternate method to list and view entity data

All FEMAP entities which can be selected using the Select toolbar can be sent to the Data Table.

Several commands are available for listing and sorting results when the Data Table isSeveral commands are available for listing and sorting results when the Data Table is open and analysis results sets are loaded into your FEMAP model: List, Output, Summary to Data Table

List, Output, Results to Data Table

List, Output, Nodal Changes to Data Table



Program Files

• FEMAP has the ability to record and replay command sequences using Program Files.

• Program Files can be edited to accept user input

Programming Interfaces

• Program Files can be edited to accept user input.• Program Files may not be compatible between different versions of FEMAP.

API – FEMAP has an Application Programming Interface that can be used to customize FEMAP for applications such as:• Automate tasks such as swapping the background colors of views for printing .• Calculate the midplane stresses on shell elements• Calculate the midplane stresses on shell elements.• Interface with other programs for the purposes for importing, modifying, or reporting

data.• FEMAP has a built-in Basic language programming environment through the API

Programming pane.• Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C++.NET can also be used to develop custom

li ti f FEMAPapplications for FEMAP.• The API can be used to embed FEMAP into other applications; open, create, and/or

modify FEMAP models; or to develop standalone FEMAP applications without using FEMAP’s GUI.

• Examples of API applications are shipped with FEMAP in FEMAP’s API folder. The Custom Tools toolbar is set by default to point to this folder.


M d l Di l d Vi li tiLesson 7 Model Display and Visualization

Purpose

This lesson provides an introduction to selection, viewing, and data collection tools in Femap’s user interface.

Topics

• Geometry, Material, Property and Layer Visibility Toggles• View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data command• Comparing Groups and Layers• Layers• Groups• View Options


Lesson 7 Model Display and Visualization

Beginning with Femap Version 10.1, display of Element (by Type or by Shape), Materials, Properties and can be controlled from the Model Info pane. Femap v10.1.1 adds the ability to toggle solids on and off.• The box to the left of the object’s ID/name is the Visibility Toggle and indicates

Geometry, Element, Material and Property, Display Control

j y ggwhether or not the object is displayed.• Indicates that the object is displayed.

You can also select one or more of the same object type and then Right-click to bring up the Visibility Toggle menu.

Femap will display the combination of selected geometry element types materialsFemap will display the combination of selected geometry, element types, materials, properties and groups, eliminating the need to organize the model by layers or by creating additional groups.



Example: Wing model with multiple groups, element types and shapes, materials and properties.

Display Control Example

Model Tree:



Display only portion of the model with elements comprised of Aluminum alloys:

Display Control Example (continued)



Beginning with Femap v10.1, the View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Datacommand is available. This command is also directly available on the View toolbar.

View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data Command

With this command, you can display Contour, Criteria, or Beam Diagram plots of model data such as in the example below where Plane Element Thickness is shown as a contour plotcontour plot.• You cannot simultaneously display model data and analysis results.



Comparing Groups and Layers

Layers Groups

Entities

Can be assigned to only one Layer

Imported with some CAD t f t

Can be assigned to multiple Groups

Assign by rules, relationships, and/or clipping.

Automatic generation tools. geometry formats. Reference Groups for

managing “groups” of Groups (Femap v10.1)

Display Multiple / User ControlledMultiple / User Controlled (single Group only prior toSimultaneously? Multiple / User Controlled (single Group only prior to Femap v10.1)

Graphical Selection

Displayed Layers only

Optional “No Pick” layer prevents graphical

Only entities in the displayed groups can be selected p g p

selection of entities on that layer (except when Select All is used).

except when Select All is used.



Create new layers using the Tools, Layer command.

The Layer Manager dialog box:

Layers

• Create New Layery

• Assign ID, Title and Color

• View Options allows display of colors by layer (by entity type)

• Modify the name of a layer using the Update button• Renumber layer(s)• Delete layer(s)



Layer objects New layers• Activate layers

M l

Layers and the Model Info Tree

• Manage layers• Delete layers• Manage visibility

Selection List objects Modify layer



Define using commands on Group menu• Use the Group, Create/Manage command to create a Group, then use other

commands to add entities into group

Defining and Populating Groups

Group Rules• Various entity selection commands, either by ID or using relationships to other

entities• Entities can be added to group using any combination of selection methods• When selecting entities, use the Exclude option if you want the selected entities

removed permanently from the group.removed permanently from the group.

Group Clipping• Selects all entities inside/outside clipping region• Set Clipping first, then rules.

Referenced Groups allow a group to link to one or more other group(s).



The Group, Operations command set:• Use Automatic Add to add to the either the Active or Selected group as you model• Evaluate and Evaluate Always are used to update groups as the model is modified.

Li it f E l t Al i l d l

Control of and Automatic Generation of Groups

• Limit use of Evaluate Always in large models.• Copy and Condense groups• Combine groups using Boolean operations• Use Add Related Entities to add entities to existing groups such as Loads and

Constraints on Surfaces, Nodes on Elements, etc.• Generate commands can be used to automatically generate and maintain groups inGenerate commands can be used to automatically generate and maintain groups in

the model by:• Solids

• Property

• Material

• Element Type

• Output

• Superelements

• Layers



The Group, Operations, Booleans command allows you to create a new group:• Add / Combine – take all entities from the selected groups.• In all – take entities that are common to all of the selected groups.

N t i A t k titi th t d t i t i f th l t d

Using Booleans with Groups

• Not in Any – take entities that do not exist in any of the selected groups.• Subtract – remove the entities from the selected groups from another group.• Only in One - take only the entities that exist in one of the selected groups.• Not in All - take only the entities from the selected groups that do not exist in all of

the selected groups.

Note: To see examples of the Group, Operations, Booleans command, go to Section 6.4.3.2 of the Femap Users Guide.



Right-click on a group nameto bring up the context-sensitive menu for groups.• Create a New group

Group Creation and Control from the Model Info Pane

g p• Combine groups into a

new group• Add Related Entities

• Toggle Automatic Addto the Active or Selectedgroupgroup

• Show the Full Model,Active Group or Multiple Groups (a further explanation of this follows).

• Activate the selected• Activate the selected group

• List the contents of the selected group(s)

• Delete the selected group(s)M R f d• Manage Referenced Groups

Add to Selection – adds the contents of the selected group(s) to the Selection List

Export Neutral exports the contents of the selected group(s) to a Femap Neutral file



Beginning with Femap Version 10.1, multiple groups can be displayed using either the View Visibility dialog box or via the Group tree in the Model Info pane.

To activate the Visibility dialog box to control display of groups:

Group Display Control

• Click the View Visibility icon on the View toolbaror

• Right-click in the graphics window and select Visibility on the context-sensitive menu

• Select the Group tab in the Visibility dialog box• Choose between:• Choose between:

• Show Full Model – when selected, the selection of individual groups in the group list section of this dialog box is grayed out.

• Show Active Group

• Show Single Group – when selected, the selection of individual groups in the group list section of this dialog box is grayed out.

• Show/Hide Multiple Groups

• The box to the left of the group’s ID and name is the Visibility Toggle and indicates whether or not the group is displayed.



The display of groups can also be controlled from the Group tree in the Model Info pane.

Group Display Control (continued)

• The box to the left of the group’s ID and name is the Visibility Toggle and indicates whether or not the group is displayed.• Indicates that the

group is displayed.

• Indicates that the group is hidden.

• A blank checkbox also indicates that the group is notthe group is not displayed.

• Indicates that all groups are displayed.

You can also select one or more of the same object type and then Right-click the Visibility Toggle.



In addition to the Model Info pane’s Group tree, you can activate a group using the Status Bar Tray

• Click “Grp: (#)” on the Status Bar Tray and select the group you want to activate.• The number (#) indicates the active group number

Group Display Control Using the Status Bar Tray

• The number (#) indicates the active group number

• Groups can also be created and managed by selecting the Create/Manage option from this menu.



In many cases, you may want to display specific entity indicators such as surface normal, curve direction or element normal's. The View Options dialog box offers options to display these indicators.

E l T di l f i id l t d f f d i di t d

View Options

Example – Turn on display of rigid elements degree of freedom indicators and master/slave nodes:

An unfilled box indicates the Slave Node on the rigid element

A filled box indicates the Master Node on the rigid element



Example– Turn on display of surface normal's:

View Options (continued)


M hi O iLesson 8 Meshing Overview

Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of the tools available in Femap to control and generate meshes.

Topics

• Recommended Meshing Workflows

• Mesh Control

• Feature Suppression

• Geometry Meshing

• Hex MeshingHex Meshing

• Mesh Modification Tools


Lesson 8 Meshing Overview

Before any meshing, set a reasonable Default mesh size for the model then set the mesh sizing for the objects to be meshed

Recommended Meshing Workflows

Solids

Break edge curves where neededCreate any needed Curves on Surfaces and Mesh Points on Surfaces

Suppress any features as neededSet the Mesh Size on Solids

Assign solid Attributes

Set the mesh size on individual surfaces as needed

Surfaces

Break surface boundary curves where neededCreate any needed Curves on Surfaces and Mesh Points on Surfaces

Suppress any features as neededSet the Mesh Size on SurfacesSet the Mesh Size on Surfaces

Assign surface Attributes

Mesh the selected surfacesSet the mesh size on individual curves as needed

CurvesBreak curves as neededSet the Mesh Size on Curves

Assign curve Attributes



The Mesh, Mesh Control menu creates settings for:• Default mesh size• Set mesh size on curves, surfaces and solids

Mesh Control

Set mesh size on curves, surfaces and solids• “Hard” mesh points• Mesh Attributes - assignment of element properties

to geometry• Mesh approaches on surfaces• Suppression of geometric features during meshing

Many of these commands are also on the Meshtoolbar.toolbar.

Preview mesh sizing on curves with the View, Options (F6) Labels Entities and Colors CurveOptions (F6), Labels, Entities and Colors, Curve –Mesh Size option• Toggle Mesh Size symbols with the View

Style, Mesh Size icon on the View toolbar.



Mesh, Mesh Control, Default Size

• Used to define the default element size.• If you only need a uniform mesh, this will be the only mesh control operation you

need to do

Mesh, Mesh Control Commands

need to do.• Used along curves that have no other sizing specified.

Mesh, Mesh Control, Size commands• At Point, used to specify the size along any curve that references that point, and

does not already have a size specified.• Along Curve, specifies the element size, or number of elements to be placed,

and how they will be spaced along the curveand how they will be spaced along the curve.• On Surface, used to specify the size on all of the curves referenced by the

surface, and gives other options for controlling the mesh on the surface.• On Solid, provides the same basic mesh control as the previous, but also has

additional options that pertain primarily to multi-solid meshing, and hex meshing.



Mesh, Mesh Control, Interactive, allows you to interactively modify existing mesh sizes along one or more curves.• Add: The current curve mesh size is increased by the number of elements

specified

Mesh, Mesh Control Commands (continued)

p• Subtract: The current curve mesh size is decreased by the number of elements

specified. It is not reduced below 1• Set To: The curve mesh size is set to the number of elements specified

Note: Interactive sizing with automatic re-meshing is available in the Meshing

Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size Along Curve, can be used to place nodes at specific locations along curves, and match one curve's mesh sizing to another curve or curves.• See example on following pages

g g gToolbox under the Mesh Sizing toolset.

• See example on following pages

Mesh, Mesh Control, Mapped Divisions on Surface, allows you to specify divisions for a mesh on 3 and 4 sided surfaces

Mesh, Mesh Control, Mesh Points on Surface, defines specific locations on a surface where nodes will be created when the surface is meshed



Example - Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size along Curve

Surface Mesh Size = 5 with Mesh Size of 8 applied to arc on upper boundary of surface

Custom Mesh Size along Curve command applied to the single lower boundary of the surface by Matching the three curves on


lower boundary of the surface by Matching the three curves on the upper boundary of the surface


Example - Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size along Curve p , , g(continued)

Resulting mesh after applying theMesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size along Curve command



Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes

• At Point, used to assign meshing properties to points, so that when the points are meshed, the properties will automatically be assigned to the points

• Along Curve in addition to specifying the property to be used there are additional


• Along Curve, in addition to specifying the property to be used, there are additional options, like element orientation, releases, and offsets

• On Surface, most commonly used for assigning plate properties to surfaces, and should be used when meshing multiple surfaces with different properties in one meshing operation. • Includes ability to pre-assign plate offsets to surfaceO V l /S lid h th th b l li t l / lid• On Volume/Solid, are much the same as the above, only applies to volumes/solids



Mesh, Mesh Control, Approach on Surface, used to specify whether FEMAP will create a free/boundary mesh or a mapped mesh. There are several options for free and mapped meshing. For details, see section 5.1.1.15 in the Femap Commands Manual

• Femap primarily uses the Free-Parametric approach for meshing


p p y pp g• Beginning with Femap v10.1.1, Femap can automatically assign the corner points

when the Mapped – Four Corner option is selected



Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Size on Surface command.

• Select the Replace Mesh Size on All Curves option to override mesh sizes on any curve that has had it’s mesh size set curve mesh sizing command(s).

Setting Mesh Sizing on Surfaces

• Use Min Elements on Edge to set the number of elements on curves with their length less then the Element Size setting.



For both solids and surfaces, Femap provides a recommended Element Size by dividing the average length of the curves on the selected surface or solid by 6.

How Femap determines Element Size



Max Angle Tolerance controls the maximum allowable angle between the tangent of a surface’s boundary curve at the start of the element edge and the angle of the free edge of the element. With this option enabled, the length of all free edges on the selected surface(s) must be less than or equal to the Element Size.

Max Angle Tolerance



Max Elem on Small Feature and Max Size of Small Feature are used to control the number of elements around the perimeter of an interior boundary.• Max Size of Small Feature is the effective diameter of the interior feature calculated

by taking of the perimeter length of the interior feature divided by pi.

Setting Mesh Sizing on Surfaces (continued)

y g p g y p• The default value of this option is equal to the value of the Element Size.



Vertex Aspect Ratio is used to optimize mesh sizing at locations where both long and short curves are joined at common vertices

Vertex Aspect Ratio

Initial Mesh – Vertex Aspect Ratio Option DisabledJacobian Mesh Quality Displayed


Initial Mesh – Vertex Aspect Ratio = 2.0Jacobian Mesh Quality Displayed


Mapped Meshing Refinement and Suppress Short Edges

The Mapped Meshing Refinement option attempts to refine the mesh for 3 or 4-sided surfaces.

Suppress Short Edges suppresses any edge on the selected solid(s) or surface(s) that h l th l th l t th ifi d t f th El t Si

pp g pp gOptions

has a length less than or equal to the specified percentage of the Element Size.

• Suppressing short edges on certain solids or surfaces may cause the mesher to fail. While not common, an error stating you have a "hole" in the mesh will inform you of this situation.



Femap, by default, uses Parameter mesh sizing. For many cases, there will be no difference between Parameter and Length-based mesh sizing, however, for complex curves and surfaces such as splines, there is a difference:

Parameter vs. Length Based Mesh Sizing



The Curvature Based Mesh Refinement option, Refinement Ratio is similar to Max Angle Tolerance except it uses a length ratio instead of angles• Refinement Ratio = Chord Height / Chord Length

• Chord Height = maximum normal distance from the element edge to the curve

Curvature Based Mesh Refinement

• Chord Height = maximum normal distance from the element edge to the curve or surface

• Chord Length = length of the element edge



Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Size on Solid command.• Similar to the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box for surfaces except for addition of

the selection of either Tet Meshing or Hex Meshing, and the Auto Boundary Small Surf and Assembly / Multi-Solid Sizing options.

Setting Mesh Sizing on Solids

y g p



Auto Boundary Small Surf attempts to combine any surface on a solid that has a area less than or equal to the specified percentage of Element Size squared with an adjacent surface that is tangent or nearly tangent to the small surface.

Auto Boundary Small Surf



The Assembly / Multi-Body Sizing options can be used to automatically set mesh approaches on solids with adjacent surfaces when multiple bodies are selected .

Assembly / Multi-Body Sizing

• Adjacent Surface Matching – when surfaces on two adjacent bodies are coincident and have sizes and boundaries, Femap will slave the mesh size and approach of the two surfaces.

• Use the Remove Previous Slaving option to remove the mesh sizing and slaving on bodies that have had mesh sizes previously applied.

• Adjust Colors changes the colors of surfaces that have mesh sizes set The• Adjust Colors changes the colors of surfaces that have mesh sizes set. The following lists the colors and their meanings:• Dark Transparent Blue – free surfaces that have mesh sizes successfully

applied.• Light Solid Blue – surfaces that have been matched to an adjacent surface for

the purpose of creating a continuous mesh.• Red – surfaces on solids that cannot be hex meshed.

• Skip Sizing on Slaved Surfaces – skip mesh sizing on surfaces that are slaved to another surface.



The Mesh, Mesh Control, Approach on Surface command allows you to set the method for meshing surfaces (including surfaces on solids).• If not specified, Femap will use either the Free/Parametric or Mapped – Four corner

approach based on geometry and resulting mesh quality.

Surface Mesh Approach: Free Mesh

pp g y g q y



Surface Mesh Approach: Mapped – Four Corner

Mapped Four Corner Mesh – Example 1Mapped Four Corner Mesh – Example 1


Mapped Four Corner Mesh – Example 2


Surface Mesh Approach: Mapped – Three Corner

M d Th C M hMapped Three Corner Mesh

Mapped Three Corner Fan Mesh



Use the command, Mesh, Mesh Control, Feature Suppression

• Removing Loops works on surfaces and solids.

Interactive feature suppression is also available in the Meshing Toolbox under the

Edge and Feature Suppression

Feature Suppression toolset.



The command, Geometry, Boundary Surface, From Surfaces on Solid

• Takes the surfaces you select, and uses the enclosing outer curves to form a regular boundary surface.

• The surfaces must be stitched into a solid

Boundary Surface from Surfaces on Solid

• The surfaces must be stitched into a solid.• This feature works best with surfaces that have small to moderate curvature.• Can be used to remove sliver surfaces by selecting surfaces that surround the

sliver.• This capability is also found in the Meshing Toolbox under the

Combined/Boundary Surfaces toolset.



Mesh, Geometry, Point - is the most basic of the automatic meshing commands.• Will generate nodes (and elements for 0D element types such as Mass Elements) at

the selected points.• Allows you to specify the beginning node and element ID

Geometry Meshing

• Allows you to specify the beginning node and element ID.

Mesh, Geometry, Curve

• Creates a mesh of nodes and 1-D elements along a curve

Mesh, Geometry, Surface - creates nodes and planar elements on a selected set of surfaces. • Must first define the mesh sizing using one of the various Mesh Control commands• There are also basic Mesh Control options on the Automesh form, as well as Mesh

Smoothing, and Element Shape options

Mesh, Geometry, Volume - creates nodes and elements in a selected set of volumes. • Since this command uses a mapped meshing technique, the number of

/ f fnodes/elements along opposite faces of a volume must always be equal

Mesh, Geometry, Solid - Produces a 3-D solid tetrahedral mesh in a solid part

Mesh, Geometry, Solids From Elements - meshes a plate element mesh that encloses a volume into a solid element mesh



The Mesh, Geometry, Surfaces command opens the Automesh Surfaces dialog box. By default only a portion of the available mesh options are visible.

Automesh Surfaces Dialog Box

You may specify the following options:• Mesher – Triangle or Quad• Toggle generation of Midside Nodes

• Toggle Mapped Meshing on or off

To see all of the surface meshing options available, press the More Options button.



The expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box has the following options:• Mesher – Triangle or Quad

• Pre-V10 Meshing can be used to have FEMAP mesh using the “old” meshersand options


and options.• Toggle generation of Midside Nodes

• Connect Edge Nodes and a Tolerance can be set to automatically merge nodes on surfaces of stitched bodies.

• Toggle Mapped Meshing on or off and set various mapped meshing options.



Expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box (continued):


• Select the Smoothing option and settings to reduce mesh distortion.• Laplacian moves the node towards the centroid of the surrounding nodes.• Centroidal moves a node towards the centroid of the element-weighted centroid

of the surrounding elements.• Offset options allow you to offset to the top face, bottom face, or by a specified

value as the mesh is created instead of having to do it as a secondary step.• If an offset is applied as part of the Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Surface

command, that value will be used if no value is set in the Automesh Surfacesdialog box. If a value is entered, it will override the previously set attribute value.



Expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box (continued):


• Post-Meshing Cleanup is on by default and detects certain patterns in the mesherto eliminate them

• Cut Quads with Angle Deviation Above specified degrees• Min Elements Between Boundaries forces the mesher to attempt to put the

specified number of elements between adjacent boundaries• Max Element Aspect Ratio attempts to create elements which are under the

specified aspect ratio• Quick-Cut boundaries… splits boundaries with more then the specified number of

nodes into smaller pieces for meshing.



• Use the Quad Edge Layer option to set the “depth” of quad elements around features

Quad Edge Layer Option for Quad Meshing of Surfaces

0 Layers

1 Layer

2 Layers

3 Layers



When applying the command, Mesh, Geometry, Solids, the Automesh Solids dialog box is activated. With this dialog box, you specify the following options:• Surface Mesh Only

• Toggle Midside Nodes

Automesh Solids Dialog Box

• Toggle Midside Nodes

• Tet Growth Ratio – specify a factor to increase the size of the interior elements over the size of the initial surface mesh.

• Initial Size Ratio – used to provide additional control for the size of the mesh. Lower values results in denser meshes.

• Update Mesh Sizing – activates the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box for solids.



Model, Element command.• Creates a single element

Mesh, Between command.

Manual Meshing Tools

Mesh, Region command.

Mesh, Revolve, Extrude and Sweep commands.• With these commands you can revolve , extrude, or sweep curves or line elements

into plane elements, and plane elements into volume elements. You can also select face(s) on volume element(s) to create additional volume elements.face(s) on volume element(s) to create additional volume elements.

Mesh Copy, Radial Copy, Scale, Rotate and Reflect commands.



Mesh, Editing, Interactive command.

Manual Mesh Modification Tools

Mesh, Editing, Split command.

Mesh, Remesh command set.

Mesh, Smooth command.



Femap can automatically hex mesh solids that are valid mapped meshing solids (solids of extrusion or revolution)

Preparing the solid for Hex Meshing

Semi-Automatic Hex Meshing

• Begin by slicing the solid into simple sections that are extrusions using the following commands:• Geometry, Solid, Slice

• Geometry, Solid, Slice Match

• Geometry, Solid, Slice Along Face

• Geometry Solid Embed Face• Geometry, Solid, Embed Face

Meshing the Solids• Use Mesh Control to set the size and link the adjacent surfaces• Then Mesh, Geometry, Hex Mesh Solids

Note: Solids of revolution must be sliced so that the solid comprises is less then a 360-degree revolution. e.g A straight, pipe section must be split in half.



In a later section, you will learn about the Meshing Toolbox. This toolbox allows for interactive modification of geometry and meshes to improve the quality of meshes:• Geometry Feature Suppression

• Geometry Feature Removal

Meshing Toolbox

• Geometry Feature Removal

• Geometry Combined/Composite Curves

• Geometry Combined/Composite Surfaces

• Mesh Sizing Toolbox

• Mesh Locate Toolbox

• Mesh Quality ToolboxMesh Quality Toolbox


A l i S t MLesson 9 Analysis Set Manager

Purpose

This lesson provides an introduction to the setup of analyses using Femap’s Analysis Set Manager.

Topics

The Analysis Set Manager

Analysis Set Manager Dialog Box

NX Nastran Supported Solution Sequences

NX Nastran Input File Setup

Preview/Edit InputPreview/Edit Input

Bulk Data Entries

Analyze Process

NX Nastran Analysis Procedure and Files


Lesson 9 Analysis Set Manager

Femap’s Analysis Set Manager manages the options necessary to:• Create a ready to run input file.• Launch the NX Nastran solver or to launch another locally installed solver.

St t Vi Q t d th i t fil t l th hi

The Analysis Set Manager

• Start VisQ to send the input file to a solver on another machine.

Analysis Sets are stored along with the Femap model file or can be stored in a Femap library that is available across different model files.

To enter the analysis Manager select the Model, Analysis command.• Click the New button to create a new Analysis Set.

• Specify a Title, Analysis Program, and the Analysis Type



Linear statics

Normal modes

Buckling

NX Nastran Supported Solution Sequences

Buckling

Dynamics• Modal or direct transient• Modal or direct frequency• Response Spectrum• Random Response

Design optimization

Nonlinear• Nonlinear statics• Nonlinear transient responseNonlinear transient response

Heat Transfer• Steady-state heat transfer• Transient heat transfer

Advanced Nonlinear• Nonlinear Statics (SOL601,106)• Nonlinear Transient (SOL601,129)• Nonlinear Explicit (SOL701)



The Analysis Set Manager dialog box shows all analysis sets defined in the model• Expand the tree view with +,-

• Edit sets by double click on tree item or highlight and select Edit buttonE t it i t fil t di k

Analysis Set Manager Dialog Box

• Export: writes input file to disk• Delete

• Copy

• Load and Save to the Analysis Set library



Select Solver and Analysis Type

Set Executive, Bulk Data, GEOMCHECK, MODELCHECK options• Can add additional NX Nastran cards and/or Include Files with Start/End Text

NX Nastran Input File Setup

options

Case Control• Master Requests and Conditions

• Subcases

• Select Master Requests and Conditions then click the New button

Multi set:

• Select constraint and loads sets and Femap will create a subcase for each combination of selected constraint and load set(s)

• Not available for all analysis types



When using one of the Nastran solvers, the Nastran Bulk Data Options dialog box has multiple options. Two of the many options are described below. See section 8.7.1.3 of the Femap Commands Manual for more details. • If you want to analyze only a portion of the model, you can specify a single group to

Analysis Set – Nastran Bulk Data Options Dialog Box

y y y p , y p y g g pwrite out only with the Portion of Model to Write option.

• Some models may have specified the mass properties entry for materials as weight density rather then mass density. In this case, enable the WTMASS option and specify the value of the gravitational constant.



NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics has additional options for the selected analysis Type in the Analysis Set

NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics Options

These options can also be defined in a Load Set.



When NX Nastran Nonlinear is the analysis Type, Nonlinear options can be set as part of the Master Request and Conditions or as an option when subcases are used.• Just like in NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics, these can also be set as options in a

load set.

NX Nastran Nonlinear Options



Preview

• Generates the input deck• Check for errors

Preview/Edit Input

Edit Preview

• Modify, add, remove entries• Standard field spacing displayed as header• Add comments

Analyze or ExportAnalyze or Export



Analyze operation• Exports input deck and

starts in a NX Nastran job as a separate process

Analyze Process

p p• The Analysis Monitor

displays the NX Nastran.log, .f04, or .f06 files

• Results automatically loaded into Femap (Femap Preferences ( pdefault).



NX Nastran Output files – these files are retained :• .f06 (Print File) – Contains results data, as well as, warning and error messages.

Also, XY Plot data, diagnostic information (Geomcheck, Weight Check, Ground Check), Grid point force data, and Failure indices for Composite (Laminate) Elements

NX Nastran Analysis Procedure and Files

), p , p ( )prior to Femap 8.3

• .op2 (Binary Output File) – Contains results data in binary format, but results data can be imported into Femap much faster using the .op2

• .f04 (Text File) – Contains a summary of file and database usage information, memory and disk usage sizes, and module execution and statistical information.

• log (Text File) – License usage summary of solution times and other general• .log (Text File) – License usage, summary of solution times, and other general information about the execution of NX Nastran.

Results data:• Components of displacements at grid points• Element Recovery data (stresses, strains, strain energy, and internal forces and

moments• Grid point data recovery (applied loads, constraint forces, and element forces)

Note: Several temporary files are generated during an NX Nastran analysisNote: Several temporary files are generated during an NX Nastran analysis execution. By default, these files are placed in the scratch file location designated during the installation of NX Nastran. These files are automatically deleted after the successful execution of NX Nastran. Femap allows you to override the default scratch file through a preference setting, or you can specify the file location in an Analysis Set option.The scratch file folder should be checked frequently and files deleted as q yneeded.


Vi li i d D tiLesson 10 Visualizing and Documenting Results

Purpose:

This lesson provides an overview of post-processing results in Femap.

Topics:

View Select Command

Deformed and Contour Data

Contour Options

Nodal vs. Centroidal Stresses

Output Transformations

Animation Commands and Options

XY Plots

Freebody Display

Vector Plots

Detailed Post Processing Options

Post Processing Toolbar


Lesson 10 Visualizing and Documenting Results

The View Select dialog box: Specify the Deformed style

• Deformed

A i ti

View Select Command

• Animation

• Vector

• Trace

Specify the Contour style• Contour

• CriteriaCriteria

• Beam Diagram

• IsoSurface

• Section Cut

• Vector

Select Deformed and Contour Data to select data, e.g., von Mises Stressg

Review Femap User Guide – Chapter 5.9.1 – Working with View Select and View Options



To select the results data to display, activate the Select PostProcessing Data dialog box with the View, Select command or by right-clicking in the graphics window and selecting the Post Data command.

M t h lt il bl i F

Deformed and Contour Data

Must have results available in Femap

Key items to specify• Output Set

• Deformation Output Vectors

• Contour Output Vectors

• Contour Options



The contour algorithm in Femap will use either nodal or elemental data to perform the contouring. • Depending on the selected options and the available data, Femap will use several

different approaches to calculate the contours

Contour Options

pp

Contour Group – allows the display of results of the Active or Selected group without activating the group.

Data Conversion optionsData Conversion options Average, Use Corner

Data (default) Average, without

Corner Data Maximum Value – with

or w/o Corner Dataor w/o Corner Data Minimum Value– with

or w/o Corner Data Element options Provides the capability

to “Smart Average” results Thusresults. Thus accounting for discontinuities in material or geometry and providing a more accurate representation of the results.

Option to display Double-sided Planar Contours on planar elements



Output data from analysis programs varies in the position that it is calculated• Nodes or the centroid of the element

If you select nodal data, e.g., translations, Femap uses it directly

Nodal vs. Centroidal Stresses

For results with element centroid data but no corner data, you can either:• Average the Centroidal values for the all the elements connected to each node

(default); or• Use the Maximum of the Centroidal values of the connected elements.

For results with element centroid data and element corner data you can either:For results with element centroid data and element corner data you can either:• Average the values at each node (element corner data) to determine the data

(default), • Use the maximum of the values at each node (element corner data)• Average the Centroidal values for the all the elements connected to each node

(ignores the corner data you have); or• Use the Maximum of the Centroidal values of the connected elements.



Example:• Four elements sharing node “N”, with corner data• Stress at node N can be calculated

A ith d ith t C D t

Example – Nodal Data Conversion

Average with and without Corner Data• with: σN = (σW+ σX+ σY+ σZ)/4• without: σN = (σA+ σB+ σC+ σD)/4Maximum Value with and without Corner Data• with: max (σW, σX, σY, σZ)• without: max (σA σB σC σD)without: max (σA, σB, σC, σD)Minimum Value with and without Corner Data• with: min (σW, σX, σY, σZ)• without: min (σA, σB, σC, σD)

Node “N”



Example – Nodal Data Conversion



By default, Femap displays NX Nastran results in the global or “basic” rectangular coordinate system. The Select PostProcessing Data dialog box has options to transform output vectors to user-selected directions.

Output Transformations



In this example, we want to display the radial stress and deformations around the large hole. A radial coordinate system is centered at the large hole.

Output Transformations (continued)



Create the animation in the View Select dialog box and select Animate as the Deformed Style

This will create an animation of the active Deformation Output Vector in the Deformed and Contour Data Dialog Box

Animation Commands

and Contour Data Dialog Box

• By selecting the View, Advanced Post, Animation command, you can control the speed of the animation.

• Once the plot is Animating it can be saved as an AVI file or Animated Gif file (*.GIF) using the File, Picture, Save command and selecting the “Video for Windows (*. AVI)”or “Animated GIF (*.GIF)” format.



Use View, Select (F5) command to generate XY plots – also accessible from the Graphics Window’s context-sensitive menu.

XY vs ID - plots XY data as a function of ID

XY Plots

XY vs Set - plots XY data versus the output set number for an Output Vector across several Output Sets

XY vs Set Value - similar to “vs Set”, except uses Output Set value for X

XY vs Position - plots XY data vs the position of nodes or element in an axis direction for an output Vector in on Output Setfor an output Vector in on Output Set

XY vs Function - (not a post-processing option) plots XY data for a function



Functions can be displayed quickly by selecting the function to be displayed in the Model Info window and selecting Show from the context-sensitive menu.• Opens a new graphics view titled “XY Show”

XY Plots of Functions



In the View Select dialog box, choose Deformed and Contour Data, Freebody Display

Plots the Freebody information of the entire body or a select group of elements.

Freebody Display

• Must have recovered Grid Point Force Balance data from analysis, if not only Applied and reaction forces will be available.

• Total Summed Loads allows you to check the model for equilibrium. • Choose the types of entities to be viewed



Generate a Freebody diagram

Select the Model, Loads, Loads from Freebody command

Creates nodal loads from the free body diagram as displayed on the screen in the Active

Loads from a Free body Diagram

Creates nodal loads from the free body diagram as displayed on the screen in the Active Load Set.



Multiple types of Vector plots can be generated using results data.• Select Vector as the Contour Style in the View Select dialog box, then the

Deformed and Contour button.

Vector Plots

• Once an Output Set is selected, click the Contour Vectors button to specify the options for the plot. This opens the Contour Options dialog box.



With the Contour Vector Options dialog box, you can set the:• Vector Type

• Standard Vectors – tensors such as Total Displacement, Principal Stresses and Strains

Contour Vector Options

Strains

• Single Value, 2D and 3D Components – specify any of the output vectors• 2D Tensor Plot (new in v10.1)



Beginning with v10.1, you can generate a “Crows Foot” plot by setting the Vector Typeto 2D Tensor Plot in the Contour Vector Options dialog box.• Example : Display Laminate Ply 1 X and Y normal stresses and the Laminate Play

Failure Index of Ply 1 (see next page for View Options settings) :

2D Tensor Plot Example

y ( p g p g )



You can automatically set the View Options settings for a 2D Tensor Plot in Femap’s Preferences dialog box under the View tab by clicking the option for 2D Tensor Plot View Options Override.

2D Tensor Plot Preferences and View Options



Accessed via the View, Options command (F6 and Ctrl+O hotkeys)• Located in the Category, PostProcessing

Long list of options, key ones include

Detailed Post Processing Options

• Post Titles

• On/off, Location…

• Deformed Style

• Scale, Automatic scaling options

• Contour/Criteria Style

• Contour Levels

• Contour Legend

Note: Post Processing options are saved along with the View Style in the View Library.



Allows quick display of Deformed and Contour plots

Detailed Postprocessing settings accessible from the Post Options pull down icon

Post Toolbar


Th M hi T lbLesson 11 The Meshing Toolbox

Purpose:

The Meshing Toolbox is used for accessing FEMAP’s interactive geometry cleanup and idealization tools and interactive mesh editing tools. This lesson is an overview of the tools available in the Meshing Toolbox.

Topics:Topics:

Entity Locator

Feature Suppression

Feature Removal

Combined / Composite Curves

C bi d / B d S f Combined / Boundary Surfaces

Mesh Sizing Toolbox

Mesh Locate Toolbox

Mesh Quality Toolbox


Lesson 11 The Meshing Toolbox

Similar to other FEMAP Panes, the Meshing Toolbox can be turned on and off from the Tools menu.

The Meshing Toolbox has several controls for:

Meshing Toolbox - Controls

• Toolbox Visibility – toggle Meshing Toolbox controls• Toggle Entity Locator – toggle the feature Locator controls• Mesh Quality Toggle – toggle display of mesh quality• Automesh / Remesh Control – select either automatic remeshing or manual

meshing after making an update in one of the Meshing Toolbox control controls• Select / Dialog Select icons select a single entity or multiple entities using a• Select / Dialog Select icons – select a single entity or multiple entities using a

Select dialog box



The Locator makes it possible to quickly search for features in a model that could result in poor mesh quality.

Entity Locator for Curves

Locator controls are activated by toggling the Toggle Entity Locatoricon.

The Locator has an option to Search for:• Curves

• Surfaces

When Curves are selected the Search Method can be set to search for:• Short Edges

• Based On

• Global Mesh Size

• Curve Length

• Shortest Curves

• You can also select whether to locate the curve in the:• Entire Model

• Only in Group(s)



When Surfaces are selected the Search Method can be set to search for:• Small Surfaces

Entity Locator for Surfaces

• Fit in Radius

• Slivers

• Sliver Tolerance

• Spikes

• Spike Width

• By Area

• Area Less Than

You can also select whether to locate surfaces in the:• Entire Model• Entire Model

• Only in Group(s)• Not in Group(s)



The Toggle Entity Locator icon is used to cycle through objects located through the Locator control.• Remove deletes the current entity from the list of located entities• Do Not Locate deletes the current entity from the list of located entities and keeps

Entity Locator - Toggle Entity Locator Menu

• Do Not Locate deletes the current entity from the list of located entities and keeps the entity from being located again during the current model editing session.



Feature Suppressioncontrols allow you to interactively suppress or remove suppression of:

Feature Suppression

• Loops – select one edge on an feature to automatically suppress the entire set of curves and surfaces comprising the feature

• Curves – select curve(s) to be suppressed. Should not be used on solids.

• Surfaces – select surface(s) to be suppressed Should notsuppressed. Should not be used on surfaces.

Limit Size prevents selection of entities that have their length less than the specified Smaller Than value.

The Action Action menu toggles the action to :• Toggle Suppression – if a entity is unsuppressed, suppress it. If it is suppressed,

restore it.• Suppress or Restore

Update Colors set options to toggle and colors for suppressed entitiesUpdate Colors set options to toggle and colors for suppressed entities.

Show Suppressed allows you to highlight suppressed Curves or Surfaces

Restore All features in either selected solid(s) (In Solids button) or in the entire Model



Feature Removal differs from Feature Suppression in that the underlying solid or surface geometry is modified.• Loops – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops.• Curves – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops Also includes

Feature Removal

• Curves – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops. Also includes an option for Aggressive Removal

• Surfaces - when a single surface on a solid is selected, Femap will attempt to clean up the solid to result in a “clean” solid. In some cases, no operation will be performed and in others, other adjacent surfaces will be removed. There is also an option for Aggressive Removal.

Note: There is no option to restore removed features beyond what is supportedNote: There is no option to restore removed features beyond what is supported with the Undo command.



Combined / Composite Curves combines two or contiguous curves into a single curve for meshing. The can be created by:

Combined / Composite Curves

• Add By Point – create th it bthe composite curve by selecting a common point on the two curves

• Add Curves

• Split At – splits a composite curve at the

l t d i tselected point Remove – converts the

composite curve at the selected position back to it’s the original curve definition. The remainder of the composite curve isof the composite curve is retained.

Delete – converts all curves on the composite curve back to their original curve definitions

The Combine Surfaces option creates Combined Surfaces for surfaces using the curves that are combined.



Combined / Boundary Surfaces combines two or contiguous surfaces into a single surface for meshing. The can be created by:• Add By Curve– create the composite surface by selecting a common edge on the

two original surfaces

Combined / Boundary Surfaces

g• Add Surfaces – converts the selected surface to a composite surface. If multiple

surfaces are selected using the Dialog Select tool, the selected surfaces are combined into a single surface provided they are connected by a common edge.

• Split Along– splits a composite surface by the selected curve(s)• Remove – converts the selected composite surface(s) their original surface

definitionsdefinitions• Delete – converts the selected composite surface(s) to their original surface

definitions



Mesh Sizing controls provides interactive modification of mesh sizes on curves.

Mesh Sizing Toolbox

Set the mesh size on selected curve(s) with the Size Curvesoption.• Add – add the Number of

Nodes to the current mesh sizesize

• Subtract – subtract the Number of Nodes from the current mesh size

• Set To – in this case, the number of elements on the curve will equal thethe curve will equal the Number of Nodes.

• Specify the Spacing as either:• Equal

• Biased – when this ti i bloption is enable, you

specify the Bias Factor

• Enable Length Based Sizing

When the Sizing Option is set to Match Curves, the curve(s) selected will match the mesh sizing settings of the Master Curve

Enabling the Show Free Edges option highlights the nodes on the mesh’s free edges



With the Mesh Locate controls, you can interactively move nodes to improve the quality of a mesh.

Mesh Locate Toolbox

• Specify the attached mesh with the Select Mesh to Edit option:• Attached To

Surface

• Attached To Solid

Standalone Mesh –ignore attached geometry and modify the node locations freely

Locate Multiple - select multiple nodes and movemultiple nodes and move them simultaneously

The Locate Method specifies whether to move the node:

• Dynamic – drag the position of the selected node(s) using the cursor• Manual, Vector – specify the direction and distance to move the selected node(s), p y ( )

Smooth will move the adjust the other nodes of the attached elements to smooth the mesh quality

Enabling the Project option constrains the node’s movement so that it remains attached to its surface

Constrain to Curve constrains the node’s movement to remain attached to its curve

Once a node or nodes have been moved, you have the option to Save or Discard the edit(s)



Meshing Toolbox –

Mesh Quality specifies the setting of the display when the Quality tool is enabled.• Quality Type specifies

gMesh Quality

Q y yp pwhether to display the mesh quality by:• Aspect Ratio

• Taper

• Alternate Taper

I t l A l• Internal Angles

• Warping

• Nastran Warping

• Jacobian

• Combined Quality

• Set the Number of• Set the Number of Distortion Levels to:• 2 or 4

• Toggle Smooth Contours

• Minimum Distortion displays the minimum element distortion value in the Meshing Toolbox pane

• Max Distortion displays the maximum element distortion value in the Meshing Toolbox pane


Toolbox pane

Mid f iLesson 12 Midsurfacing

Purpose:

Midsurfacing is a technique that is used to build idealized models of thin bodies. This lesson is an overview of the tools available Femap to create midsurface models.

Topics:

• Midsurfacing• The Midsurface Commands


Lesson 12 Midsurfacing

Midsurfacing is the process of extracting the midplane between parallel surfaces in order to reduce the complexity and increase the accuracy of the Finite Element Model.• For the part shown:

• Solids: 113 512 nodes and 63 875 elements ( > 3 minutes solve time)

Midsurfacing

• Solids: 113,512 nodes and 63,875 elements. ( > 3 minutes solve time).• Shells: 1725 nodes and 1576 elements. (< 10 seconds solve time).



Geometry, Midsurface, Single in Solid

• Creates a single trimmed midsurface between two

The Geometry, Midsurface Commands

surfaces of a solid.

Geometry, Midsurface, Single

• Creates a single sheet surface between two surfaces that extends beyond the extent of b th fboth surfaces.

Geometry, Midsurface, Trim to Solid

• Trims a surface with a solid and deletes any part(s) of the surface which lie outside the volume of the solid.

Geometry, Midsurface, Trim with Curve

• Trims or breaks a surface with a curve

Geometry, Midsurface, Extend

• Extends a surface by using one of a surface's edge curves and "extending“ the surface using a specified "Extend Shape“ method .method .



Automatically generates the midplanes between the selected surfaces, trims them to the solid, and cleans up any surfaces that are determined not to be part of the model.• Midsurfaces are extracted from parallel faces.• Automatically creates a group called “Midsurface”

Geometry, Midsurface, Automatic Command

• Automatically creates a group called Midsurface

• Use where the part has multiple wall thicknesses or has features that are “branching” or non-tangent.



The Geometry, Midsurface, Offset Tangent Surfaces command is used to generate a Sheet solid from a constant thickness solid where the topology consists of continuous tangent surfaces.• Specify a surface on one of the surfaces to be midsurfaced. Femap will

Geometry, Midsurface, Offset Tangent Surfaces Command

p y pautomatically select the chain of connected tangent surfaces.

• Specify a Offset Distance. This is by default one-half of the solid’s thickness.• You have the option to delete the original solid automatically.



The following three commands are the steps in order that the Geometry, Midsurface, Automatic command follows.• Geometry, Midsurface, Generate

• Creates midsurfaces

Geometry, Midsurface Commands (continued)

• Creates midsurfaces• Geometry, Midsurface, Intersect

• Splits the selected surfaces at their intersections• Geometry, Midsurface, Cleanup

• Automatically determines which surfaces that can be deleted as a result of the Midsurface, Cleanup command. Does NOT delete the surfaces, but places them on a separate layer for inspection and user controlled deletion.

Geometry, Midsurface, Assign Meshing Attributes

• Prompt’s you for the material for the selected surface(s) and then automatically creates the properties with the wall thickness(es)of the original solid.



Using Geometry, Surface, NonManifold Add on a midsurface model that is “ready for meshing” is often a great way to assure mesh continuity in the model, especially if “T-Junctions” exist.

Using NonManifold Add for Midsurface Models

Original Solid Geometry

Midsurfaced Geometry

2 Sheet Solids and 2 curves at T-junction between Sheet Solids, both of which needs to be sized the same for mesh continuity

After NonManifold Add

1 “General Body” and 1 shared curve at T-junction allows for easier mesh sizing and

h ti it


assures mesh continuity

FEA A bl M d liLesson 13 FEA Assembly Modeling

Purpose:

In the context of FEA, modeling assemblies may use multiple techniques to connect the components of a FEA assembly. This lesson is an overview of the tools available in the Femap to model FEA assemblies.

Topics:Topics:

Finite Element Model Connection Types

Mesh, Connect Menu

Connecting FEA Components with Connectors

Bolted Connections with Bolt Regions

Fl id d R t R i Fluid and Rotor Regions


The Lesson 12 FEA Assembly Modeling

Coincident Node

Rigid Element Connections

Welded Connections

Finite Element Model Connection Types

Welded Connections

Mesh “Connections” and Properties

Fluid and Rotor Regions



Connecting Similar Element Types can be accomplished with “Coincident Nodes”• Depending on how the model was set up before meshing (e.g. use of “Slice Match”,

etc.), some meshes will be generated automatically with coincident nodes.

Coincident Nodes

Use the Tools, Check, Coincident Nodes command.• For large models, or models where you anticipate there a large number of

coincident nodes, uncheck the List Coincident Entities option.• The Preview Coincident option is used to display coincident nodes before merging.



With most solvers, including NX Nastran, Shell and Beam Elements have 6 D.O.F. per node, while Solids Elements have 3 D.O.F. per node.• Solid/Shell and Beam/Solid connections cannot be satisfied with use of coincident

nodes only.

Rigid Element Connections

y• If Solid/Shell, Solid/Beam, and Beam/Shell connections are not defined correctly,

you will get a FATAL MESSAGE 9137 – SEKKRS (under-constrained model).

Rigid Elements can be used to transmit rotations between Solids and Shells and Solids and Beams by transferring the translation on the nodes on the plate elements to the nodes on the solid elements.• Use a minimum of two “dependent” nodes on the solid

for every independent node on the shell or beam.

Note: Do not use mid-side nodes on parabolic elements as either Independent or Dependent nodes


Dependent nodes.


Beginning with Femap v10.1.1, you can automatically generate the Independent node by selecting the option for New Node at Center. This option generates a new node by placing the node at the centroid of the Dependent nodes.

Rigid Elements



Use the RBE3 Rigid Element to transmit masses, loads, and rigid body motion (velocity, acceleration).• To create a RBE3, enable the Interpolation Factor in the Define RIGID ELEMENT

dialog box, then select the Nodes to Average.

RBE3 Rigid Elements

g , g



Resulting Rigid Element after selecting Nodes to Average.

RBE3 Rigid Elements (continued)



You can adjust the Interpolation factor for RBE3 elements using the following steps;

1) In the Define RIGID Element dialog box, select the node(s) for which you are modifying the interpolation factor

RBE3 Rigid Elements (continued)

2) Click the Update button

3) Modify the Factor in the Update Interpolation Element dialog box.You can either change the value of the Factor, or you can select the Distance Weighting option that causes Femap to calculate a weighted interpolation factor based on that nodes distance from the Reference Node relative to all the other nodes selected in Step 1)



Once a RBE2 or RBE3 Rigid Element is created, you can Convert the element from a RBE2 to a RBE3 and vice versa.

“Converting” Rigid Element Types

Note how after selecting the Convert option, the interpolation factor for the nodes has been removed.



Femap supports Weld Properties and Elements• Creates CWELD elements for NX Nastran and MSC.Nastran only• Spot Weld uses an “effective length” calculation based on the thickness of the two

shell elements connected

Welded Connections

shell elements connected.• Fastener allows direct input of stiffness matrix for weld properties• Multiple options for generating Weld Elements

• Orientation of Weld is defined by either “Projection” method or “Axis” method and may be limited by the type of Weld selected

Note: Welded elements can only be created between plate elements.



Allows rapid generation of MPC’s, Rigid, and Line Element connections between meshes

Mesh, Connect Menu

Also allows “unzipping” of coincident nodes with option to automatically create connection types:• None – leave nodes “unzipped”• Rigid Elements

• DOF Spring Elements

• Spring Elements (including CBUSH)

• Gap Elements



Connect, Automatic command finds the closest matching surfaces between solids and automatically generates “Connectors” (also known as “Contact Elements”) between adjacent “Connection Regions”

• Specify search tolerance and type of contact

Connect Menu

p y yp• Model Info window has a Connections object tree

Note: For assemblies with existing slaved meshes or one that will be meshed with


Note: For assemblies with existing slaved meshes or one that will be meshed with slaved meshes, placing a connection between the two parts at the location of the slaved mesh may result in a fatal NX Nastran error.


In the Define Connection Property dialog box, first select the tab for the solver used to solve a contact problem.

For NX (Nastran) Linear Contact, the Contact Type pull down selects Linear or Gluedcontact.

Connection (Contact) Properties

• Glued contact can be used in ALL NX Nastran solutions.• Linear contact can be used only in NX Nastran Linear Statics solutions.• Always click the Defaults button when switching Contact Type or manually

creating a new Connection Property.



NX Linear

Glued Contact has the following property options. In most cases, selecting the Defaults button will result in the proper settings.

Glued Contact Property Options

• Glue Type – specifies the glue formulation• Glue Type – specifies the glue formulation.• 1..Spring – when this is selected, you can change the Normal Factor and

Tangential (Penalty) Factors• 2..Weld (default) – should be used for most cases as this prevents the

introduction of artificial rotational energy into the connection. • When selected, you can change the Glue Factor, but this is not

d drecommended.• Eval Order - determines the number of "Linear Contact or Glue Points" for a single

element on the source region.• Refine Source - determines if the source region is refined for the "Linear" or

"Glued" Contact solution. • Penalty Factor Units - specifies how contact element stiffness is calculated.• Search Distance – if the two contact segments lie within this distance, NX Nastran

activates glued contact between the pairs.

Note: For more details on Glued Contact, see the NX Nastran User’s Guide, Section 9.7.

Note: For more details on Glued Contact, see the NX Nastran User’s Guide, Section 9.7.



Linear Contact multiple. In most cases, selecting the Defaults button will result in the proper settings.

NX Linear Linear Contact Property Options

• Friction – specifies the static coefficient of friction.• Min(imum) and Max(imum) Contact Search Distance – if the element faces of the

contact segments are within these values, NX Nastran activates the linear contact algorithm for these contact faces.



• Initial (Penetration) - Controls how NX Nastran handles initial gap or penetration of the generated contact elements.

NX Linear Linear Contact Property Options (continued)

• 0..Calculated (default) - Use the initial position of the nodes in the contact pairs. In the case of penetrations, a model may experience "press fit" behavior when using this option.2 C l l t d/Z P t ti S 0 C l l t d b t if t ti i• 2..Calculated/Zero Penetration - Same as 0..Calculated, but if penetration is detected, set the initial contact force to zero (0).

• 3..Zero Gap/Penetration - Sets the penetration/gap to zero for all contact elements. Very useful when the contact surfaces are physically in contact, but due to mesh irregularities, penetration occurs.

• Shell Offset – use the default (0..Include shell thickness) unless the contact t d fi d t th t f th h ll h t th id l f th h llsegments are defined at the top of the shell mesh, not the mid plane of the shells.

Note: For more details on Linear Contact, see the Femap Commands manual, Section 4.4.3.1. You can also refer to the NX Nastran Users Guide, Chapter 19 for additional details on gluded and linear contact.

Note: For more details on Linear Contact, see the Femap Commands manual, Section 4.4.3.1. You can also refer to the NX Nastran Users Guide, Chapter 19 for additional details on gluded and linear contact.



When using either NX Nastran (Linear) Contact for NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear Contact, the correct specification of which of the two contact segments used as the Source is important with respect to both the accuracy of the results and solution time. It is also critical when contact between two segments is unconstrained in shear contact

Selection of Master and Slave Contact Segments

except for friction.

Femap uses the terms:• Master to refer to the Target element face(s)• Slave to refer to the Source element face(s)

NX Nastran checks for contact between element faces from the Slave’s element facesNX Nastran checks for contact between element faces from the Slave s element faces to the Master’s element faces and internally builds contact element pairs between the two element faces. Therefore, as a rule, you should model with the following in mind:

Slave Mesh Density ≥ Master Mesh Density



Modeling Bolted Connections with

Model bolted connections with:• Bar and/or Beam elements that comprise a Bolt Region

• Bolt Preload – an axial force load applied to the bar or beam elements or Bolt Region

gBolt Regions

Region

• Two elements that connect the ends of the bolt to the rest of the mesh – usually Rigid elements

API script automates generation of bolt mesh – Custom Tools, Meshing, Hole to Hole Fastener

• Does NOT create the Bolt Region or the Bolt PreloadDoes NOT create the Bolt Region or the Bolt Preload



Two Aluminum Lugs with a Stainless Steel Pin• Contact between lugs is modeled with Linear Contact

• Pin is modeled as a two Beams with a 10 lb Preload – connected to lugs at ends with Rigid Element

Bolted Connection Example

with Rigid Element



The Connect, Fluid Region command creates segments representing incompressible fluid volume regions used for the purpose of generating a virtual mass matrix (MFLUIDentry in Nastran input files).

Fluid Connection Regions



Used to model Rotors for Rotor Dynamic analysis• Use when more than one Rotor exists in a model

and/orA R t ’ i f l ti i t i id t ith th Gl b l Z i

Rotor Connection Regions

• A Rotor’s axis of revolution is not coincident with the Global-Z axis

Valid only for SOL110 – Complex Modal Analysis (Normal Modes with Rotor Dynamics option) and SOL111 (Modal Frequency Analysis with Rotordynamics option)


Lesson 14 Finite Modeling Debugging

Purpose:

This lesson is an overview of methods to check and debug Finite Element Models.

Topics:

Finite Element Modeling Mesh Sizing

Results Checking

Model Debugging

Common Errors

Recommended Model Checks


Lesson 14 FEA Modeling Debugging

Depending on the desired accuracy of the model, a course mesh (low number of larger elements) or a fine mesh (high number of smaller elements) must be created. For instance, a more complicated structure requires a finer mesh in order to produce accurate answers.

Finite Element Mesh Sizing

Pros Cons

Lower number of Elements Less accuracy for complicated t

Coarse Model

Less Degrees of Freedom

Reduced Solve Time

geometry

Distorted elements can be too stiff and misrepresent response

Accuracy for complicated Higher number of ElementsFine

Model

Accuracy for complicated geometry is improved

Less distorted elements improves results

Higher number of Elements

More Degrees of Freedom

Increased Solve Time



It is always a good idea to do a “reality check” with the results of any Finite Element Analysis. Using engineering knowledge and common sense will allow a user to determine if the results make sense for the applied boundary conditions. For instance, an under-constrained or “unconnected” (nodes not merged where they should be) model

Checking Results

may exhibit much larger displacements than expected a displacement in the opposite direction of the applied load during a linear cantilever beam analysis.

Some Good Practices:• Always visually plot the models elements if possible for verification• Make sure responses correspond with applied boundary conditions• Check input loads with reaction forces: ΣF = 0• Hand calculations are always a great idea whenever possible



Recommended minimum checks on input• Stiffness matrix checks

• At the G-sizeAft MPC P i

Model Debugging

• After MPC Processing• After All Processing

Mass Checks• Grid point weight generator output• Rigid-body mass checks• Assembly mass checks

Loading checks



Structural plots are useful primarily to visually verify model geometry. Other tools must be used to assess the numerical accuracy of a finite element model. These tools include many automatic error checks performed by NX Nastran and user-supplied diagnostic requests in the form of DIAG, PARAM, DMAP Alters, and Case Control

Model Debugging (continued)

requests.

NX Nastran performs many error checks during an analysis to ensure that all input data is in the proper format and usable. If an error is detected during data processing, an error message is generated. If the error is fatal, the analysis terminates.

Many times NX Nastran errors have a number and a short description of the error which shows up in the .f06 file. Many times the same error number can represent a variety of different issues. In cases where the error is not obvious, consult the Help->Analysis menu and choose the error message segment where the Error Message number appears. Go to the error number for a broader description.



Perform independent hand checks to verify the accuracy of the results

Other potential pitfalls for new users include:• First time use of a new capability. It is always a great idea to make a small test

Model Debugging (continued)

model in order to see how NX Nastran functionality works as it will take less time to debug and give insight into the usage of the feature• Reference the Femap Examples document as this has examples of nearly all

types of analyses that can be performed with Femap and NX Nastran.• Refer to NX Nastran documentation as these document details on many

advanced solutions . Some of the documents included with Femap are:• Basic Dynamic Analysis User’s Guide• Advanced Dynamic Analysis User’s Guide• Design Sensitivity and Optimization User’s Guide• Basic Nonlinear Analysis Users’ Guide• Advanced Nonlinear Theory and Modeling Guide• Thermal Analysis User’s Guide

• Use of consistent units is of utmost importance!!!• Always use unique IDs – NX Nastran sometimes allows for duplicate element IDs,

but not always. Duplicates can and do lead to problems, especially during data recovery



Mistakes in engineering judgment

Approximations to physical behavior

Engineering Theory

Common Types of Errors

Engineering Theory

Finite Element Theory

Finite Element Implementation

Modeling• Bolted connection• Welded connection• Corners• Transitions

Connections• Beam to Plate• Beam to solid• Plate to solid



Beam Orientation

Beam Releases

Loading (Make sure that the model is loaded accurately)

Common Types of Errors (continued)

Finite Element Error

Round-off Error (Can cause serious, serious problems)• Computers use binary arithmetic (user enters 0.1, internally it may be

0.099999999998)

Program Bugs (Please Report them to UGS Solutions via GTAC)Program Bugs (Please Report them to UGS Solutions via GTAC)• A list of known errors is maintained and distributed

Plates not lining up (zipper effect)

Any connections depending on in-plane rotational stiffness of plates, or any rotational stiffness on solids

Instabilities – example: releasing both ends of a beam in torsion

Offsets of elements in wrong coordinate system (should be in the output coordinate systems of the grid points for Bars and Beams)

Member Properties wrong (Beam orientation) or in plates Membrane only (left out bending)

Beam end releases – local or global (in beam coordinates)?


Element force output is normally in element coordinate system


Pre-Analysis

Understand the structure and the elements• Make Small Models in order to understand the problem

Minimum Recommended Model Checks

• Make pilot models in areas of uncertainty• If unfamiliar with an element type that needs to be used, make simple models and

compare the answers to theory

Model checks before analysis• Geometry• Undeformed plots• Look at connections between different element types• Based on knowledge of elements• Based on Loads• Look at corners (QUAD plates)• Shrink plots



Beam and bar• Check that both ends of the beam have correct orientation (I1 and I2)• Check end releases (in element coordinates)• Offsets (in output coordinate system of GRIDs)

Recommended Model Checks - Elements

( p y )Plates and Shells• Check aspect ratios, taper, and warpage• Check orientation (element normals), surfaces consistent• Check attachments (in-plane rotational stiffness, corners, etc)• Offsets (in element coordinate system)• Material need E ν (or G) and ρMaterial need E, ν (or G), and ρ• Property entry – be sure to get the correct properties (One of the most common

errors is not specifying MID2 for “bending” plates)Solids• Check aspect ratios• Check taper• Check attachments (Any attachments depending on rotational stiffness require aCheck attachments (Any attachments depending on rotational stiffness, require a

special modeling effort)• Material need E, ν (or G), and ρ



Mass properties• Check ρ on MATx entries• Check NSM on property entries

B b / it l th

Recommended Model Checks

• Bars, beams = mass/unit length• Plates = mass/unit area• Submit with PARAM, GRDPNT,xxxx

where xxxx = ID of GRID point to calculate mass properties about• Check center of gravity and total weight (mass) versus known values

L dLoads• Verify they are correct (OLOAD RESULTANT)• Run the Femap command, Tools, Check, Sum Forces

Constraints• Verify that they exist (often forgotten and overlooked)• Verify they are correct (location and orientation – in output coordinate system of the

GRID points)• Verify they are applied (SPC CASE CONTROL command)



Static Checks• Apply 1-G in X,Y, and Z directions independently• Check load paths (GPFORCE)

Ch k R ti (SPCFORCE)

Recommended Model Checks - Continued

• Check Reactions (SPCFORCE)• Does total = applied load?• Are the reactions at the correct locations and do they have the correct orientation?

Equilibrium check – verify model is not over-constrained• Run free-free normal modes analysis. • Remove known constraints and check for unconstrained motion under applied loads

or imposed displacements

Thermal equilibrium check (if Thermal loads are being considered)• Check α on MATx entries• Check for unconstrained set of constraints• Apply a determinate set of constraints• Use the same α for all materials• Apply a uniform ∆T to the structure. It should expand “freely”, meaning that it will

create no reactions, element forces, or stresses

Statics• Check EPSILON and MAXRATIO

• EPSILON > 10-9 may indicate trouble

• MAXRATIO > 105 may indicate trouble

• Check reactions• Do they equal the applied loads?y

• Check load paths – use grid point force balance to “trace” loads• Check stress contours for “consistency”

• “Sharp” corners indicate bad modeling• Use different options (i.e., topological and geometric) and compare results

• Compare values to “hand calc” or small model results



Dynamics – normal modes• Check frequencies. Are they in the expected range?• If free-free, are there six “rigid-body” (f = 0.0) modes?

A th h i (f 0 0)?

Recommended Model Checks - Dynamics

• Are there any mechanisms (f = 0.0)?• More than six “rigid-body” modes in free-free?• Any “rigid-body” modes in constrained modes?• Check Mode Shapes. Identify Modes.• Plots


Appendix A

Femap Preferencesp

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 A - 1Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide

Appendix A Femap Preferences

Preferences are used to configure Femap for optimum performance and the way you prefer to work• Preferences are stored in the femap.ini file under the main Femap installation folder• If you specify a different Start In location for your Femap startup shortcut Femap

Femap Preferences

• If you specify a different Start In location for your Femap startup shortcut, Femap will first look in that location for a femap.ini file and use the preferences set in that file. In addition, any changes to preferences will automatically be stored in the femap.ini file in that folder.

Set preferences with the File, Preferences command• Messages – set font and fonts sizes• Views

• Render

• User Interface

• Database – setperformance options

• Geometry/Model• Geometry/Model

• Interfaces – selectdefault Analysis Interface

• Library/Startup

• Color

• Spaceball

Many Femappreferenceswill take effect immediatelyafter they have beenyset, but in some casesyou will need to close and re-open Femap for the changes to take effect. Examples are:• Advanced/Debug Options for Render graphics• Database

• Fonts changed in the Messages Window, etc.

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 A - 2Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide


The Messages tab (see previous page for snapshot of dialog box) sets the fonts and colors displayed in the Messages window.

The Views tab allows you to:

Femap Preferences – Messages and Views

• Specify a Startup View (from the View Library) used when creating a new Femap model.

• Specify the Background Bitmap or Logo for Render Views.• Set Picture Copy and Picture Save Defaults

• Set view options such as turning the Workplane automatically off in new views• Alternate Contour Palette sets Blue as the lowest color for the lowest color in post• Alternate Contour Palette sets Blue as the lowest color for the lowest color in post-

processing displays vs. the normal Magenta.• Specify View and Dynamic Rotation options.

• Try changing the Dynamic Speed option if flickering is encountered during dynamic rotation.



Render mode is a high-speed graphics mode that uses the OpenGL graphics language.

The Render dialog box lets you control the level of functionality that you have while in Render mode.

Femap Preferences – Render

• Hardware Acceleration can be toggled off if the graphics card, or it's drivers, are causing instability in Femap.\

• Including less entities with the Include In Dynamic Rotation option will speed up dynamic rotation of large models.

• Advanced/Debug messages can be turned on to help the Development team diagnose complex geometry issues if they arise.• Setting the BitBlt Delay can be used to help with performance on consumer or

game-oriented graphics cards.



Graphics Card Performance Considerations

Desktop area resolution should be taken into consideration when using Femap. Having a very fine screen resolution can increase the time animations need to generate and the time individual windows need to refresh.

If Femap appears to be having graphics errors it could be the driver for your graphicsIf Femap appears to be having graphics errors, it could be the driver for your graphics card. Update the drivers for your graphics card often!

• Drivers from the manufacturers of the graphics card chipset tend to be more stable then the drivers from the maker of the graphics card. (e.g. use an ATI or nVidiadriver vs. an ASUS driver)



Menus and Dialog Boxes sets preferences for Alternate Color Schemes, AutorepeatCreate Commands, and the number of Recently Used Files

Remember Dialog Positions tells Femap to remember where a user has placed a ifi di l b th (d i th t F i )

Femap Preferences – User Interface

specific dialog box on the screen (during the current Femap session).

Graphical Selection options can be used to set the Tooltip Delay and Tooltip DurationTimes for Tooltips

Dockable Panes can be set to animate the “fly-out” from the docked and tabbed positions or simply pop-up.

Show Entities Defaults settings are used to set default options for using the Show When Selected in the Model Info pane, Data Table, or the Preview button in an Entity Selection dialog box.

Set Toolbars options to save and load layouts of toolbars and dockable pane(s)



Defines various performance settings

• Preserve Next ID during Rebuild will cause Femap to not “backfill” empty entity IDs with new entities after using the File, Rebuild command.

Femap Preferences – Database

• Set Blocks/Page andMax Cached Label for improvedRAM management and performance.

• Sets the amount of memory used forFemap• Short vertical line in color bar

Installed RAM (Mb) Blocks/Page

64 1

128 2

indicates memory used in thecurrent model.

• Open/Save Method

• This option should only be used f you are experiencing VERYslow opening/saving FEMAP|

256 3

512 5

1000 11

model files. On certain hardware, switching to option “2..64K widows I/O” may make a dramatic difference in the time a model takes to open/save.



Specify Scratch Directory for the location of the temp, scratch, and recovery files Femap writes out.• Without a TEMP variable, the location of the Femap scratch files defaults to your

Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp folder. In many cases,

Femap Preferences – Database (continued)

g g p y ,this is a location on the network other than your local PC.

Note: Setting the Femap Scratch folder or setting the TEMP variable to a network file location may seriously degrade Femap’s performance and dramatically increase file save times. In addition, if your network fails for any reason, any opened files in a Femap session have the potential to be corrupted.


p p p p


Select between the Parasolid or Standard geometry engines to start with. The Parasolid engine is recommended.

Femap stores geometry in meters. The Solid Geometry Scale Factor is used to i t ll t t it t i P lid

Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model

internally store your geometry units as meters in Parasolid.• For example, if you select Inches, the Scale Factor is 39.37 (inches/meter). Femap

uses the inverse of this number to store the geometry in its model database (1 inch = .0254 meters).

• This scaling will allow you to import and model parts that are outside of the Parasolid modeling limits ( +/-500 x 500 x 500).

FEMAP can be set to Delete Construction Geometry, Move it to the “NoPick Layer”, or simply do nothing when used.

Element Quality checks can be turned on or off permanently and default values set for

Note: If you import geometry with a different scale other than the file’s original scale, new or modified geometry will be out of scale with the imported geometry.

Note: If you import geometry with a different scale other than the file’s original scale, new or modified geometry will be out of scale with the imported geometry.

Element Quality checks can be turned on or off permanently and default values set for each quality check via the Element Distortion button.

Default output orientations for various element shapes can be permanently set for use when transforming results from the Output Orientation button.

The Alternate Section Property Calculator can be turned on in this dialog box. By choosing this option values generated by the Femap beam section property calculatorchoosing this option, values generated by the Femap beam section property calculator will be attained using an alternate method which in certain cases will be more accurate than the standard method.

Pre-V10 Tet Meshing and Surface Meshing can be set as the defaults. This will allow FEMAP 10 to use the “older” meshers instead of the “new” meshers, should any issues arise.



Load Expansion on Midside Nodes sets the defaults for modification of the distribution of Geometry-based loads (such as Forces on Surfaces and Moments on Curves) when these loads are expanded to the nodes on Parabolic elements at the time of analysis. To obtain an even distribution of force across a parabolic element, most programs

Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model (continued)

require a larger portion of the force be assigned to the midside nodes.

• You can set the factors Along Edges, On Tri-Face, or On Quad-Face to represent the amount of the total load on the element which will be applied to the midside node.

• You will typically want to use the default values as shown above, as well as use the Midside Node Adjustment Default. If you have further questions on the distribution required for your solver program, please consult the reference documentation for your analysis program.



Interfaces sets the default analysis interface. The defaults can be defined for each interface (e.g. NASTRAN, ABAQUS, etc.)• The Enable Old Analysis Interfaces option allows the import of models and results

from older, unsupported solvers.

Femap Preferences – Interfaces

, pp

Setting the File Reference Options allows FEMAP to check if imported Geometry, Analysis Input decks, and/or Analysis Results have been modified when a FEMAP model is opened.

Use the File, References command to check references during a FEMAP session.

Increase the value of Max Lines to Monitor from the default value of 5000 if you like to view the .f06 file during analysis execution.



Femap Preferences –

The Library preferences allow you to specify default FEMAP library files.• Objects saved such as Materials, Functions, etc. are saved into the preferred

library.

pLibrary/Startup, and Colors

The Colors preferences allow you to select the default colors for entities.

The Spaceball preferences allow you to specify certain parameters to improve the performance and overall behavior of Spaceball devices with regard to FEMAP.


FEMAP Student Guide

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