8/9/2019 NASTRAN is a Finite Element Analysis

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NASTRAN is a fnite element analysis (FEA) program that was originally

developed or NASA in the late 19!s "nder #nited States government "nding

or the Aerospa$e ind"stry%&1' The a$NealS$hwendler *orporation (S*) was

one o the prin$ipal and original developers o the p"+li$ domain NASTRAN $ode%

NASTRAN so"r$e $ode is integrated in a n"m+er o di,erent sotware pa$-ages.

whi$h are distri+"ted +y a range o $ompanies%

  NASTRAN is written primarily in F/RTRAN and $ontains

over one million lines o $ode% NASTRAN is $ompati+le with a large variety o

$omp"ters and operating systems ranging rom small wor-stations to the largest

s"per$omp"ters%

NASTRAN was designed rom the +eginning to $onsist o several mod"les% Amod"le is a $olle$tion o F/RTRAN s"+ro"tines designed to perorm a spe$if$

tas-0pro$essing model geometry. assem+ling matri$es. applying $onstraints.

solving matri pro+lems. $al$"lating o"tp"t 2"antities. $onversing with the

data+ase. printing the sol"tion. and so on% The mod"les are $ontrolled +y an

internal lang"age $alled the 3ire$t atri A+stra$tion 4rogram (3A4)%

Ea$h type o analysis availa+le is $alled a sol"tion se2"en$e%

NASTRAN is primarily a solver or fnite element analysis%&5' 6t does not have

"n$tionality that allows or graphi$ally +"ilding a model or meshing% All inp"t

and o"tp"t to the program is in the orm o tet fles% 7owever. m"ltiple sotware

vendors mar-et pre and postpro$essors designed to simpliy +"ilding a fnite

element model and analy8ing the res"lts% These sotware tools in$l"de

"n$tionality to import and simpliy *A3 geometry. mesh with fnite elements.

and apply loads and restraints% The tools allow the "ser to s"+mit an analysis to

NASTRAN. and import the res"lts and show them graphi$ally% 6n addition to pre

and postpro$essing $apa+ilities. several Nastran vendors have integrated more

advan$ed nonlinear $apa+ilities into their Nastran prod"$ts%

A+a2"s FEA&'&:' (ormerly A;A

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A+a2"s?*AE. or @*omplete A+a2"s Environment@ (a +a$-ronym with an o+vio"s

root in *omp"terAided Engineering&=')% 6t is a sotware appli$ation "sed or +oth

the modeling and analysis o me$hani$al $omponents and assem+lies (pre

pro$essing) and vis"ali8ing the fnite element analysis res"lt% A s"+set oA+a2"s?*AE in$l"ding only the postpro$essing mod"le $an +e la"n$hed

independently in the A+a2"s?iewer prod"$t%

A+a2"s?Standard. a generalp"rpose FiniteElement analy8er that employs

impli$it integration s$heme (traditional)%

A+a2"s?Epli$it. a spe$ialp"rpose FiniteElement analy8er that employs epli$it

integration s$heme to solve highly nonlinear systems with many $omple

$onta$ts "nder transient loads%

A+a2"s?*F3. a *omp"tational Fl"id 3ynami$s sotware appli$ation whi$hprovides advan$ed $omp"tational B"id dynami$s $apa+ilities with etensive

s"pport or prepro$essing and postpro$essing provided in A+a2"s?*AE%&5'

A+a2"s?Ele$tromagneti$. a *omp"tational ele$tromagneti$s sotware appli$ation

whi$h solves advan$ed $omp"tational ele$tromagneti$ pro+lems%

 The A+a2"s prod"$ts "se the openso"r$e s$ripting lang"age 4ython or s$ripting

and $"stomi8ation% A+a2"s?*AE "ses the otool-it or C#6 development%