• Easily incorporate flexibility intosystem models

• Interface with several FE applicationsto define component flexibility

• Animate component modes• Disable individual component modes• Attach constraints and apply loads

to flexible components• Apply distributed loads• Add time and state dependent

modal damping• Generate color deformation contour

plots and vector force plots• Export component loads or modal

coordinates to FE application forstress recovery

• Reduce development time byintroducing component flexibility witheasy-to-use interface.– Easily substitute a flexible compo-

nent for an existing rigid body– Leverage existing FE component

models– Automatically disable

insignificant modes

• Have confidence in the results.– Modal superposition captures

component dynamic response withfew degrees of freedom

– Accounts for local deformationeffects at attachment points

• Accelerate innovation with powerfulpost-processing.– Review color deformation plots

and animations for overallresponse.

– Use XY plotting tools and meas-ures to interrogate and quantifycomponent’s behavior

– Export component loads to severalFE applications to analyze stress

• Integrate into your virtual productdevelopment processes.– Transfer data to and from several

FE applications– Tightly integrated with

MSC.Nastran™ and MSC.Patran™

CAPABILITIES

BENEFITS

ADAMS/Flex™

OVERVIEW

IT’S ALL FLEXIBILE TODAYIn most industrial settings, greater emphasis has been placed on thedesign of high-speed, lightweight, precise mechanical systems. Oftenthese mechanical systems will contain one or more structural compo-nents where the rigid body assumption is no longer valid and incorpo-rating deformation effects is paramount for design analyses.ADAMS/Flex provides the solver technology to correctly include acomponent’s flexibility, even in the presence of large overall motion andcomplex interaction with other modeling elements. This optional add-onmodule interfaces with several commercial finite element (FE)applications to accurately define component flexibility, and it has aneasy-to-use interface that allows analysts to quickly convert rigid partsto flexible ones. ADAMS/Flex is fully integrated with the MSC.ADAMS®

Full Simulation package, providing access to convenient modeling toolsand powerful post-processing capabilities, including animations, colorcontour plots and XY plotting.

ADAMS/Flex considers component flexibility within your full-system simulations. Addingflexibility provides better insight into the behavior and life of your design, allowing you to deliverhigher quality products faster.

COMPONENT MODE SYNTHESISADAMS/Flex is based on the component mode synthesis methodology.An efficient modal basis is used to superimpose linear deformationsonto a component’s large overall motion. The modal basis is construct-ed from a blend of normal and static correction modes to accuratelycapture the component’s dynamic response while assuring the correctinteraction with the rest of the mechanical system. The modal basiscan be easily modified by disabling individual modes which do not sig-nificantly contribute to the component’s motion, thereby reducing com-putational overhead and speeding up solution times.

Incorporating component flexibilityinto virtual prototype simulations

PRODUCT LINESimOffice™

Product FamilyMSC.ADAMS®

USE YOUR EXISTING FE MODELSDefining the flexibility of a component begins with a FEmodel. An ADAMS/Flex body can be directly generatedfrom several commercial FE programs, including

• MSC.Nastran™

• MSC.Marc®

• ANSYS®

• ABAQUS®

• I-DEAS®

Often engineering organizations already have detailed FEmodels for component-level stress analyses. Simply re-usethese models and instruct the FE program to export amodal neutral file (MNF). The MNF contains the descriptionof the component’s flexibility for MSC.ADAMS; once theMNF has been created, the FE application is no longerneeded. The MNF is imported into MSC.ADAMS where youcan view the FE mesh within your full-system assembly andmanage the component’s attachments and attributes. TheMNF completely encapsulates the data transfer from the FEapplication to MSC.ADAMS, allowing a natural and conven-ient division of labor between finite element analyst andmulti-body dynamics analyst.

Of all the FE applications supporting MNF generation,MSC.Nastran provides the most complete and easy-to-useinterfaces. By adding a single Case Control command toyour existing input file, MSC.Nastran will directly generatean MNF. For more information, see the MSC.NastranData Sheet.

Component mode synthesis captures the overall dynamic response of structureand assures the correct interaction with the rest of the system.

EASY-TO-USE INTERFACEADAMS/Flex includes an intuitive, easy-to-use interfacefacilitating the creation and management of flexiblecomponents in your system-level model.In the early stages of virtual product development,designers and analysts will use system models consistingof rigid bodies. As the model matures and the need to con-sider flexibility increases, critical parts are replaced withADAMS/Flex bodies. If a rigid part has several, possiblyparameterized, attachment points, replacing the part withan ADAMS/Flex body may seem like a daunting task.Fortunately, ADAMS/Flex can automatically position aflexible body with an existing part, then disconnect all theattachments and reconnect them to the ADAMS/Flex body.Introducing component flexibility is literally a few mouseclicks away.Once an ADAMS/Flex body has been created and attachedto the rest of system, its attributes can be easily interro-gated and modified. You can animate component modes,investigate which are relevant for your analysis, and disablethe insignificant ones. It is also possible to add modaldamping and specify variations of the inertia model.

INSIGHTFUL POST-PROCESSINGAn important aspect of adding flexibility to your model isanalyzing the component’s response to motion and appliedforces. With ADAMS/Flex you can animate the componentmotion within your full-system assembly. Deformation con-tour plots and force vector plots furnish succinct visualreviews of the component’s behavior. Powerful plottingtools and a rich library of measures in MSC.ADAMS FullSimulation provide quantitative insight to the component’sdesign. Furthermore, you can export component loads andflexible displacement data to several FE programs and con-duct detailed investigations of the component’s stress his-tory. Stress recovery within the MSC.ADAMS environmentand data exchange with life prediction programs is alsoavailable with ADAMS/Durability.

BUILDCreate ADAMS/Flex body• Prepare FE model in MSC Patran• Run MSC Nastran to generate MNF• Replace rigid part with ADAMS/Flex body

– MNF imported automatically– Positioned automatically– Connected automatically

IMPROVE Modify component design• Easily exchange one ADAMS/Flex body for another• Positioned automatically• Connected automatically• Insignificant modes disabled automatically

REVIEWAssess the design• Color deformation contour plots• Rich library of measures• Powerful plotting capabilities• Data exchange with FE programs for stress recovery

TEST Simulate the event• Static and quasi-static analyses• Transient and dynamic• Linear• Time or frequency domain

You can create an ADAMS/FLEXbody from scratch–an existingpart is not required.

Other FE pre-processorsand solvers also supported.

MSC, MSC., the MSC.Software corporate logo, Simulating Reality, and the names of the MSC.Softwareproducts and services referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MSC.SoftwareCorporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Nastran is a registered trademark of NASA. ANSYS is a registered trademark of SAS IP, Inc., a wholly ownedsubsidiary of ANSYS Inc. ABAQUS is a registered trademark of ABAQUS Inc. I-DEAS is a registered trademark of UGS Corporation. All other products names, brand names, or trademarks belong to their respective owners.

© 2004 MSC.Software Corporation. All rights reserved.ADAM*2004NOV*Z*FLEX*Z*LT-DAT

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