What's New: MD Patran R2

Highlights:

  1. Isosurface Support in Patran Results Application
  2. Enhanced Dynamic Rotation Control with Mouse Button Mapping
  3. New Contextual Menu with Right Mouse Button
  4. Increased support for MD Nastran Design and Topology Optimization (SOL 200)
  5. Explore new nonlinear solution disciplines with MD Nastran
  6. Combine Structural Analysis with Exterior Acoustics
  7. Touching and Glued Contact in MD Nastran's Linear Solutions
  8. New bolt-modeling tool for rapid creation of assembly models

1. Isosurface Support in Patran Results Application

Support for isosurfaces has been added to the Results application. Multiple isosurfaces can be created based on constant coordinate locations or constant Fringe value.

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2. Enhanced Dynamic Rotation Control with Mouse Button Mapping

New for MD Patran R2 is the ability to control the dynamic model manipulation. This popular customer request has been implemented in the latest release. User can now easily customize MD Patran's behavior to mimic their CAD environment.

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3. New Contextual Menu with Right Mouse Button

MD Patran users will find the new Right Mouse Button functionality very helpful while building and working with models.

When used over the open space of the view port, the context menu will allow access to functions that control the display properties.

When used on a selected entity, the context menu will allow the user to show various attributes of the entity.

When used over a tree widget, the context menu will allow the user to create, modify, or delete the tree entities.

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4. Increased support for MD Nastran Design and Topology Optimization (SOL 200)

MD Patran's support for MD Nastran's Design Optimization Solution Sequence has been enhanced in many areas.

A default design study now exists and all design constraints, objectives, and variables automatically become part of this default design study if no other design study is defined.

The following disciplines have been added to optimization above and beyond already supported linear statics and normal modes.

  • Buckling Analysis
  • Frequency Response (Direct & Modal)
  • Transient Dynamic Analysis

Topology Optimization is now supported in MD Patran. Users can now specify manufacturability constraints in thr Quich Topology and General Topology Optimization. Also sizing and topology optimization can be performed in a single run.


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5. Explore new nonlinear solution disciplines with MD Nastran

MD Patran has significant developments to support MD Nastran's three major nonlinear solution sequences.

Advanced Nonlinear (SOL 400)

  • User-Friendly multi-body 2D and 3D contact
  • Enhanced subcase and multi-stepping capability
  • Advanced nonlinear element formulations

Implicit Nonlinear (SOL 600)

  • Heat transfer capabilities including thermal contact.
  • Job Monitoring
  • Material enhancements for material failure and composite stacking.

Explicit Nonlinear (SOL 700)

  • Adaptive mesh post-processing capability
  • User-interface for time domain NVH solutions
  • Material library additions

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6. Combine Structural Analysis with Exterior Acoustics

MD Nastran Exterior Acoustic solution can now be set-up using MD Patran. Exterior acoustic models can contain four types of finite element meshes to simulate the surrounding environment:

  • Structural model of the component of interest.
  • Solid elements of the surrounding fluid, typically air.
  • Infinite elements at the boundary of the surrounding fluid elements.
  • Field points/meshes to recover acoustic data.

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7. Touching and Glued Contact in MD Nastran's Linear Solutions

Contact is now available in all standard linear solution sequences in MD Nastran and MD Patran. For Linear Statics, both touching and glued contact is available. For other solution sequences, only glued contact is available.

The benefits of these much anticipated enhancement is the ability to include contact in otherwise linear models and to perform modal analyses on assemblies.

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8. New bolt-modeling tool for rapid creation of assembly models

Creating bolted joints in MD Patran just got easier. A new modeling tool under the Tools pull-down menu is available for creating bolt preloads and the associated MPCs.

The bolt MPCs can be creating three ways; geometry based, vector based, and element based.

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