ADAMS/AutoFlex

What's New

Auto-plugin capability

The new Plugin Manager that was added for the 2003 release impacts how ADAMS/AutoFlex is loaded. The Plugin Manager allows you to select all of the plugins you want to load or unload at one time. You have the choice of loading plugins for just a single session or every time, automatically, at startup. The Plugin Manager is accessed from the Tools menu.

See the What's New for ADAMS/View or ADAMS/Car for additional details.

Flexible body attachments can be based on solid features

We are pleased to announce that with the 2003 release of ADAMS/AutoFlex defining attachments on solid features, such as vertices, edges, and faces, is easier and more intuitive than defining them on mesh nodes. Another benefit is that parametric studies, due to geometric changes, can be performed when attachments are associated to solid features.

Automatic attachment option for solid generation

Attachment coordinate references are automatically created at existing rigid-body connections. The steps in defining each mesh attachment can be automated resulting in quicker flexible body generation.

Automatic replace option for solid generation

You can automatically modify all connections of the original rigid body for fast incorporation of the flexible body into the mechanical system.

Stress modes for all generation types

You can now perform modal stress recovery with ADAMS/Durability and fatigue-life prediction with nCode's FE-Fatigue on flexible bodies generated by the extrusion, geometry, import mesh, and truck-frame methods.

Improved meshing and element sizing

We are pleased to announce that the meshing and element-sizing algorithms have been improved. The benefits are:

Higher success rate in solid-mesh generation
Better mesh density and distribution of elements
Flexible body generation of surfaces (planes, swept profiles, and so on) is now possible

MSC.Nastran BDF and I-DEAS Universal file support

A finite-element mesh defined in a MSC.Nastran bulk data file (BDF) or in an
I-DEAS Universal file can be imported for flexible body generation. You can also export a MSC.Nastran input file or Universal file of the flexible component during flexible body generation.

Automatic alignment for extruded flexible bodies

Coordinate references can be automatically oriented based on the direction of the centerline of an extrusion. This can be very useful when creating objects that bend in many directions.

Flexible body management in vertical products standard interface

You can generate a flexible body from a general part with solid geometry and/or replace a rigid part with a flexible body using the standard interface of vertical applications, such as ADAMS/Car and ADAMS/Engine.

Online help

ADAMS/AutoFlex documentation is available online. Selecting F1 while in a dialog box displays the ADAMS/AutoFlex online help.

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Changes

Mesh preview and flexible body preview

There are now two preview modes in ADAMS/AutoFlex:

Mesh Preview
This mode allows you to view the mesh that will be generated based on the input parameters that you selected. If the mesh is not acceptable, you can alter the input parameters without having to create the flexible body.
Flexible Body Preview
This mode allows you to view the flexible body with the mesh and the attachment nodes.

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Issues resolved

Items resolved in the 12.0 Service Pack

The 2003 release of ADAMS/AutoFlex includes several items that were resolved in the 12.0 Service Pack. If you did not install the 12.0 Service Pack for your MSC.ADAMS installation, we would like to announce that the following items have also been included in this release of ADAMS/AutoFlex.

27994
The default Element Order was changed to Parabolic. It used to be Linear for Solid Tetra or Shell Tetra Element Types. Linear elements of this type are too stiff and provide only constant strain within the element region. Therefore, they are not very good for modal stress recovery.

29136
A number of minor interface updates were made. These changes include the clean up of small language issues; the addition of shortcut keys for OK, Apply, Cancel; and the addition of Tip text.

30206
Previously, ADAMS/AutoFlex did not number the nodes selected for attachments according to what was specified in the interface for Solid generation. This has been resolved in the Service Pack making it easier to define specific node numbers for the attachment points, and thus easier to substitute one flex body with another. The one limitation is that node numbers reserved by mesh generation cannot be used for numbering attachment nodes.

30308
Previously for extrusions, if more than one flexible body was created by clicking on the Apply button without closing or undisplaying the ADAMS/AutoFlex dialog box, the cross section of the second flexible body would not always be created as specified. If the number of points defining the cross section was less then in the first cross section, the new cross section would be ignored. This issue is resolved.

30671
The picture of an ellipse illustrating the input parameters for elliptical cross section for the Extrusion method has been corrected. The picture previously indicated major and minor axis diameters as the two inputs when in reality the expected inputs were for the elliptical radii.

30828
Previously, when generating a parabolic mesh you could select mid-side nodes for attachments (RBE2/3 spider webs). However, this is considered poor practice in FEA. Now only corner nodes of parabolic elements can be selected as attachments.

30868
The regeneration from an .afi file of a flexible body that's solid geometry or mesh topology had changed would not work in some cases, or the location of existing markers on the flexible body would change drastically. This has been corrected.

31543
Previously, an error message "Attachment point positions have changed. Do you want to use current locations?" would appear when attempting to create a flexible body by loading an existing .afi file even in situations where the attachment points had not changed. This has been corrected and the error message should now appear only when the attachment points have changed.

32700
Previously, an ADAMS/Engine license (ADAMS_ENGINE_MODAL_SPRING) was inappropriately being checked out when using ADAMS/AutoFlex. This has been corrected.

32847
New materials added to the ADAMS/View database are now recognized in ADAMS/AutoFlex. The AutoFlex dialog box now allows you to browse for any material defined in the MSC.ADAMS database.

27752
Previously, when you appended or inserted a line in the attachment list, a dialog box appeared saying something along the lines of "Node ID badly defined for attachment row #3 ID number automatically redefined." This message did not actually indicate a serious problem but most of you found it annoying, so it has been removed.

28439
The cylinder used to pick attachment nodes has been enhanced to allow you to expand its length symmetrically in both directions.

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Known issues

Please go to the Knowledge Base to read all of the Known Issues for ADAMS/AutoFlex 2003

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Revised: 09/06/05