Patran is the name of a suite of products written and maintained by MSC Software Corporation (MSC). The core of the system is Patran, a finite element analysis pre- and postprocessor. The Patran system also includes several optional products such as advanced postprocessing programs, tightly coupled solvers, and interfaces to third-party solvers. This document describes the interface to ANSYS.

The Patran ANSYS Application Interface provides a communication link between Patran and ANSYS. It also provides customization of certain features that can be activated by selecting ANSYS as the analysis code preference in Patran.

Patran ANSYS is integrated into Patran. The casual user will never need to be aware that separate programs are being used. For the expert user, there are four main components of Patran ANSYS: several PCL files to provide the customization of Patran for ANSYS, PAT3ANS to convert model data from the Patran database into the analysis code input file, and ANSPAT3 and ANS5PAT3 to translate results from the ANSYS Revision 4.4 and Revision 5 results files, respectively, into the Patran database.

Selecting ANSYS or ANSYS 5 as the analysis code under the “Analysis Preference” menu customizes Patran in five main areas:

PAT3ANS converts model data directly from the Patran database into the analysis code-specific input file format. This translation must have direct access to the originating Patran database. The program name indicates the direction of translation: from Patran to ANSYS.

ANSPAT3 and ANS5PAT3 convert results and⁄or model data from the analysis code-specific results file into the Patran database. These programs can be run such that the data is loaded directly into the Patran database, or if incompatible computer platforms are being used, an intermediate file can be created. The program name indicates the direction of translation: from ANSYS to Patran.