SIMTEQ Newsletter October 2023

Introduction
Events
Product of the month
The art of engineering
New releases
Tips & Training

Like the Jasmine blossoms in our garden, October came and went too quickly.

In this month's newsletter we invite you to join us at RAPDASA in Pretoria or the Toyota Wessels Institute of Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS) breakfast talk in Durban.

Moving on swiftly, Patran is our product (or should I say Swiss Army Knife) of the month and you can read about what's new in the latest release in case you thought it isn't being developed anymore.

Disney's engineers never cease to impress and in our Art of Engineering section we feature their cute little bi-ped robot which has a rather impressive balance which can put me to shame, even on a good day.

The list of latest new releases is also long, however, we limited it to only cover Adams, MSC Apex, MSC Nastran and Patran this month.

Don't miss this month's MSC Apex tip and last but not least, the remaining training schedule for this year with upcomming training for Marc, Structure Mechanics and Cradle CFD.

Before you know it, it will be time for the holiday season and Christmas, so keep strong and hold on tight for this last stretch.

Regards
Managing Director

RAPDASA 2023

This year will be the 5th consecutive year that SIMTEQ Engineering will exhibit at the annual RAPDASA conference. Education, skills development and smart manufacturing have always been close to the core values of our engineering team.
This year the emphasis will again be on the solution of Hexagon | MSC Software’s Virtual Manufacturing and Costing portfolio to assist academia and industry to reduce development costs, scrap and manufacturing risks. For more information, visit https://site.rapdasa.org/annual-conference/

TWIMS Breakfast

Our engineering team is proud to be invited to the Toyota Wessels Institute of Manufacturing Studies (TWIMS) breakfast talk. They will be talking to the manufacturing industry in Natal about simulation technology and how virtual manufacturing can help businesses increase their adaptability and be competitive on a global scale. For more info on the event, visit https://twimsafrica.com/event/the-implication-of-digital-transformation-for-south-african-manufacturers-breakfast-seminar-2/

SIMTEQ Engineering Cape Town Tech-Day

SIMTEQ Engineering hosted a successful for engineers in the Cape on 27 September. The bulk content of the event was about technology overviews and updates of the solutions in MSCOne. The event also allowed 3 of our users to present their endeavours, applications and success stories.

The event achieved an astonishing Net Promoter Score of 79, thanks to the positive feedback of the attendees. Attendees also indicated interest in future events in the Cape, with added user presentations to replicate the format of the annual Users Conference. Watch this space…

Patran

The Swiss-army knife for FEA model setup and post-processing

With new kids on the block in the FEA world, old-man Patran is showing its age. Let’s face it - Patran is not a youngster by any definition of the word.

But discounting the middle aged and elderly is never a good idea: What Patran lacks in the easy and fast ways to clean up a CAD model or create hex-meshes like MSC Apex, it makes up in the depth of the tools available. After all, it has been around for longer than most of us have been using FEA.

One area that Patran excels is in post-processing: It may not be as flashy as some other tools, but when it comes to getting the job done, Patran is king.

Combining results

One of the advantages of linear analysis is that a linear combination of load cases causes a linear combination of their results as well. Similarly, scaling the loads scales the results by the same factors.

Patran allows combining results of different loadcases on the fly. Creating a new result which is defined as the sum of scaled results from different loadcase results is possible and easy to do. This also allows us to scale results to different units: modelling in SI, reporting stress in MPa or kPSI comes to mind.

Combining results can be taken a step further: Combining transient results with static results allows us to see the structural response that includes loads that do not change over time such as gravity.

Understanding frequency response results

While plotting magnitude and maybe phase for a frequency response analysis is the most common results we are interested in, it is by no means the only results that are of use: The result of a frequency response is a complex magnitude for every result (which contains the magnitude and phase). Sounds confusing? Yep, for most people not used to doing a lot of frequency response analysis it is confusing.

Here is what the magnitude of displacement looks like for simple geometry with rotating loads applied to each end (the red vectors):
Magnitude of displacement only tells us how much it moves, not how it moves in time over a cycle. Patran allows you to convert this frequency-data into a time-dependent response to visualize how the structure moves in time.

Here is the result from the same frequency response converted to the time domain using Patran’s post-processing abilities:
Conclusion

Patran may not be the newest or the most attractive Pre/Post for FEA in the market, but it is still relevant and useful today. It has a wealth of features and capabilities that can help you perform FEA modeling and analysis with the confidence of getting the job done.

For those cases when your new and flashy tool can only get you 90% of where you need to go, think about including Patran in the workflow for the final 10% to get to the finish line: After all, it is the Swiss-army knife for FEA modeling and post processing.

Unlocking the Magic of Robotics: Disney's Latest Innovation

Disney Research has unveiled an incredible leap in robotics, crafting walking characters that strut, prance, and more with impeccable balance and grace. Utilizing procedural animation, modular hardware, and reinforcement learning, they're shortening development timelines from years to mere months. This groundbreaking technology allows robotic designs to imitate artistic motion in simulation before becoming reality, pushing the boundaries of Imagineering's innovation pipeline. The future holds endless possibilities for this magical exploration!

Adams 2023.3

Adams 2023.3 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Adams 2023.3.

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence is pleased to announce Adams 2023.3. This release provides several new features and improvements including:

Improved Flex-to-Rigid Swap

It is now possible, in both Adams View and Adams Car, to ‘undo’ a rigid-to-flex (MNF Import) operation, replacing a flexible body with a rigid part.

BearingAT: Cylindrical Roller Bearings Without Inner Ring

It is now possible to create cylindrical roller bearings without an inner ring.

This applies to bearings created directly in Adams as well as those created from a REXS file import.

Performance Improvements with Large Flexible Bodies

Models containing large flexible bodies may exhibit performance improvements in the following areas:

  • Loading existing animations in PostProcessor can be up to 4X faster for some models.
  • Preparing animations for the first time (“memory pre-caching”) can be up to 40% faster.

Background Simulation Shell Shows ACF Filename

Background simulations launched from Adams Car now show both the name and location of the currently-running ACF file in the titlebar of the simulation window.

Improvements to Events

The following improvements have been made to the standard Events available in Adams Car:

  • A new ‘Disengage clutch’ option is available for the Braking and Braking-in-turn events.
  • The Frequency Response event is now more flexible when Input Type = Swept Sine
  • A ‘Steering Release’ option for the Step Steer event allows user to specify a time when the steering wheel is to be released.

Order Analysis Plotting

This is an extension to Adams Post Processor’s 3D FFT capability to allow generation of a 3D plot of an Adams result set component signal’s amplitude over RPM slices versus order

Unit Labels for Plots

Easier to change unit labels in plots from abbreviations to full names (e.g. Newton vs N)

Point Motion Actuators

With this release it is now possible to create an Actuator of type ‘point motion’

Adams Modeler 2023.3

Adams Modeler 2023.3 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Adams 2023.3.

This release provides several new features and improvements including:

Coupler Constraint

Added support for Adams Coupler constraint

Gear Constraint

Added support for Adams Gear constraint

MSC Apex 2023.2.2

MSC Apex 2023.2.2 is now available on the Software Download Center. We recommend that customers currently using 2023.2 or 2023.2.1 upgrade to this new version.

This update fixes 25 issues identified in MSC Apex 2023.2.1. While many of them are minor or model-specific, there are three that we would like to highlight:

  • BDF import ignores the WTMASS set in BDF
  • Z-component for Total Load is exported incorrectly
  • Many fields disappear after inputting some values in MATPE1 and switching back and forth to other materials

For full details, please see the complete list on SimCompanion at the link below:

https://simcompanion.hexagon.com/customers/s/article/MSC-Apex-2023-2-2-Fixed-Issues-List

MSC Apex Generative Design 2023.2

MSC Apex Generative Design 2023.2 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Here are the key highlights, you can find more details in the What’s New information.

Apex common installer

We combined MSC Apex and MSC Apex Generative Design into one common installation file that integrates both tools in one package (separate licenses required).

Watch this video to see how MSC Apex Generative Design works and how to get started:

https://hxgn.biz/3MOUVrM

The webinar will briefly cover:

  • Basics for proper model setup and simulation preparation
  • Processing the optimization result
  • Workflow for FEA analysis with MSC Apex Structures

Update to MSC Apex Generative Design 2023.2 and benefit from the new features that improve your daily work!

Click here to learn about What’s New in MSC Apex Generative Design 2023.2.

MSC Nastran 2023.3

MSC Nastran 2023.3 is now available on the Software Download Center.

Patran 2023.3

Patran 2023.3 is now available at the Software Download Center.

Click here to learn about What’s New in Patran 2023.3.

In this release, we focused on correcting issues and improving stability. The main highlights of this release include:

  • Improvements and Bug Fixes:
    • HDF5 postprocessing improved
    • Corrected issues that caused the program to crash
    • General enhancements and performance improvements
  • 4k Monitor Support: Patran now supports 4k monitors. Icons are now in SVG format and are scalable to improve the look and feel. Two sets of icons are included—one for the light theme, and one for the dark theme.
    • Light theme: "FileNew.svg“
    • Dark theme: "FileNew_dark.svg“
    • If an icon for the dark theme does not exist, Patran will load the light theme icon set.

                   Four (4) themes/styles have been added:

    • System default (no style applied)      
    • Blue (Windows 7 Scenic)
    • White (Office 2016)
    • Black (Office 2016)

Comparison between the old (2023.2) and new SVG icon sets (2023.3): 

  • Hybrid mesher: The hybrid mesher is now available using the create, mesh, hybrid options in the application panel. The GUI accepts two (2) input options: parasolid (geometric solids) or watertight boundary mesh. Based on the input, the mesher creates 3D elements consisting of pyramids, hexahedrons, wedges, and/or tetrahedrons.
SIMTEQ Engineering Webinar
Contact and Everything That you Need to Know About it
7 October 2022
11:30 - 12:30

Contact and Everything
That you Need to Know About it

Registration
MSC Apex Tip

Apex Settings Backup

It is great from a feature and bug fix standpoint that MSC Apex is updated regularly. However, most users have their preferred settings for Apex, be it a finer and watertight tolerance, contact settings, or default tolerances and these are lost if you uninstall Apex. The good news is that you can save these settings to an external XML file and import it into a new installation of Apex.

You can access this feature through Options → Application Settings → General. At the top of this page, there is an option to save or load the Options File, it is this very file that will contain your personalised settings.
Training

MAR101&102 - Nonlinear Analysis using Marc and Mentat

Software Package: Marc

Price: R 18 300.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 13 - 17 Nov 2023

Duration: 5 Days

More Information
Registration

STU701 - Structural Mechanics

Price: R 7 320.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 21 - 22 Nov 2023

Duration: 2 Days

CPD Accredited: Yes

More Information
Registration

CRA251, 301 - Introduction to scFlow and scStream

Price: R 10 980.00/p excl VAT (A 25% discount applies if attendance is online)

Date: 28 - 30 Nov 2023

Duration: 3 Days

More Information
Registration
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