Senior Editor
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A user has analyzed three versions of a
bracket by typing different sizes into a
spreadsheet that feeds SimOffice. The
software, based on the MSC.Software's
MD Nastran, is capable of linear static,
buckling, and other simulations. Rev 2,
due soon, will allow simulations with
contact.
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It's
true, says Ted Pawela, an application engineer with MSC.Software,
Santa Ana, Calif. (mscsoftware.com). "By taking advantage of Microsoft developments, in particular its Web-based platform and software
called .net (dot net), other software developers like us can link
Excel spreadsheets to FEA programs, such as our SimOffice.
This lets less-experienced engineers analyze several versions of
the same part. It lets companies
build macros that capture inhouse experience."
It works like this, he says: An
experienced analyst would hit a
macro-record button in Visual Basic and run through the steps for
simulating a part using SimOffice.
This FEA program runs the company's MD Nastran in the background. The macro records all
steps for analysis and post processing. Then the analyst would
add names to the inputs on a
spreadsheet list of variables and
similarly identify the outputs on
another spreadsheet. The analyst
would then pass the input spreadsheet to engineers designing
some variation of the part in the
simulation. They would type in
new dimensions and loads, identify a material, and hit the run button. A short while later the user
would read outputs in a similar
spreadsheet. Pawela says engineering companies with programming departments will find it relatively easy to setup such simulations.
That alone would be useful, but .net is said
to have other advantages. For example, many
engineering companies have older in-house-generated analysis programs written in Fortran that captured their years of experience.
But those programs have probably been underused because more-recent software does
not run Fortran. The .net platform, however,
has a Fortran compiler so after the FEA finishes, the recompiled Fortran program can
be called to examine results for additional information that guides the design.
In addition, Pawela says using FEA like
this, from macros and including older analysis, helps companies meet the trend of delivering an analysis model along with design
work. "Larger companies want suppliers involved in design. So when a supplier provides simulation results, the client can examine them and be assured that the design will
work as specified," he adds.
MSC.Software Marketing Manager Hal
Hakita says one Asia-based shipbuilder is distributing frequently encountered simulations
this way. "That company is focusing on
frames, spacing, braces, and so on. It has
been able to automate simulations for many
structures using VB scripting," he says.
And lastly, .net is becoming more prevalent in the Windows world, says Hakita. "That
makes it easier to collaborate and share data.
For example, V8 of Adobe .pdf uses Web-compatible software called 3D XML that lets
the previously static 2D documents now hold
3D CAD or FEA results." For an example, link
over to machinedesign.com/MD/misc/brake_disassembly.pdf to see a 3D model in
Adobe's V8 of .pdf. Users can turn, spin, and
take the model apart.
MAKE CONTACT
MSC.Software Inc.,
www.simoffice.com