Simcenter Femap version 2020.1 Nastran®, including support for monitor points and direct matrix inputs (DMIGs), as well as Ansys®, Abaqus® and LS-DYNA®. Simcenter Femap is now being released on a biannual schedule in the spring Benefits Summary and the fall, which began with version • First implementation of synchro- Simcenter™ Femap™ software is a 2019.1 and continues with version nous technology for geometry standalone finite element modeling pre- 2020.1. The software is now referred to modification and postprocessor for engineering sim- as Simcenter Femap to reflect that it is a ulation and analysis. The software is • Streamlined workflows and re-use part of the Simcenter portfolio of CAD-independent and can import of previous data definitions Siemens CAE products. For the same geometry from all major CAD platforms reason, NX™ Nastran® software is now • Upgraded support for various and supports most CAD data formats. Simcenter™ Nastran®. analysis applications Simcenter Femap also works in combi- nation with a wide variety of finite ele- Visualization and user interface Features ment analysis solvers, including the • Updates to UI and preprocessing industry-leading Simcenter Nastran Modernized icons operations software. All icons found throughout the user interface have been modernized to • Improvements to existing meshing The latest release provides a variety of incorporate design elements utilized in functionality improvements that will improve your commercial software applications across productivity across the simulation work- • Added support for simulation all industries. This includes icons on flow. Model creation enhancements entities used in more advanced toolbars, in the menu structure, within consist of more robust editing of geo- solutions dialog boxes and in the model tree, metric features, the ability to align geo- toolboxes and other panes. metric patterns useful for mapped meshing, and improved defeaturing capabilities for fillets and blends. For meshing, existing workflows have been enhanced to allow greater flexibility and more options when creating line elements from the edges of other ele- ments or sweeping elements along an existing mesh. There are also several updates to solver integration for siemens.com/femap SIMCENTER Simcenter Femap version 2020.1 In addition, on every dialog box that feature editing will be successful. When Multi-set functionality added to exist- offers the ability to select a color for an smart select is enabled, five additional ing commands. entity, the palette button has been options become available – offset, iden- The workflows for several commands replaced by a color block that displays tical, concentric, colinear, and tangent that use set-based entities for input the current color, and if specified, the edges – which act as rules that govern have been streamlined to allow the line style of the entity. This enables the the selection of additional surfaces. selection of multiple sets. Also, addi- user to determine the current color tional options have been added to without having to know the identifier of Improved feature removal for blends improve the usability of each command. the color. The feature removal tool in the meshing The model→ load→ from output com- toolbox has improved the blend removal mand now offers the ability to create Unified label architecture and process to remove blends and fillets from loads of a specific type, and in some enhanced digit control solid geometry that could not be re- cases new load sets, from the specified All labels displayed in the graphics win- moved in previous versions of Simcenter output vectors. When using a single dow are now being drawn using a uni- Femap. In 2020.1, an attempt is now output set, the new loads will be placed fied architecture, meaning labels will made to remove all the blends at once, in the active load set. not change when using performance then a second attempt is made to remove graphics, legacy OpenGL graphics, or a individual chains of blends one at a time. The tools→ check→ sum forces com- mix of both. In addition, the removal of blends on mand now offers the ability to perform stepped geometry is now more robust. a summation of the applied forces for a In conjunction with moving all labels single set, all sets, or any number of displayed in the graphics window to a Washer pattern alignment for selected sets. In addition, the individual unified architecture, control of how dig- geometry editing summation of each load set can now be its are displayed was enhanced signifi- An alignment option has been added to sent to the data table. cantly to offer users greater flexibility. the washer operation in the geometry There are now four methods available, editing tool of the meshing toolbox. More efficient creation of face-based Femap classic, exponent, significant fig- The options can be used to force the loads ures, and decimal places, each of which split lines of the washer pattern to be The model→ load→ elemental on face offers unique features for digit display. aligned with a specified vector, tangent command allows the user to create face- Global settings for digit control can be to a curve, or perpendicular to a curve. based loads (pressure, heat flux, convec- specified via the preferences and over- tion or radiation) with less interaction rides can be specified via view options Preprocessing enhancements by moving the selection of the element for load vectors, constraints, deformed faces to the beginning of the command. model, contour/criteria style, contour/ Mesh interference checking criteria legend, contour arrow options, Version 2020.1 adds the ability to deter- Meshing and freebody vectors. mine if any edge(s) of any line, planar, or solid element passes through other Creation of elements using edges or Geometry enhancements element(s), which can reduce the pos- faces of existing elements sibility of this common modeling error. For 2020.1, the commands on the Smart select for feature editing After selecting the tools→ check→ mesh, edge/skin elements menu have Feature editing via the meshing toolbox mesh interference command, any ele- been simplified by moving selection of has been enhanced to leverage portions ment that fails this check will be high- element edges or element faces to the of Siemens synchronous technology by lighted in the graphics window, then beginning of the command, which is addition of the smart select option, users are asked if they want to create a more intuitive. This allows the user to which automatically selects additional group of the highlighted elements. preview the edges or faces where new surfaces to improve the probability that elements will be created before moving forward to select a property. In addi- tion, users are now asked if they want to offset any newly created line ele- ments, which prevents them from hav- ing to update the elements using another command. Also, it is now pos- sible to select the edges of solid ele- ments using the standard edge selection dialog box. Additional options when sweeping Nastran enhancements MSC Nastran enhancements elements along element edges Support for reading and writing of mon- Added support for thermal contact For 2020.1, options to merge the newly itor points (MONPNT1 and MONPNT3) parameters on the BCTABLE entry which created elements with the existing ele- was added for Femap 2020.1. In addi- specify values for HCT, HCV, HNC, BNC ments and/or limit the sweep to only tion, the analysis set manager has been and EMISS. the elements that are currently visible augmented to select which monitor in the active view are now available. point(s) should be exported for analysis. ANSYS translator While Simcenter Nastran and MSC To better align with the support offered Improved automatic creation of rigid Nastran both offer MONPNT1 and for Simcenter Nastran solvers, a group and interpolation elements MONPNT3, they are implemented differ- can now be selected using the “portion It can be useful to automatically create ently, so please consult the solver docu- of model to write” drop-down in the rigid (RBE2 in Nastran solvers) or inter- mentation for guidance on solver ANSYS command and model control polation (RBE3) elements between a support. dialog box to export only a portion of source node and other target nodes the model to the ANSYS input file. Direct matrix input entities are used by based on proximity. In Femap, this is analysts to add stiffness, mass, damping For random vibration analysis, support accomplished with the mesh→ con- and other quantities to a model. They was added to allow specification of a nect→ rigid command, which now are available for almost all solution PSD table to allow for correlation of offers the ability to specify a minimum sequences and can be selected in the multiple subcases with multiple excita- number of target nodes for each source master case and/or any subcase. tions. The 2020.1 release includes node and/or allow a target node to be improved support for planar elements connected to multiple source nodes. Simcenter Nastran enhancements that have variable thickness defined. These same options have also been For SOL 401 and 402, a section has Target KEYOPTs can now be specified added to the model→ load→ from free- been added to the multi-step global on the ANSYS tab of the define connec- body command when using the multi- control options dialog box to specify tion property dialog box. model workflow. parameters used to perform restarts. In addition, items have been added to the Abaqus translator New node merging option when cre- multi-step control options dialog boxes, • Added read and write support for ating a solid along with the solution and conver- directional pressure loads (DLOAD, While it has been possible to set a node gence options dialog boxes, for both TRVEC) merging option when creating a solid SOL 401 and 402, making it possible to tetrahedral mesh for quite some time, specify everything available on the • Improved read support for contact there were some limitations with how NLCNTL and NLCNTL2 entries from defined in the Abaqus input file to the merging of coincident nodes would within Simcenter Femap.