TDS Selects MSC Software's Marc for Nonlinear Analysis

Technik und Design Systementwicklung (TDS) will use Marc to analyze seals and evaluate design alternatives for customers.

MSC Software Corporation announced that Technik und Design Systementwicklung (TDS) has selected MSC Marc at its choice for nonlinear analysis. TDS is an engineering services company based in Ingolstadt, Germany, and focused on the development of seals and doors. TDS has expertise in the area of interior door panels and equipment of car bodies.

TDS has traditionally only focused on design and development work using computer-aided design (CAD) software. However, the company will now begin to integrate numerical simulations into their development processes. The company's goal is to shorten development cycles, and do more goal-oriented structural optimization studies early in the design process.

"So far we've outsourced simulation jobs, or our customers have done their own analyses. However, we want to collaborate with our customers from the very first concept idea to the final manufacturing," said Ulf Nestler, Director of TDS. "Therefore it's necessary that we build the complete development process chain in-house. By doing the modeling and analysis in-house, we can answer critical questions about the durability of our designs. We want to be able to independently judge which design alternative will be the best choice."

TDS has selected Marc because of its capabilities in advanced nonlinear structural analysis, contact, complex material models, and multi-physics. Crucial to TDS's decision to invest in Marc was the well-engineered Marc software technology, and the very robust numeric algorithms Marc uses to solve nonlinear problems. TDS plans to perform structural analysis of elastomeric components for seal profiles. These requirements include large deformations, complex contact and critical friction conditions, temperature and time dependant, as well as incompressible material behavior.

With Marc's analysis capabilities, the engineers at TDS can solve very complex and high degree nonlinear mechanical-structural, thermal, thermal-mechanical coupled problems, as well as problems in the areas of multi-physics like electrostatics, magnetostatics, electromagnetism, and piezoelectrics.

MSC Software and Sigmadyne Announce New Capabilities for Optimization of Optical Systems

MSC Software Corporation today announced that Sigmadyne, a finite element analysis consulting and software development company, has released extended capabilities for the analysis of optical systems using MSC Nastran as their primary simulation software.

Sigmadyne's latest release of SigFit™, an optical pre & post processor for MSC Nastran, allows optical response quantities to be written in MSC Nastran input format. This allows MSC Nastran's optimization capability to utilize optical behavior in the structural optimization of optical systems.

Optical performance is degraded by the distortion of reflective and refractive surfaces, and the characterization of such deformations is essential to performing optical performance evaluation. The best-fit polynomial characterizations of the predicted distortions of such optical surfaces can be generated by SigFit in the form of MSC Nastran multipoint constraint (MPC) equations. This feature allows engineers to characterize deformed optical surfaces within MSC Nastran using polynomial types commonly used in optical design. These equations now include enhancements to expand their usability to a wider array of applications involving significant lateral surface growth making them accurate for thermo-elastic load conditions.

Many modern telescopes include deformable mirrors to correct for unwanted optical surface figure errors induced by thermal or structural loading. A common design problem is to determine the optimum number and locations of the actuators required to correct these figure errors. MSC Nastran can be used to determine predictions of the disturbed optical surfaces and the influence functions for a large set of candidate actuator locations.

SigFit also provides many other options to use MSC Nastran in the analysis of optical systems. SigFit takes MSC Nastran analysis results and writes their effect in native formats for direct input to a variety of optical design programs. Examples include the temperature and stress changes in the index of refraction, including stress birefringence. The combination of MSC Nastran and SigFit provide a useful combination for the design of precision optical systems.

Dr. Victor Genberg, PE, President of Sigmadyne, stressed the key capabilities of MSC Nastran as instrumental in his business, "MSC Nastran is a great tool for multidisciplinary analysis because the analysis inputs and outputs are easily accessed. Execution of SigFit requires model geometry, displacements, temperatures and stresses for employment of its full array of optomechanical analysis types, and the simplicity in accessing this data from MSC Nastran streamlines the process of combining it with the power of SigFit."

MSC Software and Sigmadyne Announce New Capabilities for Optimization of Optical Systems

MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced that Sigmadyne, a finite element analysis consulting and software development company, has released extended capabilities for the analysis of optical systems using MSC Nastran as their primary simulation software.

Sigmadyne's latest release of SigFit™, an optical pre & post processor for MSC Nastran, allows optical response quantities to be written in MSC Nastran input format. This allows MSC Nastran's optimization capability to utilize optical behavior in the structural optimization of optical systems.

Optical performance is degraded by the distortion of reflective and refractive surfaces, and the characterization of such deformations is essential to performing optical performance evaluation. The best-fit polynomial characterizations of the predicted distortions of such optical surfaces can be generated by SigFit in the form of MSC Nastran multipoint constraint (MPC) equations. This feature allows engineers to characterize deformed optical surfaces within MSC Nastran using polynomial types commonly used in optical design. These equations now include enhancements to expand their usability to a wider array of applications involving significant lateral surface growth making them accurate for thermo-elastic load conditions.

Many modern telescopes include deformable mirrors to correct for unwanted optical surface figure errors induced by thermal or structural loading. A common design problem is to determine the optimum number and locations of the actuators required to correct these figure errors. MSC Nastran can be used to determine predictions of the disturbed optical surfaces and the influence functions for a large set of candidate actuator locations.

SigFit also provides many other options to use MSC Nastran in the analysis of optical systems. SigFit takes MSC Nastran analysis results and writes their effect in native formats for direct input to a variety of optical design programs. Examples include the temperature and stress changes in the index of refraction, including stress birefringence. The combination of MSC Nastran and SigFit provide a useful combination for the design of precision optical systems.

Dr. Victor Genberg, PE, President of Sigmadyne, stressed the key capabilities of MSC Nastran as instrumental in his business, "MSC Nastran is a great tool for multidisciplinary analysis because the analysis inputs and outputs are easily accessed. Execution of SigFit requires model geometry, displacements, temperatures and stresses for employment of its full array of optomechanical analysis types, and the simplicity in accessing this data from MSC Nastran streamlines the process of combining it with the power of SigFit."

MSC Software's Patran to be used at Shipyards Worldwide for Strength Assessment

MSC Software Corporation today announced that CSR Software LLC, a joint venture company created by Lloyd's Register of London (LR) and American Bureau of Shipping of Houston, Texas (ABS), has successfully implemented a Patran-based module to be used at shipyards worldwide in the strength assessment of large double hull oil tankers and bulk carriers.

The custom user interface built with MSC Software's pre & post processor Patran, developed for CSR Software by DHL Consulting of Londonderry, New Hampshire, is written completely in Patran Command Language (PCL), which comprises 22 customized forms and some 25,000 lines of PCL code to support CSR modeling verification and results evaluation.

"Providing the core infrastructure of analytical methods for certification of vessels and vehicles has been fundamental throughout MSC's entire history," said Dominic Gallello, President and CEO of MSC Software. "We are delighted that these Classification Societies have decided to host their methods on our platform with the expert help of CSR."

"We have Patran users all over the world working in the field of naval architecture and finite element analysis of large ships at sea," said Daron H. Libby, owner of DHL Consulting. "When the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) introduced Common Structural Rules (CSR), analysis software suppliers like Lloyd's Register (LR) and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) had to react quickly to provide engineers with tools to assess their designs against these new standards. The Patran PCL language was the perfect customization tool to provide the analysts with powerful graphics and data manipulation of large models consisting of up to half a million nodes."

Mr. Libby went on to say, "Many PCL coding obstacles were confronted using innovative PCL programming solutions in order to meet the needs of the ship analyst. The PCL language has really proven to be a robust programming language that can do most anything when it comes to reading, writing, and manipulation of finite element data and putting up most any display an analyst needs to do his or her job. It really is an amazing customization programming tool.

MSC Software Announces its New Research Assist Program

Researchers around the world are taking innovation to the next level with engineering simulation.

MSC Software Corporation today announced a new Research Assist Program that assists global researchers and academicians with extraordinary credentials in applying simulation technology at no charge in an effort to take their research and development initiatives to the next level.

Researchers and academicians can apply for Research Assist Program at the following website:
www.mscsoftware.com/contents/Research-Assist-Program/

The program is intended to stimulate innovation by enabling qualified researchers and academicians to utilize and apply MSC Software technology with no cost burden to further develop their scientific research. These individuals will experience a close partnership with MSC to ensure that their research is successful and to achieve their maximum potential in applying computer modeling and analysis to projects.

"We are very excited to introduce the Research Assist Program," said Dominic Gallello; President & CEO of MSC Software. "MSC has always been focused on expanding the boundaries of engineering simulation for engineers and scientists. In partnership with some of the most promising researchers around the world, we look to continue this tradition."

Many researchers are already benefiting from the use of MSC's simulation technology in areas like composite materials research, blast and impact simulations.

"MSC Software's Marc nonlinear software has played a major role in supporting our research in advanced composites development of nonlinear solid-shell elements, as well as conventional and emerging material models," said Professor Jeong Whan Yoon at Swinburne University in Australia.

"MSC Software's support has been essential to our research in the areas of blast and impact protection of structures such as suspension bridges and buildings," said Professor Hassan Astaneh at the University of California at Berkeley. "By using some of the most advanced multidisciplinary simulation tools in MSC Nastran, we have been able to develop new, innovative technologies to increase safety margins."

To qualify for the Research Assist Program, researchers must be enrolled in an accredited Masters, PhD or post doctoral program or involved in a non-profit research project at a recognized research lab or institution. Candidates should submit the topic of their research project with an abstract to MSC Software Corporation and agree to the terms and conditions of the program to complete the qualification process. The MSC Software review board will evaluate the abstracts on a continual basis and each year, twelve qualified candidates will be selected worldwide and granted software products at no charge. Winners will be notified quarterly, and others may re-apply to the program for later consideration.

JSC "Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard" Utilizes MSC Software Structural Analysis to Create the Largest All-Composite Ship Hull

MSC Software Corporation today announced that JSC "Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard" (JSC SNSZ) utilized MSC Software's structural analysis solutions to aid in the creation of the world's largest all-composite ship hull.

The design and manufacturing stages of the hull required complex engineering calculations and simulation tasks. Such simulations performed during the design and manufacturing stages have unique characteristics that include non-traditional hull materials for the shipbuilding industry as well as new manufacturing technologies.

It was important for JSC Sredne-Nevasky Shipyards to work with computer-aided engineering (CAE) software that fully supported the challenging tasks. After evaluating several simulation software products, JSC SNSZ decided on the MSC Nastran, Patran, and Patran Laminate Modeler solutions from MSC Software. A distinctive characteristic of the ship is its all-composite hull that is 70 meters in length and nearly 8 meters in height, which makes it the world's largest hull made of monolithic fiberglass.

On September 22nd, 2011 the vessel keel-laying ceremony took place at the JSC "Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard" for the new-generation ship for the Russia State Marine service.

"With MSC Software's solutions and partnership, we were able to move from physical testing to new virtual test procedures that greatly improved our effectiveness," said Vladimir Seredokho, General Director of JSC SNSZ. "Through our strategic partnership agreement, we hope to further develop our collaboration with MSC Software."

"We are grateful that MSC Software is part of this major achievement of JSC "Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard," said Thomas Keller, Senior Director at MSC Software. "It is a highly innovative project in the shipbuilding industry in terms of material, manufacturing and size."

SimXpert 2012 Delivers Significant Productivity Improvements for Engineers Performing Multidisciplinary Simulations

Engineers accelerate simulations with all-new new productivity tools for geometry and meshing, enhanced usability, and several capability extensions.

SANTA ANA, CA - MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced its new release of SimXpert 2012. This release empowers engineers to perform an expansive range of multidisciplinary simulations by delivering new tools that accelerate learning curves and shorten model preparation and setup times all within a fully integrated user environment. The release is scheduled to be available in December.

The SimXpert 2012 release provides engineers with a number of enhancements including:

ENRICHED GEOMETRY AND MESHING ADVANCEMENTS
The time spent preparing geometry for meshing and analysis has been significantly improved in SimXpert 2012 with the addition of several new and enhanced geometry editing tools including geometry stitching, clean-up, and de-featuring.

Meshing has also been significantly improved through the introduction of new feature-based meshing capabilities which leverage geometry features for uniform meshing patterns. Improvements in surface meshing allow engineers to generate better two dimensional meshes across complex geometry, and new interactive meshing enhancements help users simplify the preparation of mesh for analysis, and allow the mesh to automatically update when certain changes are made to it.

SIGNIFICANT USABILITY AND PRODUCTIVITY
There have been a number of enhancements made to the Model Bowser in SimXpert 2012 which give engineers greater ease of use and increased modeling efficiency. Users will find impressive navigation and search improvements that speed assembly modeling and analysis. Additional improvements to the model browser, such as the ability to organize based on entity type display groups in user specified colors, help engineers perform quicker modifications and intuitive simulations with greater ease. Extensive action libraries are also delivered with this release as open-source to help users assemble models quickly and learn how to perform customization and automation faster than ever before.

NEW CAPABILITY EXTENSIONS FOR MULTIDISCIPLINE ANALYSIS
SimXpert 2012 introduces new capabilities for structural simulations including MSC Random, which allows users to perform random analysis. The release also provides broader coverage of MSC Nastran and MD Nastran multidiscipline features. New extensions for explicit nonlinear simulations were added including revamping the user interface for improved ease of use, and automatic generation of coupling surfaces. Aeroelasticity modeling support in SimXpert is now available with the 2012 release, supporting functionalities like model organization, wetted surface creation, spline blending, and verification.

Co-simulation improvements in SimXpert benefit users by enabling robust integration of motion and controls workspaces. For example, a motion model simulation is executed in a cooperative manner with another model, typically with a control system or actuation model system.

For more details about the SimXpert 2012 release, visit simxpert.mscsoftware.com

Setforge Engineering Selects MSC Software's Marc to Optimize Forging Process

Marc is expected to speed up the optimization process and reduce the cost of physical test.

MSC Software Corporation today announced that Setforge Engineering, a leading specialist in forging technology, selected MSC Software's Marc to simulate the complex electrical, thermal and mechanical phenomena of the electro-upsetting process. Electro-upsetting is a technology used to forge long sectional parts like driving wheel shafts or spindles.

Engineers at Setforge, a Farina group company, are experts in electro-upsetting, a method which uses an electrical current to raise the temperature in the area of the part to be hammered. The group felt that it was strategically important to gain more insight into the influence of the associated parameters like the electrical, thermal and mechanical properties of the material, the material flow, the mechanical forces applied, and the interaction with the environmental temperature. To accomplish the complex task of simulating the upsetting process, Setforge chose Marc and Patran because the technology best met their requirements for advanced nonlinear simulations.

"MSC Software's service team helped us set up the solution and create a first model to see whether the results of the simulation matched our experience on the shop floor," said Nicolas Behr, Chief Project Engineer at Setforge Engineering. "The results proved that we had made the right choice. We compared a video of the virtual deformation generated by Patran with real video footage shot in one of our plants and the match was impressive."

"Even though the initial simulation was only the first step towards a more comprehensive model, Setforge Engineering is already anticipating potential gains like speeding up the optimization process and reducing costs for physical testing," said Nicolas. "We know that we can impact a wide range of parameters, and this is why we are optimistic about the gains that MSC's technology can deliver."

To learn more about the new Marc 2011 release, please visit marc.mscsoftware.com.

SimManager 2012 Enables Dramatic Increases in CAE Throughput

MSC Software Corporation today announced its new release of SimManager 2012. This powerful release delivers unmatched computer-aided engineering (CAE) process automation and reporting functions to increase the efficiency of engineers performing analysis, leading to orders of magnitude improvement over manual methods. The release is scheduled to be available at end of November.

SimManager provides standard CAE workflows for Automotive that automate Crash, Noise Vibration & Harshness (NVH), Occupant Safety, and Pedestrian Safety analysis, thereby increasing engineering throughput, allowing shorter design cycles, and enabling companies to do more with existing CAE teams. In Aerospace, standard CAE workflows automate Global-Local, Propulsion, detail part, sub-component and component analysis providing proven benefits including consistent analysis for high quality best practices, and automated report generation which saves significant engineering time/cost while positively impacting schedule timelines. Other industries including Consumer Products and Shipbuilding use SimManager to automate standard product tests and CAE workflows to explore more design alternatives.

SimManager 2012 introduces over 400 new features that alleviate engineers of the tedium associated with simulation-based projects.

UNMATCHED SIMULATION PROCESS AUTOMATION
SimManager 2012 automatically captures all data associated with every executed simulation process, ensuring 100% traceability of process-generated objects - a key benefit not provided by Product Data Management (PDM)-based PLM systems. New automation modules include:

Simulation Generator - enables an analyst to assemble simulation configurations based on the flexible definition of the model structures, load cases, assembly, analysis, and post-processing methods. Benefits include ability to create, execute, and manage an extraordinary number of simulations to explore more design alternatives with the same number of analysts.
Report Generator - fully automated process to generate reports 'on-the-fly' as part of any automation sequence, thereby converting large volumes of simulation data into meaningful design intelligence.

COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACES
SimManager 2012 introduces a new level of collaboration, with several new capabilities that promote the traceable collaboration within and across project teams:

Work Request - Captures customer-specific work-request tasks and activities as re-usable templates. Work Request tasks manage project work assignments and record task status.
Project Dashboards -The status of assigned tasks can be tracked and viewed in the new Project Dashboard, providing project transparency and enhancing engineering productivity.

DATA MANAGEMENT EFFICENCY
SimManager manages huge amounts of simulation data from two sources: legacy simulation data imported into the system and data auto-captured from integrated processes.

FASTER DEPLOYABILITY
SimManager 2012 completes the transition from a 'framework' based approach requiring customization to a 'product' which is widely configurable via the web user interface. Such configurability ensures faster deployments, easy extension into new domains and broad-scale usability. New and enhanced capabilities include Solver and Post-Processing Integration.

PERFORMANCE AND SCALABILITY
With over 80 man years of development, extensive customer-driven usability cycles, and many process execution, expression language, and database enhancements, SimManager 2012 exhibits significantly improved robustness and performance. Load testing performed by MSC, IBM, and Oracle against the unique requirements of managing simulation data verify that SimManager 2012 scales to 100's of thousands of simultaneous simulations for 100's of concurrent users resulting in 10's of millions of data objects.

"We see tremendous benefits for our worldwide manufacturing customers who have the need to manage their simulation data, harmonize their engineering methods and increase efficiency by automating their simulation processes," said Albrecht Pfaff, VP SimManager Business Unit.

For more details about the SimManager 2012 release, visit simmanager.mscsoftware.com

To learn more, register for the upcoming "What's New in SimManager 2012" Webcast at: http://www.mscsoftware.com/webinar/SimManager2012/.

SimManager 2012 Accelerates Simulation Productivity and Closes the PLM gap in CAE

Industry-leading simulation data and process management solution delivers revolutionary process automation, enhanced collaboration, and faster deployment.

MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced its new release of SimManager 2012. This powerful release is the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for the simulation and engineering community to manage the complete Lifecycle of all simulation activities in the extended enterprise. The release will be available at the end of November for customers to download.

SimManager 2012 introduces over 400 new features that offload engineers of much of the tedium associated with simulation-based projects.

PROCESS AUTOMATION
SimManager 2012 automatically captures all data associated with every executed process, ensuring 100% traceability of process-generated objects - a key benefit not provided by Product Data Management (PDM)-based PLM systems. New automation modules include:

Simulation Generator - enables an analyst to assemble simulation configurations based on the flexible definition of the model structures, load cases, assembly, analysis, and post-processing methods.
Report Generator - fully automated process to generate reports 'on-the-fly' as part of any automation sequence.

COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACES
SimManager 2012 introduces a new level of collaboration, with several new capabilities that promote the traceable collaboration within and across project teams:

Work Request - Captures customer-specific work-request tasks and activities as re-usable templates. Work Request tasks manage project work assignments and record task status.
Project Dashboards -The status of assigned tasks can be tracked and viewed in the new Project Dashboard, providing project transparency and enhancing engineering productivity.

DATA MANAGEMENT EFFICENCY
SimManager manages huge amounts of simulation data from two sources: legacy simulation data imported into the system and data auto-captured from integrated processes.

FASTER DEPLOYABILITY
SimManager 2012 completes the transition from a 'framework' based approach requiring customization to a 'product' which is widely configurable via the web user interface. Such configurability ensures faster deployments, easy extension into new domains and broad-scale usability. New and enhanced capabilities include Solver and Post-Processing Integration.

PERFORMANCE AND SCALABILITY
With over 80 man years of development, 8 customer-driven usability cycles, and many process execution, expression language, and database enhancements, SimManager 2012 exhibits significantly improved robustness and performance. Load testing performed by MSC, IBM, and Oracle against the unique requirements of managing simulation data, verify that SimManager 2012 scales to 100's of thousands of simultaneous simulations for 100's of concurrent users resulting in 10's of millions of data objects.

"We see tremendous benefits for our worldwide manufacturing customers who have the need to manage their simulation data, harmonize their engineering methods and increase efficiency by automating their simulation processes," said Albrecht Pfaff, VP SimManager Business Unit. "Now is the time to close the PLM gap with SimManager and integrate simulation communities in the collaborative PLM environment."

ESTECO is now an MSC Technology Partner

ESTECO is now MSC Technology Partner. With the integration of modeFRONTIER with MSC products, our customers can explore a new way of developing, controlling and optimizing applications.

MSC.Software is an important player in CAE industry, and one of the world’s technology leader for simulation software, that includes linear and nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA), multi-body dynamics, control systems, and many other applications.

Using modeFRONTIER coupled with MSC products, companies are able to eliminate slow and costly physical testing by creating and testing "virtual prototypes" that can be quickly evaluated for performance in any environment or conditions to achieve lasting competitive advantage.

PSA Peugeot Citroën Selects MSC Nastran as its Choice for Nonlinear FEA

MSC Software Corporation today announced that PSA Peugeot Citroën, the leading French manufacturer of cars and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën brand names, has extended its simulation environment to take advantage of MSC Nastran for Nonlinear analysis at various development sites.

PSA Peugeot Citroën is a long term user of MSC Nastran software for linear simulations of the car body structure. The French company expects the newly available nonlinear analysis capabilities in MSC Nastran to improve and accelerate the simulation process and to reduce time and development costs.

Imagine what happens if somebody hangs on an open car door as if it were a high bar. Will it still close smoothly after being exposed to this exceptional load? These are the kinds of problems that PSA engineers solve with the help of MSC Nastran Nonlinear. The principal reasons why the French carmakers' analysis department decided to implement the new tool were its powerful capabilities for nonlinear simulations with contact situations, and its perfect integration with the rest of the MSC product family. This seamless integration allows the reuse of existing finite element models, reduces the number of steps necessary for pre-processing, and speeds up the learning process. MSC Software's simulation experts helped PSA to implement the software and to train the users, offering optimized training courses for specific PSA use cases.

MSC Nastran's Nonlinear replaces another nonlinear solver used previously at PSA, which was not closely integrated in the existing simulation environment. "To do nonlinear simulations we had to convert the existing models and pre-process them again with a different tool which was not only time consuming, but also made it difficult to trace the different model versions," explains Sylvain Calmels, responsible for technical support at the analysis department in Sochaux, France. "MSC's integrated solution for linear and nonlinear calculations facilitates reuse of models which saves a lot of time in pre-processing and enables us to standardize the data exchange formats for body models when collaborating with other departments or external suppliers."

At present, some 40 computer-aided engineering (CAE) specialists at PSA use MSC Nastran to simulate complex nonlinear problems involving contact like exceptional loads or structural rigidity of the car body. The engineers are based at the headquarters near Paris and the development site in Sochaux, close to the Swiss border. In the near future the MSC Nastran Nonlinear installation will be extended to development sites in Brazil and China, as Sylvain Calmels points out. MSC's subscription model allows users at different sites to share the existing licenses.

Since the installation of MSC Nastran's Solution 400 Nonlinear capability, MSC Software and PSA Peugeot Citroën collaborate to optimize the use of the solution. This collaboration allows MSC to continuously improve the performance of the solution, and provides best practices and enhances users' knowledge.

"Automotive manufacturers all around the world are under constant pressure to reduce costs and development times. Therefore, they need powerful and closely integrated solutions for linear and nonlinear simulations to assure the feasibility of their cars early in the design process, and to reduce the costs for physical prototyping while achieving shorter cycle times," explains Kais Bouchiba, Senior Vice President EMEA at MSC Software. "PSA's decision to expand its long term partnership with MSC and to implement MSC Nastran Nonlinear shows that our solution is best suited for this very demanding industry."

To register for the upcoming MSC Nastran 2012 "What's New" webinar, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/webinar/Nastran2012.

MSC Nastran 2012 Delivers Significantly Expanded Simulation of Real World Behaviors

Industry Leading MSC Nastran now gives users access to nonlinear simulation together with improved capabilities for advanced analysis, and significant performance and power.

MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced its new release of MSC Nastran 2012. This powerful release consolidates MSC Nastran and MD Nastran into a single solution for all MD and MSC Nastran customers. This simplifies the product offering and provides customers a single MSC Nastran platform for the future.

MSC Nastran customers will see significant enhancements in the 2012 release:

NONLINEAR SIMULATION

Simulate Implicit Nonlinear
Through an optional module, users can simulate nonlinear problems including geometric nonlinearity, material nonlinearity, and contact nonlinearity. Nonlinear convergence robustness has been enhanced with a new adaptive stepping procedure.

Perform Explicit Simulations
MSC Nastran 2012 also makes available a module that enables engineers to solve explicit nonlinear problems. These capabilities are primarily focused in the areas of performance for impact, fluid-structure interaction (FSI) applications, multi-physics, enhanced material models and robustness. Simulation times are greatly reduced for FSI analyses like drop testing of fluid filled plastic bottles, fuel tank sloshing, airbags, and occupant safety.

CAPABILITY IMPROVEMENTS

Easier 3D Linear Contact
Users can now access linear contact modeling which supports 3D touching contact modeling in linear statics and glued contact for linear statics, normal modes, and dynamics (transient, frequency, and buckling). This provides significant modeling efficiencies when working with assemblies.

Improved Results for Composites
Lamina stresses, lamina strains, failure indices, and strength ratios have been enabled for frequency response, transient response, and random vibration simulations. This is important for composite structures since failure occurs at the ply level.

Optimize your Designs
Control surface positions can now be selected as a designed quantity in MSC Nastran 2012 as a feature of MSC Nastran Optimization. In terms of applications, the use of control surfaces to redistribute the loading on an aircraft so as to lessen a critical loading is a practice that has been deployed on a number of air vehicles.

Simplify Aeroelasticity Calculations
The MSC Nastran 2012 release simplifies aeroelastic modeling. MSC Nastran 2012 will automatically determine the aerodynamic and structural grids that are within your defined depth and add them to the relevant splines, which is a significant benefit when used in conjunction with CFD.

Enhanced Acoustic Analysis
Several enhancements are made to MSC Nastran's acoustic analysis capabilities to help users achieve higher efficiency. These include an efficient single-step approach for interior/exterior acoustic studies, efficient participation factor analysis through parallelization, panel participation factor analysis extended to structural domain response, a new function to compute and output element sensitivity for acoustic responses and a new function to compute particle acceleration on wetted surface. Frequency dependent Trim Component and Pressure load matrices from Actran can now be included in Noise Vibration Harshness (NVH) system models.


PERFORMANCE AND POWER

High Performance Computing for Higher Productivity
Automated Component Modal Synthesis (ACMS) improvements enable automotive NVH analyses to utilize every available processor in a multi-core system (or a cluster of such systems) to improve engineering productivity, showing as much as 2 to 3 times performance gains over the 2010 release as well as scaling to more sockets and cores. Other performance enhancements include: improvements to unsymmetric matrix solution; a new Implicitly Restarted Arnoldi Method (IRAM) for complex eigenvalue solution that has shown up to 2 orders of magnitude improvement; and the ability to utilize a system's NVIDIA CUDA enabled Graphic Processing Units (GPU), which has shown overall performance improvement of up to 5 times. These enhancements provide critical tools for customers doing rotor dynamics, exterior acoustics, and related nonlinear applications.

For more details about the MSC Nastran 2012 release, visit nastran.mscsoftware.com and view the MSC Nastran 2012 video. To learn more, register for the upcoming "What's New in MSC Nastran 2012" Webcast at: http://www.mscsoftware.com/webinar/Nastran2012.

The MSC Nastran 2012 release will be available for customers to download later in November. MSC Nastran capabilities are supported in both Patran and SimXpert.

MSC Software's Adams/Car used to Develop a Three-wheeled Electric Vehicle

MATIS Technologies uses MSC Software technology for simulating the new SynergEthic TILTER.

MSC Software Corporation today announced that MATIS Technologies, a multinational consulting and engineering group, utilized MSC Software's Adams/Car simulation solution to develop and optimize the roll mode control system for the new TILTER.

The TILTER is a narrow, three-wheeled electric vehicle launched recently by SynergEthic SA which combines the agility of a scooter with the comfort and safety of a car. Adams/Car was fundamental in evaluating the vehicle's tilting stability and dynamic behavior in the early project phase.

MATIS Technologies recently completed the co-development of this tilting electric vehicle for SynergEthic SA, a French start-up company based near Paris. The idea was to develop a narrow, fully enclosed vehicle with zero carbon emission to target residents and commuters in urban areas who want to drive with all the comfort and security of a car but in a more efficient and eco-friendly way. "To be more efficient we had to converge to a vehicle for two passengers with one front wheel and two power rear wheels that reduces the aerodynamic front area and rolling resistance," explains Laurent Casubolo, project manager at MATIS Technologies. "A major challenge was to develop an active roll mode control to improve stability and handling performance of the vehicle."

MATIS' engineers are experienced users of MSC's simulation solutions, which they use mainly for structural analysis. The Adams/Car's template-based modelling and simulation approach helped them to quickly model the tilting vehicle's various subsystems, especially the indoor and outdoor trims, the steering system, the suspension, and the front and rear drive train systems necessary to simulate and optimize the vehicle's dynamic behavior. "The Adams/Car comprehensive functionality, controls toolkit and function builder enabled us to develop and test our basic roll mode control strategy in a single simulation environment," says Casubolo.

The flexibility of the software's implementation model and the ability to generate specific functions allowed MATIS' engineers to evaluate the overall performance of the vehicle at a very early stage of product design and to extract the specific requirements for every single subsystem and component. This contributed to the reduction of iterations in physical prototyping and accelerated the entire development process. The new TILTER was presented at the recent 81st International Geneva Motor Show as a prototype and will be available on the market next year.

"MSC Software is proud to be associated with this innovative and green project, and to provide MATIS Technologies and SynergEthic SA with the tools and support to successfully launch their new vehicle," said Kais Bouchiba, VP of EMEA Operations at MSC Software. "We will continue supporting research and development initiatives aimed at providing environmentally-friendly products."

MSC Software Announces New Release of Adams

Adams 2012 introduces a new user interface and capability extensions for systems and event simulations.

MSC Software Corporation today announced Adams 2012. This release of Adams delivers an all-new user interface and new model browser that simplifies model setup; new automatic flexible body generation to support efficient, high-fidelity system modeling; and an innovative tire model to complement the improved selection of standard events and road profile formats available for vehicle simulations.

The release will be available at the end of November.

All-new User Interface
The Adams 2012 user interface provides a new ribbon-style format and intuitive layout. The new ribbon offers improved labels, thereby making model construction easier and more user-friendly. Engineers will find the main toolbox and build menu functions in a series of tabs for model entity construction, simulation, and post-processing actions, and icon strips are located on the main menu bar and status toolbar.

A new pre-processing model browser has also been implemented in Adams 2012, providing an improved means to navigate models within Adams/View. This is especially helpful in understanding the content of newly-inherited models from colleagues or business partners. Engineers will experience improved model navigation, especially for large models, convenient right-click access to non-graphical entities, dynamic search and savable filters, and improved visualization and model control.

"I really like the more modern graphical user interface, especially the new model browser," said Greg Wheeler, Mechanical Engineering Analyst at AAI Corporation.

Automatic Flexible Body Generation
The Adams 2012 release introduces a new Adams/ViewFlex module that enables users to create flexible bodies without leaving the Adams environment and without the dependence on external finite element modeling (FEM) or analysis (FEA) software. The feature is powered by embedded MSC Nastran technology and run wholly in the background of the Adams session. This improves productivity and facilitates high-fidelity modeling.

Enhanced Solver for Speed and Robustness
The improved C++ solver in Adams 2012 is now the default solver for all Adams products, including Adams/View and Adams/Car. The Adams C++ solver provides modeling and simulation capabilities not found in the FORTRAN solver, such as Nonlinear BEAM and FIELD formulations, flexible body contact, clearance measures, an exact linearization algorithm, a bisection method in the Adams/Controls system import option, support for delay differential equations, and parallel processing.

Automotive Vertical Enhancements
Adams 2012 introduces new tire and road enhancements for Adams/Car where higher-fidelity road simulations can be performed. A new Tire 3D enveloping contact model is available to capture more realistic tire forces over small obstacles. Visualization of roads is now faster and more consistent with the simulation code, thereby enhancing a user's ability to understand vehicle behavior and improve visual presentations.

New vehicle events have been added to Adams/Car including Straight-line Maintain, Straight-line Braking on Split μ, and Static Vehicle Setup, which includes Mass Distribution for Corner Weights, Toe and Camber Alignment, and Ride height Adjustment. These new features provide users with a better selection of events, enhanced productivity and ease of use. In Adams/Chassis, the new flex body generation utility can now be used with any supported flex-body part, compared with only body and frame parts in the previously available body attachment finder utility. This improves productivity and facilitates higher-fidelity modeling.

To register for the upcoming November 8th "What's New in Adams 2012" webcast, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/webinar/adams2012.

Watch the new Adams 2012 video here: http://www.mscsoftware.com/adams.

MSC Software's Adams Proves Integral to the Study of Lower Limb Exoskeletons

MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced that Adams and Lifemodeler, Inc.'s LifeMOD were the primary solutions used in a research study of lower limb exoskeletons conducted by the University of California, Santa Cruz's Bionics Lab. Adams played a major during the simulation of the human lower limb exoskeleton that greatly aided in the design of LEX, a 6-DOF lower limb exoskeleton developed by the university.

Lower limb exoskeletons are developed to increase human strength or to help people during their rehabilitation process. LEX has been developed over the last years as a research platform to experiment with ways to increase the efficiency of the gait cycle. In this research, a computer model of a walking person in a LEX was developed using recorded motion capture data and software products including Adams and LifeMOD. This model was compared to other gait cycle studies and it was found sufficient for use in further research.

Adams, along with add-on package LifeMod, was used to develop the model and perform the simulations. The exoskeleton model from SolidWorks was imported into the Adams mechanical dynamic simulation package where all the joints had to be properly defined and the inertia specified. Since LEX was designed for a 1.8m man, a human model of this size was selected from LifeMOD's extensive database of human models.

To create a walking person, the body segments were automatically created by LifeMOD according to the above mentioned specifications. A base set of joints was used, and motion agents were attached to the model which corresponded to the measured data markers. Out of one data recording of 15 seconds walking, a representative gait cycle was chosen. The model enabled the university to look at the average energy required at various gates with and without the exoskeleton device, as well as the energy consumption for ankle, knee, and hip joints.

It was concluded that the workable simulation model can be used for further research in the development and usage of lower limb exoskeletons.

The University of California, Santa Cruz is part of the prestigious University of California system and is home to 14,888 undergraduate and 1,444 graduate students. Headed by Lab Director and Associate Professor Jacob Rosen, the Bionics Lab's mission is to develop science, technology, and human resources at the interface between robotics, biological systems, and medicine. Their goal is to ultimately produce useful, innovative research and technology as well as trained researchers fluent in both science, engineering, biological systems, and robotics. For more information, please visit the University of California, Santa Cruz - Bionics Lab at http://bionics.soe.ucsc.edu.

MSC Software and The Ohio State University Collaborate on Vehicle Design Innovation Research

MSC's FEA and Motion simulation products are being used to facilitate cutting edge research in automotive design innovation.

MSC Software Corporation today announced its collaboration progress with the Smart Vehicle Concepts Center (SVC) at The Ohio State University, where they focus on key research projects that will vastly improve vehicle design and ultimately lead to enhanced vehicle performance.

The mission of the SVC is as follows: (1) conduct basic and applied research on the characterization of smart materials; (2) build an unmatched base of research, engineering education, and technology transfer with emphasis on improved vehicle performance; and (3) develop well-trained engineers and researchers (at the MS and PhD levels) with both experimental and theoretical viewpoints.

MSC Software was granted the 'Invited Observer' status within the SVC based on in-kind support (in terms of software) as well as endorsement by the SVC Industrial Advisory Board. The software provided by MSC includes The University FEA Bundle featuring MD Nastran, Patran, Marc, & Dytran; and The University Motion Bundle featuring MD Adams, Adams/Car, & Easy5. The SVC was provided with a 5-user pack of annual, networked, academic licenses for each bundle to facilitate cutting edge research.

At the Fifth Semi-Annual Meeting that will be held February 8-9, 2012 at The Ohio State University, MSC Software will be giving a short course on "Materials Modeling Using Finite Elements". The SVC is very excited to provide this course at their meeting.

Professor Singh talked about the benefits of collaborating with MSC Software, "Utilizing MSC's simulation technology is a win/win situation for our students as it provides the opportunity to work with the latest calculation codes. This capability allows the students to verify their analytical solutions and to justify their assumptions."

The Smart Vehicle Concepts Center (SVC)

The Smart Vehicle Concepts Center (SVC) based at The Ohio State University was launched in July 2007. The Center is supported through a grant by the National Science Foundation and through industry sponsorship. Current projects include the development of smart materials and devices for vehicle use. This pre-competitive technology is shared among contributing members. Currently headed by Professor Rajendra Singh of The Ohio State University, its sponsors include 9 industrial members, 2 affiliate members and 3 invited observers, with MSC Software being one of them.

MSC Software Announces the All New Marc

All-new user interface with powerful features for nonlinear contact, fracture mechanics, composites, and electromagnetic simulations.

MSC Software Corporation today announced the All New Marc. The new 2011 release of Marc is easier, smarter, and faster; enabling engineers new to nonlinear analysis achieve faster productivity, while providing a host of new features that longtime Marc users are extremely excited about.

Easier User Interface and Model Setup
Marc's all-new user interface combined with improved CAD interoperability and meshing features makes it easier for engineers to create Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models and quickly learn the software program. The new product is designed to provide users with an intuitive interface that improves users experience through:

Easier model navigation
Easy to use menu organization
Native CAD import and faster, improved meshing
Easily Customizable

Instant benefits are delivered to both new and current users including increased productivity, shorter learning curves and faster FEA model setup. Customers new to nonlinear FEA will be delighted with how easy it is to set up contact problems in Marc compared to other nonlinear products.

"We run models of heavy machine parts and assemblies that require large meshes. The improved meshing capabilities and performance enhancements are excellent and will help us improve our throughput," said Mike Smith, Director, PJH Engineering Solutions Ltd.

Smarter Contact Setup and Analysis
The All New Marc enables smarter setup of nonlinear contact problems including expanded segment-to-segment contact for large deformation analysis, along with other contact enhancements. The segment-to-segment method provides smoother contact stresses and has been enhanced to support directional friction, improving accuracy for engineers.

For multi-physics analyses like heat transfer and electrostatics, the 2011 release enables engineers to utilize a "perfect" glue approach for thermal or other type of contact between bodies. In coupled multi-physics analyses, the "perfect" glue condition can be selected on a pass-by-pass basis. For example, in a coupled thermal/mechanical analysis, it may be desirable to have touching conditions in the mechanical pass (so relative sliding is still possible), but glued conditions in the thermal pass simulating perfect heat conduction in the contact area.

Smarter Fracture Mechanics and Composites Analysis
The Marc 2011 release has several improvements for fracture mechanics and crack propagation including enhanced Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) and newly implemented Lorenzi method. Crack propagation has been improved both with respect to the physics of the crack motion, and also with respect to flexibility of usage.

In addition to the previous crack propagation methods based on remeshing, constraint release and splitting along element edges, this release offers a new method based on a cut through the element and is available for shells, 2D and axisymmetric elements. In addition, crack bifurcation capability is also implemented which enables engineers to analyze the effects of reinforcing members such as struts and spars on crack growth.

From a composites analysis standpoint, the 2011 release allows engineers to achieve a more accurate prediction of failure through a new Strain Invariant Failure Technique (SIFT), which is based upon the introduction of an amplified strain and examination of the invariants of these amplified strains. Composites simulations result in a massive amount of data, especially when there are a large number of plies in the material. To facilitate the evaluation of the results, new post codes have been added which will result in the maximum and/or minimum quantities through the thickness to be placed on the post file.

Several new electromagnetic tetrahedral and triangular elements are also available in this release for performing both harmonic and transient electromagnetic simulations. These elements may also be used in induction heating simulations. This makes it easier to work with complex geometry and meshes.

Faster Nonlinear Simulations
Marc 2011 offers enhanced solvers for parallel processing that enable faster simulations and significant improvements in computational performance. Out-of-core implementation of Pardiso solver has been shown to perform nearly as well as in-core solver. This would help engineers run larger models and take advantage of high performance processing at no additional cost.

"A much better, faster and more efficient solver, especially for larger deformation nonlinear analysis," said Kris Venkatesan, Design Engineer, DTR VMS, Ltd. "Another significant step forward."

To watch a video about the All New Marc 2011, please visit http://www.mscsoftware.com/Products/CAE-Tools/Marc.aspx

To register for the upcoming October 18th "What's New in Marc 2011" webcast, please visit http://pages.mscsoftware.com/WhatsNewinMarc2011.html

The Marc 2011 release will be available for customers to download later in October.

MSC Software Assists Knud E. Hansen A/S with Largest Ship Lengthening in the History of Vessel Conversion

MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced that it assisted Knud E. Hansen A/S in executing a feasibility study for the most extensive lengthening project in the history of ship conversions. The study was submitted to the Marine Classification Society by Danish Naval Architectural firm Knud E. Hansen A/S on behalf of a European ship owner, and was carried out using MSC's Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software solutions.

Building a new 240m long vessel to transport cars and passengers (RO-PAX vessel) takes two years' work in the shipyard and is a tremendous investment of about 120 million Euros. Conversion, and more specifically lengthening, of a vessel can efficiently tackle the problem that some operators face with increased traffic demand. It is possible to do a lengthening within three months once the vessel is taken temporarily out of service for shipyard work. In this particular case, Knud E. Hansen's goal was to add an additional 65 meters (from 175m to 240m) to the length of an existing vessel. This can be done by cutting the vessel into two parts and including an additional 65 meters as its middle section.

In order to identify the most critical areas for this exceptional vessel lengthening and propose the required structural design solutions, a global finite element modeling (FEM) and analysis was carried out on the entire vessel. The lengthened model was investigated for the two operational loading conditions that produce the maximum hogging and sagging conditions as required by the Marine Classification Society. The most stressed areas of the vessel were then highlighted and shown by plot diagrams to identify the most crucial parts of the design.

MSC's Nastran and Patran capabilities helped produce high quality results in a short timeframe. The creation of the FEM model and the first global strength analysis of the vessel took about two months. The software also helped investigate the necessary modifications to reinforce the ship structure, for the design approval of the Marine Classification Society.

"MSC's Patran and Nastran allowed easy creation of the FEM model by importing the geometry from the CAD model, and provided a quick analytical solution for such a complex task," said Mirco Zoia, Naval Architect and Offshore Engineer at Knud E. Hansen A/S. "Thanks to the reliability of the software and to Knud E. Hansen's experience, the submission for approval of the calculation to the Classification Society has been quite straight forward and very successful."

Hadley Group Technology Selects MSC Software's Marc

Marc's nonlinear simulations expected to improve designs and save at least £50,000 per year.

MSC Software Corporation announced that The Hadley Group, one of Europe's largest privately owned cold rolled steel manufacturers, has invested in Marc and Patran to accurately simulate their patented UltraSTEEL® process, as well as for Press Tool Design, Product Development and other Ancillary Processes.

The UltraSTEEL® process was first developed in 1984 and results in stronger roll formed products, thereby allowing the use of lighter sections. To enhance their understanding of UltraSTEEL®, The Hadley Group undertook a research project in 2009 in collaboration with the University of Wolverhampton.

To support this project, the team evaluated a number of commercial CAE software systems for advanced nonlinear simulation technology. MSC Marc was chosen, because of its capability to accurately represent four key engineering areas within The Hadley Group: the UltraSTEEL® material behavior, Press Tool Design, Product Development and Ancillary Processes.

"Benchmark investigations showed clearly that Marc was the best solution in every aspect," says Dr. Martin English, Design and Development Engineer, Hadley Group Technology. "Modernizing the UltraSTEEL® process will bring many improvements not only in production, but also to Hadley's customers. Having virtual simulation and test software reduces the time for product development from up to 6 months to just a few weeks. The ability to commission production lines based on better designs will save at least £50,000 per year."

Simulation data allows engineers to increase their knowledge of the process and therefore help develop more efficient solutions to complex, value-added design problems for their existing customers. MSC's Marc will also open new markets for The Hadley Group, as they will be able to provide an indication whether UltraSTEEL® is beneficial for any given profile, bringing additional revenue of around £100,000 per annum. It will also support and ease overall project planning.

"The Hadley Group is committed to providing the best service possible to support the increasingly technical demands of our worldwide customer base," says Dr. Michael Castellucci, Group Technical Director of Hadley Group Technology. "Simulation will provide us with the key ingredient to solve previously unanswered questions, as well as provide our customers with faster and more reliable information, even before we have any physical tooling for their new product."