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LittleUsefulThingswithFemapandNXNastran

Thesearemypickofthepack: CtrlZtobringuptheLocateDialogBoxwhileyouareinanotherDialogBox ThePCGLSSIterativeSolver TheNXNastran64BitSparseMatrixSolver(quitefast) Th NX N t 64 Bit S M ti S l ( it f t) UsingtheSaveandLoadViewOptiontocustomizeyourViewWindow FemapsAPILanguage NXNastranparam,bailout,1 p , , FemapsandNXNastanHelpDocumentation

February 2010

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CtrlZtobringuptheLocateDialogBoxwhileyou areinanotherDialogBox

ThisisquitethelittleFemapsecret,butitisinthemanual.SeetheFemapUserManualSection4.2.4:

February 2010

Youmaybeasking yourselfhowIwoulduse this,butthinkofallthe this but think of all the timesyouhaveusedthe Geometry/Solid/Slice toolandneededto locatedadimension!Or wantedtosnaptoapoint (Ctrl+P)withinanother box

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ThePCGLSSIterativeSolver

Ifyouarerunninga10nodetetrahedralmodelwithalimitednumberofrigidlinksandbeamelements(it hatesplateelements),thisisthesolverforyou.WhenyousetupyouranalysisjobwithintheAnalysis ManagerjustsetthesolvertheElementalIter:

February 2010

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TheNXNastran64BitSparseMatrixSolver (quitefastforlargemodels)

Forsolvingwhatwasconsideredoften theimpossible,usethenewNXNastran 64bitsolver(ILP64bitNXNastran)with 64 bit solver (ILP 64bit NX Nastran) with atleast8GBytesofRAM(thelimitis20 millionterabytes).Thissolveristurned onwithintheFemappreferences.Itis finetousewithsmallermodelanditis fine to use with smaller model and it is nowmydailysolver.

February 2010

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UsingtheSaveandLoadViewOptionto customizeyourViewWindow(PartIofII)

FemapsViewWindowis actuallyaminidatabase. Inthedefaultmode,it comesupwiththelabel Untitled.ThisView Windowsactuallystores allyourViewOptions andyourViewSelect options.Itwillalso rememberyour backgroundcolorand orientationofthemodel.
February 2010

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UsingtheSaveandLoadViewOptionto customizeyourViewWindow(PartIIofII)

Onceyouhaveeverythingconfiguredthewayyouwantit(elementcolors,contourtype,transparent O h thi fi d th t it ( l t l t t t t background,etc),youcangiveyourViewWindowanameandsaveitusingtheVisibilitytab.Oncesaved, youcanreloaditintoadifferentmodelbyusingLoadView:

February 2010

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FemapsAPILanguage p g g

FemapsAPIispowerful. Ifyouwanttocustomize theinterfaceandavoid repetitivetasks itcan doitall.ThePredictive Engineeringwebsitehas examplesandtutorials. TheUsernameand Passwordaregivenin ouremailsignature blocks.
February 2010

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NXNastranparam,bailout,1 p , ,

February 2010

Iknowyouareprobably wonderingwhattheheckthisis about.. Whenyouhaveamodelthatis spinningoffintospace(a constraintproblem)andyouare strugglingtofigureoutwhatpart ofyourmodelisnotsufficiently constrained,youcanalwaysjust forceNXNastrantosolveand thendebugthefinalsolution. JustgototheNastranBulkData Optionspageandhitthebutton StartTextandinthedialogbox typeinparam,bailout,1

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FemapsandNXNastanHelp p p Documentation

WhenIdomyFemapandNX Nastrancourse,Ialwaysspenda fewminutestalkingaboutthe documentationthatcomeswith FemapandNXNastran.Itis impressive.Itisextremely valuableandwillsaveyoudaysof analysistimeifyouspendafew hoursreadingthroughwhatis available.Allofthisisinstalledin yourcurrentseatofFemap.Just openFemapandgotoHelp.
February 2010