FEA System Details

This topic lists supported element types, file extensions, and procedural issues specific to each supported FEA tool.

NASTRAN

• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• The output deck is the “.nas” or “.dat” file.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• Supported element types are:
  • CTRIA (3 and 6 node triangles)
  • CQUAD (4 and 8 node quadrilaterals)
  • CTETRA (4 node and 10 node tetrahedra)
  • CHEXA (8 node hexahedra)
  • CPENTA (6 node prisms)
• When the converted deck is read back into Nastran, the new loads are added to the current load set.

ABAQUS

• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• The output deck is the “.inp” file.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• Abaqus files generated in Patran, Pro/E, FEMAP, I-DEAS, and Abaqus CAE are supported.
• Supported element types include most of the 2D and 3D solid, continuum elements including:
  • 3D Solid Elements: C3D4*, C3D6*, C3D8*, C3D10*
  • Axisymmetric Elements: CAX3*, CAX4*, CAX6*, CAX8*
  • 2D Plane Strain Elements: CP3E*, CPE4*, CPE6*, CPE8*
  • 2D Plane Stress Elements: CPS3*, CPS4*, CPS6*, CPS8*
• When the converted deck is read back into Abaqus, the new loads are added to the current load set.

Ansys

• Ansys versions higher than 6.0 are supported.
• The output deck is the “.ans” or “.cdb” file. Use the command “cdwrite” in Ansys to create an “.ans” file. This command is entered in the command line. The arguments are:

CDWRITE option, Fname, Ext

Use “All” for “Option.” Enter the filename with directory (if not the working directory) for “Fname”. The default extension is “cdb”. Alternatively, enter “ans” as the extension.

• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• Supported Ansys element types:
• PLANE2, 13, 25, 35, 42, 55, 67, 75, 77, 78, 82, 83, 141, 145, 146, 162, 182, 183
• SHELL28, 41, 43, 57, 63, 93, 131, 132, 143, 150, 157, 163, 181
• SOLID5, 45, 46, 62, 64, 65, 69, 70, 72, 87, 90, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98, 117, 122, 123, 127, 128, 142, 147, 148, 164, 168, 185, 186, 187
• Autodesk Simulation CFD supports the linear varieties of these elements and 10-node tetrahedrals. No other non-linear element types are supported.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• When the converted deck is read back into Ansys, the new loads are added to the current load set.

Pro/Mechanica

• No input deck is required. An “.fnf” file with the same name as the analysis is output automatically for every analysis based on a Pro/E geometry.
• Import the “.fnf” file into your Pro/Mechanica model.
• Temperatures and pressure are included in this file.
• Autodesk Simulation CFD will output two versions of the fnf file format: one that is compatible with Pro/E 2001 and one that is compatible with more recent versions of Pro/Engineer.

FEMAP

• FEMAP neutral file version 7.1 is supported
• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• Supported element types are:
  • 2 (3 node triangles)
  • 4 (4 node quadrilaterals)
  • 6 (4 node tetrahedra)
  • 7 (6 node prisms)
  • 8 (8 node hexahedra)
  • 10 (10 node tetrahedra)
• The output deck is the “.neu” file.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• When the converted deck is read back into FEMAP, the new loads are added to the current load set.

Cosmos/M

• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• Supported element types are:
  • 3 node triangles
  • 4 node quadrilaterals
  • 4 node tetrahedrals
  • 5 node pyramids
  • 6 node prisms
  • 8 node hexahedrals
  • 10 node tetrahedrals
• The output deck is the “.gfm” file.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• When the converted deck is read back into COSMOS, the new loads are added to the current load set.

• COSMOSworks does not support the use of the GFM file. An alternative procedure for working with COSMOSworks is to:
  1. Set up & mesh the model in COSMOS (include dummy pressure BC)
  2. Export GFM file with only the FEA info (not the geometry). (Note that a GFM file and a GEO file are basically the same thing. Change the extentension from .gfm to .geo)
  3. Open GEO file in Geostar.
  4. Edit the same GEO file by deleting all the top stuff in the file until you start seeing node (ND) and element (EL) info.
  5. Save this as *.GFM, then run it through Autodesk Simulation CFD.
  6. The output will be able to read back into Geostar after deleting out the ND & EL lines (so only the PEL boundary condition lines remain).
  7. Run the structural analysis in Geostar.

I-deas

• I-deas versions 9 and higher are supported.
• Nodal temperatures and elemental pressures are supported.
• Supported element types are:
  • 40 (plane stress elements)
  • 50 (plane strain elements)
  • 80 (axisymmetric solids)
  • 90 (thin shell elements)
  • 110 (3D solid elements) The output deck is the “.unv” file.
• The converted deck from Autodesk Simulation CFD has the words “_newBC” appended to its name.
• When the converted deck is read back into I-deas, the new loads are added to the current load set.