Nastran Quick Start Guide

Follow the steps below to run an analysis with Helius PFA using Autodesk Nastran.

1. Create a material using Composite Material Manager.

   A Helius PFA-compatible material cannot be created using a pre-processor for Autodesk Nastran or using an Autodesk Nastran command inside an input file. A Helius PFA material can only be created using Composite Material Manager. The material file must be saved in the Helius PFA material library. By default, materials are saved to a specific materials directory in your home directory:

   %APPDATA%\Autodesk\Helius PFA 2019\Materials

   where %APPDATA% is the value of the environment variable named APPDATA.

   For additional information, refer to the Composite Material Manager User's Guide.

2. Create a finite element model with the Nastran Editor or other general pre-processor.

   After a model is created using the Editor or another general pre-processor, the Autodesk Nastran input file must be modified to facilitate an analysis with Helius PFA.

   For additional information, refer to the User's Guide for Nastran.

3. Submit the model to the Nastran solver.

   Submitting a Helius PFA model to the Nastran solver is no different than submitting a standard Autodesk Nastran model. You can submit directly from the command line or from within the Nastran Editor (Analysis > Run). You may use a standard Windows or Linux command prompt or the Command Shell installed with Helius PFA. Review the NASTRAN Command Line section of the Autodesk Nastran Reference Guide for specific syntax requirements.