For nearly 40 years, Simcenter Femap has been an essential tool for analysts to model complex engineering structures. The latest version, version 2401, includes several new features and improved functionality based on user feedback. Many of our customers use composite materials to reduce weight in their designs, and with new features in Simcenter Femap 2401, it is now easier to model composite structures. This includes having direct access to layups calculated through the Siemens Fibersim product .
Layup Builder – Overview
Simcenter Femap 2401 introduced a new, more efficient way to create composite finite element structures with different layouts. This is done through a new dockable panel called Layup Builder. In previous versions, creating composites required creating a Laminate property and a corresponding Layup to define stacking, followed by assigning that property to an area or region of the mesh. This process had to be repeated for all other areas. See how the new Layup Builder can provide a different approach and potentially a more efficient way to create composite finite element models.
Layup Builder – Using external data
The new Layup Builder dockable panel in Simcenter Femap 2401 offers an alternative to manually creating layups by providing the ability to define a general “Ply Stackup”. Once defined, any subset of lines in the Layup Stack can be applied to any part of the model to automatically generate the required layups. One method for defining a “Layup Stack” is to use data provided by another application. As seen in another video, Layup Stacks can be defined manually or loaded from an existing layup, but this video focuses on the “Attach composite HDF5 file” method.
Incompressible fluid splashes
There are two essential aspects of unrest: (a) predicting its onset and (b) mitigating the effects of unrest once it begins. Avoiding splash-inducing resonance will also reduce liquid pressure on the walls of the container. However, a side effect may be that the vessel is tuned to a resonance that could cause catastrophic failure. Therefore, to avoid splashing and reduce the risk of container failure, it is best to consider the coupled effects of the liquid and container to determine the coupled hydroelastic modes. This technique ensures that the modes that initiate oscillation and failure do not occur.
Simcenter Femap 2401 includes extended support for incompressible fluid dynamic analysis. While previous versions of Simcenter Femap included support for modeling incompressible fluid implicitly as a virtual fluid mass, Simcenter Femap 2401 allows users to model incompressible fluid explicitly as a fluid mass defined with solid elements. The defined fluid mass will allow users to model complicated fluid volume shapes and extended fluid volume types, such as volumes with splash-free surfaces. We can use these features to calculate the coupled hydroelastic modes of the structure.
Analysis Set Manager
Simcenter Femap 2401 makes it easy for ABAQUS users to configure their analyzes using familiar terminology and methodologies. Additionally, improvements have been made to the Simcenter Nastran Multi-Step Nonlinear Structural Solution (Sol 401) due to the large number of strategy parameters it uses.
Improvements in quality of life
To make the functionality more discoverable, Simcenter Femap implemented a Command Finder in version 2301, enhanced it for version 2306, and improved it again for version 2401.
Would you like to maximize your efficiency in modeling composite structures with Simcenter Femap 2401? Schedule a meeting with us at CAEXPERTS and discover how new features like Layup Builder and extended support for incompressible fluid dynamic analysis can optimize your designs. Don't miss the chance to explore these innovations and boost your productivity. Get in touch now!
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