MSC Nastran is a multidisciplinary structural analysis application used by engineers to perform static, dynamic, and thermal analysis across the linear and nonlinear domains, complemented with automated structural optimization and award winning embedded fatigue analysis technologies, all enabled by high performance computing.
Engineers use MSC Nastran to ensure structural systems have the necessary strength, stiffness, and life to preclude failure (excess stresses, resonance, buckling, or detrimental deformations) that may compromise structural function and safety. MSC Nastran is also used to improve the economy and passenger comfort of structural designs.
Manufacturers leverage MSC Nastran’s unique multidisciplinary approach to structural analysis at various points in the product development process. MSC Nastran may be used to:
MSC Nastran is based on sophisticated numerical methods, the most prominent being the Finite Element Method. Nonlinear FE problems may be solved with built-in implicit numerical techniques. A number of optimization algorithms are available, including MSCADS and IPOPT. The fatigue capability in MSC Nastran uses CAEfatigue, the fastest and most robust fatigue solution on the market today.
Common structural analysis solutions are dedicated to one or a few analysis disciplines. To build up a comprehensive level of engineering analysis capability, multiple software solutions must be acquired, and users must be trained with each new tool. MSC Nastran features multiple analysis disciplines, enabling customers with one structural analysis solution for a wide variety of engineering problems.
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MSC Software provides a number of resources to support your use of MSC Nastran. Available services include:
Our MSC application engineer comes out at least once a month to see how we are doing and help us with any issues. In fact this plane would have been impossible to model without the phone support, on-site visits and consulting services provided by the MSC support team" |
For general and product specific platform support, please visit our Platform Support page.
The investigation and simulation of nonlinear structural behavior has been mostly consigned to specialists in product development teams. However, with the rise in the use of newer elastomers, plastics, and metals that exhibit nonlinear response in product designs, it is imperative for this valuable solution to be available to all members of design and analysis teams.
The MSC Nastran Advanced Nonlinear module provides the advanced technology to address the biggest pain points involving advanced materials, complex interaction between various components, and large deformations. With the added benefit of a single solver, which helps in reducing training effort, engineers will achieve higher productivity by being able to move between linear and nonlinear analysis domains as needed, with ease.
The MSC Nastran Advanced Nonlinear module delivers a highly comprehensive set of capabilities allowing users to:
For general and product specific platform support, please visit our Platform Support page.
Most structural systems undergo cyclic loads during their service life and designers need to design them to ensure they do not fail early in life. Fatigue or durability studies are a critical part of product development, as early failures could raise warranty costs and loss of market share. While fatigue analysis is generally recognized as a key element of design, it is often done in either on ad hoc basis or in an inefficient sequential manner, with stress analysis followed by a durability analysis, adding to the development time and cost. Use of multiple products further adds to cost and analysis time.
MSC Nastran Embedded Fatigue (NEF) is an innovative durability analysis module that features the integration of fatigue calculations within MSC Nastran. In effect, stress and fatigue calculations can occur in one simultaneous operation. This is a significant step forward from GUI based fatigue processes, where fatigue studies are performed after stress studies are complete, and often by different analysis groups, and offers engineers a wealth of new opportunities to improve the life of products. Capabilities include:
Fatigue analysis of a wheel carrier. Nodes:325k, Elements: 200k, 8 Load Sources |
There are numerous reasons why fatigue analysis is faster with NEF, but 2 of the most notable are listed below:
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For general and product specific platform support, please visit our Platform Support page.
Fatigue life estimates are generally obtained with simulations conducted in time domain. This approach may not apply to many real world applications, especially when the parts being analyzed undergo complex, often random loading sequences. Dynamic nature of the loads also makes the use of time-domain analysis time consuming and cumbersome, requiring excessive analysis time and large amounts of storage space.
MSC Nastran Embedded Vibration Fatigue overcomes this problem by using the frequency domain techniques that are often used for dynamic structural analyses. This computationally efficient procedure provides life estimates orders of magnitude faster, with only a small fraction of system resources compared to traditional methods. Frequency domain methods for structural analysis also offer superior qualitative information about structural response.
Benefits of using MSC Nastran Embedded Vibration Fatigue Solution:
Supported Loadings:
Vibration Fatigue Capabilities:
For general and product specific platform support, please visit our Platform Support page.