MSC Announces Patran, Fatigue 2012

Available February

SANTA ANA, CA, Jan 23, 2012 - MSC Software Corporation, the leader in multidiscipline simulation solutions that accelerate product innovation, today announced its new 2012 releases of Patran and MSC Fatigue. The new releases, scheduled to be available for download in early February, provide engineers with significant modeling productivity, extended nonlinear and failure event simulations, and improved capabilities for predicting product fatigue life.

For more details about the Patran and MSC Fatigue 2012 releases, click here and view the new release videos.

Patran for CAE Modeling and Pre/Post Processing

Accelerate Modeling Productivity

The Patran 2012 new Model Browser Tree is introduced to help users efficiently navigate through the menus and also access and modify various aspects of their model. In addition to being intuitive and easy to use, the tree is also customizable so that users can adjust to suit their process. Easily visualizing, accessing, and manipulating database entities through the model tree reduces learning curves, increases productivity and makes Patran even more intuitive to use. The Model Browser Tree is available on Windows and Linux platforms.

Perform Extended Nonlinear & Failure Event Simulations

Engineers can analyze more nonlinear events and also study failure more accurately. Newly supported capabilities include cohesive zone modeling and virtual crack propagation for failure analysis, enhanced support for contact that include segment-to-segment contact detection, contact table enhancements and new nonlinear elements.

The cohesive zone modeling technique is used to simulate delamination or crack growth and is especially beneficial for composite structure failure analysis. Virtual Crack Closure Technique is popular in simulating crack growth using a simple, but general way to evaluate energy release rate of a crack. The segment-to-segment contact method implemented in Marc and MSC Nastran and now supported in Patran, provides improved accuracy and overcomes the limitations of master segment-slave node approach of the traditional node-to-segment contact method. This method is well suited for both higher and lower order elements and provides smoother contact stresses.

Other contact enhancements include shell edge-to-edge, shell edge-to-solid face, and beam-to-solid face contacts with support for moment carrying glue, and also improved contact table support for breaking glue, anisotropic friction and wear factor. Several new 1D, 2D and 3D element formulations implemented in MSC Nastran and Marc are also now supported by Patran, providing engineers with more tools and options to analyze nonlinear models more accurately.

Predict Fatigue and Product Failure

Several fatigue analysis types have been updated as part of the new solver in MSC Fatigue 2012. MSC Fatigue uses stress or strain results from finite element (FE) models, variations in loading, and cycling material properties to estimate life-to-failure.

Both the traditional Stress-Life (S-N or total life) and Strain-Life (E-N, local strain or Crack Initiation) methods are available. With minimal knowledge of fatigue analysis, users can perform such evaluations directly in their familiar FE modeling environment. The intuitive interface and the speed at which the fatigue analysis is performed enables durability concerns to be moved up front in the product development cycle, thus avoiding costs due to re-designs, prototyping and testing.

MSC Fatigue Shaker in the 2012 release predicts the fatigue life of components subjected to a single input random vibration load. Shaker table tests are widely specified and are routinely used to “proof test” components before sign-off. Additionally, analysis of spot welds using MSC Fatigue 2012 Spot Weld can help users build optimized designs and reduce prototyping and testing costs. MSC Fatigue 2012 also includes a new structural stress based Seam Weld module as well as the traditional weld classification approach (BS5400/ BS7608 etc.) for the fatigue design of weldment details.

About MSC Software

MSC Software is one of the ten original software companies and the worldwide leader in multidiscipline simulation. As a trusted partner, MSC Software helps companies improve quality, save time and reduce costs associated with design and test of manufactured products. Academic institutions, researchers, and students employ MSC technology to expand individual knowledge as well as expand the horizon of simulation. MSC Software employs 1,000 professionals in 20 countries. For additional information about MSC Software’s products and services, please visit www.mscsoftware.com.

The MSC Software corporate logo, Simulating Reality, Adams, Dytran, Easy5, Marc, MD Adams, MD Nastran, Patran, Mentat, MSC, Masterkey, Masterkey Plus, MSC Nastran, Mvision, SimDesigner, SimManager, and SimXpert are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MSC Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. NASTRAN is a registered trademark of NASA. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

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