FEMAP Student Guide

SIEMENS
Femap 101
Student Guide
Version 10.1.1
10 1 1
Siemens PLM Software

Proprietary and restricted rights notice
This software and related documentation are proprietary to Siemens Product

Lifecycle Management Software Inc.
© 2010 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All Rights

Reserved.
All trademarks belong to their respective holders.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 ii

Introduction to Femap with NX Nastran Student Guide
Femap 101
Training Class Agenda
Day 1
Lesson No Topic Workshop(s)
1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap 
2 The Femap User Interface – Part 1 
3 Geometry Creation and Editing 
4 Materials and Properties 
5 Boundary Conditions – Loads and Constraints 
Day 2
6 The Femap User Interface – Part 2
7 Model Display and Visualization 
8 Meshing 
9 Analysis Set Manager
10 Postprocessing 
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iii

Day 3
11 The Meshing Toolbox 
12 Midsurfacing 
13 Assembly Modeling 
14 Finite Element Modeling Debugging
Student Topics
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iv

L
Lesson 1 The
Th FEA M
Modeling
d li P Process
Using Femap
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of general overview of Finite Element Modeling and
Analysis and the tools in Femap available to generate FEA models.
Topics
• What is Finite Element Analysis?

• What comprises a FEA model?
• Femap Modeling Process Flow
• Femap Model Objects and Commands
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 1-1

Lesson 1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap
What is Finite Element Analysis?

A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a mathematical simulation of a physical structure
when internal and external forces are applied to it.
It can be used to simulate the following types of physical behavior:

• Structural
• Thermal
• Fluid Flow
• Optical
• Electromagnetic
Femap can be used to model the first four types of FEA models.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-2

What comprises a FEA model?

A Finite Element Analysis model is a collection of:
• Finite Elements - well-defined mathematical models of:
• Beams and Rods
• S f
Surface or Shell
Sh ll elements
l t
• Solids (Tetrahedral or Hex)
• Miscellaneous elements such as Springs, Mass, Rigid, and Contact
• Material attributes
• Boundary conditions (loads and constraints)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-3

Takeaway
A FEA model is at best, an approximation of a physical structure.
The accuracy of the results from a FEA model are only as good as the quality of
the mesh and the accurate application of material attributes and boundary
conditions
diti to
t a model.
d l
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-4

Femap Objects and Workflow for Generating a FEA Model
Geometry
Materials
Boundary Conditions
• Constraints
• Loads
Properties
Mesh
Analyze
Postprocess
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-5

Geometry
Import Geometry Create Geometry Modify Geometry
File, Import Geometryy Geometry,y commands

Geometry commands
Geometry,
File, References Modify, commands
Direct CAD geometry interfaces

 Solid Edge, NX (Unigraphics and I-
deas) ProE,
deas), ProE CATIA,
CATIA and
SolidWorks.
Industry standard CAD geometry
Interfaces
 Parasolid, ACIS, IGES, STEP, STL
Femap geometry creation and editing
 Points, 2D and 3D curves
 Surfaces
 Solid creation and editing
operations
 Midplane surface extraction and
editing
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-6

Materials and Properties

Materials Properties
Model, Material commands Model, Property commands
• Isotropic • Line elements

• 2D and 3D Orthotropic • Plane elements
• 2D and 3D Anisotropic • Volume elements
• Elastomers – Hyperelastic, Foam, • “Other” elements
etc.
• Analysis program specific types
(NX Nastran, MSC Nastran, LS-
Dyna, Abaqus, Marc)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-7

Boundary Conditions
Constraints Loads
Model, Constraint commands Model, Load commands
Femap models can contain multiple Constraint Sets and Load Sets
Constraints and Loads can be assigned to geometry or meshes
For loads, the Model Info window allows:
 Creation, editing, highlighting, and deletion of Load and Constraint sets.
 Creation, editing, highlighting, and deletion of individual Loads, Load Definitions,
Constraints, and Constraint Definitions.
 Creation and editing of Body, Nonlinear, Dynamic, and Heat Transfer loads and
settings.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-8

Femap Model Objects and Commands – Meshing
Mesh Control and Multi-

Single Nodes Single Elements
element Meshing
Mesh, Mesh Control,

commands Model, Node… Model, Element…
Mesh, Geometry command command
commands
Additional mesh creation and editing tools are available through the Meshing
Toolbox
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-9

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Analysis
View Results
Analyze Report
(Postprocess)
List, Output,
View, Select… (F5)
commands
Model, Analysis View, Options… (F6)
command View, Advanced Post…
Data Table
commands
operations
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1 - 10

Lesson 2 The FEMAP User
Th U Interface
I t f –
Part 1
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of the Femap User Interface.
Topics
• Femap Main Window Layout

• Graphics Windows
• Femap Main Menus
• Toolbars and Customizable Menus
• View Manipulation – Part 1
• Dockable Panes
• Model Info Tree
• Entity Editor
• Status Bar and Tray
• Right Mouse Button
• E tit Selection
Entity S l ti
• Setting the Pick or “Snap” Mode
• Locate and Vector Dialog Boxes
• Shortcut Keys
• Online Help
• Units
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 2-1

Lesson 2 The Femap User Interface – Part 1
Femap Main Window Layout
Femap Main Femap Title Bar

Menu
Femap Graphics Window
Named Tabs for Graphics Windows
Tabs for “Stacked”

Stacked
dockable panes
Floating dockable
pane
Current Model Status

FEMAP Trays
(FEMAP Menu Help when FEMAP Status and
in command) Tray bar
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 2

Graphics Windows
Femap’s graphics windows have the ability to display:
• Wireframe, hidden line, or rendered FEA models
• XY plots of functions and analysis results.
Multiple Models can be opened at the same time each with multiple views.
• A single model with multiple views has the view name displayed in the view tab
• When multiple models
are open, each view has
their view tab displayed
as Model Name : View Name
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 3

Graphics Windows (continued)

Dynamic Viewing
• Views can be dynamically rotated, zoomed, and panned using the mouse.
• Through the use of a supported SpaceBall device
True Windows - provide easy transfer from Femap to other Windows programs.
• Cut and Paste
• Windows Metafiles
• JPEG, BITMAP, GIF, TIFF, and PNG picture file formats
• AVI and Animated GIF animation files
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 4

Femap Main Menus

Provides access to most Femap operations through drop-down menus.
• Menu commands displays short-cut keys (hotkeys) and shows toolbar icons on
menu (includes user-defined shortcut keys and icons, when assigned)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 5

Customize Dialog Box

Toolbars
• Turns toolbars on and off
• Create and delete user-
defined toolbars.
toolbars
Commands
• Add regular and user-
defined commands to an
existing menu or toolbar.
K b
Keyboard
d
• Designate and manage
shortcut keys (hotkey)
combinations for specific
commands.
User Commands
• Create and manage user-
defined commands.
Options
• Set options on the toolbars such as using large icons, showing tooltips (with or
without shortcut keys), and menu animation options (options are selected for ALL
toolbars).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 6

Toolbars
Dockable Toolbars
• Toolbars can be
docked anywhere around the perimeter of
the main Femap p window.
• When “docked”, toolbars can be placed
next to one another or “stacked” on top of
one another.
Floating Toolbars
• Toolbars can be “peeled”
peeled off the perimeter of the main Femap window and made to
“float” anywhere within the main Femap window.
• “Floating” toolbars can be reshaped.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 7

Customizing Toolbars
Three (3) methods to customize or create a new toolbar:
• Select the Tools, Toolbars, Customize command
• Right-click in a toolbar pane or outside of any Femap pane
• Click
Cli k th
the Customize
C t i iconi (d
(down-arrow icon)
i ) on a d
docked
k d or fl
floating
ti ttoolbar
lb and
d th
then
select Customize from the context-sensitive menu.
Clicking the Down icon in a toolbar

allows direct access to that toolbar
and has options to disable
commands in that toolbar.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 8

Creating Custom Toolbars

Click the New button inside the Toolbars tab, then give the new toolbar a unique name.
1. Click the Commands tab and choose a category.
2. “Drag” the desired command or menu onto the blank toolbar
3 Alter
3. Alt any icons
i using
i the
th individual
i di id l icon
i editing
diti ttools
l explained
l i d on th
the previous
i page
4. Close the Customize dialog box and start using the new user toolbar.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 9

Toolbars – Icon Editing Menu

While the Customize Dialog box is open, you can also edit individual icons by placing
the cursor over any icon and clicking the right mouse button. This will bring up a menu
as follows:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 10

View Manipulation
View Rotation, Zooming and Panning
View Orientation Toolbar
Entity Display Toolbar
View Toolbar
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 11

View Rotation, Zooming and Panning

Views can be dynamically manipulated with the mouse by holding a mouse button and
keys and dragging the mouse in the Graphics window:
Action No command active While a command is active
Left or Middle mouse

Rotate Middle mouse button
button
Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Middle
Pan Ctrl+Middle mouse button
mouse button
Shift+Left or Shift+Middle
Zoom Shift+Middle mouse button
mouse button
The mouse’s Scroll wheel can be used for dynamic zooming.

Femap Preferences can be modified to swap the use of the Ctrl and Shift keys for
dynamic viewing
viewing.
• Located under the User Interface tab, Mouse Interface options.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 12

View Orientation Toolbar

The View Orientation toolbar allows you to rapidly reorient a view to one of Femap’s
standard nine (9) views.
• This toolbar is not activated as part of the standard Femap GUI layout, you will need
to activate and pplace it.
The Isometric, Dimetric, and Trimetric view orientation(s) can be modified using
Femap’s
Femap s Preferences.
• Select the View tab and set the angles for these views under the View and Dynamic
Rotation section.
As an alternative, you can use the View, Rotate, Model command (F8 hotkey) to rotate
or orient views.
• Version 10 added the option to “Rotate Around” any coordinate system, including
those defined by the user.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 13

Entity Display Toolbar

The Entity Display toolbar toggles the display of different entity types within a Graphics
window.
Coordinate
Systems Constraints
Text
Nodes
Surfaces
Regions Elements
View Analysis
Model Toggle
Loads
View Geometry
Toggle Curves
Connectors
View Labels
Toggle
Points
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 14

Entity
y Display
p y Control with the
View Visibility dialog box
The View Visibility dialog box controls the display of entities in a manner similar to the
Entity Display toolbar, but in more detail.
• Access via the View, Visibility command, the Ctrl+Q hotkey or by clicking the View
Visibilityy icon on the View toolbar.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 15

View Toolbar
The View toolbar allows control of the active view orientation, magnification, view style,
and layers.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 16

View Toolbar – View Style Icon Pulldown Menu

The View Style menu controls settings for view type (wireframe, hidden line, etc.), mesh
display, element colors, mesh size indicators and other commonly used display settings.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 17

Dockable Panes
There are seven (7) standard dockable

panes
Two other dockable panes are available
• Model Info for customization of Femap:
• Meshing Toolbox
• Program
P Fil
File
• Entity Editor
• API Programming
• Entity Info
Can be turned on and off using the Tools
• Data Table
menu and the Panes toolbar.
• Data Surface Editor
Panes can be resized when docked or
• Messages Window floating.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 18

Dockable Panes – Display Configurations

Panes can be shown on the screen in a few different configurations
• Floating
• Docked
• D k d and
Docked d “Stacked”
“St k d” ((click
li k T
Tab
b tto activate
ti t P Pane))
• Docked and Tabbed (Retracted) – Place cursor over tab to have pane “fly-out” and
be used (Docked and Tabbed Panes can also be “Stacked”)
The Push Pin Icon is used to toggle

a dockable pane from simply
“Docked” to “Docked and Tabbed”.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 19

Dockable Panes - Positioning

Docking position indicators are used to position Dockable Panes in specific places in the
interface and can also be used to “stack” the panes.
• Docking locations appear as arrows.
Docking position indicators only appear when a dockable pane is being dragged from
one position to another.
• An outline of where the pane will be positioned will appear when the cursor is placed
over a specific Indicator.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 20

Messages Window
Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Other Windows, Messages menu
• Provides information on commands Femap is performing, and their status.
• List and error information
U d k window
Undock i d b
by ddouble-clicking
bl li ki on the
th Title
Titl Bar,
B return
t to
t previous
i docked
d k d size
i b by
double-clicking Title Bar again.
• Messages window can be resized when docked or floating.
Copy or Save Information from List

• Highlight and Cut
• S
Save tto File
Fil
Note: When typing in the Messages window, anytime you type a shortcut key, the
command assigned to the key will be invoked.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 21

Messages Window – Other Options

Format contents of the Messages window with the context sensitive pop-up menu (right-
mouse click).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 22

Model Info Tree

Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Model Info command or with the Panes
toolbar.
Provides quick access to “top-level” entities in Femap through an easy to navigate tree
structure.
t t
Top-level items found in the tree

include:
• Coordinate Systems
• Geometry – Solids and Sheet Solids
Only
• Connections
• Properties
• Regions
• Connectors
• Model
• Elements
• Materials
• Properties
• Layups
• Loads and Constraints
• Functions
• Data Surfaces
• Analyses – Analysis Sets
• Results – Output Sets
• Views
• Groups
• Layers
• Selection List
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 23

Model Info Tree – Addition Features and Selection List

Context-Sensitive menus available for each item in the Model Tree by highlighting an
item then clicking the right mouse button.
Multiple entities can be highlighted at the same time in order to perform operations on all
off the
th entities
titi att once.
Active Entity of each entity type is displayed with Blue text in the tree.
Selection List – used when Select Multiple is active in the Select Toolbar.
• Lists each entity type currently in the selection set
• Displays the number of entities of each entity type in parentheses
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 24

Model Info Tree – Icons

• Collapse/Expand All
• Collapses or expands ALL categories in the Model Info tree at once. Can be
used to only show what you need to view specific entities.
• Reload From Model
• Reloads the Model Info tree with all current information from the model. Always
collapses the whole tree completely.
• Reset All Visibility Options
• Toggles the display of all entities on
• Send To Data Table
• Sends selected data to the Data Table pane for sorting, filtering, and evaluation.
Data Table MUST be open and unlocked for this icon to be used.
Show When Selected pull down

 Toggle on/off and settings for highlighting
of selected objects. Similar to the
Window, Show Entities command.
Note: Defaults for Show When Selected can be set in the Show Entities
Defaults section found on the User Interface tab of the Preferences dialog
box.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 25

Model Info Tree –

Context Sensitive Menus
Context-Sensitive menus are available for each item in the Model Tree by highlighting
an item then clicking the right mouse button.
Menu is different for each entity type in the tree.
Some context sensitive menu commands require that multiple entities be chosen to
activate a command. (e.g., MultiSet Animate)
• Select individual
entities while holding
down the CTRL key.
• Hold down the SHIFT
key and select a first
entity and a last entity
to select a continuous
list of entities.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 26

Entity Editor
Turn on and off with the Tools, Entity Editor menu or with the Panes toolbar.
Provides information of specific entities in Femap displayed using different types of

fields. The types of fields include:
• Numeric Value - Enables you to enter a numeric
value for a specific field
• Text - Text can be typed directly into these fields.
Usually in a Title, Text, or Notes field
• Drop-down menu button - Button has arrow
facing down. Lists options for that can be
selected for a particular field.
• Options button - Button has three dots. Brings
up the color palette or a dialog box that is used
to change the information in that specific field.
• Read Only - Cannot be changed. Shown in
Blue text.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 27

Entity Editor (continued)

Entities can be sent to the Entity Editor using the following entry methods:
• Model Info pane
• When an entity in the tree is highlighted, it will appear in the Entity Editor
(Analyses and entities in the Selection List from the tree will not populate the
Entity Editor when highlighted)
• Select Toolbar
• When activated, the last chosen
entity will appear in the
Entity Editor pane.
• D t Table
Data T bl pane
• Once the Data Table has entity
data in it, every time a row
containing entity data in the table
is highlighted, it will appear in the
Entity Editor.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 28

Entity Editor – Icons
• Lock/Unlock Toggle - When unlocked, the Entity Editor will always display the
entity that was last selected using an entity entry method. When locked, the data
in the Entity Editor will remain there until the pane is unlocked.
• Copy to Clipboard - Copies the current data in the Entity Editor to the clipboard
so it can be pasted into the Messages window or an outside program
• Clear All – clears the contents of Entity Editor window
window. Does not delete the
entity.
• Categorized - Default listing method of the Entity Editor. For each entity, groups
similar parameters, options, and settings together for more efficient use.
• Alphabetic - Displays all the fields without any categories in alphabetical order
• Collapse/Expand All - Collapses or expands ALL categories in the Entity Editor at
once. Can be used to only show what you need to modify specific entities.
• Reload From Model - Reloads the Entity Editor fields with the values that are
currently in the model for the chosen entity. Use this to recover the original values
for all the fields, except for modifications made with a prior Update Model action.
• Update Model - Applies any changes made in the Entity Editor to a chosen entity
and saves the changes to the model database
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 29

Entity Editor – Other Options

Expand/Collapse toggles
• Allow you to collapse and expand individual categories and sub-categories inside
the Entity Editor.
Entity Editor Help

• Shows a title and short description of what each field of every entity represents.
Also documents the Nastran Bulk Data entry (if applicable) the field will produce
when a Nastran Input File (*.DAT, *.BDF, or *.NAS file usually) is exported.

• Different menus appear when the right
mouse button is clicked depending on what
type of field is currently highlighted. For
instance, when a Text or Numerical Value
field is highlighted, a menu will pop-up
which
hi h will
ill allow
ll you tto Undo
U d (reverts
( t to
t last
l t
saved value while field is still highlighted),
Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, or Select All.
Note: You can use calculator functions

(addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division), as well
as exponentials (i.e. 1.234E4 for
12,340 OR 5.67E-3 for 0.00567) in
any real number field.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 30

Status Bar and Tray

Can be turned on and off using the Tools, Other Windows, Status Bar command.
• Located at bottom of Femap Main Window
• Provides running total of nodes and elements in model.
• Displays a short description of commands when in the menu structure of Femap or

positioned over icon.
Tray on Right
• Provides Access to Current Entities
• Displays Active Property, Load Set, Constraint Set, Group, and Output Set
• Change Current Entity or create a new one
• Right-clicking the Status Bar brings up a customization menu which can be used to
toggle individual Tray items on and off
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 31

Right Mouse Button

Provides quick and convenient access to common commands.
OK and Cancel for commands and dialog boxes
Previous Command
• Recalls the last command executed
Modify the Workplane.
Show Tooltips
• When activated, shows information for a
highlighted entity in a “Tooltips” window
(small yellow window in the main graphics
window)
• Works much like Dynamic Query in
previous versions of FEMAP when there
is entity active in the Select toolbar
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 32

Right Mouse Button - continued

Picking Options - Snap To, Pick Query, Pick Any Inside, Pick All Inside
• See section on setting the “snap” mode”
Select
• This menu off options
Thi ti allows
ll you to
t control
t l
which coordinates will be selected when
ou use the graphics cursor to pick a
location.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 33

Right Mouse Button - continued

Equations
• Brings up the Equation Editor in FEMAP
(a field must be highlighted in a dialog
p
box for this option to be available).
)
Visibility, Post Data, and XY Data

• Convenient method of changing view
parameters
• Menu commands for these option
several layers down, right mouse button
provided easy access
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 34

Entity Selection Dialog Box

The Entity Selection dialog box is used by commands to build a list of entity IDs that will
be used for the operation.
• The Add method allows you to graphically, and through Methods, add entity IDs to
the list of IDs.
• The Remove method allows you to graphically remove entity IDs from the list, and
is dependant on the order you removed the entities. So if you were to add the entity
ID after removing, it would still be included in the list.
• The Exclude method allows you to exclude entity IDs permanently from the list
(Used primarily with Groups)
• The Delete command will delete the entity ID from the list
list.
• Selection methods with the Method button vary depending on the entity type.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 35

Entity Selection Dialog Box - Continued

The Entity Selection dialog box is used by commands to build a list of entity IDs that will
be used for the operation.
The Pick button allows you to:
• Switch between Normal,
Normal Front,
Front and Query picking
• Select entities graphically from the screen using a Box, Circle, Polygon, or Freehand
shape
• Hotkeys are available for the following:
• Box – press and hold the Shift key
• Circle – press and hold the Ctrl key
• Polygon – press and hold the Ctrl+Shift keys
• Select based on Coordinate(s), Around a Point, Around a Vector, or Around a Plane
• Specify options for selecting Combined Curves and Boundary Surfaces
• Add additional entities based on entities already selected using Add Connected
Fillets and Add Tangent Surfaces
• S l t entities
Select titi matching
t hi ththe Color
C l selected
l t d ffrom a color
l palette.
l tt
• Select From List button. For objects that have "Titles" the "Select from List"
button can be used to choose entities from a list dialog box. Ctrl+L in a dialog
box field brings up the list of "Titled" entities.
• The Preview button graphically highlights the entities selected.
Note: Clicking the icon in a Femap Entity Selection dialog box takes you
directly to the Femap User Guide through on-line help and has a table of all
the Selection methods for each entity type.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 36

Using
g the Filter in the
Select from List Dialog Box
With Femap v10.1.1, when the Select from List dialog box is used, you can filter the
selection list to reduce the number of entries to select from .
• Enter the filter string and push the Filter icon to reduce the search list to the
g
those entries that contain the filter string
• You can enter additional filter strings or push the Clear All Filters
icon to clear your filter and return to the original, unfiltered selection list.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 37

Setting the Pick or “Snap” Mode

For any Femap operation where a location is
used to specify a coordinate, you can set the
Pick or “Snap Mode” to one of four types:
• p to Screen ((default))
Snap
• Snap to Grid – snaps to the nearest grid
location on the current XY Workplane
regardless whether the workplane’s
display is toggled on or off.
• Snap to Point – location snaps to the
nearest p
point on the visible model. Points
do not need to be displayed.
• Snap to Node – location snaps to the
nearest node on the visible model.
Nodes do not need to be displayed.
The snap mode can be specified

by e
either:
t e
• Using the standard context-
sensitive menu activated by
clicking the right mouse button
in the Graphics pane.
• Using the Snap Mode
pulldown menu on the Select
p
toolbar.
The current Snap Mode is always
displayed on the Select toolbar.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 38

Locate Dialog Box

Whenever a location is required in Femap, the Locate – Enter … dialog box will appear.
• Enter coordinates directly (relative to specified Coordinate System) or
• Click the Methods button to change the method of specifying a location
• See section 4.3.1 Entity Selection

in the Femap User Manual
(user.pdf).
N t S
Note: Setting
tti the
th Method
M th d in
i th
the Locate
L t
dialog box does NOT change the
Snap Mode
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 39

Vector Locate Dialog Box

Whenever a vector is required in Femap, the Vector Locate – Select Vector … dialog
box will appear.
• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of the vector
vector.
Note: To change the Method of specifying the coordinates of the vector, place the
cursor in one of the coordinate boxes, and press the Ctrl+Z hotkey.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 40

Plane Locate Dialog Box

Whenever a Plane is required in Femap, the Plane Locate – Specify Plane … dialog box
will appear.
• Click the Methods button to change the definition method of a plane
plane.
Note: To change the method of specifying the coordinates of the plane, place the
cursor in one of the coordinate boxes
boxes, and press the
Ctrl+Z hotkey.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 41

Shortcut Keys
Femap contains preprogrammed shortcut keys for commonly used commands.
• F5 - View Select, F6 - View Options, F8 - View Rotate, Ctrl+D - View Redraw,
Ctrl+A - View Autoscale Visible, Ctrl+G - View Regenerate, Ctrl+Z - Undo, and
Manyy More. ((See Appendix
pp A of User Guide))
• Preprogrammed Keys shown on Menu Structure.
Dialogue Box Keys – available when in a command.

• Ctrl+A - Measure an Angle
• Ctrl+C - Windows Copy
• Ctrl+D - Measure a Distance
• Ctrl+Z - Use Standard Coordinate Selection Dialog Box to define location.
• And Many More (See Appendix A of User Guide)
Customizable Shortcut Keys – Use the Tools, Toolbar, Customize command

• Customized shortcut keys can be saved to a .LAYOUT file and imported into other
installations of FEMAP
FEMAP.
• In some cases, importing a .LAYOUT file with customized shortcut keys only into a
new version of FEMAP will recreate some or all of the customized shortcut keys.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 42

Creating Customized Shortcut Keys

Click the customize triangle on any toolbar and select Customize from the menu, then
choose the Keyboard tab.
Choose a Category from the drop down list, then highlight the command from the
C
Commandsd list..
li t
Once the command is highlighted,

place the cursor in the Press new
shortcut key field and key in a new
character or keyboard combination.
If the key or keyboard combination
has already been defined, FEMAP
will bring up a dialog box stating “This
shortcut is currently assigned. Do you
want to re-assign this shortcut?”
By clicking the Yes button, the key or
keyboard combination will be added
to the “Key assignments:” list and
replace the previous command
assigned to that key.
After you have chosen the correct key
or keyboard
o eyboa d co
combination,
b at o , cclick
c tthe
e
Assign button.
Note: When typing in the Messages window, anytime you type a shortcut key, the
command assigned to the key will be invoked.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 43

On-Line Help
Menu Help - Femap provides description of each command while pointing at it or
accessing it on the Status Bar .
Help is context sensitive

• Access a command
• Click F1 to access HELP
• Shift + F1 to choose a command with the “What’s This?” cursor.
• Help Window will appear with description of the current command.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 44

FEMAP Help Menu

Full On-Line Help System accessed through
the Help Menu.
• Toolbars
• Dockable Panes
• NX Nastran – access the complete NX
Nastran documentation set
• What’s New
• Examples
• Using Help
• Programming – access the API
Programming Guide
• Basic Language – access when the API
Programming window is open
• Tip of the Day
• Femap on the Web
• Technical Support – access FEMAP
Technical Support via the web
• About – access to licensing info and input
of license keys
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 45

Femap Model Units

Femap is unit less and does not track or maintain consistent units
But…
• Femap standard material and beam section property libraries use in-lbs units
• Solid geometry defaults to inches on desktop, meters in model file database
• Parasolid (regardless of product) always stores data in meters
Units conversion tool lets user convert units of data in model
User must be aware of current units system being used

• You can use the File, Notes command to make a notation for future reference and
to add a comment in the analysis file.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 46

Units Conversion
Use the Tools, Convert Units command to convert units.
• Convert all quantities using conversion of basic units
• Convert specific entities with individual conversion factors
E.g. convert N-mm units in model to N-m

• Length: 0.001 m = 1 mm
• Mass: 1000 kg = 1 tonne
• Force: 1 N = 1 N
• Energy: 0.001 N•m = 1 N•mm
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 47

Lesson 3 G
Geometry
t Creation
C ti and
d Editing
Editi
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of the Femap’s geometry import, creation and editing
tools.
Topics
 Geometry Overview
 Parasolid Geometry Kernel
 Geometry Import
 Solids Overview
 Geometry Cleanup
 Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification
 Surface Geometry Creation and Editing
 Solid Geometry and Editing
 General Geometry Modification Tools
 Additional Geometry Tools for Meshing
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 3-1

Lesson 3 Geometry Creation and Editing
Geometry Overview
Femap supports the creation and modification of wireframe, surface, and solid geometry
using the Parasolid geometry kernel
Femap reads multiple CAD formats
Femap geometry creation and editing

• Points, 2D and 3D curves
• Surfaces
• Solid creation and editing operations
• Supports Solid, Sheet and Non-manifold Bodies
• Midplane surface extraction and editing (to be covered in a separate lesson)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-2

Parasolids Geometry Kernel

Parasolid geometry is always stored in SI (meters) no matter what unit it is created in.
• Parasolid has a “box” with dimensions of 1000 x 1000 x 1000 with it’s origin at the
center of the box
• Default Coincident Point Tolerance of 1.0E-8
• Parallel Tolerance of 1.0E-11 Radians
• Independent of product (Femap, UG NX, Solid Edge, etc.)
From the Parasolid documentation:
• “To allow precision to be handled correctly, all parts of a body must be within this
b
box…” ”
• “It is highly recommended to set the default unit in your application code to one
meter…”
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-3

Solid Geometry Scale Factor

Scaling of geometry is managed in Femap with the Solid Geometry Scale Factor.
• Set in Femap’s preferences under the Geometry/Model tab
• e.g - When the models length is in millimeters, a length of 1.0 mm on the desktop
will be stored as .001
001 meters in the database
• Effectively scales the “box” to +/- 500,000 mm in X, Y, and Z from the origin.
Can also be set in the Solid Model Read Options dialog box for Parasolid and ACIS files
and the STEP Read Options dialog box for STEP.
• When the dialog boxes are opened, the Geometry Scale Factor reflects Femap’s
p
preference.
• Geometry Scale Factor for Meters = 1
• Geometry Scale Factor for Inches = 39.37
• Geometry Scale Factor for Millimeters = 1000
Note: If you change the Geometry Scale Factor to a value other than the value of
Femap’s preference in one of these dialog boxes, this will update Femap’s
preference to the value input.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-4

Geometry Importing
Import geometry with the File, Import, Geometry command.
• Import Geometry icon can be found on the Main toolbar
Direct CAD Interfaces

• Solid Edge (.par, .psm, .pwd, .asm)
• NX Unigraphics (.prt)
• NX I-deas (.idi)
• Pro/Engineer (.prt, .asm)
• C
Catia v4 ((.mdl, .exp, .dlv))
• Catia v5 (.catP*) – optional
• SolidWorks (.sldprt, .sldasm)
Standard CAD Interfaces
• Parasolid
• ACIS
• STEP (AP 203 Solids, AP 214 Surfaces)
• IGES
• DXF
• STL – reads .stl files as triangular surface mesh
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-5

Geometry Updates from CAD

When solid geometry is imported from a CAD file, a reference to the source file of the
geometry imported is created in the Femap model.
• The reference is based on the time/date stamp of the CAD file(s) imported, including
( ) to components
modification(s) p in an assembly.
y
The File, References command is used to view the status of a reference in Femap.
• If the time/date stamp is modified due to changes in the CAD model, this will be
shown in the Reference Manager dialog box.
• Femap’s default preferences are set to generate references upon import and to
automatically check for reference updates when opening a model.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-6

Solid Bodies
A Solid body is completed enclosed by surfaces and has no gaps or dangling surfaces.
• Any Solid body is shown in the Model Info pane’s Geometry tree with this icon:
Note: Running the Tools, Mass Properties, Solid Properties command will show
that a Solid body has Volume.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-7

Sheet Bodies
Sheet bodies have one or more contiguous surfaces that do not enclose a volume.
• For multi-surface Sheet bodies, all surfaces must connect on a common edge with
one other surface as with solid 2 below.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-8

Non Manifold Bodies

Non Manifold bodies are connected solids that can be a combination of Solid and/or
Sheet bodies.
• Creating Non Manifold bodies from mid-surfaced geometry can also be very useful
gp
for meshing purposes,
p , as surfaces coming
g together
g at “T-Junctions” share a
common curve.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3-9

Geometry Checking and Cleanup

After importing geometry, it is strongly recommended that you check and fix all solid
geometry before attempting to mesh
• The Solid, Geometry, Cleanup
command checks the validityy of
selected solids in your Femap
model file.
• The Meshing Toolbox has the Entity Locator tool to locate curves and surfaces
within solids by specifying a search method and size. This will be covered in detail
in Lesson 11 – The Meshing Toolbox.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 10

Geometry, Solid, Cleanup Command

Remove Redundant Geometry
• Cleans curves imprinted on surfaces
and merges surfaces that are part of
y g original
the underlying g surface.
Remove Sliver Surfaces

• Removes small “sliver” surfaces
resulting from inaccuracies in solid
geometry operations.
Check Geometry
• Checks the validity of the solid.
Will show that an imported solid body
is in reality a sheet solid if imperfections are detected.
Match Model Scale Factor

• Use when solids imported are at a different Solid Geometry Scale Factor than the
factor set in Femap preferences.
• Adjusts the selected solid(s) to the factor set in Femap preferences.
• Must have Check Geometry option enabled.
Advanced cleanup options - See section 3.4.2.22 of the Femap Commands manual.
• Has options to repair and remove small features
features.
• Surface Heal and Stitch option is similar to Explode and Stitch commands. Can
only be used on one solid at a time.
Note: If you still have problems cleaning geometry for meshing, an alternative
technique is to Explode the problem solid, then Stitch it back together.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 11

Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification Topics

Workplanes
Wireframe Geometry Defaults
Lines
Arcs
Circles
Splines
Wireframe Geometry Modification
Boundary Surfaces
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 12

Workplanes
The Workplane is used to define the local “X-Y” plane for 2D wireframe and some solid
geometry creation commands.
Access via the Tools, Workplane command or the F2 hotkey.

• Snap Options control display of the grid spacing, etc. of the workplane
• Workplane display can be toggled on and off with the View Style, Workplane icon
on the View toolbar
• Grid display options in the View Options – Tools and View Style dialog box
controls color and fill settings for the workplane
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 13

Wireframe Geometry Defaults

Default colors for curves are set in Femap’s Preferences dialog box.
• Color can also be set for a model with the Tools, Parameters command or in the
View Options dialog box.
Color, ID, Default Length, Spline Order, etc. are set in the Geometry Parameters dialog
box.
• Press the Parameters button in the Locate - … dialog box to access the Geometry
Parameters dialog box
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 14

Lines
Creation with the Geometry, Curve – Line
commands:
• Locate on the Workplane:
• Project Points
• Horizontal
• Vertical
• Perpendicular
• Parallel
• Midline
• At Angle
• Angle to Curve
• Point and Tangent
• Tangent
• Rectangle
• Locate in 3D space:
• Continuous
• Points
• Coordinates
• Offset
• Vectored
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 15

Arcs
Arcs are always placed on the Workplane
Arc creation with the

Geometry, Curve – Arc commands:
• Center-Start-End
• Radius-Start-End – two points on the arc
define the start and end of the arc. A positive
radius will create an arc less then 180
degrees while a negative radius will generate
an arc greater than 180 degrees.
• Angle-Start-End– two points on the arc define the start and end of the arc; a
positive angle will generate the arc from the start to the end in a counterclockwise
direction – a negative angle will generate the arc clockwise from the start point to
the end point..
• Chord-Center-Start – locate the center, start point for the arc, and a chord length
less than twice the radius.
• Points – locate the start point, a point on the arc, and the end.
• Center and Points – use this to create an arc in 3D space. Specify by four points:
Center, start, end, and a fourth point that defines the direction of the arc.
• Start-End-Direction – specify the start and end points, and the tangent direction for
the start point.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 16

Circles
Circles are always placed on the
Workplane
Circle creation with the

Geometry, Curve – Circle commands:
• Radius – two points define the
center and a point on the circle.
• Diameter – two points on the circle
define the diameter.
• Center
C t – define
d fi ththe center
t and
d th
the
radius of the circle.
• Two Points – locate two points on the
circle and enter the radius.
• Point-Tangent – locate the center
point and a tangent curve.
• Concentric – create a circle by selecting an existing circle and the new circle’s
radius.
• Points on Arc – create a circle by three points.
• Center and Points – create a circle by defining the center, starting point on the
circle, and a point defining the positive direction of the circle.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 17

Splines
Splines can be generated by Control Points
or by Points on the spline (the spline’s
control
points are automatically generated by
Femap).
Four (4) point Bezier splines are created

when
using the following commands:
• Ellipse
• P b l
Parabola
• Hyperbola
• The Equation spline is created by
specifying coefficients of parametric
cubic equations.
• A Tangent spline is created by
specifying the start and end points of a
spline and the tangents at those points.
• The spline created by the Blend command creates a spline blending two curves. A
Blend Factor controls the interior shape.
• The Offset spline uses a point projected onto the Workplane to determine the offset
location.
• Combine a set of contiguous curves into a single curve using the Multiple Curves
command. Not to be used with sharp corners.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 18

Boundary Surfaces and Sketching

The Geometry, Boundary Surface command creates planar surfaces made up of a
boundary curves. This command is very useful when the wireframe geometry needs to
be converted to surfaces and/or solids.
• p holes.
Can include multiple
• Boundary Surface(s) are non-Parasolid surface(s) – use the Geometry, Surface,
Convert command to convert into a Parasolid surface.
The Geometry, Sketch command creates a Boundary Surface from curves created
during the Sketch command sequence.
• Also accessible from the Solid toolbar – once the sketch is completed, you have the
option to extrude or revolve the “sketched” boundary surface.
The Modify, Edit, Boundary command allows you to add or remove curves from an
existing Boundary Surface.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 19

Wireframe Geometry Editing

Wireframe geometry can be edited with the
following commands:
• Modify, Trim
• Trims the intersection curves
curves. These
curves must extend past one another –
will not extend to the intersection.
• Modify, Extend
• Extend the end point of the selected
curve(s) to a point projected from the
point normal to the curve.
curve
• Modify, Break
• Splits the selected curve(s) at a point
projected from the selected point normal
to the curve.
• Modify, Join
• Trims and/or extends the selected curves
to their intersection point.
• Modify, Fillet
• Creates a tangent arc between the two
selected curves.
• Modify,
y, Chamfer
• Creates a chamfer between the two
selected curves.
Note: Except for the Break operation, these commands cannot be applied to solid
or surface geometry curves
curves.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 20

Surface Creation and Non-Manifold Geometry Commands

Edge Curves
• Creates a surface from 3 or 4 curves.
Aligned Curves
• Lofts a surface through curves.
Sweep
• Used to sweep multiple-curve cross sections along a curve
Convert
• Used to convert boundary surfaces and surfaces made with the standard FEMAP
geometry engine into Parasolid surfaces. Only planar boundary surfaces will be
converted with the Convert command.
Remove Hole
• Used to remove interior voids in surfaces.
• Can also be used to remove holes in solids.
N M if ld Add
NonManifold
• Used to combine surfaces which do not enclose a volume and/or contain non-
manifold features (i.e., T-junctions) into a Parasolid “General Body”
• May also be used to combine solids and surfaces into a Parasolid “General Body”
Recover Manifold Geometry
• Used to “break”
break a Parasolid “General
General Body”
Body created using the NonManifold Add
command into manifold sections.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 21

Surface Curves
The Geometry, Curve - From Surface set of commands are used to create curves on
surfaces with the following techniques:
• Intersect – select two intersecting surfaces and/or solids.
• Project – project the selected curve(s) normal to the selected surface(s)
surface(s).
• Project Along Vector - project the selected curve(s) along the specified vector onto
the selected surface(s).
• Parametric Curve – specify a location to generate a curve along a U or V direction
on the selected surface.
• Slice – split the selected surface(s) and/or solids by a plane.
• Split at Locations – generate a parametric curve on a surface by specifying the
start and end locations of the curve.
When the Update Surfaces option is enabled (default for new models), the curves
become part of the surface and will “split” the surface into multiple surfaces (if the
curves selected make up a closed loop). Otherwise, the curves generated by this
p y internal curves of the surface.
command are simply
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 22

Surface Curves (continued)

The Offset Curve/Washer command generates curves offset from the selected curves.
• The Washer option is used to generate concentric arcs around the selected arc(s).
• Offset Curves is used when the curves to be offset are around non-planar holes or
around
d non-circular
i l iinterior
t i ffeatures.
t
• For cases where offsets of non-planar curves are requested, deselect the
AutoSelect Surfaces option.
• The Save Split Lines option creates connecting lines from the selected arc(s) to the
concentric arcs and tags the surface around the arcs to use mapped four corner
meshing.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 23

Surface Curves (continued)

The Pad command generates a square centered at the selected hole.
• Pad Width = 2 X Hole Diameter X Pad Size Factor
Pad Size Factor = Pad Width / (2 * Hole Diameter)
• Setup Mapped Meshing sets the mesh sizes around the four surfaces on the pad
area for Four sided Mapped Meshing
• Three (3) options for aligning the orientation of the pad:
• Auto Align
• Vector Align
• Tangent Align
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 24

Surface Curves
Finally, three additional commands exist for
creating curves on surfaces:
• Point to Point – select two points on a
surface and a p parametric curve is g
generated.
Similar to the Split at Locations command,
except that the points must exist on the
surface. The surface is automatically selected
by the first point.
• Point to Edge – generates a curve on a
surface by selecting a existing point on a
surface and a curve on the interior or exterior
boundary of the surface to project that point
onto.
• Edge to Edge - project the end points
selected curve(s) along the specified vector
onto the selected edge on the same surface.
Point to Edge curve Edge to Edge curve
Point to Point curve
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 25

Solid Geometry Creation

Extrude and Revolve 2D profiles
Primitives
• Block
• Cylinder
• Cone
• Sphere
Stitch
Explode
Editing operations
• Fillet
• Chamfer
• Shell
• Thicken
• Remove Face
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 26

Additional Solid Modeling Creation and Editing Tools

Boolean operations
• Add
• Remove
• Common
• Embed
• Intersect
Face imprint and splitting
• Slice and Slice Match
• Slice along Face
• Embed Face
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 27

General Geometry Modification Tools

Copy geometry via the following commands:
• Geometry, Copy
• Geometry, Radial Copy
• G
Geometry,
t Scale
S l
• Geometry, Rotate
• Geometry, Reflect
Move geometry via the following commands:

• Modify, Project
• Projects points onto curves, surfaces, vectors and planes
• Modify, Move To
• Moves a point from its current location to the selected location
• Modify, Move By
• Modify, Rotate To
• Modify,
f Rotate By
• Modify, Align
• Modify, Scale
• Allows scaling in three directions of the specified coordinate system
Modify a points location with the following command:

• Modify, Edit, Point
Change color and transparency with:

• Modify, Color
• Modify, Transparency
Ch
Change layer
l with:
ith
• Modify, Layer
Modify the ID of the geometry with:

• Modify, Renumber
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 28

Additional Geometry Tools for Meshing

In some cases, you may need to modify geometry for meshing . In addition to the
Geometry tools covered in this lesson, there are additional techniques that will be
covered in subsequent sections:
• p
Midplane Modeling
g
• Feature Suppression
• Meshing Toolbox
• Entity Locator
• Feature Removal
• Combined / Composite Curves
• Combined / Boundary Surfaces
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 3 - 29

Lesson 4 M t i l and
Materials dPProperties
ti
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of creating and editing materials and properties with
Femap.
Topics
• Types of materials supported

• Defining Materials
• Other Types of Materials
• Modifying Materials
• Defining Properties
• Beam Properties
• Composite Laminates
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 4-1

Lesson 4 Materials and Properties
Materials Supported by Femap

Isotropic
• Properties are constant in all directions (values entered as a single value).
Orthotropic – 2D and 3D
• Direction dependent.
• Define in two planer or three principle directions.
Anisotropic– 2D and 3D
• Properties specified as a general 3x3 (2-D) or 6x6 (3-D) elasticity matrix.
Hyperelastic
yp
• Materials subject to large deformations
• Input distortional and volumetric deformations or stress/strain data.
Other Types – material definitions unique to specific solvers

• Nastran Fluid material (MAT10)
• NX Nastran Hyperelastic Materials (MATHE, MATG)
• MSC.Nastran Hyperelastic (MATHE)
• LS-DYNA, MARC, and ABAQUS/Explicit.
• User Defined material types for custom program interfaces.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-2

“Other Types” of Materials

“Other” Materials are for solver specific materials such as Nastran, NX Nastran,
MSC.Nastran, LS-DYNA, MARC, and ABAQUS/Explicit Material types. The “other”
material types specific to NX Nastran are shown in the Define Material dialog box below.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-3

Defining Materials
Create new materials with the Model,
Material command or use the Model Info
window (right-click on the Material object
and select New).
Default material type is Isotropic

• To select different material model,
choose Type which appears on the top
right of every material definition dialog
box, and then select a different material
type e
type, e.g.,
g Hyperelastic.
Hyperelastic
• The default material type changes to
the last selected type after changing
the material type.
 Type values directly into the fields
provided; or
 Access the material library by selecting
the Load button
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-4

Defining Materials with Functions

The Function Reference tab in the Define Material dialog box can be used to define
Stress/Strain and Temperature dependent material values.
• Create new Functions without leaving the Define Material dialog box by clicking the
fxy ((function)) icon button.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-5

Modifying Materials
Use the Modify, Edit Material command:
• Enter the Material ID you want to edit; or:
• Select an element with the material you want to edit; or:
• Alt
Alternatively,
ti l you can click
li k th
the Select
S l t ffrom Li
Listt icon;
i or:
• Use Method to select a material by Element, etc…
In the Model Info pane – right-click an individual material to be edited.

• Right-clicking on the Materials heading in the tree will select ALL materials for
editing.
Note: The Visibility Toggle

icon to the left of the
material name
indicates whether or
not objects using that
material are displayed
in displayed views of
the Femap model.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-6

Defining Properties
A Property defines the element shape and associated material.
Create new properties with the Model, Property command or in the Model Info pane,
right-click on the Property object and select New.
 The default property (element type) is Plate.
 Other types are selected with Elem/Property Type dialog box.
 Selecting a different element/property type makes that type the default type.
Properties define additional analysis

information for each element type,
and are controlled by the element
type.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-7

Define Property Dialog Box

Property data includes (depending on Element / Property Type)
• Material selection
• Select the Material icon ( ) to create a new material if the material for the
new p
property
p y has not yyet been defined.
• Property Values
• Thickness
• Area, etc
• Mass and inertia
• Radius
• Stress Recovery Points (Beams)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-8

Bar and Beam Properties

For Elem/Property Type Bar, Beam, or Curved Beam
• Enter values directly; or
• Use the Shape button to enter cross-sectional data
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4-9

Bar and Beam Shape Input

Choose either a Standard or NASTRAN (PBEAML) category of Beam.
Choose a standard shape from the Shape drop down list in the Cross Section Definition
dialog box.
• Enter appropriate values for a shape and determine stress recovery points (Arrows
can be used to dynamically position Stress Recovery and Reference points).
Choose General Section under Shape to select any planar surface as the cross
section of a beam.
Beam properties will be automatically calculated by after clicking OK.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 10

Beam Orientation and Offsets

Nodes on beams are located by default at the shear center of the beam.
Offsets can be preset when creating or editing a Beam element.

• Offset is from the shear center unless the option to Compute Shear Center Offset
i tturned
is d off.
ff
The Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Curve command has options to preset beam
Offset and Orientation.
Use the Modify, Update Elements, Line Element Orientation command to change
orientation of the selected beam elements.
The Modify, Update Elements, Line Element Offsets command is used to change the
offset
ff t off the
th selected
l t d beam
b elements.
l t
• Can also change the offset by setting the location of the node to the beam
Reference Point.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 11

Beam Coordinate System

Bar and Beam elements have a local coordinate system for each element.
• X axis of the beam is along the length of the beam
• Pt A is the start of the Beam
• Pt B is
i the
th end
d off the
th BBeam
• Y and Z axes are determined by the beam’s property definition.
• FEMAP prompts
|for an alignment
vector when
creating beam
elements.
l t
• This vector is
used to specify
the direction of
the Y-Axis
specified in the
Beam Property.
Property
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 12

View Settings for Line and Planar Elements

Femap’s View Options (View, Options or the F6 hotkey) has several settings to help in
displaying line and planar element attributes.
In addition, the View Style pulldown menu on the View toolbar has shortcuts to toggle
li element
line l t display
di l settings
tti on andd off.
ff
• Offsets – toggle display of line (and planar) elements offsets.
• Orientation – toggle display of line (and planar) element orientations.
• Thickness/Cross Section – toggle display of line (and planar) element cross
sections.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 13

Modify, Update Elements Commands

Reassign Element Properties and Materials
Line Element settings
Plane Element settings
Element Order
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 14

Modify, Update Elements General Commands

Type – assign a different property to the selected element(s). The element(s) must be
of the same shape (Line, Plane, etc.)
Formulation – modify formulation of elements of the same type.

• e.g. Change a Nastran Spring element to a Nastran CBUSH element.
Property ID – assign a different property ID to element(s) of the same type.
Material ID – assign a different material to the selected physical property.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 15

Modify,
y, Update
p Elements Commands
for Line Elements
Line Element Orientation – update beam/bar element orientations
Line Element Offsets – update beam/bar element offsets
Line Element Reverse Direction–

Direction reverse element connectivity
connectivity. ii.e.;
e ; Swap A and B
nodes.
Beam/Bar Releases – update beam/bar element end releases
Beam Warping – update beam warping as defined using NASTRAN SPOINTs
Remove Cross Section – removes beam/bar element section shape while retaining
properties
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 16

Modify, Update Elements Commands

Modify
for Plane Elements
Reverse Normal/Orient First Edge – offers options for setting the normal direction and
orientation of 2-D element(s).
Material Angle – set or modify the material angle of selected element(s). Used for
di ti d
direction-dependent
d t materials
t i l and d llaminates.
i t
Split Quads – splits quad element(s) into triangles
Adjust Plate Thickness/Offset – modify the thickness or offset of the selected

element(s).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 17

Modify, Update Elements,

Adjust Plate Thickness/Offset Command
Used to modify Element Offsets or Thicknesses of Plane Elements
Modify the Offset distance of the selected plane elements.

• By default, nodes are located at the midplane (1/2 the thickness) of shell elements.
• Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Surface command to preset the
offset.
• Constant element offset can also be set in FEMAP 10 and above when meshing
surfaces by pressing “More Options” button and setting the appropriate options in
the “Offset” section.
Change the
Ch th Thickness
Thi k off the
th selected
l t d elements,
l t including
i l di creating
ti and/or
d/ modifying
dif i
variable thickness shells
• Automatically creates new properties for the variable thickness planar elements.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 18

Modify, Update Elements Miscellaneous Commands

Linear/Parabolic Order – update the Order of the selected element(s) to/from
Parabolic.
• To convert from Parabolic to Linear, select No in the first dialog box presented in
the command.
• You must manually delete and/or merge any midside nodes for elements converted
from Parabolic to Linear.
Midside Nodes – moves the midside

nodes on the selected element(s) to
the midside of the element. Use after
nodes have been moved.
Rigid Thermal Expansion – assign a

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (α)
to the selected Rigid Element(s).
• elements converted from Parabolic
to Linear.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 19

Composite Layups
Layups are a Femap object that designates multiple composite plies
• Practical limit of 5000 plies per Layup
A Plyy has
as the
t e following
o o g attributes:
att butes
• Ply ID (number)
• Material
• Thickness
• Angle
• Global Ply ID – Used to
designate a common ply ID
for use in other layups.
e.g. The OML or Outer Skin
Ply for all layups.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 20

Creating and Updating an Individual Ply

New Ply - Once you have a Material, Thickness, and Angle specified, click this button to
add the ply to the layup.
Update buttons - Once a ply has been added to the list, the definition of that ply can be
updated
d t d using:
i
• Update Global Ply
• Update Material
• Update Thickness
• Update Angle
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 21

Duplicating and Modifying Ply Sequences

Duplicate
• The selected ply or plies will be copied to the top of the Layup.
Delete
• Delete the selected ply or plies from the Layup.
Symmetric
• The “mirrored” plies will be added to the top of the Layup in reverse order of
selection.
Reverse
• Reverse th
R the order
d off th
the selected
l t d plies
li b based
d on th
the original
i i l position
iti (i(i.e., th
the
selected ply which was closest to the “Bottom of Layup” will now be closest to the
“Top of Layup” in the list).
Move Up and Move Down

• The selected ply or plies will be moved closer to the “Top of Layup” (Move Up) or
Bottom of Layup”
“Bottom Layup (Move Down) in the order selected.
Rotate
• The selected ply or plies are rotated by the angle input in the Rotate Ply By dialog
box. The order of the plies in the Layup is not effected.
Copy and Paste

• Copy and paste the selected ply or plies to the top of the current or another Layup.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 22

Layup Editor – Layup Viewer

The Layup Editor dialog box has the Layup Viewer icon that launches the Layup
Viewer.
Options to control display of:

• Thickness
• Ply Angles
• Titles
• Color
• Scale
The Copy icon pastes picture of the layup to Windows clipboard.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 23

Composite Layup Mechanical Properties

When the Entity Info window is
active, the Laminate Equivalent
Properties are automatically
calculated and displayed when a
Layup is created or edited. These
properties are updated continuously
along with modifications to the
Layup.
When the Entity Info window is not

activated,, selecting
g the Compute
p
button will display the calculated
Laminate Equivalent Properties in
the Messages window. These
properties are NOT updated until the
Compute button is reselected.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 24

Composite Laminate Materials and Properties

Composite Laminate Materials are generally designated as 2D Orthotropic
materials.
• A Bond Shear Allowance should be specified for the Laminate element
property. This value represents the bond strength between the bonded laminate
sheets and is used to calculate a factor of safety against shear failure between
laminate panels.
• A Failure Theory must also be specified for the Laminate element property.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 4 - 25

Lesson 5 Loads and Constraints
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s capabilities in managing, creating and

editing boundary conditions .
Topics
• Constraint Sets and Constraints

• Load Sets
• Body Loads
• Load Categories – Structural, Thermal, and Fluid loads
• Creating and Editing Loads
• Structural Load Types
• Thermal Load Types
• Fluid Load Types
• Advanced Femap Loads
• Load Set Options for Advanced Analyses
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-1

Constraint Sets
The Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command creates a new Constraint Set or
activates an existing Constraint Set.
• This command is also available in the Status Bar Tray and the Model Info tree.
• You may create as many different Constraint Sets as necessary.
necessary
• Combine multiple Constraint Sets with the Model, Constraint, Combine command.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-2

Constraint Set Manager Dialog Box

Activating the Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command opens the Constraint
Set Manager dialog box.
• The selected constraint set becomes the active set when the Done button is clicked.
With this dialog box, you can:

• Create a New Constraint Set.
• Change the name of an existing constraint set by selecting a constraint set and then
clicking the Update Title button.
• Renumber the selected constraint set.
• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s).
set(s)
• Copy the selected constraint set.
• Create Referenced Sets for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD constraint sets.
• Requires that a combined set already be created and selected.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-3

Creating New Constraint Sets

Selecting the New Constraint Set button in the Constraint Set Manager dialog box
activates the New Constraint Set dialog box.
• When a model has no constraint sets, you can only create a Standard constraint
set. A Standard set is used to contain g
geometry
y and nodal constraints.
• Clicking the More button will create the constraint set with the ID and Title and will
then resets the options in the New Constraint Set dialog box to enable the creation
of a new constraint set.
• If one or more constraint sets are in a model
model, you can also create a Nastran
SPCADD/MPCADD Combination constraint set.
• A combined set references one or more Standard constraint sets.
• When a Nastran deck is created by Femap, it writes out the Nastran SPCADD
and MPCADD cards as needed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-4

Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination Constraint Sets

To reference Standard
constraint sets, select a
Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD
Combination set the
Constraint Set Manager
dialog box, or right-click the
constraint set in the Model
Info pane and select and
select Referenced Sets
button in the dialog box or the
context-sensitive
context sensitive menu
menu.
The Reference Constraint Set for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD dialog box will list the
Available (standard) Sets and the Referenced Sets.
Manage references by selecting one or more Standard reference sets and click the Add
Referenced Sets or Remove Referenced Sets.
Note: Nastran combined sets are not displayed in the graphics window unless the
Show Constrained Entities is selected from the context-sensitive menu in
the Model Info pane.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-5

Creating Constraints
Use the Model, Constraint commands, Constraint toolbar, or the Model Info tree.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-6

Nodal Constraints
Nodal Constraints - specify six (6) specific degrees of freedom with the Model,
Constraint, Nodal command
• X translation = 1, X rotation = 4
• Y translation = 2
2, Y rotation = 5
• Z translation = 3, Z rotation = 6
• Specify Coordinate System
Constraint Equations relate the motion or displacement of one node to the motion or
displacement of one or more other nodes.
• Often referred to a MPCs
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-7

Geometry Constraints
Geometric constraints - applied to geometry and “expanded” to nodes during export to
an analysis file.
• Model, Constraint, On Point
• Model Constraint,
Model, Constraint On Curve
• Model, Constraint, On Surface
• “Expand” Geometric constraints manually by using the Model, Constraint, Expand
command.
Available when
constraining a
surface.
Available for arcs or cylindrical

surfaces.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-8

Editing Constraints
Edit Constraints with:
• Modify, Edit, Constraint –
Definition command
• Modify, Edit
Modify Edit, Constraint –
Individual command
• Individual constraints in
a Constraint Definition
may be edited. If the
Constraint Definition is
subsequently
q y edited,,
the individual edit is
overwritten by the value
of the Constraint
Definition.
• You can convert a
Constraint Definition to
Individual Constraints
by right-clicking a
Constraint Definition in
the Model Info pane and
selecting Remove
Definition.
• Model Info tree

• Includes the option to Edit Where Applied – add and/or remove entities where
a constraint is applied. (new in v10.1)
• Entity Editor
Note: Constraints created prior to Femap v9.3 are shown in the Model Info tree as
Other Constraints.
This also applies to all FEMAP models created by importing analysis files.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5-9

Creating Load Sets

The Model, Load, Create/Manage Set command creates a new Load Set or activates
an existing Load Set.
• This command is also available in the Status Bar Tray and the Model Info tree.
• You may create as many different load sets as necessary
necessary.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 10

Load Set Manager Dialog Box

Activating the Model, Constraint, Create/Manage Set command opens the Load Set
Manager dialog box.
• The selected constraint set becomes the active set when the Done button is clicked.
With this dialog box, you can:

• Create a New Load Set.
• Change the name of an existing constraint set by selecting a constraint set and then
clicking the Update Title button.
• Renumber the selected constraint set.
• Delete (the selected) or Delete All constraint set(s).
set(s)
• Copy the selected constraint set.
• Create and manage Referenced Sets for Nastran Load Combination sets.
• Requires that a combined set already be created and selected.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 11

Creating New Load Sets

Selecting the New Load Set button in the Constraint Set Manager dialog box activates
the New Load Set dialog box.
• When a model has no constraint sets, you can only create a Standard load set. A
Standard set is used to contain g
geometry,
y, nodal,, elemental and bodyy loads.
• Clicking the More button will create the load set with the ID and Title and will then
resets the options in the New Load Set dialog box to enable the creation of a new
constraint set.
• If one or more load sets are in a model
model, you can also create a Nastran Load
Combination constraint set.
• A combined set references one or more Standard constraint sets.
• When a Nastran deck is created by Femap, it writes out the Nastran LOAD
cards as needed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 12

Nastran Load Combination Constraint Sets
To reference Standard constraint sets,,

select a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD
Combination set, the Constraint Set
Manager dialog box, or right-click the
constraint set in the Model Info pane
and select and select Referenced
Sets button in the dialog box or the
context sensitive menu
context-sensitive menu.
The Reference Load Sets for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD dialog box will list the Available
((standard)) Sets and the Referenced Sets.
Manage references by selecting one or more Standard reference sets and click the Add
Referenced Sets or Remove Referenced Sets.
Set the Overall scale of the combined load set.
Set the scale of the For Referenced Set.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 13

Standard Combined Load Sets

You can also create a standard combined load set by combining multiple Load Sets into
a new Load Set or another existing Load Set with the Model, Load, Combine
command.
• Allows yyou to specify
p y the Scale Factor of the Load Set(s)
( ) combined
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 14

Body Loads
Body or Global Loads – applied to the entire model.
• Translational Acceleration (gravity) and Rotational Acceleration
• Use to apply the weight of the structure as a load
• Rotational Velocity and Center of Rotations
• Thermal – Default Temperature
• Required for all Nastran Heat Transfer analyses
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 15

Creating Load Definitions

Use the Model, Load commands, Load toolbar, or the Model Info pane to create a Load
Definition.
• A Load Definition is a container of all the loads created using one of the techniques
above.
• Load Definitions can be Removed which takes all the loads in the load definition
and converts them to “Other Loads”.
Note: Loads created prior to Femap

v9.3 are shown in the Model
Info tree as Other Loads.
This also applies to all FEMAP
models created by importing
analysis files.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 16

Create Loads Dialog Box

After selecting the mesh or geometry to be loaded, the Create Loads on (Entity Type)
dialog box is opened. In this dialog box, you specify:
• Title
• Color and Layer
• Coord Sys
• Direction – this option is only available when specifying directional loads
• Load Input Values
• Phase - used for Frequency Response loading only
• Midside Node Adjustment – follow the distribution of loads as specified in Femap’s
Femap s
preferences under the Geometry tab
• Total Load – when multiple entities are selected to apply the load to, check this
option to distribute the load across the selected entities so that the sum of the loads
equals the load input value.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 17

Editing Loads
Edit Loads with:
• Modify, Edit, Load – Definition command
• Modify, Edit, Load – Individual command
• Individual loads in a Load Definition may be edited
edited. If the Load Definition is
subsequently edited, the individual edit is overwritten by the value of the Load
Definition.
• You can convert a Load Definition to Other Loads by right-clicking the Load
Definition in the Model Info tree and selecting Remove Definition.
• You can highlight any number of individual Loads of the same type found in the
Other Loads section of a Load Set in the Model Info tree and combine them into
a Load Definition using Create Definition
• Model Info pane
• Includes the option to Edit Where Applied – add and/or remove entities where
a load is applied. (new in v10.1)
• Entity Editor
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 18

S
Structural
lLLoad
d types supported
dbby F
Femap
Load Type Points Curves Surfaces Nodes Elements
Force     
Force Per Length -   - -
Force Per Area - -  - -
Force Per Node -   - -
B i Force
Bearing F - -  - -
Moment     
Moment Per Length -   - -
Moment Per Area - -  - -
Moment Per Node -   - -
Torque -  - -
Displacement     -
Enforced Rotation     -
Velocity     -
Rotational Velocity     -
Acceleration     -
Rotational Acceleration     -
Distributed Load - - - - 
Pressure -   - 
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 19

Bearing Force on Surface

Beginning with version 10.1.1 of Femap, you can apply a Bearing Force to a surface or
surfaces eliminating the need to create Radial Coordinate System(s) and distribute the
load using an Equation or Data Surface.
• Femap p automatically
y adjusts
j the value of the individual nodal forces created when
the analysis deck is generated to equal the Magnitude input in the Create Loads on
Surfaces dialog box
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 20

Bearing Force on Surface (continued)
• The Load Angle (default = 180 degrees) is the total angle that the bearing load is
applied across the selected surfaces. The direction of the bearing force is the
bisector of the Load Angle
• Uncheck the option for Normal To Surface to align the load with the vector used to
define the direction of the bearing force
• When multiple surfaces are selected, the Total Load option is automatically
enabled spreading the specified Magnitude among all the surfaces selected
selected,
otherwise, the magnitude will be applied to each surface
• When the Traction Load option is selected, the distributed load will “pull” on the
surfaces pointing away from the solid volume instead of pushing on the surfaces
pointing towards the solid volume
Once the inputs for the Bearing Loads are completed and the OK button is pushed, you
will be prompted to specify the direction of the bearing force.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 21

Bearing Force on Surface Example

In this example, a 100 lb Bearing Force is applied to the each of the two holes on the vertical tabs
on the bracket.
• Two different load sets are used – Load Set 1 uses the Normal Loads option and Load Set 2
p
disables the option for Normal Loads
• The upper bearing load in both load sets has the option for Traction Loads disabled while the
lower load has the option enabled
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 22

Bearing Force on Surface Example (continued)

Note the difference as to what nodes have loads applied around the two holes and the relative
magnitude of the forces when Traction Loads are enabled or disabled once the loads are
expanded.
Note the differences in the stress distribution and the elongation of the holes where traction is
applied on the right vs. the hole on the left where traction is not applied.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 23

Torque Loads on Surfaces

Also beginning with version 10.1.1 of Femap, you can apply a Torque to a surface or
surfaces eliminating the need to apply individual forces to surfaces or by assigning a
moment to a node and connecting it to the surface nodes with a rigid element.
• Femap p automatically
y adjusts
j the value of the individual nodal forces created when
the analysis deck is generated to equal the Magnitude input in the Create Loads on
Surfaces dialog box
• Once the inputs for the Torque are completed and the OK button is pushed, you will
be prompted to the location and orientation of the axis about which the torque is
applied.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 24

Torque Example
In this example, a 10 in-lb torque is being applied to the six grey surfaces below. The
axis is being specified by using the Vector Global Axis method.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 25

Torque Example - continued

Once the load is applied, the torque load is displayed as a double-arrow vector representing
the axis the torque is applied about with lines connecting the loaded surfaces to the torques
moment axis.
When the Torque load is expanded, it appears as below.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 26

Thermal Load types supported by Femap
Temperature     
Element Temperature -   - -
Heat Flux (Heat Energy

    
/Unit Area)
Heat Flux per Length -   - -
Heat Flux per Node -   - -
Heat Generation (Heat

    
Energy / Unit Volume)
Element Heat Flux -   - -
Convection -   - 
Radiation -   - 
Element Heat
-   - -
Generation
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 27

Fluid Load types supported by Femap
Static Fluid pressure     -
Total Fluid pressure     -
General Scalar     -
St
Steam Q
Quality
lit     -
Relative Humidity     -
Fluid Height Condition     -
Unknown Condition     -
Slip Wall Condition     -
Fan Curve     -
Periodic Condition     -
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 28

Notes on Loads
NX Nastran Displacement and Enforced Rotation loads require constraining the loaded
object in the direction of the applied load
• e.g. A Displacement Load of x=.10, and y=.10 applied to a point requires that the
corner be constrained in X and Y.
For NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear (SOL601), loads should be applied with a time-
based function.
For solvers other than NX Nastran, refer to the Femap Users Guide for details on the
loads supported by Femap for the solver used Also refer to that solver’s documentation
on how to apply loads.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 29

Advanced Femap Loads

Femap has the ability to create variable loads via:
• Functions – time and frequency dependant loads
• Variables – distributed or position dependent loads
• D t S
Data Surfaces
f – advanced
d d methods
th d ffor creating
ti variable
i bl lloading
di conditions
diti
In Create Loads …dialog box:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 30

Advanced Loading with Functions

A Function allows you to create general X vs. Y tables of information.
• Only Time or Frequency dependant functions can be used to create loads.
• Can also be used define nonlinear material properties.
Data can be created in four ways:

• By choosing a Single Value to enter in the X and Y values one
at a time.
• Using a Linear Ramp, you pick a starting and ending X and Y value.
• An Equation where you specify the starting and ending values of X
and delta X and then enter Y as a function of X
X.
• Use the Get function to attain data from a two column spreadsheet, or a listing of
two comma separated values from a text file.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 31

Advanced Loading with Variables

You can make load equations as a function of a coordinate, nodal, or element centroidal
location without having previously created a function.
• !x, !y, and !z return the X, Y, and Z coordinates of nodes, elements etc.
The Equation Editor is accessible with the CTRL+e hotkey.
You can also combine Variable loads with Functions
Note: Use the command Tools,

Check, Sum Forces
command to calculate
sum off the
th forces
f and
d
moments applied.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 32

Data Surfaces
The Data Surface Editor pane allows more flexible and complex load definitions.
After setup, the data surface can be edited directly using the Data Surface Editor.
Access to all Data Surface types (except Tabular) available through the Create Load
dialog boxes. allowing setup on the fly
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 33

One-dimensional Data Surfaces

Along Coordinates Data Surface
• Interpolate linearly between at
least three data points
• Multiple piece-wise linear data 50
5.0
points
• Multiple splined data points
Enter or select the 3-D point locations

and data values, and FEMAP does
the rest
10 0
10.0
7.5
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 34

Two-dimensional Data Surfaces

Between Coordinates Data Surface
• Bilinear interpolation between 2, 4, or 8 data points
• Parametric interpolation between 2 or 4 data points
• Options
O ti tto select
l taCCurve ffor 2 points
i t or a S
Surface
f ffor 4 points
i t tto d
define
fi the
th
parametric space.
Simply enter the 3-D point locations and data values, and Femap does the rest.
25.0
5.0
15.0
10.0
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 35

Output Map Data Surfaces

Maps output from one model as a data surface source for another
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 36

Other Data Surfaces

Mesh Data Surface
• Node / Element ID surfaces
Tabular Data Surface

• 2-D / 3-D spreadsheets
• Multi-dimensional – array of points
• Linear interpolation
Arbitrary 3-D Data Surface

• Enter Scalar or Vector data
Equation Data Surfaces

• Similar to using Variables
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 37

Support for Advanced Load Definitions
Data
Load Type Functions Variables
Surfaces
Force / Forces Per Length / Force Per

 - -
Area
Force Per Node / Moment Per Node   
Bearing Force - - -
Moment / Moment Per Length / Moment

 - -
Per Area
Torque - - -
Displacements
p / Rotations / Velocities /
  
Accelerations
Distributed Loads / pressure   
Temperatures   
H t Fl
Heat Flux / H
Heatt Fl
Flux P
Per A
Area  - -
Heat Flux Per Node / Heat Generation /

  
Element Heat Flux
Convection / Radiation   
Fluid Loading  
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 38

Dynamics Analysis Load Set Options

The Model, Load, Dynamic Analysis command sets the Solution Method and
dynamic response analysis control parameters for:
• Direct Transient
• Modal Transient
• Direct Frequency
• Modal Frequency
• Random Response
• Shock Spectrum Generation
Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set
has been selected using the Model Info tree.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 39

Nonlinear Analysis Load Set Options

The Model, Load, Load Nonlinear Analysis command sets the Solution for these
three types of Nonlinear solutions:
• Static
• Creep
• Transient
Note: After selecting the type of Nonlinear Analysis, click the Defaults button to
automatically enter the NX Nastran Nonlinear defaults and modify as
needed
needed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 40

Heat Transfer Analysis Load Set Options

The Model, Load, Heat Transfer command is used for:
• Radiation
• Free Convection
• F
Forced
d Convection
C ti
Not required for conduction only models.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 5 - 41

Lesson 6 The F
Th Femap User
U IInterface
t f –
Part 2
Purpose
This lesson provides an introduction to selection, viewing, and data collection tools in
Femap’s user interface.
Topics
• Select Toolbar
• View Options
• Data Table
• Programming Interfaces
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 6-1

Select Toolbar
The Select Toolbar allows you to select entities one at a time or create a list of selected
entities that will remain active until you toggle off or clear the selection list. This
functionality allows you to choose entities of different types first and then perform
multiple commands from the menus or the toolbars on the selected entities.
The Select toolbar is essential to the use of the dockable panes, especially the Entity
Editor and Data Table because the selector is often the best way to place an entity into
either of these panes.
The Select toolbar consists of 5 items which aid in the selection process:
• Selector Entity Menu
• Selector Modes Menu
• Selector Actions Menu
• Selector Clear (Clear current selection list)
• Snap Modes (Snap to Screen, Snap to Grid, Snap to Point, Snap to Node)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 2

Select Toolbar – Selector Entity

This menu allows you to
choose which type of entity
you would like to select. The
current entity type available
to be selected will be marked
with a check mark in an
orange square.
The Selector Entity icon

visible on the toolbar will
changeg to the icon of the
current entity type being
selected. You can toggle this
icon back and forth between
no selection and the current
entity by clicking the icon.
The entity types are

separated into geometric
entities, finite element
entities, and text.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 3

Select Toolbar – Selector Modes

The Selector has different modes to help you select the correct entities, create a
“Selection List”, and modify a Selection List.
• Add To Selection - Adds entities to the current selection list when Select Multiple
i active
is ti or simply
i l chooses
h entities
titi when
h Select
S l t Si
Single
l It
Item isi active.
ti Thi
This iis th
the
default
• Remove From Selection - Removes entities from the current Selection List when
Select Multiple is active. Only allows selection of entities currently in the Selection
List. Does not highlight anything when Select Single Item is active
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 4

Select Toolbar – Selector Modes (continued)

Normal - This mode highlights entities which are able to be selected when the cursor is
placed over a specific entity. This is the default selection mode.
Query - This mode allows you to choose a position on the screen near the entity you
wish
i h tto select,
l t ththen “d
“drills
ill down”
d ” into
i t the
th graphics
hi window
i d and d selects
l t allll th
the entities
titi ththatt
would be touched by an imaginary line perpendicular to the screen. After the entities
have been identified, it opens a dialog box and places them in a list for you to choose
the correct entity. As you highlight entities in the list, they will be highlighted in the
graphics window as well. Once you have found the correct entity, click the OK button.
Front - This mode always selects the entity “closest to the front of the screen”. It uses
the same premise as Query to “drill down” into the screen with the imaginary line and
then simply selects the top-most entity in the current view. If the “top-most” entity is
already chosen, it selects the next one along the line, moving into the screen.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 5


Select Any Inside - This is a “box” pick mode which signifies that any entity entirely
enclosed or has a start or end point within the outline of a selection “box” will be
included in the selection. “Box” picking includes Circle, Polygon, and Freehand picking
and is only available when Select Multiple is active.
Select All Inside - This is the other “box” pick mode which signifies that only entities
completely inside the “box” will be included in the selection.
Select Related - When this mode is toggled on, it selects ALL other entities that are
related to the selected entities and places them in the selection list. To toggle it off,
simply select it again. By default this mode is OFF.
 When Select Related is turned on, Select Multiple is also automatically toggled on.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 6


Select Single Item - Restricts selection to only one item at a given time. As each entity
is selected it will update the Entity Editor dockable pane. This is the default.
Select Multiple Items - Allows you to create a Selection List. A Selection List can
contain
t i multiple
lti l entities
titi off one ttype or multiple
lti l entity
tit ttypes. A
As each
h entity
tit is
i selected
l t d it
will update the Entity Editor dockable pane, as well as add the entity to the running
totals of the Selection List in the Model Info tree.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 7


Show Tooltips - When this mode is
activated, a “Tooltip” note will pop up
with useful information about the
entity which is currently highlighted.
To toggle this option off, select it from
the menu again. It can also be turned
on and off using the right mouse
menu in the graphics window, when
the Entity Selector is set to None.
• e.g. When entity selection is set
to Node,
Node the “Tooltip” willill contain
Node number, Coordinates,
Definition Coordinate System,
and Output Coordinate System.
When post-processing, the
Contour Output Vector will
appear
pp in the “Tooltip”
p for
elements and the Deformation
Output Vector will be appear in
the “Tooltip” for nodes.
 While a “Tooltip” pop-up window is displaying

information, if you click the left mouse button,
the information will be sent to the Entity Editor
and/or the Data Table dockable panes, as
long as the panes are visible in the FEMAP
interface AND unlocked.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 8

Select Toolbar – Selector Actions Menu

This menu contains “Actions” the
Selector can use for specific types of
selections. There are various “Box”
pick options, grow and shrink
commands to build up or cut down a
selection, use of the typical FEMAP
entity selection dialog box, group
commands, copy and paste, and the
ability to send a selection over to the
Data Table.
• Box - Creates a rectang
Bo rectangular
lar
selection box to pick multiple
entities at once. Holding the Shift
key also activates this option.
• Circle - Creates a circular
selection “box” to pick multiple
entities at once
once. Holding the
Control key also activates this
option.
• Polygon - Allows you to create a
selection area by creating a multi-
sided shape using a click of the
mouse to end one “side” of the
polygon and begin the next “side”.
The polygon can have as many
sides as you would like and is very
helpful in selecting individual
nodes in uniquely shaped
geometry.
• Freehand - Allows you to create a selection area by holding down the left mouse
button and “drawing” a freehand sketch. Works very similar to the Polygon mode,
but the shape is not limited to the use of only straight lines.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 9


Coordinate – Select objects by X,
and/or Y, and/or Z coordinates by:
• Above or Below a specified
value.
• Outside or Between minimum
and maximum values.
• At Location within a tolerance.
Around Point – Specify a

coordinate (In a specified coordinate
system) and select by:
• Farther Than or Closer Than a
specified radial distance from the
point.
and maximum values of the
specified radial distance.
• At Location within a tolerance of
the specified radial distance.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 10


Around Vector – Specify a vector
and a radial distance from the
vector. Select objects:
• Farther Than or Closer Than a
specified radial distance from
the vector.
and maximum distance from the
vector.
• At Location within a tolerance.
Around Plane – Select a plane and

the normal distance from the plane.
Select objects by:
• Positive Side or Negative Side
distance from the plane.
and maximum distance from the
plane.
• At Location within a tolerance of
the specified distance.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 11

Select Toolbar – Selector Actions Menu (continued)

Grow - Adds the elements surrounding the
currently selected elements to the Selection
List. In general, it will start with the selected
element and expand out one element in all
directions to non-selected elements. The
selection will move out an additional
element layer every time the Grow
command is used
Shrink - Removes the outer-most layer of

selected elements from the Selection List.
Works in the reverse direction as the Grow
command.
Initial Selection 1st Growth Iteration 2nd Growth Iteration
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 12


Dialog - Brings up the specific FEMAP
Entity Selection dialog box for the entity
currently active in the selector. This allows
you to use all of the entity specific selection
methods available on menu when the
Method button is clicked inside the dialog
box
Create Group - Brings up the Save

Selection as Group dialog box. Allows you
to create a new Group p or to add,, remove,, or
exclude the entities in the Selection List
from the active Group.
Load Group - Allows you to add the entities

of any existing Group to the current
Selection List.
Export Neutral – Takes the objects in the

Selection List and writes a Femap Neutral
File.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 13


Copy - Allows you to copy all of the entities
in the Selection List and “Paste “ them into
a different model. When the Selection List is
copied, the entity data is sent to a modified
version of a FEMAP neutral file and is
placed on the clipboard. Once on the
clipboard, it can be “pasted” into a different
model using the Paste command on the
Selector Actions menu (Ctrl+v will not work
in this case)
• You MUST be ssure
Yo re that all entities
related to a specified entity are included
in the Selection List before using the
Copy command. This will assure an
accurate transfer between models
occurs. One way to assure a Selection
List will be complete
p for copying
py g
purposes is to use the Select Related
mode of the Select toolbar.
Paste - This command allows you to “paste”

a copied Selection List into a another
opened Femap model. The Paste command
recognizes that a modified FEMAP neutral
file is on the clipboard and reads that
neutral file into FEMAP.
• When the Paste command is used it will
bring up the Neutral File Read Options
dialog box to allow you enter an ID
offset and select other options to aid in
the prevention of overwriting entities in
the current model.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 14


Add to Data Table - Takes all of the
entities in the Selection List that are the
entity type currently active in the Selector
and sends their data to the Data Table. The
Data Table MUST be “unlocked” in order for
this command to be available.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 15

Select Toolbar –
While a certain entity type is active in the selector, only that entity type will be available
for picking in the graphics window. Since FEMAP is only highlighting one specific entity
type at a time, there are context sensitive menus for each entity type (except Text).
These menus can be accessed by highlighting an entity in the graphics window and then
clicking the right mouse button. These Context Sensitive menus contain frequently used
commands for each entity type.
Any time there is an active entity in the Select Toolbar, clicking Alt + clicking the right
mouse button in the graphics window will bring up the Quick Access Menu instead of the
context sensitive menu related to the active entity. This can very helpful for picking
mode purposes and to toggle Show Tooltips.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 16

Select Toolbar – Clear Selector Options

Select Toolbar has two options for clearing a Selection List:
• Clear All – clears the entire Selection List
• Clear Active Entity – clears only the active Selector Entity
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 17

View Options
The View, Options (F6 hotkey) command allows you control the way your view is
displayed.
There are three major categories in the View Options dialog box:
• Labels, Entities and Color – controls the way text, geometry and mesh entities,
and the color of entities are displayed in the active view.
• Tools and View Style – controls view entities, style and display of view objects
such as Symbols in the active view.
• PostProcessing – controls the options for displaying graphical and XY plots of
analysis results.
See the View Options section of the Femap Commands manual for details on the
multiple options available in these dialog boxes.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 18

View Options (continued)

The view background can be modified with the View, Background command. With this
command, you can specify a background that is either
• Transparent
• Solid
• Shaded
• You also have the option to specify a bitmap as a logo background. The bitmap for
the logo is specified in the Femap Preferences dialog box in the Views tab.
A view with its View Options, Entity Display settings, and Background can be saved to a
View Library within the Visibility dialog box (activated with the Ctrl
Ctrl+Q
Q hotkey or from
the View toolbar) by clicking the Save View button.
• A saved view will
update the active
view’s settings by
clicking Load View.
• Changes
g made to
the active view can
also be removed
via the Reset View
button in this dialog
box.
Saved views can also

be set as the
Startup View for all
new models via the
View tab of the FEMAP
Preferences.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 19

Data Table
Use the Tools, Data Table command or the Panes toolbar to turn the Data Table on
and off.
• When the Data Table is first opened, it is “locked”. The Lock/Unlock icon must be
p
selected to unlock it to enable it to receive or update data.
Data is placed into an interactive, dynamically changing “table” using various methods to
fill the table provided it is unlocked
 Each item appears as a single row separated into a number of columns when it
enters the Data Table.
 Information of entities of the same type can be sorted, filtered, and evaluated to help
you understand
d d what
h iis occurring
i iin your model
d lbbefore
f and d after
f analysis.
l i
 In many ways, the Data Table is a complement to the other dockable panes and can
also simply be an alternate method to list and view entity data
All FEMAP entities which can be selected using the Select toolbar can be sent to the
Data Table.
Several commands are available for listing and sorting results when the Data Table is
open and analysis results sets are loaded into your FEMAP model:
 List, Output, Summary to Data Table
 List, Output, Results to Data Table
 List, Output, Nodal Changes to Data Table
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 20

Programming Interfaces
Program Files
• FEMAP has the ability to record and replay command sequences using Program
Files.
• Program Files can be edited to accept user input
input.
• Program Files may not be compatible between different versions of FEMAP.
API – FEMAP has an Application Programming Interface that can be used to customize
FEMAP for applications such as:
• Automate tasks such as swapping the background colors of views for printing .
• Calculate the midplane stresses on shell elements
elements.
• Interface with other programs for the purposes for importing, modifying, or reporting
data.
• FEMAP has a built-in Basic language programming environment through the API
Programming pane.
• Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C++.NET can also be used to develop custom
applications
li ti ffor FEMAP
FEMAP.
• The API can be used to embed FEMAP into other applications; open, create, and/or
modify FEMAP models; or to develop standalone FEMAP applications without using
FEMAP’s GUI.
• Examples of API applications are shipped with FEMAP in FEMAP’s API folder. The
Custom Tools toolbar is set by default to point to this folder.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 6- 21

Lesson 7 M d l Di
Model Display
l and
d Vi
Visualization
li ti
Purpose
This lesson provides an introduction to selection, viewing, and data collection tools in
Femap’s user interface.
Topics
• Geometry, Material, Property and Layer Visibility Toggles

• View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data command
• Comparing Groups and Layers
• Layers
• Groups
• View Options
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 7-1

Lesson 7 Model Display and Visualization
Geometry, Element, Material and Property, Display Control

Beginning with Femap Version 10.1, display of Element (by Type or by Shape),
Materials, Properties and can be controlled from the Model Info pane. Femap v10.1.1
adds the ability to toggle solids on and off.
• j
The box to the left of the object’s ID/name is the Visibilityy Toggle
gg and indicates
whether or not the object is displayed.
• Indicates that the object is displayed.
You can also select one or more of the same object type and then Right-click to bring up
the Visibility Toggle menu.
Femap will display the combination of selected geometry,

geometry element types
types, materials
materials,
properties and groups, eliminating the need to organize the model by layers or by
creating additional groups.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 2

Display Control Example

Example: Wing model with multiple groups, element types and shapes, materials and
properties.
Model Tree:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 3

Display Control Example (continued)
Display only portion of the model with elements comprised of

Aluminum alloys:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 4

View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data Command

Beginning with Femap v10.1, the View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data
command is available. This command is also directly available on the View toolbar.
With this command, you can display Contour, Criteria, or Beam Diagram plots of model
data such as in the example below where Plane Element Thickness is shown as a
contour plot
plot.
• You cannot simultaneously display model data and analysis results.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 5

Comparing Groups and Layers
Layers Groups
Can be assigned to multiple

Groups
Can be assigned to only Assign by rules, relationships,
one Layer and/or clipping.
Entities
Imported with some CAD Automatic generation tools.
geometry
t formats.
f t Reference Groups for
managing “groups” of Groups
(Femap v10.1)
Multiple / User Controlled

Display
Multiple / User Controlled (single Group only prior to
Simultaneously?
Femap v10.1)
Displayed Layers only

Optional “No Pick” layer Only entities in the displayed
Graphical Selection prevents g
p graphical
p groups can be selected
selection of entities on that except when Select All is
layer (except when Select used.
All is used).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 6

Layers
Create new layers using the Tools, Layer command.
The Layer Manager dialog box:
• Create New Layer

y
• Assign ID, Title and Color
• View Options allows display of colors by layer (by entity type)
• Modify the name of a layer using the Update button

• Renumber layer(s)
• Delete layer(s)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 7

Layers and the Model Info Tree

Layer objects
 New layers
• Activate layers
• Manage
M l
layers
• Delete layers
• Manage visibility
Selection List objects

 Modify layer
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 8

Defining and Populating Groups

Define using commands on Group menu
• Use the Group, Create/Manage command to create a Group, then use other
commands to add entities into group
Group Rules
• Various entity selection commands, either by ID or using relationships to other
entities
• Entities can be added to group using any combination of selection methods
• When selecting entities, use the Exclude option if you want the selected entities
removed permanently from the group.
Group Clipping
• Selects all entities inside/outside clipping region
• Set Clipping first, then rules.
Referenced Groups allow a group to link to one or more other group(s).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 9

Control of and Automatic Generation of Groups

The Group, Operations command set:
• Use Automatic Add to add to the either the Active or Selected group as you model
• Evaluate and Evaluate Always are used to update groups as the model is modified.
• Limit
Li it use off Evaluate
E l t Always
Al i llarge models.
in d l
• Copy and Condense groups
• Combine groups using Boolean operations
• Use Add Related Entities to add entities to existing groups such as Loads and
Constraints on Surfaces, Nodes on Elements, etc.
• Generate commands can be used to automatically generate and maintain groups in
the model by:
• Solids
• Property
• Material
• Element Type
• Output
• Superelements
• Layers
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 10

Using Booleans with Groups

The Group, Operations, Booleans command allows you to create a new group:
• Add / Combine – take all entities from the selected groups.
• In all – take entities that are common to all of the selected groups.
• N t iin Any
Not A – take
t k entities
titi that
th t do
d nott exist
i t in
i any off the
th selected
l t d groups.
• Subtract – remove the entities from the selected groups from another group.
• Only in One - take only the entities that exist in one of the selected groups.
• Not in All - take only the entities from the selected groups that do not exist in all of
the selected groups.
Note: To see examples of the Group, Operations, Booleans command,

go to Section 6.4.3.2 of the Femap Users Guide.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 11

Group Creation and Control from the Model Info Pane

Right-click on a group name
to bring up the context-
sensitive menu for groups.
• Create a New g
group
p
• Combine groups into a
new group
• Add Related Entities
• Toggle Automatic Add
to the Active or Selected
group
• Show the Full Model,
Active Group or
Multiple Groups (a
further explanation of this
follows).
• Activate the selected
group
• List the contents of the
selected group(s)
• Delete the selected
group(s)
• Manage Referenced
M R f d
Groups
 Add to Selection – adds the contents of the selected group(s) to the Selection List
 Export Neutral exports the contents of the selected group(s) to a Femap Neutral file
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 12

Group Display Control

Beginning with Femap Version 10.1, multiple groups can be displayed using either the
View Visibility dialog box or via the Group tree in the Model Info pane.
To activate the Visibility dialog box to control display of groups:

• Click the View Visibility icon on the View toolbar
or
• Right-click in the graphics window and select Visibility on the context-sensitive
menu
• Select the Group tab in the Visibility dialog box
• Choose between:
• Show Full Model – when selected, the selection of individual groups in the
group list section of this dialog box is grayed out.
• Show Active Group
• Show Single Group – when selected, the selection of individual groups in the
group list section of this dialog box is grayed out.
• Show/Hide Multiple Groups
• The box to the left of the group’s ID and name is the Visibility Toggle and
indicates whether or not the group is displayed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 13

Group Display Control (continued)

The display of groups can
also be controlled from the
Group tree in the Model Info
pane.
• The box to the left of the
group’s ID and name is
the Visibility Toggle and
indicates whether or not
the group is displayed.
• Indicates that the
group is displayed.
• Indicates that the
group is hidden.
• A blank checkbox
also indicates that
the group is not
displayed.
• Indicates that all
groups are
displayed.
You can also select one or

more of the same object
type and then Right-click the
Visibility Toggle.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 14

Group Display Control Using the Status Bar Tray

In addition to the Model Info pane’s Group tree, you can activate a group using the
Status Bar Tray
• Click “Grp: (#)” on the Status Bar Tray and select the group you want to activate.
• The number (#) indicates the active group number
• Groups can also be created and managed by selecting the Create/Manage option
from this menu.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 15

View Options
In many cases, you may want to display specific entity indicators such as surface
normal, curve direction or element normal's. The View Options dialog box offers options
to display these indicators.
Example
E l – Turn
T on display
di l off rigid
i id elements
l t ddegree off ffreedom
d iindicators
di t and
d
master/slave nodes:
An unfilled box
indicates the Slave
Node on the rigid
element
A filled box
indicates the
Master Node on the
rigid element
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 16

View Options (continued)

Example– Turn on display of surface normal's:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 7- 17

Lesson 8 M hi O
Meshing Overview
i
Purpose
This lesson provides an overview of the tools available in Femap to control and
generate meshes.
Topics
• Recommended Meshing Workflows

• Mesh Control
• Geometry Meshing
• Hex Meshing
• Mesh Modification Tools
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-1

Lesson 8 Meshing Overview
Recommended Meshing Workflows

Before any meshing, set a reasonable Default mesh size for the model then set the
mesh sizing for the objects to be meshed
Break edge curves where needed

Create any needed Curves on Surfaces and Mesh Points on
Surfaces
Solids Suppress any features as needed
Set the Mesh Size on Solids
Assign solid Attributes
Set the mesh size on individual surfaces as needed
Break surface boundary curves where needed

Create any needed Curves on Surfaces and Mesh Points on
Surfaces
Suppress any features as needed
Surfaces
Set the Mesh Size on Surfaces
Assign surface Attributes
Mesh the selected surfaces
Set the mesh size on individual curves as needed
Break curves as needed

Curves Set the Mesh Size on Curves
Assign curve Attributes
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-2

Mesh Control
The Mesh, Mesh Control menu creates settings for:

• Default mesh size
• Set mesh size on curves, surfaces and solids
• “Hard” mesh points
• Mesh Attributes - assignment of element properties
to geometry
• Mesh approaches on surfaces
• Suppression of geometric features during meshing
Many of these commands are also on the Mesh

toolbar.
Preview mesh sizing on curves with the View,

Options (F6),
(F6) Labels,
Labels Entities and Colors,
Colors Curve –
Mesh Size option
• Toggle Mesh Size symbols with the View
Style, Mesh Size icon on the View toolbar.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-3

Mesh, Mesh Control Commands

Mesh, Mesh Control, Default Size
• Used to define the default element size.
• If you only need a uniform mesh, this will be the only mesh control operation you
need to do
do.
• Used along curves that have no other sizing specified.
Mesh, Mesh Control, Size commands

• At Point, used to specify the size along any curve that references that point, and
does not already have a size specified.
• Along Curve, specifies the element size, or number of elements to be placed,
and how they will be spaced along the curve
curve.
• On Surface, used to specify the size on all of the curves referenced by the
surface, and gives other options for controlling the mesh on the surface.
• On Solid, provides the same basic mesh control as the previous, but also has
additional options that pertain primarily to multi-solid meshing, and hex meshing.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-4

Mesh, Mesh Control Commands (continued)
Mesh, Mesh Control, Interactive, allows you to interactively modify existing mesh
sizes along one or more curves.
• Add: The current curve mesh size is increased by the number of elements
p
specified
• Subtract: The current curve mesh size is decreased by the number of elements
specified. It is not reduced below 1
• Set To: The curve mesh size is set to the number of elements specified
Note: Interactive sizing

g with automatic re-meshing
g is available in the Meshing
g
Toolbox under the Mesh Sizing toolset.
Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size Along Curve, can be used to place nodes at
specific locations along curves, and match one curve's mesh sizing to another curve or
curves.
• See example on following pages
Mesh, Mesh Control, Mapped Divisions on Surface, allows you to specify divisions
for a mesh on 3 and 4 sided surfaces
Mesh, Mesh Control, Mesh Points on Surface, defines specific locations on a surface
where nodes will be created when the surface is meshed
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-5

Example - Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size along Curve
Surface Mesh Size = 5 with Mesh Size of 8 applied

to arc on upper boundary of surface
Custom Mesh Size along Curve command applied to the single

lower boundary of the surface by Matching the three curves on
the upper boundary of the surface
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-6

Example
p - Mesh,, Mesh Control,, Custom Size along
g Curve
(continued)
Resulting mesh after applying the

Mesh, Mesh Control, Custom Size along Curve command
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-7


Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes
• At Point, used to assign meshing properties to points, so that when the points are
meshed, the properties will automatically be assigned to the points
• Along Curve
Curve, in addition to specifying the property to be used
used, there are additional
options, like element orientation, releases, and offsets
• On Surface, most commonly used for assigning plate properties to surfaces, and
should be used when meshing multiple surfaces with different properties in one
meshing operation.
• Includes ability to pre-assign plate offsets to surface
• O Volume/Solid,
On V l /S lid are much
h th
the same as th
the above,
b only
l applies
li tto volumes/solids
l / lid
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-8


Mesh, Mesh Control, Approach on Surface, used to specify whether FEMAP will
create a free/boundary mesh or a mapped mesh. There are several options for free and
mapped meshing. For details, see section 5.1.1.15 in the Femap Commands Manual
• pp
Femap primarily
y uses the Free-Parametric approach
pp for meshing
g
• Beginning with Femap v10.1.1, Femap can automatically assign the corner points
when the Mapped – Four Corner option is selected
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8-9

Setting Mesh Sizing on Surfaces

Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Size on Surface command.
• Select the Replace Mesh Size on All Curves option to override mesh sizes on any
curve that has had it’s mesh size set curve mesh sizing command(s).
• Use Min Elements on Edge to set the number of elements on curves with their
length less then the Element Size setting.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 10

How Femap determines Element Size

For both solids and surfaces, Femap provides a recommended Element Size by
dividing the average length of the curves on the selected surface or solid by 6.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 11

Max Angle Tolerance

Max Angle Tolerance controls the maximum allowable angle between the tangent of a
surface’s boundary curve at the start of the element edge and the angle of the free edge
of the element. With this option enabled, the length of all free edges on the selected
surface(s) must be less than or equal to the Element Size.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 12

Setting Mesh Sizing on Surfaces (continued)

Max Elem on Small Feature and Max Size of Small Feature are used to control the
number of elements around the perimeter of an interior boundary.
• Max Size of Small Feature is the effective diameter of the interior feature calculated
byy taking
g of the p
perimeter length
g of the interior feature divided by
yppi.
• The default value of this option is equal to the value of the Element Size.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 13

Vertex Aspect Ratio

Vertex Aspect Ratio is used to optimize mesh sizing at locations where both long and
short curves are joined at common vertices
Initial Mesh – Vertex Aspect Ratio Option Disabled

Jacobian Mesh Quality Displayed
Initial Mesh – Vertex Aspect Ratio = 2.0

Jacobian Mesh Quality Displayed
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 14

Mapped
pp Meshing
g Refinement and Suppress
pp Short Edges
g
Options
The Mapped Meshing Refinement option attempts to refine the mesh for 3 or 4-sided
surfaces.
Suppress Short Edges suppresses any edge on the selected solid(s) or surface(s) that
h a llength
has th lless th
than or equall tto th
the specified
ifi d percentage
t off th
the Element
El t Si
Size.
• Suppressing short edges on certain solids or surfaces may cause the mesher to fail.
While not common, an error stating you have a "hole" in the mesh will inform you of
this situation.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 15

Parameter vs. Length Based Mesh Sizing

Femap, by default, uses Parameter mesh sizing. For many cases, there will be no
difference between Parameter and Length-based mesh sizing, however, for complex
curves and surfaces such as splines, there is a difference:
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 16

Curvature Based Mesh Refinement

The Curvature Based Mesh Refinement option, Refinement Ratio is similar to Max
Angle Tolerance except it uses a length ratio instead of angles
• Refinement Ratio = Chord Height / Chord Length
• Chord Height = maximum normal distance from the element edge to the curve
or surface
• Chord Length = length of the element edge
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 17

Setting Mesh Sizing on Solids

Use the Mesh, Mesh Control, Size on Solid command.
• Similar to the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box for surfaces except for addition of
the selection of either Tet Meshing or Hex Meshing, and the Auto Boundary
Small Surf and Assembly y / Multi-Solid Sizing
g options.
p
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 18

Auto Boundary Small Surf

Auto Boundary Small Surf attempts to combine any surface on a solid that has a area
less than or equal to the specified percentage of Element Size squared with an adjacent
surface that is tangent or nearly tangent to the small surface.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 19

Assembly / Multi-Body Sizing

The Assembly / Multi-Body Sizing options can be used to automatically set mesh
approaches on solids with adjacent surfaces when multiple bodies are selected .
• Adjacent Surface Matching – when surfaces on two adjacent bodies are

coincident and have sizes and boundaries, Femap will slave the mesh size and
approach of the two surfaces.
• Use the Remove Previous Slaving option to remove the mesh sizing and slaving
on bodies that have had mesh sizes previously applied.
• Adjust Colors changes the colors of surfaces that have mesh sizes set
set. The
following lists the colors and their meanings:
• Dark Transparent Blue – free surfaces that have mesh sizes successfully
applied.
• Light Solid Blue – surfaces that have been matched to an adjacent surface for
the purpose of creating a continuous mesh.
• Red – surfaces on solids that cannot be hex meshed.
• Skip Sizing on Slaved Surfaces – skip mesh sizing on surfaces that are slaved to
another surface.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 20

Surface Mesh Approach: Free Mesh

The Mesh, Mesh Control, Approach on Surface command allows you to set the
method for meshing surfaces (including surfaces on solids).
• If not specified, Femap will use either the Free/Parametric or Mapped – Four corner
pp
approach based on ggeometry y and resulting
g mesh q
quality.
y
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 21

Surface Mesh Approach: Mapped – Four Corner
Mapped Four Corner Mesh – Example 1
Mapped Four Corner Mesh – Example 2

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 22
Surface Mesh Approach: Mapped – Three Corner
M
Mapped
d Three
Th Corner
C Mesh
M h
Mapped Three Corner Fan Mesh
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 23

Edge and Feature Suppression

Use the command, Mesh, Mesh Control, Feature Suppression
• Removing Loops works on surfaces and solids.
Interactive feature suppression is also available in the Meshing Toolbox under the
Feature Suppression toolset.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 24

Boundary Surface from Surfaces on Solid

The command, Geometry, Boundary Surface, From Surfaces on Solid
• Takes the surfaces you select, and uses the enclosing outer curves to form a
regular boundary surface.
• The surfaces must be stitched into a solid
solid.
• This feature works best with surfaces that have small to moderate curvature.
• Can be used to remove sliver surfaces by selecting surfaces that surround the
sliver.
• This capability is also found in the Meshing Toolbox under the
Combined/Boundary Surfaces toolset.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 25

Geometry Meshing
Mesh, Geometry, Point - is the most basic of the automatic meshing commands.
• Will generate nodes (and elements for 0D element types such as Mass Elements) at
the selected points.
• Allows you to specify the beginning node and element ID
ID.
Mesh, Geometry, Curve

• Creates a mesh of nodes and 1-D elements along a curve
Mesh, Geometry, Surface - creates nodes and planar elements on a selected set of
surfaces.
• Must first define the mesh sizing using one of the various Mesh Control commands
• There are also basic Mesh Control options on the Automesh form, as well as Mesh
Smoothing, and Element Shape options
Mesh, Geometry, Volume - creates nodes and elements in a selected set of volumes.
• Since this command uses a mapped meshing technique, the number of
nodes/elements
/ along opposite faces
f off a volume must always be equal
Mesh, Geometry, Solid - Produces a 3-D solid tetrahedral mesh in a solid part
Mesh, Geometry, Solids From Elements - meshes a plate element mesh that
encloses a volume into a solid element mesh
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 26

Automesh Surfaces Dialog Box

The Mesh, Geometry, Surfaces command opens the Automesh Surfaces dialog box.
By default only a portion of the available mesh options are visible.
You may specify the following options:

• Mesher – Triangle or Quad
• Toggle generation of Midside Nodes
• Toggle Mapped Meshing on or off
To see all of the surface meshing options available, press the More Options button.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 27


The expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box has the following options:
• Mesher – Triangle or Quad
• Pre-V10 Meshing can be used to have FEMAP mesh using the “old” meshers
and options
options.
• Toggle generation of Midside Nodes
• Connect Edge Nodes and a Tolerance can be set to automatically merge
nodes on surfaces of stitched bodies.
• Toggle Mapped Meshing on or off and set various mapped meshing options.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 28


Expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box (continued):
• Select the Smoothing option and settings to reduce mesh distortion.

• Laplacian moves the node towards the centroid of the surrounding nodes.
• Centroidal moves a node towards the centroid of the element-weighted centroid
of the surrounding elements.
• Offset options allow you to offset to the top face, bottom face, or by a specified
value as the mesh is created instead of having to do it as a secondary step.
• If an offset is applied as part of the Mesh, Mesh Control, Attributes on Surface
command, that value will be used if no value is set in the Automesh Surfaces
dialog box. If a value is entered, it will override the previously set attribute value.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 29


Expanded Automesh Surfaces dialog box (continued):
• Post-Meshing Cleanup is on by default and detects certain patterns in the mesher

to eliminate them
• Cut Quads with Angle Deviation Above specified degrees
• Min Elements Between Boundaries forces the mesher to attempt to put the
specified number of elements between adjacent boundaries
• Max Element Aspect Ratio attempts to create elements which are under the
specified aspect ratio
• Quick-Cut boundaries… splits boundaries with more then the specified number of
nodes into smaller pieces for meshing.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 30

Quad Edge Layer Option for Quad Meshing of Surfaces

• Use the Quad Edge Layer option to set the “depth” of quad elements around
features
0 1 2 3
Layers Layer Layers Layers
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 31

Automesh Solids Dialog Box

When applying the command, Mesh, Geometry, Solids, the Automesh Solids dialog
box is activated. With this dialog box, you specify the following options:
• Surface Mesh Only
• Toggle Midside Nodes
• Tet Growth Ratio – specify a factor to increase the size of the interior elements
over the size of the initial surface mesh.
• Initial Size Ratio – used to provide additional control for the size of the mesh.
Lower values results in denser meshes.
• Update Mesh Sizing – activates the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box for solids.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 32

Manual Meshing Tools

Model, Element command.
• Creates a single element
Mesh, Between command.
Mesh, Region command.
Mesh, Revolve, Extrude and Sweep commands.

• With these commands you can revolve , extrude, or sweep curves or line elements
into plane elements, and plane elements into volume elements. You can also select
face(s) on volume element(s) to create additional volume elements.
Mesh Copy, Radial Copy, Scale, Rotate and Reflect commands.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 33

Manual Mesh Modification Tools

Mesh, Editing, Interactive command.
Mesh, Editing, Split command.
Mesh, Remesh command set.
Mesh, Smooth command.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 34

Semi-Automatic Hex Meshing

Femap can automatically hex mesh solids that are valid mapped meshing solids (solids
of extrusion or revolution)
Preparing the solid for Hex Meshing

• Begin by slicing the solid into simple sections that are extrusions using the following
commands:
• Geometry, Solid, Slice
• Geometry, Solid, Slice Match
• Geometry, Solid, Slice Along Face
• Geometry Solid,
Geometry, Solid Embed Face
Meshing the Solids

• Use Mesh Control to set the size and link the adjacent surfaces
• Then Mesh, Geometry, Hex Mesh Solids
Note: Solids of revolution must be sliced so that the solid comprises is less then a
360-degree revolution. e.g A straight, pipe section must be split in half.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 35

Meshing Toolbox
In a later section, you will learn about the Meshing Toolbox. This toolbox allows for
interactive modification of geometry and meshes to improve the quality of meshes:
• Geometry Feature Suppression
• Geometry Feature Removal
• Geometry Combined/Composite Curves
• Geometry Combined/Composite Surfaces
• Mesh Sizing Toolbox
• Mesh Locate Toolbox
• Mesh Quality Toolbox
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermap 101 8 - 36

Lesson 9 A l i S
Analysis Sett M
Manager
Purpose
This lesson provides an introduction to the setup of analyses using Femap’s Analysis
Set Manager.
Topics
 The Analysis Set Manager

 Analysis Set Manager Dialog Box
 NX Nastran Supported Solution Sequences
 NX Nastran Input File Setup
 Preview/Edit Input
 Bulk Data Entries
 Analyze Process
 NX Nastran Analysis Procedure and Files
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 9-1

Lesson 9 Analysis Set Manager
The Analysis Set Manager

Femap’s Analysis Set Manager manages the options necessary to:
• Create a ready to run input file.
• Launch the NX Nastran solver or to launch another locally installed solver.
• St t VisQ
Start Vi Q to
t send
d the
th input
i t file
fil to
t a solver
l on another
th machine.
hi
Analysis Sets are stored along with the Femap model file or can be stored in a Femap
library that is available across different model files.
To enter the analysis Manager select the Model, Analysis command.

• Click the New button to create a new Analysis Set.
• Specify a Title, Analysis Program, and the Analysis Type
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-2

NX Nastran Supported Solution Sequences

Linear statics
Normal modes
Buckling
Dynamics
• Modal or direct transient
• Modal or direct frequency
• Response Spectrum
• Random Response
Design optimization
Nonlinear
• Nonlinear statics
• Nonlinear transient response
Heat Transfer
• Steady-state heat transfer
• Transient heat transfer
Advanced Nonlinear
• Nonlinear Statics (SOL601,106)
• Nonlinear Transient (SOL601,129)
• Nonlinear Explicit (SOL701)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-3

Analysis Set Manager Dialog Box

The Analysis Set Manager dialog box shows all analysis sets defined in the model
• Expand the tree view with +,-
• Edit sets by double click on tree item or highlight and select Edit button
• E
Export:
t writes
it input
i t file
fil tto di
disk
k
• Delete
• Copy
• Load and Save to the Analysis Set library
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-4

NX Nastran Input File Setup

Select Solver and Analysis Type
Set Executive, Bulk Data, GEOMCHECK, MODELCHECK options

• Can add additional NX Nastran cards and/or Include Files with Start/End Text
options
Case Control
• Master Requests and Conditions
• Subcases
• Select Master Requests and Conditions then click the New button
Multi set:
• Select constraint and loads sets and Femap will create a subcase for each
combination of selected constraint and load set(s)
• Not available for all analysis types
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-5

Analysis Set – Nastran Bulk Data Options Dialog Box

When using one of the Nastran solvers, the Nastran Bulk Data Options dialog box has
multiple options. Two of the many options are described below. See section 8.7.1.3 of
the Femap Commands Manual for more details.
• If yyou want to analyze
y onlyy a portion
p of the model,, yyou can specify
p y a single
g g group
p to
write out only with the Portion of Model to Write option.
• Some models may have specified the mass properties entry for materials as weight
density rather then mass density. In this case, enable the WTMASS option and
specify the value of the gravitational constant.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-6

NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics Options

NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics has additional options for the selected analysis Type in
the Analysis Set
These options can

also be defined in a
Load Set.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-7

NX Nastran Nonlinear Options

When NX Nastran Nonlinear is the analysis Type, Nonlinear options can be set as part
of the Master Request and Conditions or as an option when subcases are used.
• Just like in NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics, these can also be set as options in a
load set.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-8

Preview/Edit Input
Preview
• Generates the input deck
• Check for errors
Edit Preview
• Modify, add, remove entries
• Standard field spacing displayed as header
• Add comments
Analyze or Export
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9-9

Analyze Process
Analyze operation
• Exports input deck and
starts in a NX Nastran job
p
as a separate p
process
• The Analysis Monitor
displays the NX Nastran
.log, .f04, or .f06 files
• Results automatically
loaded into Femap
((Femap p Preferences
default).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9 - 10

NX Nastran Analysis Procedure and Files

NX Nastran Output files – these files are retained :
• .f06 (Print File) – Contains results data, as well as, warning and error messages.
Also, XY Plot data, diagnostic information (Geomcheck, Weight Check, Ground
Check), ), Grid point
p force data,, and Failure indices for Composite
p (Laminate)
( ) Elements
prior to Femap 8.3
• .op2 (Binary Output File) – Contains results data in binary format, but results data
can be imported into Femap much faster using the .op2
• .f04 (Text File) – Contains a summary of file and database usage information,
memory and disk usage sizes, and module execution and statistical information.
• .log
log (Text File) – License usage,
usage summary of solution times
times, and other general
information about the execution of NX Nastran.
Results data:
• Components of displacements at grid points
• Element Recovery data (stresses, strains, strain energy, and internal forces and
moments
• Grid point data recovery (applied loads, constraint forces, and element forces)
Note: Several temporary files are generated during an NX Nastran analysis

execution. By default, these files are placed in the scratch file location
designated during the installation of NX Nastran. These files are
automatically deleted after the successful execution of NX Nastran. Femap
allows you to override the default scratch file through a preference setting,
or you can specify the file location in an Analysis Set option.
The scratch file folder should be checked frequently
q y and files deleted as
needed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 9 - 11

Lesson 10 Visualizing
Vi li i and
dDDocumenting
ti
Results
Purpose:
This lesson provides an overview of post-processing results in Femap.
Topics:
 View Select Command

 Deformed and Contour Data
 Contour Options
 Nodal vs. Centroidal Stresses
 Output Transformations
 Animation Commands and Options
 XY Plots
 Freebody Display
 Vector Plots
 Detailed Post Processing Options
 Post Processing Toolbar
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 10 - 1

Lesson 10 Visualizing and Documenting Results
View Select Command

The View Select dialog box:
 Specify the Deformed style
• Deformed
• Animation
A i ti
• Vector
• Trace
 Specify the Contour style
• Contour
• Criteria
• Beam Diagram
• IsoSurface
• Section Cut
• Vector
 Select Deformed and Contour Data to select data, e.g.,
g von Mises Stress
Review Femap User Guide – Chapter 5.9.1 – Working with View Select and View
Options
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 2

Deformed and Contour Data

To select the results data to display, activate the Select PostProcessing Data dialog box
with the View, Select command or by right-clicking in the graphics window and selecting
the Post Data command.
M t have
Must h results
lt available
il bl iin F
Femap
Key items to specify

• Output Set
• Deformation Output Vectors
• Contour Output Vectors
• Contour Options
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 3

Contour Options
The contour algorithm in Femap will use either nodal or elemental data to perform the
contouring.
• Depending on the selected options and the available data, Femap will use several
pp
different approaches to calculate the contours
 Contour Group – allows
the display of results of
the Active or Selected
group without activating
the group.
 Data Conversion options
 Average, Use Corner
Data (default)
 Average, without
Corner Data
 Maximum Value – with
or w/o Corner Data
 Minimum Value– with
or w/o Corner Data
 Element options
 Provides the capability
to “Smart Average”
results Thus
results.
accounting for
discontinuities in
material or geometry
and providing a more
accurate representation
of the results.
 Option to display
Double-sided Planar
Contours on planar
elements
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 4

Nodal vs. Centroidal Stresses

Output data from analysis programs varies in the position that it is calculated
• Nodes or the centroid of the element
If you select nodal data, e.g., translations, Femap uses it directly
For results with element centroid data but no corner data, you can either:
• Average the Centroidal values for the all the elements connected to each node
(default); or
• Use the Maximum of the Centroidal values of the connected elements.
For results with element centroid data and element corner data you can either:
• Average the values at each node (element corner data) to determine the data
(default),
• Use the maximum of the values at each node (element corner data)
• Average the Centroidal values for the all the elements connected to each node
(ignores the corner data you have); or
• Use the Maximum of the Centroidal values of the connected elements.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 5

Example – Nodal Data Conversion

Example:
• Four elements sharing node “N”, with corner data
• Stress at node N can be calculated
A
Average with
ith and
d without
ith t CCorner D
Data
t
• with: σN = (σW+ σX+ σY+ σZ)/4
• without: σN = (σA+ σB+ σC+ σD)/4
Maximum Value with and without Corner Data
• with: max (σW, σX, σY, σZ)
• without: max (σA, σB, σC, σD)
Node “N”
Minimum Value with and without Corner Data
• with: min (σW, σX, σY, σZ)
• without: min (σA, σB, σC, σD)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 6

Example – Nodal Data Conversion
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 7

Output Transformations
By default, Femap displays NX Nastran results in the global or “basic” rectangular
coordinate system. The Select PostProcessing Data dialog box has options to
transform output vectors to user-selected directions.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 8

Output Transformations (continued)

In this example, we want to display the radial stress and deformations around the large
hole. A radial coordinate system is centered at the large hole.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 9

Animation Commands
Create the animation in the View Select dialog box and select Animate as the Deformed
Style
This will create an animation of the active Deformation Output Vector in the Deformed
and Contour Data Dialog Box
• By selecting the View, Advanced Post, Animation command, you can control the
speed of the animation.
• Once the plot is Animating it can be saved as an AVI file or Animated Gif file (*.GIF)
using the File, Picture, Save command and selecting the “Video for Windows (*.
AVI)”or “Animated GIF (*.GIF)” format.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 10

XY Plots
Use View, Select (F5) command to generate XY plots – also accessible from the
Graphics Window’s context-sensitive menu.
XY vs ID - plots XY data as a function of ID
XY vs Set - plots XY data versus the output set number for an Output Vector across
several Output Sets
XY vs Set Value - similar to “vs Set”, except uses Output Set value for X
XY vs Position - plots XY data vs the position of nodes or element in an axis direction

for an output Vector in on Output Set
XY vs Function - (not a post-processing option) plots XY data for a function
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 11

XY Plots of Functions
Functions can be displayed quickly by selecting the function to be displayed in the
Model Info window and selecting Show from the context-sensitive menu.
• Opens a new graphics view titled “XY Show”
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 12

Freebody Display
In the View Select dialog box, choose Deformed and Contour Data, Freebody
Display
Plots the Freebody information of the entire body or a select group of elements.
• Must have recovered Grid Point Force Balance data from analysis, if not only
Applied and reaction forces will be available.
• Total Summed Loads allows you to check the model for equilibrium.
• Choose the types of entities to be viewed
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 13

Loads from a Free body Diagram

Generate a Freebody diagram
Select the Model, Loads, Loads from Freebody command
Creates nodal loads from the free body diagram as displayed on the screen in the Active
Load Set.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 14

Vector Plots
Multiple types of Vector plots can be generated using results data.
• Select Vector as the Contour Style in the View Select dialog box, then the
Deformed and Contour button.
• Once an Output Set is selected, click the Contour Vectors button to specify the
options for the plot. This opens the Contour Options dialog box.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 15

Contour Vector Options

With the Contour Vector Options dialog box, you can set the:
• Vector Type
• Standard Vectors – tensors such as Total Displacement, Principal Stresses and
Strains
• Single Value, 2D and 3D Components – specify any of the output vectors
• 2D Tensor Plot (new in v10.1)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 16

2D Tensor Plot Example

Beginning with v10.1, you can generate a “Crows Foot” plot by setting the Vector Type
to 2D Tensor Plot in the Contour Vector Options dialog box.
• Example : Display Laminate Ply 1 X and Y normal stresses and the Laminate Play
Failure Index of Plyy 1 ((see next p
page
g for View Options
p settings)
g ):
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 17

2D Tensor Plot Preferences and View Options

You can automatically set the View Options settings for a 2D Tensor Plot in Femap’s
Preferences dialog box under the View tab by clicking the option for 2D Tensor Plot
View Options Override.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 18

Detailed Post Processing Options

Accessed via the View, Options command (F6 and Ctrl+O hotkeys)
• Located in the Category, PostProcessing
Long list of options, key ones include

• Post Titles
• On/off, Location…
• Deformed Style
• Scale, Automatic scaling options
• Contour/Criteria Style
• Contour Levels
• Contour Legend
Note: Post Processing options are saved along with the View Style in the View
Library.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 19

Post Toolbar
Allows quick display of Deformed and Contour plots
Detailed Postprocessing settings accessible from the Post Options pull down icon
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 10 - 20

Lesson 11 Th Meshing
The M hi Toolbox
T lb
Purpose:
The Meshing Toolbox is used for accessing FEMAP’s interactive geometry cleanup
and idealization tools and interactive mesh editing tools. This lesson is an overview
of the tools available in the Meshing Toolbox.
Topics:
 Entity Locator
 Feature Suppression
 Feature Removal
 Combined / Composite Curves
 C bi d / B
Combined Boundary
d S
Surfaces
f
 Mesh Sizing Toolbox
 Mesh Locate Toolbox
 Mesh Quality Toolbox
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 11 - 1

Lesson 11 The Meshing Toolbox
Meshing Toolbox - Controls

Similar to other FEMAP Panes, the Meshing Toolbox can be turned on and off from the
Tools menu.
The Meshing Toolbox has several controls for:

• Toolbox Visibility – toggle Meshing Toolbox controls
• Toggle Entity Locator – toggle the feature Locator controls
• Mesh Quality Toggle – toggle display of mesh quality
• Automesh / Remesh Control – select either automatic remeshing or manual
meshing after making an update in one of the Meshing Toolbox control controls
• Select / Dialog Select icons – select a single entity or multiple entities using a
Select dialog box
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 2

Entity Locator for Curves
The Locator makes it possible to

quickly search for features in a
model that could result in poor
mesh quality.
Locator controls are activated by

toggling the Toggle Entity Locator
icon.
The Locator has an option to

Search for:
• Curves
• Surfaces
When Curves are selected the

Search Method can be set to
search for:
• Short Edges
• Based On
• Global Mesh Size
• Curve Length
• Shortest Curves
• You can also select whether to
locate the curve in the:
• Entire Model
• Only in Group(s)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 3

Entity Locator for Surfaces

When Surfaces are selected
the Search Method can be
set to search for:
• Small Surfaces
• Fit in Radius
• Slivers
• Sliver Tolerance
• Spikes
• Spike Width
• By Area
• Area Less Than
You can also select
whether to locate
surfaces in the:
• Entire Model
• Only in Group(s)
• Not in Group(s)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 4

Entity Locator - Toggle Entity Locator Menu

The Toggle Entity Locator icon is used to cycle through objects located through the
Locator control.
• Remove deletes the current entity from the list of located entities
• Do Not Locate deletes the current entity from the list of located entities and keeps
the entity from being located again during the current model editing session.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 5

Feature Suppression
Feature Suppression
controls allow you to
interactively suppress or
remove suppression of:
• Loops – select one edge
on an feature to
automatically suppress
the entire set of curves
and surfaces comprising
the feature
• Curves – select curve(s)
to be suppressed.
Should not be used on
solids.
• Surfaces – select
surface(s) to be
suppressed Should not
suppressed.
be used on surfaces.
Limit Size prevents selection

of entities that have their
length less than the specified
Smaller Than value.
The Action Action menu toggles the action to :

• Toggle Suppression – if a entity is unsuppressed, suppress it. If it is suppressed,
restore it.
• Suppress or Restore
Update Colors set options to toggle and colors for suppressed entities
entities.
Show Suppressed allows you to highlight suppressed Curves or Surfaces
Restore All features in either selected solid(s) (In Solids button) or in the entire Model
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 6

Feature Removal
Feature Removal differs from Feature Suppression in that the underlying solid or
surface geometry is modified.
• Loops – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops.
• Curves – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops
loops. Also includes
an option for Aggressive Removal
• Surfaces - when a single surface on a solid is selected, Femap will attempt to clean
up the solid to result in a “clean” solid. In some cases, no operation will be
performed and in others, other adjacent surfaces will be removed. There is also an
option for Aggressive Removal.
Note: There is no option to restore removed features beyond what is supported

with the Undo command.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 7

Combined / Composite Curves

Combined / Composite Curves combines two or contiguous curves into a single curve for
meshing. The can be created by:
• Add By Point – create

th composite
the it curve b
by
selecting a common point
on the two curves
• Add Curves
• Split At – splits a
composite curve at the
selected
l t d point
i t
 Remove – converts the
composite curve at the
selected position back to
it’s the original curve
definition. The remainder
of the composite curve is
retained.
 Delete – converts all
curves on the composite
curve back to their
original curve definitions
The Combine Surfaces option creates Combined Surfaces for surfaces using the
curves that are combined.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 8

Combined / Boundary Surfaces

Combined / Boundary Surfaces combines two or contiguous surfaces into a single
surface for meshing. The can be created by:
• Add By Curve– create the composite surface by selecting a common edge on the
g
two original surfaces
• Add Surfaces – converts the selected surface to a composite surface. If multiple
surfaces are selected using the Dialog Select tool, the selected surfaces are
combined into a single surface provided they are connected by a common edge.
• Split Along– splits a composite surface by the selected curve(s)
• Remove – converts the selected composite surface(s) their original surface
definitions
• Delete – converts the selected composite surface(s) to their original surface
definitions
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 9

Mesh Sizing Toolbox

Mesh Sizing controls
provides interactive
modification of mesh sizes on
curves.
Set the mesh size on selected

curve(s) with the Size Curves
option.
• Add – add the Number of
Nodes to the current mesh
size
• Subtract – subtract the
Number of Nodes from
the current mesh size
• Set To – in this case, the
number of elements on
the curve will equal the
Number of Nodes.
• Specify the Spacing as
either:
• Equal
• Biased – when this
option
ti isi enable,
bl you
specify the Bias
Factor
• Enable Length Based
Sizing
When the Sizing Option is set to Match Curves, the curve(s) selected will match the
mesh sizing settings of the Master Curve
Enabling the Show Free Edges option highlights the nodes on the mesh’s free edges
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 10

Mesh Locate Toolbox

With the Mesh Locate
controls, you can interactively
move nodes to improve the
quality of a mesh.
• Specify the attached
mesh with the Select
Mesh to Edit option:
• Attached To
Surface
• Attached To Solid
 Standalone Mesh –
ignore attached geometry
and modify the node
locations freely
 Locate Multiple - select
multiple nodes and move
them simultaneously
The Locate Method specifies
whether to move the node:
• Dynamic – drag the position of the selected node(s) using the cursor
• Manual,, Vector – specify
p y the direction and distance to move the selected node(s)
( )
Smooth will move the adjust the other nodes of the attached elements to smooth the
mesh quality
Enabling the Project option constrains the node’s movement so that it remains attached
to its surface
Constrain to Curve constrains the node’s movement to remain attached to its curve
Once a node or nodes have been moved, you have the option to Save or Discard the
edit(s)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 11

Meshing
g Toolbox –
Mesh Quality
Mesh Quality specifies the
setting of the display when
the Quality tool is enabled.
• Q
Quality
y Type
yp specifies
p
whether to display the
mesh quality by:
• Aspect Ratio
• Taper
• Alternate Taper
• I t
Internal
l Angles
A l
• Warping
• Nastran Warping
• Jacobian
• Combined Quality
• Set the Number of
Distortion Levels to:
• 2 or 4
• Toggle Smooth Contours

• Minimum Distortion displays the minimum element distortion value in the Meshing
Toolbox pane
• Max Distortion displays the maximum element distortion value in the Meshing
Toolbox pane
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 11 - 12

Lesson 12 Mid f i
Midsurfacing
Purpose:
Midsurfacing is a technique that is used to build idealized models of thin

bodies. This lesson is an overview of the tools available Femap to create
midsurface models.
Topics:
• Midsurfacing
• The Midsurface Commands
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 12 - 1

Lesson 12 Midsurfacing
Midsurfacing
Midsurfacing is the process of extracting the midplane between parallel surfaces in
order to reduce the complexity and increase the accuracy of the Finite Element Model.
• For the part shown:
• Solids: 113,512
113 512 nodes and 63,875
63 875 elements.
elements ( > 3 minutes solve time)
time).
• Shells: 1725 nodes and 1576 elements. (< 10 seconds solve time).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 2

The Geometry, Midsurface Commands

Geometry, Midsurface, Single in
Solid
• Creates a single trimmed
midsurface between two
surfaces of a solid.
Geometry, Midsurface, Single

• Creates a single sheet surface
between two surfaces that
extends beyond the extent of
b th surfaces.
both f
Geometry, Midsurface, Trim to

Solid
• Trims a surface with a solid and
deletes any part(s) of the
surface which lie outside the
volume of the solid.
Geometry, Midsurface, Trim with

Curve
• Trims or breaks a surface with a
curve
Geometry, Midsurface, Extend

• Extends a surface by using one
of a surface's edge curves and
"extending“ the surface using a
specified "Extend Shape“
method .
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 3

Geometry, Midsurface, Automatic Command

Automatically generates the midplanes between the selected surfaces, trims them to the
solid, and cleans up any surfaces that are determined not to be part of the model.
• Midsurfaces are extracted from parallel faces.
• Automatically creates a group called “Midsurface”
Midsurface
• Use where the part has multiple wall thicknesses or has features that are
“branching” or non-tangent.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 4

Geometry, Midsurface, Offset Tangent Surfaces Command

The Geometry, Midsurface, Offset Tangent Surfaces command is used to generate a
Sheet solid from a constant thickness solid where the topology consists of continuous
tangent surfaces.
• p y a surface on one of the surfaces to be midsurfaced. Femap
Specify p will
automatically select the chain of connected tangent surfaces.
• Specify a Offset Distance. This is by default one-half of the solid’s thickness.
• You have the option to delete the original solid automatically.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 5

Geometry, Midsurface Commands (continued)

The following three commands are the steps in order that the Geometry, Midsurface,
Automatic command follows.
• Geometry, Midsurface, Generate
• Creates midsurfaces
• Geometry, Midsurface, Intersect
• Splits the selected surfaces at their intersections
• Geometry, Midsurface, Cleanup
• Automatically determines which surfaces that can be deleted as a result of the
Midsurface, Cleanup command. Does NOT delete the surfaces, but places
them on a separate layer for inspection and user controlled deletion.
Geometry, Midsurface, Assign Meshing Attributes

• Prompt’s you for the material for the selected surface(s) and then automatically
creates the properties with the wall thickness(es)of the original solid.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 6

Using NonManifold Add for Midsurface Models

Using Geometry, Surface, NonManifold Add on a midsurface model that is “ready for
meshing” is often a great way to assure mesh continuity in the model, especially if “T-
Junctions” exist.
Original Solid Geometry
Midsurfaced Geometry
2 Sheet Solids and 2 curves at T-junction
between Sheet Solids, both of which needs to
be sized the same for mesh continuity
After NonManifold Add

1 “General Body” and 1 shared
curve at T-junction allows for
easier mesh sizing and
assures mesh h continuity
ti it
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 12 - 7

Lesson 13 FEA Assembly
A bl Modeling
M d li
Purpose:
In the context of FEA, modeling assemblies may use multiple techniques to connect the
components of a FEA assembly. This lesson is an overview of the tools available in the
Femap to model FEA assemblies.
Topics:
 Finite Element Model Connection Types

 Mesh, Connect Menu
 Connecting FEA Components with Connectors
 Bolted Connections with Bolt Regions
 Fl id and
Fluid dRRotor
t R Regions
i
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 13 - 1

The Lesson 12 FEA Assembly Modeling
Finite Element Model Connection Types

Coincident Node
Rigid Element Connections
Welded Connections
Mesh “Connections” and Properties
Fluid and Rotor Regions
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 2

Coincident Nodes
Connecting Similar Element Types can be accomplished with “Coincident Nodes”
• Depending on how the model was set up before meshing (e.g. use of “Slice Match”,
etc.), some meshes will be generated automatically with coincident nodes.
Use the Tools, Check, Coincident Nodes command.

• For large models, or models where you anticipate there a large number of
coincident nodes, uncheck the List Coincident Entities option.
• The Preview Coincident option is used to display coincident nodes before merging.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 3

Rigid Element Connections

With most solvers, including NX Nastran, Shell and Beam Elements have 6 D.O.F. per
node, while Solids Elements have 3 D.O.F. per node.
• Solid/Shell and Beam/Solid connections cannot be satisfied with use of coincident
y
nodes only.
• If Solid/Shell, Solid/Beam, and Beam/Shell connections are not defined correctly,
you will get a FATAL MESSAGE 9137 – SEKKRS (under-constrained model).
Rigid Elements can be used to transmit rotations between Solids and Shells and Solids
and Beams by transferring the translation on the nodes on the plate elements to the
nodes on the solid elements.
• Use a minimum of two “dependent” nodes on the solid
for every independent node on the shell or beam.
Note: Do not use mid-side nodes on parabolic elements as either Independent or

Dependent nodes.
nodes
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 4

Rigid Elements
Beginning with Femap v10.1.1, you can automatically generate the Independent node
by selecting the option for New Node at Center. This option generates a new node by
placing the node at the centroid of the Dependent nodes.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 5

RBE3 Rigid Elements

Use the RBE3 Rigid Element to transmit masses, loads, and rigid body motion (velocity,
acceleration).
• To create a RBE3, enable the Interpolation Factor in the Define RIGID ELEMENT
g box,, then select the Nodes to Average.
dialog g
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 6

RBE3 Rigid Elements (continued)

Resulting Rigid Element after selecting Nodes to Average.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 7

RBE3 Rigid Elements (continued)

You can adjust the Interpolation factor for RBE3 elements using the following steps;
1) In the Define RIGID Element dialog box, select the node(s) for which you are
modifying the interpolation factor
2) Click the Update button
3) Modify the Factor in the Update Interpolation Element dialog box.

You can either change the value of the Factor, or you can select the Distance
Weighting option that causes Femap to calculate a weighted interpolation factor
based on that nodes distance from the Reference Node relative to all the other
nodes selected in Step 1)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 8

“Converting” Rigid Element Types

Once a RBE2 or RBE3 Rigid Element is created, you can Convert the element from a
RBE2 to a RBE3 and vice versa.
Note how after selecting the

Convert option, the interpolation
factor for the nodes has been
removed.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 9

Welded Connections
Femap supports Weld Properties and Elements
• Creates CWELD elements for NX Nastran and MSC.Nastran only
• Spot Weld uses an “effective length” calculation based on the thickness of the two
shell elements connected
connected.
• Fastener allows direct input of stiffness matrix for weld properties
• Multiple options for generating Weld Elements
• Orientation of Weld is defined by either “Projection” method or “Axis” method
and may be limited by the type of Weld selected
Note: Welded elements can only be created between plate elements.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 10

Mesh, Connect Menu

Allows rapid generation of MPC’s, Rigid, and Line Element connections between
meshes
Also allows “unzipping” of coincident nodes with option to automatically create

connection types:
• None – leave nodes “unzipped”
• Rigid Elements
• DOF Spring Elements
• Spring Elements (including CBUSH)
• Gap Elements
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 11

Connect Menu
Connect, Automatic command finds the closest matching surfaces between solids and
automatically generates “Connectors” (also known as “Contact Elements”) between
adjacent “Connection Regions”
• p y search tolerance and type
Specify yp of contact
• Model Info window has a Connections object tree
Note: For assemblies with existing slaved meshes or one that will be meshed with
slaved meshes, placing a connection between the two parts at the location
of the slaved mesh may result in a fatal NX Nastran error.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 12

Connection (Contact) Properties

In the Define Connection Property dialog box, first select the tab for the solver used to
solve a contact problem.
For NX (Nastran) Linear Contact, the Contact Type pull down selects Linear or Glued
contact.
• Glued contact can be used in ALL NX Nastran solutions.
• Linear contact can be used only in NX Nastran Linear Statics solutions.
• Always click the Defaults button when switching Contact Type or manually
creating a new Connection Property.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 13

NX Linear
Glued Contact Property Options
Glued Contact has the following property options. In most cases, selecting the
Defaults button will result in the proper settings.
• Glue Type – specifies the glue formulation.

formulation
• 1..Spring – when this is selected, you can change the Normal Factor and
Tangential (Penalty) Factors
• 2..Weld (default) – should be used for most cases as this prevents the
introduction of artificial rotational energy into the connection.
• When selected, you can change the Glue Factor, but this is not
recommended.
d d
• Eval Order - determines the number of "Linear Contact or Glue Points" for a single
element on the source region.
• Refine Source - determines if the source region is refined for the "Linear" or
"Glued" Contact solution.
• Penalty Factor Units - specifies how contact element stiffness is calculated.
• Search Distance – if the two contact segments lie within this distance, NX Nastran
activates glued contact between the pairs.
Note: For more details on Glued Contact, see the NX Nastran User’s Guide,
Section 9.7.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 14

NX Linear Linear Contact Property Options

Linear Contact multiple. In most cases, selecting the Defaults button will result in
the proper settings.
• Friction – specifies the static coefficient of friction.

• Min(imum) and Max(imum) Contact Search Distance – if the element faces of the
contact segments are within these values, NX Nastran activates the linear contact
algorithm for these contact faces.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 15

NX Linear Linear Contact Property Options (continued)

• Initial (Penetration) - Controls how NX Nastran handles initial gap or penetration of
the generated contact elements.
• 0..Calculated (default) - Use the initial position of the nodes in the contact
pairs. In the case of penetrations, a model may experience "press fit" behavior
when using this option.
• 2..Calculated/Zero
2 C l l t d/Z P
Penetration
t ti - Same
S as 0..Calculated,
0 C l l t d butb t if penetration
t ti iis
detected, set the initial contact force to zero (0).
• 3..Zero Gap/Penetration - Sets the penetration/gap to zero for all contact
elements. Very useful when the contact surfaces are physically in contact, but
due to mesh irregularities, penetration occurs.
• Shell Offset – use the default (0..Include shell thickness) unless the contact
segments
t are defined
d fi d att th
the ttop off th
the shell
h ll mesh,
h nott th
the mid
id plane
l off th
the shells.
h ll
Note: For more details on Linear Contact, see the Femap Commands manual,
Section 4.4.3.1. You can also refer to the NX Nastran Users Guide,
Chapter 19 for additional details on gluded and linear contact.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 16

Selection of Master and Slave Contact Segments

When using either NX Nastran (Linear) Contact for NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear
Contact, the correct specification of which of the two contact segments used as the
Source is important with respect to both the accuracy of the results and solution time. It
is also critical when contact between two segments is unconstrained in shear contact
except for friction.
Femap uses the terms:

• Master to refer to the Target element face(s)
• Slave to refer to the Source element face(s)
NX Nastran checks for contact between element faces from the Slave
Slave’ss element faces
to the Master’s element faces and internally builds contact element pairs between the
two element faces. Therefore, as a rule, you should model with the following in mind:
Slave Mesh Density ≥ Master Mesh Density
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 17

Modeling
g Bolted Connections with
Bolt Regions
Model bolted connections with:
• Bar and/or Beam elements that comprise a Bolt Region
• Bolt Preload – an axial force load applied to the bar or beam elements or Bolt
Region
• Two elements that connect the ends of the bolt to the rest of the mesh – usually
Rigid elements
API script automates generation of bolt mesh – Custom Tools, Meshing, Hole to Hole
Fastener
• Does NOT create the Bolt Region or the Bolt Preload
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 18

Bolted Connection Example

Two Aluminum Lugs with a Stainless Steel Pin
• Contact between lugs is modeled with Linear Contact
• Pin is modeled as a two Beams with a 10 lb Preload – connected to lugs at ends
with Rigid Element
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 19

Fluid Connection Regions

The Connect, Fluid Region command creates segments representing incompressible
fluid volume regions used for the purpose of generating a virtual mass matrix (MFLUID
entry in Nastran input files).
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 20

Rotor Connection Regions

Used to model Rotors for Rotor Dynamic analysis
• Use when more than one Rotor exists in a model
and/or
• A Rotor’s
R t ’ axis
i off revolution
l ti isi nott coincident
i id t with
ith the
th Global-Z
Gl b l Z axis
i
Valid only for SOL110 – Complex Modal Analysis (Normal Modes with Rotor Dynamics
option) and SOL111 (Modal Frequency Analysis with Rotordynamics option)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 13 - 21

Lesson 14 Finite Modeling Debugging
Purpose:
This lesson is an overview of methods to check and debug Finite Element Models.
Topics:
 Finite Element Modeling Mesh Sizing

 Results Checking
 Model Debugging
 Common Errors
 Recommended Model Checks
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 14 - 1

Lesson 14 FEA Modeling Debugging
Finite Element Mesh Sizing

Depending on the desired accuracy of the model, a course mesh (low number of larger
elements) or a fine mesh (high number of smaller elements) must be created. For
instance, a more complicated structure requires a finer mesh in order to produce
accurate answers.
Pros Cons
Lower number of Elements Less accuracy for complicated

geometry
t
Coarse Less Degrees of Freedom
Model Distorted elements can be too
Reduced Solve Time
stiff and misrepresent
response
Accuracy for complicated Higher number of Elements

Fine geometry is improved More Degrees of Freedom
Model Less distorted elements Increased Solve Time
improves results
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 2

Checking Results
It is always a good idea to do a “reality check” with the results of any Finite Element
Analysis. Using engineering knowledge and common sense will allow a user to
determine if the results make sense for the applied boundary conditions. For instance,
an under-constrained or “unconnected” (nodes not merged where they should be) model
may exhibit much larger displacements than expected a displacement in the opposite
direction of the applied load during a linear cantilever beam analysis.
Some Good Practices:

• Always visually plot the models elements if possible for verification
• Make sure responses correspond with applied boundary conditions
• Check input loads with reaction forces: ΣF = 0
• Hand calculations are always a great idea whenever possible
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 3

Model Debugging
Recommended minimum checks on input
• Stiffness matrix checks
• At the G-size
• Aft MPC P
After Processing
i
• After All Processing
Mass Checks
• Grid point weight generator output
• Rigid-body mass checks
• Assembly mass checks
Loading checks
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 4

Model Debugging (continued)

Structural plots are useful primarily to visually verify model geometry. Other tools must
be used to assess the numerical accuracy of a finite element model. These tools
include many automatic error checks performed by NX Nastran and user-supplied
diagnostic requests in the form of DIAG, PARAM, DMAP Alters, and Case Control
requests.
NX Nastran performs many error checks during an analysis to ensure that all input data
is in the proper format and usable. If an error is detected during data processing, an
error message is generated. If the error is fatal, the analysis terminates.
Many times NX Nastran errors have a number and a short description of the error which
shows up in the .f06 file. Many times the same error number can represent a variety of
different issues. In cases where the error is not obvious, consult the Help->Analysis
menu and choose the error message segment where the Error Message number
appears. Go to the error number for a broader description.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 5

Model Debugging (continued)

Perform independent hand checks to verify the accuracy of the results
Other potential pitfalls for new users include:

• First time use of a new capability. It is always a great idea to make a small test
model in order to see how NX Nastran functionality works as it will take less time to
debug and give insight into the usage of the feature
• Reference the Femap Examples document as this has examples of nearly all
types of analyses that can be performed with Femap and NX Nastran.
• Refer to NX Nastran documentation as these document details on many
advanced solutions . Some of the documents included with Femap are:
• Basic Dynamic Analysis User’s Guide
• Advanced Dynamic Analysis User’s Guide
• Design Sensitivity and Optimization User’s Guide
• Basic Nonlinear Analysis Users’ Guide
• Advanced Nonlinear Theory and Modeling Guide
• Thermal Analysis User’s Guide
• Use of consistent units is of utmost importance!!!
• Always use unique IDs – NX Nastran sometimes allows for duplicate element IDs,
but not always. Duplicates can and do lead to problems, especially during data
recovery
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 6

Common Types of Errors

Mistakes in engineering judgment
Approximations to physical behavior
Engineering Theory
Finite Element Theory
Finite Element Implementation
Modeling
• Bolted connection
• Welded connection
• Corners
• Transitions
Connections
• Beam to Plate
• Beam to solid
• Plate to solid
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 7

Common Types of Errors (continued)

Beam Orientation
Beam Releases
Loading (Make sure that the model is loaded accurately)
Finite Element Error
Round-off Error (Can cause serious, serious problems)
• Computers use binary arithmetic (user enters 0.1, internally it may be
0.099999999998)
Program Bugs (Please Report them to UGS Solutions via GTAC)
• A list of known errors is maintained and distributed
Plates not lining up (zipper effect)
Any connections depending on in-plane rotational stiffness of plates, or any rotational

stiffness on solids
Instabilities – example: releasing both ends of a beam in torsion
Offsets of elements in wrong coordinate system (should be in the output coordinate
systems of the grid points for Bars and Beams)
Member Properties wrong (Beam orientation) or in plates Membrane only (left out
bending)
Beam end releases – local or global (in beam coordinates)?
Element force output is normally in element coordinate system
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 8

Minimum Recommended Model Checks

Pre-Analysis
Understand the structure and the elements

• Make Small Models in order to understand the problem
• Make pilot models in areas of uncertainty
• If unfamiliar with an element type that needs to be used, make simple models and
compare the answers to theory
Model checks before analysis

• Geometry
• Undeformed plots
• Look at connections between different element types
• Based on knowledge of elements
• Based on Loads
• Look at corners (QUAD plates)
• Shrink plots
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 9

Recommended Model Checks - Elements

Beam and bar
• Check that both ends of the beam have correct orientation (I1 and I2)
• Check end releases (in element coordinates)
• Offsets ((in output
p coordinate system
y of GRIDs))
Plates and Shells
• Check aspect ratios, taper, and warpage
• Check orientation (element normals), surfaces consistent
• Check attachments (in-plane rotational stiffness, corners, etc)
• Offsets (in element coordinate system)
• Material need E E, ν (or G)
G), and ρ
• Property entry – be sure to get the correct properties (One of the most common
errors is not specifying MID2 for “bending” plates)
Solids
• Check aspect ratios
• Check taper
• Check attachments (Any attachments depending on rotational stiffness
stiffness, require a
special modeling effort)
• Material need E, ν (or G), and ρ
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 10

Recommended Model Checks

Mass properties
• Check ρ on MATx entries
• Check NSM on property entries
• B
Bars, b
beams = mass/unit
/ it length
l th
• Plates = mass/unit area
• Submit with PARAM, GRDPNT,xxxx
where xxxx = ID of GRID point to calculate mass properties about
• Check center of gravity and total weight (mass) versus known values
L d
Loads
• Verify they are correct (OLOAD RESULTANT)
• Run the Femap command, Tools, Check, Sum Forces
Constraints
• Verify that they exist (often forgotten and overlooked)
• Verify they are correct (location and orientation – in output coordinate system of the
GRID points)
• Verify they are applied (SPC CASE CONTROL command)
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 11

Recommended Model Checks - Continued

Static Checks
• Apply 1-G in X,Y, and Z directions independently
• Check load paths (GPFORCE)
• Ch k Reactions
Check R ti (SPCFORCE)
• Does total = applied load?
• Are the reactions at the correct locations and do they have the correct orientation?
Equilibrium check – verify model is not over-constrained

• Run free-free normal modes analysis.
• Remove known constraints and check for unconstrained motion under applied loads
or imposed displacements
Thermal equilibrium check (if Thermal loads are being considered)

• Check α on MATx entries
• Check for unconstrained set of constraints
• Apply a determinate set of constraints
• Use the same α for all materials
• Apply a uniform ∆T to the structure. It should expand “freely”, meaning that it will
create no reactions, element forces, or stresses
Statics
• Check EPSILON and MAXRATIO
• EPSILON > 10-9 may indicate trouble
• MAXRATIO > 105 may indicate trouble
• Check reactions
• Do theyy equal the applied loads?
• Check load paths – use grid point force balance to “trace” loads
• Check stress contours for “consistency”
• “Sharp” corners indicate bad modeling
• Use different options (i.e., topological and geometric) and compare results
• Compare values to “hand calc” or small model results
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 12

Recommended Model Checks - Dynamics

Dynamics – normal modes
• Check frequencies. Are they in the expected range?
• If free-free, are there six “rigid-body” (f = 0.0) modes?
• A there
Are th any mechanisms
h i (f = 0
0.0)?
0)?
• More than six “rigid-body” modes in free-free?
• Any “rigid-body” modes in constrained modes?
• Check Mode Shapes. Identify Modes.
• Plots
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 14 - 13

Appendix A
p Preferences
Femap
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 A-1

Appendix A Femap Preferences
Femap Preferences
Preferences are used to configure Femap for optimum performance and the way you
prefer to work
• Preferences are stored in the femap.ini file under the main Femap installation folder
• If you specify a different Start In location for your Femap startup shortcut
shortcut, Femap
will first look in that location for a femap.ini file and use the preferences set in that
file. In addition, any changes to preferences will automatically be stored in the
femap.ini file in that folder.
Set preferences with the File, Preferences command
• Messages – set font and fonts sizes
• Views
• Render
• User Interface
• Database – set
performance options
• Geometry/Model
• Interfaces – select
default
Analysis Interface
• Library/Startup
• Color
• Spaceball
Many Femap
preferences
will take effect
immediately
after theyy have been
set, but in some cases
you will need to close and re-open Femap for the changes to take effect. Examples are:
• Advanced/Debug Options for Render graphics
• Database
• Fonts changed in the Messages Window, etc.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 A-2

Femap Preferences – Messages and Views

The Messages tab (see previous page for snapshot of dialog box) sets the fonts and
colors displayed in the Messages window.
The Views tab allows you to:

• Specify a Startup View (from the View Library) used when creating a new Femap
model.
• Specify the Background Bitmap or Logo for Render Views.
• Set Picture Copy and Picture Save Defaults
• Set view options such as turning the Workplane automatically off in new views
• Alternate Contour Palette sets Blue as the lowest color for the lowest color in post
post-
processing displays vs. the normal Magenta.
• Specify View and Dynamic Rotation options.
• Try changing the Dynamic Speed option if flickering is encountered during
dynamic rotation.

Femap Preferences – Render

Render mode is a high-speed graphics mode that uses the OpenGL graphics language.
The Render dialog box lets you control the level of functionality that you have while in
Render mode.
• Hardware Acceleration can be toggled off if the graphics card, or it's drivers, are
causing instability in Femap.\
• Including less entities with the Include In Dynamic Rotation option will speed up
dynamic rotation of large models.
• Advanced/Debug messages can be turned on to help the Development team
diagnose complex geometry issues if they arise.
• Setting the BitBlt Delay can be used to help with performance on consumer or
game-oriented graphics cards.

Graphics Card Performance Considerations

Desktop area resolution should be taken into consideration when using Femap. Having
a very fine screen resolution can increase the time animations need to generate and the
time individual windows need to refresh.
If Femap appears to be having graphics errors
errors, it could be the driver for your graphics
card. Update the drivers for your graphics card often!
• Drivers from the manufacturers of the graphics card chipset tend to be more stable
then the drivers from the maker of the graphics card. (e.g. use an ATI or nVidia
driver vs. an ASUS driver)

Femap Preferences – User Interface

Menus and Dialog Boxes sets preferences for Alternate Color Schemes, Autorepeat
Create Commands, and the number of Recently Used Files
Remember Dialog Positions tells Femap to remember where a user has placed a
specific
ifi dialog
di l box
b on the
th screen (during
(d i theth currentt F
Femap session).
i )
Graphical Selection options can be used to set the Tooltip Delay and Tooltip Duration
Times for Tooltips
Dockable Panes can be set to animate the “fly-out” from the docked and tabbed
positions or simply pop-up.
Show Entities Defaults settings are used to set default options for using the Show
When Selected in the Model Info pane, Data Table, or the Preview button in an Entity
Selection dialog box.
Set Toolbars options to save and load layouts of toolbars and dockable pane(s)

Femap Preferences – Database

Defines various performance settings
• Preserve Next ID during Rebuild will cause Femap to not “backfill” empty entity
IDs with new entities after using the File, Rebuild command.
• Set Blocks/Page and
Max Cached Label for improved Installed RAM (Mb) Blocks/Page
RAM management and performance.
• Sets the amount of memory used for 64 1
Femap
• Short vertical line in color bar 128 2
indicates memory used in the
current model. 256 3
• Open/Save Method 512 5

• This option should only be used
f you are experiencing VERY 1000 11
slow opening/saving FEMAP|
model files. On certain hardware, switching to option “2..64K widows I/O” may
make a dramatic difference in the time a model takes to open/save.

Femap Preferences – Database (continued)

Specify Scratch Directory for the location of the temp, scratch, and recovery files
Femap writes out.
• Without a TEMP variable, the location of the Femap scratch files defaults to your
g
Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp
g p folder. In manyy cases,,
this is a location on the network other than your local PC.
Note: Setting the Femap Scratch folder or setting the TEMP variable to a network file
location may seriously degrade Femap’s performance and dramatically
increase file save times. In addition, if your network fails for any reason, any
opened
p files in a Femap
p session have the p potential to be corrupted.
p

Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model

Select between the Parasolid or Standard geometry engines to start with. The
Parasolid engine is recommended.
Femap stores geometry in meters. The Solid Geometry Scale Factor is used to
i t
internally
ll store
t your geometry
t units
it as meters
t in
i PParasolid.
lid
• For example, if you select Inches, the Scale Factor is 39.37 (inches/meter). Femap
uses the inverse of this number to store the geometry in its model database (1 inch
= .0254 meters).
• This scaling will allow you to import and model parts that are outside of the
Parasolid modeling limits ( +/-500 x 500 x 500).
Note: If you import geometry with a different scale other than the file’s original scale,
new or modified geometry will be out of scale with the imported geometry.
FEMAP can be set to Delete Construction Geometry, Move it to the “NoPick Layer”, or
simply do nothing when used.
Element Quality checks can be turned on or off permanently and default values set for
each quality check via the Element Distortion button.
Default output orientations for various element shapes can be permanently set for use
when transforming results from the Output Orientation button.
The Alternate Section Property Calculator can be turned on in this dialog box. By
choosing this option,
option values generated by the Femap beam section property calculator
will be attained using an alternate method which in certain cases will be more accurate
than the standard method.
Pre-V10 Tet Meshing and Surface Meshing can be set as the defaults. This will allow
FEMAP 10 to use the “older” meshers instead of the “new” meshers, should any issues
arise.

Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model (continued)

Load Expansion on Midside Nodes sets the defaults for modification of the distribution of
Geometry-based loads (such as Forces on Surfaces and Moments on Curves) when
these loads are expanded to the nodes on Parabolic elements at the time of analysis.
To obtain an even distribution of force across a parabolic element, most programs
require a larger portion of the force be assigned to the midside nodes.
• You can set the factors Along Edges, On Tri-Face, or On Quad-Face to represent
the amount of the total load on the element which will be applied to the midside
node.
• You will typically want to use the default values as shown above, as well as use the
Midside Node Adjustment Default. If you have further questions on the distribution
required for your solver program, please consult the reference documentation for
your analysis program.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 A - 10

Femap Preferences – Interfaces

Interfaces sets the default analysis interface. The defaults can be defined for each
interface (e.g. NASTRAN, ABAQUS, etc.)
• The Enable Old Analysis Interfaces option allows the import of models and results
from older,, unsupported
pp solvers.
Setting the File Reference Options allows FEMAP to check if imported Geometry,
Analysis Input decks, and/or Analysis Results have been modified when a FEMAP
model is opened.
Use the File, References command to check references during a FEMAP session.
Increase the value of Max Lines to Monitor from the default value of 5000 if you like to
view the .f06 file during analysis execution.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 A - 11

Femap
p Preferences –
Library/Startup, and Colors
The Library preferences allow you to specify default FEMAP library files.
• Objects saved such as Materials, Functions, etc. are saved into the preferred
library.
The Colors preferences allow you to select the default colors for entities.
The Spaceball preferences allow you to specify certain parameters to improve the
performance and overall behavior of Spaceball devices with regard to FEMAP.
femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 A - 12


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femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 ii

Training Class Agenda

Lesson No Topic Workshop(s)

1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap 

2 The Femap User Interface – Part 1 

3 Geometry Creation and Editing 

4 Materials and Properties 

5 Boundary Conditions – Loads and Constraints 

Lesson No Topic Workshop(s)

6 The Femap User Interface – Part 2

7 Model Display and Visualization 

9 Analysis Set Manager

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iii

Lesson No Topic Workshop(s)

11 The Meshing Toolbox 

14 Finite Element Modeling Debugging

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 iv

• What is Finite Element Analysis?

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 1-1

What is Finite Element Analysis?

It can be used to simulate the following types of physical behavior:

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-2

What comprises a FEA model?

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-3

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-4

Femap Objects and Workflow for Generating a FEA Model

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-5

Import Geometry Create Geometry Modify Geometry

File, Import Geometryy Geometry,y commands

Direct CAD geometry interfaces

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-6

Materials and Properties

Model, Material commands Model, Property commands

• Isotropic • Line elements

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-7

Model, Constraint commands Model, Load commands

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-8

Femap Model Objects and Commands – Meshing

Mesh Control and Multi-

Mesh, Mesh Control,

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1-9

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Analysis

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 1 - 10

This lesson provides an overview of the Femap User Interface.

• Femap Main Window Layout

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Fermp 101 2-1

Femap Main Window Layout

Femap Main Femap Title Bar

Femap Graphics Window

Named Tabs for Graphics Windows

Tabs for “Stacked”

Current Model Status

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 2

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 3

Graphics Windows (continued)

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 4

Femap Main Menus

femap101-g-v10.1.1 Femap 101 2- 5

Customize Dialog Box