1 A l t a i r E n g i n e e r i n g

SimLab 10.0

SimLab 10.0

Release Notes

2 A l t a i r E n g i n e e r i n g

SimLab 10.0

System

Import/Export

Geometry translator is added to convert CATIA models to STEP and Parasolid.

UG NX 7.0 import supported in addition to NX 6.0 and 7.5.

Import of sketch details from STEP files written from CATIA supported.

STEP import enhanced.

Ansys shell and solid element import and Nodes & Elements reading for CDB format are

supported.

Abaqus NSET and ELSET Generate card reading issues fixed.

User Interface

View | Preference

o CAD

Option added to control STEP display quality.

o Meshing

Option added to control the Min and Max interior angle of the surface

mesh.

Added a toggle to create volume mesh output in new model.

o Solver

Added a toggle to list the ansys element types in property dialog.

Scribble zoom is supported.

Rectangle and Polygon De-selection is supported.

“Overlapping Elements” in Trials has been renamed to “Find Crack/Wedge”. Elements

with sharp angle (ridges) within a face can be identified using “Find Crack/Wedge”

option.

Standard views and model rotation are added in a separate toolbar.

FE model rotation and graphics performance improved. Based on model size, graphics

performance has improved by 3 to 6 times.

Renaming of ProE bodies is supported.

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SimLab 10.0

Geometry

Edge | Create | Chaining

o Option to find the element edge loop on a plane is added.

Face | Gasket Imprint

o Group input is supported. After imprint, local remesh on the adjacent faces is

added.

Face | Show Adjacent

o Option to highlight the adjacent face having same normal on the same plane is

added.

Body | Create | Race

o Outer and Inner needle bearing creation supported.

Model | Compare

o This identifies difference in geometry between the two CAD or FEM models.

o The difference in geometry will be added to groups.

Meshing

Mesh Control

o When surface tri-meshing CAD geometry, users can select a pre-existing,

overlapping mesh as input. This input mesh will be included in the final surface

mesh. This option is available as “Include Mesh” in body mesh control.

o Merge tiny fillets option is added in fillet mesh control dialog.

o Bug in Washer mesh control Scale factor has been fixed.

o Robustness of multiple region mesh controls in combination with other local mesh

controls is improved.

Surface Mesh

o Tri Mesh with improved interior angle on thin surfaces is supported.

Local Remesh

o In addition to Local remesh on FEM model, Local mesh is also supported on

CAD geometry.

QCheck

o Automated Tri mesh cleanup operation based on Aspect ratio is improved.

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SimLab 10.0

o Interior angle based clean up is supported for Tri and Tet mesh. Both Min and

Max cleanup is supported.

o Edge length based clean up is supported for Tri and Tet elements. Both Min and

Max clean up is supported.

o Preserve mesh control is considered while performing edge length based cleanup.

Tools | Layered Elements

o Option to create body for each layer of element supported.

o Tet Layers can be created without interior nodes (Steiner points).

Tools | Change Layers | Element

o Selected hex elements can be refined.

Tools | M x N Meshing

o Option to easily create iso-mesh pattern on 4 sided faces is added.

Tools | Smoother

o Number of iterations for mesh smoother can be controlled through UI.

Tools | Acoustic Meshing

o Acoustic mesh tool added to generate layers of tetra mesh for acoustic analysis.

o Concave shape is ensured for outer most surface.

Assembly

Align

o Zero area elements removed automatically during plane alignment.

FEM

Renumber

o Renumbering for selected bodies is supported.

Tools | Set Node ID | Pin Boss

o Mid node renumbering is supported.

o Renumbering for selected face is supported.

Tools | Modify Features | Translate

o Translation improved to trim the surfaces if it hits the boundary of the opposite

side.

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SimLab 10.0

Analysis – Structural

Thermal Load

o Thermal load user interface simplified.

Surface Interaction

o Abaqus – Change friction supported.

Contact

o Press fit, Interference amplitude and Gap conductance details are included in

contact definition file.

o Ansys contact options – real constants and keyopts supported.

o Option to set master and slave surface names supported.

Connections | RBE

o User can define RBE Center node ID.

Connections | MPC

o MPC creation between bodies supported.

o Ignore edge option supported to select the edges whose nodes are not needed for

MPC creation.

Connections | Spring Damper (Ansys)

o Degree of freedom support is added.

Set Master DOF

o Set Master DOF for Ansys is supported.

Property

o Ansys Shell and Solid element types are added.

o Ansys section offset option added in beam property.

o Initial gasket thickness and Initial gap options added for Abaqus gasket property.

Export

o Abaqus

o Element position and output file option added in set output request.

o HW Name and HW Color cards supported for RBE’s to maintain Body

(collector) information.

o Output request for each load step is supported.

o Step and linear static options enhanced.

o Write loads on shell option enhanced to support contacts for thermal

export.

o Amplitude card supported for DSLOAD (pressure load).

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SimLab 10.0

o Nastran

o Transition element (Tet7 instead of Tet10) is supported for models with

Tet10-Hex8 interface.

o Ansys

o RBE2 export modified – CERIG with Mass21 at RBE2 center node is

supported.

o Contact element node connectivity bug fixed.

o Property Id written as Element Type (ET) number.

o Rigid bar – Nodes to Nodes option written out as CERIG.

o Element Shape checking (SHPP) toggle added in Export dialog.

o Several Solid and Shell element types export supported. See Appendix -A

for details.

Results

Export Results

o User can specify a range to export nodes, where the result value is within that

range.

Tools | Results Spec

o Set and Group options are supported in results spec.

Tools | Import Spec

o Min and max value of results can be calculated on Sets and Groups defined in

results spec.

Tools | Remove Displacement

o Remove Displacement option added to remove the displacement (obtained from

the result) from the nodal coordinates of the selected faces. This option can be

used for bore machining.

Special

Bolt Modeling

Bolt Head – additional bolt type (Bottom RBE) supported.

Option to automatically identify pretension section and create pretension for solid bolt is

added.

New connection method supported (Bolt & Nut, Tapped).

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SimLab 10.0

Excite

Advanced Crankshaft Meshing - Region: A cylinder region can be defined and the node

on the cylinder can be used as RBE slave nodes.

Engine Modeling

Injector modeling – A template to model injectors is added.

Valve seat load – A tool to calculate Valve seat Force or Pressure from Firing pressure

and Seat dimensions.

One Push Meshing

Option file (*.opt) import supports edge mesh control with average element size.

Mid-Mesh Modeling - Beta

Mid-Mesh Extraction tool allows the creation of mid-mesh for complex models using a

semi-automated process.

The modeling process is designed for

o IP Models, Injection Molded Parts, HVAC Models

Refer to Appendix -B for the list of tools added for the Mid-mesh extraction process.

Automation

Refer to Appendix-C for the list of Support tools for automation.

When running the script in batch mode with “-No Graphics” flag, no console window

will pop-up.

Licensing

License feature for results module will be checked out only when selecting the results

toolbar.

Delay in SimLab start up has been fixed.

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SimLab 10.0

Installer

SimLab uninstaller is registered in Add/Remove programs at the time of installation.

Option to create SimLab shortcut for all users is added.

Option added to set the environmental variables required for importing CATIA using

STEP approach.

Known Issues

FEM | Node | Move | Offset – Undo/Redo is not working as intended.

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SimLab 10.0

Appendix – A: Ansys Element Types

Solid Element Types

Tet4 Tet10 Hex8 Hex20 Wedge6 Wedge15

SOLID285 SOLID92 SOLID45 SOLID95 SOLID45 SOLID95

SOLID65 SOLID187 SOLID185 SOLID226 SOLID185 SOLID226

SOLID164 SOLID227 SOLID164 SOLID186 SOLID164 SOLID186

SOLID185 SOLID168 SOLID5 SOLID5

SOLID45 SOLID98 SOLID65 SOLID65

SOLID186

SOLID226

SOLID95

Shell Element Types

Tri3 Tri6 Quad4 Quad8

SHELL63 SHELL93 SHELL63 SHELL93

SHELL181 SHELL281 SHELL181 SHELL281

SHELL41 SHELL41

SHELL163 SHELL163

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SimLab 10.0

Appendix – B: Mid Mesh Tools

Make End Surface

Mid-Line for the Ribs/clips/hinges/clamps etc can be extracted automatically using

this tool.

Select Face

Identify all the connected shiny/base surfaces of the body.

Create volume

Tool to isolate the ribs/clips from the body. This is useful in the auto-mid-plane

process to separate the sections from the main body.

Break

Tool is useful to create the mid-surfaces for the ribs/clips/sections etc.

Face-Face Break

Tool is useful to resolve the intersection between the extracted mid-surfaces.

Connect Surfaces

Connect the gaps between the extracted mid-surfaces.

Auto mid Plane

Automatic extraction can be done using this tool.

Compute Thickness

Calculate the thickness for the extracted surfaces.

Show Thickness

Shows contour plot for the calculated thickness.

2D Tools

Construction Surface

Tool is used to create a plane for the die/mold direction.

From 2Points

Line can be created using the two selected points.

Align Edge

Created lines can be aligned to the mid position of the two selected edges.

Extend Edge

Created lines can be extended to connect the gaps.

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SimLab 10.0

Trim Edge

Intersections between the created lines can be removed.

Create Circle

Circles can be created using the given arc and radius.

Create Fillet

Fillets can be introduced between two lines.

Show Protrusion Face

Identify the redundant surfaces.

Show Free and Non-Manifold Vertices

Identify the gaps and intersections in the 2d sketches.

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SimLab 10.0

Appendix – C: Automation Tools

a) Newly added script support

Import/ Export

File | Translate | CATIA to STEP

File | Translate | CATIA to Parasolid

File | Import | Ansys

User Interface

Show | Entities | Face | Overlapping CAD Face

Rename group

Merge Bodies

Geometry

Body | Create | Cylinder

Edge | Chaining

Meshing

Auto Cleanup | Auto Tri Clean

Tools | Wrapper Mesh

Tools | Smoother

Tools | Change Layer | Element

Analysis

Structural | Connection | Manual RBE

Results

Tools | Import Spec

Special

Bolt Modeling | Solid Pretension

Excite | Crank | Advanced Crankshaft Meshing Region

Engine Modeling | Injector Modeling

Engine Modeling | Valve Seat Load

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SimLab 10.0

b) Existing script Enhanced

Import/Export

File | Import | STEP – Sketch/Wire frame option supported.

Geometry

Face | Gasket Imprint – Group support added.

Body | Merge - Instead of id’s, model name and body name used.

Body | Unmerge - Instead of id’s, model name and body name used.

Meshing

Tools | Smoother – Number of iteration supported.

FEM

Tools | Set Node ID | Pin Boss – Mid Node renumbering.

c) Parameterization

Import/Export

File | Import | Parasolid – Parameterization supported for scaling units.

Structural

Contact – Parameterization supported for import contacts using contact definition

file.

Material – Material name parameterization supported.

Sets | Node – Parameterization supported for point coordinates.