Capturing solid modeling data

Citation

(2000), "Capturing solid modeling data", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 72 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2000.12772fab.016

Capturing solid modeling data

Capturing solid modeling data

Keywords Algor, Software, CAD

Algor, Inc. a leading maker of software for mechanical engineers, has announced expansion of its InCAD family of products to include Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk, Inc.'s adaptive design software.

According to Algor, its InCAD family of products enables engineers to capture solid model data seamlessly and work within popular CAD solid modelers. Providing access to the inCAD interface through the Autodesk Inventor menu connects users to Algor's entire range of modeling, finite element analysis and Mechanical Event Simulation software.

It is also reported that even if Algor and Autodesk Inventor are installed on different computers, Algor's InCAD family of products is immune to problems with translation of universal files. Through Direct Memory Image Transfer, Algor can capture mathematically perfect model descriptions that recreate the CAD solid model for finite element meshing and analysis.

"The InCAD software products provide engineers with the tools to perform a vast array of analyses easily and quickly while working within Autodesk Inventor," said Michael L. Bussler, president of Pittsburgh-based Algor. "This upcoming release continues our commitment to providing CAD interoperability tools to any of our customers looking for direct, seamless geometry capture."

"InCAD technology will enable engineers using our feature-based, solid-modeling and drawing-production system to apply Algor's FEA functionality to their Autodesk Inventor models", said Robert Kross, vice president of the mechanical market group at Autodesk.

Algor's InCAD products include a feature suppression utility within CAD, which engineers can use to easily eliminate any CAD solid model details that are unnecessary to include in the FEA analysis. That way, fewer elements are included in the FEA model, since only the areas of interest are captured, and less time is needed for the analysis.

The new Algor interface, working within Autodesk Inventor, will reportedly provide designers using Autodesk Inventor with direct access to full-featured FEA capabilities ranging from Mechanical Event Simulation to linear static stress, and multiphysics, which includes heat transfer, fluid flow and dynamic stress. Autodesk Inventor users also will be able to use Superdraw III, Algor's automated modeling and precision finite element model-building tool, and a variety of mesh refinement tools.

Once in Algor, engineers have access to Superdraw III. There they are able to manually or automatically generate and refine the surface mesh, solid mesh or prepare the model for analysis by combining more than one element type. Algor's Merlin Meshing Technology, a fully automatic surface mesh enhancement tool, is built-in for enhancing the surface mesh of the solid model prior to solid FEA meshing.

Algor's inCAD family of products consists of InCAD DesignPak and InCAD^plus. For just $975, InCAD DesignPak (www.feaincad.com) comes with a solid tetrahedral mesh engine for faster solid meshes, enhanced plate/shell modeling, linear static stress analysis, a fast solver and an HTML Report Wizard. Engineers can add additional engineering capabilities to inCAD DesignPak for linear dynamic stress, heat transfer, electrostatic, piping design and analysis and Dynamic Design Analysis Method.

InCAD^plus is said to provide solid brick meshing, a wider range of element types and analysis add-ons. Both InCAD packages come with midplane meshing. Midplane meshing converts thin, solid features into plate/shell elements, making it easier for engineers to take advantage of the processing speed associated with fewer elements. The engineer is said to simply specify a thickness. Any plate-like regions of the model or assembly thinner than that thickness are converted automatically to plate/shell elements. The generated plate/shell elements are assigned an appropriate thickness and are placed at the midplane of the solid regions they replace.

Recently Algor also announced new capabilities within its heat transfer product line, including the ability to input multiple load curves and a thermal rod element. The new features are believed to reduce modeling and analysis times and provide engineers with an edge in time-to-market.

Algor explains that through the use of multiple load curves, engineers can now apply any type of nodal-, surface- or element-based load – temperature, convection, radiation, heat generation, heat flux – during transient heat transfer analyses, to determine how parts or assemblies will react under such time- varying loads. The results of any heat transfer analysis can then be automatically applied as input for a linear static stress analysis or Mechanical Event Simulation.

"By providing additional flexibility through the number and type of loads that engineers can include within their models, Algor's heat transfer product line allows engineers to simulate more complex thermal conditions", said Michael Bussler. "This means the actual thermal event can be evaluated in a single FEA analysis, and fewer analyses means faster time-to-market".

Also new to Algor's heat transfer capabilities is a thermal rod element. The element – drawn as a standard "line" element – can be used to bridge the gap between unconnected parts. Rather than directly connecting multiple parts by matching different finite element meshes, rod elements can be used to connect the parts.

These thermal rod elements then represent the characteristics of the void between the different parts in steady-state or transient heat transfer analyses. By varying the stiffness of the rod elements through data input, the engineer can define the connecting medium and vary the resulting heat flow.

On the near horizon is another addition to Algor's heat transfer analysis capabilities: the thermal plate element. This element will provide the ability to define finite element models with plate/shell elements, which take less time to analyse than solid brick and tetrahedral elements. To automatically create thermal plate elements from a thin-walled CAD solid model, Algor offers midplane meshing, which converts thin, solid features into plate/shell elements using the midpoint of their thickness.

The upgraded thermal capabilities work with Windows NT/95/98/2000. Algor customers with current technical support and maintenance agreements can request a complete software update, including the new thermal capabilities through Algor's Web site (www.algor.com) or an Algor account representative.

Details available from Algor, Inc. Tel: +1 412 967 2700.