Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Mechanica
Robust capabilities to support your product development needs
Victor Remmers
Holland Engineering Consultants BV
Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Mechanica
AgendaState of PTC Simulation Solutions
PTC Structural and Thermal Analysis Solutions
– Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica
– Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Mechanica
Advanced Mechanica Capabilities
– Supported Solutions Types
– Additional Modeling Entities
– FEM Modeling Capabilities
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© 2006 PTC
PTC as a Simulation Solutions Partner
Developing innovative simulation solutions for
over a decade
Significant ongoing investments in
computer aided engineering (CAE)
–Supports a healthy ecosystem of more than 200
software development partners
Over 8000 customers in diverse industry verticals
Leading respected companies such as...
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© 2006 PTC
PTC as a Simulation Solutions Partner
PTC continue to invest heavily in simulation solutions –
The proof is in the results...
Wildfire 1.0
–The biggest release of Structural and Thermal Simulation
ever (even pre-dating the RASNA acquisition) -Over 130
individual projects
Wildfire 2.0
–Redesigned user interface – leveraging the Wildfire user
model
–Many new functionality features such as bolt fasteners
Wildfire 3.0
–User customizable simulation process guides
–Continuing usability and functionality enhancements
–Much more...
PTC is not resting on past accomplishments, but
continues to lead with innovative simulation solutions
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© 2006 PTC
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica
Using Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica in the design process serves to
reduce risk-
Concept
Design
Detailed
Design
Drawing /
Detailing
Prototype
Mfg.
Prototype
Testing
Are you spending
Money?
$
$
$
$
$
Do you know if
the design
works?
No
No
No
No
Yes
Risk
Simulation early in the design process reduces
risk, reducing time and improves quality
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© 2006 PTC
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica satisfies the need to evaluate product
performance during design by satisfying the following four key
points-
Integration
Accuracy
Affordability
Scalability
“I was amazed at how fast I was able to
produce accurate stress results…”
- Derrick Rogers, Lead Technical Engineer Miss
Budweiser Racing; also a Loads and Dynamics
Engineer at Boeing Commercial Aircraft
Structural and Thermal Simulation is the BEST
solution for functional simulation early in the
design process if you use Pro/ENGINEER
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© 2006 PTC
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica
Pro/ENGINEER Mechanica satisfies the needs of
design level analysis
Intended for everyday use as a design based
simulation tool
Functionality addresses more common use scenarios
However, the complexity of the products and
problems engineers face is increasing...
More nonlinear capabilities are required
More solution types necessary
More exotic properties and modeling entities required
Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Mechanica has the capabilities
to address the broader range of problems posed by
complex product design requirements
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© 2006 PTC
Why Advanced Mechanica from PTC?
Advanced Mechanica addresses the greater needs of dedicated and
expert users while maintaining the basic benefits of MechanicaLeverage your existing skills and investment
in Mechanica infrastructure
Unique solution technology for not just any
answer, but the right answer
A broad set of capabilities that build on the
base package making simulation accessible
from engineers through analysts
The power to get the job done, without
compromise
The Scalability to address the needs of
designers through experts
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© 2006 PTC
The bottom line...
Advanced Mechanica expands the types of
problems you can simulateValidate product performance to improve quality and
reduce cost
Understand product performance in real world
conditions before money is committed for physical
prototypes
–A prototype should validate your decisions, not be
used for design
Use simulation to drive the design, not validate it late
in the process
Without Mechanica, you won’t leverage the power of Pro/ENGINEER.
Without Advanced, you can’t leverage the full power of Mechanica
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© 2006 PTC
Pro/ENGINEER Advanced Mechanica
Advanced Mechanica extends the
capabilities of Mechanica in the following
areasSupported Analysis/Solution Types
Support for Advanced Materials Properties
Advanced Modeling Entities
Sophisticated FEM modeling tools
Advanced Mechanica provides the
depth of capability to simulate to
today’s complex requirements
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Tools for Model Simplification
2D Model simplification enables you to dramatically
reduce the time to solution for applicable models
Supported 2D Model types include– Plane Strain – Unit Thickness
– Plane Stress – Thin Plate
– Axisymmetric
Benefits include– Extremely fast solution speed
• Fast non-linear solutions, including large deformation or contact
• Even models with contact defined solve in seconds!
– Ideal for design studies
– Very simple to set up
Solve complex problems in a fraction of
the time needed for full 3D models!
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Advanced Solution Types
“How long will my design take to reach steady state?”
Steady state thermal analysis can tell you how hot or cold a
component will get – Transient Thermal will tell you how long
it will take to get there
Transient Thermal Analysis
Setup is straightforward – Time dependant heat loads
– Time dependant convection coefficients
– Analysis definition is similar to that of steady state
Available results include –
– Graphs of Measures vs. Time
– Full results at user selected intervals
– Temperatures to apply to structural models at user selected
intervals
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Solution Types
Large Deformation Nonlinearity
The ability to perform analysis on components which undergo large deformations
yet small strains (once the load is removed there is no permanent set)
Common Applications include the design of– Snap Fits
Linear static solution
– Springs
Output can include –
– Graphs of displacement vs. force
– Full fringe result
Unique adaptive nonlinear and solution algorithms
are tailored for non-specialist users
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In Nonlinear Large Deformation
analysis stresses are 11% lower
© 2006 PTC
Advanced Solution Types
In certain structures the stiffness is dependant on an applied load
– For example, a sheet of paper is flexible and cannot support much, if any weight;
however if I pull along the edges, the paper can support considerable weight
Advanced Mechanica supports the analysis of
such models in both static and dynamic analyses
Prestress Static Analysis
– Static analysis which takes loading into account for
stiffness
Prestress Modal Analysis
– Modal (natural frequency) analysis which takes loading
into account or stiffness
– Prestress Modal also includes additional physical effects
including• Spin Softening
• Stress Stiffening
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Solution Types
Advanced Mechanica supports a broad range of dynamic analyses
Many products operate in environments where vibration plays a key factor
in the performance of the design. The physical test equivalent for dynamic
would be “shaker table” testing of components.
Vibration analysis capabilities includeDynamic Time
– Used for evaluating the behavior of systems where the
input is a time history of load; common applications
include transient or shock loadings
• For example the design of an aftermarket exhaust pipe for an
off-road motorcycle where a requirement is the ability to
withstand a 10 ms, 20g half-sine shock load
Dynamic Frequency
– Used in evaluating the response of a structure to an input
of loading vs. frequency; common applications include
rotating machinery and engines - where the loading is
highly periodic in nature
• For instance in the above example we may have test data of
the accelerations vs. frequency form the engine, and we may
need to evaluate the maximum displacements of the muffler
assembly during a range of operating conditions.
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Solution Types
Vibration analysis capabilities include (Cont’d)Dynamic Random
– Some vibration environments are characterized as random; for example a plane flying
through turbulent air or a truck driving on pavement. In both of these examples
another plane flying the same path or truck driving the same road would experience
similar, but not the exact, same accelerations.
• The input to random vibration analysis is a PSD (Power Spectral Density); basically the
“probability” of encountering a level of acceleration for a given frequency.
• For example, we may be designing a control unit for an engine in a vehicle for which we have a
PSD of the mount locations. The PSD will include the effects of the engine, the road, etc.. And
Dynamic Random analysis can show us how the component will behave in this environment.
Dynamic Shock
– Used for simulating seismic loads
• For example an equipment rack which must be able to withstand an earthquake of a given
magnitude
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Mechanica Capabilities
Laminates and Non-Isotropic Materials
Not all materials behave the same in all directions. Once only used in
aerospace, but now common in everything from sporting goods to automobiles,
Advanced Mechanica enables you to define and use Anisotropic and Orthotropic
materials with ease in your models
Additional Capabilities Include:
Advanced tools for modeling composite structures
– Ply editing for building up laminates
– Layup stiffness review
– Results by ply
Support for common failure criteria such as Tsai-Wu
Evaluate the performance of your
designs with exotic materials
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Advanced Mechanica Capabilities
More sophisticated Idealizations
Advanced Mechanica builds on the robust set of idealizations provided in the
basic package.
Additional capabilities includeAdvanced Mass Idealizations
– The ability to enter in the full mass matrix including inertial
terms, not just the mass value
– The ability to define mass idealizations “from component”
where the mass matrix and orientation are taken from
another component.
Advanced Springs Idealizations
– The ability to define springs by specifying the full stiffness
matrix including the coupling terms
– Control over automatic coupling between bending and tensile
loads
Advanced Shell Idealizations
– The ability to easily model composite structure
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Mechanica Capabilities
More sophisticated Connection Capabilities
Advanced Bolt Fasteners
– Build off of the capabilities in Basic Mechanica
– Additional Functionality Includes....
– The ability to easily define preload
– Greater control over specifying bolt stiffness
– Control over the degrees of freedom in the bolt
connection
Weighted Link Connections
– The ability to couple a point to move as the
average displacement of a set of geometry
– Powerful tool for attaching point loads and masses
and distributing these over a model
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© 2006 PTC
Advanced Mechanica Capabilities
Advanced FEM Mode Modeling tools
Sophisticated capabilities for interfacing
between Pro/ENGINEER and 3rd party solvers
such as NASTRAN or ANSYS
•Additional capabilities includeHierarchical FEM modeling
– The ability to “Assemble” FEM meshes to build
system level models
Support for Rigid and Weighted Links
– NASTRAN RBE3 and RBAR support. ANSYS
rigid like export
Access in FEM Mode to other Advanced
Capabilities
– Access to advanced shells, masses, distributed
mass, etc...
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Scalability to pass your models to
3rd party solvers for performing
systems level analyses
© 2006 PTC
Why Advanced Mechanica from PTC?
Leverage your existing skills and
investment in Mechanica solution
technology
Greater Solution Flexibility
Greater Solution Capability
Expand the breadth of your
simulation coverage
Advanced Mechanica is the ONLY solution for
sophisticated simulation inside of Pro/ENGINEER
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© 2006 PTC
What is new in MECHANICA Wildfire 3.0?
A Quick overview….
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Usability Improvements
Remaining “Mechanica” objects merged into Pro/E
Including...
– Spot welds
– Rigid connections
– Contact regions
Enhanced capabilities include…
– Improved UI
– Object-Action interaction (direct editing)
– Layers support
– Model tree support
– Improved display and controls
– Much, much more...
Automatic Contact Definition
Select components and separation tolerance
Contacts are automatically created
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Usability Improvements
New design study UI
The last of the “Old Style” UI to be removed
Usability improvements to...
– Optimization definition
– Sensitivity study definition
– Design Studies
No more design variable definition
– Use dimensions and parameters directly
Greater control of optimization settings
Feasibility studies added
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Usability Improvements
Many smaller improvements....
Selection/Copy enhancements
– Copy and Paste of simulation modeling objects
– Multi-selection for delete
Hide/Unhide for simulation objects in model tree
Exploded views supported in modeling
– Contact definition is much simpler
– Define connections in exploded state
Results improvements
– Dynamic query labels don’t erase when spinning model
– Spin center control allows rotations about a user selected location
– Legend settings don’t reset when window is edited
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Functionality Improvements
Volumetric assignment
Ability to assign materials by volume
– Volume regions in a part can have different properties
Ability to assign heat loads by volume
Inertial relief
This is the ability to run static analyses on
“unconstrained” or “under constrained” models
– Users simply select a checkbox on the analysis
definition dialog
Externally applied loads are balanced in the solver
by equal and opposite body forces (accelerations)
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Functionality Improvements
“Weighted” links in Mechanica
Similar in functionality to NASTRAN RBE3
A point is tied to move the average of the
displacements of selected geometry
A great tool for “smearing out” singular effects
over more of a model such as point loads
Advanced springs
Now advanced spring definition is supported
inside of Pro/ENGINEER
Full stiffness and coupling matrix may be defined
– Users also have the option to disable the “auto
coupling” of simple springs
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal FEM Improvements
FEM mode specific enhancements
Spot weld connections supported for ANSYS and
NASTRAN
Rigid links enhancements (one to many)
New modeling entities output to ANSYS
– Rigid links
– Beam releases
Display only mode in Run dialog
– Allows preview of output without writing the model to file
Supported solvers include...
– ANSYS 9.0
– MSC.NASTRAN 2005 r1
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© 2006 PTC
Structural and Thermal Robustness Improvements
Robustness
Meshing robustness
– Very large model AutoGEM robustness (200K+ solids)
– FEM solid and tri surface meshing robustness
“Assembly modeling methodology” in FEM
– Mid-surface compressed models “joined” with rigid links
Tolerance report
Performance Improvements
Removal of the 8 Gb memory limit on 64 bit operating systems
Mechanica running on Linux
Windows XP 64-bit support
– Intel Xeon 64
– AMD Opteron 64
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© 2006 PTC
New Materials Definition UI/Database
Materials in Pro/E are completely overhauled
Materials in Pro/E are being enhanced to
support Simulation requirements
Database will be open and extendable
– Including the ability to add user
defined parameters to materials
– Each materials property has units associated
Part materials will be “seen” at assembly level in Mechanica
New functionality includes...
User defined material parameters
Assign materials in family tables
Assign appearance by material
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© 2006 PTC
Process Guide for Structural Simulation
A user customizable “wizard” that can be used alongside the
standard user interface
Defined by a user specified xml file
Each “process” consists of one or more tasks
Users simply follow the steps listed in the tasks
What problem does Process Guide address?
Some Product Development activities are very “process oriented”,
such as manufacturing or analysis
It is not uncommon for an engineer to perform analysis only a few
weeks a year
– If a design cycle is 9-12 months, only a few weeks of that time may be
simulating the design...
Some analysis tasks consist of repeatable processes
– These may be dictated by expert users or analysts
Pro/E’s simulation tools are robust and easy to use, but for
infrequent users the difficulty is not in the “clicks and picks” but in
the sequence of events
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© 2006 PTC
Process Guide for Structural Simulation
The process is made up of discrete tasks
“Experts” or consultants can define process templates
– These are an xml file with the data that will populate Process Guide
37 different actions and may be defined, including...
– Info links – links to online help, company intranets, etc...
– Action links – loads, constraints, idealizations, etc...
The resulting process file has some intelligence
If created entity is deleted, task is invalidated
Sub-steps may be created
Some tasks are order dependant
– Analysis must be run before results may be viewed
Each task may contain
Text
One action and multiple informational links
Embedded images
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© 2006 PTC
Thank You!
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© 2006 PTC