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BETA
Kato Scholari, Thessaloniki
GR-575 00 Epanomi
Greece
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URL: http://www.beta-cae.com
Customer Services email: ansa@beta-cae.gr
Introduction
1. Introduction
This document contains all the information that a ETA user should know about new features that have
been added, improvements on existing features and various problems that were fixed during the
development of ETA version 17.0.0.
Notes to specific versions:
Sessions created prior to v16.0.2
Anny sessions created prior to v16.0.2, that contained Strain Gauges handling will not work correctly due
to changes in the command variables used e.g. EX E1, EY E2, EXY E12.
Sessions created up to v15.3.x
In sessions that read curves from files, if a part of the entitys name was used in the read command then
curves for all the entities that had this part in their name were created in versions up to 15.3.x. From
v16.0.0 these sessions will create curves only if the name that was used matches the name of the entity.
If a part of the entities name was used in the session to produce curves for all the entities then in order to
get the same results in v16.0.0 and on, the session must be edited. The wild character * must be added
next to the entitys name.
Sessions that read airbag curves from abstat_cpm type of LS-Dyna binout files must change in v16.x.
From: xyplot read lsdyna "window_name" binout abstat-Airbag ...
To:
xyplot read lsdyna "window_name" binout abstat_cpm-CpmAirbag ...
Sessions that read ANSYS Composite Stresses for outer / inner Global Layers must change in v16.x to
read top / bottom results. For example the command:
read onlyfun Ansys <filename> all CompositeStresses,Normal1,GlobalLayer:3.outer,Centroid
must change to:
read onlyfun Ansys <filename> all CompositeStresses,Normal1,GlobalLayer:3.top,Centroid
Sessions created from v15.2.0 up to v15.2.1
Any sessions created from v 15.2.0 up to v15.2.1, that contained axisymmetric elements stress
linearization commands will not work in the newer versions due to radical changes in the respective
commands.
Sessions created up to v15.1.3
Any sessions created up to v15.1.3, where transparency on some elements was applied, through
command:
color element transparency <Range> <act/all/pick/...>,
will now behave in a different manner, given that from now on, the elements with transparency will be
drawn with their original color (PID color or color given by color element command) and transparency
when the Fringebar is activated.
Sessions created up to v15.1.2
For ANSYS, any sessions created up to v15.1.2, which read Spc Forces results will be incompatible with
the new versions, where SPC Forces are renamed to Reaction Forces. In the following example the
command:
read onlyfun Ansys ./example.rst all SpcForces,Translational,Magnitude must be
translated to:
read onlyfun Ansys ./example.rst all ReactionForces,Translational,Magnitude
3
Introduction
Presentation
Example
Keyboard keys
ENTER
ETA commands
Courier
<Quoted>
Copyright note:
All other company and product names mentioned in the software and its documentation are property, trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
4
Whats New
An A/LC Point (Assembly / LoadCase Point )is an entity that tags a node with a
name and refers to its id or position in space.
A/LC Points can be used for comparisons of results between FE analyses or
between FE and experimental analyses as they refer to points of interest by name.
For example, consider overlaying a FE Model on top of a second one. Identification
of results can be based on names instead of ids and thus strict numeration rules can
be avoided.
Remark: Enable Use node names at commands option in Global Settings > General
> Session & Commands to enable writing in the session file names instead of ids in
commands when available.
A/LC Points are automatically created when named nodes (through ANSA
comments or Field10 in NASTRAN GRID card) are found in the geometry. A/LC
Points and sets of A/LC Points are also created by reading .unv files (geometry or
results) where name references are used.
Remark: To enable this functionality, activate the option Auto create A/LC points
from geometry and .unv results in Global Settings > General > Read.
A/LC Points can be read, created and exported by both ANSA and ETA. They are
saved as ANSA comments in the solver input file or in a separate file (*.alc_aux).
A/LC Points are drawn as spheres and their visibility can be controlled through the
F12 card. Visibility of names is controlled by the option Draw A/LC point names in
Windows Settings > Drawing > Model/Geometry.
A/LC Points can also be used for easily creating loadcases and responses in both
Modal Response and FRF Assembly tools by pressing New from A/LC button.
[65648, META-19357, META-19497, META-20022]
Lists >Display
Mesh
Whats New
New tool for manually creating or modifying an 1D elements display model. These
elements can be output as PLOTELs in NASTRAN format or in a unv82 format.
[46867, META-15062, META-19518]
Performance
Decks
Abaqus
Script function MassOfMassElement() works now also for *MASS read from .odb
file.
[Incident: META-20675]
When geometry is read from .odb file and an .inp file exists in the same folder,
coordinate system names are read from the latter.
[META-20730]
ANSYS
Nastran
Discrete cycles read from .op2 in SOL200 optimization results are marked with a D
next to the cycle number. Note that the cycles are renumbered serially. For example
if the cycles output by NASTRAN are marked as Initial, 1, 2, 2D, 3 and 3D, in
they will be listed as 0, 1, 2, 3D, 4 and 5D.
A new script function, DiscreteCycles() is available to collect all loaded discrete
cycles.
[META-19914]
Now SET1 Names can be read in from ANSA comments.
[58567, META-17774, META-19503]
Reading a model with BCTABLE and BCONECT, the contacts are listed now in the
Connections list.
[META-20259]
ANSA comments that make reference to an include that is the display
representation of a subsystem are read. This way both solver file and display file are
read.
[META-20190]
LS Dyna
Material, part and sections cards are read from d3plot files when available. (Set
*DATABASE_BINARY_D3PROP first field to 1 to write geometry keywords in the
d3plot file or to 2 to write in d3prop file.)
[14198, 65262, META-5432, META-19272]
Support of model titles with a length greater than 40 characters from d3plot files.
[META-20094]
Support of moment results from rcforc files.
[META-20469]
Whats New
*.cdat files containing only the boundary values of a domain are now supported.
[META-19926]
OpenFOAM chtMultiRegionFoam results are now supported.
[46050 META-7824]
Radioss
Tecplot
UNV
Read Results
Results
Switching to the Results tab after having read a geometry from a Nastran file:
New option not to search for Patran files has been added under Settings> Global
Settings> General> Read> Other> Auto detect Patran results files
[48755, META-15521]
Displacements/S
calar/Vector
For composites results, all layers can be read simultaneously for LS-Dyna, Permas,
RadTherm and Theseus decks.
[META-19511, META-19512, META-19513]
Complex expressions can be used in Read Results card (as in States list) and also
in commands for reading displacements, scalar and vectors.
For example:
read dis /path/d3plot $state<9 && time>0.01 && time>0.02 Displacements
$ sign should be the starting character for such expressions.
[27411, 59601, META-9745, META-18046]
Location
The Read Location Information in Read Options > Location is now selected with
checkboxes. This allows simultaneously reading of the selected result and creating
of the respective location labels.
For example:
In previous versions to read Von Mises, Max of Top Bottom, Max of All Angles and
their location info the following actions had to take place:
Read Von Mises, Max of Top Bottom, Max of All Angles with location None
Read Von Mises, Max of Top Bottom, Max of All Angles with location Top or
7
Whats New
Bottom
Read Von Mises, Max of Top Bottom, Max of All Angles with location Angle
Curves
Rpm info is read from AVL Excite forces results in NASTRAN format and it is taken
into consideration for creation of a Campbell diagram.
[64840, META-19723]
Rpm and Order information is retrieved from NASTRAN .op2 files when stated in the
TITLE/LABEL.
[META-20148]
Excitation data from AVL Excite in NASTRAN format is read and kept in curves
attributes.
[META-19469]
Setting for controlling the maximum number of points above which a requested DFT
calculation will not be executed but a FFT will be instead. The setting is available in
Tools > Settings > Global Settings > General > Read > DFT max points threshold.
[META-20300]
In Settings tab of Read Results > Curves, it is possible to define the source and
target Unit System. If the definition of the Unit System is present in a .unv file then
this would be the source. The unit conversion is supported for NASTRAN and UNV
files.
[META-19547]
It is now possible to isolate the driving points (response same with reference) for
NASTRAN and UNV FRF results.
[META-19779]
The Run: list when reading from UNV files which contain multiple runs, now allows
multi selection and filtering.
[65598, META-19857]
dB-(D) acoustic filter is now available when reading acoustic results.
[META-20174]
Setting a different than time abscissa when reading from Abaqus results, the label
on x axis was remaining as Time.
[META-20802]
Handling Entities
Drawing Styles
Saved styles can now be associated with labels so that changing a label a different
style is applied to the model automatically. The functionality is available through the
context menu of a label in the Labels list by selecting the Link to display style option.
[64724, META-19148]
8
Focus
Whats New
Windows
3D and 2D plot Windows can now be deleted by pressing the Del key. The window
needs to be selected first.
[META-13882]
New command to set the start of an harmonic animation from a specific generated
state id.
States harmonic genstart <parent state id> <generated state
id>
[64440, META-19086]
States
$serial_id New variable in States > Title > User Defined for displaying the state
number in a custom title for user created states.
[60054, META-18159]
It is now possible to rearrange the states order.
[63491, META-18906]
Annotations
On Curves
New annotations variables for curves for adding in the Annotations text curve
attributes. The variables are available through the context menu of the Annotations
text.
[META-20220]
It is now possible to select a different vector field than the default (Velocity) to
calculate Volumetric Flow Rate through Statistics > Integrals Menu > Options.
[59914, META-18131]
It is now possible to select a different pressure field from the default one to calculate
Normal Force through Statistics > Integrals Menu > Options.
[45575, META-14791]
Advanced Filter
Groups
Whats New
[64839, META-19172]
New Colormap and MAC 3D plot types.
Axis Options
Whats New
It is now possible to specify the unit of phase axes in case of complex Mag/Phase
plot. Possible options are radians and degrees.
[META-19597]
New option in y and z axis to present the values in RMS or Peak to Peak for
frequency spectrum quantities where the y value expresses the underlining signal
component at the respective frequency.
[META-20127]
It is now possible to specify in axis options, the factor of the dB scaling using the
factors 10 or 20.
Set to 20:
dB = 10*log[(val/ref_val)^2] = 20*log(val/ref_val)
Set to 10:
dB = 10*log(val/ref_val)
[44115, META-14413]
New option to define the range of phase axis in complex mag-phase plots. 0 360
or -180 180 if the units are degrees and 0 2pi or pi pi if in rad.
[META-20343]
It is now possible change the x axis from frequency to rpm and vice versa. In case
the presented curves have in their attributes the Order, then this is taken into
account for the conversion.
[META-19619, META-20126]
dB (D) filter is now available in Range Type of Axis Options.
[META-20174]
Units
Curve Functions
Fourier
Fast Fourier Transform uses now 0 padding in cases the sample to be transformed
does not have number of points equal to a power of 2.
[61354, META-18439]
2D Data to 3D
Whats New
These attributes are automatically created upon reading curves. However for user
created curves (e.g. curves created by User Defined function) these attributes have
to be manually filled in order to be able to create 3d results.
[META-19537]
Crash Criteria
NVH Calculators
Modal Response
& FRF Assembly
Modal / FRF
Correlation
12
Whats New
Report
PPTX
The current job can be now saved as a project file and be added directly in the
report, through the respective Save button of the Edit Properties menu of a META
Viewer item in the Report Composer.
[META-20067]
Project Files
General
The information about the modules structure of the model (PAM CRASH MODULE,
ABAQUS INSTANCE, RADIOSS ID POOL), the names/ids of these modules and
the internal ids of entities (elements, nodes, etc) in each module are now written and
retrieved from metadbs.
[META-20750]
File Export
Curves
NASTRAN
It is now possible to export forces read from unv in NASTRAN format. They are
exported as DLOADs, RLOADs and DAREAs keywords.
[65690, META-19963]
Display Mesh
New tool for creating and exporting display mesh in NASTRAN or as tracelines in
UNV58 format. The tool is available under Lists > Display Mesh.
[META-19519]
User Toolbars
Toolbar Designer
Directivity Plot
New User Toolbar under NVH Tools for creating Directivity and Intensity plots.
[33554, META-11381]
Optimization >
Panel Thickness
Optimization
New toolbar for post processing NASTRAN SOL200 property thickness changes
from .pch files.
Optimization >
Check
Termination
Select a .f06 file produced by a SOL200 analysis, check for RUN TERMINATED
message and print the respective information.
13
Optimization >
SOL200 Plot
Whats New
New toolbar for creating curves from NASTRAN SOL200 optimization results from
the .f06 file or the .csv file that is produced by the PARAM XYUNIT parameter.
Curves can be created for Design Responses, Design Variables, Sensitivities,
Saturation Index, Design Objective and Max Design Constraint.
[META-19809, META-19811]
Automation
Script
Variables and
Built-in Functions
New inherent variables that hold the user name and machines host name are
available. These are $USER and $HOSTNAME respectively.
[META-20083]
14
Whats New
New File Path and Folder path variable types. Can be created either through Tools
> Variables by selecting the respective variable type or by the commands:
options var filepath/folderpath
These variables are identified when overlaying a session so that the respective
files or paths are listed in the dialog. They are also identified by the DM browser for
when recording a session.
[41483, META-13671, META-16888, META-20177]
Toolbar Designer
DM Browser
PPTX Viewer
Annotations
Annotations that do not contain any text are excluded from report items.
[META-20041]
Key Values /
Annotations
It is now possible to copy or export in file the values of the selected cells.
Curves
Extra attributes are added in curve objects to support their grouping (e.g. 2plot
window name). Additionally, the plot type, bar information, curve color and axis
options are now kept. Note that when comparing curves, their colors is disregarded
and they are colored by model.
[META-20043]
[META-20044]
15
GUI
When long text was appended to Meta Info window, the scrollbar was moved to the
middle instead of the left side.
[55290, META-17034]
Fixed initial size of several windows.
[META-20774]
Decks
Abaqus
In some cases, it was not possible to hide failed elements when geometry was read
from the .inp file.
[54343, META-16838]
Coordinate systems were appearing in the list but were not visible in 3D window.
Type Z RECTANGULAR was not read correctly.
[META-20694]
Fixed reading of connector element from .odb file containing assembly and
instances.
[META-18754]
Unexpected termination when reading curve results from a user defined variable.
[META-20815]
ACTRAN
The names of results when reading .op2 files is now according to ACTRAN instead
of NASTRAN format.
[65766, META-19379]
LS-DYNA
Unexpected termination when reading curve results from a user defined variable.
[META-20823]
NASTRAN
SETs which were also used for panel definition were not recognized.
[META-16313]
Curves from .pch file were not read if coupling info (DMIG) was present in the file.
[META-20295]
It was not possible to read include files which did not have a space between the
INCLUDE keyword and the filepath.
[META-20494]
16
OpenFOAM
An issue that caused states to appear in wrong order when reading OpenFOAM
results is fixed. Also an issue causing duplicate states on Windows OS is fixed.
[52024, META-19782]
Optistruct
Fixed issues on merging deformation and scalar results for SOL103. The frequency
was not displayed for some results.
[META-20716]
UNV
When response nodes with same id and different names were present, too many
states were created.
[65468, META-19326]
In some cases, quad elements were read as trias.
[META-20013]
Handling Entities
Drawing
In some cases the solid elements appeared in front of their skin shell elements.
[META-19475]
Read Results
Geometry
The Read button might appear in a very low position when having many windows
docked as West tabs.
[META-20737]
Vector
Unexpected termination could occur when reading Normal Velocity > Generate 18
[META-20779]
Curves
Use per curve unique: plot option was not working for ASCII files.
[59682, 62683, META-18747, META-18061]
After starting a new session, custom Abscissa did not get updated. This could lead
to an unexpected termination.
[META-20803]
Follow node curves could not be plotted from Abaqus results through session
commands.
[META-20639]
Attribute Header Info:: Point Id was wrond when reading from .pch files. Always the
first one was shown.
[META-20899]
Annotations
On Curves
Annotations on curves did not point to the correct location in case curves were bars
with the x axis offset option enabled.
[64051, META-19007]
17
Assign zeros to no values at calculation option was not taken into account in some
cases and no value results were calculated instead of zeros.
[META-20721]
Strain Gauges
When reading FRF function from UNV58 file, the denominator was missing from the
units in the Y axis and the units in X axis were always time. E.g Velocity in y axis
and Frequency[sec] in X axis instead of Velocity/Excitation Force and
Frequency[Hz] respectively.
[META-19729]
In some cases, phase part of mag-phase plot became invisible when applying dba
scale.
[META-20223]
Axes
Y axis range limits were not correct in case the y axis range type was set to dba,
dbb, dbc or dbd.
[META-20221]
Curve Functions
Crash Criteria
Enabling the option to create an annotation on crash criteria function, the recorded
session was including model dependent commands for annotations and it was not
possible to reuse it correctly with other models.
[57464, META-17497, META-19510]
Neck Injury Criterion was not calculated correctly if the unit system was not S.I.
[65784, META-19386]
NVH Calculators
Modal Response
When performing modal analysis for elemental results, those for line components
were all zero.
[62585, META-16317]
Vector results were plotted, instead of scalar ones, while generating states.
[META-20826]
FRF Assembly
18
Report
Spreadsheet
Editor
When applying an outside border to a spreadsheet through GUI, the inside borders
remained unchanged. However, when running the recorded session, the inside
borders were erased.
[META-20085]
Conditional formatting "Cell value is" rule was not correctly output to Excel file when
the rule was referring to string comparison.
[META-20937]
Report Composer
The position of connected lines was modified when the parent group was moved.
[META-20213]
Improvements on creating a textbox from annotation when dropping an image with
the Detach Annotation option enabled so that the textbox looks as close as possible
with the annotation.
[22666, 22675, 35968, META-8266, META-8269, META-12101, META-16743]
Copying slides with slides notes inside the Report Composer would results to an
error message when opening the saved .pptx file in Powerpoint.
[META-20909]
Project Files
Results
Results which were loaded twice but with different Read Options were not saved.
[60506, META-18273]
States
Annotations
Compression
Simplify Solids option was not working when Save Visible was enabled.
[65029, META-20063]
Cut Planes
Unexpected termination could occur when a plane with the LIC styles was present.
[META-20731]
Adaptive mesh
Models with adaptive mesh and planes or isufunctions were saved in corrupted
database. Unexpected termination could occur on reading
[META-20902, META-20907]
Map Results
19
File Export
Pamcrash
TETRA10 are now correctly written out when reading geometry from Pamcrash
input file or erfh5 file and then saving the model as Pamcrash file.
[64654, META-19129]
U3DPDF
Symmetric clones of the model (generated by rotation, offset, plane mirroring, cyclic
symmetry or periodic symmetry) are now exported in u3d and u3dpdf. A typical
example is the mirroring of CFD models, done for visualization purposes.
[60297, META-18217]
In some cases, exporting a U3DPDF file could lead to unexpected termination.
[META-20896]
User Toolbars
Toolbar Designer
Double quotes in toolbars tooltips were inserting errors in the session file.
[META-20696]
Using {} as an argument to opt var add <var_name> {} to create a variable
from a toolbar item was not working.
[META-20056]
Occupant Injury
Criteria
Automation
Session
In some cases the command for setting the dB reference value (read options
dbvalue) was not executed.
[META-20289]
Overlay
In some cases, Run ID was not considered in some processes in FRF tools.
(Fixed since v16.2.2)
[META-20499]
Script
Windows.Windows() function was switching the windows in GUI. Now it returns all
windows without doing so.
[META-19885]
Unexpected termination was occurring when trying to read *.pyc files. Python
compiled files produced by the py_compile module (or by python.exe m compileall)
are not supported.
[64604, META-19123]
annotations.ElementOfAnnotationPointer(),
annotations.NodeOfAnnotationPointer() and
annotations.BoundaryOfAnnotationPointer() did not return the corrent
entities.
[META-20673]
20
Variables
Viewer
Documentation
21