Zbirkica

SIEMENS
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3
Student Guide, Revision 2

January 2017
CT2320_FMP113_2
Proprietary and restricted rights notice
This software and related documentation are proprietary to Siemens Product Lifecycle
Management Software Inc.
© 2017 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All trademarks belong to their respective holders.
2 Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide CT2320_FMP113_2 ‐ © 2017 Siemens PLM Software
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide 3

Course Overview and Agenda
This Femap 101 class introduces Femap’s workflows and tool to generate finite element models and
reporting results.
Primary topics
After successfully completing this course, you should be able to perform the following operations in
Femap.
• Create, import geometry and modify geometry for meshing
• Create, modify and manage loads and constraints
• Create and modify meshes
• Prepare and submit a finite element model for analysis
• Review results using post‐processing operations
Who should attend
This course is intended for intended for engineers and analysts who want to perform finite element
analysis on single parts and/or multi‐part assemblies.
Prerequisites
• Basic knowledge of structural mechanics
Provided course materials
• Student Guide
• Student Workbook
CT2320_FMP113_2 – Femap v11.3 © 2017 Siemens PLM Software

Lesson format
The general format for lesson content is:
• Instructor presentation
• Hands‐on workshop
It is important that you work through the workshops in the sequence presented. Later lessons assume
you have learned concepts and techniques taught in earlier lessons. If necessary, you can always
refer to any previous activity where a method or technique was originally taught.
Classroom system information
Your instructor will provide the following items for working in the classroom:
Student login:
User name:
Password:
Instructor:

Day 1 Agenda
Lesson No Lesson Topic Workshop
1 The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap 
2 Overview of the Femap User Interface
3 Entity Display and View Manipulation 
4 Geometry Overview
5 2D Geometry Creation and Editing 
6 3D Geometry Creation and Editing 
7 Midsurfacing 
8 Overview of Materials 
9 Overview of Properties
Day 2 Agenda
10 Overview of Meshing 
11 Beam Meshing 
12 Surface Meshing 
13 Solids Meshing 
14 The Meshing Toolbox 
15 Constraints
16 Loads 

Day 3 Agenda
17 Model Display and Visualization 
18 Analysis Set Manager and Results Files 
19 Postprocessing Overview
20 Deformed and Contour Results Display 
21 Freebody Diagrams 
22 XY Plotting Using the Charting Pane 
23 FEA Assembly Modeling – Combining FEA Models
24 FEA Assembly Modeling – Assembly Connectors 
Student Topics
Additional Topics
The following additional topics may be included in an additional day of training or to replace topics in
cases where the class has prior experience with Femap.
25 FEA Model Debugging
26 Laminate Modeling 
27 Spring and Damper Elements
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide 1‐1

Lesson 1 ‐ The FEA Modeling Process Using Femap
Topics
This lesson provides an overview of general overview of Finite Element Modeling and Analysis and the
tools in Femap available to generate FEA models.
• What is Finite Element Analysis?
• What comprises a FEA model?
• Femap Modeling Process Flow
• Femap Model Objects and Commands
• Femap UI Overview
• Units
• Femap Model File Formats
• Femap Preferences
• Femap Licensing

What is Finite Element Analysis?
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is the 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 with NX Nastran can be used to model the two (2) types of behavior. Femap Flow, Thermal and
Advanced Thermal can be used to simulate Thermal, Fluid Flow and Optical behavior.

What comprises a FEA model?
A Finite Element Analysis model is a collection of:
• Finite Elements ‐ well‐defined mathematical models of:
 Beam and Rod elements
 Surface or Shell elements – triangular or quadrilateral
 Solids ‐ tetrahedral or hexahedral
 Miscellaneous elements such as Springs, Mass, Rigid, and Contact
• Material attributes
• Boundary conditions (loads and constraints)
Any 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 to a model.


Femap Objects and Workflow for Generating a FEA Model


Femap Model Objects and Commands - Geometry
Import Geometry Create Geometry Modify Geometry
File > Import Geometry Geometry > commands
Geometry > commands
File > References Modify > commands

Direct CAD geometry interfaces
• Solid Edge, NX (Unigraphics and I‐deas), ProE,
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
• Meshing Toolbox


Femap Model Objects and Commands – Materials and Properties
Materials Properties
Model > Material Model > Property

Material Types: Property Types:
• Isotropic • Line elements
• 2D and 3D Orthotropic • Plane elements
• 2D and 3D Anisotropic • Volume elements
• Elastomers – Hyperelastic, Foam, etc. • “Other” elements (Mass, Rigid, etc.)
• Analysis program specific types (NX Nastran,
MSC Nastran, LS‐Dyna, Abaqus, Marc)


Femap Model Objects and Commands – Boundary Conditions
Constraints Loads
Model > Constraint commands Model > Load commands

For Constraints and 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


Femap Model Objects and Commands - Meshing
Mesh Control and Multi‐
Single Nodes Single Elements
Element Meshing
Model > Analysis Model > Node Model > Element
Additional mesh creation and editing tools are
available in the Meshing Toolbox


Femap Model Objects and Commands - Analysis
Analyze View Results (Post process) Report
View > Select (F5)
Model > Analysis View > Options (F6) List > Output commands
View > Advanced Post

Generate and submit analysis with the Model > Analysis command
The PostProcessing Toolbox is the primary interface for
generating graphical display of simulation results with:
• Deformed plots
• Contour and Arrow plots
• Freebody diagrams
Use the Data Table and the set of List > Output commands to
generate a table of results


Overview of the Femap Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Femap’s GUI has multiple components:
• Model graphics pane
 Multiple models can be opened and displayed simultaneously
 Dynamic zoom, pan and rotation supported via the mouse or through the use of a 3D mouse
device
• Drop‐down command menus – user customizable
• Toolbars ‐ user customizable
• Docked, floating and stackable “panes”
• Status and Tray Bar on the bottom of the Femap window


Femap Model Units
Femap is unit‐less and does not track or maintain consistent units. Likewise, most FEA solvers are unit‐
less.
But…
• Femap standard material and beam section property libraries use in‐lbs units
• Solid geometry defaults to inches on desktop and to meters in Femap model databases (.modfem
and .NEU files). Conversion of geometry units from meters use the Geometry Scale Factor
preference.
 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.
The following two pages have charts that show consistent unit values that should be used to obtain
accurate results.


Femap Model Data Units to Achieve Accurate Results – Structural Problems
Femap model data should be input with values in the following units when using NX Nastran as the
solver for a structural solution:
English Metric Metric SI

Model Data
(lbf‐in‐s) (mN‐mm‐s) (N‐mm‐s) (N‐m‐s)
Length inches mm mm m
Mass Density lbm/in3 kg/mm3 Tonnes/mm3 kg/m3
Force lbf mN N N
Stress, Pressure,
Modulus of Elasticity, psi (lbf/in2) KPa MPa Pa
Shear Modulus
Moment,
lbf‐in N‐mm N‐mm N‐m
Torque
Velocity in/sec mm/sec mm/sec m/sec
Acceleration in/sec2 mm/sec2 mm/sec2 m/sec2
Temperature °F °C °C °C
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in/degF mm/degC mm/degC m/degC


Femap Model Data Units to Achieve Accurate Results – Thermal Problems
Femap model data should be input with values in the following units when using NX Nastran as the
solver for a thermal (Heat Transfer) solution:
English Metric Metric SI

Model Data
(lbf‐in‐s) (mN‐mm‐s) (N‐mm‐s) (N‐m‐s)
Length inches mm mm m
Mass Density lbm/in3 kg/mm3 Tonnes/mm3 kg/m3
Temperature °F °C °C °C
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in/degF mm/degC mm/degC m/degC
Energy lbf‐in µJ mJ J
Thermal Conductivity lbf/sec‐°F W/mm‐°C W/mm‐°C W/m‐°C
Specific Heat lbf/sec2‐°F µJ /sec2‐°C mJ/sec2‐°C J/sec2‐°C
Heat Transfer Coefficient lbf/in‐sec‐°F W/mm2 W/mm2 W/m2
Heat Generation (Flux) lbf‐in/sec W W W


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


Femap Model File Formats
The File > Save and File > Save As commands store Femap model files as binary .modfem files
• Femap model files saved in versions prior to Femap v10.2 are stored as .mod files
• Femap automatically converts older version .mod or .modfem files to the current version of Femap
 When this conversion occurs, you are presented the FEMAP Neutral File Converter message box,
then the Neutral File Read Options dialog box, where you confirm the options for converting
from the older model file.


Femap Model File Formats (continued)
A Femap Neutral File (.NEU file extension) is a Ascii text file and can be exported from Femap using the
command, File > Export > Femap Neutral. This command allows you to write a Neutral file for an earlier
version of Femap (v4.1 through the current release of Femap).
• Neutral files are used to merge Femap models.
• Entities not supported in the earlier version of Femap will be ignored in writing the Femap Neutral
File.
Femap Neutral files are read into Femap files using the command File > Import > Femap Neutral. The
Neutral File Read Options dialog box allows the selective import of geometry, mesh, output, groups
and/or views into the active Femap model.
• Use the ID Offset setting to avoid overwriting existing entities in your Femap model.


Femap Preferences
Preferences are used to configure Femap for optimum performance and the way you prefer to work.
These are described in detail in the Femap Commands manual and in Femap’s online help.
• 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, 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.
 If no femap.ini file exists in your startup folder, changes will be made to the femap.ini file in the
main Femap installation folder, provided that you have write permission for that folder.
To set preferences, select the File > Preferences command.


Femap Preferences Dialog Box
Preferences dialog box tabs
• Messages
• Views
• Graphics
• User Interface
• Database
• Geometry/Model
• Interfaces
• Results
• Library/Startup
• Color
• Spaceball
The following pages describe three (3) of the most important Preferences settings: Geometry/Model,
Graphics and Database.


Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model – Solid Geometry Scale Factor
Select between the Parasolid or Standard geometry engines for your Femap model. The Parasolid
engine is recommended, otherwise, only wireframe geometry can be imported, created and/or edited.
• You can modify the Geometry
Engine and allow editing of
solids in a part initially created
using the Standard Geometry
Engine by changing the Femap
preference to Parasolid.
Femap stores geometry in meters. The Solid Geometry Scale Factor is used to internally convert your
geometry units to meters in Parasolid.
• 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 models that are outside of the Parasolid modeling limits ( a cube
1000 meters per side, centered at 0,0,0, or +/‐ 500 meters in X, Y, and Z)
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 Preferences – Graphics
The Graphics dialog box lets you control graphics performance and dynamic rotation settings.
• Hardware Acceleration can be toggled off if the graphics card, or it's drivers, are causing instability
in Femap.
• Performance Graphics can only be used when video adapter(s) that support OpenGL 4.2, or higher,
are present.
• Vertex Buffer Arrays (VBOs) can be used when video adapter(s) that support OpenGL 2.1 or higher
are present.
• 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.


Femap Preferences – Graphics, Performance Graphics and VBOs
Enabling the Performance Graphics option can dramatically improve performance on models with a
large number of:
• Solids
• Points
• Nodes
• Solid and Shell Elements
The use of Vertex Buffer Arrays (VBOs) further increases performance for models with or without
Performance Graphics enabled.
• Set the value of Max VBO MB to a maximum of 75 percent (%) of the total graphics card memory


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, 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)
• You should also set your graphics card performance settings to the default settings. In some cases,
setting a card for optimum performance for an application may cause Femap to crash.


Femap Preferences – Database
The Database tab defines various performance settings:
• Database Options
• Database Performance
• Timed Save
• Scratch Directory
Click the Database Options Help button for detailed information on settings in this tab.
• Note that any changes made in the Database tab requires you to exit and to start a new Femap
session.


Femap Preferences – Database – Scratch Directory
This option specifies the location of Femap’s Scratch Directory folder where temporary, scratch, and
recovery files are written during a Femap session
• If this option is left blank, Femap will write its temporary files to the Windows TEMP folder location
 When a Windows TEMP variable is not defined, the location of the Femap scratch files defaults
to your Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp folder. In many cases, this is a
location on the network other than your local PC.
• 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.
 Exit and restart Femap after changing the Scratch Directory folder.


Femap Preferences – Database – Database Performance
These options specify:
• Database Memory Limit ‐ sets the maximum amount of system memory that FEMAP will use to hold
parts of the model and results in memory.
• Max Cached Label ‐ sets the largest label for which FEMAP will reserve memory. This option must be
set to a ID higher than any entity in the model.
 Default value is 10,000,000
• Blocks/Page ‐ sets the "page" size. The optimum setting of this number often depends on the speed
of the disk and controller.
 Generally, this should only be changed with high‐speed physical drives and/or disk‐caching
enabled, such as SSD drives.
• Open/Save Method – use to optimize read/write performance of Femap ‐ use the Read/Write Test
to determine which Open/Save Method will work best on the current machine.


Femap Licensing
Femap offers two (2) types of licensing:
• Nodelocked using a USB Dongle
• Floating using FLEXlm as the license server
 Each Femap session uses a Femap license
NX Nastran licenses are either tied to Femap (Femap with NX Nastran) or standalone as NX Nastran
Enterprise
• Unless you have the NX Nastran Enterprise solver license, you cannot edit the NX Nastran input deck
generated by Femap outside of Femap and then submit the deck manually to NX Nastran for
solution. Additionally, you cannot submit a NX Nastran deck on a computer other than the
computer it was generated on.
Note: The Femap license type is determined by a .dll file under the main Femap install folder. This
license type can be modified. See the section on License Conversion Methods in the Femap
Getting Started.pdf document.
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide 2 ‐1

Lesson 2 ‐ Overview of the Femap User Interface
This lesson provides an overview of the Femap User Interface.

Topics
• Femap Main Window Layout
• Graphics Windows
• Access to Femap Commands
• Toolbars and Commands
• Dialog Box Shortcut Keys
• Integrated Help System


Femap Main Window Layout
Femap Title Bar
Femap Menu Bar
Tabs for
“Stacked” Named Tab for Graphics
dockable panes Windows
Femap Graphics Window
Floating dockable
pane
Current Model Status FEMAP Status

(FEMAP Menu Help when and Tray bar
in command)

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
Dynamic Viewing
• Views can be dynamically rotated, zoomed and panned using a mouse, or through the use of a
supported SpaceBall device
Easy transfer from Femap to other Windows programs.
• Copy (Ctrl+c) from the active view
Supports the saving of multiple picture file formats
• File > Picture command set


Femap Commands
Femap commands are accessible through several means:
• Main menu
 Hotkeys and Toolbar icons are mapped to the commands by default
• Toolbars (Standard and Custom)
• Quick Access menu (right‐mouse button in graphics window when Select Toolbar is not active)
• Shortcut keys
• Status bar
• The Select Toolbar (alternative gateway to many useful commands)
• Context Sensitive menus
• Dockable Pane icons


Toolbars
Femap has several standard toolbars that are fully customizable. For a full detailed description of the
standard toolbars available in Femap, refer to Section 7.3.1 of the Femap commands manual.
• Toolbars can be docked or floated
• Toolbars can be created and editing using the Tools > Toolbars > Customize command
 Select the Toolbars tab to enable/disable toolbars and to create new toolbars
 Selecting the Commands tab lists commands on the menu bar along with User Commands.
These commands can be dragged onto toolbars
• Customizations and layouts of toolbars can be saved and retrieved using the
File > Preferences command under the User Interface tab


Dockable Panes
Femap has twelve (12) dockable panes:
• Model Info
• Meshing Toolbox
• PostProcessing ToolboxCharting
• Entity Editor
• Entity Info
• Data Table
• Data Surface Editor
• Connection Editor
• Messages
• Program File
• API Programming
Panes can be turned on and off using the Tools commands or the Panes toolbar and can be resized when
docked or floating

Messages Pane
Can be turned on and off using the Tools > Other Windows > Messages command or with the Messages
icon on the Panes toolbar.
• Provides information on commands Femap is performing, and their status.
• The Messages pane is also the default location for listing the results of Tools, Check and List
commands
 The List > Destination command is used to toggle on and off results of List commands to the
Messages pane. This command can also be used to specify listing out to a file.
• Error listings are also sent to the Messages pane.
Font, font size and text colors for the Messages pane are set using the File, Preferences command under
the Messages tab.
Note: When typing in the Messages window, anytime you type a shortcut key, the command assigned
to the key will be invoked.


Model Info Pane
The Model Info pane provides quick access to “top‐level” entities in Femap through an easy to navigate
tree structure. Right‐clicking on an object activates a context‐sensitive menu for that object.
Top‐level items found in the Model Info pane include:
• Coordinate Systems
• Geometry – Solids only
• Connections
• Aero Model
• Model
 Elements
 Material
 Properties
 Layups
 Loads
 Constraints
 Functions
 Data Surfaces
• Analyses – Analysis Sets
• Results – Analysis Studies
and Output Sets
• Views
• Groups
• Layers
• Selection List


Model Info Pane Toolbar
The Collapse/Expand icon expands the complete object tree in the Model Info pane if collapsed
or partially expanded and collapses the tree if the entire tree is displayed
Reload from Model refreshes the object tree
Reset All Visibility Options toggles on the display of all entities in the model
The Send to Data Table icon is activated when the Data Table is open and unlocked. Clicking this
icons clears the Data Table and sends the attributes of objects selected in the object tree to the
Data Table.
Show Count of Various Entities in Model toggles on and off a count of the number of the
entities of the object type in the object tree
Show When Selected toggles highlighting and controls highlighting options.


Entity Editor Pane
The Entity Editor pane provides information of specific entities in Femap displayed using different types
of fields. The types of fields include:
• Numeric Value
• Text
• Drop‐down menu
• Options button
• Read Only
Entities can be sent to the Entity Editor using
the following entry methods:
Model Info pane
• Select Toolbar ‐ when activated, the last
chosen entity appears in the
Entity Editor pane.
• Data Table pane – when the Data Table
has entity data in it, and a row containing
entity data in the table is highlighted,
it will appear in the Entity Editor.


Entity Editor – continued
Expand/Collapse toggles
• Allows you to collapse and expand
individual categories and sub‐categories
inside the Entity Editor.
Context Sensitive Menus
• 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 will allow you to Undo
(reverts to last saved value while field is
still highlighted), Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete,
or Select All.
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.


Status Bar and Tray
Toggled on and off using the Tools > Other Windows > Status Bar command.
Status Bar – located at bottom, left corner of the main Femap 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.
Status Tray – located at the bottom, right corner of the main Femap window
• Displays and activates object sets
 Properties
 Load Sets
 Constraint Sets
 Groups
 Output Sets
• Change the current object or create a new one by clicking on a object in the Status Tray

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 ‐ shows information for a highlighted
entity in a “Tooltips” window (small yellow window in
the main graphics window)
• Display Layers/Group in Tooltips
• Picking Options – Smart Snap, Pick Normal, Pick
Query, Pick Front, Snap To, Pick Query, Pick Any
Inside, Pick All Inside
• Select ‐ this menu of options allows you to control
which coordinates will be selected when you use the
graphics cursor to pick a location
• Rotate View About – set the view to rotate about the
View Center, a specified Rotation Center or a specified
View Axis
• Equations – opens the Equation Editor in FEMAP
(a field must be highlighted in a dialog box for this
option to be available).
• Visibility, Post Data


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 button allows you to add entity IDs to the list of entity 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 from being selected (in this selection operation
only).
• The Delete command will delete the entity ID from the list.
• Options for selection when the Method^ button is selected vary depending on the entity type.

Entity Selection Dialog Box – continued
 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. Entering Ctrl+L in a dialog box field brings up the list of
"Titled“ entities.
 The Preview button graphically toggles highlighting of the entities selected
The Entity Selection dialog box’s Pick button allows you to:
• Switch between Normal, Query and Front picking
• Select entities graphically from the screen using a shape:
 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 position within the model Coordinate,
Around a Point, Around a Vector or Around a Plane
 Select entities matching the Color selected from a
color palette
 For curves and surfaces, you can also pick using
Combined Curves and Boundary Surfaces. For
surfaces only, you can also pick using Add Connected
Fillets and Add Tangent Surfaces


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)
Note: Setting the Method in the Locate dialog box does
NOT change the Snap Mode


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.
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.


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.

Dialog Box Shortcut Keys
Femap contains preprogrammed shortcut keys for use in dialog boxes:
Dialog Box Hotkey Places the Result of the Command in the Dialog Box Field
Executes the command, Tools > Measure > Angle, and copies the
Ctrl+a
results of the measurement into the dialog box field
Runs the command, Tools > Measure > Distance, and copies the
Ctrl+d
results of the measurement into the dialog box field
Ctrl+g Set the snap mode to Snap to Grid
Ctrl+l Display a list of the existing entities of the desired type
Ctrl+n Set the snap mode to Snap to Node
Ctrl+p Set the snap mode to Snap to Point
Ctrl+s Set the snap mode to Snap to Screen
Executes the Windows paste command and places the value of the
Ctrl+v
field into the Windows clipboard
Executes the Windows cut command and places the value of the
Ctrl+x
Executes the Windows copy command and places the value of the
Ctrl+y
Ctrl+z Changes the method of specifying the coordinates


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
• Press the F1 key to access HELP
• Help Window will appear with description of the current command.
• Use the Shift+F1 hotkey to choose a command with the “What’s This?” cursor.

FEMAP Help Menu
Full On‐Line Help System accessed through the Help command:
• Help Topics
• Toolbars
• Dockable Panes
• NX Nastran – access the complete NX Nastran
documentation set
• Analysis
• What’s New
• Examples
• Programming – access the API Programming
Guide
• Basic Language – access when the API
Programming pane is open
• Tip of the Day
• Femap Website
• Femap User Community
• Technical Support – access FEMAP Technical Support via the web
• About – access to licensing info and input of license keys

Lesson 3 ‐ Entity Display and View Manipulation
This lesson provides an overview of entity display, view rotation, panning and scaling.

Topics
• Dynamic Viewing
• View Orientation Toolbar
• Entity Toggling
• View Toolbar
• View Manipulation Shortcut Keys

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
Rotate Left or Middle mouse button Middle mouse button
Pan Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Middle mouse button Ctrl+Middle mouse button
Shift+Left or Shift+Middle mouse
Zoom Shift+Middle mouse button
button
The mouse’s Scroll wheel can also be used for dynamic zooming.
Femap Preferences can be modified to use the cursor location for dynamic zooming and rotation. These
options can be added to a toolbar by selecting these commands under the Commands, Additional
Commands menu in the Customize dialog box.
• Located under the User Interface tab, Mouse Interface options


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
place it.
The Isometric, Dimetric, and Trimetric view orientation(s) can be modified using 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.
• Option to Rotate Around any coordinate system, including those defined by the user.


View Toolbars and control of View and View Rotation Centers
The View Simple and View toolbars allows control of the active view orientation, magnification, view
style, and layers.
Both of these toolbars have a View and Rotation Center pulldown menu icon allowing the control of
view center and rotation.
Selecting Advance Rotate command (View > Rotate > Advance Rotate command), activates the
Advance Rotation Options dialog box where you can set the rotation mode and options.


View Roll-Thru
Femap v11.3 added a new function, Roll‐Thru, where you can place yoursefl ‘inside’ of the active view
instead of the typical viewing mode of looking at the active view. In this case, the view center is the
location of the viewer’s eye. Pressing the Shift+Alt keys simulataneously while using the middle mouse
wheel will move the location of the view center. To turn off Roll‐thru, set the rotation mode to one of
the other rotation modes.
Roll‐Thru can also be toggled on by unchecking the option, Model Always in Front of Viewer in the
Advanced Rotation Options dialog box.


Entity Display Toggles
This section covers the control of display of entity types and individual entities. Topics include:
• The Entity Display toolbar
• Entity toggles in the Model Info pane and the Visibility dialog box
• The Draw / Erase toolbar
Entity Display Toolbar
The Entity Display toolbar toggles the display of different entity types within a Graphics pane.
Note: Display of aeroelasticity components (Panel, Mesh, Spline and Control Surfaces) are toggled
using the Aeroelasticity toolbar.

Entity Toggles in the Model Info Pane
Display of Solid Geometry Bodies, Elements (by Type or by Shape), Materials, Properties and Groups can
be controlled from the Model Info pane.
The box to the left of the object’s ID/name is the Visibility Toggle and indicates whether or not the
object is displayed.
• A filled checkbox Indicates that the object is displayed.
Note: Geometry visibility toggles include the option to Hide Surfaces and Show Surfaces.
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, element types, materials, properties and
groups, eliminating the need to organize the model by layers or by creating additional groups.


Entity Display Toggle Example
With only the display of Nodes and Elements toggled on , display Beam elements only:
1. Expand the Model, Elements, By Type object tree in the Model Info pane and click the Beam Linear
object.
2. Position the cursor over Beam Linear visibility checkbox and right‐click the mouse.
3. Select Show Selected Only from the menu.

Entitiy Display Control – 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. This dialog box also controls the display of entity Labels as well as toggling
on and off the display of Freebody diagrams.
• Access via the View > Visibility command, the Ctrl+Q hotkey or by clicking the View Visibility icon
on the View Simple or View toolbar.
Note: When using the option to Show Selected Only with materials or properties, and element types
exist in the model that have no material or property assigned to them, i.e. Rigid Elements, these
elements will not be displayed until you toggle the Elements with No Material or Elements with
No Property toggle in the Visibility dialog box.

The Draw / Erase Toolbar
The Draw / Erase toolbar has been added to Femap in version 11.3 to enable the control of individual
entities. This toolbar offers two different modes, one which will temporarily only “Draw” entities of
certain types selected with the toolbar, while the other will temporarily “Erase” the selected entities.
• Draw Erase On / Off – indicates the status of whether the selected entities are drawn or

erased. An unfilled icon with a red light as shown above indicates that the Draw / Erase mode is
turned off. A filled icon with a green light ( ) indicates that the Draw / Erase mode is turned
on.
• Draw Mode – When selected, only the entities selected are displayed. A filled icon indicates that
this mode is on.
• Erase Mode – When selected, the entities selected are “erased”. A filled icon indicates that this
mode is on.
Draw/Erase Clear – turns off Draw/Erase and clears selected entities from the selection list.


The Draw / Erase Toolbar - 2
Draw Erase Select Geometry pulldown menu icon. Select the geometry entity type. By
default, the Auto Select Mesh option is enabled meaning that any associated mesh to the
selected geometry is also selected.
 Selecting a Solid will automatically include the selection of their associated surfaces,
curves and points. Similarly, selecting a surface will select their associated curves and
points and associated mesh entities.
Draw Erase Select Mesh pulldown menu icon. Select the mesh entity type.
 Selecting an Element automatically selects nodes attached to the selected element(s).
• Selecting an Property or a Material automatically selects the elements (and the element
nodes, using the selected Property or Material.


Draw / Erase Toolbar - 3
Draw Erase Select Area pulldown menu icon is used to modify the selection method.
• The Selector Erase menu works in the same manner as the Selector toolbar in specifying the entity
type to be drawn/erased.
• Grow adds the adjacent entities to the entity selection list.
• Shrink removes the outer set of entities from the entity selection list.
• Erase All Selected erases all selected entities.
• Erase Geometry Only and Erase Mesh Only erases only the selected geometry or mesh.
• On by default, the Exclusive Draw Mode will display only the entity type used for the Draw / Erase
operation. If turned off, entity types such as CSys, Regions and Connectors will be displayed.
• Reverse modifies the selection list to remove the entities selected and replaces it with the list of all
entities not selected.
• Create Group creates a new group with the selected entities.
• Load Group loads the list of entities in the selected group into the Draw / Erase selection list.

Draw / Erase Toolbar Example
Draw, then erase the surfaces on the top of the wing.
1. On the Draw / Erase toolbar, toggle on Draw/Erase.
2. Toggle on Draw/Erase Draw Mode. The Draw / Erase toolbar should appear like below.
3. Click the Draw / Erase Select Geometry pulldown menu and choose Select Surfaces.


Draw / Erase Toolbar Example - 2
4. In the Entity Selection – Select Surface to Draw dialog box, set the Method^ to on Solid and select
the solid on the top of the wing before confirming the selection with the OK button.
The graphics pane should be updated to display the surfaces, curves, points and mesh associated with
the surfaces on the top of the wing. The rotated view below illustrates this, including any beam
element that were meshed using curves on the top surfaces.


Draw / Erase Toolbar Example - 3
To erase the top wing surfaces and mesh, there are two (2) options:
5. Click the Draw Erase Erase Mode icon on the Draw / Erase toolbar, or, select Reverse from the
Draw Erase Select Area pulldown menu.
After rotating the model, the model should appear similar to below.


View Simple and View Toolbars – View Style Icon Pulldown Menu
Both toolbars have a View Style pulldown menu icon for controlling view settings:
 Selection of the manner in which the view is displayed such as such as Wireframe, Hidden line,
or Solid.
 Toggle options to for Fill, Filled Edges, Shading and Transparency.
 Toggle the display of Mesh Size indicators on curves.
 Toggle display of element Shrink, Offsets, Orientation, Thickness/Cross Sections and control of
coloring of elements with the Color With menu.
 Toggle display of the Workplane.
 Toggle and control the position of the Clipping Plane.
 Access view Options.


View Manipulation Shortcut Keys
Femap contains preprogrammed shortcut keys for commonly used view rotation, panning and scaling
commands:
Hotkey Executes the Command
F5 View > Select
F6 View > Options
F8 View > Rotate
Ctrl+D View > Redraw
Ctrl+A View > Autoscale Visible
Ctrl+G View > Regenerate
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide
4 ‐1
Lesson 4 ‐ Geometry Overview
This lesson provides an overview of geometry import, creation and editing in Femap.

Topics
• Geometry Overview
• Parasolid Geometry Kernel
• Importing Geometry
• Geometry Creation and Editing Capabilities
• Midsurfacing Overview

4 ‐2
Geometry Overview
Femap reads multiple CAD formats
• Wireframe geometry can be imported using IGES and DXF
Femap geometry creation and editing
• Points, 2D and 3D curves (Lesson 4)
• Surfaces (Lesson 5)
• Solid creation and editing operations (Lesson 5)
 Supports Solid, Sheet and Non‐manifold Bodies
• Midplane surface extraction and editing (Lesson 6)

4 ‐3
Parasolid Geometry Kernel
• Parasolid geometry is stored in internally in SI units (meters) no matter what unit it is created in.
• Parasolid has a “box” with dimensions of 1000 meters (m) x 1000 m x 1000 m 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
• Is independent of the 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 box…”
• “It is highly recommended to set the default unit in your application code to one meter…”

4 ‐4
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 meters in the Femap model file 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 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, the preference will update to the input value.
4 ‐5
Importing Geometry
Import geometry with the File > Import > Geometry command.
• The Import Geometry icon can be found on the Model toolbar
Standard CAD Interfaces Direct CAD Interfaces
• Solid Edge (.par, .psm, .pwd, .asm) • ACIS
• NX Unigraphics (.prt) • STEP (AP 203 Solids, AP 214 Surfaces)
• NX I‐deas (.idi) • IGES
• Pro/Engineer (.prt, .asm) • DXF
• STL – reads .stl files as triangular surface
• Catia v4 (.mdl, .exp, .dlv)
mesh
• Catia v5 (.catP*) – optional
• SolidWorks (.sldprt, .sldasm)

4 ‐6
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 modification(s)
to components in an assembly.
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.
4 ‐7
Solid Bodies
A Solid body is completely 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.
4 ‐8
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 the Base and Side Walls solid bodies.
 In the example pictured below, the eight (8) Rib bodies do not connect on a common edge with
any other surfaces, these are all separate Sheet bodies.
• A Sheet body is shown in the Model Info pane’s Geometry tree with this icon:

4 ‐9
Non Manifold Bodies
Non‐manifold surfaces are general body solids that can be a combination of connected Solid and/or
Sheet bodies.
• Creating Non Manifold bodies from mid‐surfaced geometry can also be very useful for meshing
purposes, as surfaces coming together at “T‐Junctions” that share a common curve.
• A general, or non‐manifold surface body appears in the Model Info pane’s Geometry tree as shown
below:

4 ‐10
Geometry Creation Options
2D/3D Wireframe Geometry – Lesson 5 Solids – Lesson 6
• Points • Extrude or Revolve surfaces
• Lines • Primitives – Blocks, Cylinders, Cones and
Spheres
• Arcs / Circles
• Stitch
• Splines
• Shell
• Curves from Surfaces
• Booleans – Add, Common, Embed, Remove and
Intersect
Surface Geometry – Lesson 7 Mid‐surfacing – Lesson 8
• Boundary surfaces • Automatic extraction from multiple thickness
bodies
• 3 or 4 Corner surfaces
• Offset Tangent Surfaces – extract mid‐surfaces
• Edge, Aligned and Ruled from bodies with tangent continuous, constant
• Extrude, Revolve and Sweep wall thickness
• Analytical – Planes, Cylinders and
Spheres
• Surface from Mesh

4 ‐11
General Geometry Modification Tools
Copy geometry via the following commands: Move geometry via the following commands:
• Geometry > Copy  Modify > Project ‐ projects points onto curves,
surfaces, vectors or planes
• Geometry > Radial Copy
 Modify > Move To ‐ moves selected Point(s)
• Geometry > Scale from their current location to a specified
location
• Geometry > Rotate  Modify > Move By ‐ transforms geometry along
a vector and distance
• Geometry > Reflect
 Modify > Rotate To – rotates geometry about a
Modify a point location with the following vector with the rotation specified by two
command: locations
 Modify > Rotate By – rotates geometry about a
• Modify > Edit > Point vector and by a specified angle
Change color and transparency of entities  Modify > Align – aligns geometry by a vector to
with: vector transformation or by aligning coordinate
systems
• Modify > Color  Modify > Scale ‐ allows scaling about and origin
and three directions of the specified coordinate
• Modify > Transparency
system

Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide 5 ‐ 1
Lesson 5 ‐ Wireframe Geometry
This lesson provides an overview of wireframe geometry creation and editing

Topics
• Workplanes
• Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification
• General Geometry Modification Tools

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 in the Workplane Management dialog box using the
Draw Workplane check box or 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
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.
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 manage these settings.

Wireframe Geometry Creation and Modification Topics
Wireframe Geometry Defaults
Lines
Circles
Arcs
Splines
Wireframe Geometry Modification

Creating Lines – Geometry > Curve > Line Commands
Lines located on the Workplane: Lines located in 3D space:
Project Points Continuous
Horizontal  Points
Vertical Coordinates
Perpendicular Offset
Parallel Vectored
Midline
At Angle
Angle to Curve
Point and Tangent
Tangent
Rectangle

Circles – Geometry > Curve – Circle Commands
Circles are always places on the Workplane
• Radius – two points define the center and a point on the circle.
• Diameter – two points on the circle
define the diameter.
• Center – define the center and the
radius of the circle.
• Two Points – locate two points on the circle and enter the radius.
• Point‐Tangent – locate the center point of the line and a tangent curve.
• Tangent to Curves
• 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.
2D Arcs – Geometry > Curve – Arc Commands
Arcs located on the Workplane
• 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 than180 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..
• Angle‐Center‐Start – locate the center, start point for the arc and the included angle
• Chord‐Center‐Start – locate the center, start point for the arc, and a chord length less than
twice the radius

3D Arcs – Geometry > Curve – Arc Commands
Arcs located in 3D space:
• 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.

2D Splines – Geometry > Curve – Splice Commands
Splines placed on the Workplane via:
• Project Control Points
• Project Points – control points are automatically generated for the spline
Four (4) point Bezier splines are created when using the following commands:
• Ellipse
• Parabola
• Hyperbola

3D Splines – Geometry > Curve – Spline Commands
3D splines are created by:
• Control Points
• Points – control points are automatically generated for the spline
• Equation – spline is created by specifying coefficients of parametric cubic equations.
• Tangents ‐ spline is created by specifying the start and end points of a spline and the tangents
at those points.
• Blend ‐ spline created by blending two curves. A Blend Factor controls the interior shape.
• Midspline – creates a spline by projecting midpoints between two splines
• Offset ‐ uses a point projected onto the Workplane to determine the offset location.
• Multiple Curves ‐ combine a set of contiguous curves into a single curve.

Wireframe Geometry Editing – Modify Commands
• Modify > Trim ‐ trims the intersection 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.
• Modify > Break ‐ splits the selected curve(s) at a point projected from the selected point normal
to the curve.
 Also available in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool.
• 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 > 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.
Lesson 6 ‐ 3D Geometry
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s geometry import, creation and editing tools.
Topics
• Geometry Cleanup
• Geometry Preparation Command
• Surface Geometry Creation and Editing
• Solid Geometry and Editing
• Meshing Toolbox

Geometry Checking with the Geometry > Solid > Cleanup Command
After importing geometry, it is strongly recommended that you check and fix all solid geometry before
attempting to mesh
• The Geometry > Solid > Cleanup command checks the validity of selected solids in your Femap
model file.
Solid Validation and Cleanup dialog box - Validate Geometry Options

• 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 adifferent Solid Geometry Scale Factor than the factor set in
Femap preferences.
 Adjusts the selected solid(s) to the factor set in Femap preferences.
• Remove Redundant Geometry
 Cleans curves imprinted on surfaces and merges surfaces that are part of the underlying original
surface. This is the only option that is enabled when the command is executed.
 Disable this option if you want to maintain splits of surfaces such as surface to surface
intersections or imprinted curves.

Solid Cleanup Dialog Box Options (continued)

• Show Progress Messages
 This option will list messages to the Messages window regarding the progress of the selected
geometry validation and/or geometry cleanup operations. When turned off, only “Beginning
Cleanup of Solid #” and “Cleanup of Solid # is Complete” will be listed for each selected solid.
Advanced Geometry Cleanup Options
These options provide additional options to clean up invalid geometry, including setting of tolerances for
cleanup. The Stitch option is only available when one or more sheet solid(s) are selected for the
cleanup operation.
Clicking the Advanced Cleanup Options button activates the Advanced Cleanup Options dialog box. See
Section 3.4.2.24 of the FEMAP Commands manual for details on these options.
Cleanup of General (Non-manifold) Solid Bodies
When one or more general solid bodies are selected with the Geometry > Solid > Cleanup command,
the Solid Cleanup dialog box is activated. Activating any of the options available in this dialog box
operate in the same manner as as the options available in the Solid Validation and Cleanup dialog box.
Geometry Cleanup and Preparation using the Mesh -> Geometry Preparation Command
Use the Mesh > Geometry Preparation command where geometry cleanup does not work or when you
want to automatically combine complex features.
• Selecting the Sizing Options button will open the surface Meshing Sizing Options dialog box (see
Lesson 12, slide 11‐3).
Boundary Surfaces
Boundary Surfaces are non‐Parasolid surfaces defined by a closed outer boundary.
• Can include multiple closed interior holes in the surface.
• Boundary surfaces do not appear as filled surfaces.
The Geometry > Sketch command creates a Boundary Surface from curves created while the Sketch
dialog box is open.
• Clicking the Finish Sketch button will check for closed boundaries and then creates the boundary
surface.
• Use the Geometry > Surface > Convert command to convert a boundary surface into a Parasolid
surface.
Note: A Sketch command is also available on the Solids toolbar that includes options for extruding or
revolving the sketched boundary.

Boundary Surfaces - Geometry > Boundary Surface Commands
The following commands allow the creation and editing of boundary surfaces:
• From Curves ‐ creates surfaces comprised of a closed set of outer boundary curves. Can include
multiple holes. Curves selected are NOT required to be planar.
• From Surfaces on Solid – converts a contiguous selection of surfaces into a single boundary
surface. Used for combining several small, contiguous, tangent surfaces for meshing.
• Update Surfaces – updates boundary surface(s) to reflect changes to the underlying Parasolid
surfaces that were used in the From Surfaces on Solid command.
• Edit Surfaces – add or remove surfaces from a boundary surface created with the From Surfaces
on Solid command.

Surface Creation – Geometry > Surface Commands
Corners – creates a triangular or rectangular surface patch using 3 or 4 points.
Edge Curves ‐ creates a surface from 3 or 4 curves.
Aligned Curves ‐ lofts a surface through curves.
Ruled – surface between two curves.
Extrude – extrude along a vector.
Revolve – revolved around a vector.
• Sweep – sweep multiple‐curve cross sections along a curve.

Surface Creation – Geometry > Surface Commands (continued)
• Plane – specify the plane orientation, length and width.
• Cylinder – specify the origin, direction of the axis of revolution and height, direction of the start
location (zero angle) at the base of the cylinder, and the radius of the base (and optionally the top
radius to define a cone.
• Sphere – specify a center and axis of rotation, direction of the start location (zero angle) at the
base of the cylinder and the radius of the sphere.
• Offset – specify the positive or negative offset from selected surface(s).
• Convert ‐ 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.
Non-Manifold Surface Commands
The following Geometry > Surface commands are used to create and explode non‐manifold bodies:
• NonManifold Add ‐ 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 ‐ “break” a Parasolid “General Body” created using the NonManifold
Add command into manifold sections.

Extracting Surfaces from Solids
Extract surface(s) from solids using the command Geometry > Surface > Extract
• Extracting surface(s) from a solid volume will convert the original solid from a solid volume to a
sheet body and any extracted surface(s) will be extracted as individual or stitched sheet solids.
Surface Creation from Meshes
Existing 2D elements (plates, laminates, etc.) can be converted into Parasolid surfaces using the
Geometry > Surface > From Mesh command. Options for this command are:
• Delete Mesh ‐ On by default. When on, the original mesh is deleted. When off the mesh is
automatically associated to the newly created surface, curves, and points.
• Wireframe Only ‐ Off by default. When on, creates curves around the border of the selected
elements, then makes a boundary surface from the newly created curves.
• The Surface Tolerance option sets the Parasolid modeling tolerance for the newly created surface.
Making this value larger or smaller may create geometry which better represents the selected mesh.
• Linear Cutoff Length ‐ Off by default. When on, any element edge larger than the specified
tolerance will have a single line created between points created at each end of the edge.

Geometry > Curve – from Surface Commands
The Geometry > Curve ‐ from Surface set of commands are used to imprint curves on surfaces.
• 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 command are standalone curves
• Intersect – select two intersecting surfaces and/or solids.
Geometry > Curve – from Surface Commands - 2
These Geometry > Curve ‐ from Surface set of commands are used to create curves on surfaces:
• Project – project the selected curve(s) normal to the selected 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 directionon 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.

• Offset Curve/Washer ‐ generates curves offset from the selected curves
 The Washer option is used to generate concentric arcs around the selected arc(s)
 Washers can also be created in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool
 Offset Curves are used when the curves to be offset are around non‐planar holes or around
non‐circular interior feature boundaries
 For cases where offsets of non‐planar curves are requested, or where the curves are on a solid
body, 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

• The Pad command generates a square centered at the selected hole.
 You have the option to define the size of the pad by either:
 Factor = Pad Width / (2 X Hole Diameter)
 Offset Distance – distance from the edge of the pad to the side of the hole
 Setup Mapped Meshing sets the mesh sizes around the four surfaces on the pad area for Four
sided Mapped Meshing
 The Add Washer option will create a Washer around the hole with an offset one‐half (1/2) of
the distance between the selected hole and the edge of the pad.
 Three (3) options for aligning the orientation of the pad:
 Auto Align – aligns the first edge of the pad with the U axis of the imprinted surface
 Vector Align
 Tangent Align
 Pads can also be created in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool.
• For the Geometry > Curve from Surface > Point to Point command, select two points on a
surface (First Point for Face Split and Second Point for Face Split). This is similar to the Split at
Locations command, except that the points must exist on the surface. The surface to split is
automatically determined by the two points selected.
 This operation also exists in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool.

• For the Geometry > Curve ‐ From Surface > Point to Edge command , select an existing point on
a surface (Split Point) and curve to project the point to (Split Edge).
• This operation also exists in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool.
• For the Geometry > Curve ‐ From Surface > Edge to Edge command , select an edge (Edge to
Project To) and then the Edge(s) for Point Projection. The resulting curve(s) are normal to the
Edge to Project To.
 This operation also exists in the Meshing Toolbox’s Geometry Editing tool.

Geometry > Solid commands
Solids from Surfaces
• Extrude
• Revolve
Solid Primitives
• Block
• Cylinder
• Cone
• Sphere
• Stitch
• Explode
Editing operations
• Fillet
• Chamfer
• Shell
• Thicken
• Remove Face

Geometry > Solid commands - 2
Boolean operations:
• Add
• Remove
• Common
• Embed
• Intersect
Splitting solids:
• Slice
• Embed Face

Modify > Move By commands
The following commands to allow the transformation of points or curves on solids:
• Modify > Move By > Point – select one or more points on a solid and move the point(s) using one of
the Femap’s Vector Locate methods
• Modify > Move By > Curve – select one or more curves on a solid and move the curve(s) using one
of the Femap’s Vector Locate methods

Meshing Toolbox
The Meshing Toolbox has multiple tools that can be used on geometry with or without a mesh:
• Entity Locator – locate geometry and/or
surfaces that could cause poor meshes
• Feature Suppression – suppress geometry
for meshing purposes
• Feature Removal – permanently remove
curves, surfaces, blends and points from
solids
• Feature Editing – move or rotate surfaces
modify hole diameters, edit blend radii
and offset surfaces
• Geometry Editing – break curves, generate
curves on surfaces, washers and pads,
extend curves, move points and project
curves
• Combined / Composite Curves –
combine curves for meshing
• Combined / Boundary Surfaces –
combine surfaces for meshing
Lesson 7 ‐ Midsurfacing
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
• Midsurface Commands

Midsurfacing
Midsurfacing is the process of extracting the midplane between parallel surfaces in order to reduce the
complexity and solution time.
• For the part shown:
• Solid: 325.149 nodes and 200,725 elements – Solution Time: 2 minutes, 20 seconds
• Shell: 2954 nodes and 2812 elements – Solution Time: 2 seconds
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 both
surfaces.
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.
This command is also available in the
Meshing Toolbox, Geometry Editing,
Extend tool.

Geometry > Midsurface > Automatic command
Automatically generates mid‐surfaces between selected surfaces, trims them to the solid, and cleans up
any surfaces that are determined not to be part of the model
• Use where the part has multiple wall thicknesses or has features that are “branching” or non‐
tangent
• Automatically creates a group called “Midsurface”
Geometry > Midsurface > Automatic command – Midsurface Options
Target Thickness – maximum distance between faces to be considered
in locating surface pairs
Combine Midsurfaces – attempts to create a single non‐manifold body from the resulting mid‐surfaces
Variable Thickness Processing – use to generate a mid‐surface from a pair of non‐parallel faces. Also
works where a body has features with draft.
Geometry > Midsurface > Automatic command – Midsurface Options
Face Pairing Options
These options can be used to generate a more accurate midsurface representation.
• Combine Tangent Surfaces – combines mid‐surfaces into sheet solids where the geometry selected
to create the midsurfaces does not have parallel faces or for sheet metal appliations.
• The Angle Tolerance setting is used to set a tolerance for finding pairs of non‐parallel surfaces.
• If the Midsurface Options, Combine Midsurfaces option is enabled, this option is ignored.
• Reverse Face Pairs – reverses the order that surfaces are paired. Use when high order of curvature
of the surfaces is present.

Geometry > Midsurface > Offset Tanget 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.
• Specify a surface on the solid body to be midsurfaced. Femap 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.

Geometry > Midsurface commands – 2
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 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.

Modifying Midsurface Mesh Thickness and Offsets
In addition to the command, Geometry > Midsurface > Assign Meshing Attributes, Femap v11.2 added
a new command to automatically assign element thickness and offsets to meshes generated on mid‐
surfaces, Modify > Update Elements > Midsurface Thickness and Offset
• Adds element thickness to the element(s) selected and does not modify any Property attributes
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 Student Guide 8‐ 1
Lesson 8 ‐ Materials
This lesson provides an overview of creating and editing materials with Femap.

Topics
• Defining Materials
• Types of materials supported
• “Other” Types of Materials
• Using Functions for Defining Material Properties
• Nonlinear Material Models
• Modifying Materials
• Material Libraries

Defining Materials
Create new materials with the Model > Material
command or right‐click on the Material object in
the Model Info pane
The default material type is Isotropic
• Type values directly into the fields provided; or
• Access a material library by selecting the
Load button in the Define Material dialog box
Materials Support by Femap
Femap supports multiple material types as listed below.
Change the material type by clicking the Type button in the Define Material dialog box
• Isotropic
• Orthotropic (2D or 3D)
• Direction dependent ‐ define in two (2) or three (3) principle directions.
• Anisotropic (2D or 3D)
• Properties specified as a general 3x3 (2‐D) or 6x6 (3‐D) elasticity matrix.
• Hyperelastic
• Input distortional and volumetric
deformations or stress/strain data
• Fluid
• Used to define gases
and fluids
• Other Types
• Materials with attributes
unique to specific solvers

Note: The default material Type changes to the last selected type.
“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.
NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear Materials
Hyperelastic Mooney‐Rivlin
• Hyperelastic Hyperfoam
• Hyperelastic Ogden
• Hyperelastic Arruda‐Boyce
• Gasket Material
• Hyperelastic Sussman‐Bathe
• Shape‐Memory Alloy
• Viscoelastic
• NX Nastran Fluid material
(MAT10)
• Nastran Equivalent Laminate
(Multiple MAT2)

Using Functions for Defining Materials
Femap supports the definition of materials that vary according to the list below:
• Temperature
• Stress
• Strain
• Frequency
These variances are defined using Functions.
Create a function with the command,
Model > Function. You can also right‐click the
Function object in the Model Info pane, or,
click the Function button in the
Define Material dialog box.
Materials that allow the use of Functions are:
• Isotropic
• Orthotropic (2D and 3D)
• Anisotropic (2D and 3D)
• Fluids

Function Definition Dialog Box
The Define Function dialog box has a pull‐down to select the Type of function. For materials, you should
select one of the following:
• Temperature dependent material: 2..vs. Temperature
• Frequency dependent material: 3..vs. Frequency
• Strain vs. Stress: 4..vs. Stress
• Stress vs. Strain: 13..Stress vs. Strain
The Data Entry field of this dialog box has multiple options for defining functions
Use the Paste from Clipboard option to take data from a spreadsheet and copy it into your Femap
function.

Assigning a Function to a Material Attribute
When a Function is being used to assign material attributes, there are two options for selecting the
function:
• In the field that you are using a function, enter a scalar multiplier of the selected function (in most
cases a value of 1), and then with the cursor still in that field, press the Ctrl+f hotkey. This will
activate the Select Function dialog box.
• The second option is to click the Function References tab and the select the function that applies for
that field. Again, you will need to enter a scalar multiplier for that material attribute under the
General tab.

Nonlinear Material Models
The following table lists the materials that can be defined as nonlinear and the type of nonlinearity:
Material Type Nonlinear Elastic Elasto‐Plastic Plastic
Isotropic   
Orthotropic 2D,
 
Orthotropic 3D
Anisotropic 2D,
 
Anisotropic 3D
To assign the type of material nonlinearity and the attribute for the nonlinearity, select the Nonlinear
tab in the Define Material dialog box and then select the Nonlinearity Type.

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:
• Click the Select from List icon ( ) in the Entity Selection dialog box, or:
In the Model Info pane – select the material(s) to be edited, right‐click and then, select Edit from the
menu.
• 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 the Femap model view(s).

Material Libraries
Femap has the ability to store and retrieve materials in a materials library. In the Femap main
installation folder, there are four extended material database files that can be used:
• material.esp: small library of metals in English units
• mat_eng_in‐lbf‐psi‐degF‐BTU.esp: extensive metal alloys library in English units
• mat_eng_mm‐N‐tonne‐degC‐Watts.esp: extensive metal alloys library in metric (mm) units, material
density in Tonne/mm3
• mat_eng_SI.esp: extensive metal alloys library in SI units
To load a material from a materials library, click the Load button in the Define Material dialog box.
To store a new or modified material to a library, click the Save button in the Define Material dialog box.
• Saving a material does not over‐write an existing material
Note: Since libraries can be deleted during the uninstallation of Femap or replaced when performing a
repair of a Femap installation, any customization of material libraries should be accomplished by
copying library(s) to a location other than the Femap installation folders and regularly backed
up.
Lesson 9 ‐ Properties
This lesson provides an overview of Properties.

Topics
• Element Types
• Defining Properties
• Modifying Properties

Properties
A Property defines the element shape (type) and associated material. Properties define additional
analysis information for each element type, and are controlled by the element type.
Create new properties with the Model ‐> Property command or in the Model Info pane, right‐click on
the Property object and select New.
Element Property Types – Line Elements
The default Femap property for a new Femap model or session is the Plate element.
• Change the type by clicking the Elem/Property Type button in the Define Property dialog box.
Selecting a different element/property type makes that type the default property type for any new
properties created in a Femap session
Femap supports the following Line (1D) element types:
• Rod
• Tube
• Curved Tube
• Bar
• Beam
• Link
• Curved Beam
• Spring Damper
• DOF Spring
• Gap
• Plot Only
Element Property Types – Plane Elements
Femap supports the following Plane (2D) element types:
• Shear Panel
• Membrane
• Bending Only
• Plate
• Laminate
• Plane Strain
• Axisymmetric Shell
• Plot Only

Element Property Types – Volume and Other Element Types
Femap supports the following Volume (3D) element types:
• Axisymmetric
• Solid
• Solid Laminate
Other Elements
• Mass
• Mass Matrix
• Spring/Damper to Ground
• DOF Spring to Ground
• Rigid
• General Matrix
• Slide Line
• Weld/Fastener

Element Property Options
The Element / Property Type dialog box has three (3) option settings:
• Parabolic Elements ‐ when active, any meshing
command will automatically generate Parabolic
elements (elements with a mid‐side node).
• Not available for all element types.
• Element Material Orientation – sets the default
material angle for Plane and Volume elements only.
• Formulation – sets the default Formulation option for different types of elements, such as reduce
integration, etc.
• Varies by element type and solver.

Modify > Update Element Commands
The Modify > Update Elements command set has multiple tools to modify existing elements. These
commands are organized by element type and will be described in greater detail in this lesson and in the
lessons on meshing.

 Reassign Element Properties
and Materials
 Line Element settings
 Plane Element settings
 Element Order / Midside Nodes
 Modify Rigid Elements
Modify > Update Elements Commands for Modifying Element Properties
The following set of commands can be used on any element type. Other commands in this set will be
described in the lessons on meshing.
• 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 Plane Strain element to a CPLSTNx or CPLSTSx formulation
• 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.
Lesson 10 ‐ Meshing Overview
This lesson provides an overview of the tools available in Femap to control and generate meshes.
Details on curve, surface and solid meshing will follow in subsequent lessons.

Topics
• Recommended Geometry Meshing Workflows
• Geometry Meshing
• Manual Meshing
• Mesh Display
• Mesh Editing
• Coordinate Systems
• Associating Geometry with Meshes
Recommended Geometry Meshing Workflows
Generally, when meshing geometry, an approach of setting mesh sizes on overall geometry first, then
setting individual mesh sizing on sub‐entities (i.e., a curve on a surface) is the most efficient approach.

Break curves as needed
Set the mesh size on the curves
Curves
Assign curve mesh attributes
Mesh the curve(s)
Clean Geometry
Edit Geometry (create curves on surfaces, break curves, and/or remove or suppress
features)
Surfaces Create any needed Mesh Points on Surfaces
Assign surface Attributes
Set the mesh sizing on the surface(s), then on the curve(s) as needed
Mesh the surface(s)
Clean geometry
Edit geometry (create curves on surfaces, break curves, and/or remove or suppress
feature) – for hex meshing, slice solids into solids that can be hex meshed
Solids Assign solid attributes
Set the mesh sizing on the solid(s), then on surface(s) as needed, then on the curve(s)
as needed
Mesh the solid(s)

Geometry Meshing
Geometry meshing in Femap can be accomplished with the Mesh command set. These operations will
be covered in detail in subsequent lessons on meshing curves, surfaces and solids.

Manual Meshing
Creation of Individual Nodes and Elements
• Individual nodes can be created with the Model > Node command.
• Individual elements can be created with the Model > Element command.
Manual Meshing Command Set
The Mesh command set is used for manual creation of meshes.
• Use the Between command to create a mesh from
existing nodes or coordinate locations
• The Region command creates a mesh between a pair of
an equal number of nodes
• Connect creates a line element mesh between two (2)
sets of selected nodes. This command set will be
described in greater detail in Lesson 11.
• Transition creates a free planar mesh between three (3)
or four (4) existing nodes or coordinates
• The Copy, Radial Copy, Scale, Rotate and Reflect
commands require an existing mesh
• Extrude, Revolve and Sweep uses curves, elements or element faces to generate a line, plane or
solid mesh

Mesh Display – View Settings for Meshes
The View Options command (F6 hotkey) has multiple options for display of nodes and elements.
• Element color can be displayed by the element entity color, material color or property color. This
option is also available under the View Style pulldown menu on the View Simple or View toolbar.
Manual Mesh Editing
The Mesh command set allows manual editing of elements.
Mesh > Editing > Interactive Command
The Mesh > Editing > Interactive command allows the splitting of individual triangular and quadrilateral
elements using one of the splitting options shown below.
• The On Surface option maintains associativity with an underlying surface for new elements.
• Merge option will automatically merge nodes with adjacent elements.
• Undo edits while in the command.

The Mesh > Editing > Split Command.
• The Mesh > Editing > Split command splits elements along the selected element’s first edge.
• Merge option will automatically merge nodes with adjacent elements.
• The On Surface option maintains associativity with an underlying surface for new elements.
The Mesh > Editing > Split Edge Command
Select two (2) adjacent nodes on a line, quadrilateral surface, or solid hex element and specify the
number of new elements to add between the two nodes. Specify:
• The Number of Splits
• A Bias Type and when a bias is selected, the location of the Small Elements
The Mesh > Editing > Element Refine Command
Femap v11.3 added the Mesh > Editing > Element Refine command for splitting quad elements with
automatic transitioning to the adjacent mesh. A preview of the edit(s) is displayed before confirming
with the OK button. Line elements sharing nodes on the element(s) selected are also split.
• Select one of the two (2) Pattern options, split a quad into four (4) or nine (9) elements.
• Setting the option to Remove will remove selected refinements performed during the execution of
this command.
• Area Drag allows dragging of the mouse over the elements to be refined.
• Selecting the Split Edges option splits the edge of the element closest to the cursor instead of
refining the element.
• After one or more elements have been selected, you have the option to increase the refinement by
one (1) layer of adjacent elements with the Grow Refinement( ) icon. Similarly, you can
remove a layer of refinement with the Shrink Refinement ( ) icon.
• Clicking the Direction Edge Split option icon ( ) prompts you to select the elements you want to
split and the direction of splitting.
• The Select Elements icon ( ) allows selection of multiple elements to refine as opposed to
selecting one element at a time.
• The Clear Refinement icon ( ) clears all edits. Essentially, this works as an Undo operation
within the command while keeping the dialog box open.

Mesh > Editing > Rigid Connectivity Command
The Mesh > Editing > Rigid Connectivity command allows you to interactively add or remove dependent
nodes from a Rigid element. This command is described in more detail on slide 11‐22.
Mesh > Remesh Commands
The Mesh > Remesh commands are used to:
• Refine an existing planar mesh using a boundary defined by nodes to a higher density mesh
• Update is used to clean up an existing planar mesh area
• Unrefine coarsens an existing planar mesh
• Convert Facets converts surface facets to triangular elements
• Cleanup Slivers allows removal of small features from a mesh
• Edge Removal deletes elements from the boundary of a mesh by selecting free edges of an element
• Build Remeshing Regions takes the faces of planar elements and builds remeshing groups within a
user‐specified angular tolerance
• Edit Remeshing Regions and Mesh Remeshing Regions rely on the regions defined by the Mesh >
Remesh > Build Remeshing Regions command
• Mesh Remeshing Regions meshes the regions identified by the Build Remeshing Regions and Edit
Remeshing Regions commands with the FEMAP boundary mesher and a user‐specified mesh size.

Additional Mesh Editing Commands
The Mesh > Edge Members command creates line elements along the free edges of selected planar
elements, or planar elements on the free faces of solid elements. Provides a convenient way for framing
plate or beam structures with beam or other line elements, and for paving the surface of solid structures
with plates or membranes.
Mesh > Smooth is used to improve the quality of elements by adjusting corner nodes on the selected
elements.

Mesh Editing Commands with the Modify > Edit Command Set
Additional mesh editing tools are available under the Modify command set:
• Project repositions nodes or a mesh unto a surface, plane, curve or vector
• Move To repositions all selected nodes to a single, specified coordinate location
• Move By, Rotate To, Rotate By, Align and Scale modifies the position of nodes or elements
• Edit > Node modifies the color and/or location of selected nodes, one node at a time
• Edit > Element modifies the color, property and/or nodes on selected elements, one element at a
time
• Note: Additional interactive mesh modification tools are available in the Meshing Toolbox that
will be described in detail in Lesson 14.

Coordinate Systems
A Femap model file may contain user‐defined coordinate systems (Csys), Rectangular, Cylindrical or
Spherical. Csys’ are used for loads, constraints and material direction.
• All Femap model files have these three (3) types of coordinate systems located at the model’s origin
and aligned with the model’s X, Y and Z axis
• Coordinate systems may be nested, i.e. a coordinate system can be defined in reference to another
coordinate system
• When creating geometry, node(s), element(s), load(s) or constraint(s) will automatically reference
the active Csys.
To create a new coordinate system, use the Model > Coord Sys command or right‐click on the
Coordinate Systems object in the Model Info pane and select New from the menu
• Commands also exist to Edit, Move or Rotate a Csys

Associating Geometry with Meshes
In many cases, such as the import of meshes from analysis input decks, you may want to associate the
nodes and elements with geometry. The Femap command set, Modify > Associativity associates or
disassociates nodes and elements to or from geometry.
• The Modify > Associativity > Automatic command uses a selected set of elements to associate to
one or more selected solids.
• The Modify > Associativity > Node and Modify > Associativity > Element commands allows you to
Detach From or Attach To selected geometry entities.
Lesson 11 ‐ Line Element Meshing
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s tools generating 1D or line elements such as Beam, Rod,
and Rigid elements
Topics
• Mesh Controls and Mesh Commands for Line Element Meshing
• Beam and Bar Elements
• View Setting for Line Elements
• Editing Curve Meshes
• Rigid Element Connections
• Mesh > Connect Commands
• Merging Coincident Nodes


Mesh Controls for Line Element Meshing
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.
Mesh > Mesh Control > sizing commands
• Size At Point, used to specify the size along any curve(s) that references the point without mesh
sizing applied.
Size Along Curve, specifies the element size, or number of elements to be placed, and how they
will be spaced along the curve

Mesh Controls for Line Element Meshing – 2
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 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
The Mesh > Mesh Control > Custom Size Along Curve command can be used to place nodes at specific
locations along curves, match mesh locations on a set of selected curve(s) or match an existing set of
nodes. An example follows.
Mesh > Control > Attributes Along Curve is used to assign a 1D property (rod, beam, etc.) to the
selected curve(s).
• When the selected property type requires additional input such as orientation and offset, you are
prompted to assign those attributes
Note: Interactive sizing with re‐meshing is available in the Meshing Toolbox under the Mesh Sizing
toolset

Example – Mesh > Mesh Control > Custom Size along Curve
The lower curve (Curve ID = 5) is desired to match the mesh size on the top three (3) curves.
Step 1: Select the command, Mesh > Mesh Control > Custom Size along Curve
Step 2: Select the lower curve as the curve to set the custom size along
Step 3: Click the Match button in the Custom Mesh Spacing Along Curves dialog box

Example – Mesh > Mesh Control > Custom Size along Curve – 2
Step 4: Select the top three (3) curves to match mesh locations to.
Step 5: Confirm the sizing in the Custom Mesh Spacing Along Curves dialog box. The parameter spacing
value for each element is show in the dialog box.


Example – Mesh > Mesh Control > Custom Size along Curve – 3
The resultant mesh size indicators are shown on the lower curve as seen below after meshing. The
arrows have been added for pictorial purposes to indicate matching node locations.
Note: If the curve selected for mesh sizing extends beyond the projected mesh locations the total
number of elements on the curve may exceed the sum of the elements on the selected curves
selected for mesh size matching. Conversely, if the location of projected mesh locations extends
beyond the extends of the curve selected for mesh sizing, the total number of elements on the
curve may be less then the sum of the number of elements selected for mesh size matching.


Meshing Line Elements
For automatic meshing of line elements, use the command Mesh > Geometry > Curves • Pre‐assign the
element property, orientation and offset to the curve(s) before meshing with Mesh > Mesh Control >
Attributes Along Curve
For manual meshing, the following commands can also be used:
• Mesh > Between
• Mesh > Region
• Mesh > Connect – useful for adding beam, rod, bar and spring element connections to an existing
mesh
• An existing set of from and to nodes are required for this command


Beam and Bar Coordinate System
Bar and Beam elements have a local or element 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 the end of the Beam
• Y and Z axes are determined by the beam's orientation vector.
• FEMAP prompts for an orientation vector when creating beam elements. o This vector is used to
align the beam or bar property's Y‐axis with the element's Y‐axis.

Beam and Bar Properties
For Elem/Property Type Bar, Beam, or Curved Beam
• Enter values directly; or
• Use the Shape button to enter cross‐sectional data


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 specify the Stress Recovery locations. Use the arrow
buttons to locate these points.
• The Reference Point can be used to set the mesh location and when used, Femap will automatically
calculate offsets from the beams shear center.
• Choose General Section under Shape to select any planar surface as the cross section of a beam.
• Beam properties will be automatically calculated after clicking OK.


Beam Orientation and Offsets
By default the shear center of the beam is located at the nodes.
Offsets and orientation vectors can be preset via the Mesh > Mesh Control > Attributes on Curve
command whose dialog box is shown below.
For Beam elements, Offset is from the shear center unless the option to Compute Shear Center Offset is
turned off when creating the Beam property.
• 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 of the
selected beam elements.
For elements with Bar properties, offset is from the node to the C.G. of the bar section.
You can also change the offset by setting and using the location of a Reference Point.


View Settings for Line Elements
Femap’s View Options (View > Options command or the F6 hotkey) has settings to help in displaying line
element directions, orientations and cross sections.
• Element ‐ Directions – a direction arrow shows the start and end of line elements
• Element – Offsets/Releases – toggle display of line elements offsets and releases
• Element – Orientation/Shape – toggle display of line element orientations and shapes
• With this option, you can also toggle on display of beam and bar Y‐Axis
• Element – Beam Y‐Axis – toggle display of beam and bar element Y‐Axis
1: The View Style pulldown menu on the View toolbar has icons for these view options. The
Orientation icon ( ) toggles the display of direction and orientation.

Modifying Line Elements with the Modify > Update Elements > Command Set
Line Element Orientation – update beam/bar element orientations
Line Element Offsets – update beam/bar element offsets
Line Element Reverse Direction– reverse element connectivity (swaps A and B nodes).
Beam/Bar Releases – update beam/bar element end releases relative to the element CSys
Beam Warping – update beam warping as defined using NASTRAN SPOINTs
Remove Cross Section – removes beam/bar element section shape display while retaining
properties
Linear/Parabolic Order – adds or removes mid‐side nodes to or removes mid‐side nodes on line
elements that can have a parabolic definition


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 nodes only.
• If Solid/Shell, Solid/Beam, and Beam/Shell connections are not defined correctly, you will get a NX
Nastran FATAL MESSAGE 9137 – SEKKRS (under‐constrained model).
Rigid Elements can be used to transmit rotations between Solids and Shells and Solids and Beams by
coupling the nodal rotations on the plate/beam elements to the nodal translations.
• You must attach at least two nodes on solid elements to every node on a line or planar element.
Note: Do not use mid‐side nodes on Rigid elements.

RBE 2 vs. RBE3 Rigid Elements
Rigid
Element Reference Following Adds
Type Use Node Node(s) Stiffness ?
Rigidly connect specified
DOFs (eliminate relative
RBE2 Independent Dependent Yes
motion between
connected nodes)
Transmit mass, loads,
RBE3 velocity, and/or Dependent Independent No
acceleration


Modifying Rigid Element Connectivity
The Mesh > Editing > Rigid Connectivity command allows you to interactively add or remove dependent
nodes from a Rigid element.
• Click on a dependent node to add or remove the node from the selected rigid element as shown
below.

Rigid Element Dialog Box
The Define RIGID Element dialog box has three (3) tabs to select the type of RBE element
RBE1 tab – see slide 11‐21
• RBE2 tab
• Press the Single RBE2 button where only one (1) Dependent node is used to define the RBE2
• The Convert button can be used to convert a RBE2 element to a RBE3 element – see slide 11‐20
• RBE3 – see slide 11‐18
For RBE2 and RBE3 elements, you can assign a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) directly or by
clicking the Material button
• If a temperature difference (deltaT) exists between the Independent and Dependent nodes exists,
Nastran uses deltaT to compute a displacement between the two nodes

RBE3 Rigid Elements
Use a RBE3 Rigid Element to transmit masses, loads, and rigid body motion (velocity, acceleration)
without adding rigidity to the model.
• To create a RBE3 rigid element, click the RBE3 (Interpolation) tab in the Define RIGID Element dialog
box.
• Generally, you should only specify the use of translational DOFs for the Independent nodes on RBE3
elements.

RBE3 Rigid Element Interpolation Factor
For RBE3 elements, the Independent (Nodes to Average) Factor is analogous to the area factor in a
traditional bolt pattern analysis. You can adjust the Interpolation factor for RBE3 elements using the
following steps;
1) In the Define RIGID Element dialog box, select the Independent 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 Dependent (Reference) Node relative to all the other nodes selected in Step 1.

Converting Rigid Element Types
RBE2 elements can be converted to RBE3 elements by editing the rigid element(s) and clicking the
Convert button in the Define Rigid Element dialog box
When an RBE2 element is converted, you are prompted for Ok to Convert only Translation
Degrees of Freedom. As a general practice, you should click OK.

RBE1 Rigid Elements
RBE1 elements allow the import of Nastran models that were created before RBE2 and RBE3
elements were available.
• The RBE1 rigid element has the restriction that the total number of Independent DOFs must equal
six (6).
• RBE1 rigid elements may also have more than one (1) Independent node.

Connecting Coincident Meshes with Mesh > Connect > Command Set
The Mesh > Connect > Closest Link command set allows rapid generation of connections between pairs
of nodes:
• Closest Link – generates Constraint Equations, Rigid, or Line elements by locating node pairs in the
closest proximity among the selected From / To nodes.
• The number of From nodes selected should always be greater than or equal to the number of To
nodes selected.
• Multiple – create elements of the selected type by manually selecting pairs of nodes.
• Unzip – disconnects the mesh between selected nodes and optionally reconnect using rigid, spring,
or gap elements.
• Coincident Link – similar to the Tools ‐> Check ‐> Coincident Node command, except that you create
a element connection instead of merging nodes.


Merging Coincident Nodes
In many cases, you may need to merge nodes at the same location or within a specified tolerance.
Femap has the command, Tools > Check > Coincident Nodes.
After selecting the nodes, you specify:
• Checking Tolerance
• Action – select one of the following:
• Keep ID ‐ when one of the Merge options is selected, you indicate which node is to kept after
merging:
• Safe Merge ‐ prevent distorted elements
• Move To – indicate the location of the merged node(s):
• Make Groups – create groups of the nodes within the Tolerance.
• Merge Across Connections – when nodes are included in Contact Connections, ignore the
connections and merge the nodes.

Lesson 12 ‐ Surface Meshing
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s tools for creating planar element meshes using surface
geometry. Editing of surface meshes will be covered in Lesson 11, The Meshing Toolbox.
Topics
• Mesh Controls for Plane Element Meshing
• Surface Mesh Size Settings in the Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box
• View Settings for Planar Elements
• Modifying Thickness and Offsets of Planar Elements

Mesh Controls for Surface Meshing
Femap has many tools to set up planar meshes within the Mesh > Control > … command set. These
commands will be described in detail in this lesson.
• Size on Surface
• Mapped Divisions on Surface
• Mesh Points on Surface
• Attributes on Surface
• Approach on Surface
• Feature Suppression

Setting Mesh Sizing on Surfaces
Executing the Mesh > Mesh Control > Size On Surface command opens the Automatic Mesh Sizing
dialog box after selecting the surface(s) to set mesh size on. The options for this dialog box are
described in detail below and in subsequent slides:
• Set the Element Size on the boundaries of the selected surface(s). Use the size recommended by
Femap or a user‐specified value. Refer to the next slide on how Femap determines a recommended
mesh size.
• Selecting the Replace Mesh Size on All Curves option overrides previously set mesh sizes on curves.
• Min Elements on Edge sets the number of elements on curves whose length is less then the Element
Size setting.

Default Element Size for Surfaces and Solids
For both solids and surfaces, Femap provides a recommended Element Size by dividing the average
length of the curves on the selected surface(s) or solid(s) by 6. Note how the recommend element size
is decreasing when several boundary curves are included in the surface(s) selected, even though the
total area to be meshed is the same.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Option – 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 still be less than or
equal to the Element Size.
• For an arc, the angle from the center of the arc to the ends of adjacent nodes on the arc’s boundary
will be twice (2X) the value of the Max Angle Tolerance.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – Max Elem on Small Feature
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.
• When enabled, Max Size of Small Feature will override all other settings for surface meshing on
interior boundaries.
• The size of a feature is calculated by taking of the perimeter length of the interior boundary on that
feature divided by pi.
• The default value of this option is equal to the value of the Element Size.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – 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.
• Value can be from 1.01 to 9.99e30 – default value is 3.0.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – Suppress Short Edges and Mapped
Meshing Refinement
Suppress Short Edges suppresses any edge on the selected solid(s) or surface(s) that has a length less
than or equal to the specified percentage of the Element Size.
• Suppressing short edges on certain solids or surfaces may cause meshing to fail. While not common,
an error stating you have a "hole" in the mesh will inform you of this situation.
The Mapped Meshing Refinement option attempts to refine the mesh for 3 or 4‐sided surfaces.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – Sizing Type: Parameter / Length Based
Mesh Sizing
Femap, by default, uses Parameter/Length mesh sizing unless overridden by the Femap Preferences
dialog box set under the Geometry/Model tab’s Meshing and Properties group.
• This first sizes all curves using parameter‐based sizing, then determines an average distance
between each of the mesh locations on each curve. If the distance between any of the mesh
locations is more than 1% different than the "average distance", then that curve is resized using
length‐based 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:

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – Growth Factor and Curvature Based Mesh
Refinement
The Surface Interior Mesh Growth, Growth Factor option allows the size of elements to grow in size
from surface boundaries as a factor of the Element Size.
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.


Mesh > Mesh Control Commands - Mapped Divisions on Surface and Mesh Points on
Surface
The Mesh > Mesh Control > Mapped Divisions on Surface commands sets the mesh size on surfaces
bounded by three (3) or four (4) edges.
• Interior boundaries not allowed.
Mesh > Mesh Control > Mesh Points on Surface allows the designation of existing points or nodes or
the creation of points to force the location of nodes when the surface is meshed.

Mesh > Mesh Control > Attributes On Surface Command
The Mesh > Mesh Control > Attributes On Surface command is 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.


Mesh > Mesh Control > Approach On Surface Command
The Mesh > Mesh Control > Approach on Surface command is 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 5.1.2.15 in the Femap Commands Manual.
• Femap primarily uses the Free‐Parametric approach for meshing.
• Femap will automatically assign the corner points when the Mapped – Four Corner option is
selected and no points are selected.

Mesh > Mesh Control > Approach On Surface: Mapped – Three Corner Options

Edge and Feature Suppression
Use the command, Mesh > Mesh Control > Feature Suppression, to automatically or manually suppress
curves on surfaces and features on solids.
• Removing Loops works on surfaces and solids
• Interactive feature suppression is also available in the Meshing Toolbox under the Feature
Suppression toolset.

Mesh > Geometry > Surfaces Command
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.


Expanded Automesh Surfaces Dialog Box Options
Mesher – Triangle or Quad Element 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 Options on or off.
• Map Subdivisions attempts to internally subdivide surfaces into mapped regions.


Expanded Automesh Surfaces Dialog Box Options – 2
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. When a value is entered, it
will override the previously set Mesh Attribute value.

Expanded Automesh Surfaces Dialog Box Options – 3
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 than the specified number of nodes into smaller
pieces for meshing.

Quad Edge Layer Option for Quad Meshing of Surfaces
Use the Quad Edge Layer option to set the “depth” of quad elements around features.


View Settings for Planar Elements
Femap’s View Options (View > Options command or the F6 hotkey) has settings to help in displaying
planar element attributes.
• Element Direction
• Element – Offsets/Releases
• Element – Coordinate System
• Element – Material Direction
In addition, the View Style pull‐down menu on the
View toolbars have shortcuts to toggle planar element
display settings on and off:
• Offsets
• Orientation
• Thickness/Cross Section

Modifying Planar Element Thickness and/or Offsets
Use the command, Modify > Update Elements > Adjust Plate Thickness/Offset to adjust planar element
thickness and/or offsets.

Modifying Planar Element Thickness – Update Plate Thickness or Offset Dialog Box
Modify the Thickness of selected elements, including creating and/or modifying variable thickness shells
with the option to either:
• Update Element Thickness values on Nastran Bulk Data entries.
• Should not be used for models used for non‐Nastran analyses.
• OR, Update Property Thickness – new Properties are automatically generated leaving the original
Property unmodified.
• Use the option, Reset Element Thickness to reset element thickness to their original Property
thickness(es) – does not apply to elements that have new a new Property assigned.


Modifying Planar Element Offset(s) - Update Plate Thickness or Offset Dialog Box
Update the Offsets of selected elements, including creating and/or modifying variable offsets.
• Options to adjust the offset for the top face (Top At Nodes) or the bottom face (Bottom At Nodes)
of plate elements.
Use the option, Reset Element Offsets to remove Element Offsets.


Modifying Midsurface Mesh Thickness and Offsets
In addition to the command, Geometry > Midsurface > Assign Meshing Attributes, Femap has a
command to automatically assign element thickness and offsets to meshes generated on mid‐surfaces,
Modify > Update Elements > Midsurface Thickness and Offset.
• Applying this command modifies the corner thickness entries in the Nastran Bulk Data File element
cards and may not apply for other solvers.

Welded Connections Between Plate Elements
Femap supports Weld Properties and Elements:
• Used for connecting Plate elements only.
• 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.
• Fastener allows direct input of stiffness matrix for weld properties
• The Weld Type ‐ refer to page 4‐12 of the Femap Commands manual for descriptions
• The Weld Location defines the orientation of the weld defined by either:
• Projection method
• Axis method


Lesson 13 ‐ Solids Meshing
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s tools for solids meshing
Topics
• Mesh > Geometry Preparation command
• Mesh Controls for Solid Element Meshing
• Solid Mesh Size Settings in the Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box
• Semi‐automatic Hex Meshing
• Associating Meshes with Geometry


Meshing Complex Solids with the Command, Mesh > Geometry Preparation
When solid geometry is used for meshing that includes flaws such as slivers or has complex topology
such as narrow regions or small feature angles, the command, Mesh > Geometry Preparation, can be
used to prepare a solid for meshing and help eliminate manual editing of geometry.
• By default, the command goes through two steps, Prepare Geometry and Mesh Sizing. The value for
size shown for both these options is the “Default Mesh Size” calculated by Femap as described in
Lesson 9, Surface Meshing.

Boundary Surface from Surface on Solid
The command, Geometry > Boundary Surface > From Surfaces on Solid takes the selected surfaces, and
uses the enclosing outer curves to form a regular boundary surface.
• The surfaces must be stitched into a 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.

Mesh Controls for Solid Element Meshing
Femap has tools to set up solid meshes within the Mesh > Control > … command set. These commands
will be described in detail in this lesson:
• Size on Solid
• Attributes on Solid
In addition, these surface meshing commands can be applied to solids as well. Refer to Lesson 11,
Surface Meshing for details on these commands.
• Mapped Divisions on Surface
• Mesh Points on Surface
• Approach on Surface


Setting Mesh Sizing on Solids
Executing the Mesh > Mesh Control > Size On Solid command opens the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog
box after selecting the solids(s) to set mesh size on. Mesh sizing options for solids are similar to those
for surfaces, except for the following options:
• Specify sizing for Tet Meshing or Hex Meshing
• When Hex Meshing is selected, additional checks are run on the solid(s) selected to confirm that
they can be automatically meshed with hex or wedge elements.
• Auto Boundary Small Surface
• Assembly / Multi‐Solid Sizing
All other options are described in detail in Lesson 12, Surface Meshing in slides 12‐3 through 12‐10.

Automatic Mesh Sizing Dialog Box Options – Auto Boundary Small Surf and Assembly /
Multi-Body Sizing
Auto Boundary Small Surf attempts to combine any surface on a
solid that has an area less than or equal to the specified percentage
of the Element Size squared with an adjacent surface that is
tangent or nearly tangent to the small surface.
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.
• Skip Sizing on Slaved Surfaces – skip mesh sizing on surfaces that are slaved to another surface.


Solid Element Meshing Commands
Mesh > Geometry > Volume ‐ creates nodes and elements in a selected set of volumes. This command
is only available when Femap’s geometry engine is set to Standard, which disables all Parasolid
geometry options.
• Since this command uses a mapped meshing technique, the number of nodes/elements along
opposite faces of 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 – converts planar elements that enclose a volume into a solid
element mesh

Automesh Solids Dialog Box
When applying the command, Mesh > Geometry > Solids, the Automesh Solids dialog box is activated.
With this dialog box, you can specify the following options:
• Surface Mesh Only
• Allow Mapped Meshing
• Toggle Midside Nodes
• Update Mesh Sizing – activates
the Automatic Mesh Sizing
dialog box for solids
• Multiple Tet thru Thickness
attempts to place at two (2) to ten (10) elements thickness throughout the solid. The Mesh Size
should be set to a reasonable mesh size to allow this – i.e. Not greater than twice (2x) the minimum
wall thickness in the solid.
• Tet Sliver Removal – on by default, attempts to remove any “sliver” element with less than a five (5)
degree interior angle near a boundary.

Automesh Solids Dialog Box - 2
Merge Nodes
• By default this option is set to 0..Off
• 1..New Nodes only
• 2..All Nodes
Tet Optimization – sets a value for balancing meshing speed vs. mesh quality.
Higher numbers result in higher quality meshes.
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 result in
denser meshes.
Options – activates the Solid Automeshing Options dialog box as shown below.

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 > Embed Face
Meshing the Solids
• Use Mesh Control to set the size and link the adjacent surface.
• Then apply the command, 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.

Lesson 14 ‐ The Meshing Toolbox
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 Removal
• Feature Editing
• Geometry Editing
• Combined / Composite Curves
• Combined / Boundary Surfaces
• Mesh Sizing
• Mesh Surface
• Mesh Locate
• Mesh Quality

Meshing Toolbox Controls
Similar to other FEMAP panes, the Meshing Toolbox can be turned on and off from the Tools menu or
the Panes toolbar. The Meshing Toolbox’s toolbar controls:
• Toolbox Visibility – toggle Meshing Toolbox tools

• Toggle Entity Locator – toggle the Entity Locator
tool
• Surface Mesh Quality – toggle display of surface
mesh quality
• Automesh / Remesh Control – select automatic
remeshing, tracking mesh updates or manual
meshing after making an update in one of the
Meshing Toolbox controls
• Select / Dialog Select icons – select a single entity or multiple entities using a Select dialog
box

Meshing Toolbox – Entity Locator
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
• Elements
You can also select whether to locate the entity in
the Entire Model and/or:
• Only In a selected Group
• Not In a selected Group

Entity Locator for Curves
When Curves are selected the Search Method can be set to search for:
• Short Edges
• Based On
• Global Mesh Size
• Curve Length
• Shortest Curves
• Free Edges
• MultiSurface Edges – curves that share a common
edge with two (2) or more surfaces in a single
solid body.
• Adjacent Edges – curves within a specified
tolerance on adjacent solid bodies.
• NonManifold Edges


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
• Surfaces With Poles – surfaces of revolution that
where an edge or vertex of the solid is coincident
with the axis of revolution


Entity Locator for Elements
When Elements are selected the Search Method can be set to search for:
• Free Edges
• Quality
• Specify the Max Allowable Value for the
selected Quality Type
• Edge Length
• Specify the Edge Length. Femap searches for
elements with edge length(s) less than or
equal to the specified value.


Entity Locator – Toggle Entity Locator Menu
The Toggle Entity Locator menu is used to cycle through objects located through the Locator control.
• Next – find the next object located.
• Previous – find the previous object located.
• Current – find the current object located.
• First – find the first object located by the Locator.
• Last – find the last object located by the Locator.
Show Options can be used to rotate and/or zoom closer to the objects found using one of these
operations:

Entity Locator – Toggle Entity Locator Menu - 2
These operations will remove or clear objects found by the Entity Locator:
• 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.
• Remove ‐ deletes the current entity from the list of located entities.
• Clear Locator – clears the list of entities found by the Locator.
Entities located can also be used to:
• Create Group – creates a new group of entities found by the locator.
• Add to Data Table – the Data Table must be opened and unlocked.


Meshing Toolbox – Feature Suppression
Feature Suppression controls allow you to interactively suppress or remove suppression of one of the
following Feature Types
• 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 be used on sheet bodies.


Feature Suppression - 2
The Action menu toggles the action on a selected object to :
• Toggle Suppression – if a entity is unsuppressed, suppress it. If it is suppressed, restore it.
• Suppress or Restore
Limit Size limits selection of entities that have their length equal to or less than the specified Smaller
Than value.
Update Colors ‐ set options to toggle and colors for suppressed entities.
Show Suppressed ‐ allows you to highlight suppressed Curves or Surfaces
Restore All features in either selected solid(s) with the In Solids button or In Model


Meshing Toolbox – Feature Removal
Feature Removal differs from Feature Suppression in that the underlying topology is modified.
• Loops – includes an option to set the Limit Size for selecting loops.
• Add Surface Mesh Point ‐ adds a Mesh Point on the top Surface at the centroid of the loop.
• Curves –includes an option for Aggressive Removal.
• The Combine Surfaces option allows removal of interior or split curves on surfaces.
• Surfaces ‐ 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. Includes an
option for Aggressive Removal.
• Blends ‐ includes an option to Limit Size
• Point – removes points from curves. Modifies surfaces when the point is attached to a point on a
surface or solid.
Note: Removed features cannot be restored, unless the Undo command can be applied to feature
removal.

Meshing Toolbox – Feature Editing
Feature Editing allows the relocation of Feature Edges and Surfaces.
With Feature Edges, you can:
• Translate Surfaces – specify the Vector to Move Along and a translation Distance.
• Rotate Surfaces ‐ specify the Vector to Rotate About and a rotation Angle.
• Resize Hole – specify the Hole Diameter.
For a Surface, you can:
• Translate Surfaces.
• Rotate Surfaces.
• Edit –modify blend radii or offset surface(s):
• Enable the Auto Extend option to maintain tangencieswith adjacent surfaces.
• Offset – offset surfaces(s):
• Auto Extend offsets tangent surfaces.

Meshing Toolbox – Geometry Editing
The Geometry Editing toolset includes many of the surface curve commands available with the
Geometry, Curves on Surface command set. Meshed surfaces will be updated and any new surfaces
created with this tool set will also be meshed.
Split a curve with Curve Break at the specified Location to Break at
Split or imprint a surface with the Point to Point, Point to Edge or Edge to Edge operations
Pad ‐ specify a Factor or Distance for the width of the Pad. Includes options for:
• Pad Alignment
• Add Washer
Washer ‐ specify a Factor or Distance for the width of the Pad


Geometry Editing – 2
Extend surfaces – similar to the Geometry > Midsurface > Extend command with the addition of an
option for Surface Auto Curve that extends adjacent surfaces along with the selected surface.
Project/Move Point – project the selected point(s) to:
• Point.
• Curve.
• Surface.
• Solid.
Project Curve – project selected curve(s) normal to a surface with options to:
• Imprint.
• Imprint, Extend – extends the ends of the projected curve to the extents of the surface.
• Imprint, Extend, Clean – extends and merges the imprinted curves with their extensions into a
single curve.

Meshing Toolbox – Combined / Composite Curves
Combined / Composite Curves combines two contiguous curves into a single curve for meshing. This
can be created by:
• Add By Point – create the composite curve by selecting a vertex point on two or more curves.
• Combine Surfaces ‐ When this option is checked, a Boundary Surface will automatically be
created from the surfaces connected to the “underlying curves”. As additional curves are added
to the Composite Curve, more surfaces will be combined into Boundary Surfaces
• Add Curves – the following options are available in addition to the Combine Surfaces option
described above:
• Merge to Existing ‐ When checked, each curve selected will be added to an existing Composite
Curve, unless the selected curve is not within Max Tangent Angle to the existing Composite
Curve.
• Add Short Curves ‐ Automatically includes any Curve Shorter Than the specified length that is
adjacent to a selected curve in the Composite Curve. You may type the value in directly or
specify the value by clicking the “Select Curve to Set Length” icon button, then choosing any
curve on the screen.
• Add to Branch ‐ Allows you to choose one curve and have a Composite Curve created by simply
“branching out” from that curve until it reaches the “corner” of a surface.
• The Combine Surfaces option creates Combined Surfaces on surfaces using the curves that are
combined.
• Split At – splits a composite curve at the selected point
• Remove – converts the composite curve at the selected position back to its curve definition. The
remainder of the composite curve is retained.
• Delete – converts all curves on the composite curve back to their original curve definitions.


Meshing Toolbox – Combined / Boundary Surfaces
Combined / Boundary Surfaces combines two or contiguous surfaces into a single surface for meshing.
These can be created by:
• Add By Curve – create the composite surface by selecting a common edge on the 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.
• Merge To Existing – merges existing adjacent Combined Surfaces to the selected surfaces when
Dialog Select and two or more surfaces are selected to be combined.
• 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


Meshing Toolbox – Mesh Sizing
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, or
• When one of the following Bias options is selected you specify a Bias Factor:
• Biased, Use Pick Location
• Biased, Small Elements at Ends
• Biased, Small Elements at Centor
• Biased, Use Location
Note: Enabling the Show Free Edges option highlights nodes on the mesh’s free edges.

Meshing Sizing – 2
The Match Curves and Match Nodes operations is the implementation of the Mesh > Mesh Control >
Custom Size Along Curve command in the Meshing Toolbox.


Meshing Toolbox - Mesh Surface
The Mesh Surface tool is used to mesh selected surface(s) and has controls to:
• Set Property mesh attributes.
• Includes and option to Load Attributes from a selected surface.
• Select a Mesh Sizing option.
• Element Shape.
• Meshing Method – Free Mesh or Mapped Mesh.
• Advanced Options gives you access to most of the options in the Mesh Surface dialog box
(see next slide).


Meshing Toolbox – Mesh Surface Options


Meshing Toolbox – Mesh Locate
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.
The Locate Multiple option allows the selection of multiple nodes and movement of the nodes
simultaneously:
The Locate Method specifies whether to move the node with one of the following methods:
• Dynamic – drag the position of the selected node(s) using the cursor.
• Manual, Vector – specify the direction and distance to move the selected node(s).


Meshing Toolbox – Mesh Quality
Mesh Quality displays a contour display of the quality of the free faces of a model’s mesh.
• Quality Source – select either Femap or Nastran
• Quality Type specifies the quality check to be used for checking element quality along with the Max
Value of the selected Quality Type
• Selection varies by Quality Source
• See section Section 7.4.5.6 of the Femap Commands manual for detailed explanations of
element quality checks
• Set the Number of Quality Levels to 2 or 4
• Toggle Smooth Contours
• Set the Max Allowable Value – any quality value above this is displayed as red in the contour display
• Minimum Distortion displays the minimum element distortion value in the
Meshing Toolbox
• Max Distortion displays the maximum element distortion value in the Meshing Toolbox pane
Note: To display the quality of internal elements, use the Meshing Toolbox’s Entity Locator – Elements
– Quality tool or select the command View > Advanced Post > Contour Model Data.

Lesson 15 ‐ Constraints
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s capabilities in managing, creating and editing constraints.

Topics
• Constraint Sets
• Nodal Constraints
• Geometry Constraints
• Enforced Motion using “NonZero” constraints
• Constraint Equations

Constraint Sets
The Model > Constraint > Create/Manage Set command creates a new Constraint Set or activates an
existing Constraint Set. Also available in the Model Info pane Model, Constraints object tree.
• This command is also available in the Status Bar
• You may create as many different Constraint Sets as necessary
• Combine multiple Constraint Sets with:
• The Model > Constraint > Create/Manage Set command to create a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD
Constraint Set.
• The Model > Constraint > Combine command copies existing Constraint Sets into an existing or
new Constraint Set.
• Right‐click on the Model Info pane Model, Constraints object tree and select Combine from the
menu.

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 selected or Delete All constraint set(s).
• Copy the selected constraint set.
• Create Referenced Sets for Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD constraint sets.
• Referenced constraint sets must already exist.


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
can contain both geometry and nodal constraints.
• Clicking the More button will create the constraint set with the ID and Title, 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, you can also create a Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD
Combination constraint set or a Reference 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.


Nastran SPCADD/MPCADD Combination Constraint Sets
To create reference Standard Combined constraint sets, select a Combination constraint set in the
Constraint Set Manager dialog box, or right‐click the combined constraint set in the Model Info pane and
select Add Referenced Set button in the dialog box or Referenced Sets from the context‐sensitive
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 Add Referenced Set
or Remove Referenced Set

Creating Constraints
Use the Model > Constraint commands, Constraint toolbar, or the Constraint Definitions object in the
Model Info pane.


Creating Nodal Constraints - Model > Constraint > Nodal Command
Specify Nodal Constraints with the Model > Constraint > Nodal command:
• Control the six (6) Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) with the Create Nodal Constraints dialog box:
• TX translation = 1, RX rotation = 4
• TY translation = 2, RY rotation = 5
• TZ translation = 3, RZ rotation = 6
• See the tables on the following slide for listings of the DOFs constrained by the command buttons in
the dialog box
Specify a Coordinate System


Create Nodal Constraints/DOF Dialog Box – Nodal Constraint Command Buttons


Geometry Constraints
Geometric constraints are applied to geometry and “expanded” to nodes during export to an analysis
file. The following commands are available for applying geometry constraints and are also available
through the Constraints toolbar and the Model Info pane Constraint Definitions object:
• Model > Constraint > On Point
• Model > Constraint > On Curve
• Model > Constraint > On Surface
“Expand” Geometric constraints manually by using the Model > Constraint > Expand command.


Geometry Constraints - Arcs/Circles and Cylindrical Surfaces
When geometry constraints on the following types of curves or surfaces, you have additional options for
applying these types of constraints:
• Surfaces – select one of the following:
• Allow Sliding only along Surface (Symmetry)
• Allow Movement Normal to Surface (AntiSymmetry)
• Allow Sliding only in Specified Direction
• Cylinder / Hole – select one or more of the following:
• Constrain Radial Growth
• Constrain Rotation around Axis
• Constrain Sliding along Axis


Editing Constraints
Edit Constraints with the following commands:
• Modify > Edit > Constraint – Definition
• Modify > Edit > Constraint – Individual
• Individual constraints in a Constraint Definition may be edited. If the Constraint Definition is
subsequently 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
Edit Constraint Definitions and Constraints in the Model Info pane
• The Model Info pane allows Editing Where Applied for the addition or removal of entities from a
Constraint Definition
The Entity Editor can be used to edit a Constraint or Constraint Definition.

Enforced Motion and Rotation using “NonZero” Constraints
Beginning with Femap v11.3, you can create a “NonZero” constraint to add enforced motion or rotation:
• In the Create Nodal Constraints/DOF dialog box, push the NonZero Constraint button to activate the
Create NonZero Nodal Constraints dialog box where you input the translational and/or rotational
displacements for the selected node(s)

Constraint Equations
Constraint Equations relate the displacement and/or rotation of one node to the displacement and/or
rotation of one or more other nodes. To create these, use the command, Model > Constraint >
Equation.
• Often referred to as Multi Point Constraints or MPCs

Lesson 16 ‐ Loads
This lesson provides an overview of Femap’s capabilities in managing, creating and editing loads.

Topics
• Load Sets
• Body Loads
• Nodal and Elemental Loads
• Advanced Loading using Functions and Data Surfaces
• Dynamic, Nonlinear and Heat Transfer Load Set Options

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
• Create new load sets within the Model Info pane
• You may create as many different load sets as necessary.


Load Set Manager Dialog Box
Activating the Model > Load > Create/Manage Set command opens the Load Set Manager dialog box.
• The selected load set becomes the active set when the Done button is clicked.
• Create a New Load Set.
• Change the name of an existing load set by selecting a constraint set and then clicking the Update
Title button.
• Renumber the selected load set.
• Delete selected or Delete All load set(s).
• Copy the selected load set.
• Create and manage Referenced Sets for Nastran Load Combination sets.
• Requires that one or more Load Sets exist in the model
•


Creating New Load Sets
Selecting the New Load Set button in the Load Set Manager dialog box activates the New Load Set
dialog box.

• When a model has no load sets, you can only create a Standard load set. A Standard set is used to
contain geometry, nodal, elemental and body 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 load set.
• If one or more load sets are in a model, you can also create a Nastran Load Combination load set.
• A combined set references one or more Standard load sets.
• When a Nastran deck is created by Femap, it writes out the Nastran LOAD cards as needed.


Nastran Load Combination Load Sets
To create a Combination load set, select a Combination
load set in the Load Set Manager dialog box, or, right‐click
the load set in the Model Info pane and select and select
Referenced Sets from thecontext‐sensitive menu.
The Reference Load Sets for Nastran Load dialog box will
list the Available and Referenced Sets.
• Manage references by selecting one or more
Available reference sets and click the
Add Referenced Set or Remove Referenced Set.
• Set the Overall scale of the combined load set.
• Set the scale of the For Referenced Set
Update Scale Factors of selected set(s)


Combined Load Sets
You can also create combined load sets into an existing or new Load Set with the
Model > Load > Combine command.
• Standard Combined Sets are copies of the combinations and will not update if the original load set is
modified
• Allows you to specify the Scale Factor of the combined load sets
• From Data Surface creates load sets from a Load Set Combination Data Surface


Body Loads
Body or global loads are applied to the entire model with the following settings and options:
• Coordinate System for translational and rotational accelerations and velocities
• Translational Acceleration / Gravity (length/time/time)
• Rotational Acceleration (radians/time/time)
• Varying Translational Acceleration (length/time/time) – apply to only one axis, valid for NX and
MSC Nastran only
• Specify the Axis to Vary Along
• Function varying the acceleration is of the type Acceleration vs. Location
• Rotational Velocity (revolutions/time)
• Center of Rotations
• Thermal – Default Temperature
• Required for all Nastran Heat Transfer analyses


Creating Load Definitions
When you create any new load in Femap, Femap stores the load as a Load Definition, regardless of the
type of load. A Load Definition is simply a container of the load type and load value for the entities
selected when creating a load.
• Load Definitions can be Removed which takes all the loads in the load definition and converts them
to “Other Loads”.
• Loads from imported analysis models are always stored as “Other Loads” in their Load Set(s).
Use the Model > Load commands, Loads toolbar, or the Model Info pane to create a Load Definition.

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
• Coordinate System
• Load type
• Direction
• Load Input Values
• Phase ‐ used for Frequency Response loading only
• Midside Node Adjustment – follow the
distribution of loads as specified in Femap’s preferences under the Geometry tab
• Total Load – when multiple entities are selected to apply the load to, enable this option to distribute
the load across the selected entities so that the sum of the loads equals the load input value.
• Enabled by default when multiple entities are selected for loading.


Editing Loads
Loads may be edited to modify the value or direction of the load. Load editing commands are:
• Modify > Edit > Load – Definition command
• Modify > Edit > Load – Individual command
Note: Individual loads in a Load Definition may be edited. If the Load Definition is subsequently
edited, the individual edit is overwritten by the value of the Load Definition.


Structural Load types supported by Femap – Force, Pressure and Moments
Load Type Points Curves Surfaces Nodes Elements
Force     ‐
Force Per Length ‐  ‐ ‐ ‐
Force Per Area ‐ ‐  ‐ ‐
Force Per Node ‐   ‐ ‐
Bearing Force ‐ ‐  ‐ ‐
Moment     ‐
Moment Per
‐  ‐ ‐ ‐
Length
Moment Per Area ‐ ‐  ‐ ‐
Moment Per Node ‐   ‐ ‐
Torque ‐ ‐  ‐ ‐
Distributed Load ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ 
Pressure ‐   ‐ 


Structural Load types supported by Femap – Enforced Motion
Displacement     ‐
Enforced Rotation     ‐
Velocity     ‐
Rotational Velocity     ‐
Acceleration     ‐
Rotational
    ‐
Acceleration
Note: Unless you use “NonZero Constraints” to specify enforced displaced and/or rotation, NX Nastran
Displacement and Enforced Rotation loads require nodes with enforced displacement and/or
rotation applied have constraints applied to the DOF of the displacement and/or rotation. e.g. A
Displacement Load of x=.10, and y=.10 applied requires that the nodes being displaced be
constrained in their TX (DOF = 1) and TY (DOF = 2) directions. Similarly, an applied rotation in Z
of 10 radians to a node requires that the node be constrained in its RZ (DOF = 6) direction.


Thermal Load types supported by Femap
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


Fluid Load types supported by Femap
Static Fluid pressure     ‐
Total Fluid pressure     ‐
General Scalar     ‐
Steam Quality     ‐
Relative Humidity     ‐
Fluid Height
    ‐
Condition
Unknown Condition     ‐
Slip Wall Condition     ‐
Fan Curve     ‐


Advanced Femap Loads
Femap has the ability to create variable loads via:
• Functions – time and frequency dependant loads
• Method
• Constant value entered into the Value field
• Variables – distributed or position dependent loads
• Click the Advanced button to create or edit the Variable
• Data Surfaces – advanced methods for creating variable loading conditions
Note: A load’s Value is used as a scalar multiplier of the Function, Variable or Data Surface. Check the
sum of the applied load using the command Tools, Check, Sum Forces.


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.
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.
• Use the Paste from Clipboard function to attain data from a two column spreadsheet, or a listing of
two comma separated values from a text file.


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


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 and Load Set Combination Data Surface) are available
through the Create Load dialog box, allowing setup on the fly.


One-dimensional Data Surfaces
Along Coordinates Data Surface
• Interpolate linearly between at least three data points
• Multiple piece‐wise linear data points
• Multiple splined data points
• Enter or select the 3‐D point locations and data values, and FEMAP does the rest


Two-dimensional Data Surfaces
Between Coordinates Data Surface
• 2 Point Linear interpolation
• 4 Point Bilinear interpolation
• 8 Point Trilinear interpolation
• 2 Point Parametric interpolation
• Optionally define by curve selection
• 4 Point Parametric interpolation
• Optionally define by surface selection


Output Map Data Surfaces
Maps output from one model as a data surface source for another


Additional Data Surfaces for Creating Loads
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
Load Set Combination Data Surface
• Creates standard or
Nastran Load Combination Load Sets

Load Set Combination Data Surface
The Load Set Combination Data Surface creates combination load sets via a spreadsheet like interface
• Specify a Standard or Nastran LOAD Combination load set type
• Select the loads sets to use, then set the scale factors for each selected set
• Load sets are not created until a right‐click mouse operation is performed in the Data Surface Editor
pane and Create Combined Sets is selected from the menu


Support for Advanced Load Definitions
Data
Load Type Functions Variables Surfaces
Force / Forces Per Length / Force Per Area  ‐ ‐
Force Per Node / Moment Per Node   
Moment / Moment Per Length / Moment Per Area  ‐ ‐
Displacements / Rotations / Velocities / Accelerations   
Distributed Loads / pressure   
Temperatures   
Heat Flux / Heat Flux Per Area  ‐ ‐
Heat Flux Per Node / Heat Generation /   
Element Heat Flux
Convection / Radiation   
Fluid Loading   ‐


Dynamic Analysis Load Set Options
For any of the dynamic analysis sequences listed below, you can use the Model, Load, Dynamic Analysis
command to set up the options for:
• Direct Transient
• Modal Transient
• Direct Frequency
• Modal Frequency
• Random Response
• Response/Shock Spectrum
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.
Note: As an alternative to using load set options to set dynamics options for a Nastran dynamics
analysis, you can also define these same options with the Dynamics option setting in a Analysis
Set.


Nastran Basic Nonlinear Analysis Set Load Options
The Model, Load, Load Nonlinear Analysis command sets the Solution for these three types of
NX Nastran Basic Nonlinear solutions:
• Static
• Creep
• Transient
• After selecting the type of Nonlinear Analysis, click the Defaults button to automatically enter
the NX Nastran Nonlinear defaults and then modify their values as needed.
• Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set has been
Note: As an alternative to using load set options to set nonlinear options for a Nastran basic nonlinear
analysis, you can also define these same options with the Masters Requests and Conditions,
Nonlinear options setting in a Analysis Set.


Heat Transfer Analysis Load Set Options
The Model, Load, Heat Transfer command is used for:
• Radiation
• Free Convection
• Forced Convection
Not required for conduction only models.
Many of these options can be set and modified using the Entity Editor after a Load Set has been


Notes on Loads
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.

Lesson 17 ‐ Model Display and Visualization
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
• Visibility Dialog Box
• Comparing Groups and Layers
• Layers
• Groups
• View Options

Geometry, Element, Material and Property Display Control
Display of Solid Geometry Bodies, Elements (by Type or by Shape), Materials, Properties and Groups can
be controlled from the Model Info pane.
The box to the left of the object’s ID/name is the
Visibility Toggle and indicates whether or not the object
is displayed.
A filled checkbox 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, element types, materials, properties and
groups, eliminating the need to organize the model by
layers or by creating additional groups.
Note: Geometry visibility toggles include the option to Hide Surfaces and Show Surfaces.

Display Control Example
Example: Wing model with multiple groups, element types and shapes, materials and properties.


Display Control Example (continued)
Display only a portion of the model with elements comprised of Aluminum alloys:
• Select the two (2) Aluminum materials in the Model Info pane.
• Position the cursor over one of the visibility toggle check boxes and right‐click the mouse.
• Select Show Selected Only from the menu.


View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data Command
To display material and mesh attributes as a Contour, Criteria, or Beam Diagram plot, use the command,
View, Advanced Post, Model Contour Data. This command is also directly available on the View and
View Simple toolbars.
Model data that can be graphically plotted is:
• Element Quality
• Material Data
• Property Data
• Entity ID
Example – Display Plane Element Thickness as a Criteria plot without labels:


Visibility Dialog Box
The Visibility dialog box is accessed by using either clicking the View Visibility icon on the View or View
Simple toolbars or by pressing the Ctrl+q hotkey. Note that the active view number and title is displayed
in the upper left corner of the dialog box.
With this dialog box, you can toggle the display of:
• Entity / Label
• Group – single/all/active or multiple Groups
• Layer
• Load / Constraint – control the display of single or multiple Load and/or Constraint Sets
• Geometry
• Connection
• Coordinate System
• Element
• Material – includes toggling display of elements with no material (Rigid, Plot, Mass, etc.)
• Property– includes toggling display of elements with no property (Rigid, Plot, etc.)
• Freebody diagrams

Groups vs. Layers
Layers Groups
Can be assigned to multiple
Groups
Can be assigned to only one
Layer Assign by clipping and/ or rules
Entities
Imported with some CAD Automatic generation tools
geometry formats.
Reference Groups for managing
“groups” of Groups
Allows Simultaneous
All or Multiple All, Single, Active or Multiple
Display Of
Displayed Layers only
Only entities in the displayed
Optional “No Pick” layer prevents groups can be selected except
Graphical Selection
graphical selection of entities on when the Select All method is
that layer, except when the used.
Select All method is used.


Layers
Create new layers using the Tools > Layer command. This activates the Layer Manager dialog box.
The Layer Manager dialog box has options to:
• Create a New Layer
• Assign ID, Title and Color
• View Options allows display of colors by layer (by entity type)
• Update a layer name
• Renumber a single layer
• Delete a layer
• Delete All layers
Note: Deleting layers does not delete the entities assigned to those layers ‐ you will need to reassign
entities on those layers to another layer in order to make them visible and selectable. If you
delete a layer with entities assigned to the deleted layer, that layer will appear in the Model Info
pane Layer object tree as Untitled, after applying the File > Rebuild command.


Layer Control in the Model Info Pane
Layers object
• Create New layers
• Activate layers
• Delete layers
Assigning a Layer using Selection List objects
• Select the object(s) in the Selection List, right‐click the mouse and select Layer from the menu.


Defining and Populating Groups
Use the Group > Create/Manage command to create a group, then use other commands to add entities
into group.
Group Clipping – Group, Clipping commands:
• Selects all entities inside/outside clipping region by:
• Coordinate
• Screen
• Plane
• Volume
• Set clipping first, then rules.
Group Rules – Define either by ID or relationships to other entities,
e.g. Group > Element > On Surface.
• Entities can be added to a 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 Management
The Group > Create/Manage command opens the Group Manager dialog box.
The Group Manager dialog box has options to:
• Create a New Group
• Assign ID and Title
• Update Title updates the title of the group
• Renumber the selected group
• Delete a selected group
• Delete All groups
• Manage Referenced Groups
• Deactivate the active group with None Active


Reference Groups
Reference Groups are groups that reference or link to one or more groups.
• Reference groups are updated when the groups they reference are updated
• You can assign other group rules and/or clipping to a reference group
• The Reference Groups dialog box allows you to add or remove groups from the Reference Group.


Automatic Generation of Groups - Group > Operations Commands
The Group > Operations commands are used to:
• Evaluate and Evaluate Always are used to update groups as the model is modified
• Limit use of Evaluate Always in large models.
• Use Automatic Add to add to the either the Active or Selected group as you model
• Copy and Condense groups
• Reset Rules removes clipping and any rules assigned to the selected group(s)
• 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.


Automatic Generation of Groups – Group > Operations Commands (continued)
Additional commands can be used to automatically generate and maintain groups in the model. When
these commands are used, they include rules such as Surfaces on Solids, etc.
• Generate – select elements and then specify how to generate multiple groups by Material, Property,
Element Normal(s), and/or by Planar or Solid Elements
• Generate Solids
• Generate Property
• Generate Material
• Generate Element Type
• Generate With Output
• Generate Superelements
• Generate Entities on Layer
• Generate Freebody Entities

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.
• Not in Any – take entities that do not
exist in any of the selected 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 Commands Guide.


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 group
• 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 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


Group Display Control – Visibility Dialog Box
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
• Right‐click in the graphics window and select Visibility from the context‐sensitive menu
• Select the Group tab in the Visibility dialog box
Choose between:
• Show Full Model
• Show Active Group
• Show Single Group
• Show/Hide Multiple Groups

Visibility Toggle icons indicate the visibility of the group in the active view:
• Indicates that the group is displayed
• Indicates that the group is hidden
• Indicates that all groups, except for those hidden are displayed


Group Display Control in the Model Info Pane
The Model Info pane has the same visibility controls as the Visibility dialog box


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
• Options to control display of groups with:
• Show Full Model
• Show Active
• Show Multiple


View Options
The View Options dialog box offers options to control entity, tool and view and post processing view
settings. These settings are saved when you save a view to a View Library.
• View or modify view settings using the View > Options command or press the F6 key.
• Set entity and label colors under the Labels, Entities and Color Category.
• Settings for views and tools are under the Tools and View Style category.
• The PostProcessing category controls view options for post processing results, including Contour
Arrow and Freebody diagram options.


View Options Example - Element – Rigid Symbol and Label Display

View Options – Model Clipping Plane
Femap allows you to specify a single clipping plane in a view. To enable a clipped view, you can either:
• Open the View Options dialog box with the F6 hotkey, set the Category to Tools and View Style and
check the Enable check box
• Choose between a Positive or Negative clipping plane and set the orientation of the Clipping Plane
• Can also be set from the View toolbar’s View Style, Clipping Plane menu

Lesson 18 ‐ Analysis Set Manager
This lesson provides an introduction to the setup of analyses using Femap’s Analysis Set Manager and
the handling of Analysis Results.

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
• Management of Output Sets – Import and Attaching Results
• Analysis Studies

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 launch another locally installed solver.
• 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.

Analysis Set Manager Dialog Box
To enter the analysis Manager select the Model > Analysis command.
• You can also right‐click the Analysis object in the Model Info pane and select Manage from the
context‐sensitive menu
The Analysis Set Manager dialog box shows all Analysis Sets defined in the model:
• Expand and contract the tree view with the + and ‐ icons
• Edit sets by clicking a tree item, and then, select the Edit button
• Expanded items under an Analysis Set object can be edited by double‐clicking the item to be edited
• Click the New button to create a new Analysis Set
• Export writes the analysis input file to disk
• Delete
• Copy
• Load and Save to the Analysis Set library


New Analysis Set Creation
Whenever you create a new Analysis Set, you specify:
• Title (optional)
• Select an Analysis Program1 – select one of the
following:
• MSC/MD Nastran
• Ansys
• Abaqus
• NEi Nastran
• Femap Structural
• MSC.Marc
• NX Nastran
• LS‐Dyna
• Select the Analysis Type corresponding to the selected Analysis Program
1: See Chapter 8 of the Femap User Guide for details on the Analysis Types, elements, materials,
properties, constraints and load types supported by Femap for the Analysis Programs listed.


NX Nastran Supported Solution Sequences
Linear statics1 DMAP
Normal modes1 Heat Transfer1
• Steady‐state heat transfer
Buckling1
• Transient heat transfer
Basic Nonlinear1
Advanced Nonlinear
Dynamic Response
• Nonlinear Statics (SOL601,106)
• Modal or direct transient
• Nonlinear Transient (SOL601,129)
• Modal or direct frequency
Nonlinear Explicit (SOL701)
• Response Spectrum
Aeroelasticity
Random Response
• Static Aeroelasticity
Rotor Dynamics2
• Aerodynamic Flutter
DDAM2
SuperElements
Design optimization
1: Included with the NX Nastran Basic license. All other solutions require additional licenses.
2: Requires a Dynamic Response license.


NX Nastran Analysis Sets – NASTRAN Executive and Solution Options
Executive/Solution options are used to define scratch and output locations, restarts, memory, etc.
These are the command line options when NX Nastran is executed.
• See section 8.7.1.2 Executive and Solution Options in the Femap User Guide for details


NX Nastran Analysis Sets – NASTRAN Bulk Data Options
Bulk Data options are used to define what parts of the model are to be written to the NX Nastran bulk
data file, analysis parameters (PARAM) options, format and translator options.
• You can also manually add PARAM cards or Include Nastran Bulk Data Files using the Start Text and
End Text buttons.


NX Nastran Analysis Sets – GEOMCHECK and MODELCHECK
To access these dialog boxes, you must expand the OPTIONS tree in the Analysis Set Manager dialog
box, select the object that you want to set options for, then click the Edit button:
• GEOMCHECK – set options for element quality checking
• MODELCHECK – set options for Weight Check and/or Ground Check

NX Nastran Analysis Sets – Master Requests and Conditions and MultiSet
Master Requests and Conditions – specify:
• Title
• External Superelement Creation
• Boundary Conditions – the active Constraint and Load set are automatically selected when a new
Analysis Set is created
• Output Requests – specify output of displacements, velocities, accelerations, forces, strains and
stress
MultiSet ‐ Select Constraint Sets and Load Sets
• Femap will create a subcase for each combination of selected constraint and load set(s)
• Not available for all analysis types


NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics Options
• NX Nastran Advanced Dynamics has additional options for the selected analysis Type in the Analysis
Set
• Dynamic Control Options can also be specified in a Load Set
• When used, you must enable Use Load Set Options

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

Preview/Edit Input
Preview
• Generates the input deck
• Checks for errors
Edit Preview – edits performed using this
option will be a “one time” only edit and will
only be applied when applying the Export or
Analyze button
• Modify, add, remove entries
• Standard field spacing displayed as
header
• Add comments
Analyze or Export
Note: With a Femap with NX Nastran license, a file checksum is generated and added to the end of
every NX Nastran input deck. This deck cannot be edited outside of Femap and run using the
Femap with NX Nastran license. An unedited deck can only be run on the computer where the
Femap model file was last saved.


Analyze Process
Analyze operation
• Exports input deck and starts in a NX Nastran job as a separate process
• The Analysis Monitor displays the NX Nastran .log, .f04, or .f06 file

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) and Grid point force data
• .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 (Text File) – License usage, summary of solution 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)


Management of Output Sets – Importing and Attaching Results
Import of results – File > Import > Analysis Results ‐ creates Output Set object(s) in Femap data base
• Advantage is that Output Set(s) and the Output Vectors for each result set is included in the Femap
model file and the original output data from the FEA solver is not required to be retained
• Disadvantage is that multiple output sets will make the model file much larger, requiring more
memory and disk space for storage and scratch
Attachment or linking to results file(s) – File > Attach Results
• Supported the following results files:
• NX Nastran and MSC/MD Nastran: .op2 and .xdb
• NEi Nastran .fno
• Comma Separated
• See Section 8.10.4, The Extended Comma‐Separated Table Format in the Femap User Guide
for details on the format of this file
• Abaqus .odb
• Advantage is the memory and disk storage increase for the Femap model is minimal as compared to
the inclusion or import of results
• Disadvantage is that the output files from the FEA solver must be retained


Management of Output Sets – Manage Results Files Dialog Box
When the File ‐> Attach command is used, the Manage Results Files dialog box is opened

Management of Output Sets – Manage Results File Dialog Box Options
The Manage Results dialog box allows you to:
Attach File – Select a supported File Format
• The option for Memory Mapped File optimizes memory use when
referencing an output set and output vectors from that file, but
contiguous disk space must exist to contain the output file.
• Unload – unloads the selected output file from the model’s memory.
Files shown with a yellow check box indicate unloaded files.
• Reload – reloads an unloaded output file.
• Detach – remove the link to the output file from the Femap model file
• Locate ‐ specify a folder location for output files
• Find File – when a file has been renamed or moved after its initial
attachment, specify the new file location and file name
• Save to Model – imports the selected output sets and output vectors
from the attached file into the Femap model file


Analysis Studies
Analysis Studies allow the organization of Results Sets into “groups” of results sets
• All Result Sets are automatically
included in the All Results Analysis Study
• Femap Results Preference can be set to
automatically Create Studies with
additional control over the creation of
Study Titles
• Manually create studies using the Model > Output > Create/Manage Analysis Study command


Analysis Studies – Analysis Study Manager Dialog Box
The Analysis Study Manager dialog box allows the creation, renumbering, deletion and copying of
Analysis Studies
• Copy copies the selected Analysis Study, but does not copy the Results Set(s) included in the copied
study
• Update (or Edit > Analysis Study object menu in the context‐sensitive menu of the Analysis Study
object in the Model Info pane) allows the modification of:
• Title
• Solve
• Analysis Type
• Addition of Notes
• Delete
• Delete All
• Copy
• None Active – deactivate all Analysis Studies

Accessing Analysis Studies from the Model Info Pane
Right‐clicking an Analysis Study in the Model Info pane
gives access to multiple operations on the selected
Analysis Study
• Manage
• Copy
• Edit
• List prints out the Title, Solver, Solver Type,
Number of
Output Sets and Time that the Study was created
• Delete deletes the Study and deletes all Output
Sets
included in the Study
• Renumber the Analysis Study
• Remove Study deletes the Analysis Study and retains the Output Sets under All Results Output Sets
grouping
• Animate Study sets the view’s Deformed type to Animate Multi‐Set that includes all Output Sets in
the Analysis Study
• Envelope Study allows the rapid creation of permanent or ‘on
the fly’ Output Sets
• If an Analysis Study contains multiple Output Sets, Plot Study has
multiple options to create an X‐Y chart of results in the Analysis
Study
Lesson 19 ‐ Post‐processing Overview
This lesson provides an overview of post‐processing results in Femap.
Topics:
• Results Display and Reporting
• View Select Dialog Box
• Selecting Data for Post Processing
• Contour Options
• Data Conversion – Average, Max and Min Result Values
• Output Transformations
• The PostProcessing Toolbox
• Post Processing Toolbar
• Beam Cross Section Results Display
• Post Processing View Options
• Additional Output Processing

Results Display and Reporting Overview
Femap graphically displays results in the graphics in two (2) styles:
• Model – results graphically displayed on the mesh. Details on deformed and contour plots will be
covered, Lesson 20, Contour Display. Free body diagrams will be covered in detail in Lesson 22,
Freebody Diagrams.
• XY – results plotted as graphs. This will be covered in detail in Lesson 21, XY Plotting.
The default display for any new Femap view is the Model, Hidden Line style. Graphical display of
deformed and/or contour results can be also be set in the PostProcessing toolbox and the Post toolbar.
Results can also be listed in the Messages pane and/or to a text file and can also be displayed in the
Data Table
Note: For versions of Femap prior to v10.2, selection of results type, output sets, and output vectors is
controlled through the View > Select command and the Post toolbar. Display settings for results
are controlled through the View > Options command.
Post Processing Using the View Select Dialog Box
Prior to Femap v10.2, all post processing of results was carried out through settings in the View Select
dialog box. To access this dialog box, select the View > Select command, press the F5 hotkey or click the
View Select ( ) icon on the View Toolbar.
Deformed Style and Contour Style set the type of deformed and contour plots
Note: XY plotting is done through the Charting pane. Legacy XY plots created in earlier versions of
Femap are automatically converted to the charting pane.

Selecting Data for Post Processing
Data for deformed and contour plots can be specified with:
• Select PostProcessing Data dialog box.
• Open this dialog box by:
• Right‐click in the graphics pane and select Post Data from
the pop‐up menu
• The Post Data icon on the Post toolbar

• The PostProcessing Toolbox:
• The Select Data for Postprocessing icon on the
PostProcessing Toolbox’s toolbar
• Select Output Set icon
• Select Output Vector icon

Selecting Data for Post Processing with the Select Postprocessing Data Dialog Box
In the Select Postprocessing Data dialog box, use the pull‐downs for the Output Sets and Output
Vectors.
• Filter data by the Filter ( ) icon can also be used
• Filter Output Sets by Title Contains
• Filter Output Vectors by Title, Output Type (displacement, stress,etc.) and Output On (nodes,
elements, element shape, etc.)

Contour Options – Select Contour Options Dialog Box
Pressing the Contour Options button in the Select Postprocessing Options dialog box opens the Select
Contour Options dialog box.
Depending on the selected options and the available data, Femap will use several different approaches
to displaying the results.

Contour Options – Select Contour Options Dialog Box (continued)
Contour Type – provides the capability to “Smart Average” results. Using the default option of Match
Output will automatically set the contour data to the either Nodal for nodal results such as
displacement or Elemental for elemental results such as stress.
• Setting this option to Elemental in combination with the Elemental Contour Discontinuities option
settings is useful for models with multiple materials and properties. Averages between
discontinuities are ignored in this case.
Contour Fill Mode – Display Continuous or Level Colors
Contour Group – allows the display of results of the Active or Selected group without activating the
group.
Data Selection – specify what results are to be displayed on the model
Data Conversion options – see following 3 pages for a more detailed description

Data Conversion – Nodal vs. Elemental, Average and Max/Min Values
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 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);
OR
• Use the maximum of the values at each node (element corner data);
OR
• Average the centroidal values for the elements connected to each node
(ignores the corner data you have);
OR
• Use the maximum of the centroidal values of the connected elements.

Example – Nodal Data Conversion
Example ‐ four (4) elements sharing node “N”, with corner data ‐ Stress at node N can be calculated as:
• Average with and without Corner Data
• 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)
• Minimum Value with and without
Corner Data
• with: min (σW, σX, σY, σZ)
• without: min (σA, σB, σC, σD)

Example – Data Conversion

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. This option also exists in the PostProcessing toolbox.

Output Transformations Example
In this example, we want to display the radial stress around the large hole. A radial coordinate system is
centered at the large hole.
• The model with transformed results is shown on the right in the picture below
•

• The model with transformed results is shown on the right below
The PostProcessing Toolbox
The PostProcessing Toolbox is used to quickly display deformed and/or contoured results. The most
commonly used options for displaying results in the View Select, Deformed and Contour Data, Contour
Options and View Options dialog boxes are readily accessible with this toolbox. Details on this toolbox
will be presented in following lessons.
Three (3) types of results display can be controlled with the PostProcessing Toolbox:
• Deform
• Contour
• Freebody

Selecting Data for Post Processing with the PostProcessing Toolbox
In the PostProcessing toolbox, click the Select Output Set or the Select Output Vector icons
• Use the Previous ( ) and Next ( )
icons to navigate
• Filter data by the Filter ( ) icon
• Filter Output Vectors by
Title, Output Type and Output On
Post Toolbar
Allows quick display of Deformed and Contour plots
Detailed post processing settings are accessible from the Post Options pull down icon
Beam Cross Section Results Display - View > Advanced Post > Beam Cross Section
The View > Advanced Post > Beam Cross Section command generates a display of the beam or bar
results on a plane normal to a beam/bar element’s local x‐axis. Since Femap calculates the stresses, the
solver chosen for the solution is not critical as long as the results include beam/bar axial forces, shear
forces, moments and torques. The shape of the cross section is not limited to standard shapes.
• In most cases, you should turn off display of cross sections or change your view rendering type to
wireframe before selecting the View > Advanced Post > Beam Cross Section command
Note: In order for this command to be available, you must first activate a Results Set that includes
beam and/or bar force and stress output vectors.

Beam Cross Section Stress Control Dialog Box
By default, the active Output Set is selected and can be changed when multiple output sets exist in the
Femap model.
Elements allow you to either select a Single beam or bar element or Multiple elements with the entity
selection dialog box.
Activating the View > Advanced Post > Beam Cross Section command opens the Beam Cross Section
Stress Control dialog box.
Dynamically change the Location of the cross section based upon the length of the beam.
• The Multiple option generates the number of cross sections equally distributed along the length of
the element(s).
Show Stress allows the selection of one of the following: von Mises Stress, Maxium Shear Stress,
Maximum Principal Stress, Minimum Principal Stress, Axial Stress, Y Shear Stress, Z Shear Stress or
Combined Shear.

Beam Cross Section Stress Control Dialog Box (continued)
Another Location option is the ability to change the view orientation normal to the beam or bar X‐axis
by selecting the Screen Space option.
• This option is only available when a Single element is
selected.
• Clicking the Advanced button opens the Advanced Options
dialog box
• Scaled By will scale the size of the cross section
• Quality changes the internal mesh used to calculate the
stress value requested.
• Turn on Element Shrink and/or Section Outlines
• Override auto max min display of the results by specify the
Minimum and Maximum stress values
• Set the Vector Length, enable Solid Vector and enable
More Arrows for display of the Combined Shear Stress
Vector Plot

Post Processing View Options
Accessed via the View > Options command (F6 and Ctrl+O hotkeys)
• Located in the Category, PostProcessing

Additional Output Processing with Model > Output Commands
In addition to creating and managing output sets, the Model > Output command set has the ability to:
• Create/Manage Analysis Study –
organize output sets by solver and
analysis type
• Create/Manage Set – creates and
manages output sets
• Vector ‐ create or modify an output
vector’s Category, Type, ID, Title and/or
Description.
• Define – assign an output vector’s value
to a selected node or element ID.
• Fill – using a constant or an equation,
value of the active output set’s active
output vector.
• Process – create new output sets
through a set of operations. Use for
“enveloping” results.
• Calculate – create a new output set
vector (to an automatically assigned
output vector ID) and assign the value of
the new output set vectors through an
equation based on the selected element
and node IDs.
Additional Output Processing with Model > Output Commands (continued)
In addition to creating and managing output sets, the Model > Output command set has the ability to:
• Extrapolate – allows you to linearly
extrapolate output from the center of
planar or solid elements to the element
corners. Primarily used for analysis
programs that do not generate corner
results.
• Global Ply – creates new output vectors
in selected output sets for "Top Ply",
"Bottom Ply", and every "Global Ply"
currently in the model.
• Convert Complex – create
real/imaginary pairs from
magnitude/phase data read from
frequency response results, and vice
versa.
• Expand Complex – creates new output
at specified phase intervals based upon
selected magnitude/phase data.
• Forced Response – calculates results
corresponding to a Frequency Response
analysis using the results of a modal
analysis as its basis.
Lesson 20 ‐ Deformed and Contour Results Display
This lesson provides an overview of creating deformed and contour plots using Femap’s PostProcessing
Toolbox’s Deform and Contour toolsets.
Free body diagrams can also be created using the PostProcessing Toolbox. Details on creating these
plots is covered in Lesson 21 – Free Body Diagrams.
Topics:
• The PostProcessing Toolbox
• Selecting Data for Post Processing
• PostProcessing Toolbox Toolbar
• Deform Tools
• Contour Tools

The PostProcessing Toolbox
The PostProcessing Toolbox is used to quickly display deformed and/or contoured results. The most
commonly used options for displaying results in the View Select, Deformed and Contour Data, Contour
Options and View Options dialog boxes are readily accessible with this toolbox. Details on this toolbox
will be presented in following lessons.
Three (3) types of results display can be controlled with the PostProcessing Toolbox:
• Deform
• Contour
• Freebody – covered in Lesson 21

PostProcessing Toolbox Toolbar
The PostProcessing Toolbox has several icons on it’s toolbar:
Turn Tools On and Off – toggles the Deform, Contour and Freebody
toolsets on and off.
Reload from Model – syncs the options displayed in the PostProcessing Toolbox’s tools with the
display in the active graphics pane. Generally used if Auto Redraw is disabled and you want to
reset the values in the PostProcessing Toolbox to the values displayed in the active Graphics
pane.
Set to Undeformed, No Contour
Set the Deformed Style – select one of the deform styles for the
Output Set and Output Vector set in either the Select PostProcessing
Data dialog box or in the Postprocessing Toolbox

PostProcessing Toolbox Toolbar (continued)
Set the Contour Style – select one of the contour styles for the Output Set and Output Vector
set in either the Select PostProcessing Data dialog box or in the
Postprocessing Toolbox.
Set the Freebody Style – toggle freebody display(s) on and off
Auto Redraw – Automatically refreshes the active graphics pane when any changes are made to
the Deform Style or the Contour Style. On by default for any new model, turn this off for large
models for better performance when multiple changes are going to be made to the results
display.
Manual Redraw– Refreshes the active graphics pane when any changes are made to the Deform
Style or the Contour Style

Selecting Data for Post Processing
In the PostProcessing tool box, click the Select Output Set or the Select Output Vector icon ( )
• Use the Previous ( ) and Next ( ) icons to
navigate
• Filter data by the Filter ( ) icon
• Filter Output Vectors by Title, Output Type and
Output On

PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool
When you desire to create a deformed shape, the Deform Tool controls the deformed style, the Output
Set and Transformation Vector and several commonly used options for displaying deformed shapes.
The Deform tool offers seven (7) styles of deformed shapes:
• Undeformed
• Deformed
• Animate
• Animate – MultiSet
• Vector
• Trace
• Streamline

For all styles, the Output Set and the Output
Vector can be selected using the Select Output
Set and Select Output Vector icons ( ).


PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool Common Style Options
When any of the Deform styles are selected, except for Streamlines, the following options are available:
• Transform – select the transformation
coordinate system and it’s component(s)
• Scale – Select the type of scale for the
deformed shape: % of Model or
Actual Deformations.
• For % of Model, you can set the
display scale of the Max % Model
equal to the highest value
of the deformed vector selected
times the value of the largest extent
of the undeformed model.
• You can also enable the option for
Scale Based on Group where the largest
deformation displayed the displayed
group
• For Actual Deformations, you directly
set the scaleof the deformed values.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool Common Style Options – 2
Deform Relative To (all Styles except for
Streamlines):
• Model Origin (default)
• Relative to a selected Fixed Node
Color Mode for both the Deformed Model/and
the Undeformed Model (for Deformed,
Animate, Animate – MultiSet and Trace styles)
• For Use View Color, the shape is displayed
using the View Color

PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Animate
When the Animate style is selected, the following Animation options are available in the Deform tool in
addition to the common options described on the previous two slides:
• Shape ‐ select from a Linear or Sine (sinusoidal)
distribution of the frames. For both types, you
can select between Full, Full‐Abs(olute), Half, or
Half‐Abs(olute).
• Full displays the loading and unloading of the
model while Half displays only the loading of the
model
• Frames ‐ specify the number of animation
frames
• Delay ‐ specify the time delay between frames in
milliseconds
• Animation Control – opens the Animation
Control dialog box where the animation can be
paused, stepped from frame to frame, frame
delay and full or half shapes can be toggled on
and off.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Animate – MultiSet
When the Animate – MultiSet style is selected, the options are the same as for the Animate style with
the addition of:
• Final Output Set – select the Final Output Set for animation
• Specify the Increment between the Output Set and the Final Output Set

PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Vector
When the Vector style is selected, the following options are available as well as the common options
described earlier:
• Label – display vector with either
No Labels, Output Value or labels on only
those vectors within the Top Percent
specified.
• Color ‐ set the display color of the
vectors.
• Arrowheads – toggle the display of the
vector arrowheads on and off
• Component Vectors ‐ turn on display of
component vectors. Default is to display
the resultant vector.
• Show As Solid – display the vector as a
solid.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Trace
The Trace style is similar to a Animate – Multi‐Set display with the addition of the display of the path of
the output vector at the output steps selected.
When the Trace style is selected, the options available are the same as for the Animate – MultiSet style
with the addition of the following:
• At Locations – display on the entire model
or only a selected group.
• Length – Display the trace of the
deformation as the Full Length path or to
animate the path with the Animate
Growth setting.
• Label – display either No Labels, the
Output Set ID or the Output Set Value.
• Color – set the color of the trace path.
• Show Locations – show a symbol at the
location along the trace path for each
output set selected.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Streamline
When the Streamline style is selected, the following options are available in the Deform tool:
• Transform – select the transformation
coordinate system’s component(s)
• Locations – select a Specified Location,
At Point for an existing point in the model
or a Group of points to define the start
point(s) of the streamline(s)
• Location ‐ displays the coordinate of the
streamline start point. This option also
allows you to specify the location by a
selected Coordinate System.
• Dynamic Location – when a Specified
Location or At Point is selected for the
location of the start of the streamline,
dynamically transform the location of the
streamline’s start point.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Deform Tool – Streamline (continued)
When the Streamline style is selected, the following additional options are available in the Deform tool:
• Streamline – display the Draw Start or
indicators of the start point(s) of the
streamline(s) and display the color
of the streamline(s) by either a contoured
color line or by Use View Color
• Specify by coordinate (Specified
Location), existing Point
or by a group of points.
• Parameters – set the parameters for the
streamline.
• Streamline – display the Draw Start or
indicators of the start point(s) of the
streamline(s) and display the color
of the streamline(s) by either a contoured
color line or by Use View Color
• Parameters – set the parameters for the
streamline.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool
When you desire to create a contour plot, the Contour tool controls the contour style, the Output Set
and Transformation Vector and several commonly used options for displaying contour plots.
The Contour tool offers six (6) styles of contour displays as well as No Contours:
• Contour
• Criteria
• Beam Diagram
• IsoSurface
• Section Cut
• Contour Arrow
For all styles, the Output Set and the Output
Vector can be selected using the Select
Output Set and Select Output Vector icons.
• Enabling the option for Additional Vectors
allows the selection of one (1) or two (2)
additional Contour Vectors. Double‐sided
planar Output Vectors may also be
displayed.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool Common Style Options
For Contour, IsoSurface and Section Cut Contour styles, the following options are available:
• Transform – select the transformation coordinate system’s component(s) for Nodal Vector Output,
Plate Force/Stress/Strain and/or Solid Stress/Strain.
• Data Conversion – Average, max/min, etc.
• See Slides 18‐8 through 18‐10 for a detailed description of options.
• Allows turning off Data Conversion when Property Change, Layer Change, Color Change and/or
Exceed Angle option(s) are enabled.
• Type (except for Criteria and Beam Diagram Contour Styles) – choose between automatically
selecting Nodal or Elemental when Match Output (default) is selected.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool Common Style Options - 2
For Contour, IsoSurface and Section Cut Contour styles, the following option is available:
• Data Selection – used for Data Conversion and computing the maximum and minimum values to be
displayed.
• Select between Contour Group (the value specified by the selection in Show On Groups),
Visible Group(s) or All Data/Full Model.
For all Contour Styles, the following is available to control on what entities to display the selected
Output Vector(s)
• Show On Groups – display contours on the Full Model / Visible Groups, Active Group, or
one group selected from the list of groups in the model.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool Common Style Options – 3
For all Contour Styles, except Criteria, the following options for Levels are available:
• Level Mode – select one of the options from the pull‐down menu
• When all options, except Automatic, specify the Maximum and Minimum values
For all Contour Styles, you can control contour colors and the number of colors:
• Contour Palette and # of Levels. Enable Continuous Colors and Animate the contour colors when
the Deform Animate style is enabled.
• Clicking the Levels/Palette ( ) icon allows the selection of one of several Standard Colors
contour color settings in the Contour/Criteria Levels dialog box.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool Common Style Options – 4
For the Contour style, the following display options are available in addition to those on the previous
page:
• Legend ‐ enable display of the legend as well as specify the Position of the legend.
• Set Label Color to Contour or View Color.
• Toggle Exponential Labels.
• Toggle Label Erase Background.
• Set Label Frequency, where 0 displays a value for every level.
• Set Label Digits.
• Shrink to %, shrinks the legend by the percentage specified

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Criteria
When the Criteria style is selected, in addition to the options available of all contour styles, the following
options are available in the Criteria tool:
• Limits Mode – Select from:
• No Limits
• Above Maximum
• Below Minimum
• Between
• Outside
• Elements that Pass / Elements that Fail –
Enable none, one, or both of these options
and set the Color options for the displayed
elements.
• Toggle Labels on and off.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Beam Diagram
When the Beam Diagram style is selected, the following additional display control options are available
in the Contour tool:
• Show As – select the results display as a either a:
• Beam Diagram ‐ specify:
• Labels option.
• Direction.
• Enable/disable Show Reversed.
• Set the Scale % of the largest
value relative to the model size
and the Border Color of the
delineator between the ends of
adjacent beams.
• Beam Contour
• Although Direction is available
as an option, this setting has no
impact on the Beam Contour
display or values.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – IsoSurface
When the IsoSurface style is selected, and Solid elements are displayed, the following additional options
are available:
• Show As – select the results display as a
either a:
• IsoSurface, IsoLine or Contour on
Deform IsoSurface
• Contour on Deform IsoSurface
uses the Deformed Output
Vector for its values.
• Number – Use Contour Colors or
display a Single IsoSurface or IsoLine
at the specified At Value
• IsoSurf/Line Color – toggle between
contour colors or a single color
• Dynamic Control – activates the
Dynamic IsoSurface Control dialog
box


PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Section Cut
When the Section Cut style is selected, the following additional options are available in the Contour
tool:
• Cut Options – select from either: Cut
Model – specify a single cutting plane;
Parallel Sections – specify the number of
parallel sections and the distance
between sections; or Multiple Sections
‐ specify up to three (3) user‐defined
section planes
• Dynamic Control ‐ activate the
Dynamic Section Cut Control dialog
box
• For Parallel Sections, this will
dynamically move all the section
cuts
• For Multiple Sections, you select
which section cut you want to
dynamically move.


PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Contour Arrow
Contour Arrow plots are used to visualize the magnitude and direction of force, stress and strains.
Examples are shown below.

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Contour Arrow Display Options
When the Contour Arrow style is selected, the following additional options are available in the Contour
tool:
• Options
• Select Arrows from Contour Vector
• When this option is enabled, the
Arrow Type and any related
Output Vector(s) are
automatically displayed. These
arrows can be toggled on or off.
• If this option is disabled, the
Advanced Options button is
available that opens the
Advanced Contour Arrow
Options dialog box
(see page 20‐25)
•


PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Contour Arrow – Display Options - 2
• Options (continued)
• Transform – set on the fly
transformation of the
Contour Arrow(s)
• Data Selection
• Show on Groups
Display Options
• Arrow Head and Color
• Toggle Solid Arrows
• Arrow Length
• Scale by Magnitude
• Minimum Length
• Min Vector Magnitude
• Arrow Labels
• On, Off or Exponent
• Levels
• Legend

PostProcessing Toolbox – Contour Tool – Contour Arrow Options
Clicking the Advanced Options button in the Contour Arrow toolset opens the Advanced Contour Arrow
Options dialog box.
In this dialog box, you specify the:
• Arrow Type – automatically selected based on selected Output Vector
• Output Data is Stored Relative To:
• Deselect the option, Use Contour Vector Transform to override Transform options set in the
Contour Tool
• Output Vectors – set Arrow 1 (X), Arrow 2 (Y) and Arrow 3 (XY) Output Vectors and colors
Lesson 21 ‐ Freebody Diagrams
This lesson provides an detailed overview of generating free body diagrams in Femap
Topics:
• Freebody Manager
• Freebody Display
• Interface Load Display
• Freebody Section Cut
• Freebody View Options
• Loads from Free Body Diagrams


Freebody Display
Freebody diagrams are created in Femap with the Freebody tool. To create a new free body diagram,
click the Add Freebody icon ( ) under the Freebody Properties tool.
This activates the Freebody Manager dialog box.
Click the New Freebody button to create a new
Freebody diagram.
Note: When free body displays are needed, you will need to specify the output of Grid Point Forces or
equivalent for non‐Nastran solvers. This is the Force Balance option in the Analysis Set
Manager, Nastran Output Requests dialog box.


Freebody Diagram Types
In the New Freebody dialog box, you specify:
• One of the two Display Mode options:
• Freebody
• Interface Load
• Section Cut
• Vector Display options:
• Nodal Forces
• Nodal Moments
• When a Interface Load or Section Cut Display
Mode is selected, specify options for:
• Total Force and Total Moment
• Load Components in Total Summation
• Freebody Contributions
• See Chapter 7.2.3.3 of the Femap
Commands Guide for details on these
options


Freebody Display Control
Femap allows the simultaneous display of multiple free body diagrams. Controls for which free body
diagram(s) are displayed is in the Visibility dialog box under the Freebody tab:
• Access the Visibility dialog box from either:
• View toolbar
• Freebody toolbox’s Visibility icon


Entity Selection for Freebody Display
To select elements, you first specify whether to select the elements by Group or by Entity Select.
When the Display Mode is set to Freebody, you must select the Elements to be included in the freebody
display. Nodes attached to the selected elements are automatically included in the freebody display.
• Click the Select Freebody Elements
icon to activate the Select Entity –
Select Freebody Elements dialog box.
• The Show Freebody Elements icon
can be used to display the freebody
elements selected
using the highlighting option set for
the model.
• The Reset Freebody Elements icon
can be used to clear the freebody
element selection.

Example 1 – Freebody Diagram – Create New Freebody
Step1: Create a new Freebody diagram
• Select Output Set (can be modified later)
• Create Freebody
• New Freebody
• Display Mode = Freebody Only


Example 1 – Freebody Diagram – Step 2
Step 2: Select all of the elements as the Freebody Elements


Example 1 – Freebody Diagram – Resultant Freebody


Example 1 – Freebody Diagram – Change Freebody Contributions
Final Step: Change Freebody Contributions to Reaction Only


Entity Selection for Interface Load Display
When a Interface Load display is selected, you must select both the Elements and Nodes to be included
in the interface load display.
Just like for a Freebody display, you can specify either selection by Group or by Entity Selection.
• When Group Select is selected, any nodes included in the selected group are automatically selected.
If nodes outside of the group are needed, they must be selected using the Select Freebody Nodes
icon.
• When the Entity Selection Mode is set to Entity Select, the Select freebody elements, Show freebody
elements, and Reset freebody elements icons are available.
Click the Select Freebody Elements icon to
activate the Select Entity – Select Freebody
Elements dialog box.
To highlight the freebody elements
selected, click the Show Freebody
Elements icon.
The Reset Freebody Elements icon can be
used to clear the freebody element
selection.


Entity Selection for Interface Load Display (continued)
If Entity Select is selected, or if the set of nodes needed for the free body display are not included in the
group selected when Group Select is selected, you must select the nodes to be included:
Click the Select freebody nodes icon
to activate the Select Entity – Select
Freebody Nodes dialog box.
• After the nodes are selected,
you will be
prompted in a dialog box to
create and
automatically locate a total
summation
vector at the center of the
selected nodes.
Show freebody nodes

Reset freebody nodes

The Place summation vector at the
center of selected nodes icon is used
to generate the force and/or moment summation vector at the center of selected nodes.
Select Free Edge Nodes – selects free edge nodes on the Freebody Elements.


Example 2 – Interface Diagram on the Wing Front Spar
Step 1: Toggle off display of any other Freebody diagrams in the model
Step 2: Create a New Freebody – set the Display Mode to Interface Load


Example 2 – Interface Diagram (continued)
Step 3: Select Freebody Elements
• Use Group Select to select the Front Spar group. Any nodes in the group are automatically selected
along with the elements. The freebody is automatically displayed.


Section Cut Freebody Diagram
For a Section Cut Freebody, the Freebody entities are automatically selected by the location of a cutting
plane defined by one of the following:
• Plane / Normal
• Plane / Vector
• Vector
• Curve


Freebody Example 3 – Section Cut Normal to a Plane


Freebody Example 4 – Section Cut Along a Curve


Freebody Vector Display Options
For all types of freebody displays, you have the option to toggle force and moment vectors by either
components or resultant vectors.


Freebody Vector Display Options
View Properties are used to specify the style and color of force and moment vectors.


Freebody View Options
With the View Options dialog box, you can set default options for free body diagrams under the
Postprocessing category.


Listing Freebody Output
Three commands output Freebody results to the Messages Window, Data Table or Clipboard
• List, Output, Force Balance
• List, Output,
Force Balance Interface Summary
• List, Output, Freebody Section Cut
The Freebody Toolbox offers four (3) options to output free body diagram results:
List Force Balance
List Force Balance Interface Load
List Freebody Validation Results


Loads from a Free body Diagram
The Model > Loads > Loads from Freebody command creates nodal loads from selected Freebodies and
Output Set(s)
• Multi‐Model allows mapping of Freebody resultant vectors into a load set in the active model
• Requires that two (2) or models are open in the Femap session.
Lesson 22 ‐ XY Plotting using the Charting Pane
This lesson provides a detailed overview of creating and managing XY plots using Femap’s Charting pane
Topics:
• XY Plotting Overview
• Charting Pane Overview
• Chart Management
• Data Series Management
• Chart Display Control
• Chart Output

XY Plotting Overview
The Charting pane is used to generate XY plots:
• A Femap model file can contain multiple XY plots as Charts and Data Series.
Charts are defined by Data Series. Data Series are defined by Output Vectors or Functions.
Note: XY plots created in Femap prior to Version 11 are stored as Views and are automatically
converted to Charts.


Charting Pane Overview
Display of the Charting pane is controlled by the Panes toolbar
• The Tools > Charting command also toggles the Charting pane
The Charting pane’s toolbar has icons for managing Charts, Data Series, display of charts and outputting
data from charts. These controls will be described in detail later in this lesson.


Chart Manager Dialog Box
Clicking the Chart Manager icon on the Charting pane’s toolbar activates the Chart Manager dialog box.
• Create a New Chart – makes the new
chart the active chart
• Edit a selected chart with Edit Selected
• Activate and display a chart with
Preview Selected
• Delete a selected chart
• Delete All charts in the active Femap
model
• Copy a selected chart
• Renumber a selected chart
• Deactivate the active chart with None
Active / New


Charting Dialog Box
When either a new chart is created using the Charting Manager dialog box, or a chart is edited, the
Charting dialog box is opened. This dialog box has four (4) tabs:
Chart Settings Chart Axes
Chart Table Labels and Markers
At the lower left corner of this dialog box, there are three (3) icons:

Charting Dialog Box – Chart Settings
The Chart Settings tab is used for setting a chart’s display and data options:
• Style
• Chart Data
• Select Data Series
• Legend
• Legend Direction
• Vertical Location
• Horizontal Location
• Colors
• Select from one of eight Palettes or use the settingsfrom the Chart
• Enable a Dark Background
• Chart Font Font Face


Charting Dialog Box – Chart Axes
The Chart Axes tab is used for setting a chart’s X Axis and Y Axis options:
• Toggle Display of the axis
• Range and Style
• Autoscale the axis’ range based on
the min and max of the displayed
Data Series or manually set the
Range
• Display the axis as a Logarithm Scale
• Allow Zooming
• Show Major Grid Lines and Show
Minor Grid Lines
• Set the Interval and Count
• Toggle Tick Marks
• Title
• Toggle Display Title and title string
• Set Font Size, alignment,
Justification and Color


Charting Dialog Box – Chart Title
The Chart Title tab is used for setting a chart’s title options:
• Toggle Display of the title
• Title Options
• Set the Title
• Set Location and Justification
• Set Font Size, Font Color and
Font Style


Charting Dialog Box – Labels and Markers
The Labels and Markers tab contains options for the display of a chart’s title
• Labels
• Toggle Display Labels
• Show X Value
• Show Y Value
• You can also toggle on max/min
values with the Show Max/Min Only
check box
• Markers
• Toggle Display Markers
• Set Size
• Select Shape


Data Series Manager Dialog Box
Clicking the Data Series icon on the Charting pane’s toolbar activates the Chart Data Series Manager
dialog box. With this dialog box, you can:
• Create a New Data Series
• Edit a selected Data Series with
Edit Selected
• Remove from Chart removes the
selected Data Series from the
active chart
• Delete a selected Data Series
• Delete All Data Series in the
active Femap model
• Copy a selected Data Series
• Renumber a selected Data
Series
• Enable Highlighting highlights
the selected Data Series in the
active chart


Chart Data Series Dialog Box
A chart’s data for XY curves are defined by Data Series. The Chart Data Series dialog box is used to
define the data for a single Data Series.
Select one of the following tabs to set the type of Data Series:
• Vector vs Entity
• Vector vs. Output Set
• Vector vs. Vector
• Function
For all types of Data Series, you
specify the Style for:
• Labels
• Color
• Markers


Chart Data Series Dialog Box – Vector vs. Entity
The Vector vs. Entity Data Series type generates a Data Series of:
• X‐Axis Values, either of:
• Entity ID, or
• Position – select the X, Y, or
Zposition in a user‐selected
Csys:
• Data Source – specify the
Output Set and Output Vector
Data can be selected by one of three
(3) Group options: Active, None
(entire model), or, by Selecting a
group


Chart Data Series Dialog Box – Vector vs. Output Set
The Vector vs. Output Set Data Series type generates a Data Series of:
• X‐Axis Values, either of:
• Output Set ID, or
• Output Set Value
• Data Source – specify:
• Two (2) or more Output Sets
and the Interval between
Output Sets
• Output Vector
• The Location of one or more
Node or Element IDs
depending on the Output
Vector selected

Chart Data Series Dialog Box – Vector vs. Vector
The Vector vs. Vector Data Series type generates a Data Series of:
• Data Source – specify the:
• Two (2) or more Output
Set(s) and Interval
• Independent Output Vector
• Dependent Output Vector
• When the option to Sort
Data is selected, the value of
the Data Series is sorted
based on the ascending
value of the Independent
Output Vector
• Locations of the Independent
Entity and Dependent Entity


Chart Data Series Dialog Box – Function
The Function Data Series type generates a Data Series based on the values of a selected Function.


Chart Data Series Dialog Box – Styles
Style Group ‐ Labels:
• Inherit label styles from the chart with
Use Chart Settings, otherwise:
• Show Labels allows the display of X
Value and/or the Y Value of the
data. Enable the Max/Min option to
show only those values.
• Set the Color of the curve
Style Group – Markers:
• Inherit label styles from the chart with
Use Chart Settings, otherwise:
• Show Markers displays markers for
each data point on the curve
• Set Size and Shape of the markers

The Charting Pane Toolbar - Chart Display Control
In addition to the Chart Manager and Data Series Manager, the Charting pane’s toolbar has additional
tools for modifying Charts and Data Series.
Chart Options Chart Axes


The Charting Pane Toolbar - Chart Display Control – 2
Chart Title Chart Legend Data Series Markers

Data Series Labels Chart Colors

The Charting Pane Toolbar - Marker Tooltips
Show Tooltips – available only when Markers are displayed. When enabled, hovering the cursor over a
point on a curve will display the X and Y values of that curve and highlight the curve legend.
• Options to:
• Highlight Entity in View – highlights the object highlighted in the Charting pane in the active
view.
• Sync Output Set in View and Sync Output Vector in View toggles the update of the active
Output Set and Vectors in the active view to match the Output Set and Vector highlighted in the
Charting pane
• Restore Original View on Exit sets the active Output Sets and Vector to those active selection in
the Charting pane
• Set Tooltip Options

The Charting Pane Toolbar - Chart Output Commands
On the Charting pane’s toolbar, click the Copy Chart to Clipboard icon:
• Copy Chart Image copies the chart to the
clipboard as an image.
• Copy Chart Values copies the X‐Y values of the
table to the clipboard.
• Copy Chart Image and Values copies both the
chart image and values to the clipboard.
To list the active chart’s Data Series, select the command, List > Output > Data Series.


The Charting Pane Toolbar - Chart Library Options
Chart(s) can be stored to and loaded from a Library.
• Default Chart Library can be set as a Femap Preference
Load Chart from Library Save Chart to Library

Chart Output from an Active Chart
Within an active chart, positioning the cursor over a Marker or a XY plot provides options for modifying
the display of the XY plot and highlighting:
• When the cursor is positioned over a Marker, • When the cursor is positioned over a line
right‐clicking allows you to highlight the portion of a XY plot, right‐clicking allows you
entity associated with the Marker. to create a Function, Copy or List the Data
representing the XY plot.
Lesson 23 ‐ FEA Assembly Modeling ‐ Combining FEA Models
Purpose

This lesson provides an overview of combining models Finite Elements Models with Femap
Topics
• Importing Analysis Input Files
• Femap Neutral files
• The Select Tool
• File, Merge command

Importing Analysis Input Files
Existing analysis input files can be imported into the active Femap Model File with the command,
File > Import > Analysis Model:
• Entities in the imported file with entity IDs identical to those in the active model file will overwrite
the entities in the model file.
Note: For detailed information on the entities supported for different analysis programs, see Chapters
7 and 8 of the Femap User Guide.


Femap Neutral Files
A Femap Neutral file (.neu file extension) is an ASCII version of a Femap model file:
Save Neutral files with the command, File, Save, Femap Neutral:
• Entity Options specify what entity types
you want to save into the Neutral file.
• Expand Geometric Loads and
Constraints expands geometry‐defined
loads and constraints into
mesh‐based loads and constraints
• File Format options allow you to specify:
• Significant Digits
• Minimize File Size removes tab
delimits in the file; turn off for
editing and reading
• Version specifies the Femap version
that this file will be written for. Entities not supported in the version specified are not written
into the Neutral file.
Note: The Femap Neutral file format is documented in the file femap\pdf\neutral.pdf.


Femap Neutral Files (continued)
You cannot directly import or merge Femap binary .modfem files, however, you can import a Femap
Neutral file into an active Femap model file
Import Femap Neutral files with the command, File, Import, Femap Neutral:
• Entity Options specify what entity types you want to
read from the Neutral file.
• Model Merge Options:
• ID Offset specifies the offset of the ID number of
all entities in the Neutral file from the original ID.
Note: If duplicate entity ID(s) exist in the model
file and the Neutral file, the duplicate ID
will overwrite the original entity.
• Renumber Layers
• Renumber Load and Constraint Sets
• Always Create New Output Sets – creates a new
Output Set for every Output Set in the Neutral File,
regardless of the option setting for ID Offset.


Using the Select Tool for Merging Files
Femap Neutral files can be generated using the Select tool:
• When a Selection List has been generated, the Selector Action, Export Neutral command can be
used to generate a Femap Neutral file.
If a second Femap model file is active, you can use the Selector Action, Copy command, then the
Selector Action, Paste command in the file you want to paste the selected objects into, where the
Neutral File Read Options dialog box is presented.


File, Merge Command
The File, Merge command can be used when multiple Femap model files are opened in a single Femap
session:
• Execute the command from the model you want to merge entities into.
• Select the From Model file that you want to merge from>
• Select the Entity Type(s) and method of Entity Selection for merging into the active Femap model.
• Entity Type(s) are limited to those types in the From Model.
• Specify Renumbering and Duplicates Strategy.
• Model Orientation options:
• Create Group for Merged Model
• Create Parent Csys for Merged Model
• Condense Transferred Groups
• You have the option to Transform Merged Model upon import.


Model Merge Manager Dialog Box – Entity Selection
By default, the first time the File, Merge command is executed in a Femap model, the Entity Selection,
All in Model radio button is automatically selected, resulting in the entire model selected.
• Selecting the Entity Selection, None radio button, and then, clicking the Update All button, clears
the list of Merge IDs. The From Model should be visible for this to work.
• Select a From Group or ID Range, then, click the Update All button to populate the Merge IDs.
• If the entire model is to be merged, no other entity selection action is required, otherwise, perform
one or more of the following:
• Check and/or uncheck the Entity Type(s) to set the type of entities to be merged.
• The All On and All Off buttons toggle on and off all Entity Types, but do not change the IDs
of the entities to be merged.


Model Merge Manager Dialog Box – Specifying Entities to Merge using
Entity Selection, Select
To use Entity Selection, Select, the From Model (model that you are merging from) must be visible for
selecting the entities that you need to merge:
1. Enable/Disable the Entity Types that will be merged into the active model.
2. Select the Entity Type for selection. Shift‐click and Ctrl‐click all available.
3. Click the Entity Selection, Select Entity radio button
4. Click the Update Selected button. This will open the Entity Selection dialog box for the Entity Type
selected.
5. If you want to add only the entities related to the selected entity(s), click either the Add Related
and Associated Entities or the Add Related Entities button.


Model Merge Manager Dialog Box – Renumbering and Duplicates Strategy Options
None – no renumbering of entities occurs. When selected, it is recommended that you also enable the
Overwrite Duplicates option along with clicking the Update Selected button to correctly populate the
Renumbering column. Minimal Renumbering (default setting). Specifies that renumbering should occur
using the lowest IDs possible. If unused IDs exist within the range of Current IDs, this renumbering
strategy will use those IDs
Block Renumbering ‐ specifies that
renumbering should be done using a block of
IDs, based on the largest value for Current
IDs.
Offset Renumbering ‐ specifies that
renumbering should be done using the
original Merge IDs plus a value specified using the Offset By field (replaces Renumber To field).
Compress ‐ specifies the Merge IDs should be compressed in an attempt to remove any gaps in the ID
range of the From Model.
Renumber To ‐ specify a different starting ID other than the lowest available ID. If the specified ID is not
available, the next available ID will be used instead.
Overwrite Duplicates – replaces existing entities with duplicate IDs and renumbers newly merged IDs
that are non‐duplicates of existing entities.


Model Merge Manager Dialog Box – Model Orientation Options
Create Group for Merged Model – creates a group containing all of the entities merged from the From
Model into the active model.
Create Parent CSys for Merged Model – creates a “parent” Coordinate System(s) in the active model for
the entities found in the From Model. The number of “parent” coordinate systems created varies from
one to three and depends on how many of the Basic Coordinate systems are used in the From Model.
Condense Transferred Groups ‐ any groups brought into the active model from the From Model will be
condensed into a single group.
Limit Loads, Constraints and Contact to Merged Entities – transfer only loads, boundary conditions, and
connection entities from the From Model when the entities referenced by these entity types are also
being merged into the active model.
• Turn off only when merging a model which is very similar or identical to the active model.
Otherwise, loads, constraints, and/or contact entities may be applied to random entities in the
active model.
Transform Merged Model ‐ entities from the From Model will be transformed using the From
coordinate system found in the From Model to the To coordinate system.

Lesson 24 ‐ FEA Assembly Modeling – Assembly Connectors
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 Femap to model FEA assemblies.
Topics:
• Finite Element Model Connection Types
• Femap Assembly Connectors
• Bolted Connections with Bolt Regions
• Fluid and Rotor Regions


Finite Element Model Connection Types
Coincident Nodes – see Lesson 11
Rigid Element Connections – see Lesson 10
Welded Connections – see Lesson 12
Surface to Surface and Edge to Surface Connectors
Bolted Connection
Fluid and Rotor Regions


Assembly Connections – Surface to Surface and Edge to Surface
In many cases, you can use assemble FEA models with a Connector that defines surface to surface, edge
to surface contact or edge to edge contact. These connections are defined differently from traditional
connection elements like rigid, gap or springs.
A Connector is comprised of two (2) components:
• Connection Property
 Surface to Surface connections
 Edge to Surface connections are
limited to Glued contact
 Edge to Edge connections are
limited in NX Nastran to connections
between Plane Strain, Plane Stress,
and/or Axisymmetric element free
edges
• A pair of Connection Regions
 Master (Target)
 Slave (Source)


Automatic Connections – Connect > Automatic Command
The Connect > Automatic command finds the closest surfaces between solids and automatically
generates “Connectors” (also known as “Contact Elements”) between adjacent “Connection Regions”.
This command is also found in the Model Info pane by right‐clicking on the Connections object and
selecting the Automatic menu item.
• After the solids are selected, you are presented with the Auto Detection Options for Connections
dialog box that is described in detail on the following page.


Auto Detection Options for Connections Dialog Box - 1
The Auto Detection Option for Connections dialog box has entries for:
• Connection Types
 Face – Face
 Edge – Face
 Edge – Edge
• Connection Property
 Contact
 Glued
 Property – select an existing Connection Property
• Edge Region Output
 Nodes
 Elements – automatically selected when Face – Face is selected as the only Connection Type


Auto Detection Options for Connections Dialog Box – 2
Detection Options:
• Distance Tolerance – maximum distance to check
between selected solids
• Angular Tolerance – maximum angle between non‐
planar and non‐parallel surfaces allowed
• Detection Strategy – Minimal to Aggressive
• Check for Connections in Same Solid – generally not
used unless you are checking for contact within a single
part such as a flexible seal
• Combine all Connection between Solids ‐ combines all detected connection regions between a pair
of solids and combines them into one region for each solid
 Combine Non‐Tangent Edge Connections – available only when Edge – Face and/or Edge – Edge
Connection Types are selected. Combine the edges on the Connection Region into a single
continuous region, except when 90‐degree corners occur.


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, Buckling, Normal Modes and
Advanced Nonlinear solutions.
 Always click the Defaults button when switching Contact Type or manually creating a new
Connection Property.


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.
 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.
 Eval Order ‐ determines the number of "Linear Contact or Glue Points" for a single element on
the source region. The higher the Order, the longer the solution will take.
 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.


NX Nastran Linear Contact Property Options
Setting the Connect Type to 0..Contact implements the NX Nastran linear contact algorithm. 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.

Note: For more details on Contact, see the Femap Commands manual, Section 4.4.3. You can also
refer to the NX Nastran Users Guide, Chapter 19 for additional details on glued and linear
contact.


NX Nastran Linear Contact Property Options (continued)
Initial ‐ Controls how NX Nastran handles initial gap and/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 Penetration ‐
Same as 0..Calculated, but if
penetration is 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 are
defined at the top of the shell
mesh, not the mid plane of the
shells.


Manually Creating Connections
You can create a Connector by using the Connect > Connector command. This command is also
accessed by right‐clicking the Connections Connector object in the Model Info pane and selecting New
from the menu.
• Includes the option to Define Region(s) while executing this command


Manually Creating Regions – 1
You can create a Connection Region by using the Connect > Connector Region command. This
command is also accessed by right‐clicking the Connections Region object in the Model Info pane and
selecting New from the menu. This activates the Connection Regions dialog box.

• Type informs the FEA solver that
the region is either:
 Deformable, or
 Rigid – not applicable to NX Nastran, except NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear and 3rd party
solvers
• Output is by:
 Nodes – used for defining the Edge Connection Region in a Edge to Surface Connector
 Curves – used to define Connection Regions for some 3rd party solvers (e.g. Abaqus)
 Elements – No Faces – applicable for MSC Nastran only
 Elements – used for most NX Nastran Connection Regions


Manually Creating Regions – 2
Defined By:
• Surfaces – When used, Femap automatically
extracts the element faces on the surface
• Elements – Select the element faces(s) to be
included in the Connection Region
• Curves – When used for defining edges in
Edge to Surface Connectors, Femap will
automatically extract the nodes on the curve
• Nodes – Available only when Output is set to
Nodes
• Property / Part Contact – select a property and Femap will automatically extract the element faces
of all elements using the selected property
Region Options allows the setting of an offset distance for the region – valid only for NX Nastran Linear
Statics and NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear solutions
Note: For Surfaces, Positive Side indicates that the positive element normal is used for
the Face ID, otherwise, use the reverse normal face. Disable only when elements on the surface
are 2D elements.
For Curves, Positive Side indicates that the nodes on the curve will be output from the start to
the end, otherwise, the nodes will be output from end to start.


Editing the List of Entities in a Connection Region
The normal method of
selecting entities for the
Connection Region is by
single selection of the entity
type selected by the Defined
By radio button. Clicking the
Add Multiple button opens
the Select Entity dialog box
for the entity type selected.

To remove an entity from
the list, click the entity in the
list field, then, click the
Remove from List ( )
button as shown to the
right.

To reverse the direction of a
surface or element, select
the surface(s) or element(s)
from the list, then click the
Reverse button.


Notes on Connection Regions
A Connection Region should not have gaps or discontinuities in tangencies. If a gap or discontinuity of
tangency occurs, you should copy and edit the Connection Region to remove gaps and/or discontinuity
in tangencies.
In the example below, the single Connector as shown on the left should be split into five (5) Connectors
as shown on the right.


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 Slave or 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 Source’s 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 (Source) Mesh Density ≥ Master (Target) Mesh Density


Modeling Pre-loaded Bolted Connections
Femap has two element options for modeling bolts with preloads:
Bolt using Solid elements:
• Model the bolt with Solid elements
• Create Contact Connections between the bolt and the surrounding structure
• At a location on the bolt’s solid mesh, create a Bolt Region using Nodes.
 Set the Bolt Axis Csys and Direction
• Assign a Bolt Preload to the Bolt Region
Bolt using Line elements:
• Model the bolt with Beam or Bar element(s)
• Attach the ends of the bolt to the connecting parts with Line (Rigid, Beam/Bar, CBUSH, or GAP)
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
• Create a Bolt Region using the bolt’s Beam/Bar elements


Bolted Connection Example
Two Aluminum lugs connected by a Stainless Steel bolt, nut and washers on a symmetric model
(symmetry about the global ZX plane)
• Lower assembly uses a 2 Element Beam/Bar Region with Rigid Elements at both ends connecting to
the lugs for all three (3) Translational DOFs and a Rigid Element at the interface between the lugs for
the X and Y Translational DOFs at the edge of the holes
• Upper assembly uses a Solid Bolt Region
• Contact Connection Properties have assigned frictions for Steel to Aluminum (0.7) and Aluminum to
Aluminum (0.4)
• 100 N Bolt Pre‐loads
• 500 N Bearing Load on the Upper Lug in both assemblies
• Pinned ends on lower lugs


Bolted Connection Example (continued)
Results are almost identical, except for the following:
• Larger gap between lugs for the Solid bolt
• Higher stress at washer for the Beam bolt due to the rigid connection


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).


Rotor Connection Regions
Used to model Rotors for Rotor Dynamic analysis
• Define using Nodes
• Requires that the rotor’s axis of rotation be aligned with a Coordinate System Z‐axis


Lesson 25 ‐ Finite Element Model Debugging
Purpose:
This lesson is an overview of methods to check and debug Finite Element Models.
Topics:
• Finite Element Modeling Mesh Sizing
• Recommended Model Checks
• Results Checking
• Model Debugging
• Common Errors

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
Coarse Less Degrees of Freedom
Model Distorted elements can be
Reduced Solve Time
too stiff and misrepresent
response
Accuracy for complicated Higher number of Elements
geometry is improved
Fine Model More Degrees of Freedom
Less distorted elements
Increased Solve Time
improves results


Minimum Recommended Model Checks
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
• 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
• Materials – check for E and G/nu zero (0) values
• Undeformed plots
• Look at connections between different element types
• Based on knowledge of elements
• Based on Loads
• Look at corners (QUAD plates)


Recommended Model Checks
Mass properties
• Check ρ (density) on MATx entries
• Check Non‐Structural Mass (NSM) on property entries
 Bars, beams = mass/unit length
 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
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)


Recommended Model Checks – Continued
Static Checks
• Apply 1‐G in X,Y, and Z directions independently
• Check load paths (GPFORCE)
• Check Reactions (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.


Recommended Model Checks - Continued
Thermal equilibrium check (if Thermal loads are being considered)
• Check α (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) on MATx entries
• 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 > 10‐9and/or MAXRATIO > 105 may indicate trouble
• Check reaction loads
 Do they 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


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?
• Are there any mechanisms (f = 0.0)?
• More than six “rigid‐body” modes in free‐free?
• Any “rigid‐body” modes in constrained modes?
• Check Mode Shapes. Identify Modes.
• Plots


Recommended Model Checks – Elements
Beam and bar
• Check that both ends of the beam have correct orientation
• Check end releases (in element coordinates)
• Offsets (in output coordinate system 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)
• 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, require a special modeling
effort)


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


Model Debugging
Use of consistent units is of utmost importance!!!
Recommended minimum checks on input
• Stiffness matrix checks
 At the G‐size
 After MPC Processing
 After All Processing
Mass Checks
• Grid point weight generator output
• Rigid‐body mass checks
• Assembly mass checks
Loading checks


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.


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


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
Existence of hinged connections at interfaces between:
• Beam(s) and Plate(s)
• Beam(s) and solid(s)
• Plate(s) and solid(s)


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)
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


Lesson 26 ‐ Modeling Composite Layups with Femap
Purpose:
This lesson provides an overview of modeling laminate composites with Femap
Topics:
• Composite Materials
• Inter‐laminate Shear Stress and Failure
• Femap Laminate Properties Creation and Editing
• Femap Composite Layup Creating and Editing
• Modeling Honeycomb Core Composites
• Post Processing Models Containing Composites

Composite Materials
Composite materials:
• 2D Orthotropic materials are generally
used for defining Laminate Plate
elements
• Isotropic or 3D Orthotropic are used for
Laminate Solid elements
For most applications, they are either:
• Unidirectional tape in a resin
• Bi‐directional fabric in a resin


Examples of Composite Material Tensile Strengths
Highlighted materials are commonly used materials in aerospace, marine and wind energy
• Specific material attributes should be obtained from the material supplier or by testing


Composite A, B and D Matrices
In it’s simplest form, the equations for normal (N) and bending forces (M) on a composite shell is as
follows:

The A matrix is the Extensional Stiffness:

The B matrix is the Coupling Stiffness:

The D matrix is the Bending Stiffness:

Note: tk is the thickness of the kth layer and is the distance from the mid‐plane to the centroid of the
kth layer.


LAMINATE PLATE Element Property
A Layup is required to define a Laminate Plate element property

• Offset Bottom Surface – when used, the bottom layer of the layup is offset the distance entered
from the surface(s) meshed, otherwise, the midplane of the laminate will be located on the
meshed surface(s)
 Overrides the Offset options in the Automesh Surfaces dialog box
• Options (see page 4‐39 in the Femap Commands manual)
 1..Symmetric – when used, you only need to define the bottom half of the Layup

User Tip: Use the same ID for the Laminate Plate Property and the Layup assigned for the property.
This will make your model more consistent and make it easier to edit.


LAMINATE PLATE Element Property – continued
Laminate Properties:
• N.S. Mass/Area – assign non‐structural
mass per surface area
• BondShr Allow – used to calculate
interlaminar failure indices
• Ref Temp
• Damping
Failure Theory – used to calculate laminate
failure indices. NX Nastran supports the
following (see NX Nastran User’s Guide,
Chapter 24):
• Hill – used where materials have equal tensile and compressive strengths
• Hoffman
• Tsai‐Wu
• Max Strain
Note: Additional failure theories are supported in Femap add‐ins such as Femply.


Setting the Material Angle for LAMINATE PLATEs
For Laminate Plate elements, assign the 0‐degree ply material direction using the command Modify >
Update Elements > Material Orientation
• View the material direction with the View Option, Element – Material Direction enabled


LAMINATE SOLID Element Property
Similar to the LAMINATE PLATE Element, a Layup is required to define a LAMINATE SOLID element
property.

The Material Coordinate System’s X‐axis is aligned with the x direction of the element’s plies.
The Ply/Stack direction specifies the direction of the layup relative to the Material Coordinate System.

Laminate Properties define:
• Bond Shear Stress Allowable
• Bond Normal Stress Allowable
• Reference Temperature
• Damping Coefficient


LAMINATE SOLID Element Materials
Isotropic or 3D Othotropic materials should be used for Laminate Solid elements
• Ply and bond failure theories and allowables are defined in the Ply/Bond Failure tab in the Define
Material – ISOTROPIC or 3D ORTHOTROPIC dialog box.


LAMINATE SOLID Element Meshing
Use only one solid element in thickness for meshing since the pre‐defined layup will be applied to the
element.
• The thickness of the solid element should be the same thickness as the layup, otherwise, every ply in
the layup will have its thickness scaled by the ratio between the thickness of the layup and the
thickness of the element:
 Ply Thickness = Layup Thickness / Element Thickness. e.g. A 2 mm thick total layup applied to
two (2) 100 mm long beams with a 10 N End Load.
 Top beam is 2 mm thick – lower beam is 1 mm thick.
• Assign a Global Ply to each ply in a layup used for LAMINATE SOLIDs.


Composite Layups
A Layup is the Femap object that manages the stack up of multiple composite plies
• Limit of 5000 plies per Layup.

A Ply has the following attributes:
• Ply ID (number)
• Global Ply ID – Used to designate a common ply ID used in all layups in a model
• Material
• Thickness
• Angle


Global Ply IDs
A Global Ply ID is used to designate a single continuous ply in a model.
• Layups can contain multiple Global Plies, however, a Global Ply can be assigned only once in a layup.
• If a GPID is specified for every ply in a layup, Femap generates a PCOMPG card instead of a PCOMP
and then the GPID results are generated by NX Nastran.
Manage Global Plies with the Global Ply definition dialog box:
• Right‐click the Layups object in the Model Info pane
• Click the Global Ply icon ( ) in the Layup Editor dialog box.
• Enable AutoCreate to create a new Global Ply when creating a
new ply.


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 using:
• Update Global Ply
• Update Material
• Update Thickness
• Update Angle


Duplicating and Modifying Ply Sequences
Duplicate ‐ the selected ply or plies are copied to the top of the
Layup.
Delete the selected ply.
Symmetric ‐ the “mirrored” plies will be added to the top of the Layup in reverse order of selection.
Reverse ‐ reverse the order of the selected plies based on the original position (i.e., 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
Rotate – modify the angle of the selected ply(s) by the angle specified .
Copy and Paste – copy to the top of the current layup or another layup.
Compute – compute the layup’s in‐plane and bending flexural properties along with A, B and D (and
inverse) matrices and display in the Messages pane.


Layup Editor – Layup Viewer
The Layup Editor dialog box has a Layup Viewer icon that launches the Layup Viewer.
Options to control display of:
• Thickness
• Ply Angles
• Titles
• Color
• Scale
The Copy icon pastes a picture of the layup to Windows clipboard.


Composite Layup Laminate Equivalent Properties
When the Entity Info pane 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 the Compute button in the Layup Editor
dialog box will display the calculated Laminate
Equivalent Properties in the Messages pane. These
properties are NOT updated until the Compute
button is reselected.


Modeling Honeycomb Core Composites
There are two element type options for modeling Honeycomb Core Composites:
• Laminate
 Major limitation is that potential crushing of the core is ignored
 Use two (2) plies to model a core in order to calculate the maximum shear force at the core

• Shell – Femap has an API script to generate a property for the same type of layup
 Custom Tools > Honeycomb PSHELL > Honeycomb PShell Property


Post Processing Laminate Models - Available Output Vectors
NX Nastran generates results on a per‐ply basis
• Output Vectors equivalent to a plate element –
Normal, Shear, Major Principle, Minor Principle,
Maximum Shear, and VonMises Stresses are
available for post processing
• When a Failure Theory is specified in a layup,
and additional Output Vector for the laminate
ply failure index (Lam Plyn Fib Fail Index) is
available for posting
• When a interlaminar bond shear allowance
(Bond/Shr Allow) is specified, a ply n to ply n+1
failure index (Lam Bondn‐n+1 Fail Index) is
available for posting

Note: Ply X Normal Stress is always pointed in the
ply fiber direction.
e.g. for a 45‐degree ply, the X Normal stress
is 45‐degrees from the material direction


Post Processing Laminate Models - Global Ply Data
Femap will create Global Ply ID (GPID) results on the fly without having to assign a GPID to every ply in a
layup
• The Contour tool in the PostProcessing
toolbox has a dropdown for Laminate
Results From.
 When no GPIDs exist in model,
Femap can still use the Top Ply of
Layup or the Bottom Ply of Layup
for post processing.
• Use the command, Model > Output >
Global Ply to generate output vectors
for each GPID.
 Does not generate output vectors
for Top and Bottom plies of layups,
just for assigned GPIDs.

Note: You can assign Global Plies after an analysis is completed.


Notes on Post Processing Laminate Results
For Strength Ratio Output Vectors, Enable SRCOMPS in the Nastran Bulk Data Options dialog box for
Analysis Set(s) containing Laminate Shell or Laminate Solid elements.

Lesson 27 ‐ Spring and Damper Elements
This lesson is an overview of the definition of Spring and Damper elements.
Topics:
• Spring/Damper Elements
• DOF Spring Elements
• Spring/Damper to Ground and DOF Spring to Ground Elements

Spring/Damper Elements – CBUSH and CROD/CVIS
Spring/Damper elements are used to connect elements by stiffness and/or damping
• CBUSH elements are frequently used to model fasteners in place of Beam or Rod elements,
particularly in aerospace and marine vehicle applications and is defined by axial and/or rotational
stiffness and damping
• Selecting Other creates Nastran CROD or CVISC elements
• Entering a stiffness generates CROD elements using a PROD property and a MAT1 material card
– entering a damping value will generate an error
• Entering a value for Damping with Stiffness=0, generates CVISC elements using a PVISC property

Spring/DamperElements – CBUSH
Nonlinear Spring/Damper elements are referred to in Nastran as CBUSH elements with their associated
property, PBUSH
• Input Stiffness and/or Damping for 1 to 6 D.O.Fs
• Similar to Beam and Bar elements, an orientation axis perpendicular to the local X‐axis needs to be
specified for meshing
• An Orientation CSys can be specified, otherwise, the local X‐axis is determined by the direction of
the element’s A and B nodes
• Should always be specified if the A and B nodes are initially coincident

Nonlinear Spring/Damper Elements – PBUSH
Nonlinear Spring/Damper elements can be defined with the Nonlinear/Freq Response button in the
Define Property – SPRING/DAMPER Element Type dialog box
• Generates a PBUSHT property
Multiple options to specify Frequency Response Function Dependence:
• Stiffness vs Frequency
• Force/Velocity vs Frequency
• Structural Damping vs Frequency
Can also be defined as Nonlinear Force vs. Displacement


CBUSH Element Creation
CBUSH elements can be defined using a single property card and a Orientation set to a CSys or the CSys
assigned to the From Property.
The Mesh ‐> Connect ‐> Closest Link command also allows the definition of Line Orientation by a CSys.

DOF Spring Elements
DOF Spring elements are referred to in Nastran as CELASi elements with their associated property,
PELAS
• Inputs stiffness between two nodes between a single D.O.F. between the two (2) nodes.
• Directional stiffness is relative to the Nastran Global coordinate system, also known as the output
system of the node.
• Default is a CELAS2 ‐ to change to the CELAS1, set or modify the Property Formulation.
• Use only when nodes are coincident; Not recommended for non‐coincident node connections –
grounding could occur.


CBUSH Element Editing
When editing a CBUSH element, you can specify the Orientation by a Csy
• When the Orientation Csys option is used to define CBUSH element(s), Femap will generate the
orientation CSys on the Nastran CBUSH card(s)


Spring/Damper to Ground and DOF Spring to Ground Elements
Spring/Damper to Ground and DOF Spring to Ground Elements are defined similar to 1D Spring/Damper
and DOF Spring elements except that they are defined by a single node.
• Nodes for these elements do not need to be constrained in directions where stiffness is greater than
zero (0)


Cantilever Beam Supported with a Spring/Damper to Ground Element
Lower beam has a fixed left support, upper beam has a Spring/Damper to Ground element with stiffness
defined in the X and Y directions
Note the displacement and the higher moment on the upper beam with the Spring/Damper to Ground
element
Femap 101 for Femap v11.3 A ‐1
Appendix A – Femap Preferences
Overview
Preferences are used to configure Femap for optimum performance and the way you prefer to work.
This chapter provides an overview of the preference settings that can be set in Femap. It is not intended
as a complete description of all Femap preferences. These can be found in the Femap document,
commands.pdf, in section 2.6.2.
• 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, 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
• Views
• Graphics
• User Interface
• Database
• Solver
• Geometry/Model
• Interfaces
• Results
• Library/Startup
• Color
• Spaceball
Most changes to Femap’s preferences will
take effect immediately after making
changes and closing the Preferences
dialog box.
However, changes to Advanced/Debug Options for Graphics and Databasepreferences require that you
close the Preferences dialog box, exit and restart Femap.

Messages
The Messages tab sets the fonts and colors displayed in the Messages window.
• Changes to any of these options requires you to either to do perform one of the following
operations:
 Close and reopen the Messages pane, OR
 Exit and restart Femap

Views
Selecting 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, Picture Save Defaults including resolution
• Set view options such as turning the Workplane Never Visible in New View
• Contour Palette sets the default post processing contour palette for any new view
• Specify View and Dynamic Rotation options
 Try changing the Dynamic Speed option if flickering is encountered during dynamic rotation
Graphics
Selecting the Graphics tab 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.
• Performance Graphics can be used to improve graphics performance if a graphics card that supports
OpenGL 4.2 or higher is installed
• Settings for MAX VBO (Vertex Buffer Object) MB should be anywhere between 50 and 75 percent
(%) of your graphics card memory.
• 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 BitBlt Delay can be used to help with performance on consumer or game‐oriented
graphics cards.
Graphics Cards 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, 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)
• You should also set your graphics card performance settings to the default settings. In some cases,
setting a card for optimum performance for a specific application my cause Femap to crash.
• If your PC has both on‐board (Motherboard) graphics and a separate, high‐performance graphics
GPU or add‐in graphics card, disable the on‐board graphics or set the default graphics to the high‐
performance GPU/Card
User Interface Settings
Selecting the User Interface tab sets preferences for:
• Menus and Dialog Boxes
 Turn on/off option to Autorepeat Create Commands
 Option to Remember Dialog Box Positions
• Graphical Selection
 Set the default Pick Method
 Set the default Snap To method
• Mouse Interface
• Meshing Toolbox
• Dockable Panes
• Model Info
• Show Entities Defaults
• International Localization
• Toolbars
 Save Layouts and
Load Layouts of user
interface customizations

Database Settings
The Database tab defines various performance settings:
• Database Options
• Database Performance
 Details regarding the option for setting the Open/Save Method are on page A‐15
• Timed Save
• Scratch Directory – details on page A‐14
Click the Database Options Help button for detailed information on settings in this tab.

Database – Scratch Directory
This option specifies the location of Femap’s Scratch Directory folder where temporary, scratch, and
recovery files are written during a Femap session
• If this option is left blank, Femap will write its temporary files to the Windows TEMP folder location
 When a Windows TEMP variable is not defined, the location of the Femap scratch files defaults
to your Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp folder. In many cases, this is a
location on the network other than your local PC.
 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 files in a Femap session have the potential to be
corrupted.
• Exit and restart Femap after making a change to the Scratch Directory location.

Database – Database Performance, Open/Save Method
Click the Read/Write Test button after the initial installation of Femap or after making a change to the
Scratch Directory location.
• Read/Write Test is used to determine which Open/Save Method should work best on your
machine. It reads and writes a series of 12 100 MB files using various “block sizes” to determine the
method. When finished, results of the test will be written to the Messages window and the
“recommended” setting will be displayed in the Open/Save Method drop‐down.
• Exit and restart Femap after running this test.

Solvers
The Solvers tab allows you to specify the location of the solver executables shown in the picture below
as well as arguments to be automatically passed to the solver when Femap launches the solver specified
in an Analysis Set.
• If you are using NX Nastran solver included with the Femap with NX Nastran installation, you do not
need to set the NX Nastran solver location and arguments, unless you want to override the
arguments and options set in the Nastran\conf\nastxy.rcf file under the main Femap installation
folder.

Geometry/Model – Geometry Preferences
Select between the Parasolid or Standard geometry engines to start with. The Parasolid engine is
recommended.
The Solid Geometry Scale Factor is used to internally store your geometry units as meters in Parasolid.
• Enabling the option to Automatically Adjust Geometry Scale Factors automatically adjusts the solid
geometry scale factor of imported geometry to match the scale factor of the model, otherwise, the
modified geometry will be out of scale with the imported geometry.
FEMAP can be set to Delete Construction Geometry, Move to the “NoPick Layer or, simply do nothing
when used.
Enabling the option for Optimize Geometry on Import will cause Femap to attempt to automatically
repair invalid geometry and simplify complex geometry.
Geometry/Model – Load Expansion on Midside Nodes
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.
Element Quality checks can be turned on or off permanently and default values set for Femap and NX
Nastran quality checks via the Element Quality button.
• Used to set the values for Femap’s Tools, Check, Element Distortion command and in the Meshing
Toolbox’s Quality Tool
Default output orientations for various element shapes can be permanently set for use when
transforming results from the Output Orientation button.

Geometry/Model – Other Load Options and Meshing and Properties Settings
Rotate Loads in Modify Rotate/Align Csys is enabled by default. When on, the loads will be rotated
along with other entities when using the Modify, Rotate To, CSys; Modify, Rotate By CSys; or Modify,
Align, CSys commands.
Pre‐v11.1 Tet Meshing and Surface Meshing can be set as the defaults. This will allow FEMAP to use
the “older” meshers instead of the “new” meshers, should any issues arise.
Select between the following for Mesh Sizing:
• 0..Parametric
• 1..Equal Length
• 2..Parametric/Equal Length (default)
 First set the mesh size on curves using parametric spacing, then determines an average distance
between each of the mesh locations on each curve. If the distance between any of the mesh
locations is more than 1% different than the average distance, then that curve is resized using
equal length sizing.
The Alternate Section Property Calculator can be turned on in this dialog box. By choosing this 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.

Interfaces – Interface and File Reference Options
The Interfaces tab 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 solvers.
• Enabling the option for Automatically Load Results will automatically import or attach results files
to your Femap model when an analysis is submitted via the Analysis Set Manager and has
completed without fatal errors.
• Increase the value of Nastran Options, Max Lines to Monitor from the default value of 5000 if you
like to view the .f06 file during analysis execution.
Enabling 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.
With the option to Run Analysis using VisQ enabled, an Analysis Set submitted for analysis with the
Analysis Set Manager will generate the input deck and place it in the VisQ analysis queue.

Interfaces – Nastran Options
Setting the default value of Nastran Options, Solver Memory overrides the default memory setting for
NX Nastran in the nastran\conf\nastxy.rcf file under the main Femap installation folder.
• Note that this is the amount of physical memory allocated per CPU, not total memory and should be
less than eighty percent (80%) of Physical Memory divided by the number of CPUs set in the
nastxy.rcf file or in an individual Analysis Set.
• The value set for Solver Memory does not apply to the NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear solver. The
total value of physical memory to be made available for a NX Nastran Advanced Nonlinear solution
(SOL601, SOL601,129 and SOL701) is set by the Windows Environment variable NXNA_MEMORY,
where the value of the variable is in MB. E.g. for 12 Gb, NXNA_MEMORY=12000.
If you have NX Nastran installed on a 64‐bit system, enabling the Use ILP 64‐bit NX Nastran option will
instruct NX Nastran to solve using the “ILP” version of 64‐bit Nastran. “ILP” is able to allocate more
memory than “regular” 64‐bit Nastran by using a 64‐bit word size and 64‐bit memory pointer, while
integers are 64‐bits and floating point uses one 64‐bit word. This is recommended only when your NX
Nastran jobs require more than 8 GB total of memory.
You can override the Nastran scratch file location set in the nastxy.rcf file using the Scratch Directory
option setting and redirect NX Nastran output files (.log, .f04, .f06, .op2 and .xdb) using the Direct
Output To option setting.

Results‐ File Settings Options
The Results tab was added in Femap v11 where you can set options for:
• File Options
 Automatically Attach to Result Files – this option is disabled by default
 Enable the option for automatically Create Studies
 Set options for Study Titles
• Nastran Options
 Set options for Output Set Titles
 Use Static Subcase IDs to set the Results Set ID, and/or append a revision number to the Results
Set title by enabling the Track Revision option
 Append the Femap Title of the Analysis Set to the Results Set title
• General Solver Options
• Set Freebody Defaults
• Auto Answer NASTRAN F06 Read Questions

Library/Startup
The Library/Startup preferences allow you to specify default FEMAP library files
• Objects saved such as Materials, Functions, etc. are saved into the preferred library
• Specify the location of your Custom Tools Path. Generally, you should set this to the API folder
under the main Femap installation folder.
• The User Tools Path is the location of API scripts and other programs that interact with Femap via
the Femap API.
• Program is a API script, Program File, or other executable that can be set to run at the beginning of
every new Femap session and optionally, Run for Every New Model.
,

Color
Color preferences allow you to set the default colors for new Femap models. This does not modify
entity colors in existing models.
You can define a custom Color Palette that will be used in lieu of the Femap’s default palette and in
addition, you can define and designate a User Contour Palette for post processing results.

Spaceball
When you have a Spaceball attached to your PC, you can set options for use of a Spaceball device in
Femap.
Title of document [Version #] 9
This software and related documentation are proprietary to Siemens Product Lifecycle Management
Software Inc .
©2017 Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc.
Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. Femap, NX, Solid Edge, and
Teamcenter are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management
Software Inc. or their subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks,
registered trademarks, or service marks belong to their respective holders.

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Femap 101 for Femap v11.3

Student Guide, Revision 2

Management Software Inc.

All trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Who should attend

Provided course materials

Classroom system information

Lesson No Lesson Topic Workshop

Lesson No Lesson Topic Workshop

Lesson No Lesson Topic Workshop

Lesson No Lesson Topic Workshop

What is Finite Element Analysis?

What comprises a FEA model?

Femap Objects and Workflow for Generating a FEA Model

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Geometry

Import Geometry Create Geometry Modify Geometry

Femap Model Objects and Commands – Materials and Properties

Femap Model Objects and Commands – Boundary Conditions

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Meshing

Model > Analysis Model > Node Model > Element

Femap Model Objects and Commands - Analysis

Analyze View Results (Post process) Report

Overview of the Femap Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Femap Model Units

Femap Model Data Units to Achieve Accurate Results – Structural Problems

English Metric Metric SI

Length inches mm mm m

Mass Density lbm/in3 kg/mm3 Tonnes/mm3 kg/m3

Force lbf mN N N

Velocity in/sec mm/sec mm/sec m/sec

Acceleration in/sec2 mm/sec2 mm/sec2 m/sec2

Temperature °F °C °C °C

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in/degF mm/degC mm/degC m/degC

Femap Model Data Units to Achieve Accurate Results – Thermal Problems

English Metric Metric SI

Length inches mm mm m

Mass Density lbm/in3 kg/mm3 Tonnes/mm3 kg/m3

Temperature °F °C °C °C

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in/degF mm/degC mm/degC m/degC

Energy lbf‐in µJ mJ J

Thermal Conductivity lbf/sec‐°F W/mm‐°C W/mm‐°C W/m‐°C

Specific Heat lbf/sec2‐°F µJ /sec2‐°C mJ/sec2‐°C J/sec2‐°C

Heat Transfer Coefficient lbf/in‐sec‐°F W/mm2 W/mm2 W/m2

Femap Model File Formats

Femap Model File Formats (continued)

Femap Preferences Dialog Box

Femap Preferences – Geometry/Model – Solid Geometry Scale Factor

Femap Preferences – Graphics

Femap Preferences – Graphics, Performance Graphics and VBOs

Graphics Card Performance Considerations

Femap Preferences – Database

Femap Preferences – Database – Scratch Directory

Femap Preferences – Database – Database Performance

Femap Main Window Layout

Femap Title Bar

Femap Menu Bar

Femap Graphics Window

Current Model Status FEMAP Status

Model Info Pane

Model Info Pane Toolbar

Entity Editor Pane

Entity Editor – continued