FEMAP does not support all of the MSC/pal2 commands. If your model contains some of the unsupported generation commands, you will have to expand it before it can be read into FEMAP. Use the ADCAP2 program (supplied with MSC/pal2) to expand your file.
OTHER INTERFACES
mands.
E.7.3 Reading MSC/pal2 Analysis Results
When you have completed your MSC/pal2 analysis, you should recover output to a file.
FEMAP reads the normal output files from MSC/pal2. There is no need to do any special setup or processing. You can choose any level of output that you want. Just be aware that if you do not recover the output to your file, FEMAP will not be able to postprocess it. For that reason, it is usually best to specify a fairly “high” level of output recovery. Likewise, you can limit output recovery to a selected group of nodes or elements, but it is usually best to recover output for all entities. If you only recover partial output, the resulting deformed and contour plots can be misleading.
It is extremely important to start with a FEMAP model that corresponds to the MSC/pal2 analysis. This is especially true because the MSC/pal2 System Definition file does not use element ID numbers even though the output file does. FEMAP must “match-up” the elemen-tal output to the elements in your model. This “matching” is purely based on the ID order in your model. If you modified any of the elements in your System Definition file, FEMAP could mix-up the output and the elements. Therefore, if you have made any changes to the MSC/pal2 files, start a new FEMAP model and read those files before you read the analysis results.
By default, FEMAP expects output to be in a file with a “.PRT” extension. To load the results, choose the File, Import, Analysis Results command and select MSC/PAL 2. FEMAP will simply display the standard file access dialog box so you can choose the file you want to read. Before reading data from a file, you will see a brief description of the file in the Mes-sages and Lists window, and you will be asked to confirm that this is the file you want to read.
Output for Post-processing
As we said above, you can recover any level of output. The output that you can postprocess is largely dependent on what you choose to recover. FEMAP can read essentially any of the MSC/pal2 output, including: APPLIED FORCES (Static Only), EXTERNAL FORCES, DISPLACEMENTS, EIGENVECTORS, VELOCITIES (Transient Only), ACCELERA-TIONS (Transient Only), ELEMENTAL FORCES, ELEMENTAL STRESSES, and NODAL STRESSES.
Unlike the other analysis programs that FEMAP supports, MSC/pal2 does not write laminate output so you cannot postprocess it. You must use MSC/pal2 directly to work with laminate output.
Note: ADCAP will discard any nodes that are located at the global origin (0.0,0.0,0.0). If your model contains one or more nodes at this location, and you expand it using ADCAP, FEMAP will warn you that some nodes do not exist. You can then use the Model, Node command to recreate those nodes in FEMAP at the origin. After you have created all missing nodes, use the File, Rebuild command to check your model to ensure all nodes are present.
Frequency analysis output is written with both magnitude and phase information. Currently, FEMAP can only postprocess the magnitude. Phase information is simply discarded. In addition to the output found in the MSC/pal2 output file, FEMAP will compute the displace-ment magnitudes, or Total Translation and Total Rotation. Likewise for stress output, if cen-troidal stresses are not reported in the output file, FEMAP will compute them as the average of elemental corner values. In addition, FEMAP will compute principal, max shear, mean, and Von Mises stresses, whenever possible.
E.8 mTAB*STRESS Interfaces
FEMAP provides direct interfaces to the mTAB*STRESS file formats. You can write a FEMAP model to mTAB*STRESS format for analysis, read an existing mTAB*STRESS model, or read analysis results for post-processing.
Since mTAB*STRESS uses the SAP IV model file format, these interfaces can be used to read and write SAP models as well. You cannot postprocess SAP IV results, however, because FEMAP reads mTAB*STRESS output from an “mTAB-unique” output file which SAP cannot produce.
See Also
For more information on the entities that are translated, see:
• Section E.1, "Translation Table for Other Analysis Program Interfaces"
E.8.1 Writing a Model
The File, Export, Analysis Model command allows you to export an analysis model which can be read by STRESS. After you choose the File, Export, Analysis Model command, select and mTAB*STRESS format. Select the appropriate option and you will then be asked for the name of the file that you want to create. You will notice that the default filename has the extension “.SAP”.
Note: Throughout this section, mTAB*STRESS may be referred to as “STRESS” for brevity.
OTHER INTERFACES
either Static or Modal analy-sis, you will see the SAP Model Write dialog box. The options at the top of the dia-log box apply to either type of analysis.