February 2006

Editor’s Pick of the Week—February 22, 2006Solid modeling software features big functionality at low cost.Alibre Inc. (Richardson, TX) has released version 9.0 of its flagship3D parametric solid modeling software, Alibre Design.  The version9.0 offers a host of new functionality and ease-of-use enhancements aswell as an expanded API for smoother third-party integrations.Among the new capabilities in Alibre Design 9.0.is design-configurationsupport in parts, assemblies, drawings, and BOMs (bills of materials),which enables you to build and manage projects efficiently with avariety of similar parts or assemblies.  You can better exploreand test concepts and show different stages of operation all in asingle model without having to design and manage each variation inseparate files.Alibre Design 9.0 also has undergone improvements to itsspreadsheet-driven design capability using Excel spreadsheets tosupport Design Configurations, multiple parameter selection and soforth. It also has a number of new tools to suppress/un-suppressassembly constraints and constituents in an assembly workspace.Alibre Design’s 2D Drawing enhancements include support for import andexport of the latest versions of DWG and DXF files. This letstraditional CAD designers convert legacy 2D designs into intelligent 3Dmodels easily, and share precisely generated 2D drawings with partnersusing AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.Alibre Design’s sheet metal functionality has been improved withsupport for overlapping flanges, enabling the design of sheet metalenclosures with airtight edges. The new Pattern tool enables creationof more complex user-defined patterns. For example, its expanded palletincludes punch patterns commonly used in sheet metal parts from turretpunch press machines for cooling, weight reduction, and attachment offasteners and connectors.Improvements and enhancements to the Alibre design API opens upadditional opportunities to tightly integrate Alibre Design withvertical applications such CAM, FEA, motion simulation, and reverseengineering as well as into enterprise PLM processes and systems.Pricing for Alibre Design 9.0 begins at $995. The Professional at $1495builds on that and includes integrated sheet metal design and datamanagement tools plus professional add-on software. At $1795, theDesign Expert includes everything in the 9.0 and Professional versionsas well as additional add-on software for a total design tomanufacturing solution. All versions include built-in real-timecollaboration tools.For complete details, click here to go to the Alibre website. Clickhere to register for a 30-day free trial of Alibre Design. 9.0.

Editor’s Pick of the Week—February 15, 2006Stress and Strain for Excel UTS preprograms Roark’s FormulasUniversal Technical Systems (UTS; Rockford, IL) released its firstedition of Interactive Roark’s Formulas for its flagship TK Solvermathematical equation solver back in 1989. Now, UTS has made Roark’sFormulas for Stress and Strain available in a form that integrateswithin Microsoft Excel.UTS’s version of Roark’s Formulas follows the McGraw-Hill engineeringreference book’s organization of formulas by chapter, table, and case.It offers the complete, 5,000-plus collection on shells, plates, beams,bars, columns, and other components. The entire collection of formulasis pre-programmed and ready to use at the click of a button, makingapplying multiple formulas fast and easy. For example, you simply openthe application in Excel, load the model in the format you want, inputvalues, and solve.With Roark’s Formulas for Excel UTS has also developed a Superpositionwizard. This automated menu-driven feature handles complex multipleload calculations on beams and plates seamlessly, and it creates aconcise report.Roark’s Formulas for Excel runs on Windows 2000, XP or higher and Excel2000, XP, or higher. It costs $699. Click here to download a PowerPointslide show. Click here to request a free trial of Roark’s Formulas forExcel as well as other software from UTS. Or just go to the UTS website andmess around seeing what they have.

 Editor’s Pick of the Week—February 8, 2006

Simulate Your Products, Not Just Designs MD Nastran provides multidisciplinary simulations.MD Nastran from MSC.Software Corp. (Santa Ana, CA) enables you totransition from simulating how your design will perform to how yourproduct will perform. MD Nastran provides simultaneousmultidisciplinary system-level simulations that accurately representreal-life scenarios, thereby obviating reliance upon single-pointsimulation tools and pricey prototypes.The key to understanding what MD Nastran means for engineeringorganizations is that this system .combines best-in-classplatforms—such as MSC.Nastran, Marc, Dytran, and LS-Dyna—into a single,fully integrated enterprise-class simulation solution optimized formultidisciplinary analysis. With MD Nastran you can perform linear,implicit nonlinear, and explicit nonlinear analyses all within the samesimulation platform using a single common data model instead of themultiple models for uncoupled single-point analysis tools.MD Nastran accounts for interactions across discipline domains,enabling accurate modeling of real-life scenarios. For example, you canuse MD Nastran to determine the strength and fatigue of an aircraftfuselage, wings and flaps, and landing gear, or you can ascertain thestrength durability and vibration of a vehicle’s various structures,such as body, chassis, suspension, steering, and wheels. The effects oftemperature fluctuations from convection, conduction, and radiation inconsumer electronic devices, such as a television or a cell phone canbe determined as well as how a product holds up to a adverse event,such as falling to the floor or whacking into a wall.Further, MD Nastran enables more design iterations through its supportof true HPC 64-bit (ILP) and SMP/DMP (shared memoryparallel/distributed memory parallel) support for large/complex modelmanagement and optimization. The 64-bit port of MD Nastran can handlelarge and the continuously growing models of assemblies with millionsof degrees of freedom.MD Nastran includes some 16 primary  areas of functionality,ranging from aeroelasticity to buckling through linear static, heattransfer, and implicit nonlinear. More than a dozen complementarymodules enable you to extend the system from your enterprise’s uniqueareas of interest. Among these complementary modules are interior andexterior acoustics, explicit nonlinear (SOL 700), Krylov Solver, androtor dynamics.You can download a PDF data sheet describing MD Nastran by clicking here.  To register for an MD Nastran white paper, click here. Or go to the MSC. Software website by clicking here.