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Predictive
Engineering
SOLUTIONS
4128 SE Crystal Springs Blvd
Portland, OR 97202-7917
800 345-4671 (toll free)
503.206.5571
206.260.2725 (FAX)
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May 20, 2006: Version 9.2 of Femap® software has been released. New functionality includes powerful assembly handling capabilities among other new enhancements. More...
May 15, 2006: George Laird, Chief Technologist spoke at UGS's PLM World in Long Beach, CA last week about "The Joys of Femap" or for those Ph.D.s out there we can call the talk "The Idealization of Engineered Structures and Systems into Predictive Numerical Models"...or just "Industrial Strength Modeling". Whatever you want to call it, it was a crowd pleaser and is available for download by clicking here.
May 5, 2006: Phoseon is an innovative leader in the field of LED light bars for the UV curing of glued compounds applied to a wide-array of consumer products. Predictive Engineering was contacted to execute a CFD analysis on an extremely tight timeline. You can view their case study or read their testimonial on our Consulting Services website.
April 26, 2006: Working with complex geometry is one of the dominant strengths of Femap but it is not that obvious how all the parts fit together. This tutorial provides a step-by-step video of how to handle difficult geometry and introduces the new Data Table feature in Femap V9.x. More...
March 1, 2006: It might not be on David Letterman's list, but the top ten reasons to switch to UGS NX Nastran for Femap is worth checking out. More...
February 24, 2006:
UGS Announces Nastran for Windows Conversion Program
UGS Corp. announced its conversion program for MSC Nastran for Windows users. The program allows MSC Nastran users to switch to Femap and NX Nastran 4.0 with no upgrade fee.
UGS offer results directly from its decision to terminate the OEM agreement between UGS and MSC.Software that allowed MSC.Software to bundle Femap with MSC.Nastran. As a result of UGS’ decision to terminate the contract, MSC can no longer provide Femap inside MSC.Nastran for Windows nor offer upgrades.
Users who take advantage of UGS free software upgrade offer will receive Femap 9.1 and NX Nastran 4.0 immediately. This offer enables Femap-based product users to protect their existing investment in Femap and increase productivity through the latest enhancements. Predictive Engineering fully supports Femap 9.1. Our custom developed programs for Femap 9.1 can be found by clicking here.
Femap 9.1 contains significant enhancements in automation and solution accuracy. NX Nastran 4.0 offers new and unique analysis capabilities such as linear contact and a fast iterative solver.
"We can say hands-down that our partnership with UGS has driven our growth and profits to an all time high," said George Laird, Ph.D., P.E., chief technologist, Predictive Engineering. "Our ability to sell and support Femap and NX Nastran has been invaluable to reach that next level of client collaboration and facilitate our clients’ progress toward wider use of analysis tools as they strive to bring their products to the marketplace on time and on budget."
To read the full press release please click here.
For additional information please refer to the FAQ (630K PDF).
February 6, 2006: Predictive Engineering for the last two years has been providing Harris Thermal and Bechtel, Inc. with seismic analysis work on a wide range of vessels for their massive DOE financed River Protection Project. This project has required some of the most advanced modeling and analysis techniques to meet the stringent nuclear regulatory requirements under the ASCE and ASME codes. The seismic earthquake analysis requires that the models be run through an extensive eigenvalue sweep that would sometimes require disk usage in the 50 GByte range. Fortunately NX Nastran was up to task and certified for this type of highly regulated work.
>> Click here for project details on our Consulting website.
One of the requirements for this project was the reporting of stress components in ASME format of "Stress Intensity" and the calculation of membrane stresses witin the plate elements. This capability was added to Femap via an API script that was developed for this project. This very useful script is available within the API Download Section.
January 9, 2006: Sometimes it pays to slow down and learn some new tricks to jumpstart your FEA productivity. One of the new things in Femap V9.1 that is very useful is the new API programing and Menu functionality. With a few clicks, one can customize the Menu structure and add in advanced functionality. To demonstrate this capability, a tutorial AVI was created that shows how one can calculate the explicit time step for plate FEA models. An extremely useful technique when building complex LS-DYNA® drop test models. The tutorial will walk you through the Menu setup commands and show how an API program is integrated into the Femap V9.1 interface.
>> Click here to view the Explicit Time Step Tutorial.
December 19, 2005: Predictive Engineering expands its offerings to include Mechanical Engineering SOLUTIONS. We can now provide the software, the expertise, and the support to get the job done in the most cost effective way.
December 7, 2005: Not many names are more respected when it comes to motorcycles than Norton. And when Norton needed crankcase FEA analysis on its new crankcase design, they chose Predictive Engineering. Through our analysis we were able to validate the structural behavior of their new aluminum engine block. Truely a great company, a great motorcycle, and a great project.
Click here to view a summary of the analysis.
November 30, 2005: What sounds like a simple nonlinear analysis of a plastic thread design, turns into a software challenge to provide accurate stress/strain curves and failure limits. By digging into LS-DYNA's implicit solver routines, we were able to provide the client with the analysis necessary to assure them that their design would hold up.
Click here to view a summary of the analysis.
November 28, 2005: UGS Corp. has announced it is shipping version 9.1 of Femap® and NX Nastran V4.0 to customers worldwide. The release introduces a new level of user control and customization to the Femap environment in addition to performance improvements and extended capability within NX Nastran. Some of the latest improvements include:
The bottom line is UGS has made it easier for you to setup and run your analysis by helping eliminate some of the more repetitive tasks.
For current users who would like more information on how to make their current Femap install scream, check out our tutorial by clicking here.
For new users who would like to make their FEA software work for them please contact Jonah Normand for a free 300-node demo CD.
November 14, 2005: Predictive Engineering initiates agreement with UGS to sale, train and support Femap and NX Nastran in the Western U.S.A. This agreement culminates a long term relationship that PE has had with the Femap engineering team in Exton, PA and will bring fundamental value to PE clients by providing personalized Femap and NX Nastran support and the ability to provide detailed analysis needs assessments for prospective clients interested in purchasing the Femap and NX Nastran softwares.
September 29, 2005: Predictive Engineering's expertise helps secure future client contracts for URS Corporation.
When Predictive Engineering was given the task to Investigate the wind generated forces via CFD on a photovoltaic (PV) panel mounted on concrete tile residential roof, the results exceeded the clients expectations. Shabad Khalsa, P.E. from URS Corporation writes "As our subcontractor, due to your outstanding work our position with SMUD has been enhanced and future work from them is expected."
Click here to read his full testimonial
Click here to view a summary of the analysis.
September 24, 2005: Wagstaff Engineering attends Predictive Engineering's three-day short course on FEA Modeling Techniques.
One of the unique features of this short course is the use of computer AVIs to demonstrate model construction and results interrogation. An example of such an AVI can be by clicking on one of the links below. The short course used Femap V9.01 and NX Nastran as the analysis tools. Wagstaff Engineering is the world leader in aluminum casting technology and designs it equipment with Unigraphics NX 4. With Femap's tight integration with the Unigraphics product line it was a natural and productive fit from the very beginning.
Click here to view movie (65Meg AVI movie)
Click here to view movie (15Meg Quicktime movie)
August 5, 2005: SunEarth Inc. adds value to customers by utilizing PE services.
SunEarth Inc., a leading manufacturer of solar thermal and photovoltaic (PV) components based in southern California, needed structural ratings of their extruded aluminum rails on their solar panels. Predictive Engineering provided structural analysis of worst case load scenarios which was summarized in a compact and flexible engineering report. This allowed SunEarth customers to verify the ability of site designed arrays to withstand wind load ratings. With the help of Predictive Engineering, SunEarth was able to extend their engineering capabilities while providing their customers a valuable service. Read their testimonial by clicking here.
July 11, 2005: New website introduced
Predictive Engineering, a world-class mechanical engineering and consulting firm, introduces a new look to their website. The new look emphasizes the strengths of our company and allows visitors to quickly assess our capablilities. Joe Crockett, a web developer from Final Copy, was given the task to modernize and develop a look that represent the technical and professional expertise of the company. We hope you are as pleased about the new site as we are and we welcome your comments or questions. Please email your comments on the website...
May 19, 2005: A-DEC Corporation contracts with Predictive Engineering to provide custom visualNastran 4-D training
A two-day FEA short course to a dozen engineers was recently held at A-DEC's facilities in Newberg, OR. FEA fundamentals (e.g., Guassian integration / isoparamentric formulations) were discussed to allow the participants to gain greater confidence in the accuracy of their FEA simulations. The course notes can be downloaded by clicking here. The software program visualNastran 4-D was explored and the users were provided with examples on its FEA and phsics based kinematics capabilities. An example of the type of training tutorials used within the course is given with this AVI movie file (54 MBytes) and can be downloaded by clicking here.
March 31, 2005: Key Technology Inc. relies on FEA analysis for solving critical air flow problem
"Dr. George Laird has been providing outstanding FEA analysis and support for our Nastran users at Key Technology, Inc for many years, so he was our obvious choice to help us solve a critical air flow problem using CFDesign software. Keeping the bottom camera windows clean on sorting machines, that we design and manufacture for the food processing industry, has always been a challenge..." Read the full testimonial by clicking here.
March 22, 2005: Therus Corporation turns to Predictive Engineering for Femap training
Michael Sekins, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at Therus Corporation, explains how Predictive Engineering has provided the necessary and effective Femap training to help them unravel the "black art" of FEA. Read his testimonial by clicking here.
February 20, 2005: UGS Recognizes Predictive Engineering as a "Femap" Success Story
As I'm fond of saying...it is nice to have friends and this little story by UGS "The PLM Company" describes my business style quite well. The content of the story was developed through several interviews. It was completely ad lib but it reflects that my commitment to my clients' success is my core/fundamental business practice. View the web article by clicking here or download the article details in PDF format by clicking here.
November 8, 2004: Predictive Engineering FEA Training at Johnson Crusher International
As part of my consultancy activities I'll execute FEA training for companies using Nastran and/or Femap. As most teachers understand, there is no better grounding you can give yourself in the fundamentals then to try to teach it to someone else. JCI's (see www.JCIeug.com) class dealt extensively with vibration modeling using a wide assortment of beam, plate and solid element technologies. The updated class notes are available within the Downloads section. The complete class tutorials (AVI movies with voice over dialog on "How to..." are available for download for current Predictive Engineering clients)
October 5, 2004: Container Technologies Develops New Nuclear Waste Storage Container with LS-DYNA
Experimentally drop testing a 60,000 lb container is bit more difficult than one might imagine. Besides the cost of destroying a perfectly good container...the lifting crane must be able to handle the sudden release of its total load package (think "rubber band"). Now, multiply this cost by a factor of eight (the number of designs required to reach the DOT 49CFR173-465 requirement) Virtual drop testing using LS-DYNA (see www.LSTC.com) made the competitive difference on this project. For more details on this project, please read John's testimonial...
August 10, 2004: Industrial Strength Modeling - HCWS
A recent project completed for Hanna Car Wash Systems does a nice job in showcasing the industrial strength modeling capabilities of Femap. If you are a Femap user-I think you'll find this animation useful. The analysis work was particularly interesting since it involved a pre-tensioned beam structure that was evaluated under an eigenvalue and static stress criteria.
May 28, 2004: Drop Test Analysis - PSC Scanning
This project used the full gauntlet of analysis tools from analytical equations via MathCAD to linear static, modal, and transient FEA work with Nastran and then finally LS-DYNA for the hardcore transient nonlinear analyses. The project work was deemed successful enough that a recommendation was provided by my colleague at PSC. View Project or Read testimonial...
March 14, 2004: Client Testimonial - Messier-Dowty
For our last critical project, the schedule was very tight and we needed to conduct extensive finite element analysis to ensure success and to validate our weight and cost numbers. This effort was made possible largely by George's technical on-site support creating models that were pushing the boundaries of today's software and hardware capabilities for FEA. Read more...
February 3, 2004: Load Line Mechanics
A little refresher is offered on basic mechanics. I often find myself rushing to simply build a model when it is often more productive to just think a little bit and do some sketching. This article covers a brief tutorial on load line mechanics and was inspired by a colleague of mine who believes that the first step in developing a structurally efficient design is to think in straight lines between the load and the constraint. If this topic interests you, read more in our training section...
November 23, 2003: Client Testimonial - Key Knife, Inc.
Key Knife contributes a success story about the use of Predictive Engineering and FEA toward the development of one of their new products. From their report: Without the help from George Laird, our project would have taken us much longer than the final nine months from start to finish. George was not only the FEA expert on our team, but also gave us engineering insight into the detailed engineering level of our design.The really cool thing is that we took the FEA data and compared it to our strain gauge data and it matched up. This is some of the stuff engineers dream of...For complete details please see this link: Key Knife Success Story
May 5, 2003: When your FEA model is spinning off into space - what'cha gonna do? Well, take a look at these course notes on "Analysis Mechanisms". Read more in our training section...
April 24, 2003: Predictive Engineering FEA Short Course Notes are now posted for download. If you have an interest in FEA modeling, take a look at how a three-day FEA course is structured. Read more in our training section...
November 11, 2002: Connections: Making your models work better and faster using the right sort of Nastran connector element. Brief discussions are presented on how to use rigid links (RBE2 and RBE3), constraint equations and single DOF elements. Read more in our training section...
June 28, 2002: "Desktop Engineering: FEA For Designers" with a few comments from George Laird, Predictive Engineering. A good article for companies thinking about implementing mechanical engineering analysis. Read more (external link)...