NX Nastran

NX Nastran is a and computer-aided engineering (CAE) tool provided by Siemens PLM Software.
Relation to the Original NASTRAN
Since the 1970s, the original version of NASTRAN has been one of many FEA solutions of choice in many major industries including aerospace, defense, automotive, shipbuilding, heavy machinery, medical and consumer products. It is currently one of many computer-aided software solutions (ALGOR, ANSYS, ABAQUS and MARC to name a few others) for the analysis of stress, vibration, structural failure, structural durability, heat transfer, noise, acoustics, flutter and aeroelasticity.
NX Nastran resulted from an FTC action against MSC Corporation for alleged antitrust activity which allowed the 2003 purchase of a royalty-free license for the software product MSC.Nastran by EDS, to the benefit of its UGS PLM Solutions division (subsequently spun-off from EDS and called UGS, and eventually Siemens PLM Software as of 2007). NX Nastran is based on the MSC.Nastran 2001 source code.
The purchase included a perpetual, worldwide, free of royalties, nonexclusive license of the software program MSC.Nastran, other assets related to the software, and all copyright and trademark rights acquired as a result of MSC's acquisitions of Universal Analytics Inc. and Computerized Structural Analysis & Research Corp. in 1999).
NX Nastran Solutions
NX Nastran has a number of various optional packages that are licensed separately.
* NX Nastran - Basic: The core subset of NX Nastran and includes a suite of linear statics, normal modes, buckling analyses and heat transfer capabilities.
* NX Nastran - Advanced Nonlinear: Provides the capability to analyze FE models with nonlinear behavior due to contacting parts, material nonlinearities and/or geometric nonlinearities (i.e. large deformations). The Advanced Nonlinear solver is an add-on based on an integration of ADINA implicit and explicit solvers with NX Nastran.
* NX Nastran - Dynamic Response: Calculates forced dynamic response to inputs (loads or motions) that vary with time or frequency.
* NX Nastran - Superelements: Is used when solving very large and complex finite element models by decomposing larger structures into smaller substructures called superelements.

* NX Nastran - Direct Matrix Abstraction Program (DMAP): Programming capability that allows customers to expand NX Nastran with their own applications and custom modules. This module is somehow (?) related to the Direct Matrix Abstraction Program, which is part of the 'original' NASTRAN.
* NX Nastran - Optimization: Automates the process of comparing performance against specifications.
* NX Nastran - Aeroelasticity: Simulates structural models in the presence of an air stream.
* NX Nastran - Advanced Aeroelasticity: An extension of the above with specialized features for supersonic aeroelastic analyses.

* NX Nastran Distributed Memory Parallel (DMP): Distributed memory parallel functionality enables the execution of extremely large models by utilizing the simultaneous processing capabilities of the latest multi-processor platforms and environments including workstation clusters.
* NX Nastran - Rotor Dynamics: Enables engineers to develop designs that operate away from the critical unstable operating speeds of rotating systems.
* NX Nastran for Femap: Windows-native desktop CAE solution that combines Femap's pre- and post-processing with NX Nastran analysis.
NX Nastran Software Architecture
NX Nastran is a single integrated solver designed to run on networked server CPUs. It supports multiple users, multiple sites and/or multiple finite element pre- and post-processing applications.
NASTRAN is one of the several solvers offered by the CAD/CAM/CAE system NX for Finite Elements Analysis. The other solvers are ABAQUS, ANSYS and MSC NASTRAN.
The software seeks to provide a common simulation environment across a variety of applications and throughout the entire digital prototyping process.
Operating Systems and Compatibilty
Additional desktop versions of the NX Nastran solvers are available with the NX,
I-deas NX Series, and Femap CAE offerings.
April Fools Bug
Stated on the official website (http://support.ugs.com/) on April 1, 2009: </br>
NX Nastran Doesn't Work After March 31</br>
As of April 1, 2009, all releases of NX Nastran are not working. The problem has been traced to a programming instruction in the inherited Nastran source code that causes the Nastran executable to shut down if the executing computer's internal date is after March 31, 2009.
Patch: </br>
Siemens has worked hard to resolve the issue, calling their fix the NX Nastran "Date Check Patch". According to their website on February 23, 2010 (http://support.ugs.com/issues/nx_nastran.shtml), the fix is for all versions of NX Nastran from 1.0 to 6.1 on all hardware platforms. The fix is being made available to all customers whether on maintenance or not.

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