CAD Data Reuse for CAE Solutions

ITI TranscenData's solutions for CAE offer analysts the ability to automatically and interactively repair, heal and transform CAD geometries prior to analysis. ITI comprehensive data exchange solutions ensure that solid or surface models are robustly translated effectively into target systems. Our data exchange technology offers a full range of import and export functionality for pre-processing CAD data from native and neutral formats. For more details on CADfix for Geometric Data Exchange including a complete list of supported geometry formats, please see the CADfix Product Page. For an understanding of scenarios where CADfix for Geometric Data Exchange is most useful, please the CADfix Solution Page.

Accelerating the CAD to CAE Process

CAE analysts have more extensive requirements to ensure that the geometric data is ideally suited for their specialist applications and these requirements go beyond the basic data exchange process. The CAE user is constantly faced with CAD model issues that cause meshing failures and have a significant negative impact on analysis lead times including:

Geometry features such as overly complex, badly defined and corrupt geometry
CAD model features such as fillets, small holes, short edges, small faces and other modeling artifacts that are valid in CAD but severely impact and constrain meshability

ITI TranscenData’s out-of-the-box solutions can be customized for different CAD sources and CAE packages. Our software enables analysts preparing CAD data for finite element analysis to perform a myriad of functions, including: Original Featured Model

Collapsing of short edges and sliver faces
Hole and protrusion removal
Joining of faces and edges
Fillet and round removal
Feature detection and removal
Surface and solid splitting tools
Surface and solids meshing

CADfix supports custom exports, both geometry and mesh, for multiple CAE systems, including: Defeatured Model

ANSYS
NASTRAN
ABAQUS
CD-Adapco
Grip-Pro
FEMSYS

Master Model driven FEA, CFD, EM Solutions

With ever shortening product design cycles, the emphasis on simulation tools to provide timely results to drive the design is greater then ever. This pressure dictates FEA, CFD and EM analysis being driven off the master model CAD data. CAD provides the geometry but a great deal of analysis time is still spent working with the geometry to prepare it for analysis.

Some possible reason for lack of interoperability between CAD and CAE include:

Unstitched solids
Invalid geometry representation or math forms
Surface normal inconsistency
Complex un-needed features
Sliver faces, tiny edges, small diameter holes

These and many more are possible reasons for a large delay in establishing a suitable mesh, applying boundary conditions and getting results.

CADfix for Geometric Exchange is uniquely positioned in the CAD to CAE data flow with it’s ability to read and write multiple geometric formats, repair and heal poor quality geometry and de-feature and simplify complex geometric definition. In the end, CAE analysts are starting with much more robust geometric definitions for their analytical needs.

Summary

This "CAD Data Reuse for CAE" solution focused on the ability of CADfix to provide superior CAD geometry conditioning and preparation for downstream CAE analysts. The focal point with this solution is the geometry, and enhancements made to this geometry. The goal is to create CAD models robust enough for CAE analysts to use the tool of their choice for CAE Pre-Post processing.

Another family of CADfix technology involves packaging of base CADfix functionality to provide similar ability to import and manipulate geometry but instead of geometric output, CADfix acts as a CAE Pre-Post processor to create the CAE analytic formats needed and process results of the analysis. This solution is different than the off-the-shelf CADfix packaged software product and for more information, please see the CADfix for CAE Pre-Post processing overview.

ITI TranscenData is constantly developing cutting edge interoperability technology that will eventually become part of the commercial CADfix product. For information on the latest technology from ITI TranscenData that is being researched and deployed into select customer environments today, please see the Geometric Reasoning Technology Overview.

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