cae case studies: software customization for cyclic symmetry

The client, an India-based heavy equipment multinational, is involved in the design, analysis and manufacture of heat-exchangers and pressure vessels. In the process, they commonly have to analyze structures which exhibit symmetry about an axis (for example, pressure vessels, parts of heat-exchangers, nozzles).

One can exploit symmetry during structural analysis to greatly reduce the time needed to create and solve a Finite Element Model. One of the advantages is that it will need an analytical model for only the "fundamental region" of a structure, and this fundamental region is generally substantially smaller than the analytical model required by more common analysis techniques.

The client wished to pre- and post-process an axisymmetric model in I-DEAS MasterFEM, while solving it in NX Nastran. In order to simplify this task, we developed a plug-in for Cyclic-Symmetry analysis in I-DEAS, using the Open I-DEAS API. The plug-in is launched through an icon within I-DEAS and it incorporates a GUI to take force and moment inputs from the analyst.

Analyzing the structure using the Alcyon Axisymmetric plug-in let the client:

do the pre- and post processing using I-DEAS and solve the model using NX Nastran (SOL 114 - CYCSTATX), using a seamless and intuitive interface.
reduce the time required for preprocessing by replacing a solid model of the complete structure by that of a section of the structure.
reduce the resources needed to solve the model, possibly allowing for an improvement in accuracy by further refining the mesh than would have been earlier possible.