Overview / Tools
The main structural tools used at NASA Langley are MSC.Patran fopr solid modeling and pre/post-processing
and NASTRAN for structural analysis. Within Patran, the analysis
option is set to Nastran Structural. The ability to use the Patran program to run both a structural and
thermal analysis allows for models to be shared easily between the two disciplines. However, some structural
models contain more information than is needed for a thermal model, so often different models, different meshes, or
edited models, are used. As with thermal analysis, most structural analysts' models use
geoemtry from ProE.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Tips for Collaboration Between Structural and Thermal Models
Meshing
Tips for importing from Pro/E and meshing in PATRAN
Importing mid-plane geometry from Pro/E