Easier CAD prep for CAE

Additional midsurface extraction options are applicable to symmetric or asymmetric, planar or curved, and uniform or tapered cross sections.

The MSC Apex is a next generation computer-aided engineering (CAE) platform. It introduces a CAE Specific direct modeling and meshing solution, MSC Apex Modeler, that streamlines CAD clean up, simplification and meshing workflow.

In this release is Smart Midsurface technology, a workflow to expedite the creation of finite element models for thin structures composed of metals, plastics and composites.

MSC Apex Structures is an add-on to MSC Apex Modeler that expands MSC Apex to an integrated and generative structural analysis solution.

Other features include:

Incremental Midsurface Workflow—a semi-automatic, incremental workflow to create midsurface geometry and expedite the process up to 10 times. The incremental midsurface workflow involves the creation and pre-configuration of pairs that act as guides for subsequent midsurface extraction and creation.
Midsurface Extraction Methods—midsurface extraction methods are available for a larger range of thin structures composed of injection molded plastics, metals and composite materials. Midsurfaces may now be extracted for variable thickness sections, whether they are tapered, curved, symmetric or asymmetric.
Rapid Development of Simulation Model Definitions—the process of meshing midsurface geometry and defining material and section properties was a key focus of this release. New features enable analysts to rapidly construct surface and solid element meshes, now supporting hex meshing and mesh seed point constraints. MSC Apex can also automatically map hundreds of 3D geometry thickness and offset onto shell element properties in seconds and has been documented to be up to 24 times faster than manual methods. This capability has been expanded to support thin sections that are non-uniform and further expands the scope of designs that can be modeled.

Thickness and offset properties are automatically generated for both uniform and nonuniform sections common in injection molded plastics.

MSC Apex Structures offers users a fully integrated simulation environment for structural analysis.

Regenerative Analysis Readiness has been enhanced so that analysis readiness checks are now done automatically as users work on their model. Any change in the mesh, the loads, boundary conditions or thickness properties will automatically regenerate analysis readiness results. This reduces trial and error and speeds up the “modeling to validation” process so that users can make faster decisions during virtual testing.

MSC Software
www.mscsoftware.com