MSC.

Software Corporation MD Nastran R3

Please read before installing MD Nastran R3

This document provides important information about MD Nastran not

contained in the Release Guide or Installation and Operations Guide. It
is intended to help you install and use MD Nastran.
This document contains the following sections:
• Delivery Media
• Microsoft Compute Cluster
• Microsoft Vista Support
• ILP-64 Versions
• Pre-Release Capabilities
• MD Nastran R3 Documentation
• Linear and Nonlinear Contact Items
• Advanced Integrated Nonlinear (SOL 400) Items
• Implicit Nonlinear (SOL 600) Items
• Explicit Nonlinear (SOL 700) Items
• User Defined Services
• Licensing Changes

Delivery Media
MD Nastran is delivered on the following 10 systems:
• HP HP-UX PA-RISC – 64 bit
• HP HP-UX Itanium2
• IBM AIX – 64-bit
• SGI Irix – 64-bit
• Sun Solaris – 64-bit
• x86 Linux – 32-bit
• Intel Linux – 64-bit Itanium2
• Intel Linux – 64-bit Itanium2 SGI Altix
• x86-64 Linux – 64-bit
MSC.Software Corporation MD Nastran R3

• x86/x86-64 Windows – 32-bit/64-bit

Microsoft Compute Cluster
A port to Microsoft Compute Cluster Server (CCS) is included in this
release. See the Installation and Operations Guide for details.

Microsoft Vista Support

MD Nastran is currently undergoing full testing to ensure compatibility
with Windows Vista. This testing will be complete shortly. The
supported hardware and software table will be update on the Product
Support site once the testing is complete.

ILP64 Versions
Some of the platforms contain an ILP64 version of MD Nastran in the
"MSC_ARCH"/i8 directory. This version is capable of addressing
additional memory and running larger problems. To run this version you
should specify:

mode=i8 or mode=ilp64 on the Nastran command line.

Please refer to the Installation and Operations Guide for more

information on the mode keyword.

Pre-Release Capabilities
The following capabilities are regarded as pre-release:
1. Arc-length method for SOL400 is being released as a
prerelease feature due to limited validation testing. This
solution has all the functionality currently available in
SOL106. For this pre-release, contact is not supported.
2. Nonlinear response optimization is available as a prerelease
item for MD R3. This functionality has a limited number of
supported constraints and has had only limited robustness
testing.
3. Randomization of MD Nastran model connectivity, properties
and loads

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4. Rotor Dynamics enhancement to include the effects of rotor

stiffness, mass, and damping effects in SOL 200 optimization
5. The BCONTACT=ALLBODY option to simplify the contact
model definition for SOL 400. The use of ALLBODY for SOL
600 has been available for several releases and is not pre-
release for SOL 600.

These capabilities should not be employed in any analysis except for

the purpose of testing and verifying the functionality itself.

MD Nastran Documentation
Updated documentation for the MD Nastran release is comprised of the
following:
o Release Guide
o Installation and Operations Guide
o Quick Reference Guide
o MD User’s Guide – Application Examples
o Explicit Nonlinear (SOL 700) User’s Guide
o Simulation Component Architecture Guide
o MD User’s Guide – User Defined Services
o MD User’s Guide – Topology Optimization (R2.1)

These documents are provided in electronic format on the installation

sub-directory:
“Install_dir"/md2008/doc/pdf_nastran/…

Linear and Nonlinear Contact Items

1. 3D Contact is not supported or planned in SOL 106 and SOL

129. If contact modeling is required, it is suggested that the
model be converted to SOL 400, SOL 600, or SOL 700, which
has advanced nonlinear static and nonlinear transient
analysis capabilities.

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MSC.Software Corporation MD Nastran R3

Advanced Integrated Nonlinear (SOL 400) Items

1. Nonlinear normal modes, nonlinear buckling analysis, and

arc-length method are not supported. These enhancements
are planned for a future release.
2. XDB and OP2 output for post-processing of contact results,
advanced composites, gasket pressures and VCCT results is
not available. It is recommended that post-processing be
done with DBALL.
3. SOL 400 is not currently supported on ILP64 (I8) versions.
4. Restarts are not supported. This enhancement is planned for
a future release.
5. The VCCT based crack propagation does not work if bisection
occurs. The workaround is to set MAXBIS to 0 on the
NLPARM entry to avoid any bisections.
6. For VCCT based crack propagation the NLGLUE option on
the BCPARA entry is required if all contact in the model is of
the glue type. The NLGLUE option should also be set when
using the options UNGLUE and the BCTABLE option BKGL
(breaking glue).
7. Nonlinear Initial Condition (NLIC) is not supported with
contact.
8. MASTER files created with versions prior to MD Nastran R2.1
that contain multiple Subcases or Steps are not supported by
the MD R3 DRA/DBALL translators. These results databases
need to be regenerated using MD Nastran R3. This limitation
does not affect results databases that have a single Subcase
with a single Step.
9. For Sols 400, 106, and 129, the user defined material
coordinate system for the nonlinear solid (HEXA, PENTA and
TETRA) elements defined via the CORDM field (>-1) of the
PSOLID property entry is not updated for geometrical
nonlinear analysis. This limitation only applies when the
anisotropic material MAT9 is referenced by these elements.
For Sol 400 the avoidance is to use the advanced nonlinear
solid elements (defined with a PSLDN1 entry) which do not

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MSC.Software Corporation MD Nastran R3

have this limitation. There is no avoidance for Sols 106 and

129.
10. Slow performance of the CASI Iterative Solver has been
observed with rigid contact bodies in the 3D Contact models.
There is no avoidance available currently.

Implicit Nonlinear (SOL 600) Items

1. Streaming input is not available with DDM (parallel
processing) or if user subroutines are necessary. For those
cases, do not include the streaming input option and run SOL
600 as before. Streaming input should also not be used if a
special version of Marc is necessary for your particular
application. In that case, specify one of the PATH options on
the SOL 600 Executive statement in conjunction with a file to
point the analysis to the location of the version of Marc that is
desired.
2. The CASI iterative solver (MARCSOLV=9) is recommended
over the Sparse iterative solver (MARCSOLV-2) for serial
jobs. The CASI iterative solver is not presently available for
parallel (DDM) simulations, and if an iterative solver is
required the conjugate convergence tolerance ( CJTOL on
NLSTRAT entry) should be set to 0.0001 or smaller. The
CASI solver is not available with DMIG input and the solver
will automatically be switched to the sparse multifrontal solver
should DMIG’s be entered.
3. All models using parallel processing should set KIND on the
PARAMARC entry to zero (or leave the field blank). Only the
NPROC entry should be used. If KIND is not zero or blank, it
will automatically be re-set to zero and a warning message
issued.
4. If MATF is used and failure indices are desired, they must be
specified using MARCOUT with entries E91 to E103.
5. The previous SOL 600 restriction that MCID can only be
specified using rectangular coordinates has been removed.
Cylindrical or spherical coordinates may now be used.
However, since this requires the Marc COORD SYSTEM
option which is not available with DDM, such jobs requesting
parallel processing will automatically be changed to single-
processor jobs and a warning message issued.

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6. Parallel processing using DDM is not available on Windows

64 using the i4 version.
7. The creation of an Adams compatible MNF file is not possible
on Windows 64 using the i8 version.
8. The CTRIA has occasionally shown poor behavior in large
displacement shell simulations using the updated Lagrange
procedure, the CQUAD4 is the preferred element.
9. The reduced integration elements occasionally show hour
glassing (zero energy modes), the full integration elements
are recommended (default).
10. Rigid contact for 2D analysis, defined using grids, requires
the setting of new Ix and Iy fields on the BCBODY entry.
11. Models with large grid and/or element ID’s are available on all
platforms except for SGI IRIX (see the SOL 600 executive
command on how to activate large ID’s).
12. On Windows platforms, the path to the Marc version being
used cannot contain both spaces and dashes.

Explicit Nonlinear (SOL 700) Items

1. Restart runs are not supported in SOL 700.

2. MD Nastran DBALL native output is not supported for double
precision version on SGI.
3. When using multiple CPUs for the double precision version
on Solaris for implicit pre-stressing and spring back analysis,
the code will crash. Using 1 CPU only is recommended.
4. The solid elements for Advanced PFA composites
(PCOMPLS) and honeycombs are not supported.
5. The Distributed Memory Parallel (DMP) for the Fluid Structure
Interaction capability is only implemented for the following
platforms: Linux 32, Linux X8664 and Windows32. Both
single and double precision versions are supported. The
following features are excluded: marker output, coupling
surface output, subsurface output, graded meshes, Euler
element time history output, Roe solver. To activate the FSI
DMP, the user should add fsidmp=yes to the sol700.pth file
and include PARAM,FSIDMP,YES to the input deck.

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6. The CORDM option for PSOLID is not yet supported.

7. Blade out analysis is not available on SGI and Linux 32-bit
RHEL4 operating systems. Should these operating systems
be used the job may hang or generate an I/O error.
8. It is recommended that large blade out analyses not be run
using Windows. If Windows is used, the 64-bit version of the
l2a.exe program must be used.
9.
User Defined Services
If MD Nastran is launched with "-n" option, a shell script will be
generated that can be used for subsequent executions. In such cases,
and if the user defines SCA environment variables prior to execution,
the initial values for these variable will not propagate to the execution
environment.

Work around: Define the SCA environment variables in the rcf file using
the following commands:

j.env=SCA_LIBRARY_PATH=<PATH_TO_USER'S_SCA_LIBRARIES>
j.env=SCA_SERVICE_CATALOG=<PATH_TO_USER'S_SCA_SERVICE_CATALOG>
j.env=SCA_RESOURCE_DIR=<PATH_TO_USER'S_RESOURCE_DIRECTORY>

Licensing Changes/Additions

1. There is a new license feature required for contact analysis in

MD Nastran’s linear solutions. The new feature is called
MD_Linear_Contact. This functionality was previously
checking out the Advanced Nonlinear module (SOL400) in
error. Any existing MD Nastran customer will need an
updated license with this feature in order to run contact in the
linear solutions. This license is included in the MD Nastran
Structures Package.
2. There is a new optional module, Advanced Progressive
Failure Analysis, available for MD Nastran R3. This module
is based on AlphaSTAR technology for micromechanical
failure of composite structures and requires a new license
feature called MD_Adv_PFA.

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MSC.Software Corporation
Corporate
MSC.Software Corporation
2 MacArthur Place
Santa Ana, California 92707
Telephone +1 714 540 8900
www.mscsoftware.com
8
Europe, Middle East, Africa
MSC.Software GmbH
Am Moosfeld 13
81829 Munich, Germany
Telephone +49 89 431 98 70
MD Nastran R3
Asia-Pacific
MSC.Software Japan LTD.
Shinjuku First West 8F
23-7 Nishi Shinjuku
1-Chome, Shinjuku-Ku
Tokyo, Japan 160-0023
Telephone +81 3 6911 1200
 MSC.Software Corporation MD Nastran R3

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