Material assignment in FEM mode - WF2

[EdBundy]

Hi all


I've been pullingthe remaining few hair out of my head with this problem. I'm running WF2 with mechanica, but want to use it in FEM mode so that I can export the model and mesh as a Femap neutral file for use with Nastran.The problem is this:


I cannot assignmaterials to the parts in my assembly in FEM mode. In normal mechanica mode I can assign and unassign no problem, in the part file I can assign a material to the individual parts no problem, but none of this seems to help because when I run the analysis in FEM mode, I get an error message stating that there are no material assigned to the parts. In FEM mode, if I click on the materials button on the toolbar , or use preferences -> materials, I get the "Materials" dialog box where I can get materials to the right-hand list but the "assign" button stays grayed out.


In the help file it states that the "FEM materials menu" should be used in FEM mode, and that the materials dialog won't work. However there is no "FEM materials menu" and the method that the help file describes for assigning materials in FEM mode just leads you back to the materials dialog box - thus no help there.


If there is anyone who knows how to assign materials in FEM mode for WF2, please feel free to share the wealth (Apparently there is no such hassle in WF3 and later...)


Thanks in advance, Ed

 

[dave09]

Hello edbundy,

Same is the case with me.

I have Mechanica-motion and i can not run the analysis.
I found on website that I need to configure env variable.
could you please let me know how you configure MM_C_HOME variale to read the C++ compilor. and which C++ compilor you have.

Thanks,

 

[mechg]

Dear Ed,

For FEM mode the material is assigned in Pro/Engineer before going into Mechanica. Go to Edit : Set Up : Material where you can define and assign materials. You can have as many materials defined in a model as you wish, but only one can be assigned at any one time. FEM mode uses the assigned material. Make sure that the Young's Modulus, Poission's ratio and density are assigned. Also make sure that the units system that you use is 'consistent', so thats either MKS or Nmms for metric parts or IPS for inch parts. If you are analysing an assembly, each part must have material assigned to it.

You can mesh the part in Mechanica FEM mode and export to Nastran directly.

Regards,

Rod

 

[EdBundy]

It seems the answer is simple but not obvious.

You cannot assign the material in Standard app while in an assembly (with WF2, I don't know about the newer versions). You have to OPEN each part in the assembly individually, in standard app mode assign (or define) a material for the part itself, go into Mechanica (FEM mode) for that part alone and assign the material. You have to do this for each part in the assembly, so if you have many... well, that's why I say it's not an obvious (or quick) method/fix. However with all the parts individually assigned a material, saved and the assy updated, I can at last see the materials with the assembly in FEM mode, and the meshed assembly exports to a femap neutral file without hassle, material properties intact.

Hope this helps!
Ed