Autodesk has enhanced its Simulation software portfolio with the addition of two new simulation products, Autodesk Nastran 2015 and Autodesk Nastran In-CAD 2015. Autodesk acquired NEi Software – and the NEi Nastran platform on which the products are based – in May 2014 in order to add additional structural analysis capabilities to the company’s growing simulation portfolio. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“Since 2005 Autodesk has been consistently adding new technology to its Simulation platform with the goal of building a comprehensive cloud-based portfolio that spans Finite Element Analysis, Computational Fluid Dynamics, plastics and composite solutions,” said Ian Pendlebury, Senior Director of Simulation at Autodesk. “Autodesk’s acquisition of NEi Software and the introduction of Autodesk Nastran and Autodesk Nastran In-CAD reinforce this long-term strategy to broaden our footprint in the mechanical simulation market as part of Autodesk’s Digital Prototyping toolset.”
Autodesk Nastran offers an industry-recognized FEA solver for analyzing linear and nonlinear stress, dynamics and heat transfer characteristics of structures and mechanical components, and providing real-time results and changes in solution parameters while solving. This technology helps engineers and analysts gain accurate results to complex simulations.
Autodesk Nastran In-CAD 2015 is a CAD-embedded, general-purpose FEA tool powered by the Autodesk Nastran solver. The new Nastran In-CAD offers a wide range of simulation spanning across multiple analysis types, delivering another high-end simulation in a CAD-embedded workflow – that works within both Autodesk Inventor and SolidWorks® – to help engineers and analysts make great products. (SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.)
Additionally, the Autodesk Nastran Solver is available to customers using the Autodesk Simulation Mechanical and Autodesk Simulation Flex product offerings. Autodesk Simulation Flex, formerly Autodesk Sim 360 Pro with Local Solve, consists of:
- Autodesk Simulation Mechanical with cloud-enabled FEA tools for static stress, linear dynamic analysis and mechanical event simulations;
- Autodesk® Simulation CFD Motion including Design Study environment and 3D CAD connectors with cloud-enabled CFD tools for fluid flow and thermal simulations; and
- Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis with cloud-enabled simulation for detailed analysis and code checking on a range of structures, including buildings and frame structures.
"We’ve been working with Autodesk tools since the acquisition of Algor and CFDesign and have seen first-hand how incredibly powerful the combination of strong numerical solvers and Autodesk’s advanced visualization, cloud and user interface tools can be," said Dmitriy Tseliakhovich, Co-founder, CEO and CTO at Escape Dynamics. "Nastran is a great solver with very powerful non-linear and dynamic simulation capabilities so its integration with Autodesk’s front end and elastic cloud computing platform is extremely exciting."
