How do I convert from SW to CGNS, FIDAP, IDEAS, NASTRAN, PATRRAN, or

[phonix]

How do I convert from SW to CGNS, FIDAP, IDEAS, NASTRAN, PATRRAN, or Hypermesh?

I need to get a solidworks assembly into one of those formats. Can solidworks save as them? If not, is there a free converter?

 

[GregLocock]

stp for the finite element mesh generating programs

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[phonix]

I am not sure what you just said.

Is there something called 'stp?'

 

[handleman]

Click File->Save As and change the file type to STEP.

 

[phonix]

I see that I can save as step.

I am trying to read into TGRID, which does not seem to read anything but .msh, CGNS, FIDAP, IDEAS, NASTRAN, PATRAN, or Hypermesh. Is there a free converter to go from any solidworks format to any TGRID format?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

http://www.fluent.com/software/gambit/preprocessing_wp.pdf

 

[phonix]

All that says is "Pay us tens of thousands of dollars and we will sell you an optional import module."

What I am working on is unsupported by management so I cannot buy more software for it as of yet.

 

[GBor]

The other option is to pay 10's of thousands of dollars for the programs that will take in the STEP file (or IGES file or any of a number of other file formats supported by IDEA, NASTRAN, PATRAN, etc.

Possibly the least expensive route would be through Roshaz, which reads in IGES files and will mesh it and export a Nastran file, a .msh (not sure if it is the same type of mesh file), and others.

 

[MadMango]

Tgrid is a preprocessor from Fluent. You keep responding with "...IDEAS, NASTRAN, PATRAN, Hypermesh...", these are all program packages, not file formats. Tgrid should be able to import several neutral file formats, including one that SolidWorks can export. I'd call Fluent (603) 643-2600, and ask them, or the software vendor that you purchased Tgrid from.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[phonix]

When you start tgrid, and go to the import menu, those are the only choices.

 

[Heckler]

You need to find out what file types CGNS, FIDAP, IDEAS, NASTRAN, PATRRAN, or Hypermesh can read.....ie IGES or StEp. Then know when you do file conversions you may run into geometry issues which depends on the complexity of the models.

Here is a clip from an article written about transfering MCAD Data from one program to another.

When Bad things Happen to Good CAD Users
Stephen Wolfe, P.E.
Publisher, Computer Aided Design Report

Feature-based Basics

In the days before dimension-driven solids became popular, three-D CAD systems employed lines and curves in space, analytic surfaces, such as planes and cylinders, and free-form surfaces, such as B-spline surfaces (NURBS). Creating models was a tedious process because users had to keep track of both the outer and inner surfaces of the model. Cutting a hole in a model with a curved surface involved drawing a curve in space, projecting it onto the surface, and then manually trimming the surface back to the curve.

Solids-based systems, such as Pro/Engineer and the systems that followed it, employ geometry for curves and surfaces that's conceptually similar to their wire-frame and surface predecessors. But they have automated the production of complete three-D models by keeping track of more information. Solid systems keep track of not only surfaces but edges of intersecting surfaces. Solid CAD systems also keep track of which side of a surface faces out of a part and which faces inside.

CAD operators are unaware of these details because solid-modeling programs let them create models using sophisticated features. To cut a hole, for example, a designer might sketch the hole profile and then cut it through the model. The CAD system automatically projects new edges onto the surface being cut, trims the opening back to the hole edges, and then creates new surfaces to line the insides of the hole. It's no wonder that this automation requires a lot of number-crunching power.

What many CAD users don't realize is that in many cases the edge curves of solid models only approximate the actual intersection of two surfaces. According to a paper from Sandia National Laboratories, the precise intersection of two NURBS surfaces must be described by a 54th-order polynomial. To reduce the computation to more manageable levels, most CAD systems settle for approximating the intersection by a cubic (third-order) polynomial. The edge curve so defined usually lies close to, but not precisely on, the two surfaces it bounds. Because of these approximations there are gaps between the edges and faces of boundary-representation solids (B-REPS). These gaps are the source of much mischief.


Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
XP Pro SP2.0 P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
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_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he's all right." -- George Best

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Take your hands off the keyboard ...
Step away from the computer ...

I'm sorry, I really don't mean to be rude and obnoxious; but if you don't know the difference between program names and file formats, you should not be trying to create files for FEA programs; and you especially should not be trying to run the FEA programs.

For customers importing industry-standard geometry formats
(IGES, STEP, Parasolid,ACIS, STL, etc.)
From time to time, you may need to perform an analysis on a geometry created by another person, with no
access to the native CAD environment from which it came. Often, these files come in the form of industry standard
formats such as IGES, STEP, Parasolid, ACIS, or STL. Fluent has developed an advanced set of CAD
Readers that provide the ability to input these files into the Fluent analysis environment.

These readers should be part of TGRID.

 

[Rocko]

FEA is best left to people who have real world experience , otherwise it will do more damage than good on the engineering process.

 

[phonix]

I do this over and over with each new thing I learn and after a few months great things happen. There must have been a time when you wanted to learn and did not yet know the program names. I go through this every time I enter a new field of study and each time I get beyond it very quickly.

I will check to see if we have Fluent support, but I don't think so (this is older software). So I don't think I can get those readers without buying support and this is a side project for me.

 

[phonix]

You guys make it sound like CFD is rocket science.

 

[Rocko]

That was its original (Aerospace) use.

 

[ctopher]

It IS rocket science for some.

Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 02-10-07)

 

[phonix]

I was joking of course (I don't like to use smileys as they make it too easy).