MSC Nastran vs. NX Nastran in 2022

[Francesco Bro]

I have been reading old posts in this forum from back in the 2004, 2005 regarding NX Nastran vs MSC Nastran capabilities. It is clear that on those times UGS had just gained access to the 2001 version of MSC Nastran original solver and started developing its own version. But what about in 2022?

Based on your opinion, which solver version is the best nowadays? Pros and cons? How is the market shared worlwide, specially in the aerospace sector? 50%/50%? Is it tied to the Pre-/Post- being used?

Is it true that more companies are nowadays using NX than MSC, because its inherent link to the a more updated GUI (like Femap or the brand new Simcenter)?

I was told MSC.Software lost several customers in the last decades due to the lack of an updated Pre/Post GUI, and its main competitor UGS/Siemens took advantage of it developing a better graphical interface. And the combo meal of course seems to be GUI+Solver purchased at once from the same software provider.

Thanks!

 

[Ng2020]

I used msc nastran/patran for many years, then femap more recently. I can't say too much about differences between the solvers, but regarding gui - Femap is infinitely more logically organised and intuitive than patran, which remains stuck in 1992 with numerous bandaid improvements over the top - it's a right mess. but then femap is not perfect. there are a few little things i wish femap could do ( tensor display is a bit basic, and element selection process could be streamlined, session recording language i found to be unusable), of which patran is quite capable.

 

[nlgyro]

follow this thread:

thread727-176170

some of the points raised ring true to this day.

 

[tigny]

Hi,

NX NASTRAN is now called SIMCENTER NASTRAN and lots of new capabilities have been brought into it since SIEMENS has incorporated LMS/SAMTECH solver solutions into it, SAMCEF for exemple.

The non linear solver for SOL601/SOL701 from external partner ADINA is phasing out/phased out and replaced by SOL401/SOL402 (SOL 401 is based on NASTRAN; SOL402 based on SAMCEF which are both SIEMENS owned/developped).

I cannot compare to MSC NASTRAN however.

FEMAP is is one UI that can access to SIMCENTER NASTRAN.

Siemens's UI is SIMCENTER 3D (a kind of fork of NX) in which PRE/POST can be done not only with SIMCENTER NASTRAN but also ANSYS, ABAQUS, MSC NASTRAN, LS-DYNA...

 

[ThomasH]

tigny,
I just want to add that the additional solver options you mention for SIMCENTER 3D are available in Femap also.

Ng2020,
The functionality you mention that you would like to see in Femap, have you suggested them the the development team? It is my experience that they listen to suggestions .

Thomas

 

[VickyTs]

It is not a 50-50 market share. MSC Nastran is still the leader and the golden standard for all dynamic analyses across industries. It is also a prerequisite for any aerospace company that needs certification. They have continually been improving functionality and adding a lot of features into the product. I do not agree that the points raised in the attached thread, ring true to this day. MSC Software has been acquired by Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence and the company has taken a completely different and fresh direction. It also depends on what type of analysis you want to do. If you delve into feature level details, you will see that MSC Nastran supports many more things than NX. (modules, topography, nastran pem to name a few)