nTop Platform 2.17 - What's New

Summary

nTopology nTop Platform 2.17 is here! The main feature of this release is nTop Command Line (nTopCL), unit system settings for switching between SI and US unit convention, curve list export in Export Part, and Heat Flux Point Map Block. In addition to usage improvements and bug fixes, we’ve also introduced many Beta Blocks such as Filter, Import Static Analysis Results, Import Thermal Analysis Results, Thermal Bonded Contact, Lattice Body from Quad Mesh, and Cell Map Between CAD Faces. As with every release, nTopology’s dedicated support team is ready to answer your questions. Please visit support.ntopology.com to gain access to helpful tutorials and support articles.

New Features and Improvements

nTop Command Line (nTopCL)

  • We’ve introduced a command-line interface called nTopCL dedicated to executing nTop Notebooks without a graphical user interface.

  • You will be able to find ntopcl.exe in the nTop Platform installation folder and the path to ntopcl.exe is:

        "c:\Program Files\nTopology\nTop Platform\ntopcl.exe" 
        
  • Check out the new section of nTop Platform Documentation to learn more about nTopCL.

intro-cmd.png

Unit System Settings

  • You can now choose the default unit system in Settings.
  • Select between Metric and US Customary unit systems. Customize further to choose specific units for Length, Time, Mass, and Angle.

unit_settings.jpg

Export a List of Curves

  • We’ve given you the ability to export a list of curves from the Export Part Block
  • You can specify whether to export the list of curves as a .step file or a Parasolid (.x_t) file format.

Heat Flux Point Map

  • You can now extract a point map of heat flux from linear steady-state heat transfer analysis. Allowing you to interrogate heat flux across a boundary to better optimize your thermal components.
  • Heat Flux Point Map
    • Return Type: Point Map
    • Description: Creates a scalar point map of nodal heat flux values of a linear steady-state thermal analysis
    • Inputs:
      • Thermal Analysis
        • Type - Steady State Thermal Analysis Result
        • Description - Thermal analysis to generate a point map from

Filter List Block (Beta)

  • We’ve introduced a new Block that lets you filter a list of entities by a corresponding list of boolean values.
  • This Block is currently in beta. Beta Blocks are generally not recommended for production use as they may change but are made available to users for early access. To see all Beta Blocks, please go to File > Settings > General and check Show Beta Blocks.

Import Static/Thermal Analysis Results (Beta)

importstaticanalysis.png

  • We’ve given you the ability to bring in linear static stress results from Ansys (.RST) and Nastran (.OP2) with this release. Allowing you to bring back validation simulations and use those to further modify the design or use the simulation data as the start point for your design workflow inside nTop.

  • Import Static Analysis Results (Beta)

    • Return Type: Static Analysis Result
    • Description: Import Static Analysis Result file from an external location
    • Inputs:
      • Path
        • Type: File Path
        • Description: System path of Static Analysis Result file
      • Unit system
        • Type: Unit System
        • Description: The unit system of the external results. This will be used to consistently translate the external results into the active unit system.
  • We’ve given you the ability to bring in linear steady-state heat transfer results from Ansys (.RST) and Nastran (.OP2) with this release. Allowing you to bring back validation simulations and use those to further modify the design or use the simulation data as the start point for your design workflow inside nTop.

  • Import Thermal Analysis Results (Beta)

    • Return Type: Thermal Analysis Result
    • Description: Import Thermal Analysis Result file from an external location
    • Inputs:
      • Path
        • Type: File Path
        • Description: System path of Thermal Analysis Result file
      • Unit system
        • Type: Unit System
        • Description: The unit system of the external results. This will be used to consistently translate the external results into the active unit system.

Thermal Bonded Contact (Beta)

  • With the new Thermal Bonded Contact, you can easily connect two separate FE components and allow energy to flow between the two.
  • Thermal Bonded Contact (Beta)
    • Ribbon Location: Simulation/Model
    • Return Type: FE Interaction
    • Description: “Creates a bonded contact between two FE boundaries which allows for heat flux between the two components. Contact resistance can be defined to account for thin membrane material at the boundary such as thermal paste.”
    • Inputs:
      • Independent
        • Type: FE Boundary
        • Description: The independent FE Boundary
      • Dependent
        • Type: FE Boundary
        • Description: The dependent FE Boundary
      • Contact Resistance
        • Type: Scalar Field
        • Description: Thermal resistance of the contact elements
      • Tolerance
        • Type: Scalar
        • Description: Positional tolerance for dependent boundary relative to the independent boundary.

Lattice Body from Quad Mesh (Beta)

LatticeBodyFromQuads

  • Users can create a Lattice Body to fill a cell map from Quad Mesh with a unit cell.
  • Lattice Body from Quad Mesh (Beta)
    • Return Type: Lattice Body
    • Description: “Create a lattice body by offsetting a quad mesh by a desired offset distance, specifying the number of cell layers in the offset direction, and by mapping a unit cell to each generated cell.”
    • Inputs: *Unit Cell * Type: Unit Cell * Description: “Unit cell to tessellate.”
      • Surface Mesh
        • Type: Mesh
        • Description: “Quad mesh that the unit cells will be mapped onto.”
      • Offset
        • Type: Scalar Field
        • Description: “Total length of the offset.”
      • Layer Count
        • Type: Integer
        • Description: “Number of layers of unit cells to apply to the input surface mesh.”
      • Thickness
        • Type: Scalar Field
        • Description: “Lattice Thickness.”

Cell Map between CAD Faces (Beta)

CellMapCadFaces

  • Users can create a cell map between two CAD faces.
  • Cell Map between CAD Faces (Beta)
    • Return Type: Cell Map
    • Description: Constructs volumetric lattice cells between two CAD faces.
    • Inputs *First Face * Type: CAD Face * Description: First CAD surface to apply the cell map
      • First UV Origin
        • Type: UV Position Enum
        • Description: Starting point for the first surface UV parameterization
      • Flip First UV
        • Type: Bool
        • Description: Option to flip the second CAD surface
      • Second Face
        • Type: CAD Face
        • Description: Second CAD surface to apply the cell map
      • Second UV Origin
        • Type: UV Position Enum
        • Description: Starting point for the second surface UV parameterization
      • Flip Second UV
        • Type: Bool
        • Description: Option to flip the second CAD surface
      • UVW count
        • Type: Vector
        • Description: Number of cells in three directions

Usage Improvements

  • Boolean types now include an integer value. False values are 0 while true values are 1.
  • Blosc codec is supported for importing and exporting OpenVDB (.vdb) files. Blosc codec can compress OpenVDB files resulting in smaller file sizes.
  • For unbounded objects, Field Viewer now sets the size to a more reasonable default value which is 200.
  • SliceStacks now have a Bounding Box property for better referencing after translation or rotation.

Bug Fixes

  • We’ve updated our concatenate list functionality to enable a user to concatenate lists containing different types.
  • Radial Basis Field From Point Map Block was missing units for Factor input. We’ve updated the Block to process the input with units.
  • We’ve updated Export Static Analysis to export the studies with two-point restraints in the load case correctly.
  • We’ve updated Evaluate Field Block to work properly with Vector Field overload.
  • We’ve updated our Math Blocks to work properly with numbers greater than 1e8
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