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nTop Platform 2.18 - What's New

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Andrew Sartorelli

nTopology nTop Platform 2.18 is here! The main features of this release are new simulation blocks enabling you to import buckling, modal, and transient heat transfer analysis results as well as a new block for defining structural bonded contacts between two FE boundaries. In addition, this release features a new block for stitching CAD faces into a single body, and a Random Points in Volume Mesh block. 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

Import Buckling, Modal, and Transient Heat Transfer Analyses

  • Import Buckling Analysis Results (Beta)
    • Description: Import Buckling Analysis Result file from an external location.
    • Input 01: Path
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: System path of Buckling Analysis Result file.
    • Input 02: Unit system
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: The unit system of the external results. This will be used to consistently translate the external results into the active unit system.
    • Output: Buckling Analysis Result
  • Import Modal Analysis Results (Beta)
    • Description: Import Modal Analysis Result file from an external location.
    • Input 01: Path
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: System path of Modal Analysis Result file.
    • Input 02: Unit system
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: The unit system of the external results. This will be used to consistently translate the external results into the active unit system.
    • Output: Modal Analysis Result
  • Import Thermal Analysis Results (Beta)
    • Note: We’ve updated this block to enable you to import both Thermal Analysis results and Transient Heat Transfer Analysis results. If you import a Transient Heat Transfer Analysis, you’ll be able to gradually step through the results using the slider in the Heads-Up-Display that appears upon importing the analysis.
    • Description: Import Thermal Analysis Result file from an external location.
    • Input 01: Path
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: System path of Thermal Analysis Result file.
    • Input 02: Unit system
      • Type: File Path
      • Description: The unit system of the external results. This will be used to consistently translate the external results into the active unit system.
    • Output: Thermal Analysis Result

Random Points in Volume Mesh Block (Beta)

  • Description: Generate a randomized list of points inside a volume mesh.
  • Input 01: Volume mesh
    • Type: Tet mesh
    • Description: Volume mesh to distribute random points inside.
  • Input 02: Point count
    • Type: Integer
    • Description: Number of points to distribute inside the volume mesh.
  • Input 03: Relaxation iterations
    • Type: Integer
    • Description: Number of iterations to evenly distribute the points on the mesh.
  • Input 04: Random seed
    • Type: Integer
    • Description: Seed value to generate randomness.
  • Input 05: Spatial weighting
    • Type: Scalar Field
    • Description: An optional input to control the spacing of the generated points.
  • Output: Point list

Robust Tetrahedral Mesh for Clean Mesh Generation

  • We’ve updated the Robust Tetrahedral Mesh block to include a new input parameter called “Regularity factor” which gives you the ability to generate more or less uniform triangles in the mesh depending on if your desired goal is to generate a volume mesh for FEA or you only want to clean a mesh for manufacturing.
  • Robust Tetrahedral Mesh
    • Description: Mesh a solid domain with tetrahedral elements using algorithms that are tolerant to defects such as self-intersections. This function will remesh the boundary of the input domain to generate valid, high-quality elements. If the input domain is likely to be free of any defects, consider using the faster Volume Mesh block.
    • Input 01: Domain
      • Type: Mesh
      • Description: The domain to mesh.
    • Input 02: Edge length
      • Type: Scalar
      • Description: The target edge length of the generated elements.
    • Input 03: Regularity factor
      • Type: Integer
      • Description: A number between 0 and 10 indicating the level of mesh optimization that will be done to improve the shape of the tets. A value of 0 indicates a minimum amount of optimization and a value of 10 indicates a high amount of optimization to achieve regular shaped tetrahedra.
    • Input 04: Tolerance
      • Type: Scalar
      • Description: A tolerance that controls how closely the output mesh vertices must be to the input surface. If not provided, a default value is derived by multiplying the diagonal of the bounding box of the input geometry by 0.0001.
    • Output: Tet Mesh

Stitch Adjacent CAD Faces Block (Beta)

  • Description: Stitches together adjacent CAD faces into a single CAD body. During this operation CAD faces are not merged into a single face or surface. When this operation results in multiple CAD bodies an error will occur, instead use Stitch CAD Bodies which can return multiple bodies. For those looking to generate a lattice across multiple CAD faces, it is recommended to generate a quad mesh from this block and then use Lattice Body from Quad Mesh.”
  • Input 01: CAD faces
    • Type: CAD Face list
    • Description: List of CAD faces to attempt to join into a single CAD body.
  • Input 02: Tolerance
    • Type Scalar
    • Description: Maximum gap width to attempt to sew adjacent CAD faces.
  • Output: CAD Body

Stitch CAD Sheet Bodies Block

  • Description: Attempt to merge multiple sheet bodies or CAD faces together within a tolerance, always outputs the results as a list. For those looking to join together multiple CAD solid bodies it is recommended to use the Boolean Union operation, which requires implicit bodies.”
  • Input 01: CAD bodies
    • Type: CAD Body list
    • Description: List of CAD surface bodies to attempt to join.
  • Input 02: Tolerance
    • Type: Scalar
    • Description: Maximum gap width to attempt to sew adjacent CAD surfaces.
  • Output: CAD Body list
  • Note: This block was previously called “Join CAD Bodies”.

Structural Bonded Contact Block (Beta)

  • Description: Creates a bonded contact between two FE boundaries which allows for mechanical load transference between the two components. A contact resistance value of one half of the sum of the young’s modulus for both materials is recommended for most applications.
  • Input 01: Independent
    • Type: FE Boundary
    • Description: The independent FE boundary.
  • Input 02: Dependent
    • Type: FE Boundary
    • Description: The dependent FE boundary.
  • Input 03: Contact stiffness
    • Type: Scalar Field
    • Description: Structural stiffness of the contact elements.
  • Input 04: Tolerance
    • Type: Scalar
    • Description: Positional tolerance for dependent boundary relative to the independent boundary. Nodes in the dependent boundary beyond this will not be constrained to the independent boundary.
  • Output: FE Connector

Usage Improvements

  • The Axis object now features an axis view featured below: 

AxisPreview.png

  • Enumerators now have a “names” text property for each enumerator.
  • nTopCL execution now has an option to save the return message as a log file using “–logfile=filename.log”. By default, the “–logfile” argument without a designated filename will generate “ntopcl.log”.

Bug Fixes

  • Calculating the average of a vector field list no longer fails.
  • Exporting an empty slice stack to CLF no longer causes an unexpected exit.
  • Exporting a thermal analysis with a convection load applied to a quad mesh no longer causes an unexpected exit.
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