Isolating components

[jlkono]

From the nastran in-cad environment, is the a means to isolate parts for study from the assembly, as one can do from inventor stress analysis environment.

Further, is there a means from the nastran environment to control contour colors at, for example, from lower in the stress scale as can also be done in the inventor stress analysis environment.

thank you.

[sohan.kumar.thiruvakkadu]

Hi @jlkono 

You can Isolate the components from an assembly using "Part view", Resuts>right-click>edit>Part view and select the component to isolate and view the results.

The Contour scale can be varied by specifying Min/Max data, Resuts>right-click>edit>Contour options>Specify Min/Max.

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[jlkono]

Thank you and yes it does isolate in the parts drawing but does not
appear to carry through to the nastran environment for analysis. Therein
lies the issue.

[sohan.kumar.thiruvakkadu]

Hi @jlkono 

As of I understand,  you have isolated a part of an assembly in Inventor and would like to perform the analysis only on it.

If so, you can follow either of the below:

1. Open that particular part and go to the Nastran environment.
2. If in an assembly level then suppress all other parts, except for the one you require to do the analysis and go to the Nastran Environment.
3. If in an assembly level, after going to the Nastran Environment right-click on parts and "Exclude from the analysis" for the part you do not require to perform the analysis.

[jlkono]

Please clarify, your answer appeared confusing as to place of
environment and action.
My understanding is if the part is isolated (as one can do in the
inventor pro FEA stress environment), it is still very much a part of
the analysis but isolated to report only the data pertinent to that
part. Does removing parts from the analysis remove their participation
in the analysis. Also, where hundreds of parts are involved, I cannot
seem to perform a multiple selection; I must hen-peck each one.

[John_Holtz · Accepted solution]

Hi @jlkono 

I think the problem is that we do not know what "means to isolate parts for study from the assembly, as one can do from inventor stress analysis environment" means. I do not use Inventor Stress Analysis (ISA) enough to know what that means. The question is whether you are trying to hide a part (make it invisible temporarily) or remove it from the analysis?

Can you clarify specifically what you are trying to do (if the suggestions below do not cover what you are trying to do)?

Here are the things that you can do in the Nastran:

• Exclude a part from the analysis. If you right-click on a part of an assembly in the Nastran model tree, you can choose "Exclude from Analysis". This removes the part from the analysis.
• Hide a part in pre-processing. If you right-click on a part of an assembly in the Nastran model tree, you can choose "Visibility" to hide a part. This does not remove it from the analysis, and it does not hide the mesh or loads/constraints applied to the part.
• Hide a mesh. There are two different ways to hide the mesh. (The mesh display is separate from the part display. If you want to hide both, you need to hide both separately.) You can right-click on the idealization and turn the Display off. Of course, this hides the mesh for all parts/bodies in the idealization. Alternatively, you can use the "Mesh > Mesh Table" and uncheck the Visibility for individual parts.
• Hide the part in the results. If you edit the contour, click the "Part View" checkbox/tab. Then select the parts you want to display in the graphics. Then click "Display" button to show the results on the selected part and hide the other parts. Note that there are two ways to access the edit Contour dialog: right-click on the contour name in the model tree and choose "Edit", or click on "Results > Options" on the ribbon after the contour is shown.

Regarding the multiple selection in the Nastran model tree, it sounds like you are using an outdated version of 2018. Is that correct? If using 2018, you should be using version 2018.2.1.428. (You can check the version from the "Nastran Support > About" command on the ribbon.) See Nastran In-CAD 2018.2 hotfix 1 is now available if you need to install the update.

The range shown in the legend can also be changed by editing the contour, then "Contour Options > Specify Min/Max".

[jlkono]

Thank you John. Your explanation of hide addresses my need.

[dave]

Hello John,

I am struggling with the same issue, but your solution is not working for me.  I have a model made up of mostly sheetmetal.  I used midplane mesh for all thin parts, but I also have several solid meshed parts that represent the components in my electronic chassis.

I would like to view individual parts, with the min and max of the von mises stress for just that part.  I see that the options dialog works well to choose parts that are solid, but it is not allowing the selection of the parts that have been mid-plane meshed.  When I simply hide all the other parts, it is both time consuming, and the min/max remains only for the entire results.