Nastran In-Cad unable to save FEA model.

[Anonymous]

Good day,

I'm trying to model a bridge beam which is very very detailed, and i'm meshing the entire assembly in order to work out forces for weld calculations.

Trouble is when ever I mesh and try to save, it comes up with an error in that it encountered troubles in saving and continuously will not save.

I came across a thread regarding an issue like this, however I do have the settings checked as mentioned. 

And finally, I have no clue in how to update In-Cad, nor where to find the files to download the updates if any

Any clue in where to go, I have a deadline soon and i'm clawing for solutions 😞

Thanks!

[John_Holtz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

Can you provide the precise text from the error message? That would give us something to lookup. Also, what is the link to the thread that mentioned a similar problem?

Here are some other questions that come to mind:

1. Are you using Inventor or SolidWorks? What version is it? (2017? 2016? something else?)
2. What version of InCAD are you using? (Go to "Help > About")
3. Is your model in Autodesk Vault? Maybe that is limiting the size of the model?
4. How much free space is on the disk drive where you are saving the model?

You can look for software updates for InCAD by one of two ways (depending on the version)

• Google it. (such as Nastran InCAD download)
• Log into manage.autodesk.com
• From your Windows "Start > All Programs > Autodesk > Autodesk Desktop App > Autodesk Desktop App" to see a list of all updates for all Autodesk products.

[Anonymous]

Hi John,

I took your final advice and made some space on my drive and it seems to be okay (for now). However, I have now come across another Issue regarding the bulk data processing during the first stages of an analysis.

I have a model that is roughly 5million elements (as solids), and it gets hung up on the process around 90%. It has been like this for the last 4 hours. I need to use this solid model as I'm inspecting plate seems to then design suitable welds to be placed along them.

Is there any way to possibly speed this up, or is there a problem with the calculations just breaking and freezing the solver?

I'm currently using a full version of inventor 2017 (sp.3.1) with a student version of In-Cad (v.2017.0.0.27). Because of the odd combination is due to my student PC not being fast enough, so I am borrowing one from my Grandfather who is a Mechanical engineer.

[John_Holtz · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I am not sure what the analysis is doing when stuck at the 90% stage. It may just need more time to get through it. One thing that may help overall is this: if the computer has multiple processors, you can instruct InCAD to use more (or all) of them. I think the default is to use 2 processors. I'm not sure if multiple processors are used at the 90% stage, so this setting may not help with that portion of the solution, but it will help with other portions.

In InCAD,

1. Edit the Parameters (second branch from the bottom of the browser)
2. Find the parameter NPROCESSORS
3. Change the value to 3/4 or all of the processors available, depending on how much resources you want to devote to the analysis.

Otherwise, the ways to speed up the analysis is to create a smaller model (larger mesh size where possible, fewer contact, and so on) or use a faster computer.