FlexBodyPrep Overview

The FlexBody Prep wizard allows you to create the flex H3D file from several sources, including an ADAMS MNF file, a NASTRAN PCH file, and a mirrored H3D file. You can also generate an H3D file using OptiStruct, a finite element analysis solver.

Using OptiStruct enables you to obtain stress modes in the flexbody H3D file. This allows stress recovery during the post-processing phase of an ADAMS run that was made based on an H3D file created by OptiStruct. The stress recovery is based on the component mode synthesis similar to displacement, but is generally more sensitive to the modes that are included in the simulation.

Note: Use _flex.h3d in the filename to prevent confusion with other uses of the H3D format. Some options require OptiStruct to be in the user’s path.

Space in the .fem and .h3d file paths is currently not supported on Linux and Mac OSX.

From the FlexTools menu, select Flex Prep to access the FlexBodyPrep wizard.

FlexBodyPrep can be used to drive the flexprep utility for H3D neutral file generation as well as specific solver flexbody matrix files.

From the FlexBodyPrep wizard, you can perform the following functions:

OptiStruct Flexbody Generation

Create OptiStruct prp (preparation) file and generate the h3d flexbody
Create OptiStruct prp (preparation) file
Create h3d flexbody using pre-existing prp (preparation) file

Translation of Flexbody Files

Translate ADAMS mnf file into MV h3d flexbody
Mirror existing h3d flexbody
Translate the MV h3d flexbody into ADAMS mnf file
Translate MV h3d flexbody into ADAMS mtx file
Translate the NASTRAN pch file into MV h3d file
Translate the MV h3d flexbody into DAD fdf file

The dialog options change depending on the translation type you select.

Common dialog buttons include:

Table 1.
Mass/Length/Force/Time Units	Specify the units for the output file.
Clear	Clear your selections and reset the wizard.
OK	After making your selections, click OK to have the wizard create your file. OK assembles your wizard selections into set of command line arguments for flexprep and invokes flexprep. To run flexprep from command line: Copy and paste the arguments created by the Flexbody prep wizard into a script (UNIX) or .bat file (PC).
Cancel	Exit the FlexBodyPrep wizard.