– Not yet capable of parameter-driven optimisation. – Capable of complex boundary conditions (mechanical, thermal, transitional). – Accurate for a wide array of load cases, including extreme loading, with linear, non-linear, fatigue, anisotropic and laminate properties considered. – Wide variety of materials, including metals, plastics, ceramics, etc. – Wide variety of study types, including non-linear, transient and thermal, Able to deal with a multitude of study types and materials (see tables below), it is definitely the cavalry when it comes to FEA. Thanks to the magic of acquisition, NASTRAN now exists as a plug-in for Inventor (“NASTRAN In-CAD”), accessible from the Environments tab.Ĭounter to Inventor’s native Stress Analysis, NASTRAN is complex and a bit more difficult to use, but also far more powerful and comprehensive.

– Boundary condition definitions are relatively simple (mechanical).ĭeveloped for NASA in the 1960’s, NASTRAN has been around for quite a while, being continually developed and polished into one of the most powerful and trusted FEA packages today. – Materials may only be linear metals with simple characteristics, – Studies limited to Linear Static and Modal Analysis, – Capable of parameter-driven optimisation studies. As an added bonus, because it was built right into Inventor from the start, Stress Analysis is able to leverage model parameters in order to drive design optimisation studies quickly and easily – useful for things like optimising the diameter of a connection pin. For the right problems, it more than makes up for its limitations with its splendid UI and workflow, being slick, quick and easy to use – so much so that I often see this used as the go-to for quick design checks.

While it is quite limited in terms of the materials and analyses it can work with, not all problems require hyper-powerful tools. Inventor’s native Stress Analysis tool is an absolutely awesome workhorse. Old Faithful: Inventor’s native Stress Analysis But how is it different from Inventor’s native FEA offering, Stress Analysis? Read on to learn a little more about these tools, and see how they compare! Nastran enjoys a solid reputation in the industry of engineering analysis and for good reason. For FEA fanatics such as myself, this is fantastic news. If you’ve kept abreast with the news, Autodesk’s Product Design and Manufacturing Collection now ships with Nastran In-CAD.

Autodesk inventor 2015 simulation