Tech Briefs



ADINA IGES Import with Open Cascade

Engineers and scientists using ADINA for simulation and analysis often need to interface with the CAD and CAE programs that they use. Models created with these programs must be imported into ADINA, and conversely, it is important to be able to conveniently post-process the results from ADINA in the native environment of these programs. ADINA has a rich set of CAD/CAE interfaces that allows users to perform these tasks easily. In addition, the powerful ADINA Modeler (ADINA-M) gives users the flexibility to perform solid modeling directly in the ADINA User Interface. There are two versions of ADINA-M available, the version based on the Parasolid geometry kernel (called ADINA-M/PS) and the version based on the Open Cascade geometry kernel (called ADINA-M/OC). ADINA-M/PS gives users the possibility to directly connect to CAD systems using Parasolid such as NX, SolidWorks, SolidEdge, and Bentley Systems, as well as to import IGES files for modeling in ADINA.

Lately we introduced, in ADINA 8.8, ADINA-M/OC based on the Open Cascade geometry kernel. This capability was featured in our Tech Brief several months ago. In this Brief, we highlight additional developments in ADINA-M/OC for creating solid parts using the geometry imported from an IGES file.

As described in the web page on our IGES interface, the geometric entities in an IGES file could always be imported into ADINA as wireframe entities or as solid geometry when used with ADINA-M/PS. This solid geometry from IGES capability which was previously available only for ADINA-M/PS is now also available for ADINA-M/OC. In fact, ADINA-M/OC supports additional IGES entities not supported by ADINA-M/PS, such as

  • manifold solid B-Rep object entity, type 186
  • vertex entity, type 502
  • edge entity, type 504
  • loop entity, type 508
  • face entity, type 510
  • shell entity, type 514

Below, we show two examples of solid parts created from IGES files* with meshes generated in ADINA.




Figure 1  Valve assembly





Figure 2  Spring valve


This new development of our IGES interface in ADINA-M/OC further enhances the ADINA interface to third-party CAD software, especially for CAD systems such as CATIA and the PTC Creo design software that do not support the direct output of their geometry in the Parasolid or Open Cascade format. Added to the existing interfaces, for use of ADINA, to I-DEAS, NX, Nastran, and Femap this capability opens up new avenues for interfacing with the major third-party CAD/CAM/CAE software used in industry, giving ADINA users a new level of flexibility in choosing the most effective combination of software tools for their applications.


Keywords:
IGES, ADINA-M, interfacing, Open Cascade, Parasolid, B-Rep, solid geometry, CAD, CATIA, NX, Creo, Nastran, Femap



*from Grabcad.com