Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014 - Readme

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014

March 12, 2013

Release Notes - Read Me file
Autodesk, Inc.

In a continuing effort to provide high quality products, Autodesk has released Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014. This file highlights open issues with Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014 and provides information that is useful while using this software.

Installation Instructions

Summary of Known Issues

CAD Interoperability

FEA Editor Environment

General / User Interface

Heat Transfer Analyses

International Versions

Linear Analyses

Moldflow Interoperability

Nonlinear / Mechanical Event Simulation (MES)

Results Environment

Showcase Interoperability

Weight and Center of Gravity (WCG)

Before you begin...

Install all Windows Updates that are pending on your machine, and then restart:

For Windows XP, use the Windows Update utility located under All Programs in the Start Menu.
For Windows 7 and Windows 8, use the Windows Update utility located in the Control Panel or under All Programs in the Start Menu.

Close all Autodesk applications before you install, maintain, or uninstall Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014.

To install Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014:

Uninstall Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014 Beta if you installed it previously.

Insert the DVD.
Double-click Setup.exe to start the installation.
In the Configure Installation page, set preferences.
After configuration, start to install.
When the installation is done, click Finish.
If required, restart the system after the installation is finished.

To Activate Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014:

Start Autodesk Simulation and select the Activate button.
Log in using your Autodesk User ID account. If you do not have an account, you can create one.

Note: your login is not the same one used to access the Autodesk Feedback Community site.

When creating a deployment image of Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014:

Include only English characters in the deployment image path.
Enter your Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014 serial number when creating a deployment.

To verify the installation is successful, start Autodesk Simulation Mechanical 2014. On the top-right of the window, select About in the Help menu. If the About box displays: Build 2014.00.00.050n, the installation is successful.

CAD Interoperability

Not all supported CAD formats can be brought into Simulation Mechanical by both pushing from the CAD program and pulling from the Simulation Mechanical, File > Open menu. Please refer to the Wiki Help for specific information. Search using the phrase "Open CAD Files."

FEA Editor Environment

When a selected set of lines includes a combination of lines and splines, a crash can occur when attempting to edit the attributes. To avoid the crash, do not attempt to edit the attributes for a combination of lines and splines in a single operation.

Fatigue Wizard

The Fatigue Wizard dialog box becomes hidden behind other application windows when you access and close any secondary application or dialog box. You can see the Fatigue Wizard dialog box by minimizing all other windows.
Certain checkboxes and radio buttons in Fatigue Wizard are sized inconsistently for Windows text size settings over 100%.
Fatigue Wizard does not support tetrahedron elements without midside nodes for linear static stress models and generates an error message if you attempt to run the fatigue analysis. To avoid this error message, enable midside nodes when the element type is tetrahedron, or use brick elements in your model.

General / User Interface

In the File > Open dialog box, preview of Inventor parts and assemblies may not be available when opening a model for the first time.

Heat Transfer Analyses

When choosing the “Distributed Resistance” option for surface contact thermal resistance, the magnitude is not scaled when you change the display units system in the FEA Editor. You must manually re-enter the distributed resistance value in the appropriate units.

International Versions

For international versions of Autodesk Inventor, with 2-bit material names, the material name and physical properties are not transferred when the model is pushed to Autodesk Simulation Mechanical.
For international versions of Simulation Mechanical, where a comma is used as the decimal symbol, input data in Fatigue Wizard cannot be correctly specified. The workaround is to change the decimal symbol to a period in your Windows Region and Language settings.

Linear Analyses

Nonzero Element Normal coordinates are not utilized or saved for Thin Composite elements. Surface loads based on the normal direction may not act in the correct direction. The workaround is to change the sign of the applied load magnitude to reverse the load direction.
For linear static stress analyses, including surface contact with friction coefficients greater than 0.18, parts may behave as if they are bonded.

Meshing

After meshing a CAD surface that lies on the YZ plane (X=0), you may not be able to set the Element Type to 2D. This is caused by non-zero, but very small, nodal X coordinates (such as 1.3E-15). The solution is to select all nodes on the surface and set them to X=0 using the Draw > Modify > Project to Plane command. Note that using this command will break the associativity between the Simulation Mechanical and the CAD model.

Moldflow Interoperability

On Windows 8 installations, Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Adviser/Insight will fail to launch automatically after exporting a model to Simulation Moldflow when user access control is enabled. The workaround is to disable UAC or use the “Run as administrator” command to launch Simulation Mechanical.

Nonlinear / Mechanical Event Simulation (MES)

An MES restart analysis, when resuming from another simulation model or a different design scenario, will not run via Remote Submission to another workstation on the local network (applicable to desktop product only, not 360).

PV/Designer

Pressure vessels created with the "Type of model to generate" field set to "Multiple nozzles" do not support the "Solid" setting for the "Types of pipes generated" field.

Results Environment

System memory (RAM) is not released, and its usage keeps increasing, as results presentations are closed and opened. Memory is also not released when a model is closed. Reopening the same model increases RAM usage. To correct the problem completely close the interface.
A conflict exists between a registry key shared by Simulation Mechanical and Autodesk Revit, and this conflict prevents the user from changing the result type. To correct the problem, locate the following registry key… HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{CCD8C5EB-3980-11D0-A37A-00805FCA87EB}\1.0\0\win64 under which variables including the product name "Revit" should be seen. Rename the "win64" key to "no-win64" and the results selection capabilities should be restored.
The Slice Plane Edit mode cannot be terminated using either the ribbon or context menu. One workaround is to press the Esc key twice.
The display of isosursurfaces does not work as intended (Results Contours>Settings>Isoplots> Plot Isosurface). The model becomes transparent but isosurfaces do not appear within the interior of the parts. There is currently no workaround for this problem.
The sum of reaction forces may not agree with the applied load for models with local coordinate systems applied to the affected surfaces. As a workaround, configure the model so that the surfaces of interest lie parallel to global planes and limit the application of local coordinate systems in the FEA Editor to only those surfaces where needed.

Showcase Interoperability

For models with length units other than centimeters (cm), results exported to Autodesk Showcase are dimensionally incorrect. In Showcase, go to "Files > Import > Import Status Window." Enter the appropriate units in this dialog box to correct the model size.

Weight and Center of Gravity (WCG)

In MES analyses, the Weight and Center of Gravity calculation fails when there is an impact plane in the model. The workaround is to delete the impact plane.

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical/Multiphysics, Autodesk Algor Simulation, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Fusion, Autodesk Vault, Autodesk Simulation CFD, Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Insight, Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Advisor, AutoCAD, and Mechanical Desktop are trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Third-party software providers own the copyright of the software that is original to them.

We thank all our customers who help us to identify and report issues. These reports will give us the opportunity to improve the product and provide you with the best solution in mechanical simulation. We also thank you for your continued business and for the feedback regarding the content of this release.

Respectfully,

Autodesk Simulation Mechanical Team

Copyright ^© 2013 Autodesk, Inc.