Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Pamidi, P. R..
A novel and general procedure for obtaining eigenvalues and eigenvectors for multiple frequency ranges in a single NASTRAN execution is presented. The scheme is applicable to normal modes analyzes employing the FEER and Inverse Power methods of eigenvalue extraction. The procedure is illustrated by examples.
A powerful enhancement to the DMAP alter capability was developed and is available on all RPK-supported versions of COSMIC/NASTRAN. This enhancement involves the addition of two alter control cards, called INSERT and DELETE, to the Executive Control Deck. These cards allow for DMAP alters to be made by referencing DMAP statements by their module names rather than by their statement numbers in the rigid format DMAP sequence. This allows for increased user convenience and flexibility and makes alters more meaningful to the user. In addition, DMAP alter packages employing the alter control cards will be much less susceptible to future changes in rigid format DMAPs than alter packages employing the standard ALTER control cards. The usage of the cards is illustrated by examples.
The CONTINUE feature in transient analysis as implemented in the standard release of COSMIC/NASTRAN has inherent errors associated with it. As a consequence, the results obtained by a CONTINUEd restart run do not, in general, match the results that would be obtained in a single run without the CONTINUE feature. These inherent errors were eliminated by improvements to the restart logic that were developed by RPK Corporation and that are available on all RPK-supported versions of COSMIC/NASTRAN. These improvements ensure that the results of a CONTINUEd transient analysis run are the same as those of a non-CONTINUEd run. In addition, the CONTINUE feature was extended to transient analysis involving uncoupled modal equations. The improvements and enhancement were illustrated by examples.
A new capability called the AUTOSPC feature has been incorporated into the April 1987 release of NASTRAN. It gives the user the option of automatically applying single-point constraints for the purpose of removing potential grid and scalar point singularities that have not been otherwise already constrained out. Details of this implementation are given. Its usage is described and it is illustrated with an example problem.
It is shown that it is within the capability of the DMAP language to build a set of vectors that can grow incrementally to be applied automatically and economically within a DMAP loop that serves to append sub-matrices that are generated within a loop to a core matrix. The method of constructing such vectors is explained.
An account is given of theoretical considerations for the determination of turbomachine response under aerodynamic excitation, as in the cases of advanced turboprop rotors with highly swept blades and axial flow compressors. Dynamic response is characterized in terms of the normal modal coordinates of tuned rotating cyclic structures for both rigid and flexible hubs/disks. Implementation of the scheme is in NASTRAN; coriolis and centripetal accelerations are included, together with differential stiffness effects. Analytically predicted vibratory stresses for the blades of two different advanced turboprops are compared to those determined by wind tunnel tests conducted by NASA-Lewis.
Several new capabilities dealing with the dynamic and aeroelastic analyses of turbosystems have been added as standard features to the April 1986 release of NASTRAN. A brief description is given of these capabilities and their implementation in NASTRAN are outlined.
This report is a supplemental NASTRAN document for a new capability to determine the vibratory response of turbosystems subjected to aerodynamic excitation. Supplements of NASTRAN Theoretical, User's, Programmer's, and Demonstration Manuals are included. Turbosystems such as advanced turbopropellers with highly swept blades, and axial-flow compressors and turbines can be analyzed using this capability, which has been developed and implemented in the April 1984 release of the general purpose finite element program NASTRAN. The dynamic response problem is addressed in terms of the normal modal coordinates of these tuned rotating cyclic structures. Both rigid and flexible hubs/disks are considered. Coriolis and centripetal accelerations, as well as differential stiffness effects are included. Generally nonuniform steady inflow fields and uniform flow fields arbitrarily inclined at small angles with respect to the axis of rotation of the turbosystem are considered as the sources of aerodynamic excitation. The spatial nonuniformities are considered to be small deviations from a principally uniform inflow. Subsonic relative inflows are addressed, with provision for linearly interpolating transonic airloads.
Two new data management features are installed in the April 1984 release of NASTRAN. These two features are the Rigid Format Data Base and the READFILE capability. The Rigid Format Data Base is stored on external files in card image format and can be easily maintained and expanded by the use of standard text editors. This data base provides the user and the NASTRAN maintenance contractor with an easy means for making changes to a Rigid Format or for generating new Rigid Formats without unnecessary compilations and link editing of NASTRAN. Each Rigid Format entry in the data base contains the Direct Matrix Abstraction Program (DMAP), along with the associated restart, DMAP sequence subset and substructure control flags. The READFILE capability allows an user to reference an external secondary file from the NASTRAN primary input file and to read data from this secondary file. There is no limit to the number of external secondary files that may be referenced and read.
COSMIC/NASTRAN was converted to the CRAY computer systems. The CRAY version is currently available and provides users with access to all of the machine independent source code of COSMIC/NASTRAN. Future releases of COSMIC/NASTRAN will be made available on the CRAY soon after they are released by COSMIC.
A new method for generating and updating Rigid Formats in NASTRAN is discussed. The heart of this method is a Rigid Format data base that is in card-image format and that can therefore be easily maintained by the use of standard text editors. Each Rigid Format entry in this data base will contain the Direct Matrix Abstraction Program (DMAP) for that Rigid Format along with the related restart, subset and substructure control tables. NASTRAN will read this data base directly in every NASTRAN run and perform the necessary transformations to allow the DMAP to be processed and compiled by the NASTRAN executive. This approach will permit Rigid Formats to be changed without unnecessary compilations and relinking of NASTRAN. Furthermore, this approach will also make it very easy for users to make permanent changes to existing Rigid Formats as well as to generate their own Rigid Formats. This new method will be incorporated in a future release of the public version of NASTRAN.
Several improvements and enhancements recently made to NASTRAN are described. Some of the more important features are: streamlined rigid formats; improved rigid formats; changes related to plotting; checking of required PARAM bulk data cards; checkpoint/restart capability; unsorted and sorted bulk data deck echo; automatic output of the DMAP source listing; elimination of link switching caused by use of utility modules; paging the NASTRAN output; processing of mixed record data blocks by INPUT2/OUTPUT2 modules; module execute flag included in the OSCAR listing; and use of the multiple XDMAP cards in the DMAP. It is concluded that these changes increase the usefulness of the program.
The checkpoint/restart capability available in NASTRAN is very sophisticated. Improvements and enhancements to this capability made with a view to increasing its efficiency and usefulness are considered. Some important features resulting from these changes are discussed. In particular, the different types of restarts available in NASTRAN are described and how they are handled both in the rigid format and DMAP environments explained. The output to restart runs are also illustrated.
The congruent feature, which is a capability in NASTRAN that can contribute to significant increases in computational efficiencies, is discussed. The usage of the capability and the software design characteristics affecting it are explained. The factors affecting the efficiency of the feature are pointed out. The details pertaining to the software design of the congruent feature are presented; in particular, the congruent element table is described. Serveral examples employing the congruent feature are considered and comparisons of Element Matrix Generator module computer program update times with and without this feature are presented. The results clearly demonstrate the role of the congruent feature in increasing computational efficiencies and its applicability to large-size problems.
The APPEND feature is described which is applicable in the case of real eigenvalue analysis. This feature permitted the addition of new eigenvalues and eigenvectors to those already computed in a previously checkpointed run without re-executing the entire problem. The next feature was the CONTINUE feature which was applicable in the case of transient analysis of coupled equations. This feature enabled the integration of coupled equations to be continued beyond the last output time for which the solution was obtained in a previously checkpointed run (without re-executing the entire problem). These two features are illustrated by suitable examples.
Four rigid elements, namely, a rigid rod element (CRIGDR) and three rigid body elements (CRIGD1, GRIGD2 and CRIGD3), have recently been added to NASTRAN and will be available in the next public release of the program. The theoretical formulation, the bulk data information and the programming details pertaining and realistic problems are illustrated by employing them in the solution of two helicopter structural analysis problems.
The application of NASTRAN to seismic analysis by considering the example of a nuclear power plant control panel was considered. A modal analysis of a three-dimensional model of the panel, consisting of beam and quadri-lateral membrane elements, is performed. Using the results of this analysis and a typical response spectrum of an earthquake, the seismic response of the structure is obtained. ALTERs required to the program in order to compute the maximum modal responses as well as the resultant response are given. The results are compared with those obtained by using the SAP IV computer program.
In the case of nonmultiple eigenvalues, each of the three real eigenvalue extraction methods available in NASTRAN will, for a given type of normalization, give essentially the same eigenvectors, but this is not so in the case of multiple eigenvalues. This discrepancy is explained and illustrated by considering the example of a NASTRAN demonstration problem that has both multiple and nonmultiple eigenvalues.