MD Adams R3

Release Guide
Corporate
MSC.Software Corporation
2 MacArthur Place
Santa Ana, CA 92707
USA
Telephone: (800) 345-2078
FAX: (714) 784-4056

Europe
MSC.Software GmbH
Am Moosfeld 13
81829 Munich
GERMANY
Telephone: (49) (89) 43 19 87 0
Fax: (49) (89) 43 61 71 6

Asia Pacific
MSC.Software Japan Ltd.
Shinjuku First West 8F
23-7 Nishi Shinjuku
1-Chome, Shinjuku-Ku
Tokyo 160-0023, JAPAN
Telephone: (81) (3)-6911-1200
Fax: (81) (3)-6911-1201

Worldwide Web
www.mscsoftware.com

Disclaimer
This documentation, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used only in
accordance with the terms of such license.
MSC.Software Corporation reserves the right to make changes in specifications and other information contained
in this document without prior notice.
The concepts, methods, and examples presented in this text are for illustrative and educational purposes only,
and are not intended to be exhaustive or to apply to any particular engineering problem or design. MSC.Software
Corporation assumes no liability or responsibility to any person or company for direct or indirect damages resulting
from the use of any information contained herein.
User Documentation: Copyright © 2008 MSC.Software Corporation. Printed in U.S.A. All Rights Reserved.
This notice shall be marked on any reproduction of this documentation, in whole or in part. Any reproduction or
distribution of this document, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of MSC.Software Corporation is
prohibited.
This software may contain certain third-party software that is protected by copyright and licensed from
MSC.Software suppliers. Portions of this software are owned by UGS Corp. © Copyright 1997. All Rights
Reserved.
The MSC.Software corporate logo, Adams, Adams/, MD, MD Adams, MSC, MSC Nastran, and MD Nastran are
trademarks or registered trademarks of the MSC.Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
FLEXlm is a registered trademark of Macrovision Corporation. Parasolid is a registered trademark of UGS Corp.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

MDAM*R3*Z*Z*Z*DC-REL-PDF
Contents
MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Preface
Welcome to MD Adams R3 vi

About MSC.Software vii

Overview vii
About Virtual Product Development and Adams vii

Technical Support viii

Web viii
Phone and Fax ix
Email ix
Training ix

Internet Resources xi

1 What’s New
Overall Product Improvements 2

What’s New 4
Adams/Car 4
Adams/Car Ride 6
Adams/Chassis 7
Adams/Controls 8
Adams/Driveline 10
Adams/Durability 10
Adams/Engine 14
Adams/Flex 15
Adams/Mechatronics 26
Adams/SmartDriver 29
Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN) 30
Adams/Tire 34
Adams/Vibration 36
Adams/View 36
iv MD Adams R3 Release Guide

2 Running Adams Products

Starting Adams Products 46
Starting Adams Products on UNIX 46
Starting Adams Products on Windows 47

Setting Preferences 48
Setting Preferences on UNIX 48
Setting Preferences on Windows 48

Setting Your Working Directory 49

3 Getting Help
Tool Tips 52

Online Help 53
Versions of Web Browsers 54
Accessing the Online Help 55
Searching 58
Printing 58
Index 58

Tutorials and Examples 59

4 Supported Versions of Integration Products

Support for Easy5 and MATLAB 62
Easy5 62
MATLAB 62

Supported Versions of Integration Products 63

Index 65
MD Nastran 2006 Installation and Operations Guide

Preface

J Welcome to MD Adams R3
J About MSC.Software
J
Technical Support
J Internet Resources
vi MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Welcome to MD Adams R3
Thank you for purchasing MD Adams R3 products. The MD Adams R3® is motion simulation software
for analyzing the complex behavior of mechanical assemblies. With it, you can test virtual prototypes and
optimize designs for performance, safety, and comfort, without having to build and test numerous
physical prototypes.
The major aspects of Adams include the ability to transfer loads and motion information from Adams to
MD Nastran for stress, durability, vibration and harshness analysis.
 vii
Preface

About MSC.Software

Overview
MSC.Software Corporation is the leading global provider of virtual product development (VPD) tools,
including simulation software and professional services. MSC.Software helps companies make money,
save time, and reduce costs associated with designing, testing, producing, and supporting manufactured
products.
MSC.Software works with thousands of companies worldwide, in hundreds of industries, to develop
better products faster by using information technology, software, and services to enhance and automate
the product design and manufacturing process. Simulating your product performance reduces
development costs, time to market, and warranty costs.

About Virtual Product Development and Adams

You’ve heard it before: manufacturing companies today face intense global competition, demanding
customers, fragmented markets, increasing product complexity, compressed product cycles, price and
profit pressures, strict regulatory and liability environments, systems integration and supply chain issues,
skyrocketing costs of testing and physical prototyping, and on and on…
What you don’t often hear, though, is a strategy for enabling your company to improve your new product
development process to meet these challenges.
Whether you are delivering airplanes, automobiles, ships, biomedical devices, golf clubs or children’s
toys to your customers, MSC.Software’s goal is to help you improve your new product development
process, allowing you to be significantly better at your concept development, design, testing, and
production activities through the application of VPD.
VPD is an environment that uses an integrated combination of both simulation software technology and
traditional techniques to design, test, manufacture, and support products. The result is that cost-effective
designs that meet all performance, safety, durability, and reliability requirements can be brought to
market in less time and for less cost.
Adams, as part of VPD, is focused on enhancing your ability to make better product development
decisions, explore innovative design alternatives, and consistently get the product right. It is the world's
most widely used mechanical system simulation software. It enables you to produce virtual prototypes,
realistically simulating the full-motion behavior of complex mechanical systems on your computers and
quickly analyzing multiple design variations until an optimal design is achieved. This reduces the
number of costly physical prototypes, improves design quality, and dramatically reduces product
development time.
viii MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Technical Support
For help with installing or using an MSC.Software product, contact your local technical support services.
Our technical support provides the following services:
• Resolution of installation problems
• Advice on specific analysis capabilities
• Advice on modeling techniques
• Resolution of specific analysis problems (e.g., fatal messages)
• Verification of code error.

If you have concerns about an analysis, we suggest that you contact us at an early stage.
You can reach technical support services on the web, by telephone, or e-mail.

Web
Go to the MSC.Software website at www.mscsoftware.com, and click on Support. Here, you can find
a wide variety of support resources including application examples, technical application notes, available
training courses, and documentation updates at the MSC.Software Training, Technical Support, and
Documentation web page.
In addition, we provide several excellent sources of online information:
• Knowledge Base - Find solutions to problems in this repository of troubleshooting tips,
examples, and frequently asked questions. To access the knowledge base, go to:
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/
• VPD Community - The VPD community is where to go when you are looking for peer support,
as well as technical expertise. Many of our consultants, developers, and technical support staff
monitor the forums. To sign up for the forums, go to:
http://forums.mscsoftware.com
Then:
• To view the Adams discussions, select Adams.
• To view product alerts and company news and events, select MSC News.
 ix
Preface

Phone and Fax

United States United Kingdom
Telephone: (800) 732-7284 Frimley, Camberley
Fax: (714) 784-4343 Surrey, United Kingdom

Telephone: (44) (1276) 60 19 00

Fax: (44) (1276) 69 11 11

Munich, Germany Tokyo, Japan

Telephone: (49) (89) 43 19 87 0 Telephone: (03)-6911-1200
Fax: (49) (89) 43 61 71 6 Fax: (03)-6911-1201

Rome, Italy Paris, France

Telephone: (390) (6) 5 91 64 50 Telephone: (03)-6911-1200
Fax: (390) (6) 5 91 25 05 (03)-6911-1201

Moscow, Russia Gouda, The Netherlands

Telephone: (7) (095) 236 6177 Telephone: (31) (18) 2543700
Fax: (7) (095) 236 9762 Fax: (31) (18) 2543707

Madrid, Spain
Telephone: (34) (91) 5560919
Fax: (34) (91) 5567280

Email
Send a detailed description of the problem to the email address below. You should receive an
acknowledgement that your message was received, followed by an email from one of our Technical
Support Engineers.

Training
The MSC Institute of Technology is the world's largest global supplier of CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM
training products and services for the product design, analysis and manufacturing market. We offer over
100 courses through a global network of education centers. The Institute is uniquely positioned to
optimize your investment in design and simulation software tools.
Our industry experienced expert staff is available to customize our course offerings to meet your unique
training requirements. For the most effective training, The Institute also offers many of our courses at
our customer's facilities.
x MD Adams R3 Release Guide

The MSC Institute of Technology is located at:

2 MacArthur Place
Santa Ana, CA 92707
Phone: (800) 732-7211
Fax: (714) 784-4028
The Institute maintains state-of-the-art classroom facilities and individual computer graphics laboratories
at training centers throughout the world. All of our courses emphasize hands-on computer laboratory
work to facility skills development.
We specialize in customized training based on our evaluation of your design and simulation processes,
which yields courses that are geared to your business.
In addition to traditional instructor-led classes, we also offer video and DVD courses, interactive
multimedia training, web-based training, and a specialized instructor's program.

Course Information and Registration

For detailed course descriptions, schedule information, and registration call the Training Specialist at
(800) 732-7211 or visit www.mscsoftware.com.
 xi
Preface

Internet Resources
MSC.Software (www.mscsoftware.com)
MSC.Software corporate site with information on the latest events, products and services for the
CAD/CAE/CAM marketplace.

MSC.Software Store (store.mscsoftware.com)

store.mscsoftware.com is a virtual marketplace where clients can find engineering expertise, and
engineers can find the goods and services they need to do their job
xii MD Adams R3 Release Guide
 MD Nastran 2006 Installation and Operations GuideMD Nastran

1 What’s New

J Overall Product Improvements

J
What’s New
2 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Overall Product Improvements

Some highlights of the MD Adams R3 release include:

Product Integration
• Common MD Database (MD DB) format for flexible body which allows for storage of several
flexible bodies in a single MD Nastran file (.MASTER).
• Element-level Adams2Nastran export allows for individual components of the entire system to
be more easily replaced when using the white box export option.
• Adams/Mechatronics (new plugin) for Adams/View standardizes how control systems are
integrated with multi-body system models.
• MD Release of Adams/Engine introduces new capabilities and rounds out the MD Adams
offering.

Performance
• Faster animation speed for flexible bodies and modal force contouring helps you visualize your
results sooner.
• 64-bit support on Windows and Linux platforms combined with improved processing speed
when importing XML results files help to make large scale models more easy to deal with.
• Parallel processing support for Adams/Tire results in faster run times on multi-CPU machines
when using SMP with Adams/Solver (C++).

New Capabilities
• 3D Contact is now enhanced to support contact between modal flexible bodies and solid
geometry when using Adams/Solver (C++).
• Adams/Car capabilities have been extended and usability improved with General Actuation
Analysis (GAA), a new Road Builder for analytical roads, as well as a consolidation of
suspension testrigs.
• Adams/SmartDriver has been enhanced with a utility for path planning which support corner-
cutting, a new discrete GSE implementation for improved accuracy at larger output steps, and
capability for driving backwards.
• Quantitative Ride Index measures in Adams/Car Ride are handy for quantifying ride quality and
assessing vibration impact on occupants.
• Hiller-Anantharaman STIFF integrator (HASTIFF) with SI1 and SI2 formulations requires
fewer function evaluations to converge and has improved stability at small time steps.
• New DELAY run-time function is available in Adams/Solver (C++) can be used to introduce
signal and actuator delays in controller models.
 CHAPTER 1 3
What’s New

Other Additions
• Adams/Tire 3D tire modeling technology is suitable for use on uneven road surfaces.
• A new command line utility, MNFXFORM, is useful for mirroring a flexible body MNF, or
transforming/rotating the flexible body coordinate system.
• New documentation added for plugins and usability enhancements.
4 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

What’s New
The following are highlights of additions to existing products. For Known Issues and updated Release
Notes, look for MD Adams R3 on the Support site
http://support.mscsoftware.com

Adams/Car
• General Actuation Analysis
• Road Builder for Analytical Roads
• Consolidation of Suspension Testrigs
• SmartDriver Path Planning (1-55043956)
• Plugin Documentation and Enhancement (1-38696031)

General Actuation Analysis

Beginning in MD Adams R3, we are introducing a new functionality called General Actuation Analysis
(GAA). You will discover that the interface for GAA saves a lot of time over manual approaches you may
have used in the past. It helps you to define all the necessary inputs for actuator-driven analysis by
selecting actuators from the model and input files from a database to control the simulation. Base
functionality uses familiar components making it simpler to:
• Perform actuation analysis on assemblies
• Create and modify RPC request map files in a much easier fashion with a Request Map Editor
• Create and modify actuator setting files (actuator input files) to import/export actuator settings
• Modify actuator parameters in an assembly
• Activate/Deactivate Actuators from within an Actuator Table

For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-58133558.

http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-58133558

Road Builder for Analytical Roads

A new tab Road Generator has been added to the Road Builder which allows you to:
• Create roads from scratch or import data
• View road in a table and graphically as well.
• Export Points to Data Table for use in spreadsheet programs
• Create multiple segments and append them to one another
• Enter math functions to describe segments

Using the Road Generator you create analytical road data from multiple segments, each segment
representing predefined types, including:
 CHAPTER 1 5
What’s New

Linear
Curvature
Helix
Transition
User Function
User Points
The transition segment allows bridging of gaps and closing the road profile. User point segment allows
for easy pasting from a spreadsheet. The resulting road profile is a concatenation of the segments you
have defined and can be visualized as shell graphics.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60528922.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60528922

Consolidation of Suspension Testrigs

Additional capabilities have been added to the suspension testrigs to help reduce the amount of user
customization needed to control suspension setup(s).
Parallel Travel
• Vertical Setup Mode
You can select the mode (wheel center or contact patch) during setup phase (time=0). Useful
when including an adjustable force.
• Control Mode of Wheel Displacement for
You can select the control mode (absolute or relative) of vertical displacement during analysis
phase. The desired displacement is then considered as the relative displacement with respect to
the setup phase.
Roll Analysis
Vertical Mode can be set to Force or Length. If set to 'Length' for roll analysis, the vertical displacement
of the table center is fixed.
Dynamic Analysis
Tire forces (Cornering, Braking, Traction, etc.) can be defined as solver function expressions.

SmartDriver Path Planning (1-55043956)

With MD Adams R3 we are providing a tool to help you build a path around a closed road course that
approximates the optimum or fastest path for a given vehicle. Given a road, this new tool will pre-
calculate the optimal path, based on your input parameters such as corner cutting coefficient.
This tool can be accessed from the Standard User Interface in Adams/Car:
Simulate -> Full Vehicle Analysis -> Path Optimization
6 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Supported Inputs
Adams roads (.rdf, .xml)
Driver road (.drd)
Output
Driver road (.drd)
See Adams/SmartDriver section for further details.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60781941.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60781941

Plugin Documentation and Enhancement (1-38696031)

New documentation has been added for plugins which you can find in the Adams Help System under
Learning Basics -> Setting Up Adams/View -> Plugins. Some usability enhancements have also been
made so that user plugins are easier to manage when integrating with vertical applications and dealing
with site and private search paths.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-61035523.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-61035523

Adams/Car Ride
Quantitative Ride Index Measures
With this release we are introducing a means of measuring and quantifying the ride quality of a vehicle
and for assessing vibration impact on occupants. When the Adams/Car Ride plugin is loaded, new dialog
boxes are available to estimate ISO Ride Index:
Ride -> Full-Vehicle Analysis -> ISO Ride Index...
Ride -> Full-Vehicle Vibration Analysis -> ISO Ride Index...
New functions have been added to the Function Builder under the Misc. Functions category:
RIDE_WARMS
RIDE_INDEX
RIDE_WEIGHTING
POWA
The RIDE_WARMS (RIDE Weighted Acceleration RMS) and RIDE_INDEX functions return real
arrays and are to be used with results from time domain or frequency domain analyses.
RIDE_WEIGHTING and POWA are utility functions useful for creating 1/3 octave frequencies and
validating ISO weighting curves.
 CHAPTER 1 7
What’s New

To calculate Ride Index for Full-Vehicle Analysis:

1. From the Ride menu, point to Full-Vehicle Analysis, and then select ISO Ride index.
2. Press F1 and then follow the instructions in the dialog box help for ISO Ride Index.
3. Select OK.
To calculate Ride Index for Full-Vehicle Vibration Analysis:
1. From the Ride menu, point to Full-Vehicle Vibration Analysis, and then select ISO Ride index.
2. Press F1 and then follow the instructions in the dialog box help for ISO Ride Index.
3. Select OK.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-59580851.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-59580851
Notes:
• Adams/Car Ride follows the guidelines set in ISO 2631-1:1997(E) for quantifying whole-body
vibrations in relation to human health and comfort. The frequency weighting and vibrations in
more than one direction and at more than one point are combined as suggested by ISO.
• For convenience two new markers have been added to the full vehicle assembly, one at the
driver seat location and another at the passenger seat location. A general outline of their use is as
follows: Using Adams/Car Ride, you would open a full vehicle four-post assembly. Run time-
domain or frequency-domain analysis with 4-post testrig excitation of your choice. Use the
function builder to calculate (by way of the marker's acceleration requests) the Weighted
Acceleration RMS (WARMS) values and/or various Point Vibration Total Values (PVTV) and
Overall Vibration Total Value (OVTV). Then make use of ISO guide (Appendix B: health,
Appendix C: comfort and perception) to find effects of vibration on health, comfort and
perception.

Adams/Chassis
Road Builder for Analytical Roads
A new tab Road Generator has been added to the Road Builder which allows you to:
• Create roads from scratch or import data
• View road in a table and graphically as well.
• Export Points to Data Table for use in spreadsheet programs
• Create multiple segments and append them to one another
• Enter math functions to describe segments
8 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Using the Road Generator you create analytical road data from multiple segments, each segment
representing predefined types, including:
Linear
Curvature
Helix
Transition
User Function
User Points
The transition segment allows bridging of gaps and closing the road profile. User point segment allows
for easy pasting from a spreadsheet. The resulting road profile is a concatenation of the segments you
have defined and can be visualized as shell graphics.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60528922.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60528922

Adams/Controls
• Support for MATLAB R2007b
• Support for Linear Matrices in Easy5 Extension Block (1-61356762)
• MATLAB/RTW Setup Simplification for Control System Import (1-62728811)
• Mechatronics for Adams/View
• DELAY Function

Support for MATLAB R2007b

MATLAB
The supported version of MATLAB is R2007b (MATLAB 7.5, Simulink 7.0). Please note that some
platforms supported in the past are no longer supported by The MathWorks in MATLAB R2007b and
beyond.
For more information on MATLAB platforms and compatibility, see
http://www.mathworks.com/support/sysreq/previous_releases.html
http://www.mathworks.com/support/sysreq/roadmap.html
 CHAPTER 1 9
What’s New

Tip: If you want to co-simulate with MATLAB and you are running Adams/Controls on one of
the platforms that is not supported by MATLAB, use TCP/IP communication. This allows
Adams/Controls to communicate with MATLAB even though the codes are running on
different platforms. Please refer to Adams/Controls help to learn more about TCP/IP
communication using the Adams Daemon Process (adams_daemon.py).

Note: Adams/Controls supports MATLAB R2006b and R2007b, with some exceptions:
MATLAB 7.1 (R14SP3) is only supported on HPUX, as this was the last version available
for this platform. MATLAB R2007b does not support Control System Import on Solaris,
since MATLAB only supports 64-bit platforms, and a 32-bit library cannot be generated
for Adams.

Support for Linear Matrices in Easy5 Extension Block (1-61356762)

In order to simplify the Easy5 model and prevent the need to swap linear blocks for a non-linear block,
the Easy5 extension block (AD) now supports linear matrices in addition to the Function Evaluation and
Co-Simulation options. These linear models require the A, B, C (and if available D) matrices (typically
exported from Adams) in the Easy5 working directory and are solved completely within Easy5 (i.e, not
co-simulation with Adams).

MATLAB/RTW Setup Simplification for Control System Import (1-62728811)

A new MATLAB function (setup_rtw_for_adams) has been added to simplify the setup of
MATLAB/Real-Time Workshop (RTW) for Adams/Controls System Import. This function can be
submitted on command line in MATLAB to create the local Adams/Controls .tlc and .tmf files.
The old method using process.py is still available, as process.py has not been removed -- this new matlab
function is a wrapper for it that also handles all of the tedious tasks. In other words, the use of process.py
is unchanged -- you can still run process.py the old way.
The MATLAB script detects the current version of MATLAB and sets up the environment variable
MATLAB_ROOT (preserving the old value if this is already set) and then runs process.py with the
appropriate flag. If desired, you user can also run the command with an argument to pick a different
version of MATLAB to make the files. (e.g., setup_rtw_for_adams('75'))
You can also get help in MATLAB by typing:
help setup_rtw_for_adams
Help for process.py can be provided by typing:
setup_rtw_for_adams('h')
(or any other value that is not recognized as a version flag).
10 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Mechatronics for Adams/View

It is now easier to integrate your control systems into MD Adams/View and MD Adams/Car. The
Mechatronics plugin has been extended to Adams/View and the license has been moved from MD
Adams/Car Package into MD Adams for broader usage and accessibility.
See Adams/Mechatronics section for details.

DELAY Function
With this release a new simplified method for introducing delays in function expressions has been added
to Adams/Solver. The DELAY function can be used for modeling signal and actuator delays in
controllers.
See the Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN) (or Adams/View) section for further details about the
DELAY function.
For an example and more details, see Knowledge Base Article 1-57632260.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-57632260

Adams/Driveline
Maintenance
This release of Adams/Driveline is primarily a maintenance release.

Adams/Durability
• Modal Velocity Export (1-63200603)
• FEMDATA Support for Flex-Body Contact

Modal Velocity Export (1-63200603)

The following dialog boxes have been updated with an Include modal velocities checkbox:
Durability -> FE Modal Export
NASTRAN Modal Export
ANSYS Modal Export
Durability -> FE-Fatigue
FE-Fatigue Export
 CHAPTER 1 11
What’s New

You can select to include modal velocities along with modal deformations in the exported file. If not
selected, only the modal deformations are included in the exported file.
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
mdi durability export_q &
analysis = .model_1.mdr3 &
flex_body = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
file_name = "mdr3_test_nastran_vel_output2.mdf" &
format = nastran &
native = yes &
addvelo = yes &
remove1g = yes &
start_time = 0.3 &
end_time = 0.4 &
skip_step = 2

mdi durability export_q &

analysis = .model_1.mdr3 &
flex_body = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
file_name = "mdr3_test_ansys_vel.out" &
format = ansys &
native = no &
basis = orthonormal &
addvelo = yes
Notes:
• The above dialog boxes support modal velocity export for time-domain simulation results.

FEMDATA Support for Flex-Body Contact

The majority of flexible bodies used in flex-body contact are usually created for the purposes of studying
motion or system loads and typically do not have sufficient enough modal content to accurately capture
contact stress distributions. By using FEMDATA you can generate load cases from Adams that can be
used for subsequent stress recovery in your finite element package (Nastran, Ansys, etc.). Contact
Incidents for the flexible body (or Node Incidents data if available) will be written to the FEMDATA
output file, in the supported file formats.
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
!-----------------------------------------------------------------
! Create FEMDATA for loads on flexible body
!-----------------------------------------------------------------
output_control create femdata &
femdata_name = .model_1.FEMDATA_1 &
adams_id = 1 &
output_type = loads_on_flex &
flex_body = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
no_inertia = no &
file_name = "flex_body_loads.dat" &
start = 0.21 &
end = 0.211
12 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

!-----------------------------------------------------------------
! Use ANSYS format for output of FEM loads
!-----------------------------------------------------------------
output set output model = .model_1 loads = ansys

Sample output for Contact Incidents:

Loading Points are from Contact Incidents when results file does not contain node incidents, like this:
output set results model=.model_1 contact_incidents=on node_incidents=off

! ******** A N S Y S ********
! ****** LOADS DATA SET FRAGMENT ******
! Load File Created From Adams Analysis
! TO BE MERGED WITH ANSYS INPUT FILE!
! Created: Mon Feb 25 11:40:37 2008
! Number of Load Cases: 2
! Units: Mass = kg
! Length = mm
! Force = newton
! Time = sec
! *************************************
!
! Load Point Information (Global Reference Frame):
! Node ID Adams ID X Y Z Marker Label
! -------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
! 1 3 0.00000e+000 5.00000e+001 5.00000e+001 MARKER_3
! 147 1 1.00000e+003 5.00000e+001 5.00000e+001 MARKER_1
!
! NOTE: Replace these Contact Incidents with node IDs at specified location:
! CI ID X Y Z (wrt FEM CS)
! CI1 4.13111e+002 9.85295e+001 3.00048e+001
!
! LOAD CASE = 1
!
TIME,2.10000e-001
FDEL, ALL
ACEL,1.04214e+004,-3.46427e+004,1.94250e+003
OMEGA,3.48444e-002,-4.81997e-003,-9.34180e-001
DOMEGA,-2.59679e+001,5.32941e+000,2.09596e+002
F, 1, FX,-4.21184e+002
F, 1, FY,1.99692e+003
F, 1, FZ,-5.43325e+001
F, 1, MX,5.06744e+004
F, 1, MY,4.86461e+004
F, 1, MZ,5.69669e-001
F, 147, FX,-8.40605e+000
F, 147, FY,2.55870e+003
F, 147, FZ,4.83245e-001
F,CI1, FX,4.23024e+002
F,CI1, FY,-2.59903e+003
F,CI1, FZ,-1.95514e+000
LSWRITE
 CHAPTER 1 13
What’s New

Sample output for Node Incidents

Loading Points are from Flex Contact Node Incidents when results file contains node incidents, like this:
output set results model=.model_1 node_incidents=on

! ******** A N S Y S ********
! ****** LOADS DATA SET FRAGMENT ******
! Load File Created From Adams Analysis
! TO BE MERGED WITH ANSYS INPUT FILE!
! Created: Mon Feb 25 11:40:28 2008
! Number of Load Cases: 2
! Units: Mass = kg
! Length = mm
! Force = newton
! Time = sec
! *************************************
!
! Load Point Information (Global Reference Frame):
! Node ID Adams ID X Y Z Marker Label
! -------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
! 1 3 0.00000e+000 5.00000e+001 5.00000e+001 MARKER_3
! 147 1 1.00000e+003 5.00000e+001 5.00000e+001 MARKER_1
!
! The Following Loading Points are from Flex Contact Node Incidents
! Load Point Information (Coordiantes are same as in MNF):
! Node ID X Y Z
! -------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------
! 225 4.00020e+002 1.00000e+002 0.00000e+000
! 74 4.99960e+002 1.00000e+002 5.00000e+001
! 72 3.99940e+002 1.00000e+002 5.00000e+001
!
! LOAD CASE = 1
!
TIME,2.10000e-001
FDEL, ALL
ACEL,1.04214e+004,-3.46427e+004,1.94250e+003
OMEGA,3.48444e-002,-4.81997e-003,-9.34180e-001
DOMEGA,-2.59679e+001,5.32941e+000,2.09596e+002
F, 1, FX,-4.21184e+002
F, 1, FY,1.99692e+003
F, 1, FZ,-5.43325e+001
F, 1, MX,5.06744e+004
F, 1, MY,4.86461e+004
F, 1, MZ,5.69669e-001
F, 147, FX,-8.40605e+000
F, 147, FY,2.55870e+003
F, 147, FZ,4.83245e-001
F,225, FX,1.69360e+002
F,225, FY,-1.03958e+003
F,225, FZ,-7.82769e-001
F,74, FX,5.48906e+001
F,74, FY,-3.37089e+002
F,74, FZ,-2.53698e-001
F,72, FX,1.99040e+002
F,72, FY,-1.22232e+003
F,72, FZ,-9.19939e-001
LSWRITE
14 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Adams/Engine
• Conceptual Fatigue Analysis of a Crankshaft (Crank Concept Analysis)
• Gas Pressure Wizard for 4-stroke Engines
• Nonlinear Dual Mass Flywheel
• General Torsional Damper based on Poynting-Thomson Rheology
• Load Export for MSC Nastran Modal Frequency Response Analysis
• Extracting IMEP and FMP from Pslap Analysis Results
• Advanced Roller Chain

Conceptual Fatigue Analysis of a Crankshaft (Crank Concept Analysis)

You can obtain safety factors in all fillets of the crankshaft system as a function of engine revolution
speed. The following steps in the analysis are performed.
1. A torsion-twist analysis of the crankshaft system in the frequency domain based on the Hafner-
Maass method.
2. A back-transformation of these results into the time domain.
3. A bending analysis of the crankshaft system per throw.
4. A safety factor calculation in all fillets of the crankshaft system as a function of engine revolution
speed.
Each of the involved analysis steps generate data-blocks that are written to ASCII-format files in the local
user home directory.

Gas Pressure Wizard for 4-stroke Engines

Gas pressure curves can be computed at user specified engine speeds based on the so called SEILIGER-
cycle method, an idealized process for a 4-stroke combustion cycle. You input various thermodynamical
and geometrical variables for each engine speed of interest, and the resulting gas pressure curves over
crank angle per engine speed are computed and saved to a file.

Nonlinear Dual Mass Flywheel

The torque from one part to another can be transmitted over a nonlinear torsional spring damper
connected in parallel with user-defined characteristics. For the spring damper element you can specify
stiffness and damping coefficients vs. relative angle between the secondary and primary part.

General Torsional Damper based on Poynting-Thomson Rheology

The torque from one part to another can be transmitted via a Poynting-Thomson body with one hooke
(spring) and up to six Maxwell elements. The Poynting-Thomson body is a one dimensional linear
rheological model that can describe (in the current arrangement) the relaxation properties of a
viscoelastic material with frequency dependent loss and storage modulus. Hence, this general torsional
damper can be used to simulate the behavior of both a rubber damper and viscoelastic damper in the time
 CHAPTER 1 15
What’s New

domain. You can enter hooke (spring) element torque vs. relative angle between the ring and hub part
(linear or nonlinear characteristic) and the damping and stiffness coefficients of the Maxwell elements.

Load Export for MSC Nastran Modal Frequency Response Analysis

You can run a frequency response analysis in MSC Nastran based on the results of an Adams/Engine
flexible body analysis. Adams/Engine will assist you in creating an MSC Nastran input file of the driving
forces acting on a flexible body in the engine model. Currently, only user-specified bearing forces are
supported. Force data are extracted from the request file from an engine dynamic simulation. This data
is transformed to the frequency domain and stored in MSC Nastran input file format. The resulting file
can be included with MSC Nastran bulk data of the flexible body, and a modal frequency response
analysis performed.

Extracting IMEP and FMP from Pslap Analysis Results

You can calculate the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), and the piston and piston rings friction
mean pressure (FMP) after a piston secondary motion analysis from one or more request file(s). The
results are written to an output file as a function of engine speed.

Advanced Roller Chain

Roller chain modeling has been enhanced to include alternating pitch lengths, pin parts, and guide
interface enhancements. You can now enter two pitch lengths for the roller chain. You can also include
gaps between the pins and bushings of the roller chain model.

Adams/Flex
• Flexible Body Contact using Modal Formulation (C++ Solver Only)
• Common MD Database (MD DB) for Flexible Body (MD-Only feature)
• Flexible Body Linear Limit Check (C++ Solver Only) (1-FDB29608, 1-57595636)
• MNFXFORM Utility for Flexible Body Mirroring (1-34798033, 1-59620605)
• MNFRES Utility for Nodal Displacement Recovery (1-FDB16381)
• Double-precision Flexible Body Matrix (.mtx) File
• Faster Modal Force Contouring (1-FDB43969)

Flexible Body Contact using Modal Formulation (C++ Solver Only)

Expand your modeling possibilities by simulating flex-flex and flex-rigid contact. With Adams/Flex you
can now include flexible body contacts in your models. If you are interested in motion and movement of
flexible components and are not as interested in stresses, our solution, which uses a modal formulation,
gives you an easy way to simulate contact with a flexible body. Applications include rolling and sliding
contact (gears, struts, booms, etc.) for mechanism design and performance. You may use your existing
MNF files, provided that they were generated from a finite element model that contained solid elements.
16 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Adams/View has been enhanced to support pre- and post-processing of contacts between flexible bodies
and/or 3D solid geometry. The interface for creating the flex-body contact is similar to rigid-body contact
and is accessible from Main Toolbox -> Force Pallete -> Contact. The Contact Create dialog box has
been updated with the new contact options for creating these contacts:
Flex Body to Solid
Flex Body to Flex Body
You can perform 'what-if' studies easily to see the effect(s) of component flexibility. If you have defined
a flex-body contact and you wish to see how the system would behave if it were rigidized, you can simply
toggle the Inertia Modeling (INVARIANTS) for the flexible body from Partial coupling to Rigid body
(via the Flexible Body Modify dialog box) and re-run as there is no need to redefine or change the contact
definition.
In Adams/PostProcessor you can plot the flex-body contact Node Incidents and Contact 'TRACKS'
(analogous to rigid-body contact 'TRACKS'). The XML results file has been updated to store Node
Incidents and you can control whether or not you want to save Contact Incidents and/or Node Incidents.
See the Adams/View section for more details.
Settings -> Solver -> Output -> More -> Results (.res) Content
Contact Incidents
Node Incidents
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
contact create &
contact_name = .model_1.CONTACT_3 &
adams_id = 3 &
i_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_2 &
j_geometry_name = .model_1.PART_2.ELLIPSOID_1 &
stiffness = 1.0E+004 &
damping = 10.0 &
exponent = 2.2 &
dmax = 0.1

contact create &

contact_name = .model_1.CONTACT_6 &
adams_id = 6 &
i_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_2 &
j_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
stiffness = 1.0E+004 &
damping = 10.0 &
exponent = 2.2 &
dmax = 0.1

part modify flexible_body name_and_position &

flexible_body_name = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
adams_id = 1 &
modal_neutral_file_name = "./link.mnf" &
invariants = yes, yes, yes, yes, no, no, yes, yes, no &
location = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 &
 CHAPTER 1 17
What’s New

orientation = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

output set results model=.model_1 &

contact_incidents=off &
node_incidents=on

Sample Adams/Solver Statement(s):

CONTACT/3
, IFLEX = 2
, JGEOM = 5
, IMPACT
, STIFFNESS = 10000
, DAMPING = 10
, DMAX = 0.1
, EXPONENT = 2.2

CONTACT/6
, IFLEX = 2
, JFLEX = 1
, IMPACT
, STIFFNESS = 10000
, DAMPING = 10
, DMAX = 0.1
, EXPONENT = 2.2

FLEX_BODY/1
, MATRICES = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
, QG = 0, 0, 0
, MNF_FILE = ./link.mnf
, INVARIANTS = T:T:T:T:F:F:T:T:F

FLEX_BODY/2
, MATRICES = 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
, QG = 0, 0, -10
, MNF_FILE = ./FE_solids.mnf

GRAPHICS/5
, ELLIPSOID, CM = 1
, XSCALE = 20, YSCALE = 20, ZSCALE = 20

RESULTS/XRF
, NOCONTACTS
, NODE_INCIDENTS

Notes:
• The geometry for the Flexible Body (used for contact detection) is extracted from the Modal
Neutral File (MNF).
• For this release, only solid FE elements (in MNF) are supported for CONTACT; we do not
support CONTACT for flexible body MNF(s) containing shells at this time.
18 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

• Lists of flexible bodies or solid geometries (JGEOM) are not supported. However, you can make
as many individual contacts as you like, referencing a given flexible body for each individual
contact.
• The flexible body is required to be the I-body (IFLEX) for contact between a flexible body and
3D solid geometry.
• The restitution (POISSON) method is not supported when using CONTACT with flexible
bodies, use the IMPACT method instead.
• Flexible body contact is only supported with the default CONTACT_GEOMETRY_LIBRARY.
Specifying PREFERENCES/CONTACT_GEOMETRY_LIBRARY = PARASOLIDS will cause
an error message:
---- START: ERROR ----
Contact Error: CONTACT_GEOMETRY_LIBRARY cannot be Parasolid for
flex/flex or flex/rigid contact, CONTACT=4, it must be set to
Default_library instead.
---- END: ERROR ----
• CONTACT involving flex-to-flex or flex-to-solid contact pairs is only supported with
Adams/Solver (C++). Any attempt to submit said models to Adams/Solver (Fortran) will result
in an error being issued, for instance:
---- ERROR ----
Solver could not run because one or more model elements are only
supported by the C++ Solver.
Unsupported element names:
CONTACT_3
CONTACT_6
• An environment variable, ADAMS_STATIC_LOADVEC_SCALE, was added to Adams/Solver.
It allows the user to scale down the mode shapes (and, therefore, the load vector for the flexible
modes) to help find static equilibrium. Acceptable values for the environment variable are
between 0 and 1 (inclusive).
• An environment variable MNF_MAX_MODE_MEMORY has been added to improve
performance of flex-body contact models. It specifies how much memory each MNF can use to
keep the modes in memory. The default value is 20MB. The value of
MNF_MAX_MODE_MEMORY should be a number specifying the amount of memory in MB
(Mega Bytes). For example, MNF_MAX_MODE_MEMORY=40, indicating 40 MBytes.
Again, it should be a number, 40 is good and 40MB is not. This environment variable may be
removed in future releases upon further improvement of flexible body contact technology.
Windows example:
set MNF_MAX_MODE_MEMORY=50
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-55422670.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-55422670
 CHAPTER 1 19
What’s New

Common MD Database (MD DB) for Flexible Body (MD-Only feature)

With this release we allow flexible bodies to be imported directly from the MD Nastran database (MD
DB) without any MNF conversion. This technology provides numerous benefits over the traditional
MNF:
• Easier to Manage:
• Streamlined use of Nastran component models by directly accessing MD DB
• Common data format (.MASTER) shared with Nastran
• No need for MNF file creation
• Store several flexible components in a single database and access via index
• Faster:
• Read access time for mode data is quicker than MNF
• Screen updates faster when using internal solver to monitor solution at every output step
• Create several flexible bodies from the MD DB in one operation.

The genesis of an MD DB would typically begin in MD Nastran R3, using the ADAMSMNF case
control command (e.g. ADAMSMNF, EXPORT=DB). Bearing this in mind we do, however, also allow
the creation of an MD DB from an existing MNF (or collection of MNFs) via the command line interface
to the Adams/Flex Toolkit. For instance, you can combine more than one MNF into a single MD DB by
running the mnf2mtx translator two times, like this:
Windows Example:
adamsmdr3 flextk mnf2mtx first.mnf -O dual.MASTER
adamsmdr3 flextk mnf2mtx second.mnf -O dual.MASTER
To demonstrate how the MD DB can be created using Nastran, a new example, plate_mdr3.dat is
available in /install_dir/flex/examples/MSCNASTRAN/demo
plate_mdr3.dat
plate_mdr3.MASTER
plate_mdr3_101.mnf
plate_mdr3_201.mnf
README
The .dat file defines two flexible bodies and uses 'ADAMSMNF, EXPORT=BOTH' option to create both
MNFs and MD DB. The provided plate_mdr3.MASTER works on Windows and Linux, one can easily
create a .MASTER for Unix using the provided plate_mdr3.dat file. Please take note that
plate_mdr3.MASTER contains two flexible bodies in it which you can access using the database index.
In Adams/View you begin by creating a flexible body in the usual way (Main Menu -> Build -> Flexible
Bodies -> Adams/Flex...) and from the Create a Flexible Body dialog box you now have the option of
selecting either MNF or MD DB as the source file. Likewise, the options in the Adams/Flex Toolkit have
also been updated to support the MD DB format.
20 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Sample Adams/View Command Language:

part create flexible_body name_and_position &
flexible_body = .model_1.windmill_blade_sec7 &
adams_id = 40 &
md_db_file_name = "./windmill.MASTER" &
index_in_database = 7 &
location = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 &
orientation = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

Sample Adams/Solver Statement:

FLEX_BODY/40
, MATRICES = 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84
, QG = 0, 0, 0
, REULER = 0D, 0D, 0D
, DB_FILE = ./windmill.MASTER
, INDEX = 7
, INVARIANTS = T:T:T:T:F:T:T:T:F
Notes:
• The Create a Flexible Body dialog box in Adams/View has an Import All checkbox to allow
the import of all flexible bodies contained in the MD DB. It creates one flexible body for each
index contained in the .MASTER file, locating them all at 0,0,0 relative to ground, and setting
the color attribute(s) so each individual flexible body is more easily identifiable.
• Unlike the MNF format, the MD DB is not platform independent so you need so sharing of MD
DB files between dissimilar platforms is limited. Windows and Linux files are compatible with
each other. Unix platforms are also compatible with each other.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-58034702.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-58034702

Flexible Body Linear Limit Check (C++ Solver Only) (1-FDB29608, 1-57595636)
Modal flexible bodies are linear modeling elements and, according to modal superposition theory, their
deformations are assumed to be small and within the linear range. Otherwise with large deformations the
assumptions of modal superposition are violated and the results will not be accurate. Sometimes a
flexible body used in a multi-body system model becomes deformed beyond its linear limit, this can
happen unintentionally as a result of excessive system loading or through poor modeling choices.
With this release we have introduced a new feature that, when enabled, checks whether or not the flexible
body deformation has exceed the linear assumption. If the flex-body is undergoing large deformations
(those exceeding 10% of its characteristic length) then the user is prompted with an alert message
concerning this problem or the simulation is halted, depending on the limit action settings of the linear
limit check.
The Linear Limit Check settings are accessible from the Main Menu:
Settings -> Solver -> Flex Bodies...
 CHAPTER 1 21
What’s New

Limit Check: Skin, Selnod, or None (default)

Limit Action: Halt, Return, or Message Only
Skin - Adams/Solver (C++) will check the deformation of all the surface nodes on the skin of
the flexible body to see whether they exceed the linear limit. To use this option, the MNF_FILE
or DB_FILE arguments need to be specified in FLEX_BODY statement.
Selnod - Adams/Solver (C++) will only check the nodes specified in SELNOD section in MTX
file.
Limit action specifies what action the solver should take if a flexible body exceeds its linear limit.
Halt - Terminates execution of Adams/Solver (C++)
Return - Stops the simulation and returns to the command level
Message only - Issues a warning message only (Default)
The characteristic length of flexible body is obtained automatically from the MNF, by default. However,
if you should wish to override the default you can do so by specifying your own from the Char Length
field available on the Modify Body dialog box (Category: Name and Position) which is accessed from
the Location button on the Flexible Body Modify dialog box.
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
executive set preferences model=.model_1 flex_limit_check=skin
executive set preferences model=.model_1 flex_limit_check_action=halt

part modify flexible_body name_and_position &

flexible_body_name = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
characteristic_length=1000.0

Sample Adams/Solver Statement(s):

FLEX_BODY/1
, MATRICES = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
, MNF_FILE = ./full_beam.mnf
, CHAR_LEN = 1000

PREFERENCES/
, FLEX_LIMIT_CHECK = SKIN
, FLEX_LIMIT_CHECK_ACTION = HALT

Sample Message(s) from Linear Limit Check of Skin with Halt action:
Flex Linear Limit Check enabled. Method: ALL Surface Nodes.

---- START: WARNING ----

At time T=2.280000000E-01, the deformation of FLEX_BODY ID=1 exceeded
its linear limit.
22 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Note:
1. The linear limit is defined as 10% of the characteristic
length of the flexible body.
2. This is the first occurrence and subsequent occurrences on
this flexible body will not be reported.

---- END: WARNING ----

---- START: WARNING ----

model halting simulation at time 2.280000e-01

Notes:
• The Linear Limit Check is available in Adams/Solver (C++) only. There will be no support for
this capability in Adams/Solver (Fortran) and any linear limit check specifications encountered
will be altogether ignored.
• The linear limit is defined as 10% of the characteristic length of the flexible body. You can use
CHAR_LEN argument on the FLEX_BODY statement to specify the characteristic length. If
CHAR_LEN is not specified, then Adams/Solver (C++) will try to calculate the characteristic
length using the MNF or the MD DB if MNF_FILE or DB_FILE is specified. Otherwise, it will
issue an appropriate warning, such as:
---- START: WARNING ----
Invalid MNF or MD DB file specified for FLEX_BODY ID = 1.
Linear limit check (ALL) will not be performed on this flexible body.
---- END: WARNING ----

---- START: WARNING ----

Can not get the characteristic length of FLEX_BODY ID = 1.
Linear limit check (SELNOD) will not be performed on this flexible body.
---- END: WARNING ----

For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-63338313.

http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-63338313

MNFXFORM Utility for Flexible Body Mirroring (1-34798033, 1-59620605)

A new command line utility, MNFXFORM, has been added to the Adams/Flex Toolkit. MNFXFORM
can be used to translate, rotate and/or mirror MNF (or MD DB) as well as renumber interface node IDs.
Use of this feature is envisioned in suspension applications where both the lower control arms and
knuckle flexible bodies have left/right symmetry.
The data contained in MNF (MD DB), is defined with respect to the FE origin. MNFXFORM is a tool
for translating, rotating, or mirroring the MNF (MD DB) with respect to the FE origin. Please take note
that this is different from specifying position and orientation of a flexible body in Adams/View, which
would only change how the FE origin is positioned and oriented in the Adams model and could not
change how the flexible body was positioned and oriented with respect to the FE origin.
 CHAPTER 1 23
What’s New

Without this tool, the only way one could change how a flexible body is positioned or oriented with
respect to its FE origin was to go back to the finite element preprocessor to transform the FEA model
and generate a new MNF (MD DB).
Some of the benefits that this tool provides include:
1. In high speed rotation simulation, the simulation speed can often be improved significantly if the
rotation axis is aligned with the Z axis of the FE origin. With MNFXFROM, user can easily rotate
the flexible body to this configuration.
2. It typically requires some extra efforts to generate a mirrored copy of an MNF (MD DB) from
FEA code. With the MNFXFORM utility this task becomes trivial. Adams/Car users whose
vehicle assemblies often involve symmetrical parts will find this tool is very handy for creating
the right and left pairs of flexible components.

Usage:
adamsmdr3 [-c] flextk mnfxform <option> <input_flex_file>
<output_flex_file> <parameters> [-offset inc] [-id nid n1 n2 ...]

List of options:
<option>
The option should be one of the following:
-t for Translation. Needs direction and distance in <parameters>
-r for Rotation. Needs axis and angle in <parameters>
-m for Mirroring. Needs plane in <parameters>

input_flex_file
Modal Neutral File or MD DB File.
MD DB File is in the form of foo.MASTER[::#], foo.MASTER is the
database and # is the index of the body. For example,
foo.MASTER::2 indicates the second flexible body in foo.MASTER.
foo.MASTER, without ::#, indicates the first flexible body.

output_flex_file
Output Modal Neutral File or MD DB File for given options.
MD DB File is in the form of foo.MASTER.If foo.MASTER exists,
the transformed body will be appended to it.

<parameters>
Input the parameters needed by specified transformation:
-p px py pz Specify a point P
-r rx ry rz Specify a point R
-s sx sy sz Specify a point S
-v vx vy vz Specify a Vector V
-d dist Specify Distance dist
-a angle Specify Angle (Anti-clockwise in degrees)
-offset inc
Offset the interface node IDs with inc.

-id nid n1 n2 ...

Specify new interface node IDs.
nid is the number of new IDs will be specified,
24 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

n1 n2 ... are the new IDs

Notes:
1. How to specify direction and distance
a. -v -d (Direction is V)
b. -p -r -s -d (Direction is the normal of plane PRS)
c. -p -r -d (Direction is PR)
d. -p -r (Direction is PR, distance is length of segment PR)
2. How to specify axis and angle
a. -v -p -a (Axis is in direction V and passes point P)
b. -p -r -s -a (Axis is the normal direction of plane PRS and passes point P)
c. -p -r -a (Axis is in the direction of PR and passes point P)
3. How to specify plane
a. -v -p (Plane passes point P and its normal direction is V)
b. -p -r -s (Plane PRS)
c. -p -r (Plane passes point P and its normal direction is PR)
Windows Examples:
1. adamsmdr3 flextk mnfxform.exe -m input.mnf output.mnf -v 1 0 0 -p 0 0 0 -offset 1
This example mirrors input.mnf about yz plane and increase the ids of the interface nodes by 1.
Then the transformed flexible body is saved as output.mnf.
2. adamsmdr3 flextk mnfxform.exe -r input.MASTER::3 output.MASTER -p 1 0 0 -r 0 1 0 -s 0 0 1
-a 30 -id 5 10 11 12 13 14
This example rotates the 3rd flexible body in input.MASTER by 30 degrees (counter-clockwise)
about the normal direction of plane PRS (defined by three points). Then the first five interface
node ids are renumbered to (10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Finally the transformed flexible body is saved to
MD DB output.MASTER. If output.MASTER exists, the transformed body will be appended to it.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-63329103.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-63329103

MNFRES Utility for Nodal Displacement Recovery (1-FDB16381)

The Adams/Flex Toolkit now includes mnfres, a command line utility for recovering the nodal
displacement, velocity, and acceleration of a flexible body after a time-domain simulation.
Usage:
adamsmdr3 [-c] flextk mnfres [options] <Adams_results_file>
<input_flex_file>

List of options:
-t <time> : output results only up to specified time
 CHAPTER 1 25
What’s New

-n <name> : specify flexible body when several exist

-g : include rigid body motion
-r : also report nodal rotations. Only effective when -
g is not specified.

-s <file> : report only on nodes listed in <file>

-L <unit> : specify length unit used in the Adams model,
e.g.,METER,INCH, FOOT, MILE, MILLIMETER, CENTIMETER, KILOMETER.
Abbreviation is accepted. Default value is METER.

-T <unit> : specify time unit used in the Adams model,

e.g.,SECOND, MILLISECOND, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE. Default value is
SECOND. Abbreviation is accepted.

-i <key> : report specific results. <key> values are:

d : Nodal displacements
v : Nodal velocities
a : Nodal accelerations
<Adams_result_file>: Adams result file

<input_flex_file> : Modal Neutral File (MNF) or MD DB File. MD DB

File is in the form of foo.MASTER[::#], foo.MASTER is the database
and # is the index of the body. For example, foo.MASTER::2 indicates
the second flexible body in foo.MASTER. foo.MASTER, without ::#,
indicates the first flexible body.

Notes:
1. By default, the output will be printed to the screen. You can use > filename to redirect the
output to a file, which is recommended since the output will be voluminous.
2. If -g option is not specified, the output value is in flexbody PBCS. If specified, the output is with
respect to ground.
3. By default the outputted results use METER and SECOND. So if the length unit used in the
Adams model is not METER, you must specify -L <unit> option in order to get correct results.
Same is true for time unit.
Windows Example:
adamsmdr3 flextk mnfres -t 0.1 -i d -L MM -n FLEX_BODY_1 my.res
link.mnf > time_pt01.dat
Outputs the nodal deformation at 0.1 seconds for all nodes of flexible body FLEX_BODY_1, whose mnf
file is link.mnf using the analysis results contained in the results file my.res. The displacements do not
include rigid motion, the length unit is MILLIMETER, and the output is redirected to a file,
time_pt01.dat. The time_pt01.dat file written would contain output like the following...
Begin execution of Adams/Flex Toolkit (mnfres)...

% Results File: my.res

26 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

% Modal Neutral File: link.mnf

% Flexible Body Name: FLEX_BODY_1
% Info Type: nodal displacments
% Time Unit: SECOND
% Length Unit: MILLIMETER
% Translations only: YES
% Include rigid body motion: NO
% Node list size: 558
%
% At time 0.100000
%
1 1.342403e-005 2.562719e-004 4.070182e-008
2 1.536674e-005 1.850717e-004 1.330479e-007
3 1.810361e-005 1.158133e-004 1.249246e-007
4 1.974926e-005 4.985316e-005 2.566157e-008
-etc.-
814 3.877575e-005 2.322163e-004 6.975335e-009
815 3.877575e-005 2.322163e-004 -6.975420e-009
816 4.283421e-005 2.241734e-004 9.118401e-009
817 4.283421e-005 2.241734e-004 -9.118501e-009
1000 -2.951352e-005 2.569748e-004 -1.203375e-014
1001 1.553010e-005 2.152513e-004 9.371702e-015

Double-precision Flexible Body Matrix (.mtx) File

In prior releases the flexible body matrix file (.mtx) was always written with single-precision numbers,
regardless of whether or not the MNF was of single-or double-precision. With this release the precision
of the .mtx file will correspond to the precision of the MNF file. If the MNF has been optimized to single-
precision to reduce its size, any .mtx file generated from the MNF will also be single-precision. If the
MNF is double-precision format, any matrix file generated from the MNF will also be in double-
precision format.
For more information, see Knowledge Base Article 1-63339050.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-63339050

Faster Modal Force Contouring (1-FDB43969)

Performance improvements have been implemented for time-domain animation contouring of modal
force results on flexible bodies. As a result of removing some inefficiencies identified in MNF file I/O
operations, we have seen significant performance improvements -- up to a factor 30 times faster in two
test cases.

Adams/Mechatronics
• Adams/Mechatronics Plugin for Adams/View
• DELAY Function Support (C++ Solver Only)
 CHAPTER 1 27
What’s New

Adams/Mechatronics Plugin for Adams/View

Incorporating control systems into your Adams models is made easier with Adams/Mechatronics. Now
packaged as a plugin to Adams/View (it requires Adams/Controls) and leverages the methodology
(introduced previously as Adams/Car Mechatronics in MD R2) to standardize the method for integrating
control systems -- enabling transfer of information to/from a control system. This means that the process
of performing complete system level investigations is defined so you can more easily tackle complex
model-controller interaction problems or pursue optimizations you may not have been able to consider
before. Based on analysis results, one could quickly alter the multi-body system (MBS) characteristics
and/or control parameters and then analyze the combined system again to evaluate the effects of the
alterations. For example, you can change the control code parameters to see which ones yield the best
stability characteristics for your controlled mechanism when there are disturbances and/or signal delays.
You can load an Adams/Mechatronics model containing a control system as you would any other model.
A Signal Manager is provided for setting up the connections between the transducers/actuators of the
MBS model and the control systems. The settings you choose in the Signal Manager are automatically
stored, so that the next time the model is opened, no user action related to setting up the control system
is needed to submit the analysis. Types of control systems supported include: Function Expression,
External System Library, and Co-Simulation. Activity types for Transducer Signals and Actuator Signals
are supported, useful for making a control system inactive or to build intelligence into your
mechanical/controlled systems. Adams/Mechatronics also supports arbitrary units in transducers,
actuators and control systems and includes logic to conveniently take care of units conversions that may
be needed. Several informational tools are available to enable you to query the model get a good
overview of the coupled system.
New tutorials have been created and are available from the Help System under MD Adams Package ->
Plugins -> Adams/Mechatronics -> Tutorials
• Adams/View - Setup and run Ball and Beam model
• Adams/View - Setup and run Excavator model

If you have an existing Adams/Controls model that contains a Controls_Plant entity you can use the
Convert Controls Plant tool to automatically create the required Adams/Mechatronics components
(transducer/actuator signals, control system) and to establish the signal connections. This will give you
a good starting point for refining your control system further with the additional capabilities that
Adams/Mechatronics offers.
Menu Picks:
Mechatronics -> Tools -> Convert Controls Plant...

Sample Output:
--------------------------
Create transducer signals:
--------------------------
Creating transducer signal: ues_cst_PistEndPos
Creating transducer signal: ues_cst_PistEndVel
28 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

-----------------------
Create actuator signals:
-----------------------
Creating actuator signal: ues_csa_HydForceV
Set state variable (HydForceV) to actuator signal
(ues_csa_HydForceV)
---------------------
Create Control System:
---------------------
Creating control system input: ues_csi_Controls_Plant_1_PistEndPos
Creating control system input: ues_csi_Controls_Plant_1_PistEndVel
Creating control system output: ues_cso_Controls_Plant_1_HydForceV
Creating cosim control system: ues_Controls_Plant_1
-----------------
Connect signals:
-----------------
actuator signal: SpringMass.ues_csa_HydForceV is connected...
control system input:
SpringMass.ues_csi_Controls_Plant_1_PistEndPos is connected...
control system input:
SpringMass.ues_csi_Controls_Plant_1_PistEndVel is connected...

Adams/Mechatronics components were successfully created from a

standard controls plant!
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60983985.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60983985

DELAY Function Support (C++ Solver Only)

With the MD Adams R3 release you now have the possibility of adding a delay to the control system
signals in Adams/Mechatronics. Similar to the 'Disturbance', the 'Delay' can be applied to all types of
control signals by using the 'Delay' tab in the corresponding dialog box(es):
Control System Inputs
Control System Outputs
Example:
Mechatronics -> Mechanical System -> Transducer Signal -> Modify...
Delay functionality in Adams/Mechatronics helps you in producing the appropriately defined delayed
signal. You can set either a constant time delay or a user-defined time delay expression, applied before
or after the disturbance. The delay can be placed in three different positions with respect to the signal
function and a disturbance. In addition to the delay position, you need to specify the delay time function
(whose value must be positive or zero), and delay initial history, that is, the initial value of delay function.
Please refer to dialog box help (F1 help) for details on the different settings.
 CHAPTER 1 29
What’s New

Notes:
• The new DELAY function introduced in Adams/Solver (C++) is available from the
Adams/View function builder under Math functions. It provides an easy way to delay the onset
of a function and can be used for modeling signal and actuator delays in controllers. For more
details about the DELAY function please refer to the Adams/Solver Release Notes.
• Only Adams/Solver (C++) supports the DELAY function. The Adams/Solver (Fortran) does not
recognize the DELAY function and, if encountered, will issue an error message:
---- ERROR ----
An unsupported function was found in a function expression.
Either modify your expression to not use this function or run
this model using the Cxx Solver.

Adams/SmartDriver
• SmartDriver Path Planning (1-55043956)
• Discrete GSE for SmartDriver

SmartDriver Path Planning (1-55043956)

Given a road data file (.rdf) or a driver road data (.drd) file, SmartDriver will drive a vehicle down the
center-line of the road. However, for racing and marketing studies where vehicles are driven at high
speeds on a closed course in an attempt to produce the shortest lap times, the fastest or optimum path
around the road is not the center-line of the road. The fastest path is one where vehicle cuts corners by
crossing over the center-line as necessary to shorten the path and to decrease the path curvature.
With MD Adams R3 we are providing a tool to help you build a path around a closed road course that
approximates the optimum or fastest path for a given vehicle. Given a road, this new tool will
automatically optimize the path by minimizing distance and curvature. It also provides visualization of
the input road file overlaid with the center line for the optimized path.
This tool can be accessed from the Standard User Interface in Adams/Car:
Simulate -> Full Vehicle Analysis -> Path Optimization
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60781941.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60781941

Discrete GSE for SmartDriver

In prior releases, Adams/SmartDriver used a REQSUB-based scheme which required use of a small
output step size in order to get accurate results. Due to the small output interval, undesirably large results
files (.res) were being produced. With the MD Adams R3 release a discrete GSE has been implemented
to replace the REQSUB. The discrete GSE-based approach has the advantage of setting its own update
30 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

interval(s) to obtain desired accuracy and, as a result, SmartDriver is no longer as restricted to small
output step sizes.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-61035447.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-61035447

Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN)

• HASTIFF Integrator: SI1 and SI2 Formulations (C++ Solver Only)
• DELAY Function (C++ Solver Only)
• LINEAR/EXPORT for Element-level Adams2Nastran Export (C++ Solver Only) (MD Only feature)
• Control CONTACT Incident output with RESULTS statement (C++ Solver Only)
• Support for multiple planes in point-to-plane CONTACT (C++ Solver Only)
• ADAMS_SMP_GROUP Utility Subroutine (C++ Solver Only)

HASTIFF Integrator: SI1 and SI2 Formulations (C++ Solver Only)

The family of integrators available in Adams/Solver (C++) has been extended to include HASTIFF
(Hiller-Anantharaman STIFF integrator). HASTIFF supports both Stabilized Index-1 (and Index-2) DAE
formulations which provide improved stability at small time steps. You should find that HASTIFF does
not give up as easily as GSTIFF and it typically requires fewer function evaluations to converge.
Note that the priority of the HASTIFF integrator is an emphasis on accuracy rather than speed. It should
be used in applications where force, acceleration, or velocity are of importance. When compared to
HHT/Newmark integrators, the HASTIFF results should have fewer numerical discontinuities.
Examples:
INTEGRATOR/HASTIFF, SI1, ERROR=1e-3
INTE/HASTIFF, SI2, ERR=1e-3, LIST
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-57410930.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-57410930

DELAY Function (C++ Solver Only)

With this release we are introducing DELAY, a run-time function that provides an easy way to delay the
onset of a function. You can specify fixed or variable delays without needing to introduce additional
modeling elements or functions like DIFF or SENVAL. DELAY can be used for modeling signal and
actuator delays in controllers. The DELAY function returns the value of an expression at a delayed time.
 CHAPTER 1 31
What’s New

Format
DELAY(e_delayed, e_delay, e_history [, id])
Arguments
e_delayed - Adams expression to be delayed.
e_delay - Adams expression defining the magnitude of the delay. The delay can be constant or state
dependent. The magnitude of the delay must be positive. Negative values will be taken as zero.
e_history - Initial history of the expression e_delayed for time less than zero (t<0). The history must be
a function of TIME or a constant.
id - The identifier of an array of type IC containing: the order of interpolation, a jump threshold, an angle
threshold, and a refinement parameter.
Adams/Solver Examples:
! adams_view_name='STEP5'
VARIABLE/84, FUNCTION=STEP5(TIME, 0.2, 90, 0.3, +500)+STEP5(TIME, 0.3, 0,
0.4, -500)

! adams_view_name='STEP5_delayed'
VARIABLE/85, FUNCTION=DELAY(VARVAL(84), 0.1, 90)
Here we show two signals, the input signal (VAR/84) and its delayed signal (VAR/85). The value(s) of
VAR/85 will be just like the STEP5 functions prescribed in VAR/84, however it will be shifted forward
in time by 0.1 seconds, the magnitude of the delay. Up until the time of 0.1 seconds the delayed signal,
VAR/85, will take on the prescribed initial history value of 90. Although it is certainly not a requirement
to use VARIABLEs and/or VARVALs as was done here, it can be a useful approach to take when you are
dealing with very lengthy or complicated function expressions.
Notes:
• Neither DDE nor DDAE of the advance type (negative delays) are supported.
• Only Adams/Solver (C++) supports the DELAY function. The Adams/Solver (Fortran) does not
recognize the DELAY function and, if encountered, will issue an error message:
---- ERROR ----
An unsupported function was found in a function expression.
Either modify your expression to not use this function or run
this model using the Cxx Solver.
For an example and more details, see Knowledge Base Article 1-57632260.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-57632260

LINEAR/EXPORT for Element-level Adams2Nastran Export (C++ Solver Only) (MD Only
feature)
Previously in MD R2, one could use Adams2Nastran available from Adams/Vibration (and Adams/Car
Ride) to recreate a full Adams model as a full Nastran equivalent model for use in Nastran modal or
32 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

frequency response analysis. This feature of creating a so-called Black Box representation of the entire
model. With the MD Adams R3 release we've moved this technology into Adams/Solver and made
improvements in the following areas:
• Capability: added a White Box export option for element-level model description
• Accessibility: implemented in base Adams/Solver with a thin interface in Adams/View
• Customizability: allowed user-configurable customizations via flat-text config file
• Visualization: simple graphics of white box model created for viewing in Patran

The White Box export option allows individual components of the Adams model to be identifiable at an
element level for subsequent replacement and/or modification in MD Nastran. The linearized model
export can only be performed at static equilibrium operating points (static or quasi-static are acceptable).
Sample Adams/Solver Command(s):
PREFERENCES/SOLVER=CXX
SIMULATE/STATICS
LINEAR/EXPORT, TYPE=BLACKBOX, FILE=two_dof_static_blackbox.dat
SIMULATE/STATICS,END=1.0,STEPS=50
LINEAR/EXPORT, TYPE=WHITEBOX, FILE=two_dof_qstatic_whitebox.dat
The above sequence of commands would produce, at the static operating point, a Nastran model data file
(along with three INCLUDE files):

two_dof_static_blackbox.dat
two_dof_static_blackbox_KVVV.dat
two_dof_static_blackbox_MVVV.dat
two_dof_static_blackbox_BVVV.dat

two_dof_qstatic_whitebox.dat
two_dof_qstatic_whitebox_KVVV.dat
two_dof_qstatic_whitebox_BVVV.dat
two_dof_qstatic_whitebox_GRAPHICS.dat
Notes:
• The LINEAR/EXPORT capability is available in Adams/Solver (C++) only, if Adams/Solver
(Fortran) encounters the command it will be ignored and an alert message will be issued:
---- WARNING ----
LINEAR command with EXPORT is only supported by the C++ Solver.
The EXPORT option is being ignored.
• The Adams2Nastran tool will stop the export and alert you if the Adams system is not at a true
static equilibrium configuration. By default, a static simulation at time t=0 restores the initial
velocities found in the model definition. To change this behavior and prevent the restoration of
the initial velocities you can set the environment variable:
MSC_ADAMS_STATICS_NO_RESTORE_VELOCITIES. For confirmation an alert will be
issued in the .msg file:
 CHAPTER 1 33
What’s New

---- START: WARNING ----

Environment variable MSC_ADAMS_STATICS_NO_RESTORE_VELOCITIES has
been set. Velocities were not restored after the static
simulation.
---- END: WARNING ----
• In Adams/View this feature can be accessed from an icon button on the Simulation Control
dialog box (Export a Nastran model from Adams) or from the Main Menu under Simulate ->
Adams2Nastran.
• The Adams2Nasatran interfaces in Adams/Vibration and Adams/Car Ride from MD R2 have
not been updated whatsoever. They have been retained for transitional purposes so that users
dependent on prior method(s) may compare the results between the old method and the new.
Future plans are to update these plugin interfaces to take advantage of the new implementation,
including White Box export.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-58120903.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-58120903

Control CONTACT Incident output with RESULTS statement (C++ Solver Only)
When the XRF results file is used, detailed Contact Incident results output is written to the .res file,
including:
• Contact Incidents – Values computed for individual contact points on Rigid and Flexible
Bodies in contact.
• Node incidents – Values computed for FLEX_BODY nodes on Flexible Bodies in contact.

Users have been requesting that we allow writing of Contact Incident results to be turned off so as to
keep the results file size more compact; Node incidents also contribute to large files. Therefore, two new
arguments have been added to the RESULTS statement to allow some control over what output is being
written.
RESULTS/XRF
, NOCONTACTS
, NODE_INCIDENTS
Where:
NOCONTACTS
Specifies that the results file is not to include contact incidents.
The default is a results file that includes contact incidents.
NODE_INCIDENTS
Specifies that the results file is to include node incidents for contact on Flex Bodies.
The default is a results file that does not include node incidents.
34 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Note:
• This feature is only supported with Adams/Solver (C++). To get a similar effect when using
Adams/Solver (Fortran) you can use the environment variable MDI_ADAMS_CONTACT_OUT
instead, which is documented in the Setting Environment Variables section of the
Configuring MD Adams Online Help.

Support for multiple planes in point-to-plane CONTACT (C++ Solver Only)

In the previous release, flexible body point-to-plane contact was allowed for an IGEOM list of POINTs
but was limited to the case of a single PLANE. Now support has been extended so that CONTACT may
be defined between multiple PLANE GRAPHICs on a single rigid PART (lists of ids for JGEOM) and
multiple POINTs (list of IGEOM POINTs defined by MARKERs on a single FLEX_BODY).
Example:
CONTACT/1
, IGEOM = 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
, JGEOM = 1, 2
, IMPACT
, STIFFNESS = 1.0E+005
, DAMPING = 10
, DMAX = 0.1
, EXPONENT = 2.2
, COULOMB_FRICTION = OFF

ADAMS_SMP_GROUP Utility Subroutine (C++ Solver Only)

A call to the ADAMS_SMP_GROUP subroutine informs Adams/Solver (C++) that, if the user-written
subroutine is executed in parallel, it must be executed in the same thread as other subroutines with the
same ADAMS_SMP_GROUP id. Note that this applies to each use of the user-written subroutine.
By identifying a group of user-written subroutines which must be executed in the same thread, some
thread safety issues can be avoided such that models using these non-threadsafe user-written subroutines
can still take advantage of parallel execution.
It is not recommended that this be used as a substitute to writing completely threadsafe user subroutines.
User-written subroutines which are completely threadsafe will be able to take more effective advantage
of parallelism in Adams.

Adams/Tire
• Adams/Tire 3D Contact Replacement (1-55127831, 1-59245911)
• SMP Support for Adams/Tire (C++ Solver Only)
• Road Builder
 CHAPTER 1 35
What’s New

Adams/Tire 3D Contact Replacement (1-55127831, 1-59245911)

This 3D tire modeling technology has been developed by MSC.Software and is a replacement for the
discontinued optional module (Adams/Tire 3D Contact). This solution, suitable for use on uneven road
surfaces, is now delivered as part of Adams/Tire and uses the MDA_TireHandling licensed feature.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-61035338.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-61035338

SMP Support for Adams/Tire (C++ Solver Only)

With MD Adams R3 we are introducing Shared Memory Parallel (SMP) support for Adams/Car users
running vehicle models with tires on multi-CPU machines. This multi-threaded parallel processing
functionality is only available when using Adams/Solver (C++).
From the Adams/Car standard interface menu: Settings -> Solver -> Selection you can specify the
number of threads in the Thread Count field when the Solver Selection has been set to CXX.
Likewise you could specify it with the PREFERENCES statement if you are working with an
Adams/Solver dataset (.adm) file. For example on a dual-CPU machine you would specify two threads
like this:
PREFERENCES/NTHREADS=2
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-61031261.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-61031261
Notes:
• By default, multi-threaded parallel processing functionality is not available for user-written tire
models. To use SMP with your user-written tire model you can set the environment variable
MSC_ADAMS_TIRE_SMP=TRUE. Please note that you must make sure that your user-written
tire subroutines are threadsafe; more information about thread safety can be found in Knowledge
Base article 1-58345731:
Writing Threadsafe User-written Subroutines for Adams/Solver (C++)
Solution#: 1-58345731
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-58345731

Road Builder
A Road Generator has been added to the Road Builder. Using the Road Generator you can create road
data with multiple segments, each segment representing predefined formulations like Linear, Curvature,
Transition Curve or through User Defined Functions and User Defined Points.
See Adams/Car or Adams/Chassis for further details.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-60528922.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-60528922
36 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Adams/Vibration
Maintenance
This release of Adams/Vibration is primarily a maintenance release. See Adams/Solver (C++ and
FORTRAN) and Adams/View sections for some of the new capabilities.

Adams/View
• Interface Support for Flex-Body Contact (C++ Solver Only)
• Support for Flex-Body Linear Limit Check (C++ Solver Only)
• Ability to turn off saving of Contact Incidents in Results (C++ Solver Only)
• Support for HASTIFF Integrator (C++ Solver Only)
• Element-level Adams2Nastran Export (C++ Solver Only) (MD-Only)
• Support for Distance Constraint (1-FDB13342) (C++ Solver Only)
• Support for ACF File Export & Import (1-FDB9685, 1-FDB10701, 1-66289301)
• ACF Script Builder for Activate & Deactivate (1-FDB51739, 1-59677105) (C++ Solver Only)
• Support for Flex Body MD DB File Format (MD-Only)
• DELAY Function Support (C++ Solver Only)
• 'Launch PPT' Button
• Plugin Documentation and Enhancement (1-38696031)
• Preference to Delete Cache File On Exit (CR 1-22984554)
• Faster Flexible Body Animation (1-FDB43969, 1-57632911)
• Mechatronics Plugin Support

Interface Support for Flex-Body Contact (C++ Solver Only)

With Adams/Flex you can now easily include flex-to-rigid and flex-to-flex contacts in your models.
Adams/View has been enhanced to support pre- and post-processing of contacts between modal flexible
bodies and 3D solid geometry. Accessible from Main Toolbox -> Contact... the Contact Create dialog
box has been updated with the new contact options for creating the flex-body contacts:
Flex Body to Solid
Flex Body to Flex Body
 CHAPTER 1 37
What’s New

Sample Adams/View Command(s):

contact create &
contact_name = .model_1.CONTACT_3 &
adams_id = 3 &
i_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_2 &
j_geometry_name = .model_1.PART_2.ELLIPSOID_1 &
stiffness = 1.0E+004 &
damping = 10.0 &
exponent = 2.2 &
dmax = 0.1

contact create &

contact_name = .model_1.CONTACT_6 &
adams_id = 6 &
i_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_2 &
j_flex = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
stiffness = 1.0E+004 &
damping = 10.0 &
exponent = 2.2 &
dmax = 0.1
Notes:
• The geometry for the Flexible Body (used for contact detection) is extracted from the Modal
Neutral File (MNF).
• For this release, only solid FE elements (in MNF) are supported for CONTACT; we do not
support CONTACT for flexible body MNF(s) containing shells at this time.
• Lists of flexible bodies or solid geometries are not supported. However, you can make as many
individual contacts as you like, referencing a given flexible body for each individual contact.
• The flexible body is required to be the I-body for contact between a flexible body and 3D solid
geometry.
• The Restitution method is not supported when using CONTACT with flexible bodies, use the
Impact method instead.
• Flexible body contact is only supported with the default Contact Geometry Library. Specifying
Parasolids as the Geometry Library will cause an error message when solving:
---- START: ERROR ----
Contact Error: CONTACT_GEOMETRY_LIBRARY cannot be Parasolid for
flex/flex or flex/rigid contact, CONTACT=4, it must be set to
Default_library instead.
---- END: ERROR ----
• CONTACT involving flex-to-flex or flex-to-solid contact pairs is only supported with
Adams/Solver (C++). If you forget this and try to solve with Adams/Solver (Fortran) it will
result in an error, like this:
38 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

---- ERROR ----

Solver could not run because one or more model elements are only
supported by the C++ Solver.
Unsupported element names:
CONTACT_3
CONTACT_6
• An environment variable MSC_FORCE_GRAPHICS_NODE has been added to control the
display of force graphics on the I flex body or J flex body for Flex-to-flex contacts. If this
variable has a value of I, then only force graphics originating from the I-flex body will be drawn,
if the variable has a value of J, then force graphics originating from the J-flex body will be
drawn. Absence of this environment variable will indicate that all force graphics for the node
incidents will be drawn. Please take note that the setting is case sensitive, lower-case letters (i or
j) will not work.
See Adams/Flex section for further details.
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-55422670.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-55422670

Support for Flex-Body Linear Limit Check (C++ Solver Only)

The Flex-Body Linear Limit Check is a new feature of Adams/Flex that, when enabled, checks whether
or not the flexible body deformation exceeds 10% of its characteristic length during run-tim. The Linear
Limit Check settings are accessible from the Main Menu: Settings >- Solver -> Flex Bodies...
The characteristic length of flexible body is obtained automatically from the MNF, by default. However,
if you should wish to override the default you can do so by specifying your own from the Char Length
field available on the Modify Body dialog box (Category: Name and Position) which is accessed from
the Location button on the Flexible Body Modify dialog box.
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
executive set preferences model=.model_1 flex_limit_check=skin
executive set preferences model=.model_1 flex_limit_check_action=halt
part modify flexible_body name_and_position &
flexible_body_name = .model_1.FLEX_BODY_1 &
characteristic_length=1000.0
See Adams/Flex section for further details about this Adams/Solver (C++) feature.

Ability to turn off saving of Contact Incidents in Results (C++ Solver Only)
When the XRF results file is used, detailed Contact Incident results output is written to the .res file,
including:
• Contact Incidents – Values computed for individual contact points on Rigid and Flexible
Bodies in contact.
• Node incidents – Values computed for flex-body nodes on Flexible Bodies in contact.
 CHAPTER 1 39
What’s New

Users have been requesting that we allow writing of Contact Incident results to be turned off so as to
keep the results file size more compact; Node incidents also contribute to large files. Therefore, two new
arguments have been added to the RESULTS statement to allow some control over what output is being
written.
Accessible from Settings - Solver - Output - Results (.res) content, you can choose to set the following
options on or off.
• Contact Incidents
• Node Incidents

Command Language
output set results model = .model_1 contact_incidents=on
node_incidents=on
output set results model = .model_1 contact_incidents=off
node_incidents=off
Where:
• contact_incidents=off
Specifies that the results file is not to include contact incidents. The default is a results file that
includes contact incidents.
• node_incidents=on
Specifies that the results file is to include node incidents for contact on Flex Bodies.
The default is a results file that does not include node incidents.
Note:
• This feature is only supported with Adams/Solver (C++). To get a similar effect when using
Adams/Solver (Fortran) you can use the environment variable MDI_ADAMS_CONTACT_OUT
instead, which is documented in the Setting Environment Variables section of Configuring
MD Adams in the Adams Help system.

Support for HASTIFF Integrator (C++ Solver Only)

The Solver Settings dialog box has been updated to support HASTIFF integrator, with SI1 and SI2
formulations.
Command language:
executive_control set numerical_integration_parameters &
model_name = .model_1 &
integrator_type = hastiff &
formulation = si1 &
error_tolerance = 1.0E-003
See Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN) section for further details about this Adams/Solver (C++)
feature.
40 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-57410930.

http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-57410930

Element-level Adams2Nastran Export (C++ Solver Only) (MD-Only)

Previously in MD R2, one could use Adams2Nastran available from Adams/Vibration (and Adams/Car
Ride) to recreate a full Adams model as a full Nastran equivalent model for use in Nastran modal or
frequency response analysis. With the MD Adams R3 release we've moved this Black Box linearized
model capability into Adams/Solver and have provided basic user interface support in Adams/View.
Furthermore we've extended the technology to allow creation of a White Box representation that allows
for individual Adams components to be identified at the element-level for subsequent replacement with
more detailed representations inside MD Nastran.
See Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN) section for further details about this Adams/Solver (C++)
feature.
In Adams/View this feature can be accessed from an icon button on the Simulation Control dialog box
(Export a Nastran model from Adams) or from the Main Menu under Simulate -> Adams2Nastran.
You can export the model at static equilibrium or quasi-static equilibrium operating points. The Create
Simulation Script dialog box for Adams/View Command scripts has been updated to include the new
Run Commands:
Nastran Export - Static
Nastran Export - Quasi Static
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
simulation single_run nastran_export static &
model_name=.model_1 &
type=black_box &
output_file_name="my_blackbox.dat" &
write_to_terminal=off &
reset_after_export=yes

simulation single_run nastran_export quasi_static &

model_name=.model_1 &
type=white_box &
config_file="my_config.txt" &
output_file_name="model_whitebox.dat" &
write_to_terminal=off &
number_of_steps = 10 &
end_time = 1.0 &
reset_after_export=yes
For an example, see Knowledge Base Article 1-58120903.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-58120903
 CHAPTER 1 41
What’s New

Notes:
• This feature is only supported when using Adams/Solver (C++), if you attempt to use
Adams/Solver (Fortran) an error message will be displayed:
ERROR: The Nastran export functionality is available only with
the C++ solver.
• The Adams2Nasatran interfaces in Adams/Vibration and Adams/Car Ride from MD R2 have
not been updated whatsoever. They have been retained for transitional purposes so that users
dependent on prior method(s) may compare the results between the old method and the new.
Future plans are to update these plugin interfaces to take advantage of the new implementation,
including White Box export.

Support for Distance Constraint (1-FDB13342) (C++ Solver Only)

Command language support has been added for the POINT_POINT joint primitive. This distance
constraint, which had previously been available in stand-alone Adams/Solver (C++), can now be used
within the Adams/View interface. You can create it from the Command Navigator (Tools - Command
Navigator - constraint - create - primitive_joint - point_point).
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
constraint create primitive_joint point_point &
jprim_name = .model_1.JPRIM_12 &
adams_id = 12 &
i_marker_name = .model_1.PART_2.MARKER_5 &
j_marker_name = .model_1.ground.MARKER_6 &
offset = 100.0

Support for ACF File Export & Import (1-FDB9685, 1-FDB10701, 1-66289301)
Now there are easier ways to read in and write out Adams/Solver scripts (.acf). The File - Export dialog
box has a new option for exporting an 'Adams/Solver Script' so you don't have to rely on using the write
files only option from the Settings -> Solver -> Executable dialog box just for exporting the ACF file.
For consistency the File - Import dialog box has also been updated to include the option for importing
Adams/Solver Script (*.acf) files. The old location for this feature (Simulate -> Simulation Script ->
New...) continues to be available.
Sample Adams/View Command Language:
simulation script write_acf &
sim_script_name = .model_1.SIM_SCRIPT_1 &
file_name = "run_hht.acf”

simulation script read_acf &

sim_script_name = .model_1.SIM_SCRIPT_2 &
file_name = “run_hastiff.acf”
42 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

ACF Script Builder for Activate & Deactivate (1-FDB51739, 1-59677105) (C++ Solver
Only)
The Adams/Solver ACF script builder dialog boxes have been updated to now include modeling elements
that Adams/Solver (C++) allows you to ACTIVATE and DEACTIVATE, including:
CONTACT
COUPLER
GFORCE (General Force)
VFORCE (Force Vector)
VTORQUE (Torque Vector)
The dialog boxes for Activate and Deactivate are under the Append ACF Commands option list in the
Create a Simulation Script dialog box for the Adams/Solver Script type accessible from the Simulate
-> Simulation Script -> New... menu.
In previous releases you could have done it using manual entry in the script. The new interface is better
because it avoids guesswork and there is less chance for making syntax errors. A potential use of the
ACTIVATE and DEACTIVATE commands could be to improve performance in a complex contact model
by activating contacts only at the time when they are needed in a given simulation event. Or to deactivate
a coupler in a geared system after some period of time to let 3D solid-to-solid gear contact forces to
become active after a steady state operational speed is reached.
For more information, see Knowledge Base Article 1-63467579.
http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-63467579

Support for Flex Body MD DB File Format (MD-Only)

With this release we allow flexible bodies to be imported directly from the MD Nastran database (MD
DB) without any MNF conversion. The following dialog boxes in Adams/View have been updated with
options to also support the MD DB file format as an alternative to the modal neutral file (MNF) format.
Main Menu -> Build -> Flexible Bodies
- Adams/Flex... (Create a Flexible Body)
- Rigid to Flex... (Swap a rigid body for a flexible body)
- Flex to Flex... (Swap a flexible body for another flexible body)

Sample Adams/View Command Language:

part create flexible_body name_and_position &
flexible_body = .model_1.windmill_blade_sec7 &
adams_id = 40 &
md_db_file_name = "./windmill.MASTER" &
index_in_database = 7 &
location = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 &
orientation = 0.0, 0.0, 0.0
 CHAPTER 1 43
What’s New

One nice feature of the MD DB (.MASTER) is that it may contain several flexible components in a single
file. By using the Import All option on the Create a Flexible Body dialog box you can bring all of the
individual flexible bodies into Adams/View with one operation. Or you can use the 'index_in_database'
parameter to access a particular component of interest.
See Adams/Flex section for further details about this feature.

DELAY Function Support (C++ Solver Only)

The new DELAY function is supported in the Adams/View function builder under Math functions. It
provides an easy way to delay the onset of a function and can be used for modeling signal and actuator
delays in controllers.
For more details about the DELAY function please refer to the Adams/Solver (C++ and FORTRAN)
section.
Notes:
• Only Adams/Solver (C++) supports the DELAY function. The Adams/Solver (Fortran) does not
recognize the DELAY function and, if encountered, will issue an error message:
---- ERROR ----
An unsupported function was found in a function expression.
Either modify your expression to not use this function or run
this model using the Cxx Solver.

'Launch PPT' Button

An icon for launching the PostProcessor has been added to the following dialog boxes:
• Simulation Control (Interactive and Scripted)
• Animation Controls

Give it a try and see it can be more convenient to use than picking
Review - Animation from the Main menu or the using F8 keyboard shortcut.

Plugin Documentation and Enhancement (1-38696031)

New documentation has been added for plugins which you can find in the Adams Help System under
Learning Basics -> Setting Up Adams/View -> Plugins. Some usability enhancements have also been
made so that user plugins are easier to manage when integrating with vertical applications and dealing
with site and private search paths.

Preference to Delete Cache File On Exit (CR 1-22984554)

Flexible body animation cache files (.fcf) are written to disk and are beneficial whenever you intend to
perform animations again later on, at a subsequent time. During early stages of model development the
model itself is changing rapidly and the need for long-term preservation of a flex cache file is not
necessary. For this reason, users have requested that we provide, for convenience, a feature to allow
44 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

automatic deletion of .fcf files upon exit instead of using a manual operation like Tools - Purge Cache
Files.
Now the Animation Tab in the Edit - Preferences dialog box in Adams/PostProcessor has an option,
Delete Cache File On Exit (Yes/No). When you Save settings it will store your preference in the
'aviewBS.cmd' settings file, like this:

!-------------------------------------------
! Cache File settings
!-------------------------------------------
defaults file_cache_purge delete_on_exit=yes

Faster Flexible Body Animation (1-FDB43969, 1-57632911)

Performance improvements have been implemented for time-domain animation of flexible bodies. As a
result of removing some inefficiencies identified in MNF file I/O operations, we have seen significant
performance improvements -- up to a factor 30 times faster in two test cases where modal force contours
were being displayed. You will notice speed improvements in cases where the MNF file size is big and
the animation has many frames.

Mechatronics Plugin Support

The Mechatronics plugin is now available for use in Adams/View. See Adams/Mechatronics section for
more details about this new capability for integrating controls systems into your Adams models.
 MD Nastran 2006 Installation and Operations GuideMD Nastran

2 Running Adams Products

J Starting Adams Products

J
Setting Preferences
J
Setting Your Working Directory
46 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Starting Adams Products

This sections described how you can start your Adams products on UNIX and on Windows.

Starting Adams Products on UNIX

The Adams Toolbar is a starting point to using Adams products on UNIX. The toolbar is shown below.

Adams Toolbar tool - Right click to set up Toolbar, manage

memory models, access online help and Technical Support
resources and more

Product tools - Click to run product or right-click to

configure products and create user libraries.
Hold the cursor over a tool to see the name of the associated
product.

You can also use the Adams Toolbar to:

• Customize, keep track of, and organize multiple libraries of standard Adams products
• Create binaries
• Manage custom memory models and product preferences

For more information on these or other Adams Toolbar operations, see the Running and Configuring
online help (from the Help menu in any product, select Adams Help, on the left pane, select
Configuring Adams).

To start a product on UNIX:

1. To display the Adams Toolbar, at the command prompt, enter the command adamsmdx where x
is the version number, for example adamsmdr3.
2. Click on the tool representing the product you want to start.

Note: We recommend that you use the Adams Toolbar to start your Adams products, but
if you want to automate certain operations, use the text-based Program Menu. For
more information, see the Running and Configuring online help.
 CHAPTER 2 47
Running Adams Products

Starting Adams Products on Windows

You start any Adams product from the Start menu. You can also use the Start menu to:
• Change your license type
• Generate problem reports
• Uninstall products, demonstrations, and documentation
• Set Adams preferences

For more information on these or other operations, see the Running and Configuring online help.

To start a product on Windows:

• From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to MSC.Software, point to MD Adams R3,
point to the name of the product you want to start, and then select the product type. For example,
point to ACar, and then select Adams - Car.

Tip: Select the corresponding desktop icon for the product, if you installed it on your
desktop.
48 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Setting Preferences
This section describes how you can set preferences, such as your working directory, graphics setting, and
memory model size.

Setting Preferences on UNIX

You use the Registry Editor from the Adams Toolbar to set a variety of preferences. For information on
the preferences you can set, see the Running and Configuring online help.

To display the Registry Editor:

• From the Adams Toolbar, right-click any product tool, and then select Change <Product
Name> Settings.

Setting Preferences on Windows

You use the Settings menu to modify:
• Graphics settings
• HOOPS settings
• Memory model size

To display the Settings dialog box:

• From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to MSC.Software, point to MD Adams R3, and
then select Adams - Settings.
 CHAPTER 2 49
Running Adams Products

Setting Your Working Directory

During a session in a default or custom product, you can select the directory where you want to place
your model and output files.
For Adams/Adams/View, you can set the working directory from the Welcome dialog box.

To set your working directory:

1. From the File menu, select Select Directory.
2. In the dialog box that appears, select the working directory.
50 MD Adams R3 Release Guide
 MD Nastran 2006 Installation and Operations GuideMD Nastran

3 Getting Help

J Tool Tips
J
Online Help
J
Tutorials and Examples
52 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Tool Tips
Tool tips display information about the item the cursor is currently over in an Adams product. The
following shows the tool tip that appears when you place the cursor over the link geometry tool.

Tool
Tip

To display tool tips:

• Move the cursor over the item in the interface on which you’d like information.
A brief description of the item appears.
 CHAPTER 3 53
Getting Help

Online Help
To help you use the Adams products, MSC.Software provides online help (HTML format). To view the
online help and tutorials, you can use your default Web browser. An example of online help is shown
below

Automatic sync to Navigate to next

show the current topic or previous All Products
topic in TOC topic Help Button

Bookmark topics
of interest

Search for documentation

across entire Help system

Products grouped
by package
54 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Versions of Web Browsers

For the Adams Help system, all you need is a Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX computer running a fairly
new browser with JavaScript enabled. If JavaScript is not enabled, then the Help set will not display in
its entirety. You also need to have appropriate Acrobat reader to view PDF files from online help system.
We recommend that you view the online help using one of the following browsers:
• Internet Explorer 5.x or 6.x
• Netscape Navigator 7.x or 8.x
• Mozilla/Firefox 1.x
 CHAPTER 3 55
Getting Help

Accessing the Online Help

You can view help for a dialog box, a product, or for all Adams products. The figure below shows the
help for all Adams products, called the integrated master site. You can use this site to view any product’s
help and search across all product help. You can also access release notes for all products, and view the
documents in Adobe Reader.

Use to view
PDF Print

View topics
for any
product help
56 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

To get help on a dialog box:

1. Click in the dialog box for which you need help.
2. Press F1.
Adams launches a browser window that contains information about the dialog box.

To get general help on your product:

• From your product’s Help menu, select Product Name Help (where Product Name is the name
of your Adams product).
Adams launches a browser window that contains the starting point for your product’s online
help.

To get help on another Adams product:

• Perform one of the following:
• If you’re in an Adams product, from its Help menu, select Adams Help.
• If you’re in the help for an Adams product, use the “All Products Help” button ( )to get to
main help system.
Your default browser starts and displays the master site for Adams online help.

To open the Adams online help from the Adams Toolbar:

• Right-click the Adams Toolbar tool, and then select Online Help.
Your default browser starts and displays the master site for Adams online help.

To open the Adams online help from the Start Menu:

• From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to MSC.Software, point to MD Adams xx
(where xx is the release number), and then select Adams - Online Help.
Your default browser starts and displays the master site for Adams online help.
 CHAPTER 3 57
Getting Help

Navigating through the Help

You navigate through the Adams help system as you do through any help system, selecting topics in the
pane on the left. In addition, we’ve provided:

• Navigation arrows at the top of the pane to let you scroll through topics one at a
time.

• Automatic sync to show you where your current topic is in the table of contents (TOC).
This is very helpful if you, for example, search for a topic and want to know if there are more
topics on the subject. It shows you where the topic is in the TOC, allowing you to see whether or
not there are more topics with it.
58 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Searching
You can search all the help files in HTML format for a particular product or all Adams products.

If you are in a product specific help

1. Open the online help for your product.

2. Press Search button at the top of the help window, enter the search text, and then
press the Go button .

The results appear in the pane on the left, replacing the table of contents.
3. Click the topic you want to view.

If you are in Adams help system

1. Press search button at the top of help window, which will give an option to search All Available
products or A single product.
2. Enter the search text and follow Steps 2 and 3 above

Printing
To print a file:

• In the help system you can select the Print button . to print the topic that you are viewing

• You can select the PDF button . to see the entire PDF file pertaining to the topic and print
the file like a regular PDF file. Notice that some of the images in PDF file may be cropped.

Index
The Index tab displays an alphabetical list of keywords associated with help topics. To view index entries,
you can select a letter group to display the entries for that group. When you click on an index entry, the
related topic will display in the topic frame. You can select Indexes in a product specific help or in the
main help system.
 CHAPTER 3 59
Getting Help

Tutorials and Examples

Adams products have a set of tutorials or getting started guides that step you through examples of using
the product’s features, as well as introduce the basic concepts of the product. The getting started guides
are online. In addition, many of the products have examples of its features that are stored in Knowledge
Base Articles.
You will find links to all the tutorials and examples for a product under its Examples tab.

To access the tutorials and examples:

• From the online help for a product, from the pane on the left, select Examples.
• From the online help, from the left pane, select Getting Started and select the product that you
are interested in.

Getting Started Guides

Adams/View Examples
60 MD Adams R3 Release Guide
 MD Nastran 2006 Installation and Operations GuideMD Nastran

4 Supported Versions of
Integration Products

J
Support for Easy5 and MATLAB
J Supported Versions of Integration Products
62 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Support for Easy5 and MATLAB

Easy5
This release of Adams/Controls is certified to run with Easy5 2005 r1 SP4 and Easy5 2008r1.
Platform support is subject to change. For the latest information, see the Easy5 2005 and Easy5 2008
Hardware and Software Requirements at:
http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/easy5_support.cfm

Note: If you want to co-simulate with Easy5 and you are running Adams/Controls on one of the
platforms that Easy5 does not support, you should consider using TCP/IP communication.
This allows Adams/Controls to communicate with Easy5 even though the codes are
running on different platforms.

MATLAB
The supported versions of MATLAB are R2006b and R2007b, with the exception of HP HP-UX which
supports only R14SP3. For further information regarding platform support for Adams/Controls, see
Knowledge Base Article 1-68961283 (http://support.mscsoftware.com/kb/results_kb.cfm?S_ID=1-
68961283). For more information on MATLAB platforms and compatibility, see:

http://www.mathworks.com/support

Note: If you want to co-simulate with MATLAB and you are running Adams/Controls on one of
the platforms that is not supported by MATLAB, you should consider using TCP/IP
communication. This allows Adams/Controls to communicate with MATLAB even though
the codes are running on different platforms.
 CHAPTER 4 63
Supported Versions of Integration Products

Supported Versions of Integration Products

Adams
Company Product Name Product Version Product Platform
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
The Mathwoks, Release 2007b Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x64
Inc. MATLAB Version 7.5 Sun Solaris 10 (64-bit co-sim
Simulink Version 7.0 Adams/Controls only)
Real-Time Version 7.0 Windows 2000
Workshop Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows XP Professional
Windows Server 2003 x64
Windows XP Professional x64
Release 2006b Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
The Mathwoks, MATLAB Version 7.3 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 x64
Inc. Simulink Version 6.5 Adams/Controls Sun Solaris 10 (32-bit only)
Real-Time Version 6.5 Windows 2000
Workshop Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows XP Professional
Windows Server 2003 x64
Windows XP Professional x64
Release 14SP3
The Mathwoks, MATLAB Version 7.1 HP HP-UX 11i
Inc. Simulink Version 6.3 Adams/Controls
Real-Time Version 6.3
Workshop
HP HP-UX 11i
MSC.Software Easy5 2008 r1 (8.1.0) Adams/Controls IBM AIX 5.3
Corporation Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
Sun Solaris 10
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional x64
HP HP-UX 11i
MSC.Software Easy5 2005 r1 SP4 (8.0.7) Adams/Controls IBM AIX 5.3
Corporation Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
Sun Solaris 10
Windows XP Professional
MSC.Software MD Nastran R1 and above Adams/Car Ride UNIX and Windows
Corporation
Adams/Vibration
64 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

Adams
Company Product Name Product Version Product Platform
MSC.Software MSC.Nastran V69.X and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
Corporation
Adams/Flex
MSC.Software Marc 2005 and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
Corporation
2003 and above Adams/Flex
MSC.Software Fatigue 2001 and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
Corporation
nCode FE-Fatigue Version 5.2 and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS V6.0 and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows

V5.4 and above Adams/Flex

Hibbitt, ABAQUS/ADAMS Version 6.3 and above Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
Karlsson &
Sorensen, Inc. Version 6.1-1 and Adams/Flex
(HKS) above
UGS PLM I-DEAS Mechanism I-DEAS NX 10 and Adams/Durability UNIX and Windows
Solutions Design above

I-DEAS 8, 9, NX 10 Adams/Flex
and above
 MSC.Fatigue Quick Start Guide

Index
MD Adams R3 Release Guide

A B
Accessing Browsers, versions for help 54
I n d e x online help 55
Adams D
Starting 46 Dialog box, accessing help for 56
Adams Toolbar
starting online help from 56 E
Adams/Car Easy5 62
What’s New 4 enhancements 2
Adams/Car Ride Examples 59
What’s New 6
Adams/Chassis F
What’s New 7 F1, using to access help 56
Adams/Controls Firefox version for help 54
What’s New 8
Adams/Driveline I
What’s New 10 improvements 2
Adams/Durability new capabilities 2
What’s New 10 other additions 2
Adams/Flex product integration 2
What’s New 15 Integrated master site, about 55
Adams/SmartDriver Integration Products 63
What’s New 29 Internet Explorer version for help 54
Adams/Solver
What’s New 30 M
Adams/Tire Master help site 55
What’s New 34 Matlab 62
Adams/Vibration Mozilla, using with help 54
What’s New 36
Adams/View N
What’s New 36 Navigating through online help 57
Automatic TOC sync, about 57 Netscape Navigator version for help 54
66 MD Adams R3 Release Guide

O What’s New 4
Online Help 53 Adams/Car 4
accessing 55 Adams/Car Ride 6
Online help Adams/Chassis 7
navigating through 57 Adams/Controls 8
printing 58 Adams/Driveline 10
searching single product 58 Adams/Durability 10
Adams/Flex 15
P Adams/SmartDriver 29
Preferences 48 Adams/Solver 30
Printing online help 58 Adams/Tire 34
Adams/Vibration 36
S Adams/View 36
Scrolling through help 57 Windows
Searching Preferences 48
online help 58 starting MD Adams 47
Setting Starting online help from 56
Working Directory 49
Starting
On Unix 46
On Windows 47
online help 55
Starting Adams 46
Support for
Easy5 62
Matlab 62

U
UNIX
Preferences 48
starting online help from 56
Unix
Starting MD Adams 46

V
Viewing all product help 55

W
Web browsers, versions for help 54