Important Information about this Release

Dear Patran Customer, Congratulations on receiving Patran 2011, one of MSC.Softwares core engineering solutions for solving complex problems, such as: static and transient nonlinear analysis, implicit nonlinear analysis with contact for highly nonlinear deformation problems, and explicit nonlinear analysis for problems involving crush, crash, drops, and dynamic motion analysis. Patran 2011 offers significant improvements. Here are just a few of the new capabilities you will benefit from when you upgrade:

MSC Fatigue upgrades: 1) New Durability Icon Ribbon; 2) Updated Modules Based on DTLIB: Spot-Weld, Seam-Weld, Duty Cycle, Interop Update Abaqus 6.10 and ANSYS 12 Direct Results Access Update Analysis Manager Updates MSC Sinda Preference/TFEA Enhancements Supermodel Capabilities Moved Into Core Patran

Other valuable aids accompanying this release include:

Patran 2011 Release Guide and Installation and Operations Guide which are available from the MSC.Software Enterprise Simulation Solutions Download Center (https://mscsoftware.subscribenet.com). Electronic documentation and online help. Software technical support services and training. Our Training & Support website is the ideal place to start http://support.mscsoftware.com. In addition to viewing course listings and contact information for our numerous worldwide Support Centers, you can access the following useful tools for your MSC.Software product: A searchable Knowledge Base containing examples and answers to thousands of frequently asked questions written by MSC.Software subject-matter experts. Peer-to-peer Discussion Forums enabling you to post questions for your MSC.Software products and receive answers from other users worldwide. The latest, most up-to-date Release Guide. A list of known issues with the product and any workarounds. A mechanism for sending us product feedback or enhancement requests. Hardware and software requirements.

We trust you are now familiar with your software package and the supporting aids and services available to you, and we thank you for the investment you have made in MSC.Software.

Your Patran Product Team

Please read before installing Patran 2011

This document contains important information about Patran 2011 that is not contained in the Release Guide or Installation and Operations Guide.

License Requirements
Patran 2011 does not require any changes to license files for existing licensed modules. Your license file for newly-purchased products/modules has been sent to your designated contact.

FLEXlm Version
A FLEXlm 10.8 or higher license server is required for all platforms. If the Patran 2011 installation points to an older license server, you will need to install the new FLEXlm license server. If you have any problems licensing Patran 2011, please contact the MSC Support Desk at 1-800-732-7284.

New Platform Support

The following platforms were added with the 2010 release: Windows 64-bit, Linux 64-bit These new platforms allow increased memory usage for large model manipulation. The databases are compatible between 32 and 64-bit versions.

Platform Discontinuation
The following UNIX platforms are being considered for discontinuation in a future version of Patran. Please plan accordingly. Hewlett Packard HP-UX Hewlett Packard is no longer selling HP-UX based Workstations and the availability of some key third party applications for these systems has ceased. As a result, support of Patran on this platform will likely be discontinued in the next major release. IBM AIX IBM is no longer selling AIX based Workstations and the availability of some key third party applications for these systems has ceased. As a result, support of Patran on this platform will possibly be discontinued in the next major release. Sun Solaris Due to the shift from UNIX to Linux and Windows-based Workstations, support of Patran on the Sun Solaris platform will likely be discontinued in the next major release.

Installation Issues on Windows

Patran 2011 installs as a normal user with the following exceptions: Administrative privilege is required to install Analysis Manager. This is required for the software to be visible to other users and to set up file associations. Additionally, Patran 2011 was developed with Visual C++ 2005 so the installer automatically installs the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86) runtime components of the Visual C++ libraries. These libraries are required to run applications developed with Visual C++ on all computers that do not have it installed. Therefore, running Patran 2011 on a different computer than where it was originally installed and accessing it from a shared disk may require these runtime components to be installed separately. These runtime components can be downloaded from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=32bc1bee-a3f9-4c13-9c99-220b62a191ee&displaylang=en.

This will directly affect customers using Patran Thermal and dbaccess to create custom programs. Compilers must be upgraded to the levels mentioned here. Please also refer to the Installation and Operations Guide for compiler levels for all supported platforms.

Installation Issues on IBM AIX

If you get an error message to the effect that there is "not enough space for extraction" when installing on IBM AIX machines it means that the kernel setting for LARGE FILE SYSTEM is not set properly and needs to be changed. The reason you will get this message is that the Patran installer requires more than 2 GB of disk space, which requires that the LARGE FILE SYSTEM value be set accordingly.

Database Conversion Issues / Software Updates

The database conversion programs delivered with Patran 2011 convert old (non-Interbase) versions of the Patran databases to the latest schema. If customers have old Patran installations, it is highly encouraged that the convert programs in those installations be upgraded to the newer convert executables. This can be done by copying the convert programs from the new installation to the older installations or downloading the convert programs from the MSC Support Web site. Periodic software updates are available at http://www.mscsoftware.com/support/software_updates/#patran To be upgraded to Patran 2011, Linux databases older than Patran 2003 must be upgraded on Linux machines with operating system versions older than Red Hat 5.3 or SuSE 10 (e.g. kernals at 2.6.10 or older).

Known Limitations
CAD Access: Spatial InterOp Translators
In Patran 2011, an update to the Spatial InterOp translators (R21SP3) is included in the installed software. This version of the module supports CATIA V5 R20. However, the previous versions of the translators (R18 SP3_1) are also included. If you would like to change the default version of the Spatial InterOp module can use the following environment variable. P3_SPATIAL_VERSION=r20sp1 or P3_SPATIAL_VERSION=r18_Sp3_1

InterOp R21.0 SP1 should appear on the Text Output window when the translator is used by default if the variable is not set. Note for UNIX platforms the P3_SPATIAL_VERSION is case sensitive. In addition to the Environment Variable, you can select the desired Spatial InterOp version by using the Select Spatial Version dialog in the CAD Import Options menu.

CAD Access: InterOp CATIA V5 Translator Long Path

When using the CATIA V5 InterOp R18 SP 3_1 translator, a crash with a memory fault could occur if the PATH environment variable is too long. The issue is dependent on where in the path the expected CATIA library files are located. The work around is to use the updated InterOp R20 translators. (CR 1-79141752).

CAD Access: InterOp R20Sp1 on Unix "." in Path Name

There is a known issue with InterOp R20Sp1 on Unix. If the Patran installation directory contains a ".", InterOp will not work. Workaround for this is: 1. Go to your home directory like: >> cd /home/user 2. Create symbolic link (e.g.): >> ln s $P3_HOME/schema schema 3. set P_SCHEMA to symbolic link before running Patran (e.g.): >> setenv P_SCHEMA schema

MSC SuperModel Fileserver on Windows Server 2003

The MSC SuperModel fileserver is not supported on Windows Server 2003 machines. You will have to use other supported platforms to run the fileserver.

Running MD Nastran from old Session Files

Models (including demo models) built in Patran 2011 using session or journal files created in previous Patran versions may fail if run using MD Nastran R3 or previous versions. In pre-2010 versions of MD Nastran, only NLPARM and NLADAPT adaptive load incrementation methods were available for SOL400. Because of this, previous versions of Patran would have written NLADAPT or NLPARM entries if Adaptive was chosen as the Increment Type on the Analysis - Subcases Subcase Parameters Load Increment Parameters form. The default Increment Type on the form was Adaptive and any session or journal file written by one of these versions of Patran would record Adaptive as the Increment Type. For MD Nastran 2010 a new type of adaptive load incrementation was added for SOL400 using the new NLSTEP bulk data entry. Patran 2010 (and later) was modified to write MD Nastran 2010 SOL400 input files using this new NLSTEP entry when Adaptive is the requested Increment Type. If you try to run one of these new Nastran input files in MD Nastran R3 or previous versions, an error message is displayed saying the NLSTEP entry is not supported. These new files will only successfully run in MD Nastran 2010 and later versions. A related situation occurs if your session file accesses the results of a multi-increment analysis since the specific time values of the increments will change when the adaptive loading method changes.

Problem with CBUSH forces in Marker Vector Plots

When using MSC Nastran OP2 files, marker vector plots with CBUSH forces in a local coordinate system may display in a global system incorrectly. Marker vector plots will display correctly however, if the results are from a MSC Nastran XDB file. (CR 1-16095401)

Incorrect element strain for solids obtained from OP2 file

With CHEXA elements and PSOLID cordm (identification of material coordinate system) set to 1 (element coordinate system), the strains reported within Patran from the OP2 file are incorrect. The XDB file is correct. (CR 30579)
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