Change Summary

Change Summary

This chapter lists principal changes made either to correct errors or to alter or extend the functionality of the program.

Changes since FEMGV6.1-01

Ref	Source	Description
		Changes to Geometry Generation
469	Ricardo	Prevent integer overflow when assessing the collective orientation of a number of surfaces of a general body.
		Changes to Plotting
453	Internal	Correct the compatibility check when recovering a saved picture in FEMVIEW. Previously a picture saved with FGV6.1 could not be recovered.
		Miscellaneous Changes
466	Internal	Fix problem with an ASSEMBLY where the command VIEW MESH did not offer in the menu the SETS that had been created at the ASSEMBLY level. Problem was due to the 1^st model in the assembly still being loaded.

Changes since FEMGV5.1-03

Ref	Source	Description
		Changes to Forms Input
046	TNO	Fix crash in PC when using the property form. Typing bad data in a property field then <TAB> to new field caused crash. (After same error message box appearing twice)
165	Internal	Make the file open/new filters consistent, and if File New & select an old database, it will not create a new empty model.
379	Internal	Fixed problem occurred with using the Property Manager when external material/physical property were defined.
314	High Tech Engineering	Stop the automatic selection (default return level) of "UTIL DELETE", /pick-p if properties are only deleted on the property manager.
		Fix problem with the File import dialog when reading IGES, DXF & PATRAN files where the model names were called DR ( DISP).
		Changes to User Routines
101	TNO	Allow 10 digit node numbers in FEMVIEW User Routine for input of Nodal Results Local Systems.
345	Ricardo	Fixed problem with transferring physical properties into FEMGEN.
382	Ricardo	Remove restriction on node numbers being <999999 in FEMVIEW User Routine for entering MPC data.
		Changes to Geometry Generation
040	S and C Thermofluids	Increase the precision of variables used for line lengths to DOUBLE. The algorithm that determines how two surfaces are to be connected in GEOM BODY 2SURFS compares various sums of line lengths. If one of the line lengths is relatively small, this can lead to unexpected results on certain platforms.
086	D C White & Partners	Fixed problem where the MPC RCONNECT was not processed in an identical manner in both FEMGEN and the FEMGEN User Routines. A change was done so that MPC5 is always called if MPC2 fails doing the MPC connection. Also added a warning message as the process of MPC RCONNECT may be slow if there are many nodes.
151	Internal	Fix problem where the biasing attached to lines in the sweep direction was not being respected when generating mesh on a prism.
210	Internal	Fix problem with elliptical arc definitions, in which the fourth point was being ignored for the case in which points were cursor-picked.
220	Automated Analysis	Corrected a strange tolerance that was being used to decide whether a double root existed or not. This sometimes prevented intersections between cylinders of equal radii.
247	Internal	Correct problem where a range of sphere-cylinder intersections were not being calculated correctly.
251	Internal	A fix was made to ensure that the intersection curve between a cone and sphere is generated correctly.
251	Internal	A fix was made to ensure the correct generation of intersection curves for the case in which a curve is copied using a MIRROR transform.
294	Internal	Make necessary modifications needed for new INTERSECTION CURVE SHAPES to work with CONSTRUCT MERGE.
313	Automated Analysis	Fix problem with meshing of surfaces on cone and cylinder shapes where it resulted in a self intersection error which was wrongly diagnosed.
328	ENSMA	Transformation of transforms, and in particular, points that define transforms is now only happens if the underlying point in question has not been transformed.
340	Internal	Improve angle checking between the axes of cylinders (or cones) using a tolerance of 0.1 degrees (as opposed to 2.5 degrees).
343	Internal	Improve the cone to cone intersections.
383	Automated Analysis	Fix problem with CONS MERGE 'set-name' where some parts which could have been merged were not, due to mistakenly using an index to the new database to an array of status information based on the old database.
390	Internal	(i) Ensure that lines generated using GEOMETRY LINE INTERSECT SH1 SH2 +SH3 ... +SHn do not have the same start and end-point and that they span arcs of less than 360 degrees. (ii) Ensure that lines generated using GEOMETRY LINE INTERSECT SH1 SH2 respect shape truncations.
400	Caroline Young	Prevent the generation of lines that use the same start and end point under the generation of a degenerate intersection curve.
405	Nottingham University	Ensure that shape / intersection dependencies are fully carried over under GEOM COPY ЕЕЕЕ DEP command.
422	Automated Analysis	Merging of curve lines now use full tolerance when checking whether node locations along the line should be considered coincident. Previously tolerance/10. was used.
428	W S Atkins	Correct problem updating and checking validity of INTERSECTION CURVE shapes after CONSTRUCT MERGE.
446	Automated Analysis	Fix problem with reading NURB curve lines from archive files etc, where the correct parameter values were lost, and substituted by defaults leading to unmeshable line.
		Changes to Meshing
018	Internal	The error message, 'Weights do not add to unity for Element_Type' is now displayed for the new higher order elements, (as opposed to an apparently random error message).
029	Automated Analysis	Correct problem in mapped meshing where out-of-date data was used after a part had failed to mesh, and the program tried to continue and mesh other parts. Probably an old bug.
101	Internal	Use look-up table to speed up smoothing, remove warnings concerned with smoothing and change frequency of mesh generation warning to 500 element increments.
121	National Physical Laboratory	Fix to mesh renumbering to solve problems identified by NPL 1) make algorithm independent of 'tolerance' 2) use 32 bit integer arithmetic to sort nodes
172	Internal	Removed (obsolete) limit of 40 for number of element names displayed in the FEMGEN menu (MESH TYPES ...). The usual menu limit of 100 now applies.
243	Internal	Improve informational during free quad meshing as follows: 'Generating mesh for S123 4567', becomes 'Generating mesh for S1234567'. Also, GEOMETRY SURFACE REGION setname will now find the outer set of lines in setname, rather than the first perceivable loop; providing that the points in the set are in the same plane.
300	TNO	Fix problem with GEOMETRY SURFACE INTERSECT where model tolerance was being used to test the proximity of two angles (in degrees) in an attempt to determine whether two points were distinct.
330	Internal	Avoid some numerical accuracy problems with delaunay triangulation.
354	Dataspace	Provide a recommendation to the user as to which element type would be appropriate for a prism when the algorithm attached to top and bottom surfaces is incompatible with the element type currently attached to the prism.
		Changes to FE Program Translators
		ABAQUS
408		Support of beam orientation via a FG point (G. Bezine, ENSMA)
	Nottingham University	Increased limit in the number of contact surfaces from 200 to 1000
	Automated Analysis	Re-define the element face if the surface was flipped
	Automated Analysis	Added a comma to the contact node set definition
	DC White	Make sure all the constraints are checked, as it would exit the routine as soon as a general constraint which did not use sets was found
		FEMGEN to ABAQUS version number is 4.401.

		ASAS
		If PROPERTY LOAD GL_DIST is used in FEMGEN to apply distributed loads to GCB3 or TCBM element, CB1 loads are generated with reference to global axes. ASAS interprets these loads as being applied in local axes and thus may be applied incorrectly. BL_DIST should be used instead. If edge loads are applied to the edge of a region the first element will have the loads applied to the correct element edge, but subsequent elements along the loaded edge may have the load applied to the wrong edge. If prompted preliminary data generation is requested (using a resource file option), the user may request a specific data area, but the resulting ASAS file contains a data area statement of 1. This causes the subsequent ASAS analysis to abort. If a skew system is attached (via a part) to a prescribed displacement load, the skew system integer is applied to both the displaced freedom data and the prescribed displacement in the resulting ASAS data file. This results in the skew system being applied twice to the applied load. PROP LOAD EL_TEMPE applied to a body (brick elements) is not translated to a generated ASAS data file. PROP LOAD FACE_TEM applied to a body (brick elements) is erroneously translated to a generated ASAS data file. This is not a valid data deck in ASAS. Load cases are not now generated if no suitable elements/nodes are found. A warning is given instead. Improvements to the physical property output for beam elements1) ASAS TUBE Ц VECT is now omitted if it is in default direction.2) ASASNLSTF4 Ц error given if GENERAL is not used.SECTION Ц error given if used.TUBE Ц warning given if VECT used and VECT is ignored. Edge loading where surfaces join now uses a second part to identify which surface is being referred to by the degree of freedom integer.e.g. PROP BL_DIST L10 S3 100 3produces an ML3 transverse edge load on L10 orientated correctly with reference to S3. 10. An error is now given if a skew system is attached to a load rather than the part 11. Improvements in the GRP to sets facility Ц1) It is now the default.2) Only the elements highest in the geometry hierarchy in a particular set are used.3) Warnings are given for duplicated parts in sets. 12. A point can be given instead of a vector for beam orientation. 13. Changes to the interface for FEMGV 61) USERIQ.RES updated for Property Manager.2) FEMSYS.INI updated.3) Documentation updated.
403	WS Atkins	Version number now is 11.3010.

		ASKA MESH/VIEW
270	Internal	Fix crash with program title > 20 characters with ASKA Mesh/View
271	Internal	Modify GUI form code to remove obvious references to FEMGEN/FEMVIEW for ASKA MESH/VIEW and if FEMGEN/FEMVIEW are not recognised it will try with AM-MESH/AV-VIEW.

		DYNA 3D
		The FEMGEN to DYNA3D interface program has been modified to support keyword format. The FEMGEN to DYNA3D version number is now 3.010.
		PATRAN
348	AWE	A change was made to ensure that loads are applied to the correct face number of an element.

		PHYSICA
		Added a new set of routines for FEMGEN to PHYSICA interface. This is to fix a problem they found in the interface: The problem concerned the algorithms we use when the mesh is to be split between materials. It only occurred when the split finished internally to the domain. There are 52 routines: 4 new ones (SPLPTS, UPDFAC, UPDPPT, UPDXYZ) and 1 routine (UPDSPT) was made redundant. FEMGEN to PHYSICA version number is 1.003

		Changes to IGES Translator
203	Internal	1) Improve merging of curved lines in CAD-Import User-Routines. 2) Change storage of IGES transformations from nodal coordinates to temporary array 31 (preventing them from being overwritten). Stop using MODELL array LINES in CONS MERG - lines could be redefined. 3) Re-set point name when start and end points of polyline coincide preventing duplication of a point name (and problems reading archive files). 4) Allow the selective recovery of type 120s in IGES transfer. 5) Introduce type 122 (Tabulated Cylinder). 6) Introduce concept of largest gap size to be closed automatically - by default 3tolerance, but may be explicitly specified using a new environment variable IGES_Gtol. As most gaps needing to be filled are appx 2-3tol. 7) Change the procedure for coping with invalid iges files. Now the end-points will return to being read by default, though the user can set an environment variable IGES_C112 to force them to be calculated. 8) Change the test for full rotations in type 120s so that now, a supplied angle of rotation of less than 5 degrees will be interpreted as a full (360) rotation. 9) Try to fix problem with lines using curve shapes needing 4 parameter values in total (2 for line marking segment of interest, and 2 for entire extent of shape) by using knot values. 10) Fix bug in type 120s which were based on type 126 (incorrect transfer of parameter values sometimes between curve and surface shape). 11) Fix problems with recovery of type 104, and try to find construction points before creating them.

		Changes to Neutral file
347	V.I.P.S	Changes to the FEMGEN to Neutral interface so that: (i) Any prescribed boundary conditions are written out in the situation where all created loads have been deleted. (ii) Any constraints are written out successfully in the situation where a dof was flagged as "released" rather than "unconstrained".
		Changes to Results Processing
007	Internal	If presenting results on a X-SECTION or a LINE and RESULTS RANGE is LOCAL X-SECTION or LOCAL LINE then the text displayed in the Results Monitor for max/min values will display: "Max/Min on section" or "Max/Min on line" as appropriate.
011	Internal	Carry over mod to stop infinite loop if no attributes in RESULTS CALCULATE INTIGRATE PATH SETUP ATTRIBU
014	TNO	Prevent crash (or wrong picture) when displaying CONTOUR plots of ELEMENT NODAL results on elements with mid-face nodes (TR15 and QU9).
051	Internal	Fixed problem In FEMVIEW where the command PRESENT CONTOUR when viewing a LINE would cause a crash. This is because for contouring purposes the line is treated as 2-node beam elements but the topology information had been set up for the parent elements.
097	Internal	Force a redraw after integration or differentiation has been requested.
104	Dataspace	Fixed problem occurred when displaying the displaced shape (PRESENT SHAPE) on a line where the last segment of the line was not displayed.
186	Internal	Make first loadcase be reselected after RESULTS CALCULATE EXTRAPOLATE/AVERAGE/AV-DIFF/PERDIFF has been performed for a range of loadcases.
213	TNO	Fix problem when contouring of ELEMENT RESULTS on VIEW MESH would not contour all surfaces of 3D elements and would cause a program crash with 2D elements if the results were multi-surface results.
298	Hutchinson	Made the monitor display the deformation factor (if current) for graphs along a line in FEMVIEW.
344	Internal	Made FEMVIEW graphs able to handle results values that are all zero for an attribute.
349	Internal	Enable PRESENT SHAPE on X-SECTIONs and CUTAWAYs to handle high-order elements that have no mid face node. Previously a section point on the face (rather than on an edge) of an element would be given a displacement of 0.0 rather than have a value interpolated.
350	Hutchinson	Fixed problem where the requested sort with 'RESULTS CALCULATE P-SHEAR Component Sort' was lost when returning to a Viewport. This meant, for example, that a re-display or plot of the viewport would give a different picture.
394	Internal	1) UTILITY TABULATE OUTPUT PRINTFILE/GRAPHICS/DIALOGUE removed from FEMGEN, FEMVIEW and INDEX level 2) UTILITY TABULATE OUTPUT MODELS removed from INDEX level 3) UTILITY TABULATE OUTPUT PRINTFILE in FEMVIEW becomes: UTILITY TABULATE PRINTFILE
416	Hutchinson	Resolve a problem occurred with the SORT for Principal Stresses where it was getting lost after a graph.
418	Internal	Fix problem with RESULTS RANGE LOCAL LINE/SECTION which had no effect when a SECTION or LINE was the current view.

		Changes to Labelling
308	Internal	Allow larger font size for MESH LABELS in full screen viewport.
		Changes to Sets
067	Diana	In FEMVIEW, the command "CONSTRUCT SET APPEND/REMOVE TYPES ..." did not work correctly. This was because at FEMGV5.2 only those types in the model are offered in the menu and a mapping from NAME to TYPE-ID was not being called.
443	Internal	Fix problem occurred with the CONSTRUCT SET with a polygon (append/remove) where it had duplicate values at the end of a line or that span 2 lines in the .HIS and .LOG files. This fix will remove duplicate entries when reading from a batch file. This fix is OFF by default, it can be switched ON with the command line or resource flag "csbug"
		Changes to Plotting
184	Internal	Fix problem where titles on each page of multipage plots not being handled correctly and generated an invalid Postscript.
318	Internal	Prevent crash that would occur on a RESIZE or PLOT of multi-viewports which contained both FEMGEN and FEMVIEW models which had VIEW HIDDEN SHADE SMOOTH pictures.
		Changes to Database Operations
085	Ricardo	Enable FEMVIEW to handle the appending of MPC data to earlier type databases where co-ordinates were stored with the MPC data.
168	Internal	Improve error messages when unable to access a FEMGEN database.
		FEMGEN databases created with version 6.1 are not compatible with those from FEMGV 6.0 and FEMGV 5. To avoid confusion databases created with FEMGV 6.1 will now use filename extensions of С.61Т instead of С.60Т, С.51Т and С50Т.

		Changes to Picking Operations
167	Internal	Stop multiple GIP (i.e., cursor polygon) losing all input if the user moves the mouse outside the graphics area.
		Miscellaneous Changes
022	Internal	Resolve problems in FEMVIEW with VIEW MESH on node sets where some element edges were being drawn that shouldn't have been.
026	Internal	Improve node labels on X-SECTIONS in FEMVIEW. Only one node label per section point is now displayed and only if the node is within 1/10th of the intersected edge length from the section point.
038	Internal	Resolve problem with 1-1 MPC mapping algorithm
042	TNO	Fixed problem In FEMVIEW where the command CONSTRUCT LINE FREE would cause a program failure if the definition of the line spanned more than one page which could happen with large models.
050	TNO	In FEMVIEW, the command CONSTRUCT LINE THROUGH would consider all nodes in the model even if a model set was current. This is now changed so that only nodes in the current model set are considered.
055	TNO	Support check for HASP on NT/95. Also support keyfiles called DIAFGV.K50, diafgv.k50, FGVKEY.K50 and fgvkey.k50
080	Internal	Allow femgv with MFC GUI to be initiated without a console window in alpha mode. Usage : femgv5.exe -alpha -NoConsoleWindow
093	Internal	Remove unwanted transform of co-ordinates on 3D display when a LINE is drawn in FEMVIEW after CONSTRUCT LINE NODES LIST ....
114	Greenwich University	Fixed problem in FEMGEN where only 49 FE names were displayed in the menu.
118	Internal	Fixed problem where FEMGV crashes if there is insufficient disk space to save models.
142	Internal	Change angle for profile edges in FEMVIEW from 45 to 35 degrees as this seems to give a better picture.
157	Internal	A change was made to make sure an existing Space/Time curve is removed if a new one is drawn. Also correct Y-axis label for Space/Time curves and made monitor appear for Space/Time curves.
159	Internal	Remove VIEW GEOM/MESH /PICK.
160	Internal	When transferring from FEMGEN to FEMVIEW if there are no FEMGEN sets then FEMVIEW sets can be created on the basis of FEMGEN parts. In this later case, now the user is asked for confirmation as for example with a SOCRATES model there will be one part per element and many FEMVIEW sets may be created.
196	Internal	Resolve some problems with BEAMS: a) will not smooth shade beams (require a lot of memory on 3D display) b) FEMVIEW will make sure that edges of beams are drawn for VIEW OPTIONS EDGES OUTLINE and VIEW OPTIONS EDGES MATERIAL. Also the length of extent of results array is increased from 10,000 to 100,000 to allow for VIEW HIDDEN SHADE SMOOTH on large models. Particularly a problem with VIEW OPTIONS SHRINK.
211	Internal	A number of changes were added to FEMGV to make the use of the new viewport ICONS more effective. a) Selecting a viewport icon now forces display of the new viewport configuration. b) When going to a new viewport configuration with fewer viewports than the current configuration, then any empty viewports in the current configuration are ignored. Note that a 'VIEWPORT USE n' means that the viewport has an underlying model and is not empty. c) Make sure that the number of the current viewport is always displayed in green after a VIEWPORT USE even if the viewport is not refreshed.
238	Internal	Make UTILITY WRITE ALL archive data sets 32, 33, 34, 41 and 43.
249	TNO	Updated FEMGV to process higher order and interface elements after the command UTILITY WRITE FEMVIEW.
262	Internal	Allow the command line option -DefaultFonts to work on PC
295	Internal	Made the default tolerance used when constructing "through" lines in FEMVIEW narrower.
324	Internal	Fix an incorrect display of OUTLINE edges on the cut face of a CUTAWAY view with OPTION SHRINK where all edges on the cut face were shown.
342	V.I.P.S	Fixed problem related to property partitioning by the analysis type.
355	TNO	Ensure that lines are always drawn in a consistent direction so that multiply drawn dashed lines are correctly aligned and the dashes remain distinct from the spaces between them.
378	TNO	Correct error which prevented Element Results Local Systems (Table 33) from being archived correctly by FEMVIEW if the model had node numbers > 99999. An I5 format rather than I10 format was used.
380	TNO	Added a test to see if a page of the FEMVIEW database is large enough to hold a data record. Previously it was always assumed that it was and no test was made.
396	Internal	Display the current directory in the dialog area on startup.
413	Internal	Add "Run demos" option to the Help for WIN 95/nt. This will select the demo directory, then issues the command "UTILITY READ BATCH welcome.bat".
413	Internal	Move graphics driver info from the FEMGV window titlebar to the about box.
419	Internal	Remove the HELP button. HELP FLOW : Completely removed HELP OVERVIEW : Completely removed HELP STATUS : Moved to UTILITY TABULATE STATUS HELP UPDATE : Completely removed
445	Internal	Increase number of lines in the dialog window from 60 to 500.