What’s New in System-Level Structural Simulation Software CivilFEM

MSC Software’s Marc powers latest release of civil engineering CAE software.

(Image courtesy of Ingeciber.)

CivilFEM 2016. (Image courtesy of Ingeciber.)

MSC Software and Ingeciber have just released CivilFEM 2016. This release of the civil engineering CAE software is powered by the MSC’s Marc nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) solver.

CivilFEM offers engineers a way to perform system-level simulations of buildings, bridges, tunnels, nuclear plants and other large-scale civil engineering projects.

The latest release of the software has seen a few improvements including a new graphical interface, boosted performance and a handful of tools added to the graphical user interface (GUI).

Some of the GUI improvements to CivilFEM include:

  • New selection filters
  • Separated and selectable views for geometry and structural element
  • Grid improvements
  • Drag-and-drop selection boxes
  • New visualization for loads and masses

The new release also includes a part grouping system, which gives engineers the ability to create entity sets. With this tool, engineers will be able to better organize models based on the entity groups they create. This will allow engineers to select or modify a specific groups of parts faster.

CivilFEM 2016 includes new pre-processing tools, which allow engineers to reverse a mesh element’s orientation. Direct node interactions will also give users the ability to apply a load or mass to nodes, cables, springs and connection models.

“Nonlinear analyses are becoming more frequent in civil engineering and CivilFEM 2016 provides the structural engineer with the ability to solve more nonlinear complex analyses in a simple and comprehensible way,” said Miguel Angel Moreno, CEO of Ingeciber.

Other reports that other improvements to CivilFEM 2016 include:

  • Meshing, which is reported to be 50 percent faster
  • Cam-Clay soil model
  • Python commands to automate node interactions or post processing
  • Segment-to-segment contact algorithm

For more on CivilFEM, see the release notes here.

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.