Release notes for SDT 6.0 and FEMLink 3.3

Contents Functions Index

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1.5 Release notes for SDT 6.0 and FEMLink 3.3

Key features of the SDT 6.0 release are

A complete revision of the GUI functions feplot and iiplot, with great extensions of the property viewing capabilities as well as easier command line access to data in the figure. See section 5.1 and section 3.1.
A complete rewriting of the superelement modeling features, with transformations of parts into models, optimized restitution, ... See section 6.2.
A major generalization of the notion of sensors for both analysis and test/analysis correlation, see section 5.4.
Major optimization, for large models, of the fe_case connections commands.
The introduction of support tools for structures with piezoelectric materials, modeled using volume or shell elements, see section 6.5. The q4cs shell now fully supports classical lamination theory and piezoelectric actuation/sensing.

Key features of FEMLink 3.3 are

nasread, naswrite have been the object of many detail improvements in particular for large model read/write.
abaqus is the new interface to read and write ABAQUS models.
ans2sdt ANSYS 9-11 support and large file handling was refined. Reading of ASCII format full matrix, reading and writing of .cdb model files were introduced.
samcef import/export capabilities to SAMCEF have been greatly enhanced.

OpenFEM has undergone many detail improvements and the following revisions

Support for material orientation maps for surfaces and volumes that are useful in composite and biomechanics applications.
An OpenMP parallel version of matrix assembly, that can be used for non-linear solutions is available trough separate downloads (with minor interactions with a MATLAB bug at exit).
support for definition of selections through sets, which is compatible with most CAE environments, has been fundamentally revised.
Time integration capabilities have undergone significant optimization (fe_time) .
the GMSH has undergone significant extension.

For MATLAB compatibility see section 1.5.3.

The following functions have been rewritten in large part

feplot, fecom	A major revision of the material and property visualization interfaces (see section 5.1.1), extensions of toolbars, context menus, support of large deformation sets stored on disk through v_handle objects, viewing of loads boundary conditions, sensors, ... Introduction of cf.Stack and cf.CStack methods to manipulate model and case stack properties.
iiplot, idcom	was fully revised (as the associated functions idopt, xfopt, ii_plp, idcom). The data is now stored in a stack of curves. It can be access by both name and number. There are no limitations on the number of sets. New transformations of sets (FFT, sum, MMIF, ... can be accessed from the context menu).
	The property figure has been greatly enhanced. The idcom figure now appears as tabs in the iiplot property figure. You can save and name the current state of your figure for later recall of standard plots. You can save series of commands for simple recall. Compatibility with earlier SDT versions is discussed in section 3.1.5.
ii_mmif	now supports many standard signal transformations and is fully integrated in the new iiplot.
p_piezo	supports piezo-electric volume and shell elements (trough q4cs) as well a standard procedures for the definition of electrodes and patsches used as actuators or sensors, see details in section 6.5

Other significant changes are listed below

fe2ss	Extensions on the types of sensors and loads supported.
fe_case	The Connection commands have undergone significant performance and robustness enhancements.
fe_cyclic	now support general periodicity conditions.
fe_exp	Use of standard structures for test or FEM modes is now accepted as input argument.
fe_load	Surface load assembly was completely revised to be fully compatible with the newer generation of elements. The new fe_case DofloadSensDof command can be used
fe_mknl	Optimized assembly handling (viscous and hysteretic damping)
feutil	Significant extensions in the handling of sets. Proper handling of empty selections with &. Rewriting of linear to quadratic element transformations.
	The new Lin2Quad command transforms linear elements into quadratic ones much more efficiently than the older transformations. Object commands, superelement suport, and selection using sets in the model stack have been enhanced.
	Renumber now also renumbers case entries (boundary conditions, loads, MOPCs, ...)
fe_sens	Support for sensors has been completely rewritten which has a profound impact on fe_sens operation. Read section 5.4 for more details.
fe_simul	has undergone major revision to support calls with models stored in feplot.
nor2ss	qbode have been enhanced for iiplot integration.

MATLAB 7.4 (2007a), the doc command no longer searches non MathWorks help, use sdtweb to open SDT help pages. Help search is however available in the help browser. You can change the default setpref('SDT', 'Browser', '-helpbrowser') to modify the location where sdtweb opens pages.
MATLAB 7.3 (2006b), and later, on 64 bit systems. Major changes in sparse matrices mean that SDT 6.0 is the only version compatible.
MATLAB 6.5, 7.0.x to 7.4 (2007a)

SDT 6.0 and FEMLink 3.3 are developed for these versions of MATLAB and is fully compatible with them.

This is the last release that will support MATLAB 6.5 compatibility, since new MATLAB 7 capabilities justify a phase out (as soon as edge transparency bugs in the MATLAB OpenGL implementation are finally fixed).
MATLAB 6.1 and earlier. Due to significant GUI incompatibilities, this version of MATLAB is no longer supported.