Large Scale Normal Modes and PSD Analysis with Nastran and LS-DYNA

From its conception in 1976, LS-DYNA has become a world-renowned analysis code used for the simulation of complex, real-world problems. Its power stems from the simple fact that it was written early on with an eye toward harnessing the resources of a variety of computational platforms. This strategy has allowed LS-DYNA to solve large scale, multi-physics problems that were impossible just a few years ago. LS-DYNA developers have also been extending its classically nonlinear, scalable solution sequences to that of large scale, linear dynamics problems using an MMP (Massive Parallel Processing) approach. Benchmark solutions are provided showing how LS-DYNA handles the basic linear normal modes analyses using standard finite elements (beams, plates, solids and rigid links) with a comparison to an industry standard Nastran solver. Results are then presented showing how LS-DYNA multi-CPU scaling decreases solution times for the power spectral density (PSD) analysis of large scale FEA models having millions of DOFs.