Crash Using FEA Structures

[Gabriel Kern]

Hi all,

I have been using OpenVSP for aero analysis for a while, but have recently been looking to try out its FEA features. I am on Mac and using the latest version of OpenVSP as of now, 3.46.0. The FEA Structure feature is continually crashing for me, and I couldn't find a similar issue in this group thus far.

Here's the flow of the issue: -> Model fully made, all aero analysis works just fine, not super complicated geometry (wing, body, tail, some internal components, control surfaces) -> Open FEA Structure, input structure geom, make custom laminate material, click on the 'property' tab to define the shells and beams -> Won't allow me to change the names of the properties, won't let me switch between properties, crash follows shortly.

This exact issue has happened to me several times, with me trying various things to resolve it. I have come to the fairly dumb conclusion that it is either an issue with my usage or an issue with the software - and I'm putting money on my usage being bad. Hopefully someone has some experience with this and can point me in the right direction!

Thanks,

Gabriel

[Rob McDonald]

I think there are some issues with the custom laminates...

Are things mostly working for you if you just use Aluminum for your structure?

Rob

[Gabriel Kern]

Hey Rob,

Thanks for the reply. That seems to be the issue - all but custom laminates seemed to be working alright. I suppose the best course of action would be to just do the laminate calculations separately and define an orthotropic material in VSP? Or is there a known workaround for the laminate issues?

Best,

Gabriel

[Rob McDonald]

No workaround known yet.

Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty recreating this problem on my Mac, it mainly seems to hit Windows users...

I'll try some more to debug it...

Rob