TRansfer ANalysis Code to Interface Thermal and Structural (3D TRANCITS, Glenn, 1985)

Transfer of data between different analysis codes has always been one of the challenges of multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization. Even if input and output format can be standardized, different types of analysis often require different types of information or different mesh densities, globally or locally. TRANCITS was developed to translate between heat transfer and structural analysis codes: "TRANCITS has the capability to couple finite difference and finite element heat transfer analysis codes to linear and nonlinear finite element structural analysis codes. TRANCITS currently supports the output of SINDA and MARC heat transfer codes directly. It will also format the thermal data out­put directly so that it is compatible with the input requirements of the NASTRAN and MARC structural analysis codes. . . . The transfer mod­ule can handle different elemental mesh densities for the heat transfer analysis and the structural analysis.”[982] MARC is a commercial, general- purpose, nonlinear finite element code introduced by MARC Analysis and Research Corp. in the late 1970s. Because of its nonlinear analysis capabilities, MARC was used extensively at Glenn for engine compo­nent analyses and for other applications, such as the analysis of a space station strongback for launch loads in 1992.[983] Other commercial finite element codes used at Glenn included MSC/NASTRAN, which was used along with NASA’s COSMIC version of NASTRAN.