NASTRAN

NASTRAN, short for NASA Structural Analysis, is a finite element analysis (FEA) software program originally developed by NASA in the late 1960s to provide a portable, reliable tool for structural analysis of aerospace vehicles. It implements the finite element method to solve linear and nonlinear static and dynamic problems, as well as certain coupled physics such as heat transfer. Over its history, NASTRAN has grown to support a broad range of analysis types, including linear and nonlinear static analysis, modal and transient dynamic analysis, buckling, heat transfer, and contact problems, along with optimization and design sensitivity analysis.

The original NASA code was distributed for broad use and eventually spawned a family of commercialized variants. Today, multiple vendors offer compatible flavors of NASTRAN, such as MSC Nastran and NX Nastran, often with additional features, pre/post-processing tools, and platform support. Despite vendor differences, the core solver and bulk data input language remain recognizable across versions.

Typical workflows involve writing a bulk data deck to define nodes, elements, materials, loads, constraints, and analysis parameters, then running the solver to generate results such as displacements, stress/strain fields, natural frequencies, and time histories. Post-processing and visualization are provided by various third-party or vendor-specific tools.

NASTRAN has been widely adopted in aerospace, automotive, civil, and mechanical engineering due to its robustness, validated solvers, and long validation history, making it a standard reference in finite element analysis.