Some aspects of the NASTRAN program output

The NASTRAN program output is discussed from a structural analysts point of view, and the simple modifications which were made to the program in order to improve it are also described. The convenience of the output for use in original design work is critically appraised and compared with the output from ASTRAL. It is shown that considerable hand calculation is necessary in order to extract useful load distribution data from the available NASTRAN output. For this reason, some effort was directed toward providing additional force output for the NASTRAN shear panel element.