NESSUS 9.0 and newer bring many new enhancements. NESSUS 9.8 introduced the NESSUS Response Surface Toolkit. NESSUS 9.7 added a variety of enhancements, including improved support for working with Gaussian Process response surface models, as well as a new dynamically linked user-defined model type. With NESSUS 9.5, the graphical interface has been reworked to greatly simplify the process of setting up and solving a problem. The following list provides an overview of the highlights in these releases.
New Capabilities and Enhancements
New in Version 9.9
- Updated format for smx output file. Now uses comma separation, includes variable names, and includes values for all computed variables.
- Support additional distribution types with correlated variables
- Updated theory manual for global sensitivity analysis
- Store GP RSM file when using variance decomposition
- Bug fix for numerical model input and output file names that include spaces
- Bug fix related to error checking in maximum number of equations
- Bug fix for LS-DYNA minimum, absolute minimum, and absolute maximum time selections
- Abaqus response extraction improvements
- Fix for delta vector mapping with deterministic variables
- Switch to the use of 64-bit Java and executable code (user-defined shared libraries should now be compiled in 64-bit mode)
New in Version 9.8
- Added the NESSUS Response Surface Toolkit, a standalone application for designing, fitting, assessing, and visualizing response surface models
- Minor improvements to response extraction for the Abaqus interface
New in Version 9.7.4
- Fix for bug with small LHS sample sizes
- Fix for locating ext_cmd.cfg on Windows
- Changes to arguments for running NESSUS from command line
New in Version 9.7
- Gaussian Process model enhancements:
- GP model definition saved to file for later re-use without needing to re-fit the model
- Options for defining and fitting observation noise level
- New capability to define models using dynamically linked libraries
- Monte Carlo simulation now supports all distribution types
- Use of Sobol sequences for global sensitivity analysis to significantly increase efficiency
- Added p-level and full CDF capabilities for EGRA
- Updated installation layout for Windows 7 compatibility
- Fixes for beta distribution
- Increased limit on number of runs in Deterministic Analysis mode
New in Version 9.6.4
- Improved error messages for variable mapping with external models
- Fixes for Matlab interface
- Added endcycle to WCN function argument list. This variable defines the number of cycles for the endurance limit.
New in Version 9.6.3
- Improved compatibility with Windows 7 (elevated permissions not required)
- Minor bug fixes
New in Version 9.6.2
- Changed GP regression model and RSM_GP method to build GP model with linear trend function instead of constant
New in Version 9.6.1
- Added polynomial coefficients and goodness of fit statistics to *.out file for regression models
- Updated Abaqus interface to work with version 6.11
- Several minor bug fixes for the GUI
New in Version 9.6
- New capability for global sensitivity analysis using variance decomposition
- Identify important variables based on their contribution to total variance of the model response
- Three variance decomposition analysis methods are provided
- New wizard for pasting and importing data into NESSUS tables
- Bug fixes:
- Fixed error when running LHS with triangular distribution
- Fixed bug when using deterministic analysis with deterministic variables
New in Version 9.5.5
- CTH interface enhancements and bug fixes:
- Corrected issue with checking for existing error file for latest compilers
- Defines last time response value for the restart database when the response is a time history file
- Enhancements and bug fixes for the WCN model:
- Added user definition for cycles corresponding to the endurance limit
- Improved checks for a, c, and K validity limits
New in Version 9.5.4
- Bug fixes for Abaqus displacement response extraction
New in Version 9.5.3
- New regression model: Gaussian Process
- NASTRAN results enhancements:
- Ability to work with larger models
- Capabilities for composite materials, including composite failure indices
- User-defined datablock name
- Debug option
- Bug fixes to use correct response level with EGRA and ISMPP
New in Version 9.5
- Simplified outline layout
- Problem Definition node begins with problem statement definition instead of system definition (now Fault Tree Definition)
- Fault Tree, Correlations, and Confidence Bounds are now accessed via popup windows instead of separate outline nodes
- Consolidated "Deterministic Analysis" and "Parameter Variations Analysis"
- Consolidated probabilistic analysis type and method configurations
- Simplified procedure for running analyses and viewing results
- Improved interfaces for generating finite difference step sizes and deterministic input values (parameter variations)
- Inverse reliability analysis support for RSMGP
- Additional advanced options for EGRA
- Fix for triangular distribution
New in Version 9.1
- Improved distribution editing interface
- PDF equations displayed in the GUI
- Short descriptions of distribution parameters in GUI
- Support for MacOS X
- Miscellaneous minor bug fixes
New in Version 9
- New Reliability Analysis Methods
- ISMPP: Importance sampling at user-defined MPP
- EGRA: State-of-the-art surrogate-based method designed for extremely expensive response functions. Unlike MPP-based methods, it is not gradient-based
- RSMGP: Gaussian process surrogate method
- LHS enhancements (advanced options)
- Optimal design based on max-min distance criterion
- 3 correlation reduction methods for small samples
- Capability to augment (double) sample size while maintaining Latin Hypercube structure
- Probability distribution modeling
- New distributions: beta, exponential GEVmax, GEVmin, gamma, Pareto, triangular, uniform
- Capability to switch between definition in terms of natural parameters or mean & standard deviation
Operating Systems
- Windows (XP, Vista, 7)
- Linux
- Mac OS X