×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Which FEA program

Which FEA program

Which FEA program

(OP)
I am fairly new to engineering (recent graduate) and am looking at purchasing a 3-d modeling program and FEA software. I have been looking at the solidworks/cosmos package (SW PRO) and recently looked at NEi's FEA solver. I don't have a ton of experience with 3d modeling and FEA software, just a bit in school. I am hoping some of the more experienced engineers will help me in choosing a CAD/FEA package.
As far as the CAD package I am looking for something that is user friendly and fairly intuitive in function. I have used Solidworks, Inventor and Solid Edge. Of the three I think Inventor and Solidworks were the most intutive and user friendly, I didn't care for the order of operations of solid edge.
In regards to the FEA package I really am at your mercy. I have very little experience with FEA software so I'm not even sure what I want or need. What I would like is something that is user friendly. What I like about Cosmos is that it is linked with the solidworks package. I don't mind getting a solver that can import my 3-d geometry from a variety of CAD packages. As far as capabilities, I'd like to be able to apply loads/ pressures/ moments to individual components and assemblies. I'd like to be able to to to both static and dynamic simulations. I'm not sure if I'd need to do non-linear analysis. I would like to have the ability to to analyze composite structures in the future, so I'd like to have the capability up front or at least be able to expand to include a module to handle composites. Finally I'd like for it to be fairly affordable as I will be buying out of my own pocket.
Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

RE: Which FEA program

For FEA is there any point in spending more than $0 initially? If you can master Calculix then converting to any other package should be straightforward. It has limitations, but you can't beat the price.

It sounds to me as though you will quickly exceed what the integrated CAD/FEA packages will handle.

So far as CAD goes, I wouldn't buy a package based on my preferences, I'd buy it based on what the industry I was in uses. I'm not really convinced that an engineer really needs to be proficient at CAD, although most seem to be these days.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

RE: Which FEA program

Rob1970,

It sounds like you are going into business for yourself as a new graduate?  Otherwise you would end up using the package(s) that your employer uses and provides to you.  If you are going the self employment route, you would want to have something with superior import/export capabilities in order to have the best chances of interacting with the client's CAD system(s) with minimal data loss.

Regards,

RE: Which FEA program

(OP)
PSE,
Yes you are correct although it won't be in any sort of consulting role. I've been looking at the NEi Fusion package recently and wondered if it has enough capabilities, the price looks good.

RE: Which FEA program

There's a free one called GRAPE 3D (Google for it) that's pretty good. If you're knowledgable about the finite element analysis, you'll have some fun with this program.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources