Ansys or. Abaqus?
Ansys or. Abaqus?
(OP)
Hello,
I'm a structural engineer who intend to use Ansys or. Abaqus software. Since I'm a beginner I'll be happy to hear any of your comments about the software. My emphasis is on:
1) User friendliness (e.g. material modelling, contact area modelling, FE mesh generation, results review, etc.)
2) Modelling basic nonlinear and buckling problems (e.g. steel-steel, steel-wood and steel-concrete connections, etc.)
3) Free accessibility to Manuals, Tutorials, etc.
As you can see I'm a beginner who is looking for user friendly nonlinear engine:)
Thank you for help me chose the right software
I'm a structural engineer who intend to use Ansys or. Abaqus software. Since I'm a beginner I'll be happy to hear any of your comments about the software. My emphasis is on:
1) User friendliness (e.g. material modelling, contact area modelling, FE mesh generation, results review, etc.)
2) Modelling basic nonlinear and buckling problems (e.g. steel-steel, steel-wood and steel-concrete connections, etc.)
3) Free accessibility to Manuals, Tutorials, etc.
As you can see I'm a beginner who is looking for user friendly nonlinear engine:)
Thank you for help me chose the right software





RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
If it is user friendliness that you are after, test drive both of them.
Both can be highly customized, so I wouldn't be worried about the "engine".
I have used both. I like whichever one I am using at the moment.
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
If you are a working engineer, most people migrate to the software is used frequently in their industry or company. This way your peers can help you out when needed. For example, the aircraft industry tends to use Nastran for linear and ABAQUS for nonlinear solutions. I have used Ansys before and liked it, but it would be pointless to learn more.
Brian
www.espcomposites.com
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
If user friendliness is the top priority then look into some lower tier solutions such as SolidWorks Simulation.
Rob Stupplebeen
https://sites.google.com/site/robertkstupplebeen/
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
personally, be carefull with "user friendly". it often gives users an inflated impression of their knowledge. thread carefully !
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
With regards to MSC products, since you're post mentioned 'user friendly', I strongly suggest you avoid MSC entirely. We tried MSC/Marc both in its native interface and through the MSC/Patran UI on an evaluation license and it was a nightmare. Doing the simplest tasks was very time consuming and I would assume anyone touting the 'user-friendliness' of MSC products is using a highly customized version.
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
ESPcomposites - NASTRAN dominates in aerospace since ages. Why do you think, that Abaqus is used in aerospace as a standard nonlinear solution? MSC.Nastran has very strong nonlinear capabilities through SOL400 (similar potential to MSC/Marc, but more powerful) and you do not need to buy any another software.
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
NASTRAN has dominated for linear analysis and is especially good for loads models. It is also straightforward to run SOL106 for simple nonlinear analysis.
That said, many of the nonlinear specialists migrate to ABAQUS because it is a more robust solver and has more capability. I have seen this at both Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
When compared to SOL400, I believe ABAQUS has been around longer and has a much larger user base. SOL400 is an additional cost as well.
Brian
www.espcomposites.com
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
MARC has been around for a while, but its implementation in SOL600 is relatively new and hence tends to have less of a following. And though I like Patran/Nastran, I too find SOL600 to be a clunky implementation (but also having some nice advantages). I found the contact solution to work well before when ABAQUS was giving me a problem.
Perhaps I should have better qualified my statement and restricted it to the US aircraft industry. It would still seem to the tendency (not an absolute) is to use Nastran for basic linear solutions, eigen solutions, loads models, etc. The preference does seem to be ABAQUS for more challenging nonlinear problems. In my experience, this combination tends to work well.
That said, there is obviously no absolutes and preferences will vary depending on the industry and in this case, even the region.
Brian
www.espcomposites.com
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
I do think that it is very easy to pick up though - depending on how complex your model is - I had simple beam and frame test models up and running very quickly when I first started using it. One issue that I do have with ABAQUS is that although there is an extensive online help manual, it isn't very useful, i.e. it explains in detail each option/menu and its theoretical background etc but it doesnt really give you any help or guidance on how to actually USE the feature.
I have also used MARC and I find that very difficult to use, you really need to be taught how to use it and spend a good few hours running some test models before you can become comfortable with the software. I have also used solidworks, but I have to say that I prefer ABAQUS.
RE: Ansys or. Abaqus?
I find the geometry tools in ANSYS cumbersome, so if you have to create geometry in it I would not recommend it. The solid meshing utilities are nice. Many people who perform dynamic analyses prefer ANSYS.
NASTRAN SOL 106 is fine for many problems if you don't have large strains. SOL 600 is very good but harder to learn. It doesn't have the same strain limitations as SOL 106.
I recommend you consider the whole package (geometry editor, meshing utilities, number of load cases which can be run easily, etc), not just the nonlinear analysis solver.
John
www.AtlanticCoastAerospace.com