Price of FEA software?
Price of FEA software?
(OP)
Hello,
I am considering starting my FEA consultancy.
So I would like to know the prices of FEA software packages.
It would be great to understand the fixed initial seat price as well as the yearly price of the packages.
I have tried searching a lot using Google but in wain...
I am considering starting my FEA consultancy.
So I would like to know the prices of FEA software packages.
It would be great to understand the fixed initial seat price as well as the yearly price of the packages.
I have tried searching a lot using Google but in wain...





RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
My area of interest is Automotive.
Yes I have not much experience to inaugurate my consultancy tomorrow, but I am contemplating of doing so in a couple of years.
So to get a gist of the initial investment that would be required I have posted this question.
I am not fixing myself to one software as it would depend on my clients demands.
As a rough estimate I would like to know the approximate costs associated with the structural licenses of following software:
1. ANSYS
2. Abaqus
3. COMSOL Multiphysics
4. Autodesk Simulation
5. LS-DYNA
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
I believe ABAQUS is only available as a lease and it is very spendy. Ansys can be purchased in small chunks. You could start with Structural, then upgrade to Mechanical to get heat transfer, then upgrade to Multiphysics if the need arises nad your income stream improves. Multiphysics was about 45k$ for a perpetual license, + an annual tech support fee. I think Structural is about 19k$. Also, Ansys Design Modeler is great for fixing mutant geometry from various customers. You will likely not be able to afford or master every CAD system out there, so Design Modeler will fill that gap. LS_Dyna used to be free from Livermore, but you needed a pre/post package like Femap. Not sure how it works now. Of course, you can add ANSYS/LS-Dyna to an Ansys bundle. Autodesk Simulation is the old Algor program and is pretty low end (sorry Vince) and I would be surprised if anybody big in Detroit uses it. I've have not heard good things about it for anything other than linear static. I see that Autodesk recently acquired NEI-Nastran, so apparently they agree.
Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
RE: Price of FEA software?
Thanks for your suggestions. I have some queries though,
If a company is already using a FEA software they must have FEA analysts to work for them.
Then why would they transfer their tasks to a 3rd party?
Is that not wasting a lot of money?
Regarding ANSYS, if I buy the perpetual license and don't take the yearly support, then can I use ANSYS forever without having to pay any more money (apart from the initial seat license fee)?
Yes I have used ANSYS Design Modeler and found it very good for correcting geometries.
Regarding Autodesk Simulation, is it not used quite a lot in the industry?
If so then it must be really cheap and lack good solvers.
Apart from all this I have one more query.
Does any company espouse a new software in the market easily especially if it is light on the pocket and has a lot of muscle power but lacks the "proven software" badge?
Thanks for your time and effort!
RE: Price of FEA software?
2. You also don't get tech support, error reports, new releases, etc. Not a lot of fun when you change computers or operating system, etc.
4. Not sure what you are asking. From what I've heard, the Algor solver runs slowly and suffers convergence issues when running nonlinear. This is supposed to be why Abaqus is better than Ansys. Ansys aint bad, but Abaqus has a better nonlinear solver.
5. Nope. You get what you pay for. Also, what image do you want to send to your perspective customers? You dont want to scare off potential customers with unproven, no-name software.
Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
RE: Price of FEA software?
A couple of your notional packages are much more industry-specific than others. I would question your depth of knowledge in any given FEA package if you presented such a list as your qualifications. If would be more impressive to me if you were a, "20-yr user of ANSYS," rather than having your experience spread out amongst 5 different packages. Assuming equal time, that would barely make you an experienced user in any of the packages. Note that you will have to bid a certain amount of hours to complete a job. The less experience you have in the package being used, the more schedule risk you incur, because you might run into issues that an experienced user could easily avoid.
TTFN

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Of course I can. I can do anything. I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
RE: Price of FEA software?
"If a company is already using a FEA software they must have FEA analysts to work for them.
Then why would they transfer their tasks to a 3rd party?"
If there is a specific area of expertise that the OEM doesn't have eg I think we'd struggle with FEA of magnetic lines for a motor design, or if we are running 2 or 3 vehicle programs on top of each other, or a vehicle program suddenly needs a lot of help. In my group's case we had been unable to recruit a suitable additional head and so for a year we covered that gap with an external consultant.
"Is that not wasting a lot of money?"
Yes but if it is critical path then not doing it wastes more. To be honest my charge out rate is higher than that of the consultants, so the waste of money is not all that apparent at a program level. There are however many inefficiencies with using external contractors and those are transparent to the managers, but they are real at the working level. Even finding a suitable contractor can be hard. There are lots of nuff-nuffs who did FEA or MBD at uni and think they can do the job. They can't.
"Regarding Autodesk Simulation, is it not used quite a lot in the industry?"
Not by OEMs, perhaps by suppliers.
"Does any company espouse a new software in the market easily especially if it is light on the pocket and has a lot of muscle power but lacks the "proven software" badge?"
Yes, it is not uncommon for an OEM to attempt to get a new product reconfigured in the direction of the OEMs wants. That happens less than it used to but it is still happens. BTDT twice in 25 years.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
Thanks for explaining the need of 3rd party consultants.
I am getting a grasp to some extent now, on how to run business as a consultant.
I am working as a Product Engineer (1 year experience) as of now along with handling some FEA tasks for team mates using Creo Simulate.
I hope to pursue MS in Mech with specialisation in FEA and then work as an analyst in a firm for some years to understand this arena in more depth.
Apart from that, I have to say I love developing software (as a freelance developer).
My next project is a FEA software.
After reading the suggestions I feel it may not be a good project as nobody would be interested in buying it... :(
Anyways Thanks again all for your kind help and guidance. :)
RE: Price of FEA software?
bongirs: being a consultant offering purely FEA is a tough business. Consulting engineers generally have to be more flexible than just FEA.
RE: Price of FEA software?
glass99 - that's because we need to be able to run their models after they've finished with them and get exactly the same results.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
I suggest getting actual quotes for the packages you are interested in because these numbers are far from accurate for a 1 man shop.
I hope this helps.
Rob Stupplebeen
www.optimaldevice.com
RE: Price of FEA software?
Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
The main things that would be valuable to us are a more stable large deformation non-linear geometry solver and nice contact surfaces.
RE: Price of FEA software?
I'm an Ansys weenie from way back, and have never used Abaqus. I will not pretend to know which is better. But I've heard people who've used both say essentially the following: Ansys has better contact, and Abaqus has more robust solvers for really nasty problems with multiple nonlinearities. Doesnt mean Ansys will never converge, doesent mean that Abaqus sucks at contact, both are good programs. This is what I got from listening to what I considered objective and balanced discussions. Opinions are inevitably influence by the type of problems worked on and the expertise and expectations of the analyst, so one guy might get good results with Ansys where another doesn't, etc. Also, you need to look at overall useability. For instance, Ansys has DEsign Modeler, which is a great tool for importing CAD geometry from multiple sources and turning them into FE models. This would reduce(or eliminate) the number of different CAD licenses you would need.
Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
Rob: As mentioned previously, I have a long term plan of setting up a consultancy. So right now I am not looking at really accurate figures. Just rough estimates to understand how much I would have to invest and whether or not my business would be able to sustain. Overall I understand that FEA alone could possibly not sustain my business. I have to work on some related activities (Rapid Prototyping maybe?).
Rick: Yeah the software is going to be a huge investment. So I am seriously contemplating developing my own software. Maybe also provide ANSYS consultancy side-by-side. ANSYS is really famous compared to Abaqus here in India. Also I would never sustain the business with these high investments as people want everything cheap over here. FEA itself is not used much apart from the big MNCs and OEMs.
glass99: I am starting FEA activities alongside Product Engineering in my organisation, to support my teammates using Creo Simulate. I have been having a very steep learning curve with Creo Simulate especially after my experience with ANSYS in college. Recently it failed to deliver a very simple multi-body simulation despite having very short intervals for non-linear analysis. The mesh was mostly prismatic but not very fine. Anyways cant expect much from a CAD software to deliver extra-ordinary FEA results.
RE: Price of FEA software?
rob at optimaldevice dot com
Rob Stupplebeen
www.optimaldevice.com
RE: Price of FEA software?
Regards.
RE: Price of FEA software?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
RE: Price of FEA software?
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
I'd like to see more price competition from all software suppliers, and easily accessible fixed prices would be a good start. Whether Autodesk will be useful in driving prices down in the long term, I doubt.
Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services
http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/
RE: Price of FEA software?
Most people don't correlate their models to any serious extent, they just want pretty pictures.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Price of FEA software?
I don't think there is any crime to discuss rough estimates as done above and am satisfied with the information.
Regarding the reputation of the software I believe only one principle: Garbage in, Garbage out.
A tool is only as good as the operator is.
RE: Price of FEA software?
I also 100% agree about testing/correlation, though that can be harder to get through the project management folks. Question always arises: why am I paying you to do a fancy model if you have to do testing too?
RE: Price of FEA software?
In another case, I was already on a full time contract at the company but not doing FEA. I would have done the FEA within my existing rate so giving them the cost of Autodesk licence just to be able to get them as a reference. Internal politics and software snobbery ended up with the work being subcontracted to experts. The end cost ended up at nearly $0.5m. Not one model was geometrically correct and none had the correct boundary conditions. I was happy with what was built because I had designed it and checked it with Autodesk Simulation first. The client was ripped off by nearly a factor of 10 on price even if it had been done properly. Frustrating but such is life.
RE: Price of FEA software?