Looking for FE package ~$10000
Looking for FE package ~$10000
(OP)
Hi!
I'm looking for a FE package for my small engineering company (structural analyses only).
"Industry standards" ANSYS and MSC/Nastran/Patran are out of my budget so I'd need recommendations for a bit cheaper packages, please.
The program should have linear static, eigenvalue, linear buckling and possibly nonlinear static capabilities. It should also be able to handle orthotropic materials (composites & wood) and import most common geometry and FE-files (eg Autocad, iges, neutral files, etc).
Any suggestions? If you could also estimate the price level, it would be very helpful also. Thanks!
I'm looking for a FE package for my small engineering company (structural analyses only).
"Industry standards" ANSYS and MSC/Nastran/Patran are out of my budget so I'd need recommendations for a bit cheaper packages, please.
The program should have linear static, eigenvalue, linear buckling and possibly nonlinear static capabilities. It should also be able to handle orthotropic materials (composites & wood) and import most common geometry and FE-files (eg Autocad, iges, neutral files, etc).
Any suggestions? If you could also estimate the price level, it would be very helpful also. Thanks!





RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
THe web site is www.nenastran.com
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
http://www.engineering-e.com/merchant/msc_ms/software/n...
I don't know what the current basic modeller is like, but I've used an earlier version of Nastran for Windows and like it a lot.
I am pretty sure you can come up with a cheaper system that is no more difficult to use by finding another pre and post processor, and a different, but compatible, solver. Ishmael's suggestion of FEMAP and NX is the obvious one, particularly since NfW's preprocessor is FEMAP (so far as I can tell)
http://www.eds.com/products/plm/femap/features.shtml
However the comparison chart in http://www.eds.com/products/plm/femap/pdf/br_femap_v20....
suggests that the solver is more limited than NfW's.
http://www.mayasim.com/home.asp?ContentDoc=http://www.m...
Gets tantalisingly close to quoting a price ($4k for the base package), but as usual they really want to talk to you first. They do at least point out the the the FEMAP solver is different to the NX one.
One thing I've found with non-linear analysis is that correlation (physical) data is vital, otherwise you are better off with the back of an envelope. So if you don't have the time and money to run a validation process then you can save yourself a lot of grief and skip non linear analysis.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
I don't know if I have answered your question, but I always prefer to be with products like ANSYS for the reason that you can always upgrade to a better product if the situation demands within the ANSYS products as opposed to changing to a new FEA package which is a whole lot of mess.
Best of luck!
Rob.
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
The reason I did not ask directly from the companies is that their marketing people can be real pain in the a*s for at least 2-3 years after the inquery (they keep sending junk-mail and make mid-night phone calls due to time difference)..
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
I would suggest you take a look at COSMOS DesignStar also. It has great CAD associativity and handles Material Non-Linearities along with the functionalities you mentioned like buckling, Frequency analysis and ofcourse, Linear Static. I think this package costs under $10,000 and they offer an evaluation version also.
All the best.
hiyer
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
I have not seen anyone introducing the JL Analyser.
http://www.autofea.com/
up to 3000 nodes = 285$
up to 10000 nodes = 1485$
unlimited nodes = 2485$
I have worked with the free version (up to 300 nodes) and it covers my (not so high) requirments.
Hope this helps,
Costas
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
For the price you want, I suggest that you look into ADINA (www.adina.com). They have a 900-node version for about $100, and they sometimes give a full version for free for a couple of months. The full price of their structural module (with nonlinearities) is close to your price range. They have interesting demo animations at http://www.adina.com/newsgrp.shtml.
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
The 3000 node JL analyzer discussed above is not bad, considering the price.
The modeler is much easier to use than another low end FEA called LISA.
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
Best regards,
Visuvanathan.B
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
Nice handle. Hope you haven't made your decision yet. Hey, I've been doing business with Noran Engineering since '98. These guys offer NE/Nastran. There package is bundled with FEMAP and is very similar to MSC/nastran for windows. Cost should be substantially better. Hey, technical support is big and Noran takes care of you. Great people to work with... seriously. An experienced analyst should tell you that there is much more to learn, always. NE is a solid mature program backed by a experienced staff which is striving to improve their product based on customer needs. It will cover all the analysis issues that you addressed and much more. User friendly as well.
Noran - small company with large character.
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
I evaluated also MSC's Nastran for windows (femap), MSC.FEA ("nastran & patran for windows") and Algor, which were good but slightly out of my budget, and also Ansys DesignSpace which did not have all tha capabilities I needed.
Thank You everyone! Stay tuned...
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
RE: Looking for FE package ~$10000
regards
Sreedhar