There are many strategic differences. However, the exact same keyword deck (generated from ANSYS/LS-DYNA) will give you the same answer whether you solve it using ANSYS/LS-DYNA or LS-DYNA. My personal opinion is that you will become a better computational analyst if you learn how to use native LS-DYNA. But, if you are not comfortable with FEM, it is not suited for the faint-hearted i.e., user-friendliness isn't its strongest suite
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