FEA SOFTWARE

[civeng80]

I did my course in civil engineering about 30 years ago. Things were different back then FEA was around but quite distant. I now use microstran (structural analysis program both 2d and 3d). Structural engineering often involes analysing quite vexing models e.g. plates Im currently going thru this now. Can anyone recommned a good FEA software for structures and how would it be different to what I have?

Thanks

 

[salmon2]

GregLocock,

Were you talking to me?

I know the lead time of tooling is very long and it is extremely expensive, but FEA is not a easy and cheap solution as well if you start from scratch.

The way how the simulation should work I think is: run simulation, do tests, compare, if match means the simulation/model is good, otherwise, tune the simulation until match. So before the simulation matches experiments, it means nothing and nobody knows if it is correct or not. But unfortunately, people want to predict things such as if the tooling design is good by simulation. So it is like a paradox.

 

[GregLocock]

I would be the first to agree that an uncorrelated model is often a misleading, and sometimes dangerous, thing. Where I disagree is that you imply that FEA is not cost effective.

Cheers

Greg Locock

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

 

[salmon2]

Sorry that is not what I really wanted to share.

Comparing with hundreds of thousands, or millions of tooling cost, FEA is usually cheaper/easier. But I was trying to say that it is not like 100 times cheaper or cost nothing but a license.