FEA Program to Learn

[DanStro]

I am currently working for a company that, despite my urging, doesn't see a need for in-house FEA.

I think it is a good skill to have and the piece of mind that it would provide if the FEA results were in line with hand calculation would be nice too.

So I am thinking of purchasing my own copy so that I can get acquainted with the process. I would like to get a program that has some credibility since it may come in handy in the future if I look for another job.

The most promising, at least from a price standpoint, is NEiFusion. Has anyone here had any experience with this program? Is there some other program that you would recommend?

It also seems to have all of the capabilities that I need. Which are static, linear, and contact analysis. Modal is not necessary but would be nice too.

I currently have a 300 node limit of NE/Nastran but I keep running into that limit and I wouldn't be able to afford the full version.

My limit on cost is $5000-$6000 but less would be nice.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[dmacx]

I use NEiNastran with FEMAP currently and I have played with NEiFusion, which is essentially NEiWorks with SolidWorks included. SolidWorks is a great CAD product and if you are familiar with it or any other feature based CAD package you will not have a problem with. I saw Noran was promoting NEiFusion for $2000 and I would highly recommend it for that price. I do not know of any other reputable FEA packages out there that has that much capability for that price and I would not be surprised if they pull this offer as it seems to good to be true. NEiFusion would be a good starter package for FEA but lacks some of the really advanced capabilities like transient and frequency response, though you do not seem to need these. It does have modal, buckling, and nonlinear and that is all you will need for a while. Talk to Noran and see if they will let you upgrade later to FEMAP if you eventually need it.

 

[JStephen]

I would be hesitant to pay a lot of money under those circumstances.

The way it seems to me (I could be wrong here) is that if a company wants experience with a particular modeling system, they want a LOT of experience with specifically that system. So experience with something similar doesn't count for much, and a general familiarity with it doesn't count for much.

 

[corus]

I have to agree with JStephen. If you're thinking of buying a package to give you experience for another company, then you can guarantee that the other company will use a different package or insist that you are familiar with the latest release of that package. This is largely due to an ignorant and ill informed management who don't know any better.
If you're going to use the software with your present company then don't waste your own money buying something that they can exploit. I'd download a free version and use that at work and then gently coax your 'largely ignorant and ill informed management' as to the benefits of using electrickery calcumometers (as they perceive them) and how you could do even better, and how the company would look more professional, with a full recognised commercial package, and let them buy it. My guess is that you have a an old-school computer-phobia management who think hand calculations are all you need - with a safety factor of 5.

corus

 

[dmacx]

NEiFusion would still be a great program to learn since you will also learn Solidworks and Nastran. If you have the 300 node demo version of NEiNastran you can learn a lot with that as well and not have to spend $2000. FEMAP is a very capable modeler and used widely and Nastran is also well known. If you want to run larger models you would need a full package and I am not aware of any that is as complete for under $2000.

 

[JakeRAD]

The 300 node version is better for learning then the solidworks fusion variant. the SW variant has limited element selection, no real shell elements, and is VERY limited in meshing capabilities.

 

[GBor]

In that price range and for the capabilities you need, you may want to take a look at AMPS. I sell this, so I won't go in to my sales pitch (I recognize this forum is not the right place for that), but you can take a look at amps.borowskiengineering.com or

http://www.ampstech.com.

I thought NEiFusion was only being offered at the $1999.00 price tag until December 31, but you may be able to pick it up if you act quickly. Noran puts out a really good product, and I'm sure it would be well-supported.

In principle, however, I have to agree with JStephen and corus, your company should equip you with the tools you need to do your job. Convincing them that you need it may be a bit difficult, but keep at it. Any chance some of thier product might fail? If so, have an analysis ready for them to warn them and see if you can do some testing against your analysis results. Accurately predict a problem and they should come around.

Garland E. Borowski, PE
Borowski Engineering & Analytical Services, Inc.
Lower Alabama SolidWorks Users Group

 

[cowski]

If you are looking for an affordable package to learn on you should consider CalculiX (

http://www.bconverged.com/calculix/index.php).

I have not used it myself (yet) so I cannot speak of its capabilities/limitations, but the price is right.

 

[DanStro]

This response is to JStephen,corus, and partially GBor and cowski.

While I agree that if a company is looking for a full time analyst they will want someone that has a lot of real-world experience with a particular software package the reason I am looking at developing this skill is because many companies are incorporating basic FEA earlier in the design phase.

Being a designer, having practical experience (i.e. when to/not use shell elements and when/how a model can be simplified without effecting accuracy...)

Am I wrong in thinking this way?

GBor, thanks for the suggestion. I am getting the trial version now.

cowski, I have looked at Calulix and I was hoping for something a little easier on the modelling end.

Well, in a short period of time (<24hrs wow) I got some good suggestions on both sides of my question so I guess I should think about this a little more before I jump in.

Thanks to everyone. All of the responses were really helpful.
Dan

 

[GBor]

Another product that I sell (sorry, I really don't mean to be marketing on this site) is a front end for calculix. It is called Roshaz (

http://www.roshaz.com

or roshaz.borowskiengineering.com), but it doesn't not have the calculix interface for contact at this point. Actually it only interfaces for linear, but other capabilities are under development. The creator of Roshaz is a frequent contributor to this site, but he is currently on vacation from England and is in Florida at the moment.

For what you are looking for, I think either the NEiFusion or AMPS will be a great value (assuming NEiFusion is still within your price range).

 

[jakeline6]

I have NEiWorks and love it. As DMACX mentioned, Fusion is just NEiWorks with Solid Works included. The product "does" handle shells (quad and tri), composites, assemblies, etc. If you can get NENastran, Solid Works, and the NEiWorks modeler for $2000 that would be an insane deal. I am not sure how they are able to do this since Solid Works alone is around $6000. There are very few of the larger FEA vendors that still give out limited node demos. I know MSC used to charge $250 for their 300 node demo. The limited node demos are very useful for learning but you are constrained by the model size which also limits how complex the model can be.

 

[DanStro]

jakeline6,

The program that I was referring to is NEiFusion not NEiWorks. It is/was Fusion that was being offered for $2000. I agree that there is no way SW would allow NEiWorks to go out the door at anywhere near that price.

 

[jakeline6]

I would talk to Noran. Fusion is based on Solid Works and is very similar to NEiWorks which is what I have been using. It supposedly has the Solid Works geometry engine in it but not all of the features of Solid Works like drawing generation. Still, it seems like a great value. I own my own copy of Solid Works and purchased NEiWorks for my side consulting work I do.

 

[ThomasH]

Dan

Just out of curiousity, what is your background?

Are you trying to learn FEA or just a software interface because that is not the same thing. Why is your employer not buying the tools you need provided that you know how to use them?

I don't mean to be negative but if you are a complete beginner and there is no previous experience inhouse with these tools. If I were an employer I would also hesitate. FEA is much more than working an interface.

As for software, I would continue with the 300 node limit to learn the process. For how long have you used it?

Good Luck

Thomas