BEST CAD TO FEA ANALYSIS PROGRAMS

[EAengineering07]

Hello,

I hope this is the correct forum for this question.

I work as a Mechanical Engineer for a plant. We cover everything the plant needs, seeing project from conception to end.
We cover P&ID's, piping diagrams, foundations and structures. We currently use AutoCAD for everything (plans etc. 2D and 3D) and our draftsmen
use AutoCAD to detail as well. As far as FEA software, we use Risa 3D.

I am wanting to streamline the workflow and make things quicker. A lot of the time, I'm having to redraw 3D models in RISA that I or
another has drawn in AutoCAD. I know you can import a .dxf of AutoCAD into RISA 3D but I'm wondering if there's better programs to use
for all of this?

I've seen Revit mentioned as a program that interfaces well with RISA 3D, but I've also read Revit doesn't work well with CAD (am I mistaken?).

Essentially, I would like for the Draftsmen to be able to draw/design structures (beams/columns etc.) which from there I would
take the structure and be able to perform an FEA and alternatively be able to take the structure back to AutoCAD for plans/detailing.

If anyone has any suggestions or if you could just let me know what you/your company uses it would be much appreciated!

 

[driftLimiter]

Your talking about what my boss calls the 'holy grail' of engineering design. Lol its not easy to obtain but highly sought after.

Risa/Revit link could be pretty handy for you but the fact that you need to get it back into AutoCAD throws a kink into the workflow.

I believe the closest thing most structural FEA packages offer is like how RISA can import a 3d DXF. You can set lines on different layers to mean different risa 3d elements.

As for the round trip back into CAD, I don't know if there is anything useful from RISA. I know you can link your Risa model to Revit, then from Revit export to Autocad. I've only ever done this with 2d plans not sure about exporting the full 3d.

Something like Advanced Steel might be useful for you guys, although I think it would lake the element level FEA that you seem to be using.

I think Tekla Designer has it all, but I don't know about the interfacing capabilities with CAD.

Ill be interested to see other's replies here. Cheers!