Inventor & Ansys vs Solidworks & Cosmos 2

[TimMorgan]

I'm currently running ACAD, Inventor & LUSAS as a combined CAD & FEA package in a design office. I want to ditch LUSAS for a more friendly package, but can't decide whether to go for an Ansys package and use my existing Inventor as the front end - or take the plunge and change CAD & FEA completely and go with SolidWorks & Cosmos.

FE work is relatively simple - 2D and 3D linear - however, I would like to be able to retain mesh control, run some buckling analysis and a non-linear material function would be a plus. 3D CAD work can have complex shapes but generally assemblies of less than 20 components.

Anyone got any advice - the sales guys are starting to run rings around me!

Thanks for your time,

Tim

 

[Sparweb]

Firstly, your decision to ditch Inventor is the correct one.

Solidworks and Cosmos are seamlessly integrated, and developed by partner companies. You use Cosmos through the Solidworks application, and there's no switching data back and forth between formats, Soidworks IS your pre- and post- processor. I've only used Cosmos Express, which is no-brainer FEA.

Can anyone claim the same relationship with Ansys? I haven't used Ansys since my school days, when it was still a suite of DOS programs. It has evolved since then - somebody else should comment on that.

The question to ask is: will Cosmos keep up with my demands?
Does it have the functions that I want? Identify what you need, then get a Solidworks guy to bring a machine with the software installed to your office and prove it!


"Simplicate, and add more lightness" - Bill Stout
Steven Fahey, CET

 

[TimMorgan]

Thanks for the input SparWeb,

Out of interest, does SolidWorks handle ACAD drawings comfortably i.e. without messing all of the fonts and layers etc. I have a lot of past ACAD data and ditching Inventor means ditching ACAD.

Tim

 

[Bgoldstein]

And another option - use Ansys with SolidWorks. Ansys now has a pretty decent interface with SW that is worth checking out. So if you do decide to go to SW, probably worth your time to get an evaluation copy of both Ansys and Cosmos to see which you like better.

 

[Sparweb]

My experience with importing Acad R14 into Solidworks is that the line work gets a good thrashing first - the fonts don't make it in the door. I never had a need to seriously try to make it work. There are import programs that help "massage" the data, if you know where to find them.

I would give my left arm to ditch Acad for SW (wouldn't need it any more either ). Alas, my experience with SW hasn't gone beyond the classroom. Before making a business decision, get more advice from somebody who is trying to make money using SW.

Did you try posting in the Solidworks forum?


"Simplicate, and add more lightness" - Bill Stout
Steven Fahey, CET

 

[bckemp]

I currently made the deicison to go with Inventor and Ansys for some of the reasons that you state. SolidWorks has some advantages that were not relevent to me but may be for some. I see it to be a superior surface modeler but to say it is far superior all around is a stretch. I have had good luck reading MDT data directly into Inventor and you get the MDT along with Inventor. This is a very unpopular position with all SolidWorks users but the reality is that dealing with legacy data in a new software is a pain.

I chose Ansys over Cosmos mostly because of the trust you must have in an integrity of the solution provided by an analysis code. Not that I don't trust Cosmos but I know I can trust Ansys. Also, the Ansys basic interface has come a long way. You do still operate in a separate window but you have update control between your analysis model and the base geometry in Inventor. The basic Ansys was also price competitive. Jumping to non-linear materials is a big jump in complexity that should not be considered lighty and could jump your analysis code price a good bit.

 

[pbd999]

Inventor works very well in conjuction with the ANSYS Workbench Environment (for lower end linear type analysis this is also known as DesignSpace). You can launch ANSYS from inside Inventor and your part or assembly will be automatically imported. The ANSYS Workbench GUI is very intuitive, it really is a piece of cake to learn. A couple of other nice features: You can create design studies by changing your CAD parameters within ANSYS over a range of values and driving the CAD model from the FEA side. If you have an assembly ANSYS will automatically detect and set up all of the contact pairs between the parts. By default they will be bonded but can be easily changed to frictionless, no separation, rough, sliding with friction, etc. I have been very impressed with it....

 

[JGalliera]

COSMOS DesignSTAR works very well with both Inventor and SolidWorks. It is a stand-alone package and is fully associative with those two CAD programs. You should investigate COSMOS DesignSTAR more closely. You will find it can do 2D and 3D analysis very easily!