Suggest FEA package?

[trainguy]

MSC Nastran, last I checked, was approx $10 000 USD + 2000/yr

ANSYS Professional is approx. the same price.

Can anyone suggest a decent FEA package to analyse 3d plate structures and frames for, roughly $5000 USD?

I need to do mostly linear static analysis of railcars and the occasional building frame, etc.

Thanks in advance.

GA

 

[tld23]

Try:
Strand 7 (

http://www.strand7.com/)from

G+D computing. This package is a bit weak on mesh construction but otherwise has some nice features. It is good value and should easily come in below your budget.

LUSAS (

http://www.lusas.com/).

A nice package for the price, should meet your budget. Better geometry processing than Strand.

COSMOS/M (

http://www.cosmosm.com/).

Do not know much about the package but I believe it is much cheaper than ANSYS.

Sure there are others but these will do to be getting on with. Try to think long term in your choice of software. Changing software suppliers after a few years can be traumatic

TERRY

 

[tomirvine]

I recommend NE/Nastran with FEMAP.

http://www.nenastran.com/

FEMAP is the pre and post-processor.
NE/Nastran is the "solver."


Sincerely,
Tom Irvine

http://www.vibrationdata.com

 

[pjhype]

Take a look at CAEFEM by Concurrent Analysis Corp. They use SDRC FEMAP for the pre/post processor, and the code has the same look/feel as MSC/NASTRAN for windows. The $10K price you quote is the list price for the MSC/NASTRAN basic analysis package (statics, modes, buckling). You will need to pay at least an additional $12K to get the advanced modeler, advanced dynamics, heat transfer, non-linear analysis, and optimization. With CAEFEM, you get all of this capability at a lower price than the MSC/NASTRAN basic analysis package.

Their web site is

http://www.caefem.com

pj

 

[SErgini0]

If you use Autodesk's Mechanical Desktop, there is an FEA package that attaches to MD, it's called Design Space. It's ok to use, straightforward, and not so complex.

 

[arniec]

Why not look at femap structural.
femap is a top quality pre and post processor and it has the ideas solvers behind it now. Not so sure on the price but I think it has been pitched as a low cost solution.

 

[trainguy]

Thanks for you suggestions, everyone.

 

[palex]

If you want easy to use sofware, Algor has a nice product at a reasonable price. It is perfectly compatible with autodesk product and other modellers. (5-12K)

Cosmos/designstar is also interesting, but limited on non-linear analyses. It is also perfectly compatible with most modellers. (+/- 10K)

Otherwise, Ansys just came out with with its version 7.0 which has all the power of ansys pro but with the designspace interface. It is quite expensive (+/- 18K), but it is worth it. If you don't need non-linear analyses, you should go with designspace.

 

[bsantana]

I would second the recommendation of Algor (

http://www.algor.com).

You should be able to get the Professional Linear Elastic Static Modeler for about $2500. You may need to dicker to get the lower price as I believe that it lists at $5000.

This will give you way more linear elastic static modeling capability than it sounds like you need. Beam, plate/shell, solid, gap, cable elements; several choices of solvers; 2-D and 3-D automatic mesh generation and good graphics capabilities.

Barry Santana