Which FEA program

[Rob1970]

I am fairly new to engineering (recent graduate) and am looking at purchasing a 3-d modeling program and FEA software. I have been looking at the solidworks/cosmos package (SW PRO) and recently looked at NEi's FEA solver. I don't have a ton of experience with 3d modeling and FEA software, just a bit in school. I am hoping some of the more experienced engineers will help me in choosing a CAD/FEA package.
As far as the CAD package I am looking for something that is user friendly and fairly intuitive in function. I have used Solidworks, Inventor and Solid Edge. Of the three I think Inventor and Solidworks were the most intutive and user friendly, I didn't care for the order of operations of solid edge.
In regards to the FEA package I really am at your mercy. I have very little experience with FEA software so I'm not even sure what I want or need. What I would like is something that is user friendly. What I like about Cosmos is that it is linked with the solidworks package. I don't mind getting a solver that can import my 3-d geometry from a variety of CAD packages. As far as capabilities, I'd like to be able to apply loads/ pressures/ moments to individual components and assemblies. I'd like to be able to to to both static and dynamic simulations. I'm not sure if I'd need to do non-linear analysis. I would like to have the ability to to analyze composite structures in the future, so I'd like to have the capability up front or at least be able to expand to include a module to handle composites. Finally I'd like for it to be fairly affordable as I will be buying out of my own pocket.
Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

 

[GregLocock]

For FEA is there any point in spending more than $0 initially? If you can master Calculix then converting to any other package should be straightforward. It has limitations, but you can't beat the price.

It sounds to me as though you will quickly exceed what the integrated CAD/FEA packages will handle.

So far as CAD goes, I wouldn't buy a package based on my preferences, I'd buy it based on what the industry I was in uses. I'm not really convinced that an engineer really needs to be proficient at CAD, although most seem to be these days.


Cheers

Greg Locock

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

 

[GregLocock]

see also thread727-174393

Cheers

Greg Locock

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

 

[PSE]

Rob1970,

It sounds like you are going into business for yourself as a new graduate? Otherwise you would end up using the package(s) that your employer uses and provides to you. If you are going the self employment route, you would want to have something with superior import/export capabilities in order to have the best chances of interacting with the client's CAD system(s) with minimal data loss.

Regards,

 

[Rob1970]

PSE,
Yes you are correct although it won't be in any sort of consulting role. I've been looking at the NEi Fusion package recently and wondered if it has enough capabilities, the price looks good.

 

[DaveVikingPE]

There's a free one called GRAPE 3D (Google for it) that's pretty good. If you're knowledgable about the finite element analysis, you'll have some fun with this program.