FEA

[JL82]

I will need a FEA software in future. The software should be affordable and easy to use. I will try LISA, Mecaway and FemDesigner. Is there other softwares yet?

Do you know the price range of NISA?

Simulate for Geomagic is too expensive for me. I will need it every now and then.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

JL,

Just about any system today allows you to import STEP models -- it just requires a bit more work. I will state that FEMdesigner is quite good. To gain more accuracy than FEMdesigner (±5%) I go to FEMAP (±1%). Very little of what I do required FEMAP.

 

[bobster]

I'm posting this in the hope of finding out if the FEMDesigner team is watching this forum and still taking orders.

I have my new system back up and running and the last detail will be to get FEMDesigner fully back on the air.

I have FD running from Geomagic but since I lost all of my saved email, I do not have the license keys.
(make note to self, save email is on the hard draive and it goes away with the HD unless you take steps to prevent that!)

I know that FD is a small operation and is sometimes slow to respond to email, but if anyone, Lew?, has knowledge of their status, please share that here.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

I know that FD is a small operation and is sometimes slow to respond to email, but if anyone, Lew?, has knowledge of their status, please share that here.

Bob,

The reality is that 3DS decided to leap into bed with Design Simulation Technologies (DST). DST has done, at best, a poor job of transferring Visual NASTRAN as an "integrated solution." [They provide inaccurate data on 16 entire materials in their "supplied database" and use the wrong temperature as their "base temperature" (which is supposed to be 20°C and is not).] The guys at FEMdesigner are "discouraged" by this attitude and are considering "alternatives."

That said, their system is compatible with GMD V2015.1.1 and, if they can continue to get information from 3DS, is likely to continue to be so.

 

[bobster]

Design Simulation Technologies is pretty pricey for a small time operator like me.
I'd rather continue with FD even if it's the stand-alone version.
I was considering moving to the Pro Version, have you had experience with that version of FD?
If FD is off the table, I guess I'll have to get back to LISA and build materials libraries.

 

[Lew_Merrick]

I'd rather continue with FD even if it's the stand-alone version.
I was considering moving to the Pro Version, have you had experience with that version of FD?

Bob,

To be clear, I have the "Pro" version of FEMdesigner and have had it since very shortly after I began evaluating it. To be extremely clear, I have an "eternal license" to it as a result of my "assistance" in developing their materials property libraries (and updates). Other than the fact that I get my "updates" for free (because of my database efforts on their behalf), I have no "financial interest" in FEMdesigner.

Whereas I am aware of some "shortcomings" in FEMdesigner, they are, generally, few and far between and most are associated with "default meshing settings" in more critical analysis. With that said, it is a good system that can perform quite well once you have (shall I say) "smashed your fingers a few times." The area in which I have the worst problems is with Thermal Analysis -- an arena in which my "skills" are poor, at best. I have seen some fairly complex Thermal Analysis done using FEMdesigner that amazing. However, I worked harder for a D in heat transfer than I ever worked for B's and A's in other college engineering classes.

 

[bobster]

Thanks for the response, Lew.
I'll keep pestering the folks at FD and do the upgrade once we get re-connected.
I have had good luck with the basic version but I see some need to move up and gain some more analysis capability.
Bob G.

 

[bobster]

Just a quick report.
I received an email from FEMdesigner and I now have my license key and I'm up and running.
Yes, I saved the key on my back-up drive and on a separate computer so I shouldn't have this issue again. :?

 

[MikeHenry]

Dropbox and other cloud storage facilities can be good for storing this sort of info. Most password managers also have a way to save this type of data in the cloud.