This post is going to be different from the previous posts, till now we have learned some tips on meshing in Hypermesh and performed some analysis. If you have not seen those posts, you can start here.
A natural question that might come to anyone’s mind is whether Hypermesh is the only meshing software or whether there are any alternatives to Hypermesh. So in this post, we are going to see the same, that is we are going discuss the different FEA packages.
What are Software Packages?
So first of all we need to understand what are FEA packages. Now before understanding FEA packages, we need to understand what is a software package. So a software package is a group of software that provides all the necessary tools for completing a particular task from end to end. For example, for any office software, a standard software package would include a workbook (something very similar to Microsoft Excel), presentation software ( something very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint), a documentation software ( something very similar to Microsoft Word).
So now we know what are software packages. So then moving on what are the contents of an FEA package?
Commonly used FEA Package
A FEA package consists of a preprocessing, solver, and post-processing software. So now what are the functions of these different software inside the package?
- Preprocessing software – The preprocessing software provides the functionality for geometry cleanup, meshing, and applying all the relevant inputs and boundary conditions.
- Solver software – Solver as the name suggests is used to solve the meshed file with all the boundary conditions according to the defined methods.
- Post-processing software – The post-processing software is used to analyze the solved results by focusing on certain specific areas of interest or the whole subject.
Ansys vs Altair
There are two famous software packages Ansys Workbench and Altair HyperWorks.
Ansys has APDL and ICEM as preprocessing software, Auto dyn and fluent as solvers, and CFD post for post-processing.
For Altair HyperWorks as you might have guessed till now, Hypermesh is the preprocessing software, Optistruct comes in the package as a solver but there are options for selecting different solvers like Nastran, Radios, Ls Dyna and exporting the model file to their respective format. The post-processing software is Hyperview, where we can view and analyze the results.
Hypermesh gives the user better control over the element shape, orientation, and flow, and this might be one of the reasons it is majorly used in structures and the automobile industry, whereas in Ansys the meshing process is automated and thus does not give so much level of autonomy to the user.
Optistruct is used for both linear and nonlinear problems under both static and dynamic loadings. However, it is widely used for optimization. Nastran has a good history in the aerospace industry and is recognized for its accuracy in solving complex problems.
So all in all the use of a particular software package or a specific preprocessing or solver software depends on what the end user is comfortable with and what is the problem statement, that is what type of problem the end user wants to solve.
There is one more FEA package from MSC which contains MSC Patran as a preprocessing software and Nastran as a solver.
It is to be noted that these are not the only FEA packages available in the market but instead are the most widely used.
This is all for this post. See you all in the next post, don’t forget to follow my Facebook and Instagram page for regular updates. Till then keep learning.