Free Engineering Softwares

[Silente]

Does anybody know about free engineering softwares like CFD, FEM, vehicle dynamics simulation (to simulate behaviour of whole vehicle)?

Maybe something connected to opens source philosophy..

Which softwares packages are you currently using for your projects?

[Silente]

Does anybody know about free engineering softwares like CFD, FEM, vehicle dynamics simulation (to simulate behaviour of whole vehicle)?

Maybe something connected to opens source philosophy..

Which softwares packages are you currently using for your projects?

[jaca]

yeah there's a good package here

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=free+cad+software

sorry, I love that site...

To answer your question, I haven't found any free cad software out there that's even remotely usable. Assuming it exists, it's not in the same league as even entry level 3d cad/validation software. Most people here are using solidworks or proe.

You're best bet is finding a sponsor, I've heard that solidworks and autodesk (inventor) are pretty involved with fsae sponsortship. Our school has proe licenses, but we also got a few separate copies from ptc with out too much trouble, so that's worth looking into also.

[Anvit Garg]

Autodesk inventor is free for students, and it has basic FEA capabilities. Their next year's release will have much better FEA, and it currently can do dynamic simulations.

Check out their student site and they have an entire how-to for drawing an FSAE car.

[alumasteel]

In the past, SolidWorks (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/education/forumla-sae-racing-student-contest.htm) has sponsored teams with free copies of the student edition...

[Tim Gornik]

Star CCM + shoudn't be to hard to handle, and they work with FSAE teams.

[J.R.]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by jaca:
yeah there's a good package here

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=free+cad+software

sorry, I love that site...

To answer your question, I haven't found any free cad software out there that's even remotely usable. Assuming it exists, it's not in the same league as even entry level 3d cad/validation software. Most people here are using solidworks or proe.

You're best bet is finding a sponsor, I've heard that solidworks and autodesk (inventor) are pretty involved with fsae sponsortship. Our school has proe licenses, but we also got a few separate copies from ptc with out too much trouble, so that's worth looking into also. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's hilarious! You just made my night, and I'm pulling an all nighter for Senior Design Report, so that's saying something!

ADAMS Car is also free if you ask them.

And Suspension Analyzer 2.0 is free for the first 10 days (trial) It just so happens that the day you'll actually need the graphs is the 11th day. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif They sell it for $125 to FSAE teams, but I would save your money and get all your work done in 10 days. It's ok to validate design, but not worth $125 IMO.

[JD232]

Solidworks is giving out free editions to all FSAE teams... logon to their website and apply for sponsorship.. u will soon receive ur copies...

We got 5 copies of SolidWorks software from them... so maybe you will too...

[y.o]

Hi

Try these, but commmercial softwares are far user friendly. I suggest get free copies of Solid Works, autodesk and ANASIS.

http://adventure.sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

FE (static / dynamic), CFD (imcompresive), Thermal simulation



http://sourceforge.net/projects/brlcad/

ex US army CAD

[Silente]

What about Vehicle dynamic simulation?

Is anyone using any pack for this purpose?

i'm having my graduation project on an adams car plug in, but i am the first here to keep this way. There is not a big knowledge about these softwares and i am working with an external company.

[exFSAE]

You could just write your own in Matlab. Pretty straightforward doing a basic steady state cornering or drive/braking sim.

Can even do some combined stuff. Get a couple snapshots of how the car is going to behave. Gets you a long way to where you need to be.

[HenningO]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by exFSAE:
You could just write your own in Matlab. Pretty straightforward doing a basic steady state cornering or drive/braking sim.

Can even do some combined stuff. Get a couple snapshots of how the car is going to behave. Gets you a long way to where you need to be. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll second that, at least for the first year one do VD. I believe doing yourself will increase your understanding much more then just plugging in numbers to your favorite MBS-software. The results will probably also be easier to interpret.

On a sidenote, there are free alternatives to Matlab that still uses the same programming language (ex. Octave, FreeMat).

[Zac]

I'll third the writing your own dynamic simulation thing.

Or if you're looking for commercial code just get in touch with the company that sells it. Most companies will have a student license available for a reduced cost or even free.

[murpia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HenningO:
On a sidenote, there are free alternatives to Matlab that still uses the same programming language (ex. Octave, FreeMat). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I recently discovered the MATLAB-like SciLab which includes Scicos as an equivalent to Simulink. Well worth knowing about!

Regards, Ian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilab
http://www.scilab.org/

[ben]

I've not done a lot with either SciLab or Octave because I have a full version of Matlab plus Stats and Optimisation Toolbox at work. But I have installed and played briefly with both.

As far as I could ather Octave has the same syntax as Matlab, whereas SciLab has a better GUI (kind of like Matlab 4 or 5) but slightly different Syntax.

Ben

[murpia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ben:
As far as I could ather Octave has the same syntax as Matlab, whereas SciLab has a better GUI (kind of like Matlab 4 or 5) but slightly different Syntax. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
SciLab claim to have a utility to convert MATLAB files to SciLab files. But I haven't tested it myself.

Regards, Ian

[screwdriver]

Try looking modelica for simulation (http://modelica.org/). There's a lot of useful software centered around it.