FEA software help

[J. Schmidt]

After spending the majority of a beautiful saturday trying to figure out our FEA software I came to understand why everyone who has used it hates it. If anybody has experience with ALGOR/FEMPRO software could you tell me what error code 100 is (max/min cross-section ratio=?) and how to fix it? It's also giving me a dumb warning that there were "no active elements for the linear stress model," which baffles me even more because I only get this warning sporadicly (in between warnings the program crashes). I checked with a professor and couple seniors, who basicly said "yup, it does that." I wish campus would update this software.

[J. Schmidt]

After spending the majority of a beautiful saturday trying to figure out our FEA software I came to understand why everyone who has used it hates it. If anybody has experience with ALGOR/FEMPRO software could you tell me what error code 100 is (max/min cross-section ratio=?) and how to fix it? It's also giving me a dumb warning that there were "no active elements for the linear stress model," which baffles me even more because I only get this warning sporadicly (in between warnings the program crashes). I checked with a professor and couple seniors, who basicly said "yup, it does that." I wish campus would update this software.

[Lash]

I know I already posted this on a previous thread but I need help too! Has anyone successfully performed FEA using COSMOS WORKS? I have the full version, not the crappy one that comes with solid works.

Trevor

[Denny Trimble]

Joel,
If you haven't seen it yet, check this post out. (http://fsae.com/eve/forums?q=Y&a=tpc&s=763607348&f=125607348&m=18610367711&p=2)

Lash,
I'm sure somebody has used COSMOS DesignStar or GeoStar. We haven't. ANSYS, Algor, and COSMOS/Works have worked for us, once we learned them. I'm sure DesignStar and GeoStar will work well for you, but don't expect them to be any easier than ALGOR or ANSYS. If you want easy, try the ultra-crappy "COSMOSXpress!" native to SolidWorks.

[Lash]

I'm sorry Joel, did you just say "ANSYS, Algor, and COSMOS/Works have worked for us, once we learned them" ?? Does that mean you used COSMOS WORKS ? Or is that a different program. I'm confused. Help me out here.

[Denny Trimble]

It's Denny, and yes, I've used COSMOS/Works. It's the "addin" package that works within the SolidWorks environment, as compared to COSMOSXpress, which comes standard with SolidWorks.

Also available in the COSMOS line are DesignStar (standalone) and GeoStar (standalone). They can do more complex models such as: nonlinear materials and displacements, beam elements, and composite materials.

I can help with COSMOS/Works, if you need. It's not good for frame analysis, because it doesn't include beam elements. You can run a "shell" analysis of a tubeframe if you have a fast computer, 1-2GB of RAM, and 12 to 24 hours, but that's taking the long way around compared to using ALGOR or ANSYS or Geostar to do a beam element model. ALGOR runs our beam element frame models in about 30 seconds.