Free Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Software

Nowadays the multi-discipline engineers should be facing the complexity problems with their works. They must be met the deadline when the time running so fast. With engineering software they can take a way to reduce time-consuming process on their jobs, but how many cost allocation they must be spent to buy a licenced software?


Here are the free software that I recommend to you


1. LISA 

 DOWNLOAD FREE VERSION OF LISA 7.6.0

Features:
Static analysis
Modeling
» only linear analysis
» composites, sandwiches, laminates

» multiple loadcases

» mixed materials

Boundary conditions
» centrifugal for solid & shell elements
» self-weight
» point & pressure loads
» cyclic symmetry
» inclined constraint
» thermal strain
» pre-strain

Results
» stiffness matrix
» colour contour plot with or without nodal averaging
» deformed view
» text file output
» visualizaion of stresses on frames/trusses
» cut-away tool to view inside of the model
» animated deformation

Thermal analysis
Modeling
» steady & transient
» temperature varying thermal properties
» mixed materials

Boundary conditions
» internal heat source
» nodal heat flux
» conduction, convection & radiation
» fixed temperatures

Results
» colour contour plot with or without nodal averaging
» animation of transient results
» heat flux vector field
» text file output
» cut-away tool to view inside of the model

Modal vibration analysis
Modeling
» mixed materials
» iterative or direct solver

Boundary conditions
» inclined constraints
» cyclic symmetry
» under-constrained

Results
» mode shapes
» natural frequencies
» animation of mode shapes
» text file output

Dynamic response analysis
Modeling
» central difference, Houbolt, Wilson or Newmark solvers
» mixed materials
» initial displacements, velocities & accelerations

Boundary conditions
» self-weight
» time dependant point loads
» time dependant pressure loads

Results
» stiffness matrix
» colour contour plot with or without nodal averaging
» deformed view
» text file output
» cut-away tool to view inside of the model

Fluid analysis
Modeling
» closed boundary fluid flow
» newtonian and non-newtonian
» incompressible
» seepage
» pseudo-plastic
» Bingham
» Navier-Stokes
» pipe networks
» rotational & irrotational
» hydrodynamic lubrication

Boundary conditions
» velocity potential
» stream function
» flow rate

Results
» animation of transient models
» colour contour plot with or without nodal averaging
» text file output
» cut-away tool to view inside of the model

Buckling analysis
Modeling
» mixed materials

Boundary conditions
» centrifugal for solids
» self-weight for solids
» point & pressure loads
» pre-strain for truss

Results
» mode shapes
» animation of mode shapes

Electromagnetic & electric analysis
Electrostatic
» Dirichlet, Neumann, Robin and periodic boundary conditions
» voltage
» point charges
» charge density

Magnetostatic
» Dirichlet, Neumann, Robin and periodic boundary conditions
» current
» current density in conductor

D.C. Current
» Dirichlet, Neumann, Robin and periodic boundary conditions
» voltage & current
» resistance of lumped resistors
» conductivity of distributed conductors
» calculated heat generation density

Acoustic analysis
Modeling
» finds resonant modes
» only closed boundary problems, no leakages e.g through open windows
» solves the Helmholtz equation representing acoustic vibrations of an enclosed body of fluid

Results
» colour contour plot
» animation of the pressure oscillations

For further information about LISA you could visit http://www.lisa-fet.com/index.htm and purchase the full features.




2. IMPACT

This software is totally free because the developers were designing this software to those who want to use and evolving the open source software. The key features of this software are the explicit FE solver for high velocity, large deformation analyses such as car crashes and press operation. I recommend you the students and engineers to use this software. It is totally free and only used on the Linux platform.

 DOWNLOAD IMPACT 

Installation Guide
(Reporting from http://impact.sourceforge.net)

Impact is a Java program which means that there is no compilation of sourcecode or similar to be done. However, there are some programs you need to install to be able to run Impact and to see the results.
Start by downloading the program. The file is a Impact-XXXX.zip file and must be untarred using the command tar -xvf Impact-XXXX.zip if you are running Linux. For Windows users the Winzip program will handle the expansion.

Prerequisites
To get Impact working you need:

1. A Java engine - Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE) or Java SE Development Kit(JDK) http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
2. A Java3D https://java3d.dev.java.net/binary-builds.html
3. After installation for program start the package file ImpactGUI_OGL_XXXXX.bat (.sh), where instead of XXXXX choose a file which corresponds to your operating system is used.

A good Java engine is the Sun version which can be found at http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp. You can take either the Runtime environment or the Software Development Kit.
There are several alternatives Java engines.
After installation, you can run the solver by going to the processor tab (assuming you have started impact GUI and then loading in one of the examples from the examples directory. Solution is then started by pressing the play button.
Impact will now create two outdatafiles:

• xxxxx.in.flavia.res
• xxxxx.in.flavia.msh

These files can be read by the internal postprocessor or alternatively by GID preprocessor and postprocessor. Make sure to always select the .res file when viewing the results.

For further information about Impact you could visit http://impact.sourceforge.net

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