FEA program
novacaine - 6/9/07 at 05:05 PM
as part of a 6th form project im in a team designing/building a Formula Vee race car,
are there any free/cheap easy to use FEA programs out there?
cheers
Matt
Ivan - 6/9/07 at 05:08 PM
Yes - Grape
twybrow - 6/9/07 at 05:16 PM
Student edition of ProEngineer is free, and comes with PRoMechanica.
iank - 6/9/07 at 05:19 PM
Is FAE a requirement for the project?
Unless you're experienced in their use a glue gun and a pile of balsa sticks will give as good results quicker.
Paul (Notts) - 6/9/07 at 06:27 PM
twybrow
where can I download a copy of the Student edition of ProEngineer for free as I am having trouble locating one...
Cheers
Paul
balidey - 6/9/07 at 07:56 PM
quote:
Originally posted by novacaine
are there any free/cheap easy to use FEA programs out there?
Depends what you are analysing. Usually a free / cheap / easy to use one is not much use.
SolidWorks has an inbuilt one, which is OK for small, simple models.
But, unless you know what you are doing (and most people don't) you can get the wrong results. Now I don't mean the result is incorrect, I
mean unless YOU, the person setting the restraints and applying loads and forces knows the correct way of setting it up you can get a very different
result than someone else.
I don't mean to sound condescending, as I only have limited FEA experience, but i know several people with about the same experience as me who
claim to 'know about FEA'. Its a very complex program to work properly, and you also need to undertand how to interpret the results
correctly.
Another point is that FEA is not the answer, it should only be used to back up physical testing. A true FEA expert will tell you this.
But apart from that, if you have SolidWorks, then have a bash at CosmosExpress on a simple item. Its one of the easier ones I've seen.
dream - 6/9/07 at 09:29 PM
I tried to learn solidworks but did not like it very much,this time i want to learn proengineer also,were can we get a free version off proengineer
twybrow - 7/9/07 at 06:45 AM
If you go to the ProE webiste PTC then I believe you can apply for one through that. You may need someone official from
your school to do it on your behalf. They normally give you a CD which allows free use for a year.
twybrow - 7/9/07 at 06:49 AM
http://www.proeacademic.com/content.php?si=465