version?
I have been learning ADINA 900 nodes. It's $140.00, and you also receive
the finite element analysis book by Bathe (in itself worth $140.00). I find
the user interface to be very cumbersome, however, it can use input from
ANSYS files. I think it would be interesting to use a program like Calculix
to preprocess... and then use the ADINA for the analysis, it is a commercial
software, and highly tested. 900 nodes is pretty good for many things we do
in structural design.
ADINA staff are very personable.
1. CalculiX.Good: Frequently updated, kind of an offspring of the renowned
Plaxis (?). Has some user-to-user support. Lots and lots of features
including large displacements, nonlinear material, etc.
> Bad: pre/post is total hell. Not because it's strange, it really is
very uncomfortable. You have to operate some weird named groups, etc.Also,
it 'inflates' beam elements (that usually have a precise analytic
solution) to form 3D 20-node solids which in turn causes problems with
torsion calculations, hollow sections etc.
> Resume: really needs a good pre/postprocessor (I'm going to write one
when I'm out of work and so become rich and famous) and some workarounds
for problems with beam elements.
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