Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering branches.
Computer-aided engineering can be defined as the general usage of technology to aid in tasks related to engineering analysis. Any use of technology to solve or assist engineering issues falls under this umbrella.
LS-DYNA is an advanced general-purpose multiphysics simulation software package developed by the former Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC), which was acquired by Ansys in 2019. While the package continues to contain more and more possibilities for the calculation of many complex, real world problems, its origins and core-competency lie in highly nonlinear transient dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) using explicit time integration. LS-DYNA is used by the automobile, aerospace, construction and civil engineering, military, manufacturing, and bioengineering industries.
NASTRAN is a finite element analysis (FEA) program that was originally developed for NASA in the late 1960s under United States government funding for the aerospace industry. The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC) was one of the principal and original developers of the publicly available NASTRAN code. NASTRAN source code is integrated in a number of different software packages, which are distributed by a range of companies.
Ansys, Inc. is an American multinational company with its headquarters based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It develops and markets CAE/multiphysics engineering simulation software for product design, testing and operation and offers its products and services to customers worldwide.
MSC Software Corporation is an American simulation software technology company based in Newport Beach, California, that specializes in simulation software.
NEi Nastran was an engineering analysis and simulation software product of NEi Software. Based on NASA's Structural Analysis program NASTRAN, the software is a finite element analysis (FEA) solver used to generate solutions for linear and nonlinear stress, dynamics, and heat transfer characteristics of structures and mechanical components. NEi Nastran software is used with all major industry pre- and post-processors, including Femap, a product of Siemens PLM Software, and the in-house brands NEi Nastran in-CAD, NEi Fusion, and NEi Works for SolidWorks. This software was acquired by Autodesk in May 2014.
Femap is an engineering analysis program sold by Siemens Digital Industries Software that is used to build finite element models of complex engineering problems ("pre-processing") and view solution results ("post-processing"). It runs on Microsoft Windows and provides CAD import, modeling and meshing tools to create a finite element model, as well as postprocessing functionality that allows mechanical engineers to interpret analysis results. The finite element method allows engineers to virtually model components, assemblies, or systems to determine behavior under a given set of boundary conditions, and is typically used in the design process to reduce costly prototyping and testing, evaluate differing designs and materials, and for structural optimization to reduce weight.
Abaqus FEA is a software suite for finite element analysis and computer-aided engineering, originally released in 1978. The name and logo of this software are based on the abacus calculation tool. The Abaqus product suite consists of five core software products:
- Abaqus/CAE, or "Complete Abaqus Environment". It is a software application used for both the modeling and analysis of mechanical components and assemblies (pre-processing) and visualizing the finite element analysis result. A subset of Abaqus/CAE including only the post-processing module can be launched independently in the Abaqus/Viewer product.
- Abaqus/Standard, a general-purpose Finite-Element analyzer that employs implicit integration scheme (traditional).
- Abaqus/Explicit, a special-purpose Finite-Element analyzer that employs explicit integration scheme to solve highly nonlinear systems with many complex contacts under transient loads.
- Abaqus/CFD, a Computational Fluid Dynamics software application which provides advanced computational fluid dynamics capabilities with extensive support for preprocessing and postprocessing provided in Abaqus/CAE - discontinued in Abaqus 2017 and further releases.
- Abaqus/Electromagnetic, a Computational electromagnetics software application which solves advanced computational electromagnetic problems.
LUSAS is a UK-based developer and supplier of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) application software products that bear the same name.
Firehole Composites was a supplier of computer-aided engineering (CAE) software and consulting services specializing in analysis of composite materials. Founded in 2000, the company's mission is to provide enabling technologies to further the widespread use of composite materials. Their products include Helius:MCT, Helius:CompositePro, Helius:MatSim, and Prospector:Composites.
NEi Fusion is a finite element analysis program sold by NEi Software that is used by engineers to build and analyze 3D models of parts and assemblies of various products. NEi Fusion digital-simulation software virtually applies forces, pressures, vibration, acceleration loads, or thermal conditions to 3D models of parts, structures, and assemblies. It obtains results of various engineering parameters, such as deformation, stresses, strains, temperature distributions, and modal shapes the design would experience if implemented. The results, which range from tables of data to contour plots and animations, provide engineering insight. For example, result visualizations like color-coded, contour plots can help deepen understanding of physical phenomena in complex geometry. NEi Fusion consists of a 3D parametric CAD modeler powered by SolidWorks with NEi Nastran finite element analysis solvers. NEi Fusion runs on Microsoft Windows and provides CAD modeling, import and meshing tools.
ADINA is a commercial engineering simulation software program that is developed and distributed worldwide by ADINA R & D, Inc. The company was founded in 1986 by Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Bathe, and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, United States. On April 7, 2022, Bentley Systems acquired ADINA R&D, Inc.
FEMtools is a multi-functional, cross-platform and solver-independent family of CAE software programs providing analysis and scripting solutions for many different types of engineering simulation applications. The program is developed, supported and licensed by Dynamic Design Solutions ("DDS") NV, located in Leuven, Belgium.
The dynamic design analysis method (DDAM) is a US Navy-developed analytical procedure for evaluating the design of equipment subject to dynamic loading caused by underwater explosions (UNDEX). The analysis uses a form of shock spectrum analysis that estimates the dynamic response of a component to shock loading caused by the sudden movement of a naval vessel. The analytical process simulates the interaction between the shock-loaded component and its fixed structure, and it is a standard naval engineering procedure for shipboard structural dynamics.
Pam-Crash is a software package from ESI Group used for crash simulation and the design of occupant safety systems, primarily in the automotive industry. The software enables automotive engineers to simulate the performance of a proposed vehicle design and evaluate the potential for injury to occupants in multiple crash scenarios.
VisualFEA is a finite element analysis software program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is developed and distributed by Intuition Software, Inc. of South Korea, and used chiefly for structural and geotechnical analysis. Its strongest point is its intuitive, user-friendly design based on graphical pre- and postprocessing capabilities. It has educational features for teaching and learning structural mechanics, and finite element analysis through graphical simulation. It is widely used in college-level courses related to structural mechanics and finite element methods.
HyperSizer is computer-aided engineering (CAE) software used for stress analysis and sizing optimization of metallic and composite structures. Originally developed at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as ST-SIZE, it was licensed for commercial use by Collier Research Corporation in 1996. Additional proprietary code was added and the software was marketed under the name HyperSizer.
Today the metal forming industry is making increasing use of simulation to evaluate the performing of dies, processes and blanks prior to building try-out tooling. Finite element analysis (FEA) is the most common method of simulating sheet metal forming operations to determine whether a proposed design will produce parts free of defects such as fracture or wrinkling.
