| Radioss/OpenRadioss | |
|---|---|
| Developers | Altair Engineering, open source |
| Stable release | 2025.1 (Radioss) stable build 20250925 (OpenRadioss) / 2025 (Radioss) 25 september 2025 (stable version of OpenRadios) |
| Written in | Fortran |
| Operating system | Linux and Microsoft Windows |
| Type | FEM software |
| License | proprietary (Altair Radioss), GNU AGPL (OpenRadioss) |
| Website | www |
Altair Radioss is a multidisciplinary finite element solver developed by Altair Engineering. [1] It includes implicit and explicit time integration schemes for the solution of engineering problems, from linear statics and linear dynamics to non-linear transient dynamics and mechanical systems. The multidisciplinary solver has its main strengths in durability, NVH, crash, safety, manufacturability, and fluid-structure interaction.
Since the 2021 release, Radioss has supported input in the LS-DYNA input format as well as the Radioss 'Block' Format [2]
OpenRadioss, an open-source version of Radioss under the GNU AGPL license. OpenRadioss shares the capabilities, input and output formats of Altair Radioss. OpenRadioss was released on September the 8th 2022. [3] OpenRadioss uses an external library that is partly provided in binary form. This external library contains open-source software like lapack and C++ Mathematical Expression Toolkit Library. But also free software like md5, zlib, and Altair's library for their h3d extension. [4] [5]
Radioss originated from the 3D FEA program DYNA3D. DYNA3D was originally developed by Dr. John O. Hallquist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 1976. DYNA3D was publicly released upon a request of France. [6] After DYNA3D was released, the ESI Group developed Pam-Crash. Some time later, Radioss splitted from Pam-Crash. [7] This means that the LS-DYNA, Pam-Crash and Radioss all originate from the same base code. Abaqus, Pronto-3D, MSC DYNA, and DYTRAN also originate from DYNA3D. [8]
In september 2022, Altair made the decision to release Radioss also under the open-source GNU AGPL license. [9] This means that Radioss is available both with a commercial license and an open-source license. OpenRadioss allows academia to implement new features in OpenRadioss which later can be ported to Radioss. This means that developments in academia go quicker to a commercial FEA program. Altair also has appointed a director of the OpenRadioss community, Marian Bulla. Besides this, OpenRadioss also has a steering committee that 13 members that include people from industry and academia. [10]
Some of the material models available in Radioss are:
Some of the element types available in Radioss are:
Radioss and OpenRadioss are very similar to each other but there are some small differences. The differences are mostly relevant for the automotive industry. These are: [12] [13]
Other features of Radioss and OpenRadioss are nearly identical. OpenRadioss is the code that developers work actively on. [14] This means that OpenRadioss commonly is ahead of Radioss but Radioss is tested better by Altair.