Has anyone used the FEA stuff they've put into catia? We've currently got abaqus for our fea stuff, but can only reasonably afford one seat, I'm wondering if catia can do anything useful in this regard, even if it's only the simpler stuff so that our abaqus seat can focus more on the heavy stuff.
Last edited 19 December 2013
CATIA V5 has a very capable linear FEA product built in, although you obviously need to pay for a license ! It's very tightly integrated allowing geometry changes to instantly refresh the FE model... You can even build templates that adapt to new model geometry. It's based on the same solver technology that most linear solvers use and is well regarded in industry as a 'designer level' tool, although it is capable of higher level application in the right hands.
The "FMS" workbench - Advanced Meshing Tools - offers a comprehensive set of surface meshing tools, including tri and quad shells plus hex extrusion/revolve/sweep etc as well as a tet filler.
Finally, Abaqus solver technology can be accessed within CATIA through the ANL and ATH products. These add non-linear and thermal capabilities to the core linear solver and use the same infrastructure (meshing, interface etc)...
All the above can be used to analyse composite models built in the CATIA composites module, by the way...
There is also an Abaqus pre/post workbench available (called AFC) which uses the CATIA tools to drive Abaqus. (ANL and ATH are effectively cut down versions of this).
There are some exciting new products in V6 too, including the next generation of Abaqus with all new pre/post and fully integrated simulation lifecycle management.
Hope this helps...
Last edited 21 December 2013
Nice introduction to the CATIA FEA package!
I use it to a designer level and find it very fast and easy to use! Results are identical to that of high end solvers! DS have clearly done a good job. I wouldn't mind having a go with V6!
