finite element analysis alternative??

[crazybeautiful]

hi do you happen to know any alternative for using Finite Element Analysis(FEA)? i need to know it badly.. hope someone could help. thanks!

[PerennialII]

If you can be a bit more specific about your problem I'm sure people can came up with more alternatives ... ? In principle any numerical method suited for solution of partial differential equations is a potential alternative, if considering FEM - like methods with similar properties & "power" when applied to complex PDE problems there is stuff like the boundary element method, people still use the finite difference method, meshfree methods etc.

[enigma]

Make some simplifying assumptions and derive the equations of motion from first principles.

FEA is a much easier alternative.

[Astronuc]

Other than being able to solve a PDE analytically, FEM and FDM are pretty much it.

However, one can employ a relatively new technique, BEM or Boundary Element Method - http://www.boundary-element-method.com/

The method depends on the problem.

[PerennialII]

The IFER site has some links to FEA alternatives for PDEs :

http://www.engr.usask.ca/~macphed/finite/fe_resources/fe_resources.html

(if its down as I've found for some reason lately take it e.g. from google cache).

[LunchBox]

You could also try energy methods...

I recommend:
Galerkin's Method
Rayleigh's Quotient
Rayleigh-Ritz Method
Assumed Modes Method

Any good structures or vibrations text will give you what you need.

Cheers...

[cronxeh]

I understand this is a stretch.. but can anyone recommend any open source.. or even better.. a free FEA/FDM software for windows or *nix

[PerennialII]

I use this nowadays for most of my analyses :

http://cern49.ce.uiuc.edu/cfm/warp3d.html

its a complete package, constantly under serious development and state-of-the-art, kicks the butt of most commercial software.

[rdt2]

Thanks for that link, Perennial. I'll download that after the New Year.

[PerennialII]

You're welcome ... it's well documented, has lots of examples and a good manual (even access to source code) ... I've used it for the past 10 years and have a whole lot of material on it (like interfaces towards different FEA software formats) ... so I can probably come up with something if you run into trouble.