New Year is on the calendar, so it’s time for some gifts. And it will be a small gift – a list of totally free CAx Software, which is “Commercial Ready”. This term means not only theoretical possibility given by a License to work on a Commercial tasks, but practical. It means that they are ready to use by a wide number of Users who don’t have strong skills in “Technical Support”. You don’t need to Make it, compile it. You don’t need to do shamanic dance with tambourines arround the fire. Simple Install, and work like it some other modern software (but it still CAE so it more complex than browser or WYSIWYG text editor).

FYI : FEAryTales has discord server. It small but we only start to growth.

Ok let’s Start. At the beggining, i need to say that there are old publications that can be usefull (they are in the Ukrainian language, but you can use automatic translations or write a comment – I will translate them):

• Free FEM App
• Engineering Freelance always need only very expensive software?
• Free Mechanical Design Software (for student and hobbyist)

Free FEM App – it’s 11 years old publications. Now it not trully actuall, but you can find something interesting or usefull. May be I will create more actual version some day. But it However, this is proof that I have been hinting that there are free analogues of paid programs. And do it for a long time. My students can proove that. Because they heard it 10+ years already. For this moment publications in Ukrainian.

Engineering Freelance always needs only very expensive software? it’s more actual publications. Some moments are the same as in other publications, but mostly new. The main important points are described. This article also in Ukrainian

And the last: Free Mechanical Design Software (for student and hobbyist) (original in Ukrainian: САПР на халяву! Легально! Не “гербалайф”!) this article for some users categories who can legally use listed software for free. However, you must remember that most software from the list is not for commercial use.

So dive in

This article is a gift for everyone who:

• Work in Engineering Field
• Do Engineering Calculations with CAE
• Has no limitation from customers about used software
• Want to work in the “White” (totally legal)
• Want to use only FREE software (even for Commercial Projects) and no pay for commercial software
• Mostly use Windows (but can use both – Windows and Linux)
• Have limited skills in programing, installations etc
• Have avarage skills in CAx

And we have answers to all those questions.

I can’t sat that this list close all possible variants of tasks. But 80-90% it will:

CAD

Unfortunately in the most popular direction, we have almost no options. If we want to Create a Parametric 3D Model, or Edit Geometry from customers which we obtain in neutral formats (mostly STEP; Parasolid, ASCI, JT and especially proprietary formats from other MCAD – is out of the list). So the only option is FreeCAD. For some tasks can partially be useful Salome, but we will talk about it later.

Basic (implicit) FEA/FEM

If the main tasks in your workflow is to do calculations for real objects, and you can export it in STEP (STL can be usefull too, but with lot off limitations)… If you need to have good Mesh process, and don’t want to strugle with interface from the late 90s or even with its abscence. If you need 3D mesh (Hex, Tetra), Shells, Beams. If you need wide list of analysis types and cases…

Than take a look for PrePoMax. It’s powerfull prepost intagrated with Calculix Solver, so you obtain all-in-one CAE. With UI which is close to lot of commercial software. It very powerfull, very flexyble, very fast in developing. PrePoMax will close 90+ percent of your tasks (May be even 99+ in FEA direction).

The other one is – Salome Meca‘s “The Good Old Classic”. It is more hardwood (like pine and oak in comparison). But you can create and edit geometry and dive deeper into models and calculations (IMHO). You can do some not-very complex parametrical syntheses (complexity depends on your skills). For calculations, you can use 2 solvers – the same Calculix or Code-Aster

Explicit Dynamics with FEM

LS PrePost – it’s not open-source, but it’s free of charge and powerful Pre/Post-. Unfortunately, it can be not so “user-friendly” as people expect from modern software. So maybe some tasks will be simpler to previously prepare with other CAE. However, if you take into account that LS PrePost can import data (command files) from Abaqus, аnd Calculix has a very similar and partially compatible format of input data, and additionally Prepomax can export directly with Abaqus data format… Then, the task of analysis preparation became a simpler one.

Upd: Is LS PrePost free for commercial purpose also?
It’s hard question. I should have described it in more detail. But I forget till I write post. So this is answer:
Especially this question became a tricky after Ansys acquire LSTC.
In fact – 100% granted free usage for noncommercial work if you give credits to LSTC(ANSYS).
You can use any number of copy of LS PrePost for any tasks if you have any LS-DYNA license (for the same type of “work” which for LS-DYNA was licensed)

For commercial use without LS-DYNA – it’s better to write to ANSYS partner in your region/country and ask directly. Because the answers vary.
Users from some countries even have restrictions to use LS PrePost at all (export complaints and limitations for US high-tech products). For some tasks (for example military purpose) also can present limitations (even if you can use LS PrePost in your country).
So it’s better to send formal request to official Ansys Partners in your regions. And use the answer as directive

So you have the possibility to do the main 80% of the analysis preparation with PrePomax (Create Mesh, Define a group of Materials, a group for Contacts, Joints, Boundary Conditions, etc.) and then, by using mesh and groups, make certain properties and preferences for them in LS PrePost.

I need to say that we can analyze some Explicit task with Calculix “inside of PrePoMax” but… Let’s be clear. For this moment Calculix is not the Top Gun for all kind of explicit tasks.

And now we have a question. If it’s not Calculix, then what Tool we can use? The answer for this question came with the help of:

OpenRadios. I give a link to the official site. To download the software, you need to find it in the menu “Download”, which will redirect you to the GitHub page. OpenRadioss is a very know-well “thing” from Altair company. Some time ago, it was commercial code, and now it’s free. Fully functional solver for explicit dynamics tasks. Important benefit – he knows comands syntaxis from LS-DYNA. So, in couple with LS PrePost, it closes almost all questions in anexplicit direction.

We close 99% of all mechanical FEA tasks (not only mechanical but generally).

But unfortunately, we have another physics domain in engineering also $-) So

CFD

And in this direction, we have some problems. From one side, we can find a lot of open-source and free codes based on FEM, FVM, LBM, etc. But mostly, they present as solvers or products which can be hard not only to use but to install for 80+ percent of engineers.

If we will talk about Post-processing… Then we can use the “good old” ParaView (it is presented, for example, inside Salome Meca). But if we start talking about Pre-processing – we’ve got a lot of trouble.

That’s why we will start with Solver. For this moment, in the CFD field, there is a free, open-source product that has become one of the standard-de-facto (not only in the list of free software but in general). And it’s OpenFOAM. However, as we previously said – it’s only a solver.

For pre you can use Salome or:

• SimWorks Free
• BlueCFD
• CfdOF
• BARAM
• Blender – This Name can sound ridiculous with this list, but for now, it can be one of the most adequate and free solutions.

We see the big list, but the devil is in the details. I don’t know why, but CFD engineers must struggle… for some reason…

I must say that some of the tasks (both for FEA and CFD) you can pre-post directly inside FreeCAD, because he knows something about integration with Calculix and OpenFOAM (the last needs additional Addons). However, it’s not the best solution for all cases.

—-

The list of free open-source software is not comprehensive and exhaustive. The list of physics domains – also. We left without any lights lot of questions (RBM, DEM, electro-magnetism etc).

Some of the tasks in this direction can be solved with the list from this article. But I’m not an expert in those fields, and it is hard for me to give anassessment of it’s ready for commerce. So, If you are – you can leave a comment below.

Will I provide more content about the usage of free software on my channels? I don’t know. Most of these products are more niche and have more problems than commercial software (which I can solve by simply googling or talking with tech support)… And the time always finite and limited.

In the end, I need to write about a couple of products that can also be useful in commercial works. For the Math questions, there exists a Matlab-Maple analogue- SciLab. Now it is part of Dassault Systemes product portfolio, but it still OpenSource (the same situations with OpenFoam whish is ESI product)

Well, it would be useful to remind you that the Ukrainian developer Dystlab There is now a mathematical package a la simplified MathCAD, a tool for simple FEA tasks. And recently RBM (Rigid Body Motion) appeared. There are free versions in some places. However, it is no longer about commercial readiness, but about supporting a domestic manufacturer. The last sentence should not be read as saying that the products cannot be useful in commercial activities. Rather, it means that I am not yet familiar enough with them.

Well, that’s all folks. Good luck with your projects in the New Year!