Fea Query Summary

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 21:19 GMT 
From: ajcarr%ccvax.ucd.ie@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU (Dr Alun J. Carr)
Subject: [*] Summary of responses to FEA query 



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Well, I finally got around to hacking a mail file that was corrupted by
Pegasus Mail some time ago (twice!). It contained all the responses to
replies I
got to the following query which I put out around April time:

> Does anybody out there know if there are any finite element analysis
> packages available for the Mac (preferably 3D)? Please let me have the
> manufacturers name and if possible (in order of preference) e-mail address,
> fax number (not toll-free, as we can't use them from Europe), snail-mail
> address and/or phone number.

The attached file contains a summary of the responses.

[Note to Moderators: please place in reports directory]

Many thanks to the following people who reponded:

        Stephen Kawalko   <U40857@UICVM.BITNET>
        Ernie Potenziani <potenziani@monmouth-etdl1.army.mil>
        Mark Lankton <lankton@orion.colorado.edu>
        Christos Giogas <cg27@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu>
        Guido Paccagnella <guidop@conicit.ve>

and most especially, for help above and beyond the call of duty:

        Bob Norton <NORTON@JPL354.JPL.NASA.GOV>

I hope this is of some help.

Alun

A. J. Carr, Mech. Eng. Dept., UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Internet: ajcarr@ccvax.ucd.ie



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Well, I finally got around to hacking a mail file that was corrupted by

Pegasus Mail some time ago (twice!). It contained all the responses to
replies I

got to the following query which I put out around April time:



> Does anybody out there know if there are any finite element analysis

> packages available for the Mac (preferably 3D)? Please let me have the

> manufacturers name and if possible (in order of preference) e-mail address,

> fax number (not toll-free, as we can't use them from Europe), snail-mail

> address and/or phone number.



The attached file contains a summary of the responses.



[Note to Moderators: please place in reports directory]



Many thanks to the following people who reponded:



        Stephen Kawalko   <U40857@UICVM.BITNET>

        Ernie Potenziani <potenziani@monmouth-etdl1.army.mil>

        Mark Lankton <lankton@orion.colorado.edu>

        Christos Giogas <cg27@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu>

        Guido Paccagnella <guidop@conicit.ve>



and most especially, for help above and beyond the call of duty:



        Bob Norton <NORTON@JPL354.JPL.NASA.GOV>



I hope this is of some help.



Alun



A. J. Carr, Mech. Eng. Dept., UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.

Internet: ajcarr@ccvax.ucd.ie



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Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1993 10:54:36 CDT

From: Stephen Kawalko   <U40857@UICVM.BITNET>

Subject: Re: FEA software for the Mac



> Does anybody out there know if there are any finite element analysis

> packages available for the Mac (preferably 3D)? Please let me have the

> manufacturers name and if possible (in order of preference) e-mail address,

> fax number (not toll-free, as we can't use them from Europe), snail-mail

> address and/or phone number.



I have a brochure from MacNeal-Schendler which lists all of their finite

element software packages. It lists a package named MSC/pal 2 which is

a finite element package which runs on a Mac. It can analyze both 2D and

3D models with up to 2000 grid points (12,000 degrees or freedom).



  Corporate Address:

    The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp.

    815 Colorado Blvd.

    Los Angeles, CA 90041-1777



    Phone: (213) 258-9911

    Fax:   (213) 259-3838



  European Address:

    MacNeal-Schwendler GmbH

    Innsbrucker Ring 15

    Postfach 801240 D-8000

    Munchen 80 Germany



    Phone: (089) 4319870

    Fax:   (089) 4361716



> Please let there be at least *one* package out there, otherwise the

> smart-arse PC types are going to turn around and thumb their noses (they

> have LUSAS, ANSYS and heaven only knows what else to play with), and a

> colleague of mine is going to have to use his Centris 650 as a dumb terminal

> into an overloaded VAX.



Well there is at least one finite element package for the Mac. It

may not fit in your budget but it does exist.



I am still astonished when people tell me that engineers don't use

Macs and then proceed to tell about all the software which supposedly

doesn't exist for Macs. Be kind, it is not that they lack intelligence

but rather they lack the correct information. :-)



Stephen Kawalko (u40857@uicvm.cc.uic.edu)

Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

University of Illinois at Chicago



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Date: 07 Apr 1993 07:59:28 -0500 (EST)

From: Ernie Potenziani <potenziani@monmouth-etdl1.army.mil>

Subject: FEA software for the Mac (Q)



Alun,



        I too have been searching for FEA (electromagnetic) software for the

Mac, but without any luck. Right now, I'm using MacNeal-Schwendler's software

(they make NASTRAN and EMAS) on a VAX and running MacX on my MacIntosh
(just as

an X terminal). I've mentioned my need to numerous vendors at trade show

exhibits, but most seem to concentrate on what they perceive as more numerous

platforms (Suns, HPs, DEC VAXs).

        About the closest I've seen (in a magazine advertisement) was some

structural engineering software on a Mac (it MAY have been PATRAN) but as it

didn't have electromagnetic capabilities, I didn't pay much attention to the

advertisement. Sorry.

        Please let me know if you find anything and I guess all Mac users can

do is to keep asking.  If enough vendors get inquiries, maybe some will react.





Sincerely,

__________________________________________

Ernie Potenziani, D.Eng.Sc.

US Army Research Laboratory

Electronics & Power Sources Directorate

AMSRL-EP-EC-H, Myer Center

Fort Monmouth, NJ USA 07703-5601

Internet: potenziani@monmouth-ETDL1.army.mil

Phone:Commercial(908)544-3628

      DSN:995-3628     FAX:(908)544-2899

      Compuserve:72447,165



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Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1993 08:49:07 -0600

From: lankton%zodiac.colorado.edu@spot.Colorado.EDU

Subject: FEA software



Alun,



We use COSMOS/M for finite element analysis on the Mac, and we are

pretty happy with it. (We switched from NASTRAN on a VAX, which really

was a pain to work with....) We obtain it from a local distributor, but

it is produced by:

  Structural Research and Analysis Corporation

  2951 28th Street

  Santa Monica, CA 90405 (USA)

  tel: 310-452-2158

  fax: 310-399-6421



Good luck!



Mark Lankton (lankton@orion.colorado.edu)

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

University of Colorado



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Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1993 7:55:54 -0700 (PDT)

From: NORTON@JPL354.JPL.NASA.GOV

Subject: FEA on the Macintosh



Mostly bad news, I'm afraid.



There are a number of factors that have kept FEA programs off the Mac:

  o  Most FEA program come out of the mainframe environment, which

     means that they are batch oriented, not interactive, and thus

     don't require, or take advantage of, the Macintosh GUI.

  o  The amazing price wars have driven down the price of the

     DOS hardware, at least in the US, do an incredible level.

     While Apple has countered with aggresive price moves, they

     still are well behind the Intel hardware in price/performance.

  o  Apple still hasn't managed to break through the 10-15% market

     penetration.



In the aerospace field our primary FEA program is NASTRAN.  Originally

this was developed by contractors for NASA; one of the contractors,

The MacNeal-Schwendler Corp (MSC), started marketing a propietary

version which now has the biggest piece of the NASTRAN pie.  Other

vendors can supply their own propietary version, and the "public"

version is available through COSMIC, which distributes NASA

developed software.



MSC does market a version of MSC/NASTRAN which runs on Intel hardware

using a version of the Unix operating system.  No Macintosh version

is available.  MSC used to market another FEA program called PAL

which was available for both DOS and Macintosh platforms.  I don't

believe that they have marketed this for a couple of years now, but

I believe that it can still be purchased, although I don't believe

that it is supported.



A company called Structural Research and Analysis Corp at

1661 Lincoln Blvd, Suite 100, Santa Monica, CA 90404, telephone

(310) 452-2158 has marketed their FEA for a number of years

on several platforms, including the Macintosh.  Their primary

presence is on DOS platforms, so I don't know how well they

support the Macintosh.  Their program is called COSMOS/M, and

was originally developed from the SAP program (from the

University of California at Berekely, Ed Wilson).



That's about all I know about Macintosh FEA programs.



I've personally tried to break through this problem by porting

the COSMIC version of NASTRAN to the Macintosh (using the Unix

environment sold by Apple, A/UX).  This has been a rather

frustrating experience, largely due to the Fortran compilers

available for the Macintosh under A/UX>



I am optimistic that the current bleak situation will change with

the introduction of the PowerPC hardware early next year.  This

has the potential of getting Apple past the 10-15% market penetration

problem.  Users will be able to run existing Macintosh applications

on both Apple and IBM brand hardware.  The following operating

systems will be available on the PowerPC:  native Macintosh,

Macintosh under Unix (similar to the existing A/UX), OS/2 (with

DOS and Windows), Sun's Unix called Solaris, and probably Windows

NT.  The key issue for me will be a good Fortran compiler -- we'll

see!



Best wishes and good luck,



Bob Norton



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Date: Wed, 7 Apr 93 0:50:37 EDT

From: Christos Giogas <cg27@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu>

Subject: FEA on mac



Hi Alun. The only program that I have heard of (by no means does

this mean that there aren't any others) that can do finite element

analysis is AutoCAD for the Mac. As you may know, it is a standard

CAD program on the DOS platform. If my memory serves me correctly

MacUser reviewed it about one and a half years ago (late summer of '91).

For FEA, you need the second part with AutoCAD called AME. MacUsers

'93 buying guide (page 185) list:



                        AutoCAD $3500

                        AME     $495



This may be way out of your price range but hear is the address:



                AutoDesk, Inc.

                2320 Marinship Way

                Sausalito, CA  94965

                Tel #  (415) 332-2344



After giving you this address, I found that MacUser reviewed AutoCAD

in the Oct '92 issue.



BTW, if you get any other information on other FEA, would you be

so kind as to send me the names and addresses or post it on the net.

Hope this helps,



Chris Giogas  cg27@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu



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Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 19:23:23 AST

From: "Guido Paccagnella (Hosp.Perez Carreno" <guidop@conicit.ve>

Subject: FEA software on Mac



Hi,

I tryed to send to ollamh.ucd.ie but got a not sent message and also

tried to send to Info-Mac, but I haven't seen it. So here it goes again.



< Does anybody out there know if there are any finite element analysis

< packages available for the Mac (preferably 3D)? Please let me have the

< manufacturers name and if possible (in order of preference) e-mail

address,

< fax number (not toll-free, as we can't use them from Europe),

snail-mail

< address and/or phone number.



* The March issue of Mechanical Engineering announces LapCAD which is

the first I have seen in some time (for Macs and not for Windows, UNIX,

etc.).

As far ad the ad goes, the package seems  to be what you are looking

for.

* For other Mac applications, the only one besides the above, is

Cosmos/M which I ordered a demo version long time ago.  I never liked

that demo because, in a few words, is an IBM application ported to a

Mac; It is very cumbersome and difficult even to follow their demo. The

use of menus is extremely limited.  The drawing of a simple element is

done by  "telling"  each point's coordinate ( much like Auto Cad and

Versa Cad). You really get the feeling you're working on an IBM instead

of a Mac. The only relief would have been to import 3D dxf files into

Cosmos Shell in order to analyze. But since MiniCad does not dominate

dxf (at least up to vers. 3.xx) and Auto Cad is out of the question,

that's as far as I got with Cosmos. And I don't think they have

rewritten their code to make it a 7-savvy application. ( It wasn't even

6-savvy back then. )



Addresses:

LapCAD Engineering,  7710 Balboa Ave., Suite 226, San Diego, CA 92111.

(800) 343-3641;   (619)467-1947  Voice/Message/Fax.   $195-$995.



Cosmos (Structural Research & Analysis Corp.)

 2951 28 Th. St., Suite 100, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

(310) 452-2158; (310) 339-6421 Fax.    Free 50 node demo vers. FEA only

$1550.



So, to summarize,  heavy work needs to be done in this area.  I am

personally planning on (somehow, and someday) writing my own code for

Design Optimization.  I have the tools but  I need a little more

experience in the programming area....



Guido Paccagnella

guidop@dino.conicit.ve



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