FEMdesigner

The first thing to know about FEMdesigner is that we are here to help. User support is currently free. If you have problems we want to hear about it. It helps us improve the product.

Installation
Just download the setup file, run it and change the default Alibre Addons directory if necessary. The dialog box that advises you of the 21 day limit is where you find the serial number of the installation. It tells you to send that serial number to us (by email) and we email back the registration number that removes the limit.

Start Guide
The procedure is as follows:
a) Create a new loadcase, optionally using a previous loadcase as a template.
b) Mesh the model with optional local and global mesh refinements, waiting a short time for meshing to complete.
c) Attach a material to each body by either selecting a standard material or creating your own.
d) Add the Actions, Reactions and Interactions (for contact analysis). Select multiple faces as desired.
e) Solve and wait a short while until calculations are complete.
f) View the results.

In the FEMdesigner for Alibre Addon, every user action will be recorded as text in the tree view and similar actions are automatically grouped together. You can easily delete or edit these tree items at any time. If the dialog box is open then changes will show up on the screen immediately. In the standalone, you can have any number of loadcases and the results of these can be combined. You can also easily create tables of many material or load properties. If the underlying model is changed slightly, thereby causing number changes to the model faces it doesn't affect the FEA model because the tree actions are tied to the underlying consistent key of the face.

For assemblies in the FEMdesigner for Alibre Addon, the meshes of the individual parts will be pulled in and positioned exactly according to the assembly model. There is no need to force the parts to be in contact as the software will do that for you automatically - just leave the parts at nominal dimensions with the nominal gaps intact.