New finite element app - Beta testers wanted

jeremy_theler

Hi all! I am preparing a new app for thermo-mechanical analysis using finite elements (a.k.a. simulation)

If someone is willing to be part of the testing team, please reply here so I can add you to the beta testing team.

sebastian_glanzner

I'm interested to be part of the beta testing team 

jeremy_theler

sebastian_glanzner said:

I'm interested to be part of the beta testing team 

Welcome aboard!

brian_brady

jeremy_theler said:

Hi all! I am preparing a new app for thermo-mechanical analysis using finite elements (a.k.a. simulation)

If someone is willing to be part of the testing team, please reply here so I can add you to the beta testing team.

Are you saying that it will do both thermal and mechanical (static) analysis or just thermal? I would like to evaluate it if it can do both.

Brian

bill_daniels

I'm interested

jeremy_theler

brian_brady said:

jeremy_theler said:

Hi all! I am preparing a new app for thermo-mechanical analysis using finite elements (a.k.a. simulation)

If someone is willing to be part of the testing team, please reply here so I can add you to the beta testing team.

Are you saying that it will do both thermal and mechanical (static) analysis or just thermal? I would like to evaluate it if it can do both.

Brian

You can do

a. thermal conduction with temperature, heat of convection boundary conditions, and/or

b. mechanical analysis taking or not into consideration the temperature distribution (which can come from either a project from a, an algebraic expression or 3D-pointwise data)

The current Beta only solves mechanical problems with optional algebraic or pointwise temperature.

See these videos for a preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGaJO5ku-Zs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtCYvxvOry8

jeremy_theler

bill_daniels said:

I'm interested

That's great Bill! Can you enter the email address you use in your Onshape account in the following URL?

https://www.caeplex.com/alpha

Any other user that wants to join the testin team please do the same.

brian_brady

@jeremy_theler the video looks promising. Can we add local minimum/maximum tags on the image? What about at specific nodes? Will we be able to generate a report of the results?

I intend to sign up for the alpha. Another question, I teach modeling and FEA. Will there be a free version for Onshape educational users?

Brian

jeremy_theler

brian_brady said:

@jeremy_theler the video looks promising. Can we add local minimum/maximum tags on the image? What about at specific nodes? Will we be able to generate a report of the results?

I intend to sign up for the alpha. Another question, I teach modeling and FEA. Will there be a free version for Onshape educational users?

Brian

Hey Brian

Go to https://www.caeplex.com/alpha , write your Onshape's account email and I will add you to the testing team.

I am not sure I understood what  "local min/max tags on the image" means. Can you give an example?

About reporting, the current "old" version of CAEplex available at www.caeplex.com does have a report generator. The new version (which is the one that we are testing on Onshape) will have a better interface, but it will be an special add-on (probably paid).

The pricing model will be the same as Onshape's: it will be free for public projects and paid for private ones.

brian_brady

jeremy_theler said:

brian_brady said:

@jeremy_theler the video looks promising. Can we add local minimum/maximum tags on the image? What about at specific nodes? Will we be able to generate a report of the results?

I intend to sign up for the alpha. Another question, I teach modeling and FEA. Will there be a free version for Onshape educational users?

Brian

Hey Brian

Go to https://www.caeplex.com/alpha , write your Onshape's account email and I will add you to the testing team.

I am not sure I understood what  "local min/max tags on the image" means. Can you give an example?

About reporting, the current "old" version of CAEplex available at www.caeplex.com does have a report generator. The new version (which is the one that we are testing on Onshape) will have a better interface, but it will be an special add-on (probably paid).

The pricing model will be the same as Onshape's: it will be free for public projects and paid for private ones.

Regarding local min/max values, I am referring to showing exactly where on the model the minimum and maximum (as requested by the user) stress and/or deformation values occur. 

So pricing for educational users will be paid if their project is private? There may a privacy risk in requiring students to make their projects public. It is possible some/many educational institutions will not allow instructors to force students to use public documents to do their assignments. Also, if each student has the same assignment, they can simply search for another student's public assignment, copy it, and submit it as their own work. I prefer that students keep their work private, thus keeping me from adopting applications that require public documents for students. 

jeremy_theler

brian_brady said:

Regarding local min/max values, I am referring to showing exactly where on the model the minimum and maximum (as requested by the user) stress and/or deformation values occur. 

oh sure, see this screenshot




there is a "blue ball" at the location of maximum displacement and an "orange ball" where the max Von Mises stress is
you can switch them or on off, and if you take a screenshot they are there (or not)

So pricing for educational users will be paid if their project is private? There may a privacy risk in requiring students to make their projects public. It is possible some/many educational institutions will not allow instructors to force students to use public documents to do their assignments. Also, if each student has the same assignment, they can simply search for another student's public assignment, copy it, and submit it as their own work. I prefer that students keep their work private, thus keeping me from adopting applications that require public documents for students. 

ok, we might have to see this but we can match whatever policy Onshape implements regarding educational users

I feel that education should be based on sharing knowledge, very much like following the four freedoms of the FSF https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html and not doing the exact opposite.

In any case, CAEplex (as Onshape) keeps track of the changes using Git. It is currently not shown in the new version, but one can know if a project was cloned or created from scratch. See for example https://www.caeplex.com/project_history.php?id=9ef161f6175416712421c2ab5834ed51&step_next=1

brian_brady

@jeremy_theler  I understand and accept the need for sharing knowledge. However, most of the time in a classroom setting assignments that students are working on are used to assess their understanding and knowledge not that of the collective.

My concern is more for requiring students to make their work public in order to do their required school work. In the use we have to meet FERPA requirements regarding student privacy. If a student is required to make their work public for an assignment and an instructor gives the student feedback within the document, then that feedback is public and not private, which likely violates the letter or spirit of the FERPA law. If a student willingly makes their work public without being coerced to do so by the instructor then there isn't a FERPA issue if the student is aware that any comments made by the instructor may also become public. For most students, public documents is likely not an issue. But what about those one or two students per semester that explicitly do not want to make their work public? I cannot coerce them into doing so, therefore I cannot have them do an assignment that requires public documents unless they pay for it, which causes another problem.

I hope you find a way for educational users to use private documents for analysis, even if there is a limit to the number of them.

I poked around your website a bit last night and am impressed by what you have so far. This may be the first web-based Finite Element Approximation app available to Onshape that I have liked.

Brian

jeremy_theler

brian_brady said:

@jeremy_theler  I understand and accept the need for sharing knowledge. However, most of the time in a classroom setting assignments that students are working on are used to assess their understanding and knowledge not that of the collective.

Fair enough Brian. I am sure we will find an arrangement that suits everybody. Again, when CAEplex goes into production we can have educational plans as Onshape does. For sure we will keep in touch to see how CAEplex can be used for education (BTW, it is just a front-end for free and open source  calculation backends).

You are already on the testing team. Just make sure you are logged in into Onshape, open the App Store, find "CAEplex" under "simulation" (a term I do not fully agree with) and subscribe to the app. Then open one document and add the CAEplex app to start a FEM case (mechanical for now).

Thank you for your compliments.

don_williams909

How about pressure, and frequency/acoustical sound wave propagation, and reflection and damping of sound wave pressure?

romeograham

I'm interested in trying it out, too.
Can we use custom materials?

otaolafr

hello @jeremy_theler
i am interest in using the app to do remeshes of the onshape models, is it possible to do it? i am using the models for simulations too but in my case is CFD, with openfoam, and i am having issues with the finer meshes, is it possible to remesh the model, and export the mesh? (also if we can export separatly the different surfaces of the same model, like cut it in surfaces but that when re assambled it is still watertight (still share the same vertices between each separate exported surface)
thanks! 

jeremy_theler

Hi @Otaola_Franco . You cannot currently export the mesh but it is easy for us to add such feature. We use Gmsh for meshing, so you would end up with a .msh file. Check the no limit of each plan in the app store entry at https://appstore.onshape.com/apps/Simulation/LSOLEJYTTKAHLSRAAP55EGWRKZB7KYFRDZB4JUQ=/description

About exporting the surfaces separately, it can also be done but this might need more work on the back end.

I would suggest you try the app with a public test part and see if it fits what you want.

Regards.

--

jeremy