FreeCAD
@jake77, I switched to Linux because it is a dream in terms of installing and compiling FOSS, but if you don’t need this Windows should work equally well.
Why can’t you sweep the “half-tubes” along a helix path?jake77 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:56 amThe inverstigated structure is the pressurized part of a pressure vessel that is to be checked for stability according to DIN EN 1993-1-6 for external pressure (full vacuum in the vessel). The vessel itself has two such compartments, that are placed above each other. From the outside it looks like a giant pipe (height ~22 m, diameter 3.6 m) with the helical halpfpipes (one on the upper, one on the lower part) around it. The speciality is that the cylinder is thin (9,5 mm) so the helix acts as a stiffener. However, the helix pitch is quite large so the formulae of the norm may not be applied (although they yield correct results). Hence the fight with the FE model.
PS: I started to explore FreeCAD, Calculix and Paraview a year ago and although the learning curve is steep the options to “hack” are limitless. As I said somewhere else they are an amazing trio. You can do some pretty amazing stuff when you are willing to invest the time and effort and the forum community is really really helpful to get you there. I have worked with Abaqus in the past and found you always hit some limitation you would wish you could hack your way out of. In a professional setting where money is less of an issue anything can be done of course, but in a private (or small consultancy) environment you are on your own. Finally, I we define “Value for Money” as the ratio of value and cost, then clearly FC value for money is infinite. In fact I am starting to understand that infinity comes in shades of grey, because I find that the value of freecad is higher than most FOSS out there
