NextFEM Designer is a free tool for structural analysis for Windows that supports different solvers, such as OOFEM, OpenSees, and CalculiX, and can handle models from more than 20 formats.
Now, you can use it with Rhino 8 and Grasshopper with the brand-new NextFEM-Link for Grasshopper, which brings some components to export the Rhino model to NextFEM Designer and a .NXF (NextFE Mformat) file. In addition, some query tools are available to use quantities in the model, such as nodal coordinates and element connectivity.
You can use Rhino 8 to model complex geometries and NextFEM-Link to translate them automatically into a NextFEM model, which can be seamlessly analyzed in the solver you prefer or even exported to other proprietary formats.
In its first release, NextFEM-Link translates curves and meshed entities to linear and planar finite elements. Instructions on its use are available.
Finally, NextFEM always listens to the needs of its users; feel free to request new functionalities using this form.
Posted Dec 09, 2024 by Carlos Perez on Rhino News, etc.