SimScale GmbH

I have used a lot of simulation packages over the past twenty five years including Nastran, Ansys, Solidworks, and a host of others. I have been using Simscale for about nine months now and it has become my goto simulation tool. The cloud concept provides a lot of benefits and one of my favorite is the convenience it allows. I am no longer tied to my Windows workstation, now I perform most of my analysis on a $250 chromebook. I can work on my simulations anywhere and I no longer have to worry about my ram or graphics drivers or versions of Windows. While the convenience of a browser based simulation tool is great, it has also allowed me to run models larger than I have ever conceived on my own workstation. I have run a static analysis with over 20 million DOFs and it solved in less than four hours. The value proposition is another huge benefit. The annual subscription rate is less than the maintenance fee I paid on my Solidworks Simulation with only linear static capability. Simscale includes linear and nonlinear structural analysis as well as thermal and CFD. I am also saving money because I do not have to worry about updating my workstation or Windows. One other noteworthy area is customer service. Simscale probably has the most responsive customer service of any of the simulation companies I have work with.

Simscale is not a perfect tool, the two biggest areas of pain for me are the element types and the post processing. Right now Simscale does not support shells, beams, or springs. They are limited primarily to tet elements so you have to use workarounds to accomplish some things that might be more straightforward in other tools Also, the online post processor works well for small and medium jobs but for really large jobs you will need to postprocess locally. Simscale uses ParaView locally for postprocessing.

I own other simulation tools but I have let the maintenance expire due to the high cost. Simscale provides a highly capably tool for a fraction of the cost. It has given me more capabilities than I have ever been able to afford as private consultant. Browser based simulation is not only viable but it has been very beneficial to my small company and Simcale seems very active in adding new features. The best part about that is the new features just appear without the user having to install or do anything.