SimScale reviews

SimScale - cost effectiveness

Opmerkingen: It is positive. I understand that the company is in growth and continuous development, so some features are not available that you would like to have. However, they are very responsive and take note of your recommendations to incorporate them in future releases. For many applications, compared to other software, its cost-effectiveness stands out.

Pluspunten:

- Based on OpenFOAM, a software with fully validated results. - You don't need powerful equipment. You pay for what you use. Everything is in the cloud- It simplifies setting up a CFD simulation, especially for the non-expert user. - You have good online support.

Minpunten:

- Although it is easy to set up and run simulations, it should be emphasized that it is still CFD / FEA software, so the user must have a minimum of training skills to use it. - It still has limitations for some complex industrial or research applications. However, the user can create a free account and evaluate SimScale operationally before purchasing a license.

All around support

Pluspunten:

It supports all types of 3D models and can be used from anywhere since it is cloud-based.

Minpunten:

In the beginning, it is not very intuitive. Complicated simulations can become too much for the software.

Simscale for CFD modeling HVAC Design

Opmerkingen: Its a monster program that once tamed, it can be a valuable tool.

Pluspunten:

Simscale helps our consulting engineering company perform on a different level. It has given our Mechanical HVAC division a new niche in engineering & design.

Minpunten:

The ability to simulate more than one material.

Fast FEA allows for faster design iteration

Pluspunten:

FEA is one of the best use cases for cloud software, and Simscale has implemented the software making best use of the technology. The biggest drawbacks of on-premises FEA software are the costs of equipment and calculation time. Simscale solves that. Instead of waiting hours for results of one FEA analysis, you get results in minutes making design iterations faster.

Minpunten:

Having used the product since 2017, we've seen big improvements in user interface, but they still have a way to go. There is a learning curve, but their technical support is excellent both in understanding engineering design and the numerics behind simulation.

Sharing the Experience working on Simscale

Opmerkingen: Mostly we are using simscale for Thermal Comfort CFD simulations and outdoor cooling applications. So far, it is useful for us and helps us to achieve the project objectives.

Pluspunten:

I liked the most - It's navigator form, which makes it easy to learn and use this software. Other software, u need to have your own checklist to do the simulation in a correct way, one thing is missed, whole simulated results will be wasted. here, in Simscale , due to it's navigator form, u don't need to worry about the checklist. in addition to this feature, i liked how fast we can get the simulation done , generally CFD simulations are taking time but here in simscale , u can have your results ready within some hours. That is fantastic.

Minpunten:

Yes, sometime as user i feel that i am not able to fix the simulation file/model when it is failing to run and i have to take help from customer support. Getting help from customer support is good but i want to avoid most of the times and want to fix it by myself which i can do easily in other software. for Example, sometime it is showing "error is encountered" but not showing the actual problem. Yes, as an user, i would like to suggest simscale to work on this point and also provide us the easiness to fix the errors/issue coming by ourselves when the run is failed.

John Parsons with Elgin

Opmerkingen: It's been intuitive to use after a walkthrough with my coworker, and what I haven't understood I've been able to ask SimScale about directly.

Pluspunten:

The product is relatively easy to use, and the tips we've gotten from SimScale reps have been useful. It's been great working with Ricardo. The option to edit a model in CAD is nice too. Subtracting objects from each other is easier in SimScale than inventor.

Minpunten:

I've had runs fail or time out without knowing exactly what went wrong. I believe I had too many mesh cells, but I don't think I knew what a good target was.

Very powerfull wide range Simulation tool

Pluspunten:

+There is a huge pool of possible simulations, from static/dynamic structural to fluid simulations.+As it is web based, it's not requiring a powerfull PC at all and does not occupy your PC at all while calculating.+Pretty good documentaion / Tutorials+Plug in Chat support: They are realy helpful and have a relative short response time

Minpunten:

modyfing imported models is pretty awkward, but you can see they are working on it and it's getting better

It is a great software

Pluspunten:

The user interface and multiple simulation tools

Minpunten:

That does not bring a CAD designer, it is only simulation, few post-processing options

Easy to use

Pluspunten:

Being able to simply launch a Pedestrian Wind Comfort study.

Minpunten:

Maybe viewing the 3D model should be more intuitive

Jean Edouard lalanne review

Opmerkingen: Very good!

Pluspunten:

Easy to use and calculation "power" with remote Processor.

Minpunten:

No possibility to calculate buckling and no possibility to input any load combinations.

Reliable and easy to use!

Pluspunten:

Simscale is a fast and rather easy simulation software to use, whereas it gives accurate and reliable results for PWC analyses. It has many ways of displaying the results, which is a huge benefit.

Minpunten:

So far, everything looks great. I think it would be great to have an integrated microclimate tool, to analyze UTCI and other thermal comfort metrics.

Using SimScale for pump design validation and new product design

Opmerkingen: In general SimScale enables me to validate the design of my pump designs. Even though it does not give "absolute" true values in all cases, it can give an indication of trends and effects of design modifications. The rotary machine analysis is a key feature (MRF rotating zone) in my case.

Pluspunten:

The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. the interface to the cad model is relatively easy to use and straight forward. It can be a tedious job to work out the geometry in such a way that it is workable as a geometric input to the flow volume. The workflow is easy to understand and only a few introductory tutorials are needed to get up an running. In some cases Simscale can be used to laymen in CFD - similar to what FEM analysis is in 3D modelling design tools such as Autodesk Inventor.

Minpunten:

I have not jet learned how to link up the CAD model to the Simscale model in such a way that modifications in the CAD model can be used to "regenerate" the flow volume of a CDF model (if it is possible at all?) It would be a great feature if is was possible, i.e. to make new versions of the base model and update the CDF analysis based on that. Opens up for more parametric analysis.

Great customer support

Pluspunten:

I like the cloud computing feature the most as well as the really quick and helpful customer support

Minpunten:

There are some features like rolling back to previous simulation settings that aren't developed yet.

Simscale review by student starting out

Opmerkingen: Good experience

Pluspunten:

Ease of use and learning. Very intuitive while remaining precise

Minpunten:

Very slow. Takes minutes to open simulation results.

SimScale User Experience

Opmerkingen: Excellent product at a reasonable price. With a professional subscription you get privacy for your data and a fixed amount of core hours that can be used for simulations. As you need you can buy more core hours at a very reasonable cost. Also, by controlling the number of cores (using simulation setup) you can manage the consumption of core hours. If you let the software automatically select the number of cores it can get quite expensive in terms of usage of core hours.
Also, tutorials and consultants make all the difference in terms of speed of learning. Customer service provided by the consultants in terms of responsiveness, quality and depth is outstanding. I have never experience better service in my experience of working 25 years in the software development industry.

Pluspunten:

EASE OF USE: I used it for compressible flow fluid simulations. It is very easy to setup and run a simulation in SimScale and analyze the output. SimsScale GUI is excellent. You can specify specify forces and moments and/or area averages to monitor statistics across specific faces of objects and also obtain statistics using post processing simulation results using cutting planes and particle traces. EASE of SETUP: Because all computations are on the cloud you can use any computer with reasonable power to run SimScale using a web browser. Further you can submit many simulation runs which runs in the back ground on the cloud. SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION: SimScale provides excellent library of on-line tutorials that enables you to self learn. They also provide unlimited access to a very competent, patient and helpful team of consultants free of charge to provide assistance with simple and complex issues. EASE of LEARNING: You don't need to be an expert on Computational Fluid Dynamics to use SimScale. Having a basic understanding of CFD will suffice. I used the books recommended by SimScale to self learn CFD before using SimScale for increasingly complex simulations including Turbine simulations. Although I do have a Civil engineering background with graduate studies in Operations Research I did not have deep expertise in fluid mechanics and CFD before I got started. Between tutorials and assistance of SimScale consultants you can learn very fast.

Minpunten:

SimScale user experience is fundamentally very good. I only have minor issues. One feature I would really like to see in SimScale is to have the ability to specify surface area averages on a cross section created by an arbitrary cutting plane. Currently you can do that only on specific faces of a imported CAD object. For example inlets, outlets or surfaces. By defining a surface area average you can also see how statistics across that area change as a function of iterations. Currently only way to get this information for non-surfaces is by post processing simulation data using cutting planes. This requires more work and takes time. Also SimScale can be somewhat slow to paint the screens because of large amounts of data involved. Another area of improvement is to provide more tutorials and documentation as to how to improve the mesh quality. Currently what is available is some what limited.

Ease of use

Pluspunten:

Ease of use. I always thought any kind of high level CFD or heat transfer analysis would cost a fortune and require intensive training. So far with little experience I have been able to get good results that I could validate to ensure I understand the constraints and inputs I am using.

Minpunten:

Units have been a little difficult for me to work with. Metric vs Imperial, post processing results don't always show the unit options that were used for the inputs.

Great general purpose CFD for beginners but lacking some features required by advanced users

Opmerkingen: It is a great choice to start tackling CFD, it is quite good in pricing and capabilities for a CFD beginner or even for a medium-experienced one. However, it lacks some developed tools required to manage complex simulations (which require more developed and powerful pre- and postprocessing tools)

Pluspunten:

The escalability (so you can launch lots of simulations simoultaneously) and not having to invest in hardware costs

Minpunten:

The features available for postprocessing and meshing, which are very limited. For meshing the main problem is the lack of better tools to manage geometric primitives so you can control the mesh. For postprocessing the problem is having to know what results you need to extract before knowing the solution to your flowfield.

Perfect for the startup

Opmerkingen: We gained the insight by simulations we ran, which helped us to optimize out product in short time.

Pluspunten:

Easy to setup and running without IT and equipment overhead.The best part was the real time support integrated through the software. It helped us to move quickly with the help of knowledgeable support engineers.

Minpunten:

More control over various mesh would have been much nicer.

An amazing tool

Opmerkingen: This tool has enabled me and my colleagues to achieve great results in car aerodynamics simulation. Its simplicity made easy to explain CFD simulations to the "newbies" and improve our workflow.

Pluspunten:

It is a great tool because is offers a lot of power for the simulations and simplicity of use that is unrivaled by other tools.

Minpunten:

Sometimes there are very specific needs that cannot be satisfied. This problems affects only minor aspects of the simulations: SimScale can always be used as a main tool

Simscale after a 1.5 years

Opmerkingen: Very positive experience. When I had questions about the product I had very enthusiatic assistance from the simscale support team. I also very much enjoy the Simscale forum. It is an open place to discuss simulations, and any questions you might regarding the product.

Pluspunten:

I really like the ability to create multiple simulations to run parallel. Also the large offering of post processing allows for very informational and diverse results to be presented.

Minpunten:

Sometimes it was a bit confusing what could create a simulation fail. This could have been inexperience with FEA, but as I used the product more and more I was able to increase my success rate and avoid common recurring errors.

surely recommend SimScale

Opmerkingen: I guess the above says it all.
Excellent CFD tool. Perfect support in both - knowledge, patience and response time!!

Pluspunten:

SimScale covers several applications for CFD analysis. My office is doing analysis and design for structures in the widest form. We do structures in Civil Engineering, Aeronautics, industrial equipment of all types. SimScale seems to fit any application within this list! The LBM option for wind pressure distribution on high rise. The PWC - an automated solution for wind comfort. The incompressible for airfoils etc. The multi-phase for liquid-air interaction. and probably a lot is yet to come.....

Minpunten:

1. Show the CFL criteria plotted while running. 2. Enable video screen capture! now using 3rd party app.

Impressive Experience

Opmerkingen: There is no other engineering interface that combines everything which SimScale has tackled.

Pluspunten:

It simplifies many extremely complex engineering disciplines into one interface.

Minpunten:

Slow reactivity to new proven user features (like streamlined project commenting availability).

Clean, easy to use FEA

Opmerkingen: I used SimScale largely to test out whether there was an alternative FEA program that I preferred to the programs I had used thus far. I found SimScale easy to use, but overall it wasn't the best fit for my needs at the time. Still, I would recommend SimScale if you don't need to get down into the fine details of FEA as much.

Pluspunten:

SimScale was extremely easy to use, had a nice user interface, and for my purposes, was free. I liked that it was web-based because I didn't have to use my computing power on my machine.

Minpunten:

As with some commercial FEA products, SimScale allowed less "under the hood" tinkering with model parameters than other packages such as Abaqus.

Extremely user friendly

Pluspunten:

The software is highly user friendly whilst still being robust. It hides the clunky numbers involved with numerical analysis for new users whilst still providing the ability to change them for more experienced ones.

Minpunten:

The software only supports fluid flow velocities of upto 0.5 Mach

Short introduction to test some simple metal constructions

Opmerkingen: I encountered some problems regarding model creation during process. Problem is that I tried to repeat tutorial described process, so failed on a half way and was not able to repeat this on my own models. So excellent idea, fantastic solution but complex enough not to hit it on first time and some minor questions regarding repeating the lessons. Sorry I have not found time to get in deeper, but please continue to develop this solution. :)