Impact Finite Element Program
Encyclopedia
Impact is an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 finite element program
Finite element method
The finite element method is a numerical technique for finding approximate solutions of partial differential equations as well as integral equations...

 suite which can be used to predict most dynamic events such as car crashes or metal sheet punch operations. They usually involve large deformations and high velocities. It is written in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

.

Simulations are made on a virtual three dimensional model which can be created with a pre-processor or with the built-in Fembic language. Results are viewed in a post-processor.

Impact is designed to interface with the included pre- and postprocessor by default, but there are also interfaces available for more advanced pre-and postprocessors such as GiD
GID
GID might be an acronym or an abbreviation for:* Walter Halvorsen*Gender in Development*Gender identity disorder*General Improvement District*Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base...

 or Gmsh
Gmsh
Gmsh is a finite element mesh generator developed by Christophe Geuzaine and Jean-François Remacle. Released under the GNU General Public License , Gmsh is free software. Gmsh contains 4 modules, for solving, geometry, meshing, and post-processing...

. Impact also has rudimentary support for Nastran
Nastran
NASTRAN is a finite element analysis program that was originally developed for NASA in the late 1960s under United States government funding for the Aerospace industry. The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation was one of the principal and original developers of the public domain NASTRAN code...

 file format.

Development started as a free and simple alternative to the advanced commercial Finite Element codes available made by a group of colaborating developers, and now is made by a team of volunteers from all over the world with the aim of creating a clean and compact program which is simple to understand and use.

See Also

  • Elmer FEM solver
    Elmer FEM solver
    Elmer is an open source computational tool for multi-physics problems. It has been developed by CSC in collaboration with Finnish universities, research laboratories and industry....

  • Gmsh
    Gmsh
    Gmsh is a finite element mesh generator developed by Christophe Geuzaine and Jean-François Remacle. Released under the GNU General Public License , Gmsh is free software. Gmsh contains 4 modules, for solving, geometry, meshing, and post-processing...


External links

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