Hello,

I am a mechanical engineer in charge to assess a new equipment made from plastic based materials.
In order to select the appropriate materials and analyze the expected service life of the structure, we are orienting ourselves on existing FEM software, like Abaqus / Catia, Ansys, Nastran or SolidWorks Premium. According to the brochures, these programs not only utilize static, but also dynamic loads on composite structures, such as impact, torsional, flexural loads, and subsequent damage and failure analyis.

Now, my questions are:

- What FEM simulation program should I use?
- Is the CheFEM (Chemical driven FEM Simulation) add-in, the lastest flavour of the month or does it really add something to the analysis of materials? Putting it differently: is the influence of chemical interactions (diffusion, permeation, swelling, corrosion) on the service life of composite structures really substantial?

Kind Regards,
Pete Young