LS-DYNA

Abstract

LS-DYNA is a general-purpose finite element program capable of simulating complex real world problems. It is used by the automobile, aerospace, construction, military, manufacturing, and bioengineering industries. LS-DYNA is optimized for shared and distributed memory Unix, Linux, and Windows based, platforms, and it is fully QA'd by LSTC. The code's origins lie in highly nonlinear, transient dynamic finite element analysis using explicit time integration. LS-DYNA consists of a single executable file and is entirely command line driven. Therefore all that is required to run LS-DYNA is a command shell, the executable, an input file, and enough free disk space to run the calculation. All input files are in simple ASCII format and thus can be prepared using any text editor. Input files can also be prepared with the aid of a graphical preprocessor. There are many third party software products available for preprocessing LS-DYNA input files. LSTC also develops its own preprocessor, LS-PrePost, which is freely distributed and runs without a license. Licensees of LS-DYNA automatically have access to all of the program's capabilities, from simple linear static mechanical analysis up to advanced thermal and flow solving methods. Furthermore, they have full use of LS-OPT, a standalone design optimization and probabilistic analysis package with an interface to LS-DYNA.