Simcenter STAR-CCM+ vs. SimScale

A case where you are interested in modeling various physics such as
Aerodynamics,
Hydrodynamics, Heat Transfer & Thermal Management, Multiphase Flow, Fluid-Structure
Interaction (FSI), Combustion & Reacting Flows, Aeroacoustics, Electrochemistry, and Electromagnetics. STARCCM+ is recommended. But if your interest is complex Structural dynamics, durability, or Motion analysis, etc. better to go with other tools.

Incentivized

For a small company, SimScale is a great fit. It allows me to gain the use and support of higher-end software analysis on demand without the traditional high cost. This is super convenient for a company that does occasional design and analysis. Since the computing is cloud-based it also allows me to process large and detailed models without the high hardware cost that can be required. One potential drawback is that the design information is stored on someone else's server. For some industries and companies this would be a deal-breaker.

Incentivized

• Meshing is very easy to do in STAR CCM+
• Post-processing results is also very intuitive, making extracting results very enjoyable and easy to use.
• The Advanced rendering options that are available in STAR CCM+ can really help make very well-generated videos that can make the simulation easy to visualize, share with non-technical engineers, and showcase the study done.

Incentivized

• Material non-linear analysis.
• Geometric non-linear analysis.
• Meshing.

Incentivized

• Maybe a little bit on the automation side and if you want to script something, if you want to automate procedures, that happens through every simulation round that you have. That part could be a little bit cumbersome right now, depending on the operating system that you use.
• Introducing the software on other platforms like Mac OSS.

Incentivized

• Learning from tutorials is great, but limiting. The online help is a must.
• Some simulations take a lot of time, but at least it's not on your PC.
• Sometimes the software times out due to the server.

Incentivized

I had a great experience with SimScale but we only used the software for a short period of time to complete the current design requirements. It is not a software that we would continually subscribe to. Next subscription event would occur when there is a design requirement to do so.

Incentivized

Great single window GUI

Incentivized

STAR CCM+ technical support was very quick to respond when a ticket was raised for issues. For support in setting up a test case for the Lagrangian particle tracking technique, a support assist agent was assigned immediately, and after having a detailed discussion, my problem was understood by them, and a suitable test case was shared, which I was able to understand and use to build my case.

Incentivized

It is super easy when it comes to implementing it.

Incentivized

Competitive tools, both Fluent and STARCCM+, but the user interface and ease of learning, along with everything in a single interface, and a wide variety of proven physics capabilities, along with good scalability and automation, made the choice easy for me. Also, the user guide and tutorials available to explore various kinds of Physics capability, and A single license for access to all physics, also made it easy.

Incentivized

SimScale is much faster to spin up on than OpenFOAM. Ansys CFD tools are much more expensive! Both tools require expensive computing equipment to run, which SimScale does not!

Incentivized

• Time saved in creating a inhouse code, tens and tens of hours.
• Time saved in experimental setup, tens of hours.
• Does add some time in testing to confirm star is doing what you think it's doing, but an overall net gain in productivity.

• It has allowed us to increase our service offering which has lead to additional work.

Incentivized