Research with Hexagon

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Whether you are striving to research new simulation methodologies or develop innovative product designs, CAE software can help you achieve your goals.

When using our industry standard simulation software for your academic research, you don’t have to worry about hitting any walls or capability limitations. Our academic software products are identical in functionality to our commercial products. That means you can use the same powerful Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) software that is used by the best companies in the world on the most complex products being engineered today.

Our academic software offerings enable you to virtually prototype product concepts that have never been considered before – the number of ‘What-If’ scenarios you can perform is limited only by your computing hardware and time. Whether you are doing finite element analysis or motion dynamics & system simulation, our Academic Structures Bundle and Academic Motion Bundle, respectively, can help you extend our commercial, off-the-shelf codes by connecting your own simulation codes and intellectual property (IP) through subroutines, scripts, and open frameworks.

Software offerings

Hexagon’s academic products offer a complete multiphysics solution (Structures, Fluids, Acoustics, Materials, Additive, Generative Design, and more), and we offer support for high performance computing (HPC). Check out some of our software tools offered for academic research:

Our academic software offerings are intentionally simple yet scalable, targeted yet flexible – with similar products bundled together to help you maximize your simulation capability while minimizing your cost and administrative work. Each of our four university software bundles is network-licensed via a consistent set of 'User Packs' designed to meet each university’s specific objective:

  • 1 for individual use (primarily for personal research);
  • 5 for smaller-group projects and team work.

University Structures Bundle: Provides linear and non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) capabilities for structural & thermal simulations, impact and fluid-structure interactions, and more; based on the latest versions of MSC Apex, MSC Nastran, Patran, Dytran, and Marc.

University Motion Bundle: Provides capabilities for a wide variety of multibody motion and mechanical system simulation, including hydraulics & controls, using a geometric modeling approach or a schematic, block-diagram modeling approach; based on the latest versions of Adams and Easy5.

Referencing Hexagon CAE tools

It is important to appropriately reference the tools you use in your academic research to effectively communicate with your peers which software and version was used.

In-text product reference guide for use in the body of your research article:

[Product name] [Module (Optional)] [Release #]

  • Adams Car module example: Adams Car 2022.4
  • Actran Vibro-Acoustics module example: Actran Vibro-Acoustics 2023
  • MSC Nastran example: MSC Nastran 2022.4

Documentation reference guide for use in your work cited section:

[Product name and Release #], Nexus Portal, [Book Name], Hexagon AB.

  • Adams example: Adams 2022.4, Nexus Portal, Getting Started: Adams Explore, Hexagon AB.
  • Actran example: Actran 2023, Nexus Portal, Actran 2023 User’s Guide Vol. 2, Hexagon AB.
  • MSC Nastran example: MSC Nastran 2022.4, Nexus Portal, MSC Nastran 2022.4 Quick Reference Guide, Hexagon AB.

Not surprisingly, many researchers have long used CAE software in established and emerging fields – such as biomedical devices & procedures, aircraft & spacecraft design, vehicle engineering, analysis of machinery, robotics, mechatronics, alternative energy (e.g. wind), the safety & stability of civil structures, elastomers, composites, multi-scale modeling, abstract modeling, and design optimization, among many others.

To leverage their thought leadership, you can find thousands of papers referencing our CAE software that have been published in technical journals and presented at industry conferences – search for them by using Hexagon’s CAE product names as keywords, for example at:

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) using keyword 'MSC nastran'
  • SAE International using keyword 'adams'
  • ScienceDirect using keyword ‘digimat’