Frequently Asked Questions

SDA Software provides engineering simulation tools and support to help teams solve structural, fluid, and thermal design challenges. We specialize in FEM software and CFD software that improve product performance, reduce testing costs, and accelerate development using tools like Siemens Simcenter STAR-CCM+ and Simcenter Femap.

We support engineers in aerospace, marine, energy, defense, automotive, electronics, and industrial machinery. Whether you’re analyzing fluid flow, thermal performance, or structural stress, our simulation software is built to handle complex, real-world engineering problems.

We provide and support a range of engineering software, including:

• Simcenter STAR-CCM+ – CFD computational fluid dynamics software for flow, heat transfer, and multiphysics simulations
• Simcenter Femap – FEM software for structural, thermal, and dynamic analysis
• NX Nastran and Advanced Nastran – Finite element solvers used in FEA workflows
• Solid Edge and NX CAD – For design and modeling
• Fibersim – For advanced composite analysis
• HEEDS – Advanced design space exploration
• Zona – high-fidelity aeroelastic simulation

These tools support applications across CFD fluid dynamics software, FEM analysis software, and computational flow dynamics software.

• FEM software is used to simulate how solid structures respond to forces, heat, and vibrations.
• CFD software models the behavior of fluids—such as airflow, coolant flow, or pressure in piping.

When structure and flow interact—like in electronics cooling, wing deflection, or thermal fatigue—both finite element analysis software and CFD computational fluid dynamics software are required to simulate the complete behavior of the system.

These tools are designed to solve different—but related—problems:

• STAR-CCM+ handles flow, pressure, and temperature using high-fidelity CFD software.
• Femap models the structural response to those loads using FEM software.

Together, they allow for accurate multiphysics simulation, where pressure fields, thermal gradients, or vibration data can be exchanged between tools without remeshing or rebuilding models.

With an active license or subscription, standard support includes:

• Licensing and setup questions
• Basic technical questions about software features and building models
• Simple troubleshooting.

We also offer advanced support including, which is not included with a standard license:

• Detailed help building complex models (even production simulations)
• Extensive troubleshooting, debugging, and testing of models
• Custom consulting projects.

Yes. We offer hands-on, application-specific training for FEM and CFD software, including meshing software techniques, simulation setup, solver control, and post-processing. Training is available for teams or individuals and tailored to your engineering workflow.

Simulation tools help engineers:

• Identify design problems early using FEA software
• Test airflow and heat transfer with CFD software
• Reduce the number of physical prototypes
• Understand complex behavior not visible during testing

By combining simulation with real-world constraints, engineers make better decisions faster and reduce overall development cost.

Yes. Simcenter Femap is CAD-independent and works with many file formats, or even directly from legacy mesh data. It includes advanced meshing software tools that help engineers clean geometry, define detail levels, and build high-quality finite element models from minimal inputs.