LOVE the text chat and super helpful advice especially for those just learning. They help walk you through just about any problem. No question is a bad one, and they help to make sure you understand every part of the way.

I had a new heatsink extrusion design that I wished to prove-out in a more detailed manner than I normally do, and decided to look into doing so in FEA. Perusing the web to find programs out there that would fit the bill, I quickly came to a couple of conclusions: 1. What was out there and free to use, would have likely taken me weeks to learn. 2. What was out there for me to purchase was expensive, and still not very user friendly to come up to speed on. 3. Regardless of price, the SimScale program seemed to be the most user friendly. I could get my feet wet by using the program for free for 3000 "core hours" (Simulation duration * number of cores used), and this sounded like a really great way to get my feet wet. I really like that there are a ton of tutorials on You Tube for this software, which was not true of any of the other competitors. That coupled with the number of "public" projects on their website, allowed me to get up and going pretty quickly. I created my design in 3D cad and imported into SimScale. It took me a few tries to finally get my simulation work properly and when I got stumped (it happened twice) I was able to ask for and receive help via online chat. I thought they were very nice in helping me out (I was after all using the software for free) and just a couple of small hints from their staff got me heading in the right direction. After 3 to 4 two to three hour sessions I had my 1st design up and running properly. I was most appreciative of the online chat help as it allowed me to get up and running and have a very favorable experience with their tool. My next simulations will come much easier for me now that I have this 1st one under the belt.

The ability to access CFD without the requirement of expensive computer hardware