This series takes a look at the simulation tools currently on the market that are aimed at designers. When selecting a particular analysis tool, there are a rangeof criteria that need to be considered, such as cost, usability, speed and accuracy. In this series, we focus on performing an assessment of the accuracy of different designer oriented codes using eight benchmarks in the area of linear elastic, small displacement structural mechanics.

Part 1 featured SimSolid by Altair and is available to download for free from the NAFEMS resource centre [1]. Here in part 2, the focus shifts to midas MeshFree [2] a software code developed by Midas IT.

Before taking a look at the tool, I wanted to recap what I'm looking for in a designer oriented tool. It is worth stressing that I'm not looking for a replacement for a generalpurpose FEA package. I'm expecting that anyone needing reliable and robust results will already have access to one, or be able to outsource the analysis to an organisation with this capability. With the focus being on designer oriented software, I'm looking for a tool that can help inform design decisions. In particular I'm looking at tools that are:
1. Easy to use – require little specialist knowledge
2. Quick to run – this means the solution needs to run in the time it takes to grab a cup of coffee AND there should be no need for hours of preprocessing cleaning up the geometry so that it can be used in by the tool.
3. Sufficiently accurate that they can guide the direction a design should take. The tool doesn't need to be able to hit the level of precision that is achievable using a general-purpose analysis package.