Run Finite Element Analysis in Your Browser
WebCAE meshes your CAD geometry and solves it with a real finite-element solver — linear static, modal, buckling, prestressed modal and thermoelastic — without installing a CAD/FEA suite or configuring a license.
Runs in current Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Larger assemblies can run on the desktop build.
Problems this solver actually handles
Each of these maps directly to an analysis type available today, not a planned one.
- Linear static
Load-carrying brackets and frames
Peak stress, deflection under service load, and factor of safety against yield.
- Static + contact/MPC
Welded and bolted assemblies
Load transfer between parts, joint stiffness, and local stress at attachment points.
- Buckling
Slender members under compression
Critical load factor for a column, strut, panel or thin-walled housing.
- Modal
Vibration-sensitive equipment
Natural frequencies and mode shapes, checked against an excitation frequency.
- Prestressed modal
Structures under a static preload
How an existing load — clamping, pressure, self-weight — shifts the natural frequencies.
- Thermoelastic
Parts with a temperature field
Thermal expansion mismatch and the stresses it induces in the structure.
Loads, supports and materials
A concrete list, not a category name — this is what the boundary-condition and material steps actually offer.
Loads
- Force, pressure, distributed force
- Acceleration (body load)
- Remote load and remote motion (force/moment or displacement/rotation at an offset point)
Supports and connections
- Fixed, pinned, and axis-coupled displacement constraints
- Rigid connections (RBE2) and general multi-point constraint (MPC) equations
- Bonded, tied, penalty, frictionless and frictional contact between bodies
Materials
- A material library plus custom entries
- Linear-elastic or hyperelastic properties, density
- Thermal conductivity and thermal expansion for heat and thermoelastic runs
- Strength values for factor-of-safety checks
From CAD import to a solved result
The solver is one stage in a longer path: STEP import, geometry repair, meshing, then materials, loads and boundary conditions before this step runs. The full workflow — with what each stage does and its limits — is laid out separately.
See the full CAD → FEA workflowIn the browser, or on the desktop build for larger models
By default WebCAE meshes and solves inside the browser tab, using a WebAssembly build of the solver — nothing to install, no admin rights. A browser session is bounded by your device's memory, so meshing and solving a large assembly is better suited to the desktop (Tauri-based) build, which runs the same solver natively. Either way, you review results in the same interactive postprocessor.
Where this solver stops
Said plainly, so the scope is clear before you commit a model to it:
- Not a certified solver, and it doesn't provide engineering sign-off — it's built to support design decisions, not to replace a qualified certification workflow.
- Not a replacement for Ansys, Abaqus or another established industrial FEA suite, and not a general-purpose industrial solver — it targets the structural analysis types listed above.
- Contacts are MPC-based: frictional sliding and separation aren't modeled the way a fully nonlinear contact formulation would.
- Materials are linear elastic (or hyperelastic for large deformation) — no plasticity model.
- No transient or explicit dynamics — no crash, drop test, or impact simulation.
- No fatigue, creep, or CFD (fluid flow) analysis.
- Browser sessions are bounded by device memory; very large assemblies are better run on the desktop build.
Questions
Is this a real FEA solver, or a simplified online calculator?+
It's a real finite-element solver — tetrahedral meshing plus a structural solver for linear static, modal, buckling, prestressed modal and thermoelastic analysis. It isn't a 1D beam calculator; results are verified against NAFEMS and MacNeal–Harder benchmarks and closed-form analytical cases.
What kinds of models is it best suited for?+
Brackets, frames, weldments and bolted assemblies, enclosures and heatsinks, and slender members checked for buckling — the problem classes listed above. It isn't built for crash/impact, fatigue, CFD, or certification-grade regulated analysis.
Where do the computations actually run?+
In the browser tab, via a WebAssembly build of the same solver, by default. Larger assemblies can be run on the desktop (Tauri) build instead, which uses a native version of the solver and isn't bounded by browser memory limits.
Can it replace Ansys or Abaqus for my team?+
No — it isn't positioned as a replacement for an established industrial FEA suite. It covers a defined set of linear structural analyses end to end; anything outside that (see Limitations) is out of scope today.
What CAD formats does it accept?+
STEP (AP203, AP214, AP242), including multi-body assemblies. See the CAD to FEA workflow page for the full import-to-mesh path.
How do I know the results are accurate?+
The verification suite publishes WebCAE's deviation against NAFEMS, MacNeal–Harder, and closed-form analytical references case by case — including a Timoshenko beam case with the shear-deformation correction included.
Solve your own model
Import a STEP file, set up materials and loads, and run the analysis — right now, in this tab.