# Inventor Nastran Reviews **Vendor:** Autodesk **Category:** [Simulation & CAE Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/simulation-cae) **Average Rating:** 4.0/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 23 ## About Inventor Nastran Autodesk Inventor Nastran is a comprehensive finite element analysis (FEA) software integrated within the Autodesk Inventor environment, designed to assist engineers and analysts in predicting the physical behavior of products under various conditions. Leveraging the robust Autodesk Nastran solver, it offers a wide array of simulation capabilities, including linear and nonlinear stress analysis, dynamics, and heat transfer studies. Key Features and Functionality: - Linear Static Analysis: Evaluate stress, strain, and deformation resulting from static loads and constraints. - Nonlinear Analysis: Simulate complex material behaviors such as plasticity and hyperelasticity, accommodating large deformations and nonlinear contacts. - Dynamic Analysis: Assess structural responses to time-dependent loads, including transient and frequency response analyses. - Heat Transfer Analysis: Analyze thermal effects through conduction, convection, and radiation to predict temperature distributions and thermal stresses. - Fatigue Analysis: Determine the durability of structures under repeated loading, including low- and high-cycle fatigue. - Impact and Drop Test Simulation: Model and analyze the effects of impacts and drops to ensure product resilience. - Advanced Material Models: Utilize a variety of material models, including those for metals, rubber, and soft tissues, to achieve accurate simulation results. Primary Value and User Solutions: By integrating advanced simulation tools directly into the CAD environment, Inventor Nastran enables users to perform in-depth analyses without leaving their design workspace. This seamless integration facilitates early detection of potential design issues, reduces the reliance on physical prototypes, and accelerates the product development process. Ultimately, it empowers engineers to enhance product performance, ensure structural integrity, and bring innovative solutions to market more efficiently. ## Inventor Nastran Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **ease of use** of Inventor Nastran, allowing for precise loading and constraint definitions. (1 reviews) - Users value the **setup ease** of Inventor Nastran, facilitating specific loading and constraint parameter definitions seamlessly. (1 reviews) - Users value the **flexible parameter definitions** in Inventor Nastran, enabling precise loading and constraints setup. (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users express concern over **assembly issues** with Inventor Nastran, noting limitations in meshing and result presentation. (1 reviews) - Users find **meshing issues** problematic, noting a lack of advanced features and little software improvement over time. (1 reviews) ## Inventor Nastran Reviews ### 1. Perfect Integration with Inventor Professional **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ramón P. | Design Engineer **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2025 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** I have enjoyed using Inventor Nastran due to its intuitive and highly customizable interface, which makes learning and using the software quite easy, especially in an educational context with the guidance of a tutor. I greatly appreciate the direct integration with Inventor Professional, as I frequently use this software and its compatibility significantly optimizes my workflow, allowing me to perform analyses without leaving the CAD environment. I also value the open license for students and the ease with which it can be obtained. Inventor Nastran has been invaluable for validating the structural behavior of my designs before manufacturing them, helping me solve issues related to strength, stiffness, and material optimization in mechanical components. It has allowed me to detect and analyze critical stress areas and reduce the weight of my parts without compromising safety. I found the function to optimize the bicycle frame particularly useful, in addition to its ability to perform advanced analyses that Inventor Professional could not cover. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The interface for configuring contacts and meshes is sometimes a bit confusing, especially at first. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** Inventor Nastran allowed me to validate the structural behavior of my designs before manufacturing them, optimizing strength and stiffness. It reduces the weight of parts without compromising safety and is compatible with Inventor Professional, streamlining my workflow. ### 2. Well featured FEA product **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chris P. | Head of Drawing Office, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2025 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** The software isn't over-simplified, so I can easily define specific loading or constraint parameters. It integrates well with Inventor. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The software doesn't have more advanced adaptive meshing features, nor the ability to make symmetric results appear as a full assembly. I would like ISO clipping to view elements above a set threashold of stress only as a way to interrogate results. In general I have not seen huge advances in this software since I started using it, so it feels a little forgotten. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** Analysis of lifting equipment primarily for use in the events industry. The software is well integrated in my CAD package. ### 3. Opensource CAE **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 01, 2018 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** First of all, the fact that it is open-source and completely available to anyone is what i like the most about it. And other than that, one can define solvers specific to his/her problem. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The complex GUI coupled with low visual sims as compared to its competitors (Workbench, Hypermesh, etc) The automesh function is not as good as that of Workbench **Recommendations to others considering Inventor Nastran:** If you have a good teacher for the software, its worth it. Or else you need to spend a lot of time figuring out the ins and outs of this software package **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used it for composite analysis of carbon fiber structures in our project ### 4. Systemic analysis using NEi Nastran **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andy S. | CAE Engineer, Oil & Energy, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 14, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** I have constantly preferred autodesk items and coming to NEi Nastran, the alternatives it accommodates part coinciding are different. It is among practical choices in CAE industry. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** I truly need to see nastran push ahead as it unquestionably needs upgrades. There is convenientce issues frequently when there is another redesign. Nonattendance of highlights in 2D demonstrate fitting is a drawback. **Recommendations to others considering Inventor Nastran:** I would recommend to email autodesk for trial version use it and decide upon to purchase the license. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used Nastran for simulating heat dissipation examination on motor mounts on coupling comprised in a abrasive environment. ### 5. FEA Solutions **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Machinery | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** I like that this works seamlessly with autodesk Inventor. its fairly simple to use if you know what you are doing. this product is great at helping to lower costs of testing parts when you can see if the frame will or parts will stand up to the stress or load that you are going to put on the parts **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** not user friendly if you are not experienced with FEA analysis. you also need to make sure you model is properly made in order for it to read everything correctly **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** this is great for running simulations on frames & i have used it to test failure on cams. ### 6. Calculated the damping coefficient of the Spacer Damper **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aravind S. | CAE Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** I like the meshing options available in the software, Once the model is done in the 3D CAD modeling software it is easier to mesh to desired mesh element based on the accuracy requirement for the given conditions. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** I have faced compatibility issues with Nastran. It is best if we use all the products form Autodesk suite. If not more often than not there are issues. **Recommendations to others considering Inventor Nastran:** I recommend users to first try the software if it meets the organization needs and then buy the software. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used Nastran to calculate the structural instability of the damper in high power energy distribution network. ### 7. Reasonably priced CAE solution **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andy S. | Design Engineer, Staffing and Recruiting, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 02, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** I have always liked autodesk products and coming to nastran, the options it provides for component meshing are diverse. It is among cost effective options in CAE industry. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** I really want to see nastran move forward as it definitely needs improvements. There is portability issues often when there is a new upgrade. Absence of features in 2D model meshing is a down side. **Recommendations to others considering Inventor Nastran:** Apart from some improvements I recommend it to everyone to give a try with trial version. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have done thermal analysis on engine mounts for an assembly designed using a cad program. ### 8. The most cost-effective FEA solver in the market **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Senthil K. | FEA Engineer, Automotive, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 21, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** The software is cost-effective and user friendly FEA solver which I have used in the analysis of 3D cad models. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** This product is not a complete package. There are still some features which are to be improved. The absence of Thermal resistance calculation is big minus. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used Nastran for conducting thermal stability analysis on 3D models produced in AutoCAD. ### 9. analyzing in the most effective way **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mining & Metals | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 21, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** This product has been very useful is solving analysis and simulations easily. Thanks to the detailed documentation and tutorials, working with this software has been very smooth. Its automatic dynamic plot creation in some of the analysis is what i liked the most **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** It does not have a graphical interface and has few compatibility issues. If all the products being used are from Autodesk, it works fine. But otherwise, it does not run very smoothly **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** This product was used in our project for faster analysis of the different models under dynamic loads using finite elements ### 10. One of the best products from Autodesk **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** John S. | FEA Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 04, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** With autodesk providing CAD and CAE solutions the integration and compatibility issues would be vastly reduced. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The mesh control isn't advanced enough as compared to other software in the range. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used Nastran for nonlinear transient heat transfer for the engine block. I able to maximize the cooling effect on the block by re-configuring the water coolant lines. ### 11. Another Autodesk product great for Analysis. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mark R. | CAE Engineer, Automotive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 03, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** The user interface on this software is top of the class among all other CAE software. When compared to other solvers the debugging tool for a model deck is very easy. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The restrictions for boundary condition management and the dependence on other pre processing tools is a setback. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have mainly used for tubing structures for stress analysis. ### 12. Tool for NVH and static analysis **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** Nastran user interface is very easy to handle and debugging the deck of the solution for any error is very easy compared to other solvers like abaqus and LS dyna. post processing for a nastran file is also easily readable **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** Biggest disadvantage is we cant change or edit any model in nastran as we cant give any loading conditions or we can any boundary conditions which seems very difficult . **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used this tool to do NVH analysis and static analysis of cross car beam and differential axle of car ### 13. Analysis of Static load components **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** This solver is very user friendly and used for solving mostly static load conditions for CAE of automobiles. Debugging of nastran is quite easy compared to other solver **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** Unlike other solvers here we cannot give load conditions in nastran . Its just a solver but in abaqus and LS dyna we can give load conditions **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** When we have done pre processing using hyperworks for static components and so many contacts. Nastran will be useful to solve the model and get good results with less effort compared to other solvers ### 14. Cost-effective and user-friendly FEA solver **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** Cost-effective and user-friendly FEA solver which I have relied upon for over 6 years. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** A product is never complete. There is always room for improvement and having used NEi Nastran for over 12 years, I am confident that I will see continuous improvements such as "Advection in 2D Axisymmetric FEA Models", "Contact Thermal Resistance" as well as "2D Axisymmetric Elastomeric Elements" **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I mainly used this as FEA soIver, highly recommend NEi Nastran from NEi Software company as a cost-effective FEA product. ### 15. Nastran is the best CAE software **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raja Aravind Reddy M. | BIW Design engineer-II, Automotive, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 13, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** The user interface is slick and the mesh options are adequate for the tasks that I usually face. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** I face a lot of compatibility issues in **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used Nastran to conduct stress analysis on floor assembly. ### 16. Complete structural analysis package **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Staffing and Recruiting | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 04, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** It is not that costly when compared other software with same usage capabilities. Feature to add transient loading. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** With new software version release there is compatibility issues all around between FEA and CAD software. Autodesk should properly check these issues and try to resolve them. **Recommendations to others considering Inventor Nastran:** NEi Nastran is a user-friendly and affordable software solution and definitely deserves a place in top 5. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used Nastran in variable load bearing supports for the engine mounts. ### 17. The best analysis tool to conduct FEA on your product **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** The tools are simple yet plenty enough to get the job done. This software is one of the most comprehensive analysis software out in the market to get the job done. **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** The workbenches are complex and more over software has to be purchased specifically curtained to the needs. **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** We conduct stress analysis on a 3D model to find the defective areas and rectify it in the 3D package. ### 18. Solving a vibrational analysis model **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 21, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** We can easily solve vibrational analysis and static of any automobile or air craft parts by using input HM model **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** We cannot give any kind of loading and boundary conditions in this tool when compared to other solvers **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used to conduct vibrational analysis of prototype air craft wing for different velocities ### 19. SOLVING A STATIC MODEL **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 18, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** interface is very simple to understand and debugging a model is very simple compared to other softwares **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** We cannot give any kind of load conditions in this tool unlike LS dyna and abaqus **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used to solve a static analysis of die casting component for different pressing loads and formability ### 20. Solving a NVH model from HM file **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 21, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** Interface is quite simple and we can easily handle with error debugging by just playing with the deck cards **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** We cannot give loading and boundary conditions here unlike other solvers **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used this tool to generate vibrationals analysis of a aircraft wing for different drag ratios and velocities ### 21. Solving thermal and static analysis **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 02, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** User interface is very easy to understand and its very simple. Debugging of a model deck is very easy compared to other solvers **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** Here we cant give any load conditions or boundary conditions and also we have to depend on other tool for preprocessing **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** Solving thermal analysis of piping structures and also solved stress analysis of pressure vessels ### 22. solver for NVH and static analysis **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 05, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** Using this tool we can solve a full vehicle model for any kind of NVH and Static analysis with ease **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** We cant give any loading conditions or boundary conditions for solving a NVH analysis problem **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have solved a NVH analysis of a cross car beam with pre processing in hyperworks and solving in nastran ### 23. nastran user **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 01, 2017 **What do you like best about Inventor Nastran?** Pre processing models and extracting nodal loads **What do you dislike about Inventor Nastran?** Not as such it's easy and comfortable to handle complex models **What problems is Inventor Nastran solving and how is that benefiting you?** Loads extraction from GFEM to size structural parts for positive margins ## Inventor Nastran Discussions - [What is Inventor Nastran used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-inventor-nastran-used-for) - [View Inventor Nastran pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/inventor-nastran/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-07+04%3A24%3A40+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=f7412952-7cc6-45a2-8a62-d467e96279aa&secure%5Btoken%5D=4d76b42e4be36d5d43aa38f54fc901b915340933cd7a2eb01fbf795c29085445&format=llm_user) ## Inventor Nastran Features **Design** - 3D/solid modeling Tools - Drawing Tools - Editing Tools - Rendering tools **Tools** - Fluid analysis - Finite element analysis - Multibody dynamics **Work** - Discrete event modeling - Continuous event modeling - Mechanical event simulation - Manufacturing process simulation - Integrate **Environment** - Hardware support - Task - Manage Multiple Profiles - Command Clarity ## Top Inventor Nastran Alternatives - [Ansys Fluent](https://www.g2.com/products/ansys-fluent/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (117 reviews) - [Ansys Mechanical](https://www.g2.com/products/ansys-mechanical/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (88 reviews) - [SolidWorks Simulation](https://www.g2.com/products/solidworks-solidworks-simulation/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (58 reviews)