Hello there, I have no experience with CalculiX, but I have a question regarding the usefulness of CalculiX for the following use case:
My task is to create a simulation of stacked objects like a Jenga tower or a packed euro palette. The simulation should determine if the stack will hold or topple over.
Not all objects will be of equal size, objects might have different properties and might deform differently under stress.
Is this something CalculiX can do?
CalculiX can be used for this, especially if you’re interested in elastic or plastic deformation as part of the stacking behavior. However, for primarily rigid body interactions with many objects, a physics engine or DEM-based tool might be more efficient.
A Jenga tower is used by DS to demonstrate the general contact capabilities in Abaqus. Since CalculiX only has contact pairs, you would have to define many pairs to account for all possible interactions between the falling bricks. Or you can try adding one pair with all external surfaces as both master and slave surfaces (in Abaqus, this would lead to overconstraint, but CalculiX allows it).
However, for rigid multibody structures, it’s better to use MBD software. There aren’t many open-source choices though.