• Free Finite Element Solver

    Over 30 years of Development

  • Compatible with Nastran

    BDF File Compatibility

  • Professional Grade

    Wide Range of Applicability

About

MYSTRAN is a general purpose finite element analysis computer program for structures that can be modeled as linear (i.e. displacements, forces and stresses proportional to applied load). MYSTRAN is an acronym for "My Structural Analysis", to indicate it's usefulness in solving a wide variety of finite element analysis problems. For anyone familiar with the popular NASTRAN computer program developed by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the 1970's and popularized in several commercial versions since, the input to MYSTRAN will look quite familiar. Indeed, many structural analyses modeled for execution in NASTRAN will execute in MYSTRAN with little, or no, modification. MYSTRAN, however, is not NASTRAN. All of the finite element processing to obtain the global stiffness matrix (including the finite element matrix generation routines themselves), the reduction of the stiffness matrix to the solution set, as well as all of the input/output routines are written in independent, modern, Fortran 90/95 code.


PRIMARY AUTHOR: Dr. Bill Case was a member of the project management team for the development of the popular NASTRAN finite element analysis computer program developed in the late 1960's and early 1970's for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Over the course of 30 plus years from that time he was a structural analyst using NASTRAN and subsequently the head of an analysis branch comprised of approximately 20 analysts who used NASTRAN on many of the spaceflight structures built or managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He taught many graduate level courses in the area of static and dynamic structural analysis as well as basic and advanced courses in the use of NASTRAN. He was the author of many technical papers in the areas of finite element analyses and in the use of NASTRAN for major flight projects. MYSTRAN, formerly a commercial program, is now a community project.

Bill continued to work on the MYSTRAN source code until late 2021 when he passed away. Bill spent decades developing the MYSTRAN program and it was his wish for the project to continue. There are currently a community of developers that work on the program and we aim to honor his legacy. Thank you Bill for your contribution to the engineering community.

FILES

Windows EXE - For End Users

Documentation - For End Users and Developers

GitHub Source - Main Source Code for Developers

GitHub Overview - Main Source Code, Documentation, Releases, and Benchmarks

FORUMS AND ONLINE CHAT

Forums - Threads for Developers and General Discussion

Online Chat - Discord Online Chat (Developers and End Users)

Developers

Dr. Bill Case, Ph.D. - www.mystran.com - Primary Author (Passed in 2021)

Brian Esp, Ph.D, P.E. - ESP Composites and Structural FEA - Project Oversight

Additional developers, in alphabetical order by last name:

Steven Doyle - github.com/SteveDoyle2/pyNastran - OP2 Development

Robert Kiser, P.E. - K2 Engineering, Inc.

Zachary Lerner - General Contributor

Bruno Borges Paschoalinoto - Homepage

Be a part of the community by joining the forums, chat, or contacting the email below.

PRE/POST PROCESSORS AND BDF READERS

See this forum link for a list programs that are compatible with MYSTRAN.
Some are pre/post processors are some are BDF (Bulk Data File) readers.

Contact

For inquiries, email mystransolver "AT" gmail "DOT" com