Which is the best Finite Element software for the design and analysis of Piles in geotechnical engineering on parameters like ease of use and accuracy out of Ansys, Abaqus, Plaxis and Midas GTX, for research purposes?
I think best Finite Element software for the design and analysis of Piles would be Midas GTX or Abaqus. These two will help you analyses and visualize your results in a much better ways as compared to other software. But you can definitely use Plaxis also for the same because Midas GTX or Abaqus are not available easily everywhere.
From geotechnical engg. point of view both PLAXIS (2D and 3D) and MIDAS GTS NX are better. But if you consider in all fields of engg. ABACUS is popular. Kindly check all those according to your problems.