You may have wondered about the benefits of using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). You may have heard of other companies or industries using this tool actively in their R&D. But maybe you are not sure of the benefits of using this tool and when to use it.
FEA is just one tool of many in the engineering toolbox. Like a hammer is only useful for hammering in nails, FEA is only effective when you use it for the right kind of problems. FEA can be very beneficial when used right.
What is FEA exactly?
FEA is a method for applying basic equations to problems that would otherwise need very complex equations. Now that maybe doesn’t explain much. FEA is a method to slice a complex structure into smaller and simpler geometries. These simple geometries are what most engineering formulas are based upon. In this way we can use these formulas that only apply for simple geometric shapes such as squares and triangles and apply them to complex shapes such as a special bracket or suspension of a car engine.
FEA can be used for different kinds of problems. To name a few:
Stress analysis (Will my part break under a certain load?)
Stiffness analysis (How much will my part deform due to a certain load?)
Thermal analysis (How does heat build-up in my part?)
Modal analysis (How will my bridge oscillate during a storm?)
What type of FEA is useful to you?
This depends on what kind of product and services you make. It depends on the industry you are in. And it depends on the environment your product is in. It all comes down to the requirements for your product. Let’s take the example of the suspension for a car engine. The requirements are the following:
Transfer a minimum of vibrations from the engine to the chassis of the car.
Cheap to manufacture.
Don’t break!
A car engine creates a lot of vibrations when running, we don’t want that to transfer to the rest of the car. Designing the suspension takes a lot of knowledge vibrations damper. But experience and knowledge will only take the engineer this far. The great solution is made, when the engineer can use FEA to analyze the behavior of the suspension and dive into the results of the Modal analysis.
Here the engineer uses the tool FEA in a learning loop together with his design. The engineer will do the following:
Design / Re-design.
Use FEA to analyze modes of vibrations.
Repeat.
In this way the engineer will continuously come up with a design that is better for each iteration.
When it comes to 2) Cheap to manufacture. This also takes a lot of knowledge and experience. But here FEA can also be used. In this case if we can lower the weight of the part, it will most likely be cheaper to manufacture. We can also try different materials and manufacturing methods. To shape off the weight of a part we use FEA and zoom in to the stress analysis. In the stress analysis we can see where we have the most stress and the least stress on our part. We can design the part differently so the stresses distribute better over the whole part, and we can basically shape away the low stress areas to lose weight.
Where to begin?
Most CAD softwares have some built-in FEA capabilities, some better than others. These built-in FEA tools can be very handy as they are easy to use. But if precision is needed you will need to use dedicated FEA software that are also more capable of calculating more complex simulations.
Mortex Consulting have experience in which FEA tool to use and in what situations it makes sense to use it for the benefit of faster and more reliant product development.
Reach out to us to see how we can help you get the benefits of using FEA in your product development.
Phone: +45 42 64 87 66
Email: Andreas@mortex.dk
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