At square one with FEA - part 2

Getting a department or company's first FEA program up and running takes more than just learning the software. It calls for training users and establishing a process that lets designers get maximum benefit from the software. In this article, Ted Fryberger, a consulting engineer and instructor with ), makes suggestions for establishing an FEA program. (The first part of this series appeared in the February 5 issue - " At square one with FEA - part 1 The following steps are a necessity for each analysis, says Fryberger. "Think of these as the tactical portion of the job," he suggests. For each analysis, users must: is more than redefining a model with elements. It's a discretization because the element supports specific types of geometry and analyses. Nodes are often the intersecting points at the corners of common FEA elements. Higher-order elements support midside nodes for additional computation points. One measure of problem size and complexity is the total number of nodes or elements. FEA model geometry must closely mimic the product geometry. However, the fine detail necessary in solid models is often omitted from FEA models depending on detail size and the analysis objectives. A wide range of elements are available for differing geometry, boundary conditions, and analyses. Fryberger says it's normal to go through numerous iterations before the analysis completes. "It is helpful to have an initial coarse mesh of relatively large elements to evaluate before deciding where to enhance the mesh for increased accuracy in subsequent runs," he says. Once the basic model is running accurately it's a good idea to create similar models that allow evaluating specialized or "what if" scenarios. include point loads and moments applied at nodes, pressure loads applied to element surfaces, and accelerations applied to the entire model. Thermal, fluid, electrostatic, and electromagnetic analyses