Overview of FEA for newcomers So you have got your first job in industry, and one of your initial tasks is to start applying finite element analysis (FEA) to real projects. You might well have even been told that you are now the company expert and are expected to get the expensive new tools working […]
A data driven world
Letting woes I have been letting a very small property in the UK for many years now. It is always a challenge when it is time to find a new tenant. This summer seems to have been particularly difficult, so whilst in the UK recently, I phoned the realtor to see what was happening. I […]
Grass roots SDM
I have just completed an intensive six days, carrying out a series of analyses on a structural component. Two weeks ago, I knew very little about the structure, its function, and what its key performance metrics were going to be. I had a CAD model, an outline performance specification and references to test data. I […]
Why attend technical conferences?
Networking For most people, networking is the main reason for attending a conference. This is also the most difficult motivation to justify to your boss. It’s intangible, it will certainly help you, and it may help the company. The great thing about networking is, it never stops. During session breaks, workshops, evening events, even at […]
CAD and FEA User Interfaces
in this month’s article I want to compare and contrast the types of user interface found in traditional Finite Element Analysis (FEA) programs and those found in CAD embedded FEA programs. The traditional FEA interfaces have evolved over a very long time and they have their roots in command line and early non-Windows graphical user […]
Who are you calling dumb? 1D and 2D elements
I like using analogies. A sausage on a barbecue will always split in the longitudinal direction because hoop stresses are greater than axial stresses in a pressure vessel. I always describe FEA elements as having a certain level of intelligence! 3D continuum elements are what I call, ‘smart’. They understand what happening inside their volume. […]
