12/27/11 What All Engineers Need to Know Before Using Finite Element Analsis

1/4 www.algor.com/news_pub/tech_reports/2000/need2know/Need2Know.asp
In this FEA-based stress and motion analysis
performed using Algors Mechanical Event
Simulation software, the cam rotates, lifting
the rocker, which opens and closes the valve
at a regular interval. Surface-to-surface
contact was used to simulate the contact
that occurs between the cam and the
rocker. This type of mechanism is typically
used in automobiles to either let air into or
exhaust gases out of a cylinder. Simulating
dynamic motion in conjunction with contact
is a key advantage to FEA-based stress and
motion simulation because it enables
engineers to work within a What-You-See-
Is-What-You-Get design environment.
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WHAT ALL ENGINEERS NEED TO KNOW BEFORE USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Bob Williams
Development Manager
Algor, Inc.
Pittsburgh, PA
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12/27/11 What All Engineers Need to Know Before Using Finite Element Analsis
2/4 www.algor.com/news_pub/tech_reports/2000/need2know/Need2Know.asp
In any analysis scenario, an engineer first needs to decide the significant physical phenomena to which the
design will be exposed in order to decide what type of analysis should be performed. By far, the most common
concern for engineers involves maximizing the parts durability, which is its ability to withstand the mechanical
stresses created during use in the real world.
Determining whether the design will be subject to static or dynamic conditions is the first step in determining
how to go about any type of stress analysis. For years, engineers have used linear and nonlinear static FEA
software to calculate stresses at a single instance in time. This method can provide acceptable results if the
problem is purely static and the design in question does not experience impact, motion or changes in the
applied loads over time. However, if the problem is not purely static, even an FEA expert may not be able to
make valid assumptions about the loads and boundary conditions necessary to use linear or nonlinear static
FEA to properly validate their design. The best alternative is to simulate the scenario in which the design will
be used as accurately as possible in order to avoid the inaccuracies due to assuming forces inherent in
traditional linear or nonlinear static FEA.
There are several common methods for simulating events. A growing trend in FEA is the simulation of large-
scale motion using finite element models. Simulating large-scale motion is often critical to be able to accurately
replicate the real-world behavior of many mechanisms and to determine how components will perform under
conditions of impact, contact or other loads of concern. Engineers benefit from simulating the large-scale
motion of finite element models because these models can accurately determine the resultant deformation and
stresses without the need to make assumptions about the forces at work in the mechanical event. Ideally, the
chosen method should provide the flexibility to consider either linear or nonlinear material behavior and offer
automatic contact features. The available methods can vary widely in terms of ease-of-use, accuracy and
functionality. Following are the three common methods available:
Motion Load Transfer requires engineers to use a separate kinematics package in order to obtain
approximate loads for FEA. Therefore, it does not actually simulate the motion of the finite element
model, but instead produces loading from rigid-body motion with assumed stiffnesses. This loading is then
used to perform a static stress analysis.
Explicit Timestep Method determines a solution by marching along in time, extrapolating from the
solution of the prior timestep. This method is fast for a given timestep, but requires many small timesteps
to complete large-scale motion problems, often making the processing time impractical. In addition,
detailed knowledge of the finite element model may be required in order to achieve reliable results.
FEA-based stress and motion analysis uses an automatic timestepping scheme that incorporates an
implicit timestep method to yield a highly efficient and accurate solution. This type of software
simultaneously produces motion, deformation and stresses in a single What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get
process. This method is very stable and only requires that analysts specify the duration of the event and
a solution capture rate in order to obtain an accurate solution. In addition, the automatic timestepping
scheme enables the analysis to run at larger timesteps for periods of relative inactivity, such as a
constant acceleration or deceleration, and then automatically reduces the timestep size to capture
periods of critical activity, like surface-to-surface contact, local buckling or impact.
In addition to considering a parts ability to withstand the mechanical stresses created during use in the real
world, some FEA software enables engineers to predict the effects of extreme temperatures or temperature
changes (heat transfer analysis), the flow of fluids through and around objects (fluid flow analysis) and voltage
distributions over the surface or throughout the volume of an object (electrostatic analysis). The net effect of
more than one of these cases may need to be considered as well.
It should be said that engineers who want to perform FEA within a CAD environment should make sure that the
chosen CAD/FEA solution actually offers all of the necessary FEA and motion simulation capabilities within CAD,
using the same interface. Many FEA vendors have a full range of FEA capabilities but offer only a subset of
them within CAD, thus requiring the use of a different interface for some of the FEA capabilities.
Modeling Conideaion
After determining the type of analysis that is required, the
engineer must produce a finite element model with appropriate
analysis parameters, such as loads, constraints and a suitable
mesh size. In many cases, an engineer has a CAD model
already available. The three available methods of CAD/FEA
interoperability can vary widely in terms of ease-of-use,
accuracy and functionality:
The CAD universal file format method requires the
12/27/11 What All Engineers Need to Know Before Using Finite Element Analsis
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This crank model from SolidWorks was
interfaced with Algor using the one window
away CAD/FEA method. As shown here, this
method seamlessly and accurately captured
the CAD data to the FEA system, where a
highly accurate solid finite element mesh was
applied automatically on the first pass. The
finite element model is now ready for
appropriate analysis parameters, such as
loads and constraints to be applied for one of
a wide range of analysis types, including,
FEA-based stress and motion Mechanical
Event Simulation, linear and nonlinear static
stress, vibration, heat transfer, electrostatic
and fluid flow.
The CAD universal file format method requires the
engineer to export the CAD solid model to a neutral file
format, such as IGES, ACIS or Parasolid, and then import
the neutral file into the FEA system for setup and
analysis. Although this method usually enables engineers
to take full advantage of an FEA vendors capabilities,
most engineers find other, more seamless methods easier
to use. In addition, translation to a universal file can
result in the loss of CAD geometry data within the FEA
package.
With the one window CAD/FEA method, an FEA vendor
offers seamless and accurate capture of CAD data to the
FEA system and builds common and often times limited
analysis capabilities into a particular CAD solid modeler.
This method typically limits things like element types
available and meshing and analysis options in the name
of ease-of-use. This CAD/FEA interoperability method
usually requires transitional mesh enhancement tools in
order to obtain a mesh that will produce accurate FEA
results. This method usually requires the engineer to
purchase other software and learn another interface to
handle analysis beyond the basic tools provided and to interface with other CAD solid modelers as may
be necessary in a multi-CAD environment.
The one window away CAD/FEA method offers the same seamless and accurate capture of CAD data
to the FEA system whether the CAD and FEA packages are on the same or different computers, and
utilizes the same interface for working within multiple CAD packages typical in a multidivisional or
consulting environment. The autonomy that the FEA package retains with this method also enables the
FEA vendor to provide more element types and meshing and analysis options without requiring the need
for other software or sacrificing accuracy and ease of use. Engineers learn just one interface for all
analysis needs. Engineers can look for a one window away CAD/FEA solution to provide options
including but not limited to:
the flexibility to define 2-D, truss, beam, plate/shell and other element types that can offer
significant processing speed benefits and the ability to combine them with solid elements;
automatic solid meshing with a wide variety of solid element types such as brick, tetrahedra and
hybrid, which consist of bricks on the model surface with tetrahedra inside (a choice many
engineers prefer because hybrid models combine the speed of tetrahedra with the accuracy of
bricks);
controls for the element quality of the automatic solid mesh and built-in, default aspect ratio
checking to control the accuracy and precision of the solid elements;
control over CAD feature suppression during the meshing process;
a robust automatic surface meshing scheme, such as surface-inward meshing technology that
puts the best-shaped elements on the surface where stresses tend to be highest and does not
require transitional mesh enhancement tools for repairing low-quality meshes that may result from
an imposed-grid meshing scheme;
automatic midplane meshing with the capability to heal the gaps inherent with the midplane
extraction of a thin, solid part to plate/shell elements to take advantage of the significant
processing speed benefits available with plate/shell elements;
automatic features for simulating different types of contact among several separate objects,
including surface-to-surface contact, static and sliding friction and impact among several
independently moving objects or between moving objects and a stationary object;
kinematic elements to replace flexible elements in parts of solid models where stress concerns are
low in order to reduce analysis run times;
special engineering elements such as actuator elements for simulating the axial expansion and
retraction of hydraulic cylinders, hydrodynamic elements for fluid-structure analyses, coupling
elements to limit the extension of mechanical linkages and dashpot elements to damp vibrations;
Windows-style, right-click functionality for all analysis types for applying, modifying and deleting
loads, constraints and FEA properties; and
the capability to set up load and constraint sets that can be activated in different combinations
over a series of analyses with different design scenarios for an efficient work flow.
Rel Inepeaion Conideaion
Once the results from an analysis are obtained,
12/27/11 What All Engineers Need to Know Before Using Finite Element Analsis
4/4 www.algor.com/news_pub/tech_reports/2000/need2know/Need2Know.asp
In this Algor FEA-based Mechanical Event Simulation of a car
suspension assembl, the motion of the assembl produces
stresses in the spring. Kinematic elements are used in parts
of the assembl that are not of engineering interest to save
processing time. Several visualiation tools were used in the
verification of this analsis. In addition to a stress contour
at one moment in time (upper left), the time-dependent
results were recorded in an animation file (lower left), a
plot of the displacement of several parts of the model over
time was created (upper right), and a customiable HTML
report was automaticall generated (lower right).
the engineer asks the question, How do I know
my answers are correct? Therefore, it is
important that the FEA software provides tools
to aid in the verification or validation of the
analysis of any design. Ideally, these tools
would not only include displacement and stress
contours but also precision contours that
provide qualitative and quantitative indications
of the degree to which a model complies with
the assumptions of the finite element theory.
Often, the analysis and modeling choices that
an engineer makes will determine how easy it is
to interpret results. For example, if a linear
static stress analysis was performed, only
contours at a single instant in time will be
available. The stresses displayed will need to be
interpreted in some way, such as comparing the
values to the yield stress of the material used in
the analysis. In addition, the engineer has
assumed that the one instant analyzed in the
linear static stress analysis represents the
worst case scenario. If, on the other hand, a
FEA-based stress and motion analysis was
performed on a solid assembly, interpreting the
results will be much easier because the model
can be seen to move, flex, bend and even break
over time. These time-dependent results can be
recorded in an animation file, such as the
Windows .avi format. In addition to animation
capabilities, engineers should expect the FEA
software to have a fast, easy-to-use
visualization tool for reviewing and presenting
results for all analysis types with other
integrated presentation options, such as
automatic options to generate image files of result contours and plots, VRML files and customizable HTML
reports.
These tools can be used to prepare a presentation of results to other engineers and even non-engineers, like
managers and clients. Carefully considering the analysis, modeling and results interpretation issues discussed
here will help engineers to present their designs with more confidence in the validity of their FEA results.
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