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AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers
Engineeringdepartmentsoftenkeepathickbookhandythatdetailstheway
thingsshouldbedone.It'sthedepartment'spreferredoperatingprocedures.In
recentparlance,it'stheirbestpractices.
PaulDvorak|MachineDesign Sep4,2003

DepartmentstowhichFEAismore
recentmaynothaveyetestablishedaset
ofbestpractices.Tojumpstartthat
effort,BobWilliams,productmanagerat
AlgorInc.,Pittsburgh,makesthese
suggestions:

Takeformaltrainingwhengetting
started."Whilemanyengineersmight
beabletoteachthemselvestouse Doublecheckingmaterialpropertiesisabest
differentaspectsofanFEAprogram, practiceforFEAusers.Onewaytodosois
mostengineersalsobenefitfrom throughMatWeb.com.Itprovidesfreeaccess
traditionalclassroomtrainingandWeb tomaterialproperties.Theresults,for
baseddistancelearning,especiallynew example,arefromasearchforplasticswith
users,"saysWilliams."Thereare coefficientoffrictionbetween0.1and0.3.
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26.3.2017 AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers|ArchivecontentfromMachineDesign

techniquesyou'lllearninclassyoumight Pickingonamaterialnameinbluepullsup
notpickuponyourown,"headds. thevaluesneededforananalysis.
"Selectingtherightmaterialmodeland
analysistypesareexamples.Youmay
haveextensivematerialdata,butwhat
materialmodelshouldyouchoose?If
youhavepiezoelectricmaterials,howdo
youanalyzetheirbehavior?"Proper
trainingprovidestheneededguidance.

Onereasontraditionaltrainingpaysoff
isthateasytouseFEAsoftwarelets
userstackleincreasinglycomplex
problems."Atrainingbestpracticeisto Webreadyreportgenerationandrealtime
bringarepresentativeproblemormodel collaborationtoolshelpFEAusers
toclass.Seeinghowpeopleatother communicatewithothersforpeerreviews
companiesusethesoftwareisonebenefit andthroughoutthedesignprocess.AWeb
ofclassroomtrainingthatselfstudydoes readyreportgeneratedinAlgorFEA
notprovide.Studentsleaveclasswitha software(lowerright),waspreparedtoleta
greaterappreciationforapplyingFEAto simulationexpertreviewandcommenton
thedesignprocess,"hesays.Formore themodelandresultsbeforereleasingresults
trainingbestpractices,see"Planningfor toengineering.Realtimecollaborationmade
FEAtraining"(MachineDesign,May8, iteasyfordesignteammemberstodiscuss
2003,pp.4850). thedesign'sprogress(lowerleft).

Calculateapproximateresults
beforebuildinganFEAmodel.This
bestpracticeisarealitycheck."FEAis
notablackboxintowhichusersplace
incorrectdataandreceiveuseful
information.Therefore,it'sbesttohave
someideaofhowamodelwillbehave
beforehand,"saysWilliams.
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26.3.2017 AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers|ArchivecontentfromMachineDesign

Anotheraspectofthisbestpracticeisto
assemblealistoffrequentlyused
calculationsormethodsthatprovidea
doublecheckofFEAresults."Expected
resultscanalsocomefromprior
experienceandexperiments,"says
Williams."Remember,FEAisjustone
engineeringtoolofmanyanddoesnot
replaceexperienceandexperiments,"he
adds.Whenusedproperly,FEAisa
powerfulcomplementarytool.

ReduceCADmodelstothe
minimumrequireddetail."CAD
modelscanbeenormousbecausethey
oftencarrycompletemanufacturing
information.Thinkfirstaboutwhatreally
needstobesimulated.Whatisessential
totheanalysis?Mostlikelyitisnotthe
entireproduct.Forexample,theCAD
modelofacircuitboardmayincludea
heatsink,screwswiththreads,wires,and
otherdetails.Thesepartscouldbe
meshedwiththousandsofelements,but
aretheynecessarytotheanalysis?They
mayonlycomplicateandslowdownthe
requiredheattransfersimulation,"says
Williams.

TohandlelargeCADmodels,FEA
developershaveaddeddefeaturingtools
toremovetheunnecessarydetails.
However,Williamssaysthetoolsmight
http://machinedesign.com/archive/fewbestpracticesfeausers 3/8
26.3.2017 AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers|ArchivecontentfromMachineDesign

neverbeusedbecauseit'ssoeasyto
importentiremodels."Justalittlemore
timeupfrontremovingunnecessary
detailssavestimelateron,"headds.

Thinkaboutalltheenvironmental
conditionsthatcouldaffectthe
design."Structuralandmechanical
stressarenottheonlycausesofproduct
failure,"Williamspointsout."Consider
whethermotion,heattransfer,fluidflow,
andelectrostaticswillaffectyourdesign
aswell."FEAsoftwarehasmadeiteasier
todirectlycoupledifferentanalysistypes
sothatengineerscansimulatea
product'sbehaviorwhenmultiple
physicalphenomenainteract.

Buildandsimulatecomplex
conditionsinsteps.Beforesitting
downatthecomputer,breakthesystem
intoaseriesofmodelswithincreasing
complexity.Forinstance,anengineer
designingacomputertapedrivefirst
modeledthetapeinstatictension,then
modeleditaroundoneroller,thena
second,andfinallywithmotion.Each
steplethimimprovethemodelandbuild
confidenceinthefinalsimulation's
accuracy.

"Provetoyourselfthatyouunderstand
howtosetupeachmodelandthatthe

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26.3.2017 AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers|ArchivecontentfromMachineDesign

smallersimulationswork,"saysWilliams.
"Startingwithlargemodelsandcomplex
analyseswithlotsofloadsand
constraintsusuallyleadstowondering
whytheresultsdon'tseemcorrect."

Doublecheckmaterialproperties.
"Loadsandconstraintsareimportant,
butmaterialsarecrucialtoamodel's
accuracy,"saysWilliams.Anonline
databasesuchasMatWeb.comisan
invaluableresourcethatprovidesfree
accesstoextensivematerialdata.Besure
tocheckmaterialpropertiesatthe
temperaturestheactualproductwill
experience,notjustthestandard
handbookvalues.

Checktheselectedmaterialmodelas
well.Forinstance,MooneyRivlinand
Ogdenworkwellforrubber,and
DruckerPragermodelsconcrete.There
aremanyothers.

Considerarangeofloadsand
constraintsinsteadofjustone."For
instance,youmayhavea500lbload
actingonanobjectata50angle.After
buildingamodelthatsimulatesthis
condition,gotheextrastepandaddin
twomoreloadingscenarios,oneat400
lbandoneat600lbaswellasthe30to
60range."

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26.3.2017 AfewbestpracticesforFEAusers|ArchivecontentfromMachineDesign

Softwarehasalreadybegunautomating
stepsthatapplyloadrangeswiththe
additionalbenefitofsensitivityanalyses,
thosethattellwhichcomponentsare
mostaffectedorsensitivetoloads.Inthe
past,itwascommonpracticetobuild
safetyfactorsintoproductstocover
designuncertainties.Today,knowing
exactlyhowaproductwillperform
throughouttheoperatingrangebecomes
thesafetyfactor.

Finally,conductapeerreview.Leta
residentexpertlookoverthemodeland
resultsbeforepassingthemonfor
engineeringuse."Collaborationisan
increasinglyimportantpartofthedesign
processbecausebetterproductsresult
frombringingmorethanonepointof
viewtothetable."Webreadyreport
generationandrealtimecollaboration
toolshelpFEAuserscommunicatewith
othersthroughoutthedesignprocess.

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