Fi

nit
eEl
ementAnal
ysi
s
-
Shr
eeshaBhar
adwaj

TheFiniteElementAnal ysis(
FEA)isthesimul
ati
onofanygivenphysi
cal
phenomenonusi ngthe
numericaltechniquecall
edFi ni
teElementMet
hod(FEM).Engineer
suseittoreducethenumber
ofphysicalprototypesandexper i
mentsandopti
mizecomponentsint
heirdesignphaseto
devel
opbet terproducts,fast
er.

Theprocessesf
oll
owedinFEAar e-Di
scrit
izat
ioni
ntot heel
ement,Select
ionoft
he
di
splacementmodels,
Deri
vat
ionoftheelementsti
ffensmat r
ix,
Assembl i
ng,Sol
uti
onfort
he
unknowndispl
acemetComput
ationsoftheelementstressesandst
rainsatthenodalpoi
nts.

Thefi
rstst
episdiscr eti
zat
ion.Discr
it
izat
ionintotheel
ement si
sthedivi
sionofthegivenmodel
i
ntoanequival
entsy stem offi
nit
eelement s.
Inthenextstageasitisnotpossibl
etoselecta
di
spl
acementfunctiont hatcanrepresentexactl
ytheactualvar
iat
ionofdi
splacementinthe
el
ement.Hence,t
hebasi capproximati
onoft hefi
nit
eelementmet hodi
sintroducedatthi
s
st
age.

Thet hir
dst episder i
vati
onoftheelementstiff
ensmat ri
x.Thestif
fnessmatrixconsistsofthe
co-effi
cientoftheequili
bri
um equationsder
ivedfrom themat eri
alandproperti
esofanel ement
andobt ainedbyt heuseofmi nimum potent
ialenergy.Thest i
ffnessrel
atesthedisplacements
atthenodal poi
nts.Thenextstepisassembl y
.Thispr ocessincludestheassembl ageoft he
overallsti
ffnessmat r
ixfortheent
ir
ebodyf r
om t heindivi
dual el
ementstiff
nessmat r
icesand
theov eral
lorloadv i
ctorfr
om theelementnodal vectors.

Theal gebr
aicequationsobtai
nedintheabovesteparesolv
edf ort
heunknowndispl
acements.
I
nlinearequil
ibri
um equati
ons,t
hisisastr
aight
forwardappl
icat
ionofmatri
xal
gebratechni
ques.
Thefinalst
epi scomputati
onsoftheelementstressesandstr
ainsatt
henodalpoint
s.

Theprogramsli
keCati
a,ANSYS,Aut
ocad,et
ccanper f
ormf i
nit
eelementanal
ysison3Dmodels.
CATIAisamulti
-pl
atf
orm sof
twar
esuit
eforcomputer-
aideddesignand3D,developedby
Frenchcompanydessaul
tsyst
ems.ANSYSengineer
ingsimulati
onand3Ddesignsof twar
ecan
al
sobeused.

Meshi
ng
Meshingisdefi
nedast heprocessofdivi
dingawhol ecomponentint
onumberofel
ementsso
thatwhenevert
hel oadisappl
iedonthecomponenti tdist
ri
but
estheloaduni
for
mlycal
led
Meshing.MeshingisnecessaryaswithoutMeshingtheloadwhichisappl
i
eddoesnotget
unif
ormlydi
stri
butedleadi
ngtoirr
egularorfaul
tyresul
ts.

I
ncreasi
ngthesizeoft
hemeshtoacoar
semeshwil
lreducet
hecomputat
ionalpowerr equi
red
buttheaccur
acywil
lal
sor
educe.Usi
ngameshofl
argersi
zei
sgoodforainit
ialassessmentof
amodel
.

Decreasi
ngthesi
zeofthemesst oadensemeshwi l
lincreasetheaccuracyoft
her esul
ts
obtai
nedbutitwi
l
l r
equir
eahi ghcomputat
ionalpowerandt imetogiveanoutput.Thesizeof
themeshisgeneral
lydecreasedi
nareasofhighstr
esst ogivedetai
l
edout puti
nthatareaof
themodel