Pound on a bone with enough force and it’ll break. Just where, though, depends on whether or not bone behaves like other structural materials. Researchers have long guessed it did—but they didn’t really know. Bone is famously strong stuff, surpassing reinforced concrete when it comes to withstanding compression forces.
engineer
16 posts
FEA is a digital way to test designs against predictable forces, to determine whether a design will fail and, if so, when and how the material will deform, snap, or collapse. As a central part of engineering analysis, FEA also helps ensure against risky under-design and costly over-design. Finite element analysis has migrated over the years from a purely academic pursuit into everyday product development.
Once commissioned tanks, pipes and pressure vessels begin to corrode. Periodic inspections identify degraded regions. Engineers then assess the reduced safety margins and determine if repairs are necessary. This process is known as a Fitness for Service (FFS) Assessment. Finite Element Analysis can be used to aid in FFS assessments by predicting stresses in complex geometry with large areas of wall thinning.
When I volunteered to judge the Finger lakes FIRST Robotics competition, I had no idea how much I was about to learn about business, and about how strongly teamwork correlates to success.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool for evaluating complex structural problems. Like all analytical software, bad results stem from bad input. We call it the "Garbage in, Garbage Out" principle of FEA. Sometimes, with perfect inputs, you can still get the wrong answer using FEA. There are a lot of ways that your finite element analysis can take a wrong turn. So how do you know if your results are correct? The answer is validation and verification (V&V). This week we'll apply V&V to a simple beam bending problem.
Pressure testing ensures that tanks, vessels and piping systems, are correctly constructed. Testing ensures the integrity of flanged joints and threaded connections. In this week's blog we'll provide an overview of: objectives of pressure testing, code requirements, types of tests and hazards.
