What’s Finite Element Analysis (FEA)?

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) allows predicting, through numerical modeling, of the behavior of a structure submitted to a given loading. Loading is frequently a force or a pressure, but various other types of loading like temperatures or enforced displacement can be simulated by FEA.

Benefits

FEA method will help you reduce your costs and development time. FEA predicts the behavior of a given design and the effects of modifications in material and geometry. Having these data at hand helps reduce the number of prototypes necessary.

Creaform’s FEA services

Multiple types of meshing:

  • Beam elements used as frame or fasteners (bolts, welds) or allowing special behavior (ex.: tension-only for cables)
  • Shell elements
    • Plate elements for metals
    • Laminate elements for composite materials with multiple plies layers (allowing the use of multiple failure criteria)
  • Solid elements
    • Hexahedral and tetrahedral elements allowing meshing of complex 3D geometries with high accuracy stress representation

Types of materials:

  • Isotropic for standard metallic or non-metallic materials
  • Orthotropic and anisotropic for material properties showing direction dependency like composite or wood
  • Hyperelastic for rubbers and elastomeric
  • Non linear material behavior for materials sustaining permanent deformations (plasticity...) or showing complex behavior (non linear elasticity)
  • Material behavior driven by experimental data (linear and non linear) allowing highly accurate representation of material used by customer

Types of analysis:

  • Linear and non-linear static: Response of structure to critical loads and modeling of contact (allowing analysis of assemblies), non-linear material behavior and large deformations
  • Normal modes and frequency response: Response to vibrations and frequency driven excitations
  • Random response: Response of structure to excitations defined with probabilistic magnitude (spectral density function)
  • Buckling: Critical compression static load or combination of loads that results in instability
  • Transient and dynamic response: Response of structure trough time with variations of boundary conditions
  • Impact: Response of structure following collision
  • Steady state and transient heat transfer: Temperature distribution within a solid body
  • Thermal stress: Stress induced by temperature distribution

Creaform uses the following tools

We use Nei Nastran Solvers and Ansys to carry out our analysis and output data generated is directly accessible through any pre/post-processor able to read OUTPUT2 result files:

  • Femap
  • Hypermesh
  • Glview
  • MSC.Patran
  • i-Deas

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