Introduction
OGM/Lloyd's Register Capstone's materials engineering consulting services produce timely and practical solutions to customer problems. Many different tools and approaches are used to understand the clients needs and provide meaningful recommendations. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is one of the powerful tools available to assist in Level 3 Fitness-for-Service Analysis.
Key Benefits
Details
Finite Element Analysis is a numerical method for simulating how an object will perform in service. A virtual object or model is constructed using a computer. Simulated loads and boundary conditions can then be applied to this model. These might be forces, pressures, temperatures, or a variety of other stimuli. FEA software will mathematically solve for the response of the object to its environment. The software uses the principle of dividing the model into a mesh of smaller objects to break up a deterministically impossible problem into a solvable one. FEA can provide powerful insight into the behavior of objects.
The most common use for FEA is to perform stress analysis. An FEA analysis can calculate stresses and deflections of an object based on the applied loads. Predictions about the mechanical behavior of component items under different load conditions can be made. The safety of a design can be verified, and the FEA analysis can contribute to an understanding of a failure. The stresses on an object and its deflections are often critical to understanding its performance. Often an object will fail because of stresses induced by uneven heating, rapid temperature change or mismatching thermal properties. A coupled field analysis that models both temperature and stress can be quite effective in predicting this type of failure. Objects where thermal expansion is important to the design can be modeled and have their performance predicted.