BREAKTHROUGH FEA
Online Course

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• How long will I have access to the course?

  Your access to the course has no limit. As long as the course exists you will have an access to it!

• What is the Course Curriculum

  Course consistes of video material (over 24h of content) as well as written lessons (around 500 pages of content!).
  
  There are 8 modules with lessons and “small examples” on the course, along with 5 “big” examples showing specyfic problems solved from start to finish.
  
  Detailed content list is given below:
  
  Module 0: How to learn here
  
  Module 1: Introduction to FEA
  
  What is FEA for?
  What does FEA do?
  FEA Workflow
  How to define a problem
  What is important in FEA
  Consistent unit system
  Conclusion
  
  Module 2: Important Engineering Concepts
  
  What is stress
  Normal stress and shear stress
  Stress in 3D
  Equivalent stress
  Hooke’s law
  Structural rigidity
  Stress concentrations
  Active forces and reaction forces balance
  Rigid body motion
  Conclusion
  
  Module 3: Model Preparation
  
  Importing CAD geometry
  Creating geometry in preprocessor
  Benefits of simplifying the geometry
  Model symmetry
  How to define symmetry in FEA
  Small details spoil mesh
  How to connect beams to shells and beams/shells to solids
  Rigid, hinged, semi-rigid connections in beam models
  How to check if the connection is a hinge
  How to calculate connection rigidity
  Linear material properties
  When linear material is not enough
  Conclusion
  
  Module 4: Model Supports
  
  How to support your model
  Rigidity of supports
  Realistic boundary conditions
  Why pinned supports can be rigid!
  How to make an area support
  What can and cannot be simplified
  Boundary conditions and Hooke’s law
  Linear contact – the basics
  How to define linear contact
  When it is possible to ignore contact?
  Typical solutions for contact and BC
    »   Example 1: Cantilever
    »   Example 2: Bolted connection
    »   Example 3: Beam on area support
    »   Example 4: Different rigidity supports
  Conclusion
  
  Module 5: Loads
  
  Realistic load values and codes
  Characteristic and design loads
  Concentrated loads and reality
  Force vs Moment
  Gravity vs Pressure
  Enforced deformations as load
  Realistic load distribution
    »   Load distribution: Part 1
    »   Load distribution: Part 2
    »   Load distribution: Part 3
  Conclusion
  
  Module 6: Meshing
  
  Basic element types
    »   Beam elements
    »   Plate elements
    »   Solid elements
    »   Choosing element type
  Higher order elements
  TRI vs QUAD
  TET vs HEX
  Model Simplifications
  RBE – Rigid Body Elements
  Plain strain elements
  Mesh refinement
    »   Mesh refinement: Case study
    »   Mesh refinement: Challange 1
    »   Mesh refinement: Challange 2
  Mesh and Mathematics (M&M!)
  Mesh Quality Measures
  Conclusion
  
  Module 7: Analysis
  
  Analysis… let’s put your FEA solver to work!
  Linear Analysis Setup
  Solver vs pre/post processor
  Linear Static Limitations
  What does nonlinear material do?
  What does nonlinear geometry do?
  Contact
  Beyond Linear Static
  When it is safe to use linear static?
  Model Checking
  Troubleshooting
  Conclusion
  
  Module 8: Post-Processing
  
  Post processing
  Business advice first!
  Stress/Strain/Displacement
  The Stress Map!
  Stress averaging
  Issues with stability
  Dealing with stress higher than yield
  Strain as a measure of capacity
  Deformations
  Beams in FEA
  Results verification
  Verification with hand calculations!
  Business side of the report
  Technical side of the report
  Conclusion
  
  Example 1: Plate in tension
  
  Geometry
  Material properties
  Boundary conditions
  Loads
  Meshing
  Analysis
  Post processing
  Conclusion
  
  Example 2: Bolted cantilever
  
  Geometry
  Material properties
  Boundary conditions
  Loads
  Meshing
  Analysis
  Post processing
  Conclusion
  
  Example 3: Solid bracket
  
  Geometry
  Material properties
  Meshing
  BC and contact
  Loads
  Analysis
  Post processing
  Conclusion
  
  Example 4: Roof rafter stability
  
  Introduction: Stability design
  Introduction: LBA
  Introduction: LBA settings
  Geometry
  Supports / Loads / Mesh
  Initial stability calculations
  Critical bending moment calculation
  Critical bending moment in design
  Bracing influence on stability
  Developing model further – part 1
  Developing model further – part 2
  Verifying assumptions about bracings
  Conclusion
  
  Example 5: Street lamp
  
  Geometry
    »   Base: Part 1
    »   Base: Part 2
    »   Post: Part 1
    »   Post: Part 2
    »   The top part
  Materials + Properties
  Meshing
    »   Base plate
    »   Base plate: “Bonus” video
    »   Lamp post
    »   Top part
  Loads
    »   Wind load according to EN 1991-1-4
    »   Loading the model
  Boundary conditions
    »   Avoiding contact with line supports
    »   Dealing with stress concentrations
    »   Defining contact
  Analysis
  Post processing
    »   Deformations
    »   Stress
    »   Stability
    »   Summary
  Conclusion

• What FEA software do you use?

  Most examples are made in Femap with NX Nastran, with several being done in RFEM (Dlubal). However, I strongly encourage all students to use the software they will use at work while following their course, since you want to get accustomed to software you will be working on.
  
  So far students finished my course using Ansys, Abaqus, Staad and many other packages – examples are done in such a way, that you can easily follow them in any FEA package as long as you have very basic knowledge about it.
  
  If you want to, you can get a 30 days trial version of Femap and simply use the same software as I do.

• Who is this course for?

  I have created this course with professionals and engineering graduates (civil, mechanical, aerospace etc.) in mind.
  
  If you are looking to learn FEA (Finite Element Analysis), or to understand more and gain confidence in your designs this course is for you.
  
  The course focuses on stress design (linear static). The emphasis is on understanding concepts and modeling techniques as well as the impact of assumptions on the analysis. This is both a great starting point into FEA and a way to further deepen your knowledge.
  
  Engineering students are also welcome. I did theory lessons aimed to deepen and refresh the knowledge of participants, but those lessons can be also used to learn unknown concepts as well. Practical skills gained during the course will be useful at University setting as well.

• Who is this course not for?

  The course teaches linear static. If you are into heat transfer, CFD, electromagnetism etc. there is little to gain here for you.

• How the course is organized?

  Each lesson is divided into around 10 topics, and each one has a video and a text version. You can easily mark what you have already seen, so there is definitely no need to take that all in in one go!
  
  Videos are usually around 5-15 min long (text around 1000 words) depending on the subject, so you can easily watch them one at a time!

• Is there a way to ask questions during the course?

  Of course! The course has a dedicated Linkedin Group for participants where you can discuss things with me and fellow learners.
  
  You can always send me an email as well

• Can I buy the course with instalments?

  This is a terribly difficult question, and the answer is… no, you can’t.
  
  I was thinking about it a lot, and technically “instalments” are like a loan, and I don’t want you to get in debt (at all), not to mention getting in debt to buy my course!
  
  If you can save up some money each month (instead of paying an instalment on my course)… then please do. And when you will have all the required money, you will be able to buy the course, or do something else with them.
  
  Loans are bad for you… don’t get them if you don’t have to!