There is no doubt in my mind, that mastering Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis was the biggest stepping stone of my career so far. It's mind-boggling how much one can do and design when using such tools. But I also remember when I started in FEA, how frustrating learning is, and how difficult it is to [...]
Picture this: You are making a presentation of your Ph.D. thesis on stability at one of the seminars. Everything goes smoothly, and finally, it's question time! And someone out of the blue asks: "what is the difference between implicit and explicit approach?"! And since you are doing static stability... you never even heard those terms! [...]
When I was doing my first civil engineering design I hardly thought about dynamics. Static analysis was "all there was" for me. And to some degree, it might have been even justified back then. Now, when I understand a bit more, I would like to take you on a trip! We will learn about the [...]
I remember well when I first tried to understand buckling. For whatever reason, this was not natural for me. There were so many equations, that didn't make any sense back then! But it's way easier to understand stability thanks to FEA. To go there, we need to find a good answer to a question: what [...]
I think that I have a tendency to overuse FEA. Since I know how to do it, it feels natural for me to do so! I guess it's true that when you have the hammer, everything looks like a nail to you! Thinking about this, in this post I want to discuss what are the [...]
A few years ago I wrote an article about various nonlinear material models. Since I'm a civil engineer to me the obvious dividing line was: linear = no yielding, nonlinear = yielding. But of course, there is far more than that! Today let's take a look at a nonlinear elastic material. Both linear and nonlinear [...]
I got lucky (I think!). At an early point in my career, I realized I won't be able to learn everything there is to learn. Instead, I will focus on what I consider "fun" while giving myself some ease about other things. This is why there aren't any CFD articles on the blog - I simply don't [...]
I remember my first presentation regarding my Ph.D. It was my first year on the doctoral program, and I was starting to be on a first-name basis with people that were my teachers just a semester ago. I went to the middle of the room and started talking about shell buckling... the problem was everything [...]
Interpreting analysis outcomes is not simple. Even if you already have proper values from your FEA analysis, still you need to decide how to interpret FEA results. Let's take a closer look at how to approach this task! Firstly let's wonder how to interpret FEA results? In structural design, you have to perform several checks. Firstly, [...]
During last week I've posted a tip in the FEA Guild about using Benchmarks. Some great pointers were in the comments, but one got my attention the most: While there is no chance that I will build such database myself, I'm pretty sure we have a chance of making one together! I will try to [...]
It's time for the second part of the #FEAchecklist! Last time we were checking stuff before starting an analysis. Now, let's wonder what to check if you see analysis errors when your analysis fails to run. I can honestly say I'm kind of an expert here... I'm pretty certain I've made most of the possible [...]
Download the printer-friendly version here, and read the user guide below! I've already written a post on ignoring nonlinear geometry. This time I want to go way deeper into the subject. In the end, I want to create for you a simple Nonlinear Flow Chart that will help you to decide whether you need any [...]
https://youtu.be/inVGiGzmii0 As promised in the video, you can get my free online courses below: Free FEA essentials course! Free nonlinear FEA course! Different types of analysis in FEA (text) Just so you know: this will take around 15 min to read. As I wrote recently this year I want to help you gain confidence [...]
Recently I asked a lot of my subscribers what they think is the most difficult thing in FEA. While "interpreting results" or "too much theory in materials" appeared quite often, I also got several answers like: My biggest obstacle is actually understanding the mathematical concept behind it. Although I am really interested in the application [...]
Linear FEA calculations are the most common type of static analysis done with finite elements. Last week we have discussed when it is safe to ignore material nonlinearity to use this simple yet robust tool. Today I will describe when we can safely ignore material nonlinearity. A short remainder There are several things you should [...]
Linear FEA calculations are the most common type of static analysis done with finite elements. There are a lot of benefits to the method itself, but of course, there are risks involved as well. Today you will learn when it is safe to ignore material nonlinearity. I will also tell you what things you should [...]
If you are starting with nonlinear FEA you most likely heard the term load multiplier. Usually, people associate this with some sort of "safety factor" but frankly this has nothing to do with safety. In fact, this is the only way you can get an outcome out of nonlinear analysis and today I will explain [...]
Lately, I got several emails with questions about nonlinear analysis convergence. There are a lot of reasons why your analysis could not converge. One of them is a wrong loads/increment strategy which I call "steering". Take a look at what are the possible options and what are the positive/negative aspects of each approach. Steering have [...]
When people think about nonlinear analysis usually what first comes to mind is material nonlinearity. This is the most “visible” aspect of nonlinearity in calculations. I won’t dare to say that materially nonlinear analysis is the most important one (I think that there is not such thing), but without a doubt, this is an important [...]
Geometric nonlinearity is incredibly useful in structural analysis. It can help you check if your model is correct, or allow for a great structural optimization. Today I will discuss the basics of what does geometrically nonlinear analysis do using not the theory but real-life examples! […]