What I really like about Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is, that it's full of small things that make you say "ah, so this is what it does!". Degrees of Freedom is just like that. It's critical to understand the very basics, but there are a few fun nuances here and there as well. Let's take [...]
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 [...]
Learning how to do Finite Element Analysis took me several years. I admit I mostly learned with trial and error (there were no FEA online courses back then, or at least I haven't found any!). So if you are at the beginning of this learning process, it's natural to have doubts. It's only fair to [...]
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 [...]
It's the beginning of 2009. I'm sitting in one of the lectures of my Ph.D. program. Finally, we will start to learn about Finite Element Method! My company is slowly developing, and I'm really hopeful that this will allow me to spread my wings! And then professor says: "let's start with basic matrix operations"... You [...]
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 started paying attention to meshing way too late I think. When I started my Ph.D. I literally divided elements into two categories: those that throw errors and those that don't! But even then I was lucky - I could simply check scientific papers on similar topics and use the elements that someone else used before. [...]
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 [...]
Somehow I never used triangular elements. Not that I knew why TRI are "bad". I think I just didn't like how they look (!). This saved me quite some trouble, proving that sometimes having luck (let's call this a gut feeling shall we?) really helps! But you don't have to rely on a gut feeling - [...]
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 [...]
FEA accuracy is a topic that often provokes discussions. Without a doubt, there are FEA evangelists (I would include myself to the group!) and FEA disbelievers. So, let's take a look and wonder how accurate is Finite Element Analysis. FEA is almost like a calculator: it's as accurate as its user. But it's also quite [...]
Nodes and Elements are the very backbones of Finite Element Analysis. You will use them in every analysis you will perform in FEA, so learning about them seems like a good idea! So, what are Nodes and Elements in Finite Element Analysis? In FEA, you divide your model into small pieces. Those are called Finite Elements [...]
To be honest I avoided this topic for quite some time. Every now and then someone asks me about it, so clearly I should write a post. But the fact that I do my own online FEA course means that this may be received as an advertisement rather than advice. To "deal with it" I [...]
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, [...]
It's relatively easy to perform an FEA analysis, but it's definitely difficult to run an analysis that produces reasonable outcomes. During my Ph.D. research, I've learned that boundary conditions are often the issue. Seemingly simple they can cause a lot of trouble for you - so let's wonder what are the proper boundary conditions in [...]
I never hid with my beliefs about math in FEA. But I figured I will ask around, just to make sure I'm not missing something : ) So today you get a chance to learn more about the subject! And it won't be only about my opinion on the matter but also what Tony Abbey [...]
Some time ago I realized that I've got to know some amazing people in the last 2 years of blogging. Having so many great friends feels awesome, but I figured I will push it a bit further. This is the first interview I will post here, where I will discuss FEA related stuff with a [...]
This time I have something super special! We have been discussing different topics with Tony Abbey (FEtraining and Nafems) for quite some time. And now we decided to shoot a few videos about things that interest us in FEA. On today's video, we will talk about different approaches to snap-through as a difficult case of nonlinear [...]
This came out in one of the discussions in FEA guild, and I figured I will expand on this idea. This will also be useful for me later (and if I convince you, it may be useful for you as well). Instead of having this discussion with every Customer, I can simply direct them here [...]
Hey people! I continue the trend of inviting some of the FEA-finest to write on the blog! This week none other than Blas Molero Hidalgo joined us with his awesome work! If you use Femap and you ever searched for an answer in google you know who Blas is. He has this superpower I don't [...]