My FEA history started pretty weirdly. I would guess that most folk start with linear FEA, while my first analysis was a nonlinear snap-through problem in shell buckling. Of course, I failed miserably for a very long time, before getting anything useful! Luckily for me, in the meantime, I started my first company. This meant [...]
In the last few posts, I described how I would deal with the problem of local loading in the web of a relatively high strength steel girder. This is a "fun problem" from an engineering standpoint, and I hope you learned something from those articles. However, the "real" reason I did all that is to [...]
This is the next post in the "design approach" series. This time, I'm going to solve the web under local loads using nonlinear FEA, so this should be fun! Nonlinear FEA is a super powerful tool, that allows you to calculate things very accurately. But I have no doubt, that the effort of running it [...]
In the previous post, we solved a rather interesting case of local loading in webs. We did those calculations by hand, following the procedure of EN 1993-1-5. While I really like hand calculations, it's obvious that you can't hope for a code procedure for every possible case... When there are no clear guides on how [...]
This is a new idea I have been working on, to show what is cool about design by hand, linear FEA, and nonlinear FEA, and I will demonstrate with several examples. I will solve each of them using all 3 approaches, then I will compare the outcomes, so we can discuss which method is useful [...]
I remember feeling overwhelmed when I started to learn FEA! It's just too much to deal with at once! Gathering my experience from running an FEA design company I will do my best to share with you, the most important aspects that you really should know about. There are a lot of things you can [...]
We all know (or so I hope!) the basics of buckling. You know, the classical buckling lengths in a non-sway structure, etc. However, life is "rich", and oftentimes we have to solve more complex problems than those classically described in the textbooks. One of the great examples is this problem: How to calculate the buckling [...]
I must confess, that I haven't always pay attention to mesh size. At the beginning of my career, I simply build my models and was happy when they converged. I was vaguely (and I mean vaguely!) aware, that the element size does "something". But I was absolutely happy with whatever default options were set! Now [...]
I really like writing scripts that do stuff for me, so this post was a long time coming! I was just waiting for a time when I will be writing some FEMAP tools for my office. And finally, the time is now! Automating work in FEMAP (or any other FEA package) is a great idea! [...]
My relationship with 3D FEA is definitely love and hate. There are things I think are critical, and those that are completely unnecessary most of the time. Let's take a deeper look into this today! 3D FEA has an advantage: there are things that you simply cannot solve in 2D. But of course, this doesn't [...]
I think that many engineers, especially in the structural field, start FEA to calculate complex connections. There are few traps on such problems, and one of them is preloading bolts! This is why I've created a tutorial to do just that in Femap! I hope you will like it! There are several ways in which [...]
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 [...]
I often learn stuff when I write on the blog, as it forces me to rethink what I already know. This time, however, it's completely different! I invited a friend of mine to teach me (and you) how to perform electromagnetic FEA! This will be super fun, because in Anttis words: Electromagnetic FEA is performed exactly [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]