FEMdesigner - your engineering design toolkit!
easy, tiny, fast, low-cost, high-spec. design engineer's FE solver for Windows
WHAT DOES FEMDESIGNER DO ?
FEMdesigner performs the Finite Element Method of stress analysis.
This means that a design engineer can construct a computer model
of a structure, apply various loads (pressure, force, weight etc) to the model
and find out how the real structure would deform under these loads. The
stresses (force per unit area) which are set up in the structure due to these
deformations are also calculated, and these can be compared with set allowable
limits from industry design codes. Similar techniques are used for thermal and dynamic analyses.
1/4 FEM model of a piston
WHAT IS A FINITE ELEMENT ?
A Finite Element is an individual, regular shape which has a known
stiffness so that any applied load will give a predictable corresponding
displacement. Elements can be joined together at points along the edges called
nodes. Complex shapes are made up as an assembly of elements, called a mesh (see picture above),
to which restraints and loads may be applied. During the computer analysis of
the model, a series of simultaneous equations are set up which represent the
overall stiffness of the model, and these are solved, giving the node
displacements resulting from the applied loads. FE analysis is used in the
design of every important large structure such as buildings, cars, aircraft,
bridges, trains, nuclear pressure vessels, spacecraft, where it is critical
that the design works first time. However, It is also in widespread use to aid
industrial designers because with FE you can test numerous different design
concepts before constructing a prototype, thereby saving time and money.
Furthermore, a newly designed component can be proven safe far more accurately
and quickly than by traditional means and if you are not really sure how the
applied loads affect the component, FE will show you graphically what is
happening.