Finite element analysis (FEA) is a computational process that allows you to simulate the performance of a wide range of materials, products, and systems. It lends itself to scales both big and small, too.
If you're thinking about using FEA services, you may wonder whether you have an appropriate use for them. FEA consulting professionals often analyze the following three things.
Stress
One of the most popular applications of FEA is calculating stresses on materials and systems. For example, all automobile manufacturers perform analyses of how the frames of their vehicles will hold up during collisions. While it doesn't rid them of the need for real-world crash tests, it does allow them to streamline the process by eliminating variables early. If they identify a problem via FEA, they can either make changes to the vehicle or conduct scale tests to confirm the issue.
An FEA consulting firm can examine stress at all practical scales. The manufacturer of a door hinge, for example, might want to see how their products hold up to repeated stress from use. At the opposite end of the scale, a government agency might examine how a large bridge will likely hold up to the combined weights of vehicles on it if traffic stops.
Heat
Many products have to endure significant amounts of heat. If a cookware business is trying to determine if its frying pans are oven-safe, they may engage FEA services to analyze the temperatures the product can withstand. This can save significant money by doing the bulk of the testing digitally, and then they can confirm results with real-world tests once they've dialed in a combination of materials they like.
Fluid and Air Pressure Dynamics
It can be challenging to assess the impact of fluids and air on materials. Particularly, the dynamic nature of fluids and gases can create scenarios where limited practical testing might not reveal problems. Only once the product undergoes millions of uses in the real world might a problem emerge.
By using FEA, you can conduct millions or even billions of simulations. Especially when you're trying to assess the issues that dynamic systems like weather can cause, this is a huge advantage. A civil engineer might want to know how water will flow under a highway to ensure it doesn't develop sinkholes, for example.
Extremities also lend themselves to FEA. If the civil engineer wants to see how their road will perform in a Category 5 hurricane, they can run thousands of analyses.