Parts designed using using simulation software (FEA). (1 Viewer)

[flapjack]

Anyone here familiar with or know of companies that design parts using simulation software (FEA in the engineering parlance)? I have good reason to believe that Ford used simulation software in the design of the BOSS 500 block. Not sure about Rodeck, et. al. did for the TFX block.

 

[DaveRenk]

Anyone here familiar with or know of companies that design parts using simulation software (FEA in the engineering parlance)? I have good reason to believe that Ford used simulation software in the design of the BOSS 500 block. Not sure about Rodeck, et. al. did for the TFX block.

Modern CAD systems either have FEA built in or available as an add-in these days. The trick is to know how to apply the loads for analysys.

 

[Student of the sport]

We use FEA to validate strength and stress locations on our rocker arms, it is a powerful tool for indentifying weak points and adjusting material placement to acheive the strongest component possible, and like has been said, the key is how loads are applied to the parts to give a "real" picture of how stress is distributed throughout the design.

Nitromethane, however, has a way of finding a weak point in ANY design, regardless of how much FEA is performed!!

 

[FuelFC]

Yes very familiar.

I would be surprised if anyone in even a maybe somewhat critical part in the sport is NOT using it. Along with simulation software, full blown FMEA, and a few other very cool 'not for sale' programs .

 

[flapjack]

The reason why I started this thread is to find out if FEA is used in part design. I am glad to see that it is.

I also started this thread without the purpose of advertising a particular product. That said, the following is in no way meant as an advertisement, just as an FYI...

I work for Dassault Systemes Simulia Corp., the company that makes Abaqus (some of you may have heard of this), which, depending on which platform you run the software, has a CAD system as well the default FEA system.

I wanted to point out in the case of knowing where to apply a load, Abaqus can apply a distributed load (a load applied across a surface). It also does nonlinear analysis which can give more flexibility in the types of problems that can be solved.

OK, enough of that. If this post piqued you interest, more info can be found at SIMULIA