Finite Element Analysis: What Is It and How Does It Work?

Have you ever wondered how engineers and manufacturers test their designs’ durability, strength, and safety?

If you’ve ever watched a car commercial, you might believe engineers and designers continually destroy their products to test for strength. You might conclude manufacturers repeat this process until the design can withstand a tremendous amount of damage and it reaches an acceptable point of durability. Even though it costs companies millions to test and destroy their concepts, this is the only way to prove a product’s durability, right?

The answer to that is yes, and no. While engineers almost always test a product’s final design by having it interact with actual physical forces, engineers and manufacturers also use computer-aided engineering software (CAE software) to optimize strength and durability before actually testing it. The process of using software to test how a product reacts to real-world forces is called finite element analysis (FEA). 

While FEA contains a series of complex steps, it can be broken down into one goal: to test the effects of stressors on an object.

Why use finite element analysis?

There are various ways finite element analysis can help engineers and manufacturers speed up the core functions of their day-to-day jobs.

Finite element analysis drastically reduces manufacturing costs. Historically, engineers and manufacturers had to manually redesign objects over and over until the engineers were positive the final design would remain intact under physical stress. This required many redesigns, which would elongate the design process, costing lots of money.

However, with finite element analysis, designers can test durability within the virtual space of computer-aided engineering software. This significantly reduces project lead times, which saves manufacturers money and time while reducing material waste. The finished result is a safe and durable design.

How to conduct finite element analysis 

Finite element analysis is a method of structural analysis that uses mathematical processes. FEA requires you to break down a larger, more complicated object into more manageable sections. As you keep splitting the structure, you get a better idea of how the object will respond to stressors. This method of breaking down a structure for FEA is known as the finite element method (FEM). 

Step 1: Modelling

While modeling the object, you should omit the sophisticated geometrical features and see the basic structure of the object. Pay attention to what features are present for structural reasons versus aesthetic appeal. Understand why you're removing one geometrical aspect while maintaining another.

Step 2: Material definition

As the name of the step suggests, material properties should be defined here. These depend on the type of analysis that is being carried out. Play around with different materials to check which one fits the needs required.

Step 3: Defining loads

Your structure cannot exist in a vacuum. This step helps you identify which external forces are acting on the structure. How does it affect one component versus another?

Step 4: Boundary conditions

As we've done in mathematical problems before, setting conditions for which the structure will exist is mainly done to reduce the complexity of the problem. If we know the conditions beforehand, it helps us save a lot of time when calculating. 

Step 5: Meshing

The geometry of your structure is divided into smaller shapes called as, drumroll please, finite elements. Meshing simply means connecting the computations from these finite elements to create a mesh structure. 

Step 6: Solution

Simply put, partial differential equations are converted into algebraic equations. This will help represent equations as matrices. The singular matrices are then assembled into one global matrice, which is then solved for unknown variables.

At this point, your FEM computing software will have created a representation for your object. Keep checking across different designs to see which one suits your requirements.

Finite element method examples

While the finite element method might seem complex in theory, practical use cases make it much easier to understand.

A prime use case of the finite element method is testing the strength and durability of a bridge. When engineers design a bridge, aesthetics tend to get all the glory.

As consumers and city dwellers, we prioritize a piece of architecture’s visual appeal over its safety and durability. This is why one of the most famous bridges in the world is the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

It’s an architectural masterpiece that was the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge at the time of its construction. It connected Marin County to the city of San Francisco and was visually appealing to boot.

But how often do people think about how much planning it took to engineer such a large structure? How did engineers construct a bridge that has stood for more than 80 years with no computer software to help them? The answer lies in the finite element method.

When we think of the Golden Gate Bridge, one can appreciate all the different elements engineers had to account for. The bridge is effectively a bridge deck, pylons, cables, beams, and foundation combined into a single object capable of supporting 887,000 tons. 

Next, engineers had to test how this bridge would react to earthquakes and the heavy winds common to the Bay Area. The best way to do this was by breaking down how each element would respond to physical forces to construct the entire bridge.

For example, the truss system below the bridge was added to stiffen the deck and reduce the roadway’s tension on the bridge itself. Without it, the bridge would collapse. Engineers even placed shock absorbers at each end of the bridge to help it withstand seismic forces.

Without the absorbers, the bridge could collapse in an earthquake. To think the Golden Gate Bridge engineers had to do all of this manually is mind-boggling. Still, what’s even more impressive is they accomplished all this in only four years — by relying on the finite element method.

Fast-forward to today; we have computer-aided engineering software that allows engineers to conduct finite element analysis before construction begins. While the engineers of old had to think about all these elements beforehand, engineers today can optimize and ensure the safety of their designs using software.

This is why constructing the Golden Gate Bridge would look entirely different today. With CAE software, users can tinker with construction geometry to build durable and safe structures.

Once you’re done designing a structure or object, the software performs the finite element analysis. In the case of a bridge, this mainly involves direct stress that weight would have on the structure. The software can then identify which elements of the bridge would fail under specific stresses and whether the bridge would collapse. Using finite element analysis, engineers can quickly identify areas that need to be redesigned.

Finite element analysis software

As we've talked about before, computer-aided software helps with finite element analysis. But how do we identify good CAE software?

CAE software must meet the following requirements to be considered within its category.

• Enable users to create simulations through a graphical user interface (GUI)
• Allow for testing of components within a simulation while having customizable environmental variables
• Aid in optimizing processes and product development

Below are the top five CAE software used for finite element analysis. These are listed as per the software trends observed while publishing this article.

1. MATLAB

MATLAB is a programming, modeling, and simulation tool developed by MathWorks.

What users like:

“The fact that Matlab is simple to use and has excellent community assistance is what I appreciate most. Various signals and image processing methods are available. Mathematical operations and matrix operations become simple and aid in streamlining labor and research.”

- MATLAB review, Vandan C

What users dislike:

“The license and cost are a little heavy, and application data size is also heavy, so running the project takes too much time and makes workflow tedious. It still gives definite results after waiting makes all worthwhile.”

- MATLAB review, Sagar V.

2. Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is the first and only integrated cloud CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB product development solution for product designers, mechanical engineers, electronics engineers, and machinists. It allows you to connect your entire design to manufacture a product development process to deliver high-quality products to market faster and positively impact your bottom line.

What users like:

“Fusion is cost-effective, easy to use, and easily scales to team size. Having only one file format and one file to build everything is excellent.”

- Fusion360 review, Adam O.

What users dislike:

“It’s a little buggy. Some problems require researching the forums to find a workaround until a patch is pushed. Some issues persist for quite a while, while others are fixed instantly.”

- Fusion360 review, Justin H.

3. SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS delivers connected, easy-to-use tools that help you innovate and accelerate every aspect of your product development process.

What users like:

“The software allows me to see different views in real-time while designing, so it helps me visualize my part better and understand its function more clearly than ever before.”

- SOLIDWORKS review, Md. Sazzad M.

What users dislike:

“Parametric design is not so valuable for Solidworks. Moreover, making sketches through equations is also not easy, and there are fewer options. There are only a few options for A-class surfacing as well. Keyshot is also not given with Solidworks.”

- SOLIDWORKS review, Himanshu K.

4. Solid Exchange

Solid Edge is a portfolio of affordable, easy-to-deploy, maintain, and use software tools that advance all aspects of the product development process – mechanical and electrical design, simulation, manufacturing, technical documentation, data management, and cloud-based collaboration.

What users like:

“Feature-rich modeling capabilities, synchronous technology, rendering with KeyShot, strong Parasolid kernel, super easy simulation (FEA analysis).”

- Solid Exchange review, Florian S.

What users dislike:

“Animation and sketch environment could receive some improvements, and they could add more functions to work with meshes along with B-rep modeling.”

- Solid Exchange review, Flavio H.

5. Altair SimSolid

By performing structural analyses on fully-featured CAD assemblies within minutes, SimSolid is a game-changing simulation technology for designers, engineers, and analysts. It eliminates geometry preparation and meshing: the two most time-consuming, expertise-extensive, and error-prone tasks performed in a conventional structural simulation. 

What users like:

“Altair SimSolid is built on advanced engineering simulation technology that makes it ideal for analyzing complex, real-world products. Its unique, all-in-one solver approach delivers speed and accuracy, while its meshing and modeling capabilities save time and simplify the construction of models. It is also a comprehensive and powerful integrated suite of tools that lets engineering professionals design in 3D easily.”

- Altair SimSolid review, Yashovardhan J

What users dislike:

“There is no allowance for geometric modifications once the model has been imported. The introduction of geometric modeling tools in SimSolid would increase the efficiency of the analysis workflow.”

- Altair SimSolid review, Giulio D.

Finite analysis for infinite payoff

While learning to conduct finite element analysis takes patience and practice, the payoff can be immense. Whether you work in the automotive, energy, or civil engineering industries - finite element analysis will help improve the safety and durability of your designs.

Want to know more about engineering and design principles? Read about what Building Information Modeling is and how it's helping engineers and architects alike.

This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.