Integrated Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in three-dimensional Computer Aided Design Programs (CAD) : overview and comparison

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Roith, Bernd ; Troll, Alexander ; Rieg, Frank:
Integrated Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in three-dimensional Computer Aided Design Programs (CAD) : overview and comparison.
In: Design Society (Hrsg.): ICED 2007 : 16th International Conference on Engineering Design ; conference proceedings. - Paris : Ecole Centrale Paris , 2007 . - S. 99-111 . - (Design Society ; 42 )

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Abstract

Nowadays faster product development is expected by customers but at the same time the costs of production and development have to be minimized. To meet these requirements more and more computer-assisted simulations are being used. This applies to many production procedures and a new standard of engineering by intelligent cross-linked simulations (ICROS) has been defined for these. The ICROS method describes the whole proceeding of development and production of a new product, including the material selection (material parameters), the design of the construction unit, the finite element analysis (FEA), the production simulation and the manufacturing of the prototypes. The constantly growing impact of such simulation programs led to the integration of tools covering the functions of the finite element analysis into all larger three-dimensional computer aided design programs.
This study shows the general differences between the FEA application tools, which are implemented in the CAD systems Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, CatiaV5 and NX4, and investigates if these tools are generally suitable for the ICROS method. These tools consist of the import interface of geometry units, the pre-processor for the independent generation of a finite element mesh and the actual solver. The comparison is based on linear static analyses of individual engineering units. Three other standalone finite element programs were added to complete the comparison. These programs are Patran as pre-processor combined with Marc as solver, ABAQUS 6.6-1 and Z88 Version 12.0. The comparison is realised on the basis of several examples.