Customer Reviews

Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Building better products with FEA presents an alternative to the highly mathematical treatments that are normally associated with this topic. With a minimum of mathematical formulae and plenty of practical examples, the novice analyst can gain a thorough understanding of the techniques and know-how that is required to perform a successful analysis. In addition the book concentrates on the fundamental reason for FEA: to enable the designer to understand how his product behaves and to go on to make better designs.

The book starts by giving an overview of the common types of classical engineering analysis including, free body diagrams, moments of inertia, stress and strain, beam theory, failure theories and dynamic analysis. After this introduction there is no more mathematics to be found in the book. The next chapter discusses the capabilities and limitations of both h-element and p-element codes. The critical distinction between correctness and accuracy is also made clear.

In part 2 the basic types of modelling are covered with plenty of examples showing how in practical terms the modelling should be carried out. The effect of choosing different constraint systems is clearly demonstrated. There is an extremely useful section on how to build CAD models that are "Finite Element friendly"; something that is rarely discussed in other works. In chapter 8 boundary conditions are discussed in more detail and good use is made of example models showing how different constraint systems affect the answer; sometimes very dramatically. The techniques necessary for a successful part optimisation are covered, from concept design selection through fine tuning to local sensitivity analysis.

In part 3 more complex analysis issues are tackled, including joints, welds & press-fits. Non- linear, modal and dynamic analysis are covered briefly but in sufficient detail for the analyst to get started in these difficult fields.

The final part of the book covers how to choose the correct FEA system for your needs and how to successfully integrate finite element analysis into the design process. Hardware requirements are discussed in general terms. Finally some predictions are made for the future of structural analysis.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to designers and analysts who wish to get the most out of their analysis. It distils many years of finite element expertise into a highly readable book which should be on the shelf of all product designers who use, or wish to use, finite element analysis tools. It should also be read by engineering managers who wish to appreciate the potential pitfalls of FEA, and so fully reap the benefits rather than getting 'pretty pictures'.

I have never come across such a book that puts FEA which is such a complex subject in to simple layman terms and explanations. I am working in a CAD/CAM company for 10 years and with this book, I have laid for myself a very strong foundation in FEA which I dare not touch. I strongly recommend this book to anyone (beginner or expert) to take a look at this impressive book.

To the authors : Well done and keep it coming !

The other reviews have said it all.

After graduating from college as a Mechanical Engineer, I was hired to do FEA in a very large company. We hadn't covered FEA at all during my undergraduate courses. I needed to learn what FEA was about pronto.

The book was great reading from first page to last. Minimal math, great explanation of concepts . It won't step you through how to do it in Pro-E or I-DEAS, but will give you the understanding you need to figure out your CAD package.

Great job!

WOW ! I have been using FEA for sometime now and this book has given me more insight into; not only using various softwares in the market today, but also the theoretical aspects involved with modeling and analysis. I have had the book for sometime, but never got a chance to read it until recently, but once I started, I read it from cover to cover and the best part is, its for everyone, beginner, intermediate or expert.....

Read it! It is time well spend

I am an Applications Engineer for one of the major FEA software companies. I am recommending this book to all the customers and CAD vendors I encounter. There is truly nothing else like it. Too often FEA books are written by academics for academic purposes. Adams and Askenazi make their points with hundreds of real world examples. It is crystal clear that they have "been in the trenches" solving real world problems. Their insight is superb: I've been doing FEA for 12 years and I learned a lot from this book.

If you are an engineer, skip it and do real work. It is general, basic, and lacks real knowledge. This is not a reference book, nor is it a teaching book. However, if you are an engineering manager overseeing a group conducing FEA analysis, this book will help you. It is full of wonderful insight, such as: "FEA can help build a better, more robust product". These blinding flashes of the obvious will keep most real engineers at arm's length. If I had a chance to do it again, I would not purchase this book.

If there is one word in the English language to describe this overpriced paperback, it's "verbose". As I read the book, I kept saying to myself "yada, yada, yada...when are we going to get to specifics?". Don't get me wrong...there is useful information in this book. And I applaud its focus on the practical aspects of DOING finite element analysis, rather than all the rigorous mathematics that is the overriding theme in way too many texts. But unless you are completely new at FEA, I think you will find that the authors often repeat themselves and state the obvious. The book is 587 pages, but could easily be made half as large by removing all the fluff. While there are a number of examples given, the book could be improved by using more and better examples that focus on specifics, rather than generalities.

I had wanted a book of this nature for over a year. While you still probably need to refer to a theoretical book for explanations, this book minimizes the searching you need to do. This book is for users for FE. I found it very interesting and practical. The authors have written from their experiences and this makes the book worth reading. As a last note, this book also explains the causes of some of the error messages produced by commercial software.

If you are wanting to do any FEA work, then this is a book that you should have by your computer. Written by engineers for engineers, it takes a straight forward approach to FEA. It starts with a basic review of the theory behind FEA, but then goes into the knowledge necessary to do a good analysis. It discusses all aspects of FEA, from it's accuracy and what types of error there are, to advanced modeling techniques. Equally good for the beginning FE user to the expert analyst.

This book is a must have for every engineer who is doing, or wants to do, Finite Element Analysis. It is written clearly with great examples. The authors should be congratulated for writing such an extensive and useful book. Nice to see a book like this grounded in reality vs. only the theoretical.