The process can be used to analyse and optimise structures under their everyday loadings and simulated extremes. The application of the FE technique is extensive; from predicting the fatigue life of a tiny electrical contact through to assessing the torsional stiffness of a vehicle body shell.
Incorporating FEA techniques into an engineering development process provides much more insight than the conventional 'design and test' method allows. Strain gauging a prototype part only recovers a very selected set of data. FEA not only provides the full picture, but also quickly focuses development on the critical areas. The structure can also be assessed over a wide range of loading conditions, which would otherwise involve costly prototype build and lengthy physical testing programmes.
