Differences between Steel Industry and Aeronautic/Space Industry on FEA

[Vitkacy1989]

Hello All,

I am FEA Expert in steel, my background is Oil&Gas, Energy and similar industries. I am wondering what mechanical phenomena should I consider to be able to provide reasonable FEA design in your industry.

Thus, I would like to ask my fellow Aeronautic Engineers:

1. What material are you working with the most
2. What are the failures against which checks must be provided
3. What type of connections are the most important
4. Are there some standards/codes/norm available online for a review how to perform checks

Thanks for a contribution!
This is just for a general purpose and my understanding...

 

[Sparweb]

Hello Vitkacy,
The questions are very broad.
It's a bit like asking you, "please summarize everything one must know as a FEA Expert in Steel, Oil & Gas, Energy and similar industries". Are you sure you could summarize what you know in a few paragraphs?

My answers will be correct in some cases, and wrong in other cases, but here goes:
1) Aluminum and composites, with steel fasteners. The composites may be laminates or sandwich construction. The aluminum is usually sheet-metal but also often plate
2) Where sheet metal is concerned, buckling. For laminates, compression and interlaminar shear. For sandwich, core shear and face buckling
3) All connections that transmit structural load are important. We use many types of fasteners and adhesives in many many ways.
4) Yes, many of them. Each airframe OEM has its own proprietary design manual. Every advanced certification authority has regulations and advisory documents. You can do FEA of aircraft structures in ignorance of the aircraft's design requirements, but it is likely to waste a lot of time. FEA may be used as a preliminary design tool, in service or more reliable methods, which is something I prefer doing. You can, if you have deep pockets, use FEA as the primary substantiation of a structural design's certification. That takes a lot more effort that is not always economical. Depends on if you are designing the whole aircraft or just a sub-component. Even the airframe OEM's do all-up structural tests of their structures, even though they've analyzed them in great detail with FEA.


No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
STF