general FEA question

[BobM3]

I've only worked with simple freeware FEA programs. I'm looking at purchasing a more powerful package. One thing I'd like to do is see what effect misalignment of mating parts has on stresses. In particular, a vendor of ours made some shafts where the keyway slot was off the centerline by various amounts. I didn't have much confidence in my ability to get a good accurate answer by hand calculations. What would be nice is to find an FEA program where I could mate the three parts (shaft, key and gear) and then move the keyway slot off center on the shaft and be able to get some stresses. Is this something some of the FEA programs can do?

 

[ajamnia]

Depending on the details of what you need to do and the FEA software you choose, what you have described is doable. However, if you are not comfortable with running FEA software, you may want to consider a consultant do the job for you. It may turn out to be less expensive than buying the software and take less time to get the results.

 

[cbrn]

Hi,
because you posted in the Ansys forum, I believe you considered Ansys as a candidate for your FEA-choice. In this case, be aware that it is a high-end tool which costs a high-end price... The advice of asking a consultant for doing the analysis is really valuable for what you have described. If instead, you plan to rapidly extend the variety of analyses you want to do, then having a FEA "in-house" is valuable.

Regards