Help on Stress Analysis Distance Learning Course 1

Hello Everybody,

I would like to know if any of you has taken the "DISTANCE-LEARNING CERTIFICATE PROGRAM" course on stress analysis by JC.Flabel and if so would you could recommend it?
Does the course merely teach you what's in the accompayining book by Flabel?
I've just completed a MSc in Aeronautical Engineering. The course however was very much focussed on the underlying mathematics/physics of computations carried out in aeronautics.
I've a mechanical engineering degree + MSc in Information Systems Design and have always worked in IT. I'm ready for a career change but lack relevant experience in the aerospace industry, hence the MSc in Aeronautics + eventually other courses/certificates to compensate for it.
Any suggestion would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[graemew]

G'day mate,
Like many areas of endevour, academic quals. will only take you so far.
The Flabel course is a good one on practical stress analysis but it will still only give you the basics. Yes, it is basically what is in the book.
You will need to get out there and apply the lessons in a practical environment to make the correct linkages between what you have learnt and the best solutions achievable in the various circumstances that you will be presented with.
It is unfortunate, but development of practical engineering skills still takes practice using the analytical tools.
The engineering world has a disturbing habit of throwing up problems which are difficult to idealise using the analytical tools that education provides and experience of these is the best final teacher to round off your education.
It will be quite different to what you may have been used to in the IT world.
It helps hugely to have a passion for aircraft and aviation (and to be "touched" by the madness of it all) because you will probably have to start near the bottom.
All the best to you.

 

[Aerodesign]

Lupin77,
I concur with graemew, the Flabel content is pretty basic and does not prepare a non-aircraft engineer for the real world of stress analysis.

I suggest you spend your spare time working through Bruhn. Read it cover to cover and write out all the examples long hand (you can guess l am a trad stress guy!). There are supplements and addenda available for Bruhn online, l recommend the Bill Gran Errata pages.

The Michael Niu books are also very useful. Then there is Roark & Young, Perry, etc etc.....

You will find taht big companies use their own stress methodologies (Airbus, Boeing, LM, etc). These methodologies are often based on classical methods but are wrapped in black boxes, making the users unaware of the math and real workings. Concentrate on the classical methods to gain understanding and then you will be able to use black-box stress tools knowing whether they are providing reasonable answers (as toolboxes = rubbish in, rubbish out).

I am always on the look out for enthusiastic, plane-oriented people to work on interesting projects in my consulting business (UK based but that is not usually an issue as we have people globally). Maybe thats an option?

Aerodesign

 

[lupin77]

Thanks to both of you for the clear advice.

I actually do have a huge passion for aircrafts. I was born in a town right on the landing/take-off path of an air force base so I always had my nose pointing skywards and never complained about the noise (I actually quite enjoyed it!).
I have researched all the books mentioned. I think I'll start with Flabel + Bruhn + Megson (which I have already have).
I do agree 100% with your comments on academic qualifications vs. real life experience. I'm therefore quite ready to start from "near the bottom" and get my hands dirty in order to build up solid competency and knowledge on the subject.

Aerodesign, I'm currently looking for employment, hence filling up extra time available with additional study/research. My CV is always ready!

Lupin77

 

[Dan320]

We must all start out as a "Junior Assistant Small Brackets Designer".
With your excellent attitude, you will have a fine career in aero design.

 

[rb1957]

aero,

could you post a link to the "bill gran errata" pages ... i tried a search for "bill gran", the only useful looking hit was this thread !

cheers

 

[Aerodesign]

rb1957

Here it is:

Bruhn Errata Copyright, 2008, by GRAN Corporation. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-9816076-0-3 ISBN 0-9816076-0-8 GRAN Corporation Whitney, Texas

Bill is also on linkedIn.

Regards
John

 

[be2]

Hi, I took the course 2 years ago and have had some very good use of it in my work as a general stress engineer. I don´t have any aircraft stress engineering background and work for a train brake company. I have some years of general design experience as a consultant.

I do both hand and FEM calcs and like the idea of having a theoretical and analytical ground to stand on before using FEM all over the place (I´ve seen some rather hairy FEM calcs and reports by people obviously not capable of interpreting the results or doing the right assumptions).

Back to Flabel:
Its a very good and basic course one in some respects, and I consider that as a good repetion.In other respects it is rather specialized in detail (shear flow around cut outs etc). It doesn´t cover all aspects of stress engineering, far from it, no post buckling behaviour of shear panels such as Wagner beam webs for instance. There are a couple of very practical and relevant explanations on practical questions usually not taken up in ordinary text books. What I liked (and what was also difficult) was that the problems were very realistic, so one has to think a lot to see the solution before putting figures in the formulas. The text is in places very full, to the point of being over-repetitive.

Concluding remarks: One single book or course is not enough, all have their relative merits. or me, Flabel is a good course for those having some background in ordinary stress engineering and want to work with aircraft structures. It highligts some, but not all, of the special problems in aircraft. It is well worth the money and effort(took me a month per chapter). However good Bruhn is as a problem solving handbook, for me it leaves something to wish as a course material.

 

[lupin77]

Thanks be2,
I've read 7 of the 9 chapters of the book so far.
Before taking the course I wanted to get a feel for both the content and how it's actually covered/explained. My question is if the course covers more material than what's in the book already.

Since you mentioned FEM, I'm reading the "Practical Stress Analysis with Finite Elements" by B.J. Mac Donald. At the Msc I've just completed we've been thought how to write our own FE solvers but I think the course went too deep into the mathematical aspects at the expense of the bigger picture.
Did you come across this book?

 

[be2]

Hi lupin, the course follows the book without any extra info. You get home assignments. They consist of solving the problem at the end of each chapter and you also get a problem sheet sent home to you. Some of the problems are real easy but some required a lot of brain activity. Some questions were a little less than precisely defined but they were very few. After reading the Flabel book I am better prepared to understand other course materials.
About the FEM book you mention I don´t know.I use FEM without any deep theoretical knowledge but feel that some healthy suspicion can help me see when results are of doubtful value and need to be checked independently by hand calcs, if possible.