New 'Stress analyst/engineer' 6

[sughew]

I have applied for a good job which will (after the two year training period) turn me into a fully fledged aerospace stress engineer.

Now, I know what stress analysis is all about - it was one of my favorite subjects at uni - but I am asking for advice on how to turn myself into a decent stress engineer (assuming I get the job!!). What are the 'secrets', rules-of-thumbs etc.

cheers

 

[Ashereng]

Congratulations. Good luck with the job hunt.

Now, I know what stress analysis is all about - it was one of my favorite subjects at uni

You need to be open to the possibility that you don't know what it is all about.

It sounds like you are starting out in your career. At this point, if you already think you know what stress analysis is all about, chances are, you won't develop. This may be due to:
a) no one will help you because you already know it all
b) because you already know it all

A good engineer, in any field, is one who is constantly strives to be better.

 

[monkeydog]

sughew,
Congratulations on your new job. The good stress engineers I have worked with over the years, had the following "characteristics":

1) Did not claim to know it all.
2) Did know quite a bit.
3) Asked questions.
4) Listened to the designers, and participated in the design.
5) Looked, touched, examined the hardware broken or not.
6) Walked the factory floor regardless if called or not.
6a) Knows the machinists/technicians by name.

There are probably others that will come to mind, but that popped in head first.

By the way, those "characteristics" would apply to any mechanical or hardware type of engineer.

 

[epoisses]

I think asking for secrets and rules-of-thumb is an excellent start. I don't know anything about stress engineering but experts please contine...

 

[zcp]

1) Boundary conditions. Take a simple problem (beam with center load for example) and explore the difference a change in boundary conditions makes. Now try it with a panel under pressure. Now a truss under load. You get the idea.
2) Loadpaths. Practice all the textbook structural problems that you can. Read books. Run test models. Do all you can to learn how structures react under load. When you think you have it down, go learn some more.
3) Bruhn. Get a copy and treat it well. It will save you many times over.
Good luck and let us know how you are doing in a year.

ZCP

http://www.phoenix-engineer.com

 

[Twoballcane]

In order to impress and be persuasive to laymen (managers) learn a good FEM such as ANSYS or ProMechanica to get your analysis results across. Remember, garbage in garbage out, your hand calcs should guide you through the analysis not the FEM. Always look for correlation between hand calcs and FEM.

You have the theoretical knowledge, now you have to learn the trade.

Good luck!

 

[wes616]

1. The best stress engineers I've worked with understand when an approximation is "good engough"! Not everything needs to be taken to 6 place precision....

2. Time = Money...

3. FOS = 1.5

4. composits, composits, composits...

5. Learn the right questions to ask...

6. Learn when the "rules of thumb" DONT APPLY... or when they can be broken...

7. Why guess when you can test...

8. Not everything needs a formal testplan...



Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

 

[JStephen]

In my industry, there are a lot of stress-type problems that simply aren't worth solving. It's cheaper to make the part a little heavier than to do the analysis to lighten it. Needless to say, I'm not in the airplane business.

 

[StressGuy]

Well, I'm not aerospace, but I am a stress engineer. I'll definitely have to concur with my colleagues here in imparting the importance of realizing that, while you can model anything, it is still ultimately a representation. The real thing can and often will be different.

I can build a model of a piping system in my stress program and make it show fail or make it show pass. Experience comes from knowing which one is "true."

Good luck. While I'm sure things are somewhat different in the aircraft industry as the focus on weight is critical, I've found my work in stress to be a challenging and rewarding way to work.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

"All the world is a Spring"

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

 

[MintJulep]

Don't believe that the pretty colored plots are right just because the computer makes them.

 

[GregLocock]

All models are wrong. Some models are useful.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[corus]

Don't trust the software.


corus

 

[StressGuy]

Well, it's good to see others picking up the chorus. I can only hope that the new kids coming out of school learn this quickly.

It seems that it's always the new grads and management types who think we can type a few keys, push a button to run an analysis and BOOM, the engineering is finished.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

"All the world is a Spring"

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

 

[sughew]

Guys,

Thank you for your excellent comments.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the job! So i'm now back to square one and getting depressed!

sughew

 

[GregLocock]

Oh, that's not good. Another way in is to get into the test labs where the correlation data is generated. A few years experience there, combined with your interest in stress analysis, should give you an easy 'in' to the stress analysis group, whre your practical experience will amply compensate for lack of FEA experience.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.