Handles large deformation, plasticity and contact by iterative load stepping.
Nonlinear FEA includes geometric nonlinearity (large deformation), material nonlinearity (plasticity, hyperelasticity) and contact. Loads are applied in increments with Newton-Raphson iteration. Convergence needs good meshes and careful contact settings.
Simulating a snap-fit clip or crash deformation.
Nonlinear finite element analysis handles large deformation, yielding and contact, which are common in crash, forming and seal design.
Handles large deformation, plasticity and contact by iterative load stepping.
Nonlinear finite element analysis handles large deformation, yielding and contact, which are common in crash, forming and seal design.
When deformations are large, materials yield, or contact changes during loading, because a linear model would give errors of significant size.
It solves a sequence of linear problems with iterations and load steps, and each step must converge before the next is applied.
Typical applications include simulating the crash deformation of a car front rail, modelling the forming of a sheet metal part in a press and checking the sealing force on a rubber gasket under compression.
Study "Fatigue life prediction" first (topic 105 of 106 in Engineering Mechanics). It covers the groundwork this topic builds on.
Tangent stiffness. Load stepping. Arc-length for buckling.
Simulating a snap-fit clip or crash deformation.
This is the final topic in Engineering Mechanics.
It is classed as Advanced in Engineering Mechanics (topic 106 of 106). It is an advanced topic. It assumes you are comfortable with the intermediate topics in Engineering Mechanics.
Want to practise? Open the interactive course for quick checks, quizzes, simulations and progress tracking.