5 FEA Mistakes Most Structural Engineers Make

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is an essential tool for structural engineers, offering unparalleled precision and efficiency in designing safe and cost-effective structures. However, even experienced engineers can fall into common traps that compromise the accuracy and reliability of their analysis. In this video, we uncover the 5 FEA mistakes most structural engineers make —and more importantly, how to avoid them.

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[kayleevalli]

My first boss said that in our profession, it is the hardest thing to know how many zeros, and if it's + or -.

[noqmfgu]

Appreciate the recommendation for the model log.

[BoZhaoengineering]

Don’t use general purpose FEA such as Ansys. Instead, Use code compatible FEA for civil engineering. Beam theory and plate theory are mainly used by design code. And detailing including shear lag and joints are introduced for analytical calculations by design code approach. If you use general purpose FEA, you will mess up things and get nightmares about your structural design.

[malikdaniyel]

Hi Brendan, great video as usual and valid interpretation of what to look for when using design software.

Stay safe
Malik from Barbados

[Ryzen-xh]

It is not difficult to pretend to be a general practitioner, but one day someone will lose their life because of a mistake. In parallel, that is what happens when someone does not fully understand physic and math of FEM and jumps straight into commercial FEM sofware

[ramaphosaterrence]

Great video. However, I have a question on RC beam design on Robot Structural Analysis. When carrying out beam analysis on RSA, I've been getting way less moments as compared to when I carry out the same design on Prokon design software even though the release conditions and the loading are similar. This tends to produce a major underdesign, for which I can't seem to get a solution for. What could be the issue? If I understood my member force analysis correctly, material properties shouldn't influence my member force analysis calculations apart from member own SW