So we will begin with the simply supported beam.

The FEA will be done with a beam mesh and a solid mesh. The results are compared with the analytic solutions of beams under deflection. These solutions are found in the class notes. First well find the deflections and stress of the analytic solutions. Here is the basic material properties defined in Solid Works. The material used was an aluminum alloy.

Simply supported Beam analysis = 6.910 = 2 = 1 (1) (1)3 = 8.3333 10 12

The deflection is the following:

The maximum stress is given by:

(10)(20)3 3 = = 2.9 48 48 6.9 1010 (. 08334 ) 2 (10)(20)(.5) = = 3 4(.08334 ) = 4

Remember the max moment solved in statics is the following :

Below we see that these values are very close or exact to the analytic values.

Beam Mesh analysis of simply supported beam

Figure 1 shows the max stress in a simply supported beam to be exactly 3Mpa

Figure 2 shows the max deflection in the simply supported beam to be -2.917microns

Solid Mesh analysis of simply supported beam

Figure 3 shows the simply supported beam to have 3.05Mpa max stress

Figure 4 shows the max deflection in a simply supported beam to be -2.923 microns

Cantilever beam analysis The deflection is the following: = (10)(20)3 3 = = .464 3 3 6.9 1010 (. 08334 ) 2 (10)(20)(.5) = = 12 . 08334 = Below we see that these values are very close or exact to the analytic values.

The maximum stress is given by:

Remember the max moment solved in statics is the following :

Beam mesh analysis of cantilever beam

Figure 5 shows the max stress to be exactly 12Mpa

Figure 6 shows the max deflection to be exactly -.4645mm

Solid mesh analysis of cantilever beam

Figure 7 shows the max stress to be 11.8Mpa

Figure 8 shows the max deflection to be -.4624mm

This concludes that the FEA is accurate and almost exact in some cases. What one can notice from the analysis is that the beam mesh gave the most accurate answers. This is because the beam mesh uses theoretical insight to calculate the solution. Where the solid mesh forms its solution based on the mesh. The solid mesh analysis could have been more accurate if the mesh size was reduced. In FEA the smaller the mesh, the closer you are to the exact solution. But there is a limit on how small you go based on either your computing power or the grade of software. In the educational version of Solid Works the mesh size can only be reduced so small.

First order natural frequency calculation of a cantilever beam: = 1 2

= = =

Lets see what Solid Works Says.

3 3 = 3 = 21562.4 / 3 1 21562.4 / = 23.3705 2 1

Figure 9 shows that the frequency is 23.25 Hz

Here are the higher modal frequencies found in Solid Works

First order natural frequency calculation of a cantilever beam: = 1 2

= =

Lets see what Solid Works Says.

3 48 = 3 = 345000 / 48 1 345000 / = 93.4822 2 1

Figure 10 shows the first order modal frequency to be 91.9 Hz.