Services - FEMdesigner

..including plasticity, heat transfer and dynamic/seismic analysis.

Knowing how the computational software actually works gives us a unique perspective into what is more approximate/accurate and whether the analysis is therefore adequate. Any engineer can run an analysis package but do they really know what they are doing with the results? In our experience; the answer is seldom! We have participated in actually writing stress assessment codes for future fusion reactors in which we intend to try to move design engineers away from the inadequate elastic assessment methods which are barely understood and rarely applied correctly towards more robust plasticity procedures which have much less subjectivity.

Seismic analysis is traditionally carried out via response spectrum analysis (rsa) but this technique is now decried by its own author as a quick & dirty method that he thought would be replaced long ago by more accurate & flexible methods such as nonlinear transients or local spring-mass-damper elements. Equivalent static analysis is also widely used and often misrepresented as somehow better than pure dynamic analysis. Even experienced engineers spout such nonsense without irony. Be aware it is only barely adequate for single storey buildings: Even rsa is better.

...to Eurocode 3 design standard. Some manufacturers neglect to check the connections design, yet that is the most vital check to make.

We have experience in designing stylish products for injection moulding or 3D printing as well as more functional metal structures of every type & purpose.

...unlike the others, we don't just know how to use design codes & software, we intimately know the theories behind the codes (and the bits they miss out) and the maths behind the software!

Code design to ASME, PD5500, EN13445 standards. Nozzle/shell intersections, saddles, flanges etc. Vessels are usually designed to have the thinnest shell possible to reduce cost. However this increases the stresses at all discontinuities. You need an experienced engineer. We have been designing vessels of all types for 30 years from offshore wellheads to beam line vessels for nuclear fusion. All designs are backed up by Finite Element  analysis because the codes, whilst useful, are deficient and overly simplistic in important areas.

We design nuclear waste containers, cryogenic tanks and other storage tanks to various design codes. Rectangular vessels depend on resistance to bending stress rather than the usual curved vessels which transmit the load via membrane stresses. Thin tanks need special attention paid to buckling and not all codes are adequate in that regard: This is where experience matters.

Piping is mostly about allowing flexibility for expansion due to loadings and anchoring/support design. However the codes are often too conservative for pressure and not conservative enough for temperature. Trust us to check every important joint, interface, valve, header etc. with more detailed analysis.

The complications here are in the perforated plates. Detailed stress analysis is necessary, especially for the bridge between the hot and cold sides, for which design codes are inadequate.