Product engineering
A 3-axis gimbal for serial production
Parts designed for injection moulding, checked with FEA before tooling is committed.
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FEA · Finite element analysis
Dynamic / transient analysis (FEA)
When loads change quickly, inertia matters. Dynamic analysis shows how a part or a machine vibrates, which frequencies to avoid, and what happens in an impact or a drop.
What it covers
Frequencies, vibration and impact.
- Natural frequencies and mode shapes. How a structure prefers to vibrate, and whether a motor, a fan or a process excites it.
- Response to vibration. Deformation and stress under a periodic load, such as an unbalanced rotor or a moving axis.
- Transient loads. Loads that rise and fall quickly: start and stop of a mechanism, a sudden force.
- Drop test and impact. What a product or its housing goes through when it falls, before the physical test.
Dynamic results depend strongly on damping, mass distribution and how the part is held. We state these assumptions, and for impact we recommend confirming the result with a physical test.
Typical questions
- Is a natural frequency close to the running speed of the machine?
- Why does a frame or a bracket vibrate, and how can it be stiffened?
- Will the housing survive a drop from the specified height?
- How do fast moves of an automation axis load its structure?
- Which components are critical under a sudden load?
Open-source FEA
Professional analysis, without enterprise licence costs.
Commercial FEA packages often cost thousands of euros a year per seat, and that cost ends up in the price of every study. We work with a mature open-source toolchain instead, so an SME pays for engineering time, not for software licences.
The solver, CalculiX, is a long-established finite element code that reads the widely used Abaqus-style input format.
Honest about the limits
Where a question genuinely needs a feature that only a commercial package offers, we say so before the work starts.
The workflow
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Geometry: FreeCAD
The CAD model is prepared for analysis and simplified where details don't affect the answer.
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Set-up and mesh: PrePoMax with Netgen
Materials, loads, supports and contacts are defined, each assumption is recorded, and the mesh is refined where stresses concentrate.
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Solution: PrePoMax with CalculiX
The model is solved and checked: convergence, mesh sensitivity and plausibility against hand calculations.
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Post-processing: PrePoMax and ParaView
Stresses, displacements and reactions are extracted and presented as clear images and figures for the decision.
Product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Do you have an engineering question? Let's discuss it.
Tell us what you are developing, changing or trying to fix. We first look at the engineering question, then say plainly what is worth doing: a calculation, a design review, a test, a simulation, or a combination.
Complimentary first site visit & analysis
Custom proposal, regardless of project scale
Strict confidentiality & NDA protection