Bridging FEA Theory and Practice with MATLAB Grader - Work in Progress

Michael Sevier; Vincent Prantil

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Assessment in Mechanics Courses
Page Count: 26
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41095
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41095
Download Count: 502

Paper Authors

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Michael Sevier Milwaukee School of Engineering

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Michael Sevier is currently an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) where he teaches courses in the mechanics sequence. Before joining MSOE, Michael spent nine years working for ATA Engineering in Los Angeles where he specialized in the analysis of aerospace structures such as the James Webb Space Telescope (ATK) and Falcon-1 launch vehicles (SpaceX). Originally from California, Michael tries to prove he is tough enough for his new Midwest home by bike commuting year-round.

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Vincent Prantil Milwaukee School of Engineering

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Abstract

Finite element analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool that allows engineers to evaluate how well a structure can withstand a given loading environment. While commercial FEA software has a wide range of capacities, it requires substantial insight and a minimum requisite skillset in undergraduate mechanics to generate meaningful results. The purpose of an undergraduate finite element course is to build such insight within the minds of students. This is typically done utilizing both theory and practical application via commercial FEA software. Unfortunately, both the “user-friendliness” and generality of commercial software may make it more difficult for students to understand its inner workings (e.g., how geometrically assigned constraints are translated to nodal constraints). The work presented in this paper attempts to address this issue by having students contribute to their own 2D FEA code. This allows the student to see how concepts, such as 2D element quality checks, are integrated as each is brought in as an additional subroutine to the code. Also, writing one’s own code allows one to showcase more easily where exactly simplified element formulations recover exact solutions from strength of materials, as well as idealized problems that unambiguously demonstrate how FEA is not always conservative as a design tool. MATLAB Grader is used to facilitate the coding process for students by allowing instructor-guided scaffolding of the code, providing instantaneous formative feedback, and ensuring that their code runs as expected. The 2D FEA code could then be used for simple problems involving 1D beam and 2D plane stress elements with the intention of demonstrating practical aspects of FEA. This includes model development concepts such as the appropriate connectivity between different element types. It also addresses results interpretation, such as problems wherein analytical solutions used to validate FEA solutions are nearly always expressed in terms of specific stress components and not in terms of effective, e.g., Von Mises, quantities. The results from the 2D FEA code may also be compared with results from a commercial FEA program such as ANSYS Workbench to help the students directly see the integration of FEA theory in practice. A cursory assessment of the effectiveness of this process has been measured via a Qualtrics survey distributed towards the end of the term. The survey intends to gather the students’ subjective experience regarding MATLAB Grader and the development and use of the 2D FEA code. Survey results are separated from any student identifiers and are not tied to student performance in the course. The authors intend to pursue a more rigorous assessment regarding the effect of this process on students’ conceptual understanding in the future.

Citation
Format

Sevier, M., & Prantil, V. (2022, August), Bridging FEA Theory and Practice with MATLAB Grader - Work in Progress Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41095

TY - CPAPER
AB - Finite element analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool that allows engineers to evaluate how well a structure can withstand a given loading environment. While commercial FEA software has a wide range of capacities, it requires substantial insight and a minimum requisite skillset in undergraduate mechanics to generate meaningful results. The purpose of an undergraduate finite element course is to build such insight within the minds of students. This is typically done utilizing both theory and practical application via commercial FEA software. Unfortunately, both the “user-friendliness” and generality of commercial software may make it more difficult for students to understand its inner workings (e.g., how geometrically assigned constraints are translated to nodal constraints). The work presented in this paper attempts to address this issue by having students contribute to their own 2D FEA code. This allows the student to see how concepts, such as 2D element quality checks, are integrated as each is brought in as an additional subroutine to the code. Also, writing one’s own code allows one to showcase more easily where exactly simplified element formulations recover exact solutions from strength of materials, as well as idealized problems that unambiguously demonstrate how FEA is not always conservative as a design tool.
MATLAB Grader is used to facilitate the coding process for students by allowing instructor-guided scaffolding of the code, providing instantaneous formative feedback, and ensuring that their code runs as expected. The 2D FEA code could then be used for simple problems involving 1D beam and 2D plane stress elements with the intention of demonstrating practical aspects of FEA. This includes model development concepts such as the appropriate connectivity between different element types. It also addresses results interpretation, such as problems wherein analytical solutions used to validate FEA solutions are nearly always expressed in terms of specific stress components and not in terms of effective, e.g., Von Mises, quantities. The results from the 2D FEA code may also be compared with results from a commercial FEA program such as ANSYS Workbench to help the students directly see the integration of FEA theory in practice. A cursory assessment of the effectiveness of this process has been measured via a Qualtrics survey distributed towards the end of the term. The survey intends to gather the students’ subjective experience regarding MATLAB Grader and the development and use of the 2D FEA code. Survey results are separated from any student identifiers and are not tied to student performance in the course. The authors intend to pursue a more rigorous assessment regarding the effect of this process on students’ conceptual understanding in the future.

AU - Michael Sevier
AU - Vincent Prantil
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Bridging FEA Theory and Practice with MATLAB Grader - Work in Progress
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41095
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41095
ER -