Within the engineering community today, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is widely considered as a tool to solve complex engineering problems. This is true to some extent, since FEA has allowed engineers to visualize complex physics within the product in matter of few hours, without relying on time consuming physical test trials. However, there are certain critical aspects of using this tool, which no one really talks about; the dangers that can ruin the entire design and affect the safety and reliability. The results obtained through FEA are often questioned for accuracy. While any analyst would focus on generating accurate results, the real scenario may be completely different.

Here are certain factors that every engineer or FEA specialists should consider in order to maintain result accuracy:

Accuracy and quality of input

Accuracy of the FEA solver working within the software

Experience and knowledge of the engineer

Accuracy of the physical test data

Validation of FEA with real test data

Accuracy of the FE model

Thus, it is evident that there are so many things to consider in gaining accurate results through simulation. The problem however, is that even if any one of the above mentioned factors is inaccurate, the results will have drastic effects. The reason why result accuracy is important is because it will directly affect the safety and reliability of the product or equipment. Miscalculations and inaccuracies will lead to greater risks of accidents and user safety. There are many examples of industrial disasters in the history of mankind, caused due to negligence in maintaining the design of the product or equipment as per standards. It is thus important for an engineer to fight for accuracy and quality results in any case, as it will directly impact lives of many people.

With FEA, the issue of accuracy is even more, as there are very few provisions within the software available today, that restrict the user from doing away with inaccurate results. FEA only provide results based on the input, and hence there’s isn’t any gated process that can allow only safe designs to shift to the production stage. Maintaining accuracy as such largely depends on the experience of the engineer, his knowledge on the product being tested and willingness to compare simulation data with physical tests. It is equally important to consider the matter of accuracy by a manufacturer or a design engineer, even if they are willing to work with an outside firm on FEA projects.

FEA results can also defer based on the type of elements selected. There are instances when solid elements applied on thin walled structure can yield inaccurate stress and deformation results, compared to shell elements. The same is true for material models as well. In most cases, there may be small ambiguity present in the material properties used in real as compared to the model used for simulation. A year old post titled “Can Simulation Tools Replace Prototyping Tests Completely?” that explains about why simulation will never be sufficient, still holds true today. When human life is at stake, physical tests will always remain a standard, irrespective of improvements in computational science.



