Finite Element Analysis Course

Finite Element Analysis Course With a Practical Aerospace Stress Engineering Focus

Free Non-Expiring Full Featured FEMAP - Student Edition - Siemens PLM

FREE Mini Course

Subscribe For Free NOW!

Course Highlights

Duration: About 21 HRS of content, a little over 5 weeks (less if you study full time daily)
Location: Completely Online, Yay!
Access: Anytime, anywhere, on any device (cookies are required)
Internet: High speed broadband is highly recommended
Internet: High speed broadband is highly recommended
Downloads: No downloads of videos available. Lesson related downloads are available as needed, such as FEM files, geometry files, or other related documents etc.

Why this course?

Finite element analysis is one of the top skills required to get a job or develop yourself as a stress or structural analysis engineer in the aerospace industry. Not only is it critical in aerospace, but also in various other areas such as automotive, space, construction, civil structures, ground transportation, rail roads, aviation, marine, military, bio medical or mechanical, packaging, composites, electronics, and the list goes on.

Why?
So why would you need practical a Finite Element Analysis Course? In today's fast paced product development life cycles, tight budgets and break neck schedules, FEA is a must to cut down the time required to design, develop and produce a product, with minimal waste, or actual prototype testing.
Who?
There are millions of people in this world out of the many billions who graduate with a degree or diploma in various engineering fields. Many hundreds of thousands among them are all highly motivated and eager to get into a job in the field of aerospace structural analysis.
How?
How are you going to compete against all of them? How will you set yourself apart? Give yourself the edge by learning Finite Element Analysis.
What?
So what is in it for you in this course? You will learn the ins and outs about what FEA is all about, how to create manipulate analyze and process different models and analysis types, built on a foundation of step by step instructions of the FEA program's user interface.
Where?
And best of all, you can enjoy any course, web page or blog post on this website, on any device such as a desktop, laptop, mobile or tablet. Make sure you have a wifi or a high speed internet connection with cookies enabled.
Foundation:
This course will lay the critical foundation you need for more advanced courses (Silver and Gold levels) in aerospace cabin interior structures stress engineering.
Recommended Qualifications:
- Engineering college curriculum
- An interest in finite element analysis
- Note: Free FEMAP/NxNastran download and installation instructions are included in the course

What am I going to get from this course?

60 lessons, about 24 hours of content!
Lifetime access to the course as long as you are a paid member
Downloadable model files and other lesson resources
Add finite element analysis to your critical arsenal of engineering skills
Get comfortable with FEMAP/NxNastran, one of the most popular FEA program combinations in the market today
Free updates on added content and videos as long as you are a paid member

More Course Details

Fundamentals of FEM theory and the concept
Student (full featured) Finite Element Modeling And Postprocessing (FEMAP) Software Download and Installation
Detailed Step by Step Instructions of FEMAP Menus and Commands 
Detailed Step by Step Instructions of FEMAP Window Panes
Detailed Step by Step Instructions on Creating Models
'Build' 'Manipulate' 'Run' and 'Process' Different Analysis Types and Results
Monthly/Yearly Membership Plans
Email Support

Introduction Module

In this lesson, you will get an introduction to the fundamentals of the basic FEM theory and how FEM works. This is not intended to be a graduate level theory course, but sufficient to get you familiarized with the concept. Download the pdf to learn at your own pace.

FEA Software Installation

1:00:00

This lesson provides detailed instructions on how to download and install your Free Full-Featured Non-Expiring FEMAP/NxNastran software.

Module1 - Menus - File and Tools Menus

File Menu

29:46

In this video we will cover the File Menu, how to import and export geometry, models and other important commands.

Tools Menu

39:06

In this video I’m going to cover the Tools menu and show you how to use the workplane, measure entities, and other commands.

Module 1 - Menus - Geometry Menu

Geometry Menu Part1

19:09

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will mostly focus on the top set of commands in the geometry menu.

Geometry Menu Part2

19:17

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will mostly focus on the midsurface options and some more commands in the geometry menu.

Geometry Menu Part3

12:09

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will continue to focus on the midsurface options and more commands in the geometry menu.

Geometry Menu Part4

15:52

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Geometry - Solid submenu top half of the commands.

Geometry Menu Part5

19:55

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Geometry - Solid submenu bottom half of the commands.

Geometry Menu Part6

15:09

In the 'Geometry' set of video lessons, you will learn about the 'Geometry' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the bottom part commands of the Geometry menu, such as copy, rotate etc.

Module 1 - Menus - Model Menu

Model Menu Part1

12:25

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item - "Coordinate System".

Model Menu Part2

19:24

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item - "Node".

Model Menu Part3

17:36

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu items - "Material" and "Property".

Model Menu Part4

19:55

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item - "Layup". This command defines a laminate layup. We will also cover the 2D orthotropic material definition used in the Layup definition.

Model Menu Part5

15:07

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item - "Element".

Model Menu Part6

10:19

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu items - "Load -> Load Set" and "Load -> Body Load".

Model Menu Part7

19:57

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu items up to "Load -> Combine".

Model Menu Part8

15:41

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item "Constraint".

Model Menu Part9

22:22

In the 'Model' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Model' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Model menu item "Analysis".

Module 1 - Menus - Mesh Menu

Mesh Menu Part1

14:54

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Mesh menu item - "Mesh Control" up to the item "Interactive".

Mesh Menu Part2

14:08

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Mesh menu item - "Mesh Control -> Custom Size Along Curve" command.

Mesh Menu Part3

19:21

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Mesh menu item - "Mesh Control -> Custom Size Along Curve" command.

Mesh Menu Part4

24:19

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Mesh menu item - "Mesh -> Geometry" command.

Mesh Menu Part5

19:36

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on some of the manual mesh creation methods.

Mesh Menu Part6

18:35

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on some more manual mesh creation methods.

Mesh Menu Part7

24:08

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on The "Mesh -> Copy" and "Mesh -> Rotate" commands.

Mesh Menu Part8

18:50

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on The "Mesh -> Reflect" and "Mesh -> Extrude" commands.

Mesh Menu Part9

15:26

In the 'Mesh' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Mesh' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on The "Mesh -> Revolve" and "Mesh -> Sweep" commands.

Module 1 - Menus - Modify Menu

Modify Menu Part1

06:29

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the Modify menu items such as "Trim", "Extend" etc.

Modify Menu Part2

16:46

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Project" command functionality.

Modify Menu Part3

18:52

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Move To" and "Modify -> Move By" commands.

Modify Menu Part4

17:24

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Rotate To" and "Modify -> Rotate By" and "Modify -> Align" commands.

Modify Menu Part5

14:38

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Scale" command functionality.

Modify Menu Part6

29:31

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Edit" command functionality.

Modify Menu Part7

23:08

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Color", "Transparency", "Renumber", "Layer" and "Associativity" commands.

Modify Menu Part8

19:54

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Update Elements -> Type", "Formulation", "Property ID", and "Material ID" commands.

Modify Menu Part9

27:04

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Update Elements -> Line Element ..." related commands.

Modify Menu Part10

19:34

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Update Elements" -> 2D Element related commands block in the menu.

Modify Menu Part11

19:52

In the 'Modify' menu set of videos, you will learn about the 'Modify' pull down menu items. In this video, we will focus on the "Modify -> Update Other" sub menu commands within the Modify menu.

Module 1 - Menus - Remaining Menus

List and Delete Menus

21:10

In this video I’m going to cover the List and Delete Menu commands, how to list model and entity information, delete entities and other commands.

Group Menu

24:11

In this video we will focus on the 'Group' menu commands, how to group various entities, Booleans, generations etc.

View Menu

19:54

In this video I’m going to cover the 'View' and 'Window' menu commands, how to manipulate viewing, and showing entities in the window, etc.

Help Menu

22:27

In this video you will learn about the 'Help' menu commands, how to get context sensitive help, some information on Programming Help, NX Nastran Help etc.

Module 2 - Window Panes

Window Panes Part1

14:55

In this video, I will cover the "Model Info" pane, it contains the model tree view, context sensitive commands, the useful Entity Info pane and the Messages pane.

Window Panes Part2

18:04

In this video, I will cover the "Meshing Toolbox" window pane tools "Locator" and "Feature Suppression".

Window Panes Part3

09:49

In this video, I will cover the "Meshing Toolbox" window pane tools "Feature Removal" and "Feature Edit".

Window Panes Part4

16:19

In this video, we will focus on the Meshing Toolbox Tools - "Geometry Editing", "Combined / Composite Curves" and "Combined / Boundary Surfaces" Tools.

Window Panes Part5

12:40

In this video, we will focus on the Meshing Toolbox Tool - "Mesh Sizing".

Window Panes Part6

16:29

In this video, we will focus on the Meshing Toolbox Tool - "Mesh Surface".

Window Panes Part7

07:43

In this video, we will focus on the Meshing Toolbox Tool - "Mesh Locate".

Window Panes Part8

13:22

In this video, we will focus on the various options in the Post processing Toolbox Tool - "Deform".

Window Panes Part9

19:30

In this video, we will focus on the various options in the Post processing Toolbox Tool - "Contour".

Window Panes Part10

28:15

In this video, we will focus on the various options in the Post processing Toolbox Tool - "Freebody".

Window Panes Part11

25:41

In this video, we will focus on the various options in the "Data Table" and "Entity Editor" window panes.

Module 3 - Sample Models

Sample Models Part1

36:12

In this video, we will create a cantilever beam model from scratch all the way to results verification using classical hand calculations.

Sample Models Part2

32:59

In this video, we will create a Cantilever Beam Model with Gap Contact using the previous model, and results verification using classical hand calculations.

Sample Models Part3

53:33

In this video we will model two honeycomb sandwich panels and create contact pairs. We will run a linear static contact analysis and look at the results showing how they contact, including separation.

Sample Models Part4

43:05

In this video we will cover the basics and advanced techniques of a normal modes analysis of a simple stepped plate model. Then, we will use the modal results of this model for "time stepping". Following that, we will create a a more advanced nonlinear transient response analysis of this stepped plate model using instantaneous nonlinear transient loading that is applied using functions. Very exciting stuff.

Sample Models Part5

21:12

In this video we will use a special technique to simulate the free free expansion of a cylinder due to internal pressure, using an RBE3 element, and its UM DOF constraints feature.

Sample Models Part6

1:00:00

CONGRATULATIONS! You successfully completed this course. Download some additional FEMAP Tips and Tricks.