The Applied Finite Element Analysis Course At Oregon Institute Of Technology

Computer-aided-engineering tools, such as CAD, FEA and CAM, are becoming to be the essential tools to the engineering practices in industry. This paper describes the development and evolution, in the last 15 years, of an applied finite element analysis course that is being offered by the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET) department at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) . A common vision that the OIT-MET faculty shared is the need to better prepare our graduates with the skills to use modern engineering tools. This vision was also recommended in several reports published by the National Research Council and the National Science Foundation. And this was also recognized in the ABET criterion that “graduates must have an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.” The first finite element analysis course developed, and offered as an elective, by the Mechanical Engineering Technology department at Oregon Institute of Technology was back in 1992. Two years later, the MET department decided to integrate the finite element analysis course as a required course for the MET curriculum. The main emphases of the course are placed on both teaching the students the basic theory, as well as, to use a commercially available FEA package. The course objectives have been established as follows: • To understand the purposes and uses of the finite element analysis in industry. • To learn the basic concepts and procedures associated with finite element analysis. • To gain hands-on experience with a commercially available finite element analysis package. • Apply the techniques and skills taught to related problems in follow-on courses. This paper describes the changes and results of the Applied Finite Element Analysis course offered by the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology Department at Oregon Institute of Technology. Development of the FEA course at OIT Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a numerical method for solving engineering problems by simulating real-life-operating situations on computers. Finite element analysis procedures evolved gradually from the work of many people in the fields of engineering, physics, and applied mathematics. The use of finite element analysis (FEA) become widespread in the 1960’s and 70’s, initially in the automotive and the aerospace industries. During that period of time, expensive mainframe computers were required to run the finite element analysis, and finite element models typically required days to create. The task of interpreting results were also very difficult. Customized software were used and a highly specialized FEA stress analyst was required to perform the FEA tasks. By the 1980’s, general purpose FEA software began to appear. It is during this period of time, FEA software became available on microcomputers. As the personal computers became widespread, FEA software also evolved to the point that a PC could be used to perform relatively complex analysis. With the changes in the computer hardware and FEA software, a competent engineer with some training can become proficient at FEA very quickly. In 1992, the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Technology department at Oregon Institute of Technology developed their first finite element analysis course, which was offered as an elective. It was agreed among the faculty of the MET program that the course would be an applied finite element analysis course, to expose the students to the use of a modern tool for analysis. The course was to cover the basic theoretical derivations of FEA procedures, and also hands-on experience in using a commercially available Finite Element Analysis package. Due to the limitation of the computer hardware and software, the course covered one dimensional (1-D) and two dimensional (2-D) linear static structural analyses. Two years later, the MET department decided to integrate the finite element analysis course as a required course for the MET curriculum. In 1994, with the help of several education grants from industries, the OIT-MET department did a two year research on incorporating the leading edge Computer Aided Engineering technology into the MET and MFG programs at OIT. As a result of that research, a series of computer aided engineering (CAD/CAM) courses were developed and incorporated into the two programs. The FEA course was changed to a required course for the MET program during 1994. The FEA course has gone through several revisions, and changes made in both the format and the course content. Today, the applied finite element analysis course covers the basic FEA theory, using a commercial FEA program and comparisons of FEA results to physical testing of actual parts. The course has used several commercial FEA packages and are currently using the I-DEAS NX software as the primary software.