hi,
I am a beginner in stress engineering.
can anybody tell me how the finite element analysis is carried out or 3D beam element in Ceasor?
I want to know the full procedure from creation of stiffness matrix to using supports to pipe as boundary conditions?
thanks in advance

Dear Rajeev,

It cannot be explained in simple terms.If you have had a formal course on FEM, you should be knowing about how stiffness matrix is generated in FEM or how boundary conditions are modelled. The only thing which you may not know is how the elbow elements function.If you did not have any formal course on FEM, I would advise you to read the book by Cook, Malkus and Plesha on this subject and you will find answers to most of your queries there.Regarding elbow elements, read manual of any standard general purpose finite element code like ABAQUS for eg.It tells a lot about those elements.There is a paper by Bathe and Almeida on elbow elements. However behaviour of elbows can also be simulated by using shell elements , something which is done by FE Codes like FEPipe/NozzlePro to generate SIF and Flexibility factors.

Regards

thanks anindya. I've a book on finite element method by Logan. I read this book and I found it very interesting. Can you give me any link about the paper you told? I tried to find out the same but unable to get it..

The book by Daryl Logan is a very good one and it should give you the necessary input for stiffness matrix for beam elements.I read that paper by Bathe and Almeida long time back and unfortunately do not have a copy of the same.I could have sent you few pages of ABAQUS element library where this element is described. However, it perhaps is not possible based on copyright issues to put such a document in this forum. As I have mentioned that behaviour of a pipe bend can be simulated using shell elements also, you should read any book on FEM, which covers shell elements ( unfortunately Logan's book does not), one good book is by Cook, Malkus and Plesha which I have previously mentioned.

Give me your email id and I will send you the relevant pages of ABAQUS.

Regards

My email id is rajeevfa@gmail.com

and thanks for your valuable support.

I read the above mentioned books. A number of methods are given there for determining stiffness matrix. I want to know which method Autopipe is using for calculating stiffness matrix?

This is perhaps not the best place to be asking questions about the maths applied by Autopipe ?

OK

Hello Anindya,

Can I also ask for a copy of pages from ABAQUS as you've mentioned above..Thanks a lot in advance for the info...Cheers...

My email ad is jma121774@yahoo.com...Thanks