Our agency, Reliability Analysis Associates, Inc., specializes in recruiting Reliability Engineers and related skills.   For a client in the oil business in Houston, TX we are seeking candidates for two positions that require knowlege of finite element analysis, crack growth, reliability, and low cycle fatigue.   The two job descriptions are attached.

I noticed that the Rodney Hill Prize in Solid Mechanics has been founded and would like to have his personal records in detail, hopefully with his portrait(photo). 

Simpleware Ltd. and COMSOL Inc. announced at the COMSOL Users Conference 2007 in Grenoble a partnership agreement to provide an export interface from Simpleware's world-leading 3D image-based meshing software +ScanFE™ to COMSOL Multiphysics® 3.4, the industry's foremost multiphysics simulation environment. The +ScanFE interface enables COMSOL users to directly import high-quality meshes generated from MRI, CT, and MicroCT scan data into COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4 for modelling and simulation without requiring re-meshing or pre-processing.

A PhD position is available for a thesis with SKF Aerospace France in the Laboratoire Génie de Production - Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Tarbes - France

Detailled subject (in French) can be found at : http://pantale.free.fr

Starting date October 2007

CV+letter can be send until September 8th 2007 to : Olivier.Pantale@enit.fr 

Simpleware Ltd., the world leader in image-based meshing software, has signed a reseller agreement with Vangest Group, a provider of most advanced solutions in project, development and manufacturing.

This model has a simple closed-form analytical expression, matching with finite element results nearly perfectly.

Ref: G. Feng, S. Qu, Y. Huang and W.D. Nix, An analytical expression for the stress field around an elastoplastic indentation/contact, Acta Materialia, V.55, 2007, P2929-2938. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2006.12.030

The 19th Annual Melosh Competition for the Best Student Paper in Finite Element Analysis was held last Friday, April 27, at ETH Zurich. Two medalists were selected this year from the six finalists. The 2007 Melosh Medalists are Vikram Gavini, from Caltech, and Michael Hain, from Leibniz University, Hannover.

With the increasing use of shape memory alloys in recent years, it is important to investigate the effect of cracks. Theoretically, the stress field near the crack tip is unbounded. Hence, a stress-induced transformation occurs, and the martensite phase is expected to appear in the neighborhood of the crack tip, from the very first loading step. In that case, the crack tip region is not governed by the far field stress, but rather by the crack tip stress field. This behavior implies transformation toughening or softening.

Background of Study

• Non destructive evaluation (NDE) application
• Based on industrial CT scan
• Visualisation and segmentation of internal anomalies

Background of Study

• Based on X-ray tomography (XMT)
• Multi-part FEA model
• Scan to mesh in 10 minutes

Aluminum-based particulate-reinforced metal matrix composites (PMMCs) frequently have a heterogeneous distribution of reinforcement particles whether produced by a powder or liquid processing route. The applicability of X-ray microtomography (XMT) for the characterization of this heterogeneity and its influence on final properties was investigated, for the case of a powder blended and extruded AA2124 matrix with Ni particulate. Simpleware software was used to quantify the embedded Ni particle size distribution and the extent and texture of clusters formed.

Purpose of the Study
Computer models of the human eye were constructed for the purposes of studying interactions with foreign bodies.

• Based on in vivo patient data
• Multi-part model
• Mixed volumetric and surface meshes
• Automated generation of contact surfaces

Scan and Segmentation in ScanIP
High resolution in vivo MRI scans of a 29 year old Caucasian female was obtained using both a surface and a head coil on a Philips Gyroscan 1.5 Tesla imager. The following structures were segmented from the 3D data set by a Physician: the globe and optic nerve, the bony orbit, the eyelids and facial soft tissues, the extra-ocular muscles.

Mesh Generation in +ScanFE
A number of finite element models were generated based on the segmented image data. Each structure was meshed with mixed hexahedral and tetrahedral elements. The contact surfaces are particularly robust as the master and slave contact faces are paired - contact structures were exported as volumetric meshes and as surface meshes as required. For this application, the bony orbit was modelled as a rigid structure defined by surface shell elements rather than as a volumetric mesh thereby providing some computational saving.

FE Analysis in LS-DYNA
An analysis of a golf ball hitting the eye was carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the model for simulation purposes, as well as to demonstrate the remarkable sophistication of biological models which can now be generated based on in vivo data. This case study was developed in collaboration with Naomi Green at ARUP, Solihull, UK.

Simpleware Ltd., the world leader in image-based meshing software, has signed an agreement with Gaitech International Ltd. to resell the Simpleware suite of software products in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.

Open Source Finite element packages

For more Information:

HTTP://WEBLOG11.GOOGLEPAGES.COM 

FEMs are widely used in education, research, and industries. What is the prospect of having a vibrant community to evolve an open-source finite element code? What are the potential benefits for such a community and code? Has anybody tried?

Presumably whoever active in this effort may find support from government funding agencies and industries.

When a mechanical engineer and a material scientist were asked for the root cause of an in-vivo fracture. Mechanical engineer pointed to the loading and the material scientist pointed to the processing. While they both are correct, they both also missed the real ROOT cause, the design.

It is very common that medical device design engineers are so focused on the device functionality that often the very basic mechanics is overlooked. Lack of knowledge on the in-vivo environment (Design Requirements) is another subject to blame. However, it is common that even technology driven companies have gaps between design department and duarability deparment. Up front design engineers do not necessarily keep up with the fast paces of material advances. On the other hand, downstram subject matter experts, device tesing teams or often the R&D departments are not informed of design changes before the design is fixed. The problem is worse often in industrial leaders than in start-ups, but the sympton is the same, problem found in animal studies and/or clinical trials before they reached industrial subject matter experts.