Finite element analysis (FEA)

What is finite element analysis, or FEA, and why should we use it?

FEA is computer based simulation of structures.  Appropriate use of finite element analysis (FEA) helps Prospect provide clients with the right solution at the right price in the right timescale.

One significant advantage offered by FEA is the ability to explore the behaviour of a structure in the virtual world where designs and changes to them are cheapest to evaluate.  It provides insight to a level of detail that is very difficult to replicate in the real world.  Prospect deploy FEA in a number of ways and the word ‘appropriate’ above is very deliberate.

The complexity of the FEA undertaken is a matter of experience and judgement.  In the modern era where high performance computing is readily available there is a temptation to over complicate FEA.  Prospect maintains the philosophy of using a level of complexity appropriate to the task in hand.  This ranges from simple linear-elastic beam element analysis of frames to non-linear analyses including large displacement theory, contact, friction and highly non-linear materials.

Prospect use static FEA to:

  1. Design safe, reliable and optimized structures
  2. Understand why a structure has failed by using it as a forensic tool
  3. Take virtual structures up to and beyond the point of failure to better understand safety margins
  4. Understand complex interactions between both stiff and flexible components
  5. Rapidly evaluate design modifications

While FEA is widely used in many industries its appropriate use is still less common.

In addition to static FEA, Prospect use dynamic FEA (3D non-linear time domain finite element analysis) to accurately represent real marine systems throughout project lifecycles, from installation through operations and life extension to decommissioning. 

Using advanced calculation and analysis methods Prospect's engineers provide clients with critical insight into operational constraints, limitiations and possibilities such as:

  1. Confirmation and extension of safe weather windows & sea states in whch offshore operations may be carried out
  2. Identification and understanding of the risks associated with an operation
  3. Full appreciation of the loadings to the system, allowing appropriate equipment specification