This is a subject report that gives a brief about Analytical Software in Mechanical Engineering and the basic concepts in finite element elements.

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VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
BELAGAVI-590018
A Subject Seminar Report on
Analytical Software in Mechanical Engineering
Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Submitted by
SRIKAR VINAYAK MULGUND
Under the guidance of
Dr. M. C. Manjunatha
Associate Professor
Bangalore institute of technology
Bangalore-560004
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
K.R. Road, V.V.Pura, Bengaluru – 560004
2019-20

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DECLARATION
I, Srikar Vinayak Mulgund, bearing the University Seat Number (USN), of 8th semester
B. E. Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, hereby
declare that the work being presented in this seminar report entitled “Analytical software
in mechanical engineering” is an authentic record of the work that has been carried out
by me during the course under the supervision of Dr. M C Manjunatha, Assistant
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore Institute of Technology,
Bengaluru. The work contained in this report has not been submitted in part or full to any
other university or institution or professional body for the award of any degree or diploma
or any fellowship.
Place: Bengaluru
Date:
Name: Srikar Vinayak Mulgund Signature

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY for providing me the opportunity to
present the seminar report on this interesting topic. The satisfaction that accompanies the
successful completion of would be incomplete without the mention of the people who
made it possible, without whose constant guidance and encouragement would have made
effort go in vain.
I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Aswath M.U Principal, B.I.T. for his invaluable
support during this endeavor and the freedom he gives to think and timely support in all
forms he extends
I am grateful to Dr. T V Sriramareddy, Head of the Department, Mechanical
Engineering, for giving me the support and encouragement that was necessary for the
completion of this seminar
I would specially like to thank my supervisor, Dr. M C Manjunatha, Associate
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Dept. for guiding me for this seminar topic. His
constant support and encouragement and my frequent decisions with him have helped me
to gain a lot of knowledge and understanding about the topic which has helped me greatly
in my work for this topic.

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ABSTRACT
Analysis plays a major role in the mechanical industry. With technology growing more
and more each day, new softwares are being developed to perform analysis of mechanical
structures. This work is the study of few Analytical softwares which are currently being
used by major companies in the mechanical and aerospace field. It also gives a brief about
how these analytical softwares work and the capabilities this powerful software have.
This subject study also includes the principles these softwares work on, i.e. the Finite
Element methods, their advancements, advantages and disadvantages.

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CONTENTS
DECLARATION 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
ABSTRACT 4
CONTENTS 5
LIST OF FIGURES 7
Chapter Descriptions Page No.
Chapter 1 8
INTRODUCTION 8
1.1 What is design? 8
1.2 What is design analysis? 8
Chapter 2
Finite Element Analysis 9
2.1 Element and a Node 9
2.2 Type of Analysis 10
2.2.1 linear and Non-linear Analysis
2.2.2 Dynamic Analysis
2.2.3 Thermal Analysis
2.2.4 Fatigue Analysis
Chapter 3
Introduction to Analytical Softwares 11
3.1 What is an Analytical software? 11
3.2 Basic structure of Analytical software 11
3.3 Importance of Analytical software 14
3.4 Unknown variables 14
3.5 Disadvantages of Analytical software 16
Chapter 4
Introduction to Meshing 17

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Chapter 5
Introduction to Ansys 18
5.1 About 18
5.2 Advancements in Ansys 19
5.3 Advantages of Ansys 20
REFERENCES 21

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. Description Page No
Fig 1 Design analysis performed on an automobile wheel 8
Fig 2 Depicts an Element and a Node 10
Fig 3 CAE Fatigue process of a mechanical part 11
Fig 4 Fig 4 Shows the 2D Ansys apdl 13
Pre-processing window
Fig 5. A window of post processing stage of a 14
spiral structure in Ansys
Fig 6.1 Shows a CAD model of a Chair 15
Fig 6.2 Meshing and boundary conditions 15
Fig 6.3 shows the maximum stress induced on the chair 16
Fig 7 Shows an automobile meshed in Altair HyperMesh 17
Fig 8 Main Window of ANSYS Workbench. 18
Fig 9 Representation of easy geometric alterations 19
done by Ansys Space claim

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is Design?
Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet
desired needs. Mechanical design means the design of components and systems of a
mechanical nature—machines, products, structures, devices and instruments.
Mechanical engineering design includes all mechanical design, but it is a broader study
because it includes all the disciplines of mechanical engineering, such as the thermal
fluids and heat transfer sciences too.
1.2 What is DesignAnalysis?
Design Analysis in the field of mechanical engineering can be simply described as a
powerful technology/ process to analyse a physical quantity on a computer.
Design Analysis Employs Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to simulate a physical design.
Fig 1. Design analysis performed on an automobile wheel
Figure 1 shows a structural analysis performed on a wheel. Design analysis helps an
engineer to indicate and discard errors without physical prototyping of the structure.
Design Analysis can be performed on any structure like Automobile parts, Aircraft parts,
cooling systems, plastic moldings etc. With the help of design analysis, engineers can
predict possible failures due to loading, stress concentrations, bending, displacement etc.

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2. Finite Element Analysis
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a technique which uses mathematical methods
to discretize and solve engineering problems.
The FEA process consists of subdividing all systems into individual components or
“elements” whose behavior is easily understood and then reconstructing the original
system from these components. Today the subject of error analysis for adaptively of finite
element methods has reached the point that it is both economical and reliable and should
be considered in an engineering analysis.
In modern engineering analysis it is rare to find a project that does not require some type
of finite element analysis (FEA). The practical advantages of FEA in stress analysis and
structural dynamics have made it the accepted tool.
The greatest advantage of FEA is its ability to handle truly arbitrary geometry. Probably
its next most important features are the ability to deal with general boundary conditions
and to include nonhomogeneous and anisotropic materials. These features alone mean that
we can treat systems of arbitrary shape that are made up of numerous different material
regions. Each material could have constant properties or the properties could vary with
spatial location. To these very desirable features we can add a large amount of freedom in
prescribing the loading conditions and in the post-processing of items such as the stresses
and strains. The class of problems include stress analysis, heat conduction, electrical
fields, magnetic fields, ideal fluid flow, etc.
Most of the softwares working on FEM are available on engineering workstations and
personal computers as well as mainframes and supercomputers. The extent of the
usefulness of an FEA system is directly related to the extent of its element library. The
typical elements found within a single system usually include membrane, solid, and
axisymmetric elements that offer linear, quadratic, and cubic approximations with a fixed
number of unknowns per node.
2.1.1 What is an Element and a Node?
In FEA, you divide your model into small pieces. Those are called Finite Elements (FE).
Those Elements connect all characteristic points (called Nodes) that lie on their
circumference.

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Fig 2 Depicts an Element and a Node
2.2 Types of Analysis
There are various types of analysis which can be performed by Analytical software’s.
Some of the major analysis types are listed below:
2.2.1 Linear or Non-linear
All analysis can be segregated into linear and non-linear.
Linear analysis can be achieved when there is a direct relation between the initial
conditions and the results obtained. For example, in a linear analysis, if the load is
doubled, the results (displacement, stress etc.) will be simply doubled.
Non-linear analysis is done when the initial conditions of a structure changes during the
analysis process by the software.
2.2.2 Dynamic Analysis
The term dynamic FEA relates to a range of powerful simulation techniques that can be
applied to even complex engineering systems. Dynamic analysis is used to evaluate the
impact of transient loads or to design out potential noise and vibration problems
2.2.3 Thermal Analysis
Thermal analysis can provide useful information for the design of an engineering product:
Temperature distributions. Heat flux paths –important information in evaluating
insulations. As a boundary condition for the analysis of thermal stress.
2.2.4 Fatigue Analysis
Fatigue in real life components can be minor to catastrophic costing loss of 80-90%

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losses. For estimating fatigue losses and errors, you don’t longer need to hand
calculations or spreadsheets. Fatigue analysis can be easily done using powerful
software’s like Ansys, n code, design life and errors can be avoided without prototyping,
Fig 3. CAE Fatigue process of a mechanical part
3. Introduction to Analytical Softwares
3.1 What is an Analytical Software?
Analytical Softwares are new age technology which use numerical method based
on initial conditions to give results of different parameters such as displacement, stress,
strain, heat flux etc.
New Softwares are emerging in the mark to deal with increasing complexity of structures
and the need to reduce failure chances.
Below is the list of some analytical Softwares used by various mechanical, civil and
aerospace engineers:
 Ansys by Ansys.inc
 HyperMesh by Altair
 NX- Unigraphics by Siemens
 Patran by MSc
 Abaqus
 Matlab
 Softwares like CATIA, Solid works can be used for analysis but are mainly used
for designing with the end result file exported for analysis.

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Ansys provides different software packages like Ansys Fluent, Ansys gambit for thermal
and fluid analysis respectively. On the academic level, students are often being introduced
to Ansys apdl to simulate problems of the Finite element analysis.
3.2 Main structure of Analytical Softwares
For using any commercial FEM Software, there are three main steps:
1. Pre-processing
2. Processing/ Solution
3. Post-processing
Pre-processing:
Pre-processing takes up the most time in the process of analysis. This step includes
a. Gathering CAD Data and Meshing: There are various softwares in the market like
AutoCAD, Solid works etc. to develop a CAD model. The data such as material
used and other design parameters are needed to be entered in the analysis
software. The CAD model also needs to be imported to the Analysis software with
the correct file format.
b. Boundary conditions: The appropriate boundary conditions need to be applied to
the imported model for the software to proceed with the analysis. Any error in
applying the boundary conditions can lead to inaccurate or no results.
After completion of the first step, the software automatically forms mathematical
equations in the form of [F]=[K] [ ]

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Fig 4 Shows the 2D Ansys apdl Pre-processing window
Processing/ Solution:
This stage is done by the software internally using different mathematical operations to
find out the displacement, stress, strain and other required parameters. The user has to just
give the command to solve and not perform any other operation.
Analytical softwares have made it very easy for the engineers to solve complex problems
which either consumed time or were impossible to be solved physically.
Post-Processing:
Post processing stage consists of viewing results, conclusions, verification and deciding
on what needs to be done improve the design.

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Fig 5. A window of post processing stage of a spiral structure in Ansys.
3.3 Basic Unknown variables in Analytical Software:
Table 1 below represents the unknown variables for specific analysis operations
Table 1.1 Typical unknown variables in finite element analysis
Application Primary Associated Secondary
Stress analysis Displacement,
Rotation
Force,
Moment
Stress,
Failure criterion
Error estimates
Heat transfer Temperature Flux Interior flux
Error estimates
Potential flow Potential function Normal velocity Interior velocity
Error estimates
Navier-Stokes Velocity Pressure Error estimates
Eigen-problem Eigenvalues Eigenvectors Error estimates
3.4 Importance of Analytical Softwares
Let us take an example using the major steps explained above to explain why we need
Analytical softwares in Mechanical engineering
STEP1: CAD data

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Fig 6.1 Shows a CAD model of a Chair
Step 2: Meshing and Boundary conditions:
Fig 6.2 Meshing and boundary conditions
Very small length spring elements are created at leg base, stiffness in x and z direction as
per F= N
Where, mu= friction between legs and ground. High stiffness is considered along y axis
and all translations at the end if the spring is equal to zero, ie Ux , Uy, Uz = 0
3. Solution and Post-processing:
Type of Analysis used – Linear Static
Material – Steel
Number of equations = Number of Nodes * dof per node = 17950 * 3= 53850

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Fig 6.3 shows the maximum stress induced on the chair
Conclusion:
1. Cost can be reduced by using a low cost material having yield strength < 6N/mm2
2. Cost cutting can be done by reducing cross-section of leg, thickness of top plate etc.
3.Maximum stress at the sharp edges can be reduced by providing a smooth fillet.
As you can see, Analytical softwares can provide solutions to minimize failure, reduce
cost, predict maximum stress and other parameters without physical prototyping which in
turn reduces effort, cost etc.
3.5 Disadvantages of Analytical softwares:
With numerous advantages of Analysis softwares using Finite Element Methods, there are
a few disadvantages
 FEMs are generally great on problems with built-in variation principles but for
some fully non-linear and non-divergence form problems, FEM software are still
improving. On the other hand, FEMs heavily relied on numerical integration,
where quadrature rules sometimes cause errors.
 From programming point of view, FEMs are usually harder to program. The
handling of mesh and the numerical integrations usually require extra work.

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4. Introduction to Meshing
Meshing is an integral part of the engineering simulation process where complex
geometries are divided into simple elements that can be used as discrete local
approximations of the larger domain. The mesh influences the accuracy, convergence and
speed of the simulation.
Inaccurate meshing or not performing meshing in analytical softwares can lead to non-
uniform loading which might give inaccurate results during analysis. After Meshing, the
entire structure is divided into a number of elements with each element having its own
stiffness while loading.
Adding all those elements stiffness, you can get the Global Stiffness Matrix with which
you can calculate the stress developed in the structure, etc.
Fig 7 Shows an automobile meshed in Altair HyperMesh
5. Introduction to ANSYS:
5.1 About
Ansys Inc. has developed various software products varying from designing mechanical

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structures to Embedded systems. In this section, we will be focusing on analysis software
developed by Ansys.
Some of the Analytical Software products by Ansys are:
1. ANSYS Mechanical
2. ANSYS Fluent
3. ANSYS Gambit
With the Technology fast developing and increasing demand of Analysis software, Ansys
Workbench allows an engineer to perform analysis and simulation of 3D models under
one window.
Fig 8 Main Window of ANSYS Workbench.
As you can observe from the above figure, Ansys Workbench allows operations like
linear buckling analysis, response spectrum analysis, meshing etc. in the same window.
5.2 Other Advancements in Ansys Workbench (Mechanical):
 Non Linear applications - Advanced materials models for geomechanics, metals,
hyperelastics and composites, combined with user-defined materials, provide a

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complete solution for nonlinear analysis. Metals, rubbers, soils, concrete, shape
memory alloys and many more materials are easily incorporated into simulations
using test data or built in to material model libraries.
For models with very large deformations, you can use nonlinear adaptive meshing
to automatically continue solutions where a traditional approach may struggle.
 Dynamics: Linear dynamics solvers are faster than ever and can perform
simulations of modal, harmonics, spectrum response or random vibration, as well
as rotating machinery for rotor dynamics analysis.
Transient analysis, both implicit and explicit, can be used to look at time
dependent events and take into account system inertia and other phenomena.
 Ansys Space Claim: Space Claim is a direct modeling tool that can help you to
create geometry from scratch, as well as to clean-up and repair dirty geometries in
preparation for simulation, much faster than traditional CAD tools.
Fig 9 Representation of easy geometric alterations done by Ansys Space claim
5.3 Advantages of Ansys Mechanical:
 Strength Analysis
 Vibration Analysis
 Thermal Analysis
 Durability Test
 Rigid Body Dynamics
 Hydrodynamics

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 Composites
 Impact Testing
 Optimization
 Topology Optimization
 Additive Manufacturing.

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REFERENCES
 ANSYS Advantage issue 3 - Mechanical (2019)
 Practical Finite Element Analysis by Nitin Gokhale and Sanjay S. Deshpande
(2009)
 Finite Element Analysis with error estimators by J.E Akin (2014)
 MSC Patran Interface Preference guide volume 1 (2017)
 ANSYS Workbench 14.0 for Engineers by Sham Tickoo, Purdue University USA.