A very traditional field of applications for Finite Element Analyses (FEA) is damage prediction and analyses of damages of parts and materials. If components or systems fail during the guaranteed product lifetime, this is often associated with high costs for repair, due to production losses and possible subsequential damages. With an employment of numerical simulation tools in combination with advanced online-measurement methods at an early stage, a large part of these damages can be predicted and thus by applying appropriate preventive measures be avoided.

The simulation-aided prevention of damage of parts or components is particularly effective when it is applied already in the early phase of product design and development. By means of purposeful design measures and their verification by computational models, the close interaction between damage prediction and design optimisation allows us in many cases to avoid the event of damage.

But also the analysis of an already damaged component provides essential conclusions to avoid it in the future. Generally, a damage analysis includes the following steps:

collection of information regarding damage onset and operational conditions of the component

reconstruction of the physical processes by a simulation model

determination of the damage causes by predicting the static and dynamic stress conditions assuming realistic static and dynamic loads

recommendations for damage prevention and design optimisation

validation of optimisation measures

ASD offers to its customers a wide spectrum of methods and procedures regarding damage prevention and damage analysis. This inludes both the simulation-aided analysis, prediction and optimisation of components by applying our structure-mechanical, fluid-dynamic and thermal expertises as well as the use of modern measurement techniques by means of cooperation with the partner company IGMHS, an accredited test laboratory (e.g. measurement of component vibrations during operation, wear measurements or microscopic material analyses of damaged parts).

Beside the use of damage prediction for general engineering applications, one of our core areas of competence lies in the field of analysis and evaluation of medical systems. These medical devices often differ from the former ones in the specific materials used and in their close coupling to biological processes and compatibilities.

accident strength computer simulations medical three-dimensional Animationen FEM stresses strains deformations crack extension