Finite element analysis of multifarious machine components

Abstract

Finite element analysis is a sophisticated technology based on the principle of discretization and numerical approximation to solve scientific and engineering problems. In this methodology any structure under consideration is discretized into small geometric shapes and the material properties are analyzed over these small elements. This method scores over the general strength of material methods in the way that in this technique complex beam elements with differential cross sectional geometry can be analyzed quite easily. In this work we apply the method of finite element analysis to one dimensional beam elements. The elements that have been analyzed range from simple beams with concentric loading to beams having non uniformly varying loads. Towards the end we have taken machine components on elastic supports and beams subjected to combined bending and torsion and axial loading. Finally we have applied a new FEA method to analyze the effect of crack in a beam. Throughout this work we have restricted ourselves to calculation of deflection and slope at each nodes of the beam. We have compared our results with the results obtained by strength of material method and enlisted them in a tabular form. For this work we have used the standard C program for solution of simultaneous equation by Gauss elimination to solve the reduced matrix equations. To calculate the global matrix we developed our own program in C.