Best Practice - FEA Methodology
Best Practice - FEA Methodology
(OP)
Hi Everybody,
I've been working now for a few months on FEA, and what I found sometimes difficult on top of the analysis itself is the way I organise the files and the work.
It's usually required to modify the design, or the mesh, try different load cases, or analysis type etc etc. So from a basic topic, it's fairly easy to slighly end up with a bit of a messy work file where I can be difficult to retrieve information.
So I was wondering if experienced people have some best practice rules or tips to make the work more organised?
I'm always careful to get consistent file names, folders, but at one point I can be overloaded with files, and it reduces the efficiency and look less professional.
Hope I can improve my work with your help!
Thanks a lot!
I've been working now for a few months on FEA, and what I found sometimes difficult on top of the analysis itself is the way I organise the files and the work.
It's usually required to modify the design, or the mesh, try different load cases, or analysis type etc etc. So from a basic topic, it's fairly easy to slighly end up with a bit of a messy work file where I can be difficult to retrieve information.
So I was wondering if experienced people have some best practice rules or tips to make the work more organised?
I'm always careful to get consistent file names, folders, but at one point I can be overloaded with files, and it reduces the efficiency and look less professional.
Hope I can improve my work with your help!
Thanks a lot!





RE: Best Practice - FEA Methodology
having experienced the pain of being disorganised, you learn the value of being organised.
try to keep your files organised, whatever that means to you. filenames, folders, whatever works for you.
when you have to drop a project, take the time to extract yourself from the analysis ... an "exvil" plan. write notes about what you did last, what you were planning to do next.
recognise, that no matter how detailed your notes, you'll usually miss something ! revel in your failures !!
another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?
RE: Best Practice - FEA Methodology
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Best Practice - FEA Methodology
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RE: Best Practice - FEA Methodology
RE: Best Practice - FEA Methodology
I'm typically using Abaqus/CAE which inside a single CAE file there can be multiple models. For example if the project is called 'bounce' the CAE file would be bounce031616.cae. Inside the CAE file the model would be named bounce01 and the job name would be bounce01. I keep create a new model by copying and increment the number as I go.
When I'm all done with a project I typically clean up all of the files except for the last CAE file because it can be used to create all of the other files if they ever need to be rerun. I have a script that searches and deletes all of Abaqus's temporary files but I usually just sort by file type and delete by hand. Depending on the consulting arrangement for a project I may keep more or less materials.
I hope this helps.
Rob
Rob Stupplebeen
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