Saved by FEA grace - Deformed state model
It’s all in the philosophy and idealization. Today I reminisce on tackling one of the most complicated challenges of 2018; optimizing a product for functionality irrespective of deformations in a vital component. Late last year, I was looking at a design of a product made up of roughly 20 other components, all perfectly designed but somehow failed to empathize “naughty” installers (I will get to why I call them naughty later). Yeah, I cut the original designer some slack; he had codes, probably done same for years and may not be acquainted with the “product user demography” (being a European). Considering major constituent materials and operating conditions, elastic deformations in plastic parts maybe acceptable as compared to likes of steel around same “displacement neighborhood" (the reason I guess you may already know, stiffness is key). If so, then relative parts must functionally operate within this “allowable deformation” range, therefore mu...