How do you collaborate with other engineers in stress analysis projects?

Usually there are various methods to perform stress analysis. But in order to establish integrity between different people who work in the same project, it is necessary to produce documents to align different methods. In this way, the produced outputs can always be tracked and reviewed regardless of who has produced them.

Stress analysis is an approximation of a natural process and numerous assumptions are involved. It is critical to list and develop common understanding about these assumptions. Also verifying that the required details (dimensions/ material properties) are available for the stress analysis is important. What material properties are internally available and what needs to be sourced from external sources? What is the validation process to make it an acceptable analysis?

Some industries require statistically derived material properties, specific safety factors, and failure modes to be addressed. Understanding these requirements at the beginning are critical to avoid costly turnbacks impacting project cost and schedule.

Some problems can take a long time to simulate, it's always handy to first get through understanding of the physics and requirements. Most of the time the problem can be simplified without compromising the quality of the results. A great discussion with a product designer not only improves your relationship with them but it also makes you a better analyst with much wider perspective.

Tool must have the capabilities of version control and what if studies. The team goes through many iterations in each step of the stress analysis that these capabilities are required, especially when team is located in multiple time-zones. Computing resources are critical for any stress analysis. It is critical that computing resources are available to meet mesh convergence and validation requirements. In addition to tools and platform, it may be helpful to involve subject matter experts (mesh, convergence, material properties, validation) in the project. These resources do not need to be full time but available if and when needed.

Validation of software results should include free body diagrams with hand calculations, when practical, to verify proper load paths, boundary conditions, and stress results. Calibrating model results with available test results, including thermocouple, accelerometer, and strain gage data, is also a valuable validating method.

It very important to consider aspects like "Design for Manufacturing" and "Design for Assembly" during the modification of a design based on analysis results. Constant interaction with design engineers, process engineers and manufacturing engineers is required during the analysis process.

Up front communication about results convergence and validation benchmarks.. Open communication help anticipate challenges early and minimize their impact on the project and deliverables.

Scope can change during a project or new insights from analysis can challenge the assumptions/scope. Clearly communicating these with analysis team and customer leads to better outcome. This is where subject matter experts (SME) from both sides can be valuable.

It may be hard to avoid technical disagreement or conflicts when working with a large and diverse teams. You have to acknowledge the differences. Many times technical disagreement leads to overall better results.