IMAGE ACOUSTICS, INC.
FEARS – Finite Elemental Analysis for a Ring of Staves
FEARS
is a FEA program that creates,
controls, and analyzes a 3D staved ring transducer. No FEA experience is necessary as the program
is designed to be very user-friendly. The
entire program is managed in 1 MATLAB GUI. This 1 window allows the user to
quickly and easily control the program. Inputs include dropdown boxes listing
numerous material options for the piezoelectric ring, staved wedges along the
circumference, glue/cement, potting to hold the staves, and insulation. All of these mechanical components can be set
to “other” for custom materials not listed.
Appropriate dimensions are clearly presented for adjustment. The system can be dampened to mimic
frictional forces. When prompted by the user, MATLAB tells ANSYS to perform the
analysis via batch mode. Batch mode
allows for greater efficiency and the user does not have to interface with
ANSYS at all. When ANSYS is complete, an
excel spreadsheet of the results is created which MATLAB reads to bring the
results to the GUI. Plots are also
created and an image of the FEA model is available to view in MATLAB.
It comes with 1 MATLAB file and a text file for
assistance. Only 1 MATLAB file is required
to run the program. All other files are
generated automatically as needed by FEARS. Thus, they can be deleted at any
time. Furthermore, a save and load
feature is in place to quickly describe inputs and outputs. This model is axisymmetric
in nature for fast analysis. By default,
inputs are set up so the program can run on ANSYS ED. For larger element sizes, the full version of
ANSYS is required. Support and updates
will be instituted as necessary.
System Requirements:
Windows Operating System, MATLAB 2007
or greater, Microsoft Excel, ANSYS and/or ANSYS ED.
Figure 1: S Ring Interface.
Figure 2: FEA model.