Unlike earlier generations of engineers who compartmentalized the use of FEA technology into discrete functions, Carlson is representative of today's innovators who are exploring the full potential of predictive engineering, in which analysis and design take place simultaneously and are performed by the same person. This approach not only ensures the quality of the designs, but reduces the time required to get a product to market. It also lowers production costs by reducing prototype testing and minimizing the waste of material. FEA for Wood Unlike typical FEA applications, in which the products being modeled are made of metal or a composite material, a guitar made of wood has a number of unusual forces acting on it that must be stabilized. Carlson spent a great deal of time studying The Wood Engineering Handbook in order to understand the properties of wood.
Wood can behave very strangely.
It has a lot of variables and odd quirks. As a consequence, we needed extremely flexible solver software that could handle a very long solution process, which is why we selected MSC.Nastran for the FEA calculations. I can't think of any other analysis method for something this complex except physical testing. MSC.Aries is an easy tool to use and is geared to engineers who have design responsibilities rather than to specialists in analysis. Silicon Graphics' reputation for excellent graphics capabilities is well deserved.