As we continue to adapt to a mix of remote and in-office work, we hope that this past year you found our software products, customer support, training options/courses, “StressCheck Tip of the Week” posts, and e-Learning resources to be helpful and accommodating. We certainly couldn’t do it without your valuable feedback and contributions! We are committed to supporting your current and future engineering endeavors and look forward to what the future holds in 2023.

In 2022, we re-designed StressCheck’s documentation to include online and offline versions, attended ASIP 2022 as exhibitors and presenters, released StressCheck v11.1 (our best release yet!), and made numerous additions to our resource library to aid in a more efficient and enjoyable StressCheck onboarding process. The following are a few highlights that we’d like to share from this past year.

ASIP Conference 2022 Impressions…

In late November 2022, ESRD exhibited at the ASIP Conference and enjoyed re-connecting with StressCheck users, industry colleagues and our partners Hill Engineering (BAMpF 3D fatigue crack growth software developers) and LexTech (AFGROW developers). We also provided a training course and conference paper on the modeling and analysis of bonded doubler repairs.

Read more about our conference proceedings here.

StressCheck v11.1 Released…

We were pleased to release StressCheck v11.1 in late July 2022, made possible by the dedication and hard work of our development and QA teams. This release was packed with new features and enhancements in the areas of automatic meshing, fracture mechanics and global-local applications:

For a quick recap of the highlights in StressCheck v11.1 view the following short video:

Does your organization have an active StressCheck SM&TS contract but hasn’t yet upgraded to StressCheck v11.1? Contact us to get started with the upgrade!

Live Webinar Coming Soon…

On February 7th, 2023, we are planning for a live webinar to review what’s new and improved with the release of StressCheck v11.1, as well as preview the new features and enhancements under development for StressCheck v11.2 (targeted for release in Summer 2023).

Some highlights of features under development include (but are not limited to):

• Mesh seeding to guide the Automesh by automatically using pre-existing node locations.
• Upgraded toolbar icons for a clear and improved user experience.
• New option to select the toolbar icons between 16×16 (default), 20×20 and 24×24 pixels size.
• Movable Min/Max labels for Results plotting and extractions.
• A Dependencies button on the Parameter pane which lists all dependencies on the selected parameter.
• Column sorting and filtering for Parameters pane table including “Go To” to search for parameters.
• Predictive text on input fields has been implemented for parameter and formula names.
• Enhanced Index controls for filtering and sorting Geometry and Mesh object lists. including “Go To ID…” to access a specific ID.
• Improved visualization of Selected status on dropdown lists containing assignment/set records.
• Overhauled the Display Objects pane to support selective number ranges and additional object types.
• Re-designed color definitions pane.
• A list of object IDs belonging to a set “Contents:” and a list of objects that reference the set “Used By:” are now displayed when selecting a record on the Sets page.
• Improved consistency of DeLast/Undo functionality

Pre-register for the “What’s New and Improved in StressCheck” webinar by completing the form below:

Wishing for Good Tidings and Good Health

Finally, we’d like to wish all of our customers, partners and friends Happy/Safe Holidays and a Happier/Healthier 2023!

Keep up with the latest from ESRD by subscribing to our newsletter:

Demo of BAMpF/StressCheck interation as run through an AFGROW plug-in (courtesy Hill Engineering)

Announcing Hill Engineering and ESRD Agreement to Jointly Market BAMpF & StressCheck Professional

March 12, 2020

Hill Engineering and Engineering Software Research and Development, Inc. (ESRD) have executed a joint marketing agreement to collaboratively promote the combined use of our software tools Broad Application for Multi-Point Fatigue (BAMpF) and StressCheck Professional, respectively, for the engineering applications of fatigue and damage tolerance analysis.

ESRD is pleased to join forces with Hill Engineering and LexTech, Inc. (an ESRD technology partner and developers of AFGROW) to enable state-of-the-art fatigue crack growth capabilities for DaDT engineers.

BAMpF is a software tool developed by Hill Engineering for predicting the growth of fatigue cracks in 3D parts. Starting from an assumed initial flaw, BAMpF automatically combines fracture mechanics solutions from StressCheck with fatigue life calculations from AFGROW to assess fatigue crack growth performance.

Read Hill Engineering’s announcement.

BAMpF Resources

The following are helpful resources for learning more about the BAMpF/StressCheck/AFGROW integration for fatigue crack growth:

• BAMpF Home page (via Hill Engineering)
• ESRD/Hill Engineering/LexTech Joint Webinar recording (recorded July 2019)
• AFGROW/BAMpF Training workshop (courtesy LexTech/Hill Engineering/ASIP Conference 2019)
• BAMpF Use Case presentation PDF (courtesy Brian Boeke/AFGROW User’s Conference 2019)

BAMpF Case Study Example

The figure below shows a comparison between the fatigue crack growth predicted near a hole (using BAMpF and StressCheck Professional + AFGROW) and results from a fatigue crack growth test for similar conditions. In this case there is an initial flaw at the edge of the hole and the hole has been cold-expanded to introduce compressive residual stress.

Predicted crack front evolution (blue) compares favorably with the observed experimental result (red):

Want to Learn More? Contact Us:

• Hill Engineering
• ESRD

In late February 2021, ESRD’s CAE Handbook was officially added to the Altair Partner Alliance (APA). CAE Handbook provides an elegant and intuitive framework for deploying StressCheck-powered digital handbook solutions. Read the APA newsroom press release here, and learn more about CAE Handbook here.

From Gordon Lehman, ESRD’s Senior Account Manager:

CAE Handbook realizes powerful benefits in virtually any solid mechanics engineering simulation environment where ‘similar but different’ simulations are performed. Because no training is needed to browse, load, update, solve and generate engineering results from simulation apps, repetitive simulations can be offloaded from FEA experts to more junior, less experienced engineers. As well as boosting productivity, it supports much greater complexity and fewer simplifying assumptions than classical engineering handbooks.

CAE Handbook replaces StressCheck Professional on the APA.

CAE Handbook Webinar

To learn more about the features and benefits of CAE Handbook, attend the free APA-hosted webinar “Standardize Recurring Analysis and Process Workflows Using FEA-Based Simulation Apps” on March 18th, 2021 @ 10:00 am EST.

This 45-minute webinar will include a brief demonstration of CAE Handbook, and provide an overview of how CAE Handbook captures corporate knowledge and democratizes simulations for deployment to non-analysts.

While this past year continued to present unique challenges and unprecedented disturbances, we hope that you found our customer support, on-demand webinars, web-based training services and overall experience with our team to be refreshingly positive. It is our pleasure to serve you, and we look forward to what the next year brings!

The following are a few highlights we’d like to share:

ASIP Conference 2021 Impressions…

In late November 2021, ESRD exhibited at the ASIP Conference and had a blast re-connecting with StressCheck users, DaDT colleagues and our partners Hill Engineering (BAMpF 3D fatigue crack growth software developers) and LexTech (AFGROW developers). We also provided a training course on standardization and automation of DaDT solutions via StressCheck-based Sim Apps.

Read more about our conference proceedings here.

New Edition of Wiley’s Finite Element Analysis Released…

In June 2021,  Wiley published the second edition of “Finite Element Analysis: Method, Verification and Validation” by ESRD Co-Founders Dr. Barna Szabo and Dr. Ivo Babuška as part of their “Wiley Series in Computational Mechanics“. This edition provides an updated and comprehensive review of the theoretical foundation of the finite element method, and provides engineering students and professionals the tools, concepts, techniques, and procedures that help with an understanding of finite element analysis.

For more information on the new edition, click here.

Live Web-Based Training Options Expanded…

With engineers continuing to work mostly from home or in limited-capacity office settings, we expanded and refined our web-based StressCheck training options to provide more clarity on our supported DaDT features. In addition to revising our successful web-based Intro to StressCheck course, we also developed and deployed a web-based version of our Advanced Training in Fracture Mechanics course. This advanced StressCheck training course focuses on DaDT applications for which StressCheck is well-suited, as well as modeling, analysis and extraction best practices for 2D and 3D crack modeling.

Even though we could not be face-to-face, it was a pleasure connecting with our users via webcam/audio and helping them achieve proficiency with StressCheck’s features.

For more information on scheduling a live web-based training, click here.

Enhanced DaDT Analysis Features In Development…

Since the release of StressCheck v11 Update 1 in June 2021, we have been hard at work in preparing for the release of StressCheck v11.1. With this forthcoming release (expected in mid-2022), we are focusing on significant improvements to 3D crack front automeshes and SIF extractions (mixed tetra/penta/hexa meshes are now supported!!) as well as scaling features for imported global loads (TLAPs can now be scaled via parameters in linear or nonlinear analysis!!).

Live Webinar Coming Soon

In Q1 2022, we are planning for a live webinar to preview StressCheck’s new DaDT and TLAP scaling enhancements, and answer questions about the upcoming release of StressCheck v11.1.

Pre-register for the “New and Improved Features for 3D Fracture Mechanics Analysis in StressCheck” webinar:

Once a date/time is announced, you will be notified with more details about the webinar. Stay tuned!

Preview: Mixed Boundary Layer Automesh and SIF Extraction Improvements

The following is a brief demo of the mixed boundary layer automeshing feature (with SIF comparisons) coming soon in StressCheck v11.1:

• 0:00-1:20 mark – Two all-tetrahedral element boundary layers are automeshed around the crack front of a 180 degree embedded ellipse using the original Crack Front method available in v11.0.
  • The model is then solved at p=4 (for demonstration purposes) and the SIF distribution along the crack front is extracted using Radius = AUTO.
• 1:21-2:44 mark – Four pentahedral/hexahedral element boundary layers are automeshed around the crack front of a 180 degree embedded ellipse using the new Crack Front method available in v11.1 (and StressCheck v11 Update 1 for beta testing).
  • The model is re-solved solved at p=4 (for demonstration purposes) and the SIF distribution along the crack front is re-extracted using Radius = AUTO.
• 2:45-3:43 mark – The two SIF distributions are compared, with the new Crack Front automeshing method demonstrating clear improvements in efficiency and quality.

Wishing for Good Tidings and Good Health

Finally, we’d like to wish all of our customers, partners and friends Happy/Safe Holidays and a Happier/Healthier 2022!

Keep up with the latest from ESRD by subscribing to our newsletter:

ESRD is pleased to announce a new webinar, scheduled for April 22, 2021 @ 11:00 am EST. This webinar, hosted by ESRD partner Revolution in Simulation and titled “Simulation Governance Is Critical for Reliable Condition-Based (Predictive) Maintenance“, will present a case study in which the goal was the development of a mathematical model for supporting condition-based maintenance (CBM) decisions.

The model was designed for estimating the remaining fatigue service life of high-value mechanical components, given their service history and that specific flaws (such as corrosion defects) have been discovered in them, thus enabling CBM to move damaged component removals from unscheduled to scheduled maintenance action.

The presenters will be ESRD Chairman Dr. Barna Szabó, and ESRD President & CEO Dr. Ricardo Actis.

We look forward to your attendance!

Learn More & Register