From all of us at ESRD, we wish you a very happy holiday season! We truly feel that each and every one of our users are part of the ESRD family and we are incredibly grateful to get to work with all of you. We hope that you enjoy your year-end celebrations, quality time with friends and family, and wrap up 2023 with a big automesh-patterned bow 😉

There is much we are thankful for as we approach the end of the year. Our ESRD team has grown, we have had the opportunity to engage with our FEA community in new and important ways, and we’ve continued to strengthen our relationships with many of our beloved StressCheck users through conference visits and in-person trainings. We’d like to take a moment to acknowledge some of the reasons we’re looking back fondly on 2023…

ESRD’s New Account Manager

Patrick Goulding joined ESRD back in June as our new Account Manager. Many of you have had the chance to meet or speak with him this year, but if you have not yet been introduced feel free to reach out and say hi anytime, he would be thrilled to hear from you!

Patrick comes to us with several years of technical experience in the CAE industry, primarily with a background in multibody dynamics and mechatronics, and received his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois, Chicago. Patrick works remotely from his home office in Long Beach, CA, where he spends much of his time playing beach volleyball and repairing vintage turntables. If you’re looking for a turntable recommendation for your new stereo setup, he’s your guy.

Before Patrick was an engineer he devoted his career to the arts, co-founding a theatre company in Chicago and managing the day-to-day activities of a startup non-profit. From this experience, he learned the tremendous value of genuine and lasting business relationships. Patrick sees his role at ESRD as an opportunity to partner with talented engineers like yourself, help you to achieve your goals, and further his respect and admiration for those in the aerospace community.

• LinkedIn

Connect with Patrick on LinkedIn.

Blog Series Authored by ESRD Co-founder, Dr. Barna Szabó

Starting in October, Dr. Barna Szabó has authored weekly blog articles published to our ESRD Blog. These concise discussions address hot topics in engineering such as XAI, the misconceptions between Finite Element Modelling and Finite Element Analysis, and the importance of Simulation Governance for today’s engineering managers. We think that not only are these critical topics for our ESRD community to engage in, but that they are compelling insights into the fundamental values our software is built upon.

If you have not yet taken a look, we invite you to browse the currently published articles, choose your topic of interest, and share the discussion with others on your team. Dr. Szabó’s invites feedback and discussion, so feel free to reach out to us and to him with your thoughts and insights!

ASIP Conference 2023

We had a fantastic time attending the ASIP Conference this year and getting the chance to spend time with so many from our ESRD community! We look forward to it every year, because we get to catch up with so many of you and attend wonderful presentations demonstrating StressCheck in the ASIP industry.

Take a look at our recap of the 2023 ASIP Conference in Denver and we look forward to seeing many of you in Austin next year!

Looking Forward to 2024!

We’ve been working VERY hard on what we consider the most significant release of StressCheck in years, StressCheck v12.0! Our developers are in the very final stages of testing, making sure we deliver the highest quality analysis tool for you to use in 2024.

While we wait patiently for its debut, we want to make sure each of you know what to expect with the new functionalities, GUI updates, and overall improvements. Please schedule your demo of StressCheck v12.0 using the form below:

Wishing good tidings to you and your family!

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:

Geometry courtesy Kim Gallagher, GrabCAD.

While this past year presented 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:

Software Marketing Partnership

In March 2020, Hill Engineering and Engineering Software Research and Development, Inc. (ESRD) 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.

Learn more about the partnership here.

New On-Demand Webinars

In Summer/Fall 2020, we published on-demand webinars on two “hot topics” in aerospace engineering analysis:

• Introduction to Multi-Body Contact in StressCheck
• Intro to Fracture Mechanics for DaDT Solution Automation

These webinars were designed to provide theoretical background, implementation details, modeling best practices, and demonstrations of technology for StressCheck’s multi-body contact and fracture mechanics/COM API features.

For a full list of ESRD’s on-demand webinars, click here.

Live Web-Based Training

With engineers staying safe at home or in limited-capacity offices, we used GoToMeeting and WebEx to provide dozens of web-based StressCheck training sessions throughout 2020.

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.

StressCheck Developments

We have been hard at work in preparing for the release of StressCheck v11. With this release, we are shifting to a cleaner, more modern GUI layout and placing focus on improving the outcomes of the 3D automesher for complex aerospace parts.

Additional features include, but are not limited to:

• Fracture Mechanics: new Crack Front method combines Crack Face + Boundary Layer methods, and automatic radius of integration option for SIF/J-integral extractions.
• Multi-Body Contact: new solver dialog options for iterations/max pressure error, and plot functions for initial gap, final gap and contact pressures.
• Cutting Plane: significant improvements in fringe plotting on one or more cutting planes.

Stay tuned for more details on the StressCheck v11 release.

Wishing for Good Tidings and Joy

Finally, we’d like to wish all of our customers, partners and friends Happy/Safe Holidays and a Happier/Healthier 2021!

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

Dear ESRD Clients, Partners and Colleagues,

In light of the current situation with the COVID-19 virus and its potential disruptions to your day-to-day business activities, we at ESRD wanted to assure you that we will remain open for business.

Our diligent staff is committed to providing the best possible support and services for our products, and will employ an array of means to ensure your requirements are met. We are well-equipped to virtually collaborate via e-mail, telecom, live chat and Cisco Webex to solve customer support requests, conduct virtual training sessions, host webinars, provide software demonstrations, and more.

Our customers can continue to contact our support team by emailing support@esrd.com or by completing this form. Our customers can also find a wide variety of e-Learning resources in the ESRD Resource Library, including StressCheck tutorial videos and best practices.

For questions regarding account or sales support, you may contact sales@esrd.com.

We wish good health to you and yours, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

The ESRD Team

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 Co-Presents at ERSI Workshop 2019

Interactive K-solver crack propagation (CPAT) in StressCheck used for the prediction of fatigue growth rates.

ESRD’s Dr. Ricardo Actis attended and co-presented with technology partner Analytical Processes/Engineered Solutions (AP/ES) at the Engineered Residual Stress Implementation (ERSI) Workshop 2019 in Clearfield, UT.  This annual workshop is focused on the development of a damage tolerance methodologies for fatigue crack growth through deep Engineered Residual Stress (ERS) fields.

Sponsored by the US Air Force’s A-10 Airframe Structural Integrity Program (ASIP), the goal of this workshop is to develop a roadmap for the implementation of the beneficial effect of engineered residual stresses within the United States Air Force (USAF) Damage Tolerance Analysis (DTA) fatigue crack growth and lifing programs.

At ERSI Workshop 2019, Dr. Thomas Mills (AP/ES) and Dr. Ricardo Actis (ESRD) co-presented “Fatigue Life Modeling at CX and Interference Holes”.  The presentation summary is as follows:

• Crack closure experimental observations and modeling.
  • Continuation of previous year’s work.
• Residual stress redistribution at interference filled holes.
  • Task evolved from USAF goals dictated at ERSI.
  • Goal is to better understand interference fit fasteners and their interaction with residual stresses from cold-working (CX).

A PDF of the presentation may be downloaded at the following link:

Download PDF

ESRD Sponsors the WashU Racing Team

Congratulations to the Washington University in St. Louis Racing Team on a successful season! It was a pleasure to sponsor the team as they improved their global standings in multiple events, and increased their team to over 50 members. Below is a signed image of the racing team members, as well as a letter of appreciation sent to the racing team sponsors:

The 2019 Washington University Racing Team.

Washington University Racing Team Letter to Sponsors.

We are pleased to have a positive impact on our local engineering community, and look forward to our continued sponsorship of the team!

ESRD has had a very exciting 2019, and we are grateful for every moment of it!

From celebrating a big anniversary, leading extremely productive StressCheck training classes, and working on exciting new features…

…to providing excellent customer support, delivering high-quality engineering services and releasing new software products, this year has been full of cheer.

Of course, none of it would have been possible without your support, collaboration and enthusiasm for numerical simulation. So, from our family to yours, thank you.

We’d like to wish all of our customers, partners and friends Happy Holidays and a Happy (and S.A.F.E.R.) New Year!

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