COSMOS gets skip and hook loader manufacturer "hooked" on FEA

Company PDE Geesink Industry Automotive / Transportation Location United Kingdom Product Used COSMOSM Type of Analysis Linear Static More Details

The Challenge
When prototypes of their skip and hook loader began failing, PDE Geesink realized the limitations of hand calculations. The calculations suggested that they were operating well within acceptable stress limits, yet the failures kept occurring.

Struggling to understand the reason for the failures, PDE Geesink decided to see if Finite Element analysis could help them. They found the solution to their problems in COSMOSM.


The Solution
PDE Geesink chose consultants CenitDesktop in Oxford, England, to assist them. CenitDesktop, not only supplied the COSMOSM software, but also used COSMOSM to provide highly cost effective fixed price analysis consultancy. Laurence Marks, was responsible for undertaking the project.

Using COSMOSM, Laurence was able to produce a fully analyzed model in a couple of days. The images of stresses clearly showed what was happening -- namely a stress concentration occurring in an unexpected area due to the particular geometry/loading configuration. Once this was understood it was easy to come up with solutions that not only addressed this but also some other less serious problems the analysis had highlighted. The solutions were introduced into the product with immediate success.

Summary and Metrics:

• COSMOSM identified a stress concentration occurring in an unexpected area due to the particular geometry/loading configuration
• Achieved a 10% load increase without impacting the manufacturing and equipment cost
• Enabled engineers to try "what if" scenarios, a typical change to analysis result cycle taking around 20 minutes