Beam, Hoop, and Thermal Analyses

The construction of many plastic parts can be thought of in terms of well-understood basic structures – beams of various cross sections, for example.  By considering the mechanical properties of such basic structures in conjunction with information on the bulk properties of the plastic material, it is often possible to make at least preliminary part designs to handle anticipated loading while keeping stresses and deflections within acceptable limits.  Adding information on how resin properties may change with temperature and/or time enables the performance envelope of the part to be extended to allow for varying circumstances.

Please see Chapter 9 of “Designing With Plastic - The Fundamentals” for a discussion of simple analysis techniques to assist you in developing new parts.  These techniques are also useful in product improvement, cost reduction, and failure analysis of existing parts.  As the complexity of the part increases or when very accurate results are required, computerized finite element analysis may be required.