Nonlinear, thermal, pressure vessel, and vibration analysis from one team
Find the real margin before tooling. Free assessment and roadmap.
The Problem
PPS FEA services, also called finite element analysis services, find the real margins in your design before you pay for tooling. Most parts are built heavier than they need to be. Nobody had the time or the data to prove what the part can carry. Every extra pound of steel is paid for on every unit, for the life of the product. Parts built too light fail in test or in the field, and that bill is larger. FEA services answer the question in between: how much material does this part need, under the loads it sees in service?
The PPS Approach
Our structural analysis services cover four problems that drive cost in heavy equipment, aerospace, and process plants. FEA nonlinear analysis handles parts that yield, buckle, or change contact under load. Thermal analysis couples heat and stress for parts that warp, crack, or leak when temperatures swing. Pressure vessel stress analysis proves the real margin to code, so you don't pay for a vessel by the pound. Vibration analysis finds the modes that crack brackets and loosen joints, then moves them before the first build.
Why use specialists instead of adding FEA to a designer's workload? Because the answer is only as good as the setup. Mesh, boundary conditions, material models, and load cases decide whether a result is real or just a colorful plot. Our FEA consulting engineers check each model against hand calculations and any test data you have before you see it. The goal is not a stress plot. It is the lowest total-cost design. That means the lightest part that passes, made by the process your suppliers already run, and ready for the tests your customers require.
Our FEA services team works beside our CFD and DFMA engineers. A thermal load or a casting limit won't surprise the structural answer late in the program. FEA is one part of CAE simulation, and our FEA simulation services connect to the rest. When unit cost is the target, FEA cost reduction analysis feeds our value engineering services. For new products, FEA for product development runs inside our product development services. You own the IP by default, set in your contract.
The 34% less rework, 51% fewer prototypes, and 37% shorter test phase figures are from the PPS Innovation Edge white paper.
Parts that yield, buckle, or change contact under load. Find the real limit and remove the extra material.
Cut the extra material.
Applications
Plasticity
Buckling
Contact
Large Strain
Heat that drives stress, warp, or seal failure. Model the thermal load and the stress it causes together.
Model heat and stress.
Applications
Thermal Stress
Expansion
Hot Spots
Transients
Vessels sized by conservative rules. Prove the real margin to code and stop paying for extra wall thickness.
Prove the real margin.
Applications
ASME VIII
Nozzles
Supports
Wall Thickness
Parts that crack at resonance or loosen in service. Find the modes and move them before the first build.
Move the modes early.
Applications
Modal
Harmonic
Random
Fatigue Life
01
The lightest, lowest-cost design that passes, with the margins shown for every load case.
02
FEA results and margins you review and approve at each gate, before anything moves to prototyping.
03
You own the IP by default, set in your contract.
04
If we missed it in our QC, we fix it. If your supplier can't make the part within three years, or supply dries up, we fix that too.
You send
What we need to start
CAD, native or STEP
Loads and operating conditions
Material specs or test data
Targets for weight, cost, life, or code
History: failures or earlier test results
→
You get
What you hold at the end
Assessment of your project scope and data
Roadmap with scope, targets, and gates
Validated models and documented margins
Design changes, drawings, and native CAD
Support after delivery
We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
We review your project scope and the CAD, loads, materials, and targets you have.
Scope, load cases, targets, and approval gates.
FEA models checked against hand calculations and test data.
Design changes, drawings, native CAD, and model files.
Questions, test correlation, and supplier issues.
You approve the data at every gate, so nothing surprises you. Our FEA, CFD, and DFMA engineers work as one team on your design. If we missed something in our QC, we fix it. If your supplier can’t make the part within three years of delivery, we fix that too.
Simple loads, generous safety factors
Or add thickness until it does
Tooling and test article paid for
The failure shows up on the bench
New geometry, new prototype, new test
Which failure modes matter here
Nonlinear, thermal, vessel, or vibration
Geometry refined to real margins
Second engineer verifies the model
Build once, to confirm
FEA consulting for aerospace components: flight parts that must be light and proven, with margins your reviewers accept.
Prove lighter parts.
Applications
Brackets
Fittings
Margins
Supports
Kilns, mills, and conveyors under heat and heavy load. Find cracks and fatigue before a shutdown finds them.
Fewer surprise stops.
Applications
Kilns
Mills
Conveyors
Heat Load
Buckets, frames, and booms under impact and fatigue. Solve the loads that break equipment on remote sites.
Stop costly downtime.
Applications
Buckets
Frames
Booms
Impact
Vessels, skids, and supports under pressure and heat. Show margin and code compliance to pass the review.
Pass the review first.
Applications
Vessels
Skids
Supports
Code Checks
Fixed scope for one project. A lower-risk place to start when you want to see our work on your data.
Start with one project.
Fits When
One Project
Fixed Scope
From $35K
Scheduled monthly engineering for recurring needs: drawing updates, ASME calcs, or FEA for each sale.
Work on a set schedule.
Fits When
Monthly
Recurring
From $15K/mo
A dedicated PPS team working your program daily, built for long, multi-year development and testing.
Your program, every day.
Fits When
Daily Work
Multi-Year
From $800K/yr
FEA, CFD, CAD, DFMA, and testing under one roof. Engineering is a team sport, and you get the whole team.
One team, every skill.
Under One Roof
FEA
CFD
CAD
DFMA
Testing
Veteran-owned SDVOSB status gives defense and federal buyers a set-aside path to proven engineering.
Verify our SDVOSB status.
Credentials
SDVOSB
VOSB
CAGE 8ZK73
NAICS 541330
Missed something in our QC? We fix it. Supplier can't make the part within three years? We fix that too.
Support for the long run.
We Fix
Our QC Misses
Supplier Gaps
Supply Chain
We price to the value we deliver, not hours logged. You buy a design that works, not more iterations.
Pay for the result only.
Collections
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
Which FEA services does my part need?
FEA services should be chosen by the way your part can fail, not by the software name. Start with the symptom or the constraint. Our FEA consulting team sorts every request into four failure modes: yield and buckling, heat, pressure, and vibration. Each one points to a different analysis. If parts yield, buckle, or shift contact, you need nonlinear analysis, because linear results miss the real limit. If heat drives warp or seal leaks, you need thermal analysis. If a vessel is sized by conservative rules, pressure vessel stress analysis can prove the real margin under the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.
If parts crack at resonance or loosen in service, vibration analysis finds the modes and moves them. Many parts face more than one of these. A pump housing can see pressure, heat, and vibration, so our engineers work them in one model. Not sure where to start? Send the part and its history. The free assessment tells you which analysis answers your question, and which ones you can skip.
Can FEA services replace physical testing?
FEA services cut the number of physical tests you need, but they do not remove required qualification or certification testing. Simulation finds weak designs early, when a change costs a CAD edit instead of new tooling. So the prototypes you do build confirm margins instead of hunting for problems. Skipping simulation has a cost too. Without it, each prototype is a guess, and each failed test means new tooling and a slipped date. Run as design validation services, FEA catches those problems on screen. NASA's standard for models and simulations shows how agencies judge when a model's results can be trusted.
The tests that remain matter even more. We pick the load cases and sensor spots that confirm the tightest margins. A partner lab runs the test, and we correlate the model to the results. When they agree, your reviewers get evidence from two sources. When they don't, the gap points to the wrong assumption, and we fix it. Your customer or code body still sets the tests you must run.
What do I send to start an FEA services project?
To start an FEA services project, send what you have, in the format your team already uses. That usually means CAD, native or STEP, plus loads and operating conditions. Add material specs or test data, your targets for weight, cost, life, or code, and any failure history or test results. Missing data is the most common reason engineering projects stall. A model built on guessed inputs gives a guessed answer, and you pay for it later. Material data is a common gap, and NIST's Material Measurement Laboratory is a good first stop. That is why we don't start the work until every data set is in.
Once it is, the first step is a free assessment of your project scope and data. We confirm what the work can and can't answer, and tell you what is still missing. Then we send a roadmap proposal with scope, targets, and approval gates. Every project is scoped on its own, so the roadmap sets the schedule, not a stock promise. NDAs are available before you share any files.
Who owns the design and models when the work is done?
You own the IP from your FEA services project by default, set in your contract. That covers the design, the drawings, and the models. Some firms keep the models, or license them back to you, so every later change sends you back to them and their rates. That locks your product to one vendor for its whole life. It also makes design reviews harder, because your team can't open the evidence behind each decision. If your program falls under export rules, data handling matters too. The State Department's ITAR guidance sets the rules for defense data, and a loose process puts you at risk.
At delivery, you receive the native CAD, the drawings, the model files, and the documented results. Your engineers can check the work, rerun a load case, or hand the package to a supplier or customer. We sign mutual NDAs before any data is shared. Your files stay in controlled project folders. Tell us your export or customer data rules at the start, and we set up handling to match.
What happens if a prototype fails in test?
If a design from our FEA services shows part cracking in fatigue testing, we find out why and fix it. Real loads, material lots, and assembly effects never match a model perfectly. Because you approve the data at each gate, a test result is checked against predictions you have seen. A failed test feels like a setback, but it is useful data. It shows which assumption was wrong: a load, a material property, or a boundary condition. Without a plan, that data gets argued over instead of used to fix the design. ASME's verification and validation standards set out how to judge a model against test.
When testing is in scope, we plan it with a partner lab to confirm the margins that matter most to you. Then we correlate the model to the test results. If the miss was ours, because something slipped through our QC review, we fix it. If the test finds a condition nobody knew about, we scope the change with you and update the roadmap together.
FEA consulting vs in-house simulation: which costs less?
We price our FEA services to the value they deliver, not the hours we log. Hourly billing rewards extra iterations. The cheapest quote often becomes the most expensive project once rework and field failures show up. Our incentive is to get the design right the first time. We engage by fit, not as a ladder, and you can move between them. Gold (from $35K): you have one project and need help with it. Platinum (from $15K/mo): you have recurring work at a steady rhythm. Diamond (from $800K/yr): you have a long development program, often multi-year. Federal buyers can also use the SBA's SDVOSB set-aside program.
Gold is never required, and some clients start at Platinum or Diamond. These are starting points, not quotes or bids. Your price comes from the free assessment, where we review your project scope, data, and goals and send a roadmap proposal with scope and cost. We price to the value we deliver, not the hours we log. If the value isn't there for you, we'll say so in the assessment.
Not sure which FEA service fits? Send the model. Free roadmap.
Send your CAD, loads, and targets to our FEA engineering consultants. We review your project scope in a free assessment and reply within one business day with next steps.
On-site assessments that require travel are quoted separately.
