27 real FEA & CAE questions from the Mechanical Design bank, as asked in Indian campus drives and tech interviews. Every question has a verified answer and an AI-tutor explanation on placd — free to start.
1. What is Element order?
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A.bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
B.linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
C.theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
D.measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
2. Which term means: "linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements"?
A.Element order — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
B.Element order — linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
C.Element order — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
D.Element order — geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
A.bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
B.eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
C.explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
D.ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
A.Aspect ratio — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
B.Aspect ratio — explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
C.Aspect ratio — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
D.Aspect ratio — measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
A.Jacobian ratio — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
B.Jacobian ratio — measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
C.Jacobian ratio — bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
D.Jacobian ratio — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
A.theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
B.measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
C.bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
D.refining the mesh until the result of interest changes by less than a set percentage, separating real stress from mesh dependence
11. Which term means: "refining the mesh until the result of interest changes by less than a set percentage, separating real stress from mesh dependence"?
A.Mesh convergence study — refining the mesh until the result of interest changes by less than a set percentage, separating real stress from mesh dependence
B.Mesh convergence study — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
C.Mesh convergence study — linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
D.Mesh convergence study — geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
A.theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
B.ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
C.explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
D.linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
14. Which term means: "theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it"?
A.Stress singularity — linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
B.Stress singularity — measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
C.Stress singularity — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
D.Stress singularity — theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
A.eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
B.geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
C.bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
D.ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
17. Which term means: "bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear"?
A.Bonded versus frictional contact — measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
B.Bonded versus frictional contact — geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
C.Bonded versus frictional contact — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
D.Bonded versus frictional contact — bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
A.linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
B.eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
C.geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
D.theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
20. Which term means: "eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies"?
A.Modal analysis — theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
B.Modal analysis — eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
C.Modal analysis — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
D.Modal analysis — measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
A.geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
B.theoretically infinite stress at a sharp re-entrant corner or point load that keeps rising with refinement and is handled by adding fillets or reading stress away from it
C.linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
D.eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
23. Which term means: "geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through"?
A.Large deflection option — refining the mesh until the result of interest changes by less than a set percentage, separating real stress from mesh dependence
B.Large deflection option — explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
C.Large deflection option — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
D.Large deflection option — geometric nonlinearity that updates stiffness as the structure deforms, needed when deflection is comparable to thickness, as in thin plates and snap-through
A.eigenvalue solution giving natural frequencies and mode shapes with no loads applied, used to keep a structure away from excitation frequencies
B.measure of how far an element is distorted from its ideal shape, with values below about 0.7 flagged in quality checks
C.explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
D.bonded contact glues surfaces together and stays linear, whereas frictional contact allows separation and sliding and makes the solution nonlinear
26. Which term means: "explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events"?
A.Explicit versus implicit solver — ratio of an element's longest edge to its shortest, kept below about 5 in regions of interest for accurate stress
B.Explicit versus implicit solver — explicit marches with tiny time steps and no matrix inversion, suiting crash and impact, while implicit iterates to equilibrium each step for static and slow events
C.Explicit versus implicit solver — refining the mesh until the result of interest changes by less than a set percentage, separating real stress from mesh dependence
D.Explicit versus implicit solver — linear elements have nodes only at corners, while quadratic elements add mid-side nodes and capture bending and curved boundaries with far fewer elements
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