FKM Guideline: Strengths, Limitations and Experimental Validation

The FKM guideline for analytical strength assessment of mechanical components has gained an increasing interest for the last decade in the industry, because it describes a general procedure directly applicable in an industrial design office. It allows in particular a sound interpretation of finite element analysis, making an efficient bridge between stress results and a trustworthy safety margin.The guideline unfortunately doesn’t give any comparison to experimental results, requesting from the user a blind confidence in the procedure and in the included (indeed extensive) database.Experimental comparison on a cast iron sheave and on mild steel laminate parts are presented in the following, in order to emphasize on one hand the power of the methodology, and on the other hand specific limitations which cannot be suspected at first sight. Based on these examples, a comparison with other well-known critera is eventually discussed, showing the efficiency of the FKM procedure in the product design stage.