Industry
Hydraulics / Fluid power
Country
Austria
Software
ANSYS — coupled thermal-structural
Duration
4 weeks
A hydraulics manufacturer had experienced repeated field failures in a manifold block under extended high-pressure operation. The failure mode was progressive seal leakage appearing after a period of continuous use at elevated load. Two rounds of material substitution had been attempted without resolving the problem. The working hypothesis before the FEA engagement was that the material was insufficiently resistant to the operating conditions — a third material change was being considered.
GFE ran a coupled thermal-structural analysis of the manifold block under the reported operating conditions. The analysis identified the actual failure mechanism: thermal expansion of the block under load was causing 0.12mm deformation of the seal grooves — sufficient to cause progressive leakage regardless of material. The material was not the problem. GFE proposed repositioning of the cooling bores to reduce the thermal gradient across the seal areas, validated the redesign in simulation, and the client implemented the change. No field failures have been reported since.
Root cause
confirmed in simulation
0.12mm
seal groove deformation
Redesign
validated before prototype
Zero failures
after design change
GFE works in ANSYS, Dlubal RFEM, SolidWorks Simulation, and LS-DYNA — matched to the analysis type and client environment.
GFE has resolved field failures where standard corrective measures had already been exhausted — identified through simulation.
Analysis reports are structured for CE technical files, insurance submissions, and TÜV review — not internal calculation notes.
All team members are fluent in English, with additional language skills in German, Italian, Spanish, and more.
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Our company produces safety-relevant welding assemblies for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
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We were looking for additional engineers to expand our construction capacity. You seemed to be a young, motivated Team and except your professional expertise, your personal commitment made me confident to work with you. The cooperation has been seamless and very productive from the start. We are happy with the results.
GFE Solutions is a specialized engineering services company. Our engineers are mainly from Eastern Europe – to our customers we offer onsite- and offsite-engineering-services. All our specialists speak and write fluently English, some of them German and other languages.
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