Sketch FEA

For iPhone and iPad

Sketch FEA

Draw a part, see the stress.

An educational app for learning finite element analysis (FEA). Draw a part, hold it, load it or heat it, pick a material, and see the displacement, stress, and temperature as you draw.

Coming soon to the App Store See the features

Requires iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later. In English.

A glass plate with a notch in each side, from the app’s launch animation, drawn like colored pencil: pulled apart, it has broken across the notches, and its two halves ring after the break, colored by stress, blue where it is low and amber where it is high, computed with the app’s own solver.

In the app

  • Draw a part, see the stress. Stress and displacement show up as you draw.
  • Watch a crack run through it. Brittle and ductile parts, pulled until they break. Built-in example.
  • Heat and thermal stress. Temperatures, heat flow, and the stress they cause. Built-in example.
  • See how it vibrates. Natural frequencies and mode shapes, in Hz. Built-in example.
  • Find the buckling load. How much a slender part carries before it bows out. Built-in example.
  • Learn from 29 examples. Beams, brackets, hooks, and disks, with notes.
  • Compare with theory. Examples check their results against textbook answers. Built-in example.
  • Steel, aluminum, and more. Materials with their properties and their sources. Sketch FEA Pro.
  • Dark or light. Dark by default, light when you want it. Built-in example.
  • Works offline. No account. Your sketches stay on your device.

See it in action

Short videos of the app on iPhone and iPad, without sound, each with controls to play and pause it.

The iPhone video: the headline “Draw a part, see the stress” above an iPhone showing a wall bracket with three holes, colored by von Mises stress, as a fourth hole is drawn in its arm.
iPhone
The iPad video: the headline “Draw a part, see the stress” above an iPad showing the wall bracket, colored by von Mises stress, with a fourth hole just drawn near the wall, beside the Parts panel.
iPad

In the videos

  1. A hole is drawn in a wall bracket, and the stress around it changes at once.
  2. A photo of a sketch drawn on paper is read, shown sped up, and its parts are checked on the review screen. On iPad it then opens as a sketch, colored by its stress.
  3. In the Dog bone tensile test example, an aluminum specimen is pulled until it tears.
  4. In the Tuning fork example, the tines sway in their first mode of vibration.
  5. The list of the 29 examples, which run without a subscription. Your own photos and most parts need Sketch FEA Pro.

Draw it

Draw lines, rectangles, circles, curves, freehand strokes, and dimensions in mm, with snapping, undo, and redo. Type a dimension to resize a side.

Give each part a role: the solid part and its holes, the supports that hold it, the loads that push on it, and the temperatures and heat that reach it. Each solid has its own material.

Model a plate of set thickness (plane stress), a slice of a long part (plane strain), or the section of a round part (axisymmetric).

The part

  • Solid
  • Hole

Supports

  • Fixed
  • Pin
  • Roller
  • Symmetry
  • Displacement

Loads

  • Force
  • Pressure
  • Gravity, acceleration, and rotation

Heat

  • Temperature
  • Heat flux
  • Convection
  • Heat source
Draw a part, see the stress. Stress and displacement show up as you draw. On iPad, a wall bracket with three holes, colored by von Mises stress, with the hole just drawn selected and its size in the Parts panel.

Analyze it

The solver works while you draw and edit. A quick result shows at once, and a finer one replaces it when you stop.

  • von Mises stress MPa
  • Displacement mm
  • Temperature °C
  • Heat flux W/m²
  • Factor of safety
  • See the deformed shape, mode shapes, and the crack as it grows.
  • Read probes at a point, along a line, or over an area.
  • Read the largest values and where they are, the reactions at the supports, frequencies in Hz, the buckling load, and the peak force.
  • Work in SI units (mm, N, MPa, °C) or US customary units (in, lbf, psi, °F).

Nine analyses

  • Static stress Displacement, stress, strain, and the factor of safety.
  • Heat Steady temperatures and the heat through each edge.
  • Heat over time Temperatures as they change from a uniform start.
  • Thermal stress The stress that a temperature change causes.
  • Vibration modes Natural frequencies and mode shapes.
  • Shaking The response to a force that swings at one frequency.
  • Dynamics over time The motion after a sudden, ramped, or pulsed load.
  • Buckling The load at which a slender part bows out.
  • Breakage A rising load until the part yields, cracks, and breaks.
Watch a crack run through it. Brittle and ductile parts, pulled until they break. Built-in example. On iPad, the aluminum dog bone tensile specimen torn in its gauge length, colored by plastic strain, beside Results with the peak force and the force against elongation.

Learn with 29 examples

Each example has notes on what to look for, the theory value where there is one, and what to try next. All 29 are free to run and explore, in every analysis.

Pick from 18 materials, from structural steel and aluminum 6061-T6 to ABS, PLA, glass, and concrete, each with its properties and their sources.

Checks against theory

  • Cantilever beam
  • Plate with a hole
  • Thick-walled cylinder
  • Rotating disk
  • Curved beam
  • Heat through a wall
  • Cooling fin
  • Sudden heating of a block
  • Clamped bar heated
  • Bimetal strip
  • Vibrating cantilever
  • Shaken cantilever
  • Sudden load on a bar
  • Column buckling
  • Bar past yield

Applications

  • Dog bone tensile test
  • L-bracket
  • Crane hook
  • Wrench
  • Pressure vessel head
  • Heat sink
  • Brake disk
  • Hot pipe under pressure
  • Thermostat strip with a heater
  • Tuning fork
  • Bracket on a shaker
  • Dropped load on a beam
  • Strut with a hole
  • Notched glass bar
Learn from 29 examples. Beams, brackets, hooks, and disks, with notes. On iPad, the list of examples open over a drawn bracket: the starting example and the checks against theory.

Compare with theory

Fifteen examples follow cases with a known answer from mechanics and heat transfer textbooks. When the run is done, the Results tab shows the theory value beside the app’s own value, and whether they agree within the stated tolerance.

Change the part and see how far the answer moves: make a beam deeper, a hole larger, or a column taller.

Theory values in the notes

  • Cantilever beam Tip deflection 0.2014 mm, from the elasticity solution.
  • Plate with a hole Stress at the hole 3.15 times the stress far away.
  • Clamped bar heated Stress −EαΔT = −117 MPa along the bar.
  • Vibrating cantilever First bending frequency 808.4 Hz.
  • Column buckling Buckling load 164.45 N: Euler’s load for a fixed–free column, lowered slightly by shear.
  • Bar past yield Peak force 6,200 N, the tensile strength times the area.
Compare with theory. Examples check their results against textbook answers. Built-in example. On iPad, the cantilever beam colored by bending stress, beside Results with the tip deflection and the bending stress against the exact solution, within 2% and 1%.

Free and Sketch FEA Pro

Free

  • Run and explore all 29 examples, in every analysis.
  • Draw your own outline and holes in a bar of structural steel or aluminum 6061-T6, fixed at one end and loaded at the other, in static stress.
  • Coarse and Medium meshes.
  • Projects, files, units, and the help.

Sketch FEA Pro adds

  • Every support and load: pins, rollers, symmetry, set displacements, forces and pressures, and probes.
  • Every material, and your own materials.
  • Heat, thermal stress, vibration, shaking, dynamics over time, buckling, and breakage.
  • Plane strain and axisymmetric models, and loads on the whole part such as gravity, rotation, and a temperature change.
  • Fine meshes for more detail.
  • Edit the examples.
  • Reports with the model settings and probe readings.

Sketch FEA Pro is an auto-renewable subscription, monthly or yearly, with a free trial for eligible new subscribers. If your subscription ends, your sketches still open and run. See the prices, the subscription terms and the questions about Sketch FEA Pro.

On your device

Drawing and calculation run on your iPhone or iPad. Your sketches stay on your device.

  • Works offline

    Drawing and the calculation need no connection.

  • No account

    Open the app and start. There is nothing to sign up for.

  • No ads

    The app shows no advertising.

  • Apple Pencil

    Apple Pencil draws while your fingers pan and zoom. A keyboard, trackpad, or mouse works on iPad.

Educational use only

Sketch FEA is for education and learning only. Its results are estimates from a simplified two-dimensional model. The calculation is verified against published exact solutions and benchmark cases, such as a cantilever beam, a plate with a hole, and Euler’s column, but it has not been validated against measurements or tested in real-world scenarios. It is not a substitute for professional engineering analysis, testing, or applicable codes and standards. Do not use it to design, rate, or approve any real part, or for safety-critical, medical, or compliance decisions. You use the results at your own risk; to the extent the law allows, Journey On is not responsible for any loss or decision based on them. See the Terms of Use.

Sketch FEA for iPhone and iPad

Learn how parts bend, heat, vibrate, and break by sketching. Requires iOS or iPadOS 16.4 or later.

Coming soon to the App Store

Questions? Email support@journeyon.co or read the support page.