Writing
May 25, 2026
- meta
- site
Hello, again — re-launching kuskira.com
A short note on starting over with a simpler, faster portfolio site.
Read post →April 12, 2026
- FEA
- test correlation
- fatigue
- building block
Notes on FE-test correlation that don't fit in a slide
Practical lessons from correlating finite element models with coupon, element, and full-scale test — gauges, boundary conditions, the conservatism multiplier, and the small reference model.
Read post →February 3, 2026
- fatigue
- scatter
- essay
Why fatigue is still hard, and that is fine
An essay on the parts of fatigue analysis that resist automation — scatter, history, environment, and the judgement calls no pre-processor will ever ask you about.
Read post →October 20, 2025
- fatigue
- spectrum
- load interaction
- damage tolerance
Spectrum truncation: the assumption nobody writes down
Fatigue spectra get clipped at both ends, and the clipping changes the life. Omission, truncation, load interaction, and why the conservative direction isn't obvious.
Read post →July 14, 2025
- python
- tooling
- automation
- pyNastran
Writing stress tools a team will actually use
Most internal stress scripts die on the author's laptop. What separates the few that survive — and why automation makes the assumptions louder, not quieter.
Read post →March 27, 2025
- stress concentration
- fatigue
- notch
- hand calcs
The Kt questions I keep getting asked
Stress concentration factors, gross versus net, and why the fatigue analyst and the static analyst quote different numbers for the same hole — and both are right.
Read post →November 15, 2024
- FEA
- meshing
- convergence
- practice
Mesh convergence is not a checkbox
Refining until the number stops moving is necessary, not sufficient. Singularities, stress recovery, the right quantity to converge, and knowing where to stop.
Read post →July 9, 2024
- composites
- failure
- stability
- delamination
A laminate fails three ways at once
Metals give you one failure mode to chase. A composite laminate gives you a committee — strength, stability, and the interlaminar modes that aren't in your in-plane criterion.
Read post →March 22, 2024
- allowables
- materials
- knockdowns
- certification
A-basis, B-basis, and the quiet conservatism of allowables
Where the number at the end of your margin actually comes from — the statistical basis, the knockdowns hiding inside it, and how they stack.
Read post →December 11, 2023
- joints
- fasteners
- hand calcs
- FEA
Bearing, bypass, and why I still open a hand-calc workbook
Fastener load distribution is the classic place where FE flatters you. Bearing-bypass, fastener flexibility, and why the closed-form check still rules the FE.
Read post →September 30, 2023
- FEA
- GFEM
- sub-modelling
- load path
From global model to detail: keeping the load path honest
Sub-modelling is where good global models go to die. Extracting detail loads without lying to yourself — boundaries, equilibrium, and the cases that don't commute.
Read post →June 18, 2023
- damage tolerance
- certification
- crack growth
- philosophy
Slow crack growth or fail-safe: the choice before the analysis
Damage tolerance is a design philosophy first and a crack-growth curve second. Picking the route early — and what each one actually commits you to.
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