A method for designing a roller cone bit that includes steps of selecting
design parameters for the roller cone bit, drilling parameters, and
parameters of an earth formation, simulating drilling of the earth
formation by the roller cone bit using the selected drilling parameters,
calculating drilling performance parameters from the simulated drilling,
and analyzing at least one of a tensile stress or a compressive stress
parameters for a cutting element of the roller cone bit from the
calculated drilling performance parameters is disclosed.