When running a simulation study on an assembly in SOLIDWORKS Simulation, you may need to view the effects of your simulation on a specific part or parts for the simulation plot you are interested in. Some examples may be that parts of the assembly are covering the part that you wish to quickly analyze, or you may want to specifically show what happens to a specific part in a simulation report you are generating for a presentation. This article discusses two approaches to isolate and show the simulation results for a single part.
As a SOLIDWORKS Simulation technical support specialist, I see many very complicated assemblies on which customers are attempting to perform a SOLIDWORKS Simulation; that, at times, will not mesh because of a phenomenon called volumetric interferences.
SOLIDWORKS Simulation has a report generator that makes great looking Word document reports on the user's current Simulation study. These reports come complete with all the relevant information that the user would like to include from their Simulation model, and are generated very quickly. Even though the report generation option can save a lot of time and headache, there are still several annoying aspects of generating a report in SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
This case study compares SOLIDWORKS Simulation results on a model as analyzed by beam and solid element types. Beam-type elements are defined by a single line representing the path of a beam with the cross-sectional moment of inertia applied only as a theoretical calculation along that path. Solid-type elements, in this case, are tetrahedrons that generate in place of all modeled geometry acting as a 1:1 representation.
The edge weld connector is available in SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional and Premium. It can be used to estimate the appropriate size of a weld needed to attach two metal components. The program calculates the appropriate weld size at each mesh node location along the weld seam. Once an analysis is completed, edge weld results can be listed and a weld check plot can be created. The edge weld connector can be defined for linear static, buckling, frequency, and linear dynamic studies.
A Stress-Strain Curve in SOLIDWORKS Nonlinear Analysis is a graph of user-defined stress and strain data points that make a graph that the Nonlinear Analysis program can use to obtain a lot of useful information. Information like the yield point of the material (which should always be the very first point in any SOLIDWORKS Simulation Stress-Strain Curve), material strength, ductility, formability, elastic modulus, etc. In fact, only the Poisson’s ratio (NUXY) is taken from the Material dialog box once a Stress/Strain Curve has been defined for a material.
SOLIDWORKS Simulation first calculates displacements of all the nodes in the mesh. The strains are then calculated, and the last stresses for each element in the mesh are calculated. Stresses are calculated at specific points within each mesh called Gaussian or quadrature points. After the Gaussian point has been calculated for an element, the program calculates the nodal stress for each element by extrapolation.
Meshing plays an important role regarding the accuracy of a SOLIDWORKS Simulation analysis. The linear static study module includes an option that allows for the solver to adapt the mesh during the solution in regions of the model with high strain energy errors. This results in a more accurate solution with little user input. There are two types of solution adaptive mesh refinement methods that can be used: h-adaptive and p-adaptive. This guide will cover the differences between the two methods and how to enable them.