SOLIDWORKS Simulation: Result Plot Tips – Part 2

May 5, 2020 by Kurt Kurtin

In a previous CATI blog accessible here, several tips were presented related to post-processing SOLIDWORKS Simulation results. It featured stress plots on mixed mesh models, showed how to present results on selected entities, and highlighted the Stress Hot Spot Diagnostics tool to locate stress singularities. Here I will mention others that I use nearly every time I conduct an analysis. Controlling plot display via the color bar The image below shows the items that are available via right mouse button […]

SOLIDWORKS 2020 What’s New – Draft and High Quality Mesh Definition

September 26, 2019 by Kurt Kurtin

In the search for faster and more efficient simulations, SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2020 introduces new meshing functionality for linear static studies that is sure to help. We can now mix draft and high quality solid element meshes in the same study. Individual bodies can be meshed with either formulation to help reduce the total degree of freedom (DOF) count, resulting in quicker solutions. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, here’s a brief overview. Tetrahedral-shaped elements are formed when you mesh […]

SOLIDWORKS Simulation Material Properties

May 8, 2019 by Bill Reuss

How do you obtain the material property data utilized in your analysis work? Do you only use the materials in the SOLIDWORKS Material Library? Are you one of the many SOLIDWORKS Simulation users that believe SOLIDWORKS Corporation should provide several hundred more materials in the built-in material libraries? To me, this is a serious question that I often debate with other SOLIDWORKS Simulation users. How often? As recently as a few days ago I was engaged in a slightly heated […]

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Simulation Verification – How Accurate are My Results?

April 9, 2019 by Kurt Kurtin

Do you need to provide documentation about the accuracy of the Simulation program to support a Quality Assurance (QA) process in your company? Or have you ever asked yourself; “How do I know I’m getting accurate results?” No need to guess or worry, the SOLIDWORKS Simulation team has provided verification problems with comparison to theory to support this need. To access the full list of these problems and open the model files associated with each, navigate within SOLIDWORKS to the […]

SOLIDWORKS Simulation: Draft Quality and High Quality Elements – Part 2

February 27, 2019 by Bill Reuss

Have you ever proofread your own writing a dozen times and not recognized a mistake? Well, in Part 1 of this blog I did just that. It must have been the lucky number 13 re-read to realize my blunder! My original premise was to use the same number of nodes along any edge in the finite element model. So, when I referenced Part 1’s ‘Figure 5‘ and wrote: “The difference in results between 3 high quality elements and 4 draft […]

Bonded, Bolted, or Pinned – Why You Should Simplify Your Analysis

November 17, 2018 by Bill Reuss

Simplify, simplify, simplify! I cannot count how many times I’ve had this discussion with customers when reviewing their CAD models and listening to what they want to analyze with SOLIDWORKS Simulation. I know how easy it is to start a new SOLIDWORKS Simulation study and begin setting up an analysis on fully-featured CAD models – click a button and you’re on your way. Let’s look at an example of starting simple and working towards the complex with SOLIDWORKS Simulation that […]

SOLIDWORKS 2019 What’s New – Stress Averaging at Mid-side Nodes – #SW2019

October 24, 2018 by Bill Reuss

Stress Averaging at Mid-side Nodes is one of several new features in SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2019. If you’ve been digging through the What’s New documentation for SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2019, I would be willing to bet this addition has you stumped. I was when I first read about the new feature and started investigating how this option functioned. In fact, I had to reach out to a couple of good friends who work in SOLIDWORKS Product Definition for clarification of this new […]

SOLIDWORKS Simulation: Hand Calculations

August 21, 2018 by Bill Reuss

Recently, I was discussing the use of hand calculations in conjunction with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with one of our customers. His belief is that hand calculations are a waste of time, that they are never accurate enough to represent what he designs. Simply put, how can an equation referencing material properties, geometric characteristics, or section properties needed in many structural analysis calculations represent the complex designs he creates today. That is a strong and fair argument that I cannot […]

Selection Sets and SOLIDWORKS Simulation

July 10, 2018 by Bill Reuss

How many left mouse button (LMB) clicks does it take to complete a task? More specifically, how many left clicks does it take to select all the faces, edges, components, and similar that you need when setting up a feature in SOLIDWORKS Simulation? I’m sure you would agree that the more complex the analysis, the more button clicks required. Are you taking advantage of the available tools to reduce your LMB clicks and save time? If you are not currently […]

Automatically Find Contact Sets in SOLIDWORKS Simulation

May 29, 2018 by Bill Reuss

If you are doing more with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) than just analyzing single, continuous volume parts, you need to pay attention to the contact conditions in your Finite Element Model. For SOLIDWORKS Simulation users working with assemblies, a frequent complaint I hear is how much time it can take to set up all the necessary contact conditions. For a Finite Element Model to mimic reality, proper contacts are essential. While I will not disagree that getting everything set up […]

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