When to use 2D Simplification

When to use 2D Simplification

The idea behind simplifying your geometry for the sake of Simulation is to speed up the calculation. By simplifying, you are making assumptions on your boundary conditions i.e. no out of plane strain/stress, axisymmetric conditions. Also you are restricted to 2D elements. Even with these restrictions, contact problems become much easier to solve.

You are allowed to select any face or plane to section with. Let’s say we want to see the weight of the blocks on the plastic board, we can use the face of the block to section with.

SOLIDWORKS will create the section, so you do not have to create the geometry.

With the time savings of not having to create the geometry and the speed of calculations it makes sense to analyze with 2D Simplification before moving on to using the full 3D model.

Ketul Patel

Application Engineer

Computer Aided Technology