Book Image

Practical Finite Element Simulations with SOLIDWORKS 2022

By : Khameel B. Mustapha
Book Image

Practical Finite Element Simulations with SOLIDWORKS 2022

By: Khameel B. Mustapha

Overview of this book

SOLIDWORKS is a dominant computer-aided design (CAD) software for the 3D modeling, designing, and analysis of components. This book helps you get to grips with SOLIDWORKS Simulation, which is a remarkable and integral part of SOLIDWORKS predominantly deployed for advanced product performance assessment and virtual prototyping. With this book, you'll take a hands-on approach to learning SOLIDWORKS Simulation with the help of step-by-step guidelines on various aspects of the simulation workflow. You'll begin by learning about the requirements for effective simulation of parts and components, along with the idealization of physical components and their representation with finite element models. As you progress through the book, you'll find exercises at the end of each chapter, and you'll be able to download the geometry models used in all the chapters from GitHub. Finally, you’ll discover how to set up finite element simulations for the static analysis of components under various types of loads, and with different types of materials, from simple isotropic to composite, and different boundary conditions. By the end of this SOLIDWORKS 2022 book, you'll be able to conduct basic and advanced static analyses with SOLIDWORKS Simulation and have practical knowledge of how to best use the family of elements in the SOLIDWORKS Simulation library.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1: An Introduction to SOLIDWORKS Simulation
6
Section 2: SOLIDWORKS Simulation with Shell and Solid Elements
10
Section 3: Advanced SOLIDWORKS Simulation with Complex Material and Loading Behavior

An overview of beams and frames

This section provides basic background information about beams and frames. It highlights their applications, the objectives of simulating/analyzing these structures, and some important technical features relevant to their analysis.

You will likely be familiar with the technical jargons of the mechanics of Solids and its restrictive definition of a simple beam as a structure that satisfies these conditions:

  • Capable of supporting transverse loads, which are loads that are applied perpendicular to its length
  • Has a length that is far greater than the dimensions of its cross-sections

However, in a more general sense, a beam can support transverse, axial, and torsional loads. But in this chapter, we will only focus on beams supporting transverse loads.

Beams remain one of the most flexible categories of structures used for the design of many engineering products, machines, and systems. You will find them in simple forms, such as...