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

Mesh control with plane elements

Plane elements were introduced and discussed in Chapter 5, Analyses of Axisymmetric Bodies, where it was emphasized that they represent a two-dimensional approximation of three-dimensional continuum structures. As you will recall from that chapter, we showcased the application of the element under the Plane analysis of axisymmetric bodies subsection. Here, we will highlight the benefit of using mesh control with plane elements for an analysis that centers around plane stress. As you will know, a plane stress problem involves "a state of stress in which the normal and shear stresses directed perpendicular to the plane are assumed to be zero" [2].

Figure 10.6 is indicative of a problem that can be solved with a collection of plane elements. We shall use the determination of the maximum normal stress that develops in the component upon loading to demonstrate the importance of mesh control and convergence study:

Figure...