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

Getting started with truss analysis via SOLIDWORKS Simulation

In this section, we will demonstrate the use of the truss element with a practical case study. Primarily, we will analyze the structural performance of a crane used in the spatial positioning of heavy objects on a mega building construction site. The example is inspired by exercise 4.11 in the textbook by Megson [1] (see the Further reading section). It is a practical problem that can only be solved satisfactorily via computer analysis.

Time for action – Conducting static analysis on a crane

Problem statement

Consider the 2D representation of a crane shown in Figure 2.4, which is to be analyzed based on the placement of 1500 kN and 2000kN weights at points R and W, respectively.

Figure 2.4 – A 2D schematic of a crane

For convenience, we shall consider that the members of the crane are derived from tubular alloy steel. For this material, the Young’s modulus, E, is taken...