CATI Tech Notes

Free SimulationXpress Tutorial

SolidWorks helps you design just about any product you can imagine. However, it is not always
clear if the product will meet conditions it will face in real life. Traditionally, prototypes are tested for real-life scenarios ensuring design compliance. While this methodology has proven effective, it is time consuming and expensive.

Every license of SolidWorks is armed with a free tool called SimulationXpress. SimulationXpress helps users test SolidWorks parts for real-life load scenarios. SimulationXpress contains
a subset of features from full blown Simulation Product, which is based on a numerical technique called Finite Element Analysis or FEA. To use SimulationXpress, users need not have in-depth
knowledge of FEA or numerical techniques. Using a simple interface, Solidworks modeled parts can be tested for loads and environment conditions. Results generated can be used to optimize for weight or desired factor of safety.

We found a great tutorial generated by Solid Professor - a solution partner to SolidWorks. The tutorial walks through capabilities and functionality of SimulationXpress.I would sincerely recommend users to take time and walk through this short video. The tutorial also has exercises to test your skills and make sure you have a good grasp of concepts.

 

SimulationXpress is a wonderful start off point towards designing better products. However, there are limitations to SimulationXpress. These limitations can be overcome with full blown Simulation products. We regularly host free webcasts covering different analysis techniques and functionality. All you need to do is register for our upcoming webcasts. Design Better Products....

Rajat Trehan
Product Manager - Design Validation
Computer Aided Technology Inc. 

SolidWorks World 2010 Call for Papers

As everyone may or may not known SolidWorks holds a user conference every year and it has come time once again for SolidWorks to ask its users to submit ideas for presentations for the upcoming SolidWorks World.

So the questions that arise are Where in the world is SolidWorks World, When is SWW, What is SWW, Why is SW looking for presentation ideas & How is it going to benefit me if I submit a presentation idea?

Where in the world is SolidWorks World? Every year SolidWorks World is in a different location. This year it is in Anaheim, California. Past locations have included Las Vegas, San Diego, New Orleans, and Orlando.

When is SWW? This year it is Sun Jan 31^st – Wed Feb 3^rd and is generally held anytime from mid Jan. to mid Feb. each year.

What is SWW? SolidWorks World is an annual user conference that SolidWorks hosts for its users. The conference gives all the SolidWorks users a chance to get together in one location and see over 100 presentations on all aspects of the software. Attendees have the ability to see the different partner products that SolidWorks has to offer along with seeing some of the products that are designed in SolidWorks. The conference offers the opportunity to take the CSWP (Certified SolidWorks Professional) Exam or enter into a SolidWorks modeling competition.

Why is SolidWorks looking for presentation ideas? The presentations that are offered at SWW are presentations or hands on sessions that are created by the users, resellers and SolidWorks employees on every topic from hardware setup to surface modeling and are intended for users of all experience levels to attend to learn more about SolidWorks and what it can do to make SolidWorks and the attendees more efficient in how they use their software.

How is it going to benefit me if I submit a presentation idea? When you submit a presentation idea and it gets accepted SolidWorks will pay for your entry fee into SolidWorks World. The only cost incurred by the presenter is hotel, meal and travel costs.

I have presented at SWW2006, SWW2007 & SWW2009 and I have submitted two presentation ideas for SWW2010 and have enjoyed each year that I have been to SWW and have always gotten positive feedback from each of my presentations.

If you would like to submit a presentation, go to this web page and fill out the online form https://1bosweb3.experient-inc.com/Events/World2010/CFP.cfm. The deadline to submit ideas is September 18^th but get your ideas in soon as space is always limited. I would also suggest typing out your ideas in Word first so to check spelling, grammar & word count. I have included a series of screen shots from the online form along with a copy of one of my submissions to give everyone an idea of what SW is looking for.

Download SolidWorks World 2010 Online Form 

Download JDA SolidWorks World 2010 Abstract

If there are any questions about this process feel free to contact me at any time.

Josh Altergott

Support Team Leader

Computer Aided Technology

888-308-2284 x1229

josha@cati.com

Installation of VaultAdmin Tool on Client Computer.

You don't have to do a remote desktop session into your server to run the Vault Admin tool for your PDMWorks Workgroup. As a cad admin or even a single user you can install the Vault Admin tool on the client as well. I also noticed while upgrading to SP 4.0 the other day that the VA tool got removed from my client computer and I needed to reinstall it. I believe it is designed this way for security reasons and thinking logically I would agree with that policy. However where and how do you install this on the client? It does not get installed by default so you have to start the installation manager and select customize products to upgrade.

 

It’s kind of buried deep inside of Solidworks Explorer. Click on the + sign to expand the box.

 

And hit the install for the Vault admin tool.

You can now login into the Server under the Vault Admin Tool on the client machine.

  

Todd Werginz

Technical Analyst

Computer Aided Technology

SolidWorks 2010 Is Here!

SolidWorks 2010 has arrived!!!  Well, the launch events anyway.

Every year, CATI hosts a bunch of launch events for the latest and greatest version of SolidWorks. This year we're hosting 7 events throughout the Midwest (dates are at the bottom of this post). Typically, we hold two sessions - one for prospective users, and another for current users and then we show you all the newest and coolest user-requested features in SolidWorks, Simulation, and PDM.

This year's going to be a little bit different. If you're not currently using SolidWorks and you're attending our event then you'll get to hear from some of our current clients about how SolidWorks has enabled their companies to become more competitive. If you are already using SolidWorks then you get "The Top Ten in Ten" - what our Tech. Support guys think are the top ten best features in the 2010 release, as well as more interactive video sessions.

Sound good...or do you need more convincing?  Click here to register and get more info about our SolidWorks 2010 Launch Events.

Click here to view our afternoon agenda.

Launch Dates & Locations

October 5 - Brookfield, WI

October 6 - St. Louis, MO

October 7 - Palatine, IL

October 8 - Indianapolis, IN

October 13 - Appleton, WI

October 15 - Rockford, IL

October 21 - Kansas City, MO

See you at the Launch,

Liz Humrickhouse

CATI Marketing

Mesh Convergence!

Meshing is one of the most important steps while analyzing a component under certain loading conditions. One significant assumption that can be addressed only after a run is that the mesh was sufficient to capture the behavior of interest. An initial mesh must typically be refined multiple times to accurately capture stress behavior. The process of successive mesh refinement to produce optimal results is called convergence. So how important is convergence? This leads to penultimate question how important are accurate results? For a given set of properties, geometry and boundary conditions, accuracy is controlled by mesh.

 

Mesh Controls

 

There are three types of mesh controls available in COSMOS. H-adaptive, P-adaptive, and manual mesh controls. The two adaptive mesh controls are essentially automatic and concentrate mesh on the local hot spots in the geometry. The manual mesh control is obviously cumbersome requiring time and effort to manually refine mesh locally.

 

Stress Contours

 

To check for convergence it is recommended that we refine mesh size 2:1 for every mesh pass. One way to check convergence manually is to look to for stress contours in successive mesh runs. The stress contours should be continuous. By using the discrete fringe option, under plot settings, one can check for discontinuity or jaggies. This is not an absolute check for convergence but can definitely point towards areas to be checked. 

 

 

 

 

 

Error Estimate

 

Energy Norm Error plots indicates the difference in stress between adjacent elements. This option is available in the drop down menu, if you edit the definition of the stress plot. This is good way to compare convergence level between mesh iterations. If the error estimate in a region being optimized is kept consistent, results comparison is valid. This is again not an absolute test of convergence but high error in areas of concern should be investigated.

 

 

Global element size 0.24 in

 

Global element size 0.12in

 

Nodal vs Elemental Stress

 

Another way to manually check for convergence is to compare nodal versus elemental stresses between successive mesh runs. Nodal results show the averaged result at each node based on stress from adjacent elements. Elemental results show the nominal stress calculated for each element.  The elemental and nodal stresses should be ideally same at a location.

 

 

Nodal Stress

 

Element Stress

 

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager - Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

 

Reminders

I am currently on vacation at Disney World in Orlando and was again reminded, yet again, how the CATI user community affects so many people around the world.  I am constantly telling my wife and kids; "One of my customers made that."

When on Vacation I don't look for these types of things as much but I stumbled into one anyway.  Actually, I tripped on my own feet and steadied myself with a video game made by Design Integrity in my resort's arcade.

The design of the game is a great SolidWorks success story.  Using master model techniques Aaron Eiger structured the models to effectively have several designers working on the design at the same time.  This allowed the team to go from design renderings to prototype in 5 1/2 weeks.

I was in their office a couple of years ago when one of the first production games arrived.  The game was not only a cool design story but it turned out I was pretty good at it.  I think I bowled around a 210 on it.  (No one can prove I didn't at this point so that's my story.)

The point of this post however was to remind my coworkers, customers, and friends of the tremendous influence our community has on the world.  The products that our customers develop using SolidWorks impact all areas of our lives including; medical, transportation, manufacturing, packaging, and even entertainment, just to name a few.  So much so that even when I turn myself off and go on vacation with my family, there is a good chance I'll trip and land on a product that one of my customer's made.

Adrian Fanjoy

Technical Services Manager

CATI

Motion Analysis

SolidWorks Motion Analysis is the easiest analytical tool to test for kinematics. Here are a few pointers to make sure you get the most out of your tests.

SolidWorks Mates: while there are more than 100 ways to use different options in SolidWorks environment, 3 mates should be enough to completely constrain a component. By defining mates user constrains a degree of freedom, so user should typically have a single mate controlling a degree of freedom. Having more mates makes the animation redundant leading to wrong results or analysis failure.

Mate location: Define mates at a point location central to reaction area. Meaning choose center of a circular area or midpoint of an edge as the mate location. Solidworks Motion makes calculations about a CG of an object and generates reactions at all mate locations. Well defined mates  help with result interpretation and improve accuracy.

Component Orientation: All part should be positioned before they undergo motion that is at zero position. Remember at time zero reaction forces are zero and hence where you start the simulation from matters.

Calculation: By taking small time steps, software predicts position of parts at next time step based on initial conditions or previous time step. The software solves for velocity of parts, Mates and then forces/accelerations.

Solvers : SolidWorks Motion has three solvers

(a)    GSTIFF works very good for displacement based simulation

(b)    WSTIFF works great if step sizes suddenly change during a simulation. Compared to GSTIFF, WSTIFF is more accurate and smooth for discontinuous forces, or contact problems.

(c)    S12 : For velocity and acceleration problems S12 offers better control of accuracy.

 

      Hand Calculations: The only other option to using software is to come up with hand calculations. This is both confusing as well as time intensive. Take a simple four bar linkage. To start generating equations user needs to draw a free body diagram……

 I think I will stick to using SolidWorks Motion. What about you???

 

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager – Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.

 

What do your designs rely on?

Engineers are considered to be logical, thoughtful and precise with everything they undertake. Perhaps  one reason why, everyone calls themselves an engineer. A house wife, calls herself “Domestic Engineer”.  Doesn’t she organize, construct, manipulate, manage, contrive? all used to define an engineer, as per Merriam-Webster dictionary. So next time you boast your engineering skills, beware the docile, and over friendly cookie baking lady has exactly the same skill sets.

There are certain tools any type of engineer would rely upon.

(a)   legacy data

(b)   testing

(c)   intuition

Legacy Data works while designing a family of products. Meaning, similar shaped parts, subjected to different magnitudes of load. Hopefully, the initial design was well engineered and optimized for material and life cycle expectancy.

Testing historically has proven to be expensive, time consuming, but definitive. Need to reduce design cycle time, and ability to match quality is need of the hour. Depends on the nature of industry you are in, testing more than a couple designs isn’t economical anymore.

Intuition  to me works if you have worked in the field for a considerable time. I have known engineers who have spent 10 years designing a pressure vessel or a nozzle. They obviously understand, different conditions components are subjected to. The kind of experience only years of practice can give. Their first shot is very close, if not always on target to an optimized design.

The ability to test multiple concepts, improve existing designs, will define product success and market acceptance. Be it machine design or product design, everyone needs to tune up design process or face competition from every corner of globe.

SolidWorks Simulation or COSMOS are tools engineers rely upon to make sure their designs perform optimally. There are budget / time constraints at any given moment to ponder upon. If we prove to your management technology works, and is economically viable will they work with us?

Rajat Trehan

Product Manager – Design Validation

Computer Aided Technology Inc.