SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Results Exchange Capabilities and Benefits

SOLIDWORKS has many different analysis tools that allow us to simulate and validate designs. Flow Simulation is a computational fluid dynamics program that allows us to do things like heat transfer, internal/external flow, and results exchange studies. We are going to talk about Flow Simulations results exchange capabilities and benefits.

Results exchange is used with SOLIDWORKS FEA simulation tools. Flow Simulation can share results from a study as an external load in an FEA analysis for things like pressure, and thermal conditions.

Thermal Conditions

While there are thermal capabilities in the FEA tool there are some limitations, specifically, when convection is involved. CFD has the upper hand with air flow because we do not need to make assumptions about convection coefficients, we can handle forced/natural convection easier.

Pressure Conditions

With SOLIDWORKS FEA Simulation we can apply pressure loads, however, these pressure loads are not able to accurately represent variable pressure on inconsistent geometry. Flow Simulation on the other hand is a VOF solver which can accurately represent pressure on solid bodies from fluid flow.

First, we will run a Flow Simulation on the geometry we intend to do a structural analysis on. This allows us to find our thermal or pressure conditions to reference.

Next, when in the structural analysis we open the properties of the study and navigate to the Flow/Thermal Effects tab. Then we can reference the Flow Simulation results.

Lastly, we will be able to run a FEA on the geometry using the flow effects as our external loads and see the structural effects.

Want to learn more about SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation? Check out these simulation blogs.