Articles by: Irfan Zardadkhan, PhD, CSWE
SolidWorks simulation provides two options to solve the set of FEA algebraic equations; iterative or direct solution methods. The iterative solver, FFEPlus, uses approximate techniques to solve the problem. It assumes a solution and then calculates the associated errors. The iterations continue until the errors become acceptable. The…
I see a number of people trying to create simple simulation studies and then comparing the results to hand calculations of well known problems. Although this is a good practice to gain confidence in the results obtained by SolidWorks, at times it is tedious and…
My tech tip of the day is the new functionality for obtaining SOLIDWORKS Simulation Beam Joint beam joint reactions. Now it is possible to list reaction forces and reaction moments at beam joints that have fixed translations or rotations. After the simulation is completed, right…
Irfan’s SW 2013 Flow Simulation Pick of the Day: Flow Leakage Browser [VIDEO]
My SolidWorks Flow Simulation 2013 pick of the day is the new leakage browser functionality. Hidden within the lids creation tool is the leakage tracking functionality. It helps you quickly locate holes or displacement gaps within the flow models. The tool works by selecting a pair of faces, one on the inside of the flow domain and one on the outside of the flow domain and then finds a connecting path between the two faces. The only way to get from one face to the other would be through a hole or a gap. This tool can really help debug issues with flow domains which would have required a lot of manual effort in the previous releases. Watch the video below to see the tool in action.
A number of people are quite reluctant to use shell elements vs. solid elements. Shell elements can be a huge time save since they allow the modelling of thin features with relatively much fewer elements than solid elements. They are also easier to mesh and…