Shell Elements
Determining which Faces were defined as Shell Elements in SOLIDWORKS Simulation
If you’ve setup a SOLIDWORKS Simulation study and needed to define solid bodies as Shell elements on defined faces, you should realize that a Shell Element is only generated on the face you’ve selected. Therefore every Load, Fixture, Contact Set and Mesh Control also must…
Have you ever tried imposing symmetry for shell elements in SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2012 or older? If you have then you would probably know it is a very tedious process and requires exact knowledge of what the symmetry condition actually does to impose it for shells….
When using Shell elements in your Simulation studies it is important to define the offset of your shell to ensure that the geometry accurately represents the 3D model. The default offset selection in a shell definition is Middle Surface. Therefore the defined thickness will have half of the material on either side of the surface. If you require all of the material on one side or the other, the Top or Bottom surface can be applied. The direction is defined by the orientation of the mesh. If the Top offset was selected, then the material will start from the Top surface of the mesh (part colour) and go below. If the Bottom offset was selected, then the material will start from the Bottom surface of…
SolidWorks Simulation – Use of Symmetry in Shell Elements [VIDEO]
For large problems, solid elements can often take a long time to mesh and solve. For thin bodies with constant thickness, we can replace the solid elements with shell elements which will significantly speed up the process of both meshing and solution. For bodies which are geometrically symmetric and are loaded symmetrically about a plane, the symmetry condition can also be used to speed up the analysis. The built-in symmetry condition of SolidWorks can only be applied on faces, however when shell elements are cut on a plane, the produce symmetry about edges and not faces. The symmetry condition can then be created manually using the reference geometry condition. In applying this condition, we need to restrict any displacements along the plane of symmetry and at the same time…