Figure 1. Image courtesy of Dassault Systemes.

One of the downsides of hexahedral elements is the meshed geometry must be such that there is a sweepable shape. This means that overhangs, extra extrusions, and holes that don’t follow the sweep direction would all make it impossible to use these advanced elements for analysis. Many simulation programs get around this by splitting or “partitioning” the shape into separate volumes that are sweepable. As usual, 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation does this as well but ups the ante above those other tools. Let’s take a look at partitioning for simulation on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform.

Partitioning for Better Meshing

We’ll start with the part below. It is a cylinder from an air-cooled motorcycle engine. Notice the removal of small features like fillets on the simplified version in the figure below.

Figure 2

We can take the simplified model into the Structural Model Creation app to get feedback on how to best mesh this shape. Select the compass, click Structural Model Creation, click “Partition Hex Mesh,” and finally select the component itself as a support. 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation will then color the part according to the methods that can be used to mesh it.

Figure 3

The orange color on the part in the figure above indicates a volume that is NOT mesh-able by hexahedral elements. As is, 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation will assign a tetrahedral mesh instead. However, many of the areas on this model could be split from the others into sweepable shapes. This is where partitioning comes in!

Meshing in 3DEXPERIENCE with the Partition Tool

The partitioning tool is most easily accessed via the Simulation Model Preparation app included with your 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation role. Simply click the compass and select the app from the list to launch it. This app contains sets of tools used for simplification of CAD models for use in simulation. We’re looking for “Partition” under the “Idealize” tab. See figure 4 below:

Figure 4

All we must do to partition the component is to select the part as the “Volume to partition” and use cutting elements such as faces, planes, surfaces, etc. to divide the part into sweepable features. For example, if I want to partition one of the assembly tabs, I can select the face that it is extruded from as a cutting element. If we extrapolate that face infinitely, it will cut through the tab, separating it as its own volume. See below:

Figure 5

Now if we check the color coding to view the types of mesh we can use for each volume, we see the small extrude we split off is colored yellow-indicating a hex-meshable volume. See below:

Figure 6

Automatic Partitioning for Automatic Meshing

We can continue splitting features manually to create the fully partitioned model. It’s a simple process that works very well. However, recently one of the updates to the meshing feature in 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation has added an automatic partitioning tool to do all of that work for you! All you must do is select the volume, and click the checkbox for “Automatic Partitioning,” and soon you will have a fully hex-meshable part! You can see my example below:

Figure 7

As with all automated tools this will not work for every geometry, but in my experience, it does a great job splitting prismatic parts like this one. A further benefit of using the “Partition” tool is that the partitioned hex-mesh will be fully conforming. That means that adjacent volumes of hex meshes will share common nodes at the volume’s boundary.

Figure 8

Figure 9. Image courtesy of Dassault Systemes.

Finally, if you are attempting to mesh a part that has non-sweepable volumes, the partition hex-mesh algorithm will assign tetrahedral elements to the non-hex volumes and create a “tie contact” between the volumes automatically! Optionally, you can also specify a layer of pyramid elements to act as a conforming mesh boundary between the hexahedral elements and the tetrahedral elements. You can see a visual representation of how that works below:

Thank you for partitioning some of your time to read my blog today. Simulation model preparation is a vital step in achieving accurate simulations, and again the 3DEXPEREICNE Platform goes above and beyond in enabling engineers to do what they do best.

Matt Sherak
Sr. Simulation Product Specialist
Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Fracture and damage mechanics are nothing new to the experienced ABAQUS user but have been unattainable for CAD-embedded simulation tools like SOLIDWORKS Simulation. 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation does a wonderful job of bringing both worlds together. To demonstrate damage and fracture, we are going to use the classic example of a Charpy test. If you are unfamiliar with the Charpy test, watch this video.

FIgure 1- Charpy Test

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

At a very basic level, the Charpy test is a way to determine the energy absorbed by a material during fracture. Simulating this process would be impossible with software that does not allow for fracture mechanics. So let’s take a look at the setup in 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation!

Figure 2

The setup is simple, hold the test specimen in place with simple supports, keep the impacting component in-plane with fixtures and apply the correct translation to it.

The impacting component will be treated as rigid, and the mesh must be sufficiently fine for the analysis to solve the fracture effectively. See the mesh plot below.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Finally, we can review the secret sauce. The ABAQUS backbone of 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation allows for the combination of multiple failure mechanisms to act simultaneously on the same material. According to the ABAQUS help documentation, the failure calculation mechanism can be broken into 4 parts:

1. The material must have an effective description of the undamaged material response (a-b-c-d’ in figure 4)
2. Must define a damage initiation criterion, i.e. how damage starts (c in figure 4)
3. Must define how damage propagates once started (c-d in figure 4)
4. Deletion of the element once the stiffness of the material is fully degraded. (d in figure 4)

Let’s go through those in order. In 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation, these four parameters are defined via the material’s data card. Because the material in question (aluminum) exhibits ductile behavior, we will use a ductile damage model for the failure analysis.

1. Description of an effective undamaged material response. Our material has elastic and plastic material definitions assigned to the material’s behavior.
   

   Figure 5

    

2. The damage initiation criterion in this case is handled via a table that relates fracture strain, stress triaxiality, and strain rate. This is a complex subject beyond the scope of this blog, but you can see the data for our material below:
   

   Figure 6

    

3. Damage propagation is a numerical tool used by the ABAQUS solver to stabilize the fracturing elements so that the solution is more easily solvable. It can be defined as either a displacement or energy dependent parameter. For this model, we are using a 0.1 mm displacement at failure metric.
   

   Figure 7

    

4. The final piece of the puzzle is telling 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation what to do with the elements that meet the criteria above. In our case, I have turned on the “Remove Failed Elements” option so that the destroyed material is deleted from the FEA mesh.
   

   Figure 8

All that is left to do is run the study. Once it is finished, we can see our “Failure” in all its glory!

As you can see, this is an INCREDBILY slowed down animation. Notice that when elements reach a certain threshold, they are removed from the mesh allowing for the next layer of elements to be removed, and so on.

I hope this blog has helped to broaden your understanding of fracture mechanics using 3DEXPERIENCE Structural simulation. This technology truly is fascinating and making it more accessible to designers and analysts alike is a win-win. The next time your business needs to succeed by failing (materials), don’t hesitate to reach out to CATI!

Matt Sherak
Sr. Simulation Product Specialist Elite AE
Computer Aided Technology

3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL is part of the 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION portfolio, a group of physics simulators on the 3DEXPERIENCE PLATFORM that includes structures, fluids, electromagnetics, and plastics. 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL can, in some ways, be thought of as the next level beyond SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium. It’s powered by the Abaqus FEA solver at its core, but operated through 3DEXPERIENCE, making it easier and more convenient for SOLIDWORKS users. It offers a wide range of additional capabilities, including advanced non-linearity, advanced meshing, cloud compute, general contact, and with a SOLIDWORKS CAD Connector to maintain that continuity of data you get when doing analysis with SOLIDWORKS Simulation. Let’s look at an example that shows how 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL is the next big step in simulation.

Take this thin disc for example. This hyper elastic rubber disc has a complex pattern of holes throughout its large face. The disc is held fixed around the outside rim, while in the inside hole is rotated as well as translated.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium can handle this type of simulation to a degree. SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium has the hyperelastic material model, the fixture, loads, and contacts to solve this problem. However, the solution breaks down. Due to the exaggerated rotation, and translation of the center hole, the application of hundreds of small holes collapsing onto themselves, and the use of a tetrahedral mesh, SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium can’t quite get to a full solution.

The various feature additions and improvements of 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL allow it to solve this model to completion. 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL not only provides a tetrahedral mesh, but a hex mesh as well. A hex mesh is best suited for large strain applications and, as shown below, maps to this highly complex geometry easily.

The general contact feature of 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL detects all contacting surfaces in the model without having to define any contact pairs. It easily considers all the holes and their self-contact, speeding up the setup process. Also, being based on the Abaqus solver, the contact algorithm is also extremely robust, solving both quickly and accurately.

Being able to solve this problem locally or using cloud compute has a variety of positive impacts. In the case of this model, we can have a pretty dense and detailed hex mesh without having to worry if the local machine can actually solve it. We’re also free to use that machine for other work while the model is being computed remotely. 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL comes with 8 cores of cloud solving power as a standard. (If we wanted to go really wild, we could buy additional cloud access and leverage over 100 cloud cores without having to purchase a supercomputer and a year’s worth of software compute licensing.)

We can see below that the application of a hex mesh, general contact, and cloud computing lead to a quick and accurate solution.

The collapse and extreme stretch of the small holes is a result we couldn’t fully achieve using SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium. 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL proved it is the next big step in simulation and is ready for all your complex problems. To learn more about the SOLIDWORKS Connector, and how you can use SOLIDWORKS alongside 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL, read this article by my colleague Matt Sherak . If you want to learn more regarding the advanced capabilities within 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL, Matt has another article to check out. As always if you have questions or would like to see 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL up close please contact Computer Aided Technology.

Robert Warren
Simulation Specialist, Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

The 3DEXPERIENCE suite of products is poised to be the next evolution of digital engineering. It is going to accomplish this by uniting all of engineer’s digital allies into a single environment that is accessible, affordable, and most of all-user friendly. Imagine having a single program environment for CAD, PDM/PLM, collaboration, CAM, simulation, etc. That is the crux of what 3DEXPERIENCE is, and simulation is at the forefront of the next digital revolution with advanced nonlinear technology, cloud computation, automation, and integrated data management.

Advanced Nonlinear Technology: Abaqus FEA

3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL is the structural component of the 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION portfolio which also handles fluids, electromagnetics, and plastics. The backbone of that structural component is Abaqus FEA, a powerhouse nonlinear simulation product with over forty years of history. Its list of features is distinguished, but the best way to highlight its power is to compare it to another tool we use. Here at CATI, we have had huge success using and selling SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium for nonlinear analysis. It has been tried and true by us and our customers for decades now, and it is a fantastic product. However, SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium is not without its limitations. Most notably, it struggles with high strain applications (400-500% +), and complex contact.

Below you can see a comparison between the same problem attempted with SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium (right) and 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION (left).

As you can see, 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION is able to solve a more complex problem, faster than SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium takes to fail the analysis. What would it mean for your business to solve a higher quantity of more complex problems even faster than you can now?

Cloud Computation

The next digital ally to discuss is cloud computing. Cloud computing is relatively new to engineering but has enabled all sorts of other industries to de-centralize and distribute their most demanding calculations. This is ideal for simulation workloads and again, 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION products lead the charge. An advanced 3DEXPERIENCE STRUCTURAL package comes with 8 cores of unlimited cloud compute right out of the box! This means that an engineer working with this product can solve as many 8-core simulations as they want, without the need for robust simulation hardware. This provides us with a few benefits:

• Unlimited concurrent simulations
• No hardware overhead
• No IT overhead
• No more bottlenecks for simulation jobs
• No job queueing
• Simplified licensing

Credits can be purchased that allow for use of up to 144 cores for large studies and co-simulation of multiple compute jobs simultaneously for the large sim jobs. Below is an actual graph from our simulation consulting team. It shows the number of our daily compute hours over a 3-month period.

There were 11 days that required more than 24 hours of solve time in a day. There were 4 that nearly doubled that! Normally, any of these days would have resulted in backlogs and bottlenecks, but not with cloud computing and 3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION. Imagine if your business could run simulations for dozens of design scenarios concurrently. Would this speed up product development and validation?

Automation

Any good digital ally exists for one core reason: to automate repetitive and menial tasks. 3DEXPERIENCE is built with this in mind. One notable example of this lies with automated Finite-Element-Model (FEM) generation. Generating the finite element model (FEM), meshes, connections, and contacts is probably the most time-consuming aspect of any simulation workflow.

3DEXPERIENCE SIMULATION again revolutionizes this with the “Automated FEM” tool. This allows the user to enter a set of rules and parameters that the software will use to analyze the geometry to be considered and generate appropriate meshes and connections. Many businesses use the same parts, hardware, and features in many of their products. Cases like this are ideal for FEM automation. The screenshot below shows an assembly where the FEM model, midsurfaces, shell element definitions, fasteners and materials definition were all applied using the “Automated FEM” tool.

Imagine how much more value an engineer can add to their work when the most repetitive tasks can be automated!

Integrated Data Management

By some estimates, the human race generates 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day. As an engineer or business, we generate a lot as well. The question is, how do we manage that data and leverage it effectively? In house PLM/PDM servers have been the go-to solution for years, but the cloud and 3DEXPERIENCE is quickly replacing these systems. Here’s why:

• Cost: Maintaining in-house PDM/PLM systems is expensive. The hardware is not cheap. Is susceptible to supply chain woes and is quickly obsolete. This does not include the cost of IT to maintain and administrate these systems, nor does it include the cost of licensing for these systems. The move to cloud-based PLM with 3DEXPERIENCE alleviates much of this cost and is updated automatically by Dassault so you never have to worry, and you are never behind.
• Collaboration: How many different engineering programs are used at your company? Maybe you have one for CAD, another for CAM or simulation, a 3^rd party solution or shared folder for data management, the list goes on. My guess is that many of those programs do not talk to each other or require an import/export process to work. On top of that, how do you keep track of revisions with disparate systems? 3DEXPERIENCE takes care of all that. The whole platform is built on a data management backbone. All users on your tenant are required to have inexpensive data management roles as a pre-requisite for doing any type of work. Data is stored in collaborative spaces that seamlessly allows users to invite, collaborate and share their work across multiple disciplines.
• Accessibility: As we said, a large problem with the current data management paradigm is the data management infrastructure and overhead itself. This problem is only worsened by the ongoing pandemic and the need for remote-work ready systems. Many companies are relying on slow VPNs to access their network or they must have workers come in shifts. Imagine what would be possible if employees at your business could access the data they need anytime, anywhere, on any device! With 3DEXPERIENCE this is possible. All a worker must do is login to your tenant through a web browser and they can access any data they need to be productive.
• Innovative: Gone are the days of data cards and antiquated PLM solutions. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform has a refreshing take on data management by making it look, feel, and operate less like a structured rigid system and more like a living, breathing, customizable environment. It’s obvious when you log in that the platform was inspired by social media sites and other popular websites. It is laid out to be user customizable, and there is no single right way to do a task.

I hope this blog has demonstrated why moving towards a Cloud based simulation product would be beneficial to your business. Whether it’s more advanced capabilities, cloud computation, or just the convenience that comes with the cloud, there are many great reasons to invest in this technology. Thanks for reading!

Matt Sherak
Sr. Simulation Product Specialist, Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

As a review, the two preferred methods of connecting geometry between SOLIDWORKS and SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS are below:

1. SOLIDWORKS Connector App in the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS role (UES)
2. Direct Import

SOLIDWORKS Connector App (UES)

The SOLIDWORKS Connector is accessed directly from the SOLIDWORKS CAD interface. When a part or assembly is ready to be uploaded to your cloud tenant, simply click the 3D Experience pane. From there you will see any parts or assemblies in the current SOLIDWORKS window. Selecting “Save” will upload these files to your cloud tenant. You will notice under the Lifecycle tab, that there are various options for revision creation and management. This is a key differentiator between the SOLIDWORKS Connector and Direct Import. The SOLIDWORKS Connector has the capability to capture full design histories via revisions, and doubles as a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for your SOLIDWORKS files. The ancillary benefit is that any simulations that use this geometry can be updated and re-solved for new results. Let’s look at the example, a monitor stand.

The file has just been designed using SOLIDWORKS. We open the 3D Experience task pane and upload the file to the tenant.

Once it is uploaded, we can set up the simulation using the Structural Mechanics Engineer, or Structural Performance Engineer roles (sold separately). When viewing the results, we can see that the stress is too high.

From there, we can go back into SOLIDWORKS and “reserve” the model to make changes. We will add some thickness to the ribs and arms, then re-save the file to the cloud.

We open the file with whichever structural creation app you have access to, and we can update the geometry by selecting the “Update SOLIDWORKS” button. Now we can re-mesh and re-run the study to obtain updated results.

I hope this blog has educated you on how to use the SOLIDWORKS Connector app for importing your files onto the 3D Experience platform, and how to leverage this functionality to update simulation results. Personally, I find that the SOLDIWORKS Connector is a much more useful tool than using a direct import of geometry, but ultimately both can maintain associativity to your CAD data. I will cover the direct import tool in detail in a later blog. In the meantime, please reach out to your Computer Aided Technology account manager for any further questions, we are happy to help!

Matt Sherak
Sr Simulation Product Specialist, Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

This article has been created to help document the most direct way of importing a SOLIDWORKS model into Structural Performance Engineer, or Structural Mechanics Engineer.

Step 1: Open Structural Mechanics Engineer or Structural Performance Engineer Role. Choose Structural Scenario Creation, or Mechanical Scenario Creation App. Note Structural Scenario is related to Structural Performance Engineer, and Mechanical Scenario is related to Structural Mechanical Engineer.

Step 2: After the App opens proceed to the Plus Sign in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Step 3: Choose Import and specify the file type and location.

Step 4: Switch to the Structural Model Creation App.

Step 5: Select the Standard FEM REP Creation option.

Step 6: Note this step is not necessary but does help in finding the file set later. RMB on the Finite Element Model in the design tree and choose Properties. Rename the FEM Rep to the model name.

Step 7: Create the Mesh. Select the mesh section from the ribbon bar. Mesh according to geometry and study output requested. NOTE: a mesh was created on import and may need to be deleted from the Feature Manager.

Step 8: Assign Section Properties to the model. With the Model option on in the ribbon bar choose Properties and select the SOLID Section. Choose the Import Body from the screen or the tree.

Step 9: Assign Material Choose “Search for Materials”. Choose the appropriate material and exit the Solid Selection.

Step 10: Switch Back to Mechanical Scenario, or Structural Scenario Creation App.

Step 11: Continue assigning boundary conditions etc. like normal using the assistant or ribbon bar.

I hope this article helps streamline the SOLIDWORKS part file import into SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS. If you are interested in the advanced capabilities of SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS or FEA in general do not hesitate to reach out to us here at Computer Aided Technology.

Robert Warren
Simulation Specialist, Elite Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Let us look at the setup for the model and the desired output. In this model we have a metal tube, and a die set (Stations 1 & 2). The intention is to press the tube into the first die station forming the end of it to a smaller diameter (Step 1). Retract the tube from the first station (Step 2). Index the die to the second station and repeat the forming process at station 2 (Step 3).

STATIONS 1&2

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Using SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS the application of analysis steps is a simple process. Navigating to the Procedures tab in the ribbon bar choose the Static Step icon. The new step property manager opens allowing you to name the step and adjust its properties.

The new step can be found at the bottom of the screen, and in the Feature Manager window.

For each step the additional loads, and fixtures can be used in combination to achieve the desired output of the analysis.

In the Feature Manager tree boundary conditions can be turned off for specific steps. Highlighted below is step 1 of the forming sequence.

Once combined the result is a multi-step operation that keeps the stress from step to step. This method gives a complete picture of the loading process. Please see figure (Formed Tube End) for the cold forming result.

Formed Tube End

For more information reach out to your friendly CATI account manager. Check out the CATI YouTube page, and additional Simulation Blogs.

Robert Warren
Simulation Specialist, Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Figure 1

The Fluid Cavity feature is used to simulate the response of a structure when it is filled with a fluid under pressure. Today we will demonstrate this feature with a blow molded plastic bottle. The simulation consists of 3 parts: the preform, the forming rod, and the mold wall. The forming rod will be forced down into the mold, drawing the preform into shape. While this happens, the inside of the preform will be under pressure, expanding it to fill the inside of the mold wall.

The fluid cavity feature is located under the Abstractions tab in the Structural Model Creation app. Once clicked, select the surfaces exposed to the fluid cavity and apply the appropriate material properties. We will discuss these properties later.

Figure 2

Notice in figure 2 that there are options to add ambient pressure and select other reference points, if desired. Now that the abstraction for the fluid cavity is defined, we must enter the pressure applied by the fluid. This is done through the Mechanical Scenario Creation app under the drop down for a Pressure load. See figure 3.

Figure 3

We will now apply a 2 MPa pressure to the cavity, but we want it to ramp up throughout the simulation. To do this, we can simply apply a tabular amplitude to control the magnitude of the load. A smoothing function is applied to this table to prevent sharp changes in the loading. This can help with convergence.

The rest of the setup is simple; we apply a few fixtures to restrain the components and setup the explicit dynamic solver. For more on the explicit solver, take a look at my blogs using the links below.

SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS

What is the Next “Step” in 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation?

Once the solution has completed, we can view the results with the Physics Results Explorer app. See figure 4, the animation shows a section view of the bottle in which you can see the forming rod guiding the expansion as it moves down into the mold cavity.

Figure 4

The Fluid Cavity allows for use of the CVOL (Fluid Cavity Volume) solver variable that allows us to plot the fluid pressure and the volume of fluid. Figure 5 plots the fluid volume vs time.

Figure 5

Fluid cavities are a great way to account for fluid pressure effects on a structure. This feature is reserved for incompressible or nearly incompressible fluids because the only properties considered are density and bulk modulus. The fluid cavity does not take other fluid properties into account (like thermal properties or equations of state).

Like SPH particles, the Fluid Cavity does not replace a full FSI problem, but it does fill a niche. It can be useful in any application that may have an internal fluid meant to deform the structure via hydraulic pressure such as bottles, balloons, and other encapsulated incompressible fluids.

I hope that this blog has enlightened you further to the capabilities of SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. There is a lot of power behind this product, and we would be happy to discuss any of your applications to see if one of our great simulation products is a fit.

Matt Sherak
Sr Simulation Product Specialist, Elite Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

In today’s simulation industry, FSI (Fluid Structure Interaction) is a big buzzword. It allows simulations of structures that deform due to fluid flow, which then changes the profile of the fluid flow, which then changes the deformation of the structure further, etc. This two-way interaction between FEA and CFD solvers can be incredibly complex and time consuming. Luckily, there are a couple of features built into SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS that can ease this process: SPH Elements and Fluid Cavity domains. This Blog will focus on SPH Elements.

Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic Elements, or SPH elements for short, are a way to model the effects of a fluid on a solid structure without coupling the structure with a CFD solver. In basic terms, this feature converts a solid part mesh to a lattice of rounded, smoothed, particles that represent a discrete volume of the fluid. Unlike traditional elements, these particles can move freely between each other and separate from each other. I like to think of it as describing a fluid like a ball pit that your kid’s might play in. The smaller the balls in the pit, the more the pit acts like a fluid.

Figure 1

I’ll demonstrate SPH elements by simulating water sloshing around in a tank. In the figure above, you can see the highlighted solid body- representing the initial level of the fluid.

Adding SPH elements into your SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS simulation study must be done through the structural model creation app. Select SPH from the Properties tab of the command manager, see figure 1.

NOTE that you must have a mesh created prior to converting to SPH elements and only reduced integration solid elements C3D8R, C3D6, and C3D4 can be converted to SPH particles.

Next, we will have to define the properties of the SPH particles.

Figure 2

We can give the definition an optional name. From there we select the body that we wish to convert to SPH, assign a material, and determine the generation method. There are two options here:

• On background grid– This creates a background lattice in the model. The particles are then placed at the grid intersection points. You can then determine the grid spacing size and the order formulation of the SPH elements added (second, third or fifth order). See figure 2 above.
• Per element– See figure 3 below. This option converts the FEA mesh element directly into SPH particles. You can insert one to seven SPH particles per FEA element using the particles per isometric direction box. The SPH will be divided as seen below in figure 4. This definition also benefits from second, third or fifth order formulations.

Figure 3

FIgure 4

(Image courtesy of Dassault Systèmes)

Finally, once the remainder of the fixtures, loads and contact definitions are complete we can run the study. For the example we are working with, I am going to follow the procedure for setting up a drop test using the explicit solver. You can find more information on drop test setup using the Structural Mechanics Engineer role.

Figure 5

You can see SPH particles as calculated with the explicit solver. The stress profiles of the tank are transparently rendered over the movement of the SPH particles interacting with the solid. SPH particles are perfect for fluid sloshing problems like this, and other cases where the dynamic interaction of the fluid on the structure is important. They are not limited to fluids, though. It can be used in cases like bird impacts on wings, scooping dirt or other debris, and even dynamic interactions like water and clothes in a washing machine! The limitation to SPH elements is that you cannot post-process the fluid properties like turbulence, pressure, etc.

I hope this blog has shown you the incredible power that SIMULIA for SOLIDWORKS brings to the table, coupled with the power of cloud computing it truly is a great tool to help you and your business make better products!

Matt Sherak
Simulation Product Specialist, Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

• What once took a day now takes an hour.
• What once required human decision-making doesn’t anymore.
• What was once cost-prohibitive to use isn’t anymore.

These are paradigm shifts that advance the starting line for industry newcomers and have the potential to exponentially grow productivity, when in the right hands.  The lesson is — effective FEA in 2021 makes total use of the technology of 2021.

What does it look like when you reconceive FEA for powerful distributed computing, for high-speed data and networks, for major process automation and streamlining?  Let’s find out.

Adjusting a filleted face on an imported and
reparametrized STEP file in 3DEXPERIENCE

Rules-Based Automeshing Does the Trick.

Marcel adds washer patterns to his bumper mesh

Assembly Connections and Contacts Take Minutes, Not Hours.

Creating the entire assembly’s welds
in FE by using the CAD data

Material Assignments Are Automatic and Error-Proof.

Assigning materials in FE isn’t the most tedious of processes (unless your assembly is huge), but it does take time and it definitely introduces opportunity for error.  What better way around this task than to use the material assignments already present in the CAD data?  That’s another modeling task that we can leave in the past.

In 3DEXPERIENCE, a shared material database across the organization also means no more typing or transferring material cards with every project.  Simply pick the material and the level of fidelity (nonlinearity, temperature dependency, etc.) from your library — no file transfer, no transcription errors, no redundant work.

Analysts Can Tweak or Update the Design and Rerun Almost Instantaneously.

We’ve all looked at our FEA results and seen an obvious change that would improve them.  What’s the next step to verify that?

One button to update the full, connected assembly FE.

I’d rather do the new way.  This kind of workflow is enabled by the unbroken chain of data from CAD to CAE and back, as provided by solutions like 3DEXPERIENCE.

Rules and Templates Have Reduced or Eliminated Much of the Iterative Analysis Workflow While Also Improving Consistency.

A comprehensive iterative update to your model may include substantial changes to nearly everything in the assembly.  While the fundamentals remain the same, in the traditional way of FE modeling, that could still amount to basically doing everything over again.  This is where rule-based modeling really shows its strengths, especially with recent improvements to automeshing algorithms.

Rather than exercising your modeling judgment on every meshed surface in the model again, if you can instead just apply a template, or set of modeling rules, to each component and let the computer do the rest, you can churn out iterative analysis in a fraction of the time it used to take.  Modeling templates can also grow to encompass model interactions, analysis outputs, and more.  These rules and templates are, essentially, inviolable modeling guidelines that can also ensure consistency across different iterations, projects, and even analysts.

The best way to manage both the project data and the processes is within a single platform like 3DEXPERIENCE.  That way, those templates are just a few clicks away.

Freely-Accessed File Systems Are No Longer the Best Way to Manage Your Data.

Who likes to go through their files, do FTP transfers, and deal with hard drive failures?  No one!  The best place for your files to reside is on reliable enterprise storage, whether on-premise or on-cloud, within a shared project structure that you don’t have to personally manage.  This is the direction things are going for a reason:

• You’re protected from catastrophic data loss.
• You don’t have to organize and synchronize your own file system.
• You don’t have to manually send, receive, and archive files.
• You’re able to quickly access your work from any computer with a network connection.

You get all that with platform solutions like 3DEXPERIENCE.

You Don’t Model Up Several Design Alternatives — You Propagate an Optimization Study from One Design.

Comparing simulation results from 50 autogenerated,
multivariable design options

Large Models and Results Files Are Not the Difficulty They Used to Be.

Why It’s Time to Reassess Our FEA

The last several years have brought about seismic shifts in the way we do digital business, and these changes cannot be ignored.  FEA today isn’t the FEA of yesterday “but faster”:

• FEA today is an open, two-way connection with design data and personnel.
• FEA today has eliminated many of the most tedious and time-consuming aspects of FE modeling.
• FEA today has restructured its model preparation labor to be highly reusable and scalable.
• FEA today can exhaustively optimize engineering output with automated processes.
• FEA today reduces or eliminates costly IT distractions regarding data and computing.
• FEA today is, yes, faster — and also higher fidelity.
• FEA today brings enterprise computing to everyone everywhere with cost-effective cloud solutions.

The latest engineering simulation tools address longstanding user frustrations and time sinks by finding completely new ways to handle many things we used to take great pains to do manually.  Even from the very first step of importing CAD, there are foundational new approaches that can bring tremendous benefits to the process.  These benefits roll over into many of the most tedious and time-consuming analysis tasks, into collaborative workflows and their associated labor, and even into some of the real decision making to solve complicated engineering problems.  And, due to evolving cloud business models, all of this technology is more accessible than it’s ever been, so that one engineer can operate with the resources of an industry juggernaut.

The sharpest minds can nurture good ideas as fast as they can think them up, no longer subject to the leveling effects of slow and/or expensive computing.  It’s an exciting and crucial time to reassess your FEA process if you haven’t done it in a while.  So much has improved in not just the speed of the solvers, but how we actually make models and collaborate with our team, and who can access this fantastic technology.  It really unleashes us to do more of what we love to do — the actual engineering!