Practical Finite Element Simulations with SOLIDWORKS 2022

Harness the power of SOLIDWORKS Simulation for the design, assembly, and performance analysis of components

Key Features

• Understand the finite element simulation concepts with the help of case studies and detailed explanations
• Discover the features of various SOLIDWORKS element types
• Perform structural analysis with isotropic and composite material properties under a variety of loading conditions

Book Description

SOLIDWORKS is a dominant computer-aided design (CAD) software for 3D modeling, designing, and analysis of components. This book helps you get to grips with SOLIDWORKS Simulation, which is a remarkable and integral part of SOLIDWORKS predominantly deployed for advanced product performance assessment and virtual prototyping.

The book takes a hands-on approach to learning SOLIDWORKS Simulation by providing step-by-step guidelines on various aspects of the simulation workflow. You'll begin by learning about the requirements for effective simulation of parts and components along with the idealization of physical components and their representation with finite element models. The book provides exercises at the end of each chapter, and geometry models used in all chapters are made available on GitHub for you to download and practice. Finally, you'll discover how to set up finite element simulations for the static analysis of components under various types of loads, with different types of materials from simple isotropic to composite materials and different boundary conditions.

By the end of this SOLIDWORKS 2021 book, you'll be able to conduct basic and advanced static analyses with SOLIDWORKS Simulation and will have acquired practical knowledge of how to best use the family of elements in the SOLIDWORKS Simulation library.

What you will learn

• Run static simulations with truss, beam, shell, and solid element types
• Demonstrate static simulations with mixed elements
• Analyze components with point loads, torsional loads, transverse distributed loads, surface pressure loads, and centrifugal speed
• Explore the analysis of components with isotropic and composite materials
• Analyze members under thermo-mechanical and cyclic loads
• Discover how to minimize simulation errors and perform convergence analysis
• Acquire practical knowledge of PLANE elements to reduce computational overhead

Who This Book Is For

This book is for working engineers and analysts in the field of aerospace, mechanical, civil, and mechatronics engineering who are looking to explore the simulation capabilities of SOLIDWORKS. Basic knowledge of modelling in SOLIDWORKS or any CAD software is assumed.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started with Finite Element Simulation
2. Analyses of Bars and Trusses
3. Analyses of Beams and Frames
4. Analyses of Torsionally-Loaded Components
5. Analyses of Axisymmetric Bodies
6. Analyses of Components with Solid Elements
7. Analyses of Components with Mixed Elements
8. Simulation of Components with Composite Materials
9. Simulation of Components under Thermo-mechanical Load and Cyclic Loads
10. Guide to Meshing in SolidWorks