FEA Simulation on Components
摘要
This chapter discusses and demonstrates how to use the “Static” module in an FEA simulation tool: SolidWorks Simulation, to simulate and display the stress/strain and factors of safety of a component for mechanical design. First, there is a brief description of SolidWorks Simulation and its four types of elements: truss elements, beam elements, shell elements, and tetrahedral solid elements. Then, the general procedure for FEA simulation is explained in detail, which includes: Step 1—Pre-processing; Step 2—Set up a project; Step 3—Select the type of element and assign a material to each component; Step 4—Connections; Step 5—Fixtures; Step 6—Loadings; Step 7 – Meshing; Step 8—Run Simulation; Step 9—Post-processing; and Step 10—Interpretation and verification of simulation results. Some key steps such as pre-processing, selecting types of elements, fixtures, loads, meshing, and post-processing are discussed in detail and demonstrated in several examples with step-by-step instructions. Then the concept of convergence conditions is introduced and discussed in detail. Convergence conditions can be used to check whether the FEA simulation results are acceptable. Several examples are presented to demonstrate convergence conditions. Finally, a minor design project is presented, which is a real-industrial design project. We need to implement all the skills learned in this chapter to complete this real design project.