SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Discover and Fix Your Vibration Vulnerability with SolidWorks Simulation
When I go biking during the summer, I rely on the frame of my bicycle to withstand stresses such as vibration and impact. As I speed down the trail, I think about the engineers and their process of designing a
... ContinuedImprove Your Oil and Gas Design Capabilities with SolidWorks
In honor of this week’s Offshore Technology Conference, which features offshore resources for drilling and exploration, SolidWorks has released a video that details how to improve your oil and gas design capabilities such as plant design. This video outlines tools
... ContinuedSolidWorks Simulation Time Saver: Sub Modeling
Submodeling transfers the displacements from a global model to the border of selected submodel bodies. This is available for linear or nonlinear static studies.
... ContinuedHow Design Has Changed The Way We Drink
This Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day, one of the biggest drinking holidays of the year. The day is usually celebrated with a drink of choice, but did you know that design plays a big role in actually shaping the way
... ContinuedRemote vs. Distributed Mass in SolidWorks Simulation
One of the more important and yet challenging aspects to using Finite Element Analysis is constructing a usable model. This model, whether found natively in a CAD package, imported from a CAD package, or constructed within a dedicated FE package
... ContinuedLearn how USSC Group developed a breakthrough product in just four months after switching to SolidWorks
USSC Group is a leading manufacturer of world-class seating for many types of specialty vehicles, such as buses, locomotives, and fire trucks. To maintain its industry-leading engineering capabilities, USSC periodically assesses the effectiveness of its design and engineering tools. In
... ContinuedSolidWorks Simulation 2013 – Two of My Favorite Additions
SolidWorks Simulation 2013, like in previous releases, has been loaded with enhancements. Two things I particularly like in this release include Sub-Modeling, a huge time savings in solving large scale problems, and Parametric Optimization inside Flow, a DOE scheme for fluid flow optimization. Let’s talk about them one at a time…
... ContinuedPart Two: Stirring up the Maker Movement with the MakerBot® Replicator™ 2 Desktop 3D Printer
As we discussed in Part One of the series, the Maker movement is harnessing ideas and technology to spur innovation. MakerBot’s Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer is bridging the gap between engineers, researchers, designers and creative professionals to create amazing,
... ContinuedThree New Simulation Functions in SolidWorks 2013
From CAPINC's What's New Segment, here are three new SolidWorks Simulation functions in 2013.
Shell Edge to Beam Bonding
The bonding of shell edges that belong to surface or sheet metal bodies to beams, commonly used to simulate gusset plates connecting beams, is supported through manual contact set definitions.
This functionality is available for linear static, frequency, buckling, and linear dynamic studies.
To create a shell edge to beam bonded contact, in the Contact Sets PropertyManager, under Type, select Bonded. For Set 1, click Beams and select the beam from the graphics area. For Faces, Edges for Set 2, select the shell edge.
How do I buy SolidWorks or get a trial version?
Here at SolidWorks, we work hard to make our products easy to buy, learn and use; however, two of the most common questions we receive are: How do I buy SolidWorks? How do I get a trial version of SolidWorks?
... ContinuedClimbing Ladders With SolidWorks: Don’t Just Stress About Strength
I love this time of year in New England–the weather, apple picking, the colors as the leaves turn. But what I don’t love is the half a trillion leaves that fall into my garden that I then have to blow/rake
... ContinuedBig Ass Fans Move Big Volumes of Air With Help from SolidWorks
Whether you’re trying to cool off your living room, restaurant, industrial plant or business, you’ll probably need a “big ass fan” to circulate high volumes of air and get the job done right. Big Ass Fans, a Kentucky-based manufacturer, produces
... ContinuedNexxt Spine is developing the next generation of spinal implants with SolidWorks
A few weeks ago Richard Doyle and I were attending some
SolidWorks User Group meetings in the American Midwest. Whenever I go on a tour like
this, I like to spend the day visiting with SolidWorks customers in the area.
During my most recent trip, I met with a very interesting SolidWorks customer
called Nexxt Spine, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Nexxt Spine creates spinal implants and instruments for the
medical community. They focus on creating products that are both
high-performance and easy to use. Most of their implants are made to screw
directly into vertebrae and other bones connected to the spinal column, and all
are manufactured in their own facility in Indianapolis.
While I was visiting, the team at Nexxt Spine actually let
me try out the practice system designed for spinal surgeons. As you can see in
the image below, they let me use one of their precision instruments to screw an
implant into a simulated bone.
Maximize your punkin’ chunkin’ catapult with SolidWorks Simulation
Have you ever wondered how far you could throw a
pumpkin? No? Me neither. However, a lot of people not only give this significant thought, they also meet in a big field to test their weird and wonderful contraptions
at the Punkin' Chunkin' World Championships.
In a nutshell, teams compete to see how far they can launch
a pumpkin by catapult, trebuchet, or air cannon. I first learned about this weird and wonderful completion a while ago, and I
decided that rather than build my own physical catapult and test it, I would do the smart thing–build and test it in SolidWorks first. Now, I
didn’t want to spend a ton of time creating a detailed model to test; I just wanted
a quick and dirty model that I could use to test my design hypothesis and make some initial determinations, namely:
- What beam sections to use on the design?
- Where to put the arm stop?
- What are the impact stresses?
- How far would the pumpkin go?
So my first design was quite basic, but it still had enough
detail to provide meaningful design data. This is a really important point for any design analysis: analyze early and often to get the
maximum benefit.
How POLYRACK Makes Its Products “Cool”
Complex technologies, such as desktop computers, involve many different components that have the tendency to overheat, including multiple printed circuit boards. How do you measure the impact of electricity and heat running through your product? POLYRACK Tech-Group employed the help
... Continued