SOLIDWORKS 2012
Increasing Performance in SolidWorks Patterns
I had a customer send me a file recently because they were having issues with the performance of their part file that had several pattern features in it. When you look at the file from the surface you do not
... Continued“Set Document Property” for SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Users
Most people know that Sldsetdocprop can be used to make a SolidWorks Toolbox part behave like a normal part, but did you know you can use the same tool to make a normal part behave like a Toolbox part?
... ContinuedAssuming Small Displacement: The Large Displacement Flag
SolidWorks Simulation Premium includes a variety of analysis types (click here for full list). An assumption that Linear Static analysis makes is that the stiffness of the structure remains constant no matter what type of load is being applied. This
... ContinuedCutting All Ties: Best Practices for Removing External References
Designing parts using the Top-Down assembly modeling technique can be extremely useful. If a component is designed with the “top-down” technique, this means it is born in the assembly environment and it is designed using references to other parts within
... ContinuedWonders of Weldments
3+ Way Mitres in Weldments When building steel frames, particularly in circular tube you can strange results when 3 or more tubes come together and you and to trim them all back. You could end up with something like this:
... ContinuedSave As Copy in SolidWorks
Many times a SolidWorks user wants to experiment with a part they are working on, but want to do it ‘safely’ as to not adversely change what they have already done. If there isn’t a data management system in place
... ContinuedSolidWorks’ Hidden Document Properties
Most all of us who use SolidWorks know that for each document whether it is a Part, Assembly or Drawing that we can modify the Document Properties for each of these files. In the Document Properties we can change items
... ContinuedSolidWorks Routing – Putting Power Into Your Designs
SolidWorks has a wealth of tools for designing machines and control systems, but how do we make them go? As a mechanical engineer I always felt a them and us relationship existed between the 'clankies' and the 'sparkies'. We design
... ContinuedAssembly Visualization – the search for the missing file properties
Releasing your drawings to the machine shop with missing information makes a machinist angrier than a baby boomer looking at a teenager that doesn’t have his pants pulled up all the way. As we all know, looking through a large
... ContinuedDemystifying the Color Settings in SolidWorks Parts and Assemblies
Applying colors to parts and assemblies in SolidWorks is not a difficult task, but one must be aware of the many levels at which color can be applied as well as what feature colors ‘overrule’ one another. Colors can be
... ContinuedMaximize SolidWorks Performance White Paper
Adrian Fanjoy and myself began doing performance testing for SolidWorks four years ago. We have presented those results at SolidWorks World each year as we have continued to refine our tests. This past year we partnered up with BOXX Technologies
... ContinuedBreaking a World Record with SolidWorks!
There seems to be a few sporting events going on this summer; one in London seems to be a bit of a big deal and it got me thinking. Could I use SolidWorks to discover something about the track and
... ContinuedSolidWorks Tip: Part Review Instead of Rollback
With the 2012 version SolidWorks nearing the end of its release, and 2013 beta available for download and testing, I thought I'd mention a new add-in that SolidWorks snuck in to the 2012 release called the Part Reviewer. Like most
... ContinuedVideo double feature: SolidWorks makes designing & documenting sheet metal parts simple
SolidWorks Premium has lots of tools and features that give you the control to handle the unique challenges of sheet metal design. You can design from scratch or convert your 3D model to sheet metal. Designs can be automatically flattened
... ContinuedAssuming Linearity: Linear Static vs. Nonlinear
Background
SolidWorks has several different tools available for analyzing structures. Static analysis (discussed in my previous blog article) is available with the purchase of SolidWorks Simulation (included in SolidWorks Premium). Nonlinear analysis is available with the purchase of SolidWorks Simulation Premium (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 – SolidWorks Simulation study types
When a force is applied to a structure (a pencil, a building, a fixture, etc.) the internal pressure in the structure builds up. We call this internal pressure, stress. As stresses rise, the structure gets longer or shorter. We call this elongation, strain. When we run a Static analysis, we are assuming that the relationship between stress and strain is a simple one; we assume the relationship is linear. By making this assumption, we can potentially make an otherwise difficult or sometimes impossible problem very easy to solve.
However, this assumption isn’t all true. In reality, the relationship between stress and strain is never “perfectly” linear. But this assumption is close enough for many scenarios, and the amount of error it introduces may be negligible.
... Continued