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SolidWorks Tutorial 5: Finite Element Analysis

This tutorial will give you the briefest of introductions to using the Simulation tools built into
SolidWorks. Simulation is capable of several different types of modeling, including thermal analysis,
CFD, vibration analysis, stress and deflection analysis, and motion (dynamic) analysis. There are
reasonably good tutorials for each type of simulation in the Help menu in SolidWorks. During your
senior year you will take Finite Element Analysis, which will give you a much more complete
understanding of what is happening behind the scenes in SolidWorks. This tutorial is primarily
aimed at making you familiar with the interface.



Open the Frame.sldprt model that you created in the Weldments tutorial. It should look like the
frame above and should have the cross member in the floor pan, at a distance of 16 inches from the
firewall. If it does not, please create one now, and make sure to trim its ends using the fore-aft
members in the floor pan.







Truss, beam or frame
Shell or plate
Brick or tetrahedron
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We will conduct two types of analysis during this tutorial: static stress analysis and frequency
analysis. Both of these use the Finite Element Method, which a way of breaking the structure into
small, simple elements whose stiffness and mass properties are easy to calculate. Roughly speaking,
there are three types of finite elements: 1D, 2D and 3D. One-dimensional elements include beam
and truss elements. Two-dimensional elements include shell and plate elements and three-
dimensional elements include tetrahedron and brick elements. SolidWorks includes beam, shell and
tetrahedron elements; it will employ shell elements for thin structures (or surfaces) and tetrahedron
elements for general solids. Since we used long, thin tubing to create the frame, SolidWorks will use
beam elements by default.

First, go to the Tools menu and select Add-Ins. Check the box next to SolidWorks Simulation
and click OK. After a few seconds, youll see a new menu item, and a new tab (Simulation). Click
the Simulation tab, then choose the pull-down menu under Study Advisor. Click New Study, and
choose Static. Give the study a sensible name, then click the green check mark.

Youll see a new set of features appear at the lower half of the feature tree. Since Weldment was
used to create the frame, SolidWorks has created a set of joints on the frame (the magenta dots). We
will use the joints to provide Boundary Conditions for the frame. It is usually very easy to create a nice
mesh in a commercial finite element package. The most difficult part (by far!) of finite element
analysis is implementing suitable boundary conditions. The boundary conditions tell where the
frame is constrained, and in which directions. You must always apply enough boundary conditions
to prevent the frame from flying away when a load is applied, but not so many as to overconstrain
the frame.

Consider how the frame is constrained in practice. The Supermileage car rests on three wheels,
which are attached through rolling contact bearings. Compared to the frame, the tires are very
flexible, and the frame is free to move in any direction when a load is applied. Thus, if we were to
fix all four corners of the frame, it would be much stiffer than it is in reality.



Right-click Fixtures in the lower Feature Tree and select Fixed Geometry. Select the Use Reference
Geometry option, and select the Front Plane. We will constrain the four corners of the frame in the
vertical direction, which is Normal to the Front Plane. Select the Normal to Plane option, and then
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select the joints at all four corners of the frame. You should now
see vertical arrows appear at all four corners. Choose the green
arrow to confirm this choice.

Right-click Fixtures again, and use the Right Plane as reference
geometry. Use the Normal option again, and select the front and
rear joints on the left side of the frame (as shown at right).

Finally, create constraints Normal to the Top Plane on the front two
joints. Your frame should look like the figure above.

Now we will apply a load to the
frame. Assume that the weight of the
driver is concentrated completely on
the cross-member in the floor pan.
Right-click the External Loads symbol
in the Feature Tree and select Force.
In the dialog box we will again choose
Normal To the Front Plane to create a
135lbf downward force. In the Selection box choose the Beam
option, and select the cross-member. The frame should now look
like the figure above. The Beam option distributes the 135lbf load
across the length of the member.




Right-click the Frame icon in the Feature Tree and select Apply Material to All Bodies. Choose
AISI 1020 as the material, since its pretty close to the material used by the Supermileage team.
Finally, right-click the Mesh icon and select Create Mesh. The meshed frame is shown above.

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Click the Run button at the top of the screen, and let the simulation run. After running, the results
should look like the figure above.





Now right-click on the Stress1 plot icon in the Feature Tree and select Edit Definition. Change
the Units option to psi and the scale to True Scale. As you can see, the highest stress in the frame is a
little over 3,500psi, which is well under the yield strength of 1020 steel. Finally, double-click on the
Displacement1 plot and change its units to inches. The maximum deflection is a little less than
0.020 inch.
Refining the Mesh
To assess whether our results are valid, we should perform at least one Convergence Test. A
convergence test assumes that as the elements become smaller, the results should become more
accurate (and more time-consuming!) To begin the convergence test, right-click the Displacement1
icon and select Hide. You should now see the unmeshed frame in the viewport.

Right-click the Mesh icon and select Apply Mesh Control. Select all of the tubing members and
click the Element Size radio button. Change the element size to 0.5 inches and click the green
check mark. You must now Create Mesh again to remesh the frame. Re-run the study, and check
the maximum displacement. Since it is 0.019 inches again, we can conclude that the mesh was fine
enough in the original study.

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The Frequency Study
In the Study Advisor pulldown menu select New Study. Instead of Static, choose Frequency.
The Frequency study will calculate the first several mode shapes and natural frequencies of the
structure. This is especially useful in lightweight frame design, because the natural frequencies are
roughly proportional to

A high natural frequency means that a frame has been designed to be stiff and lightweight, whereas a
low natural frequency means that the frame has unnecessary mass or is not very stiff. For the frame
modal analysis we will not apply any restraints at all we model the frame as though it were
suspended in space. We can experimentally verify our results by hanging the frame from strings and
performing experimental modal analysis on it. Typically, the FEA results are within 5% of the
experimentally measured values.

Since we are not restraining the frame in any way, the first six
modes will be rigid body modes. These are modes where the
entire frame moves as a rigid body, with no deflections within
the frame itself. These rigid-body modes are not genuine,
and will typically not be measured in a modal analysis.
Therefore, we will ask SolidWorks to calculate the first twelve
modes (six rigid body, and six actual modes). To do this,
right-click on the Study icon and select Properties. In the
Number of Frequencies text box, change 6 to 12.

Next, mesh the frame as before, and select Run. In the Results folder you will be rewarded with
twelve mode shapes and natural frequencies. Double-click on Displacement7 to see the first mode
shape. Its natural frequency should be approximately 75.5 Hz, and its mode shape should look like
the figure above.

It is sometimes difficult to visualize the mode shape of a complicated structure, like a Baja frame.
Using Animation can make this much easier and intuitive. Right-click Displacement7 and select
Animate. Hit the Stop button, and change the number of frames to 20. Then hit Play to see the
animated mode shape.