Using Simulia Structural Simulation Engineer to Run a Snap Fit Analysis
SOLIDWORKS Simulation is one of the leading design analysis tools that brings the power of simulation into the SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD environment, to conduct design validation early in the design process. Ease of use and tight integration within CAD enables designers and engineers to run different types of simulation from linear static to nonlinear static to dynamic analyses. However, even with its extensive capabilities, there are situations where SOLIDWORKS Simulation needs a little extra help. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at one of these situations, running a snap fit analysis and will walk through assisting SOLIDWORKS Simulation with Simulia Structural Simulation Engineer (SSE).
Simulia Structural Simulation Engineer (SSE)
SSE lives within the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE online collaborative platform (along with other design and data apps) as a means to provide users with powerful simulation tools in a single engineering environment. The app provides easy access to advanced simulation tools and hardware capabilities that enable users to quickly design and validate their models. It also allows them to collaborate with a tight association between CAD, Simulation and PLM systems.
>> Click here to continue reading more about SSE in our blog, Introducing Simulia Structural Simulation Engineer Running a Nonlinear Analysis With SSE
Highly nonlinear analyses in SOLIDWORKS Simulation may take a long time to solve, or may not even be completed due to local instabilities that come with the nonlinearity of materials and contacts. In these cases, SSE is a natural extension of SOLIDWORKS Simulation because it integrates the workflow from SOLIDWORKS desktop with the Abaqus solver on the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
To demonstrate how SSE can help extend Simulation capabilities we designed a buckle clip and ran an assembly analysis within SOLIDWORKS Simulation with the setup shown in the image below. During this analysis, we discovered a numerical difficulties error. With the 3DEXPERIENCE Simulation Connector add-in inside of SOLIDWORKS we were able to transfer the materials, mesh, contacts, fixtures and loads into SSE with a simple click. This add-in enables a seamless transfer of a Simulation study setup into SSE.
Once the data was transferred into SSE the user had a variety of roles to choose from to be able to access the simulation apps to modify the data as needed. After making modifications to the model, the user was able to run simulation tests. The analysis could be run locally or on the cloud. This analysis ran in less than eight minutes on a local machine. The Simulation Status window shows information and real-time analysis status including warnings or errors.
The excellent post-processing capabilities in SSE allowed quick access to different types of display contour plots and XY plots of the result. The advanced solver capabilities of Abaqus allowed for a more accurate solution in SSE, which wasn’t possible in SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
>> Click here to download other design files for this snap fit analysis
Taking users far beyond simple stress analysis, SSE allows design engineering teams and product stakeholders to collaborate more efficiently to build robust products with increased confidence. The comprehensive set of design and simulation tools available to use on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform allowed design validation and sharing of the results much easier.
Click on the button below to download our complete walkthrough to running a snap fit analysis in SSE.
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