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Table of Contents
Simulation Advisor.......................................................................................... 1
vii
Table of Contents
Modal Analysis............................................................................................22
Dynamic Analysis........................................................................................24
Fatigue Analysis..........................................................................................27
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Simulation Advisor
Within Simulation Advisor and in the Mechanica online help, these terms are used in
the following ways:
General Workflow
To perform a successful Mechanica simulation, you need to carefully consider various
key decisions and steps you will take. Understanding these issues and making the
right choices can save significant time and effort later on.
As you read through this topic, take a look at the workflow illustration to understand
the order and flow of building your model and analyzing what you have built.
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or product has been designed to withstand. You can apply and distribute
these boundary conditions in different ways. Thus, you must be careful to use
a method that most closely reflects the real situation you are attempting to
simulate—the results depend on the method you choose. You also need to use
consistent units of measurement for boundary conditions in order to produce
meaningful results.
• Analyze the Results — Once the simulation model has been created,
Mechanica uses error checking tools and solution setup parameters to help
ensure that your problem solves successfully. Solution time depends
necessarily on computer memory—always make sure that you allocate an
appropriate memory amount. Mechanica also requires temporary disk space
to solve larger problems, and you can specify where that disk space is
located. Once your solution is complete, there are diagnostic files to help you
understand the quality of the solution so you can view and use the results of
your analysis with confidence.
• Optimize the Model — If you want to find the best design to meet certain
design criteria (such as a maximum stress), while also satisfying a specific
design goal (such as a minimum weight), you can perform an optimization
design study.
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When modeling a single part, you must understand the component's boundary
conditions (for example, the loads and constraints associated with it). Understanding
how the particular component interacts with the entire assembly is not always
straightforward, and may require you to model the assembly as a whole.
• Most importantly, you need to determine how the components should interact
with each other.
• You must decide if the components for the simulation will be modeled using
solids, shells, or a combination of both.
• If the components are "welded" or rigidly fixed together, you should model the
components using rigid connections.
• If you are interested in stresses due to contact, however, you should model the
assembly using contact regions.
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When you model an assembly, you can assign different material properties to
different components, whereas you can assign only one material to a single part.
If you are creating a simulation model using midsurfaces or shells, there are several
options for handling the component interactions:
• In cases where the edges or surfaces of midsurface shell components meet and
can be considered glued, Mechanica automatically links the geometry to ensure
that the relative degrees of freedom and stiffness behave accordingly.
• Similarly, you can define rigid connections that will effectively replace a
component whose rigidity is far greater than the others, and whose only
contribution is to maintain set displacements between attached components.
Components so connected are free to move in any manner, but will maintain
their relative positions.
When you model sheet metal or welded assemblies, midsurfaces are typically used
for speed. Mechanica enables you to create welds between the different parts. The
welds are simulation features that enable you to complete the connections between
parts without changing the existing design geometry.
Advanced techniques for connecting assembly components may include using beams
or springs.
• Use springs to model a flexible connection between parts or between a part and
ground. When defining a spring, you capture the lateral and torsional stiffnesses
in all directions.
Welded Connections
Welded connections enable you to connect shelled assemblies or combinations of
solids.
When using welded connections, be aware that stress in the weld may appear higher
than it actually is, due to singularities—areas of theoretically infinite stress—in the
vicinity of the weld. Be sure to use welded connections when you are predicting the
failure of the components in the structure, not in the weld itself. If you are interested
in the stress in the weld itself, model this area using solid elements to accurately
model the weld geometry.
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Simulation Advisor
• End welds — enable you to extend a surface to meet another part's midplane.
For example, an assembly of two parts that form a "T" produces a gap when
creating the midsurface model. The weld assumes the same material property
and thickness for the extension.
• Perimeter welds — allow you to create a weld between the midsurfaces of two
mated plates—for example, "doubler" plates. The weld consists of surfaces that
connect the two components perpendicular to the first surface selected. You
enter the material thickness for a perimeter weld—the material property value,
however, is taken from the first doubler surface. If you are interested in
modeling intermittent or skip welds, you can do this by using a combination of
end or perimeter welds and surface regions to break the surface into sections for
the weld.
• Spot welds — enable you to connect components simulating a spot weld, rivet,
or simple bolt by entering a value for the material property and weld/bolt
diameter.
The Principal System of Units you define can be easily converted in Pro/Engineer
from one system to another. When the software converts systems of units, it also
converts the Mechanica modeling entities, such as loads and material properties.
When working in assembly mode, Mechanica requires the units for all the parts to be
the same as those in the assembly. Therefore, you need to make sure that the parts
and assembly use consistent systems of units. However, if you try to enter
Mechanica with inconsistent units, you can convert units on-the-fly.
When you transfer models from integrated to independent mode, all data values
remain in the principal system of units. Once you transfer the model, it loses any
associated system of units. In independent mode, you do not specify units—the
software interprets unit values from those defined for material properties.
If your part has more than one feature, develop the large features first, and build all
features as simply as possible. Add the smaller details as separate features. This
approach lets you change one portion of your model without affecting another.
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• make use of the features available to help you model complex geometry, such as
shell and beam elements
• Each feature depends on one or more of the earlier features (its parents) and is
considered a child of those features. In any parent–child relationship, if you move
the parent, the child moves with it. You can modify parent–child relationships,
the Edit>References>Reroute Feat or Replace Ref commands. You can also select
the feature in the Model Tree, right-mouse click, and select the Redefine
command.
• If you define relations between your part's dimensions and assign a design
parameter to the independent dimension, the dependent dimension changes
according to the relation you established.
• The part-building techniques you employ, such as sweeps, blends, mirroring, and
patterning, may cause conflict in later modeling tasks if they restrict the
movement of your part in any way.
• If you change the principal system of units, you can keep your model the same
size or scale it.
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Simulation Advisor
• Select the feature in the Model Tree, right-mouse click, and select Redefine or
Edit References to cycle through each of the dimension references. When
necessary, redefine the dimensioning scheme or redesign the feature.
• Test your design by animating or reviewing the shape changes using the DSN
CONTROLS menu. If you see any problems or Pro/ENGINEER fails to regenerate
the part, redesign the part in a way that prevents conflicts.
• Add cosmetic features, rounds, and chamfers later in the model's history, and
avoid using these features as references for other features.
• Make sure your geometry is fully specified, as this will help meshing succeed.
• Modify the model to clean up any questionable geometry. In cases where small
surfaces or edges with rounds create problems and cannot be redefined, use
Edit>Replace, Edit>Patch, or Edit>Thicken. Adding sections to blends and sweeps
and adding points in variable radius rounds may be helpful.
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Simulation Advisor - Help Topic Collection
select the feature in the Model Tree, right-mouse click, and select Redefine to
change the sketch to a straight-edged part.
• Check geometry — When you select the Info>Geometry Checks command, the
software highlights any geometry with unclear Pro/ENGINEER design intent. All
geometry checks must be cleaned up for successful mesh generation. If
Geometry Check is inactive, the design intent of all features is clear.
• Check the surface slope — When you select the Analysis>Surface Analysis
command, the Surface Analysis dialog box opens. Select Slope from the Type
drop-down list, and select a surface and a reference plane. The software colors
the selected surface according to the slope. This allows easy determination of
whether or not edges are sharp and also ensures that geometry changes are
smooth in blends and sweeps.
• Modifying feature dimensions — aligns surfaces and edges that are already
nearly aligned.
• Maintain additional simplified models for analysis by using family tables or layers
or simplified representations.
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Simulation Advisor
• Use shells for thin structures such as sheet metal parts. Shells are based on thin
solids or free surfaces.
• Use beams for structures composed of long narrow members (trusses or lattices).
Beams are created from edges, datum curves or points.
• Use mass elements to represent mass as a rigid body. Mass elements are created
from datum points.
• Use springs to connect to ground or to another part. Springs are based on datum
points.
• Investigate a 2D section of your geometry using plane strain, plane stress, and
axisymmetric model types. These 2D sections require free planar surfaces or
surfaces on solid geometry.
• Family Tables — Use family tables to quickly set a model for analysis by
retrieving an instance of the model that has the appropriate features suppressed
or resumed. You can maintain several models for different analysis purposes or
to segregate analysis-specific portions of the design model.
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Mechanica can use all types of Pro/ENGINEER geometry. This includes complex 3D
solids, meshed as solid elements, as well as free surfaces, datum curves, datum
points, and quilts.
It is important to remember that all element types can exist together comfortably in
one simulation model, at both the part and assembly level.
• Meshing Geometry with Elements — You mesh surfaces and quilts with shell
elements when a shell property is assigned to them. Shell pairs can have the
same effect on solid geometry, but they inherit their properties from the
geometry. Like shell properties, you assign laminate layup properties to a solid
surface, surface, or quilt.
You mesh curves and edges with beam elements when a beam section is
assigned. Typically, you use datum curves as beams between solids or shells.
Note: You can also create models made of a combination of shells and solids,
called mixed-mesh models.
The geometry of 2D model types consists of surfaces, curves, and points only.
This reduces model complexity to the extent that you can effectively ignore the
geometric aspects in this type of model.
o In Pro/ENGINEER, you create solids, surfaces, and quilts for use within
Mechanica. You can also create geometric simplifications, or substitutions,
which are particularly useful for beam elements replacing solid extrusions
or for surfaces replacing thin plates.
o In Mechanica, you can create datum curves and points, which makes it
easy to create beams on-the-fly and to create usable coordinate systems.
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Simulation Advisor
Simplified representations also preserve your original model. Your use of either
method should be based on your specific modeling requirements and comfort level.
The most essential aspects of any engineering simulation are assigning material
properties and simulating the real world mounting, loading, and heating of your
components. The main steps in setting up any simulation model are these:
• Use loads to specify external physical phenomena that affect your model. You can
directly apply forces, pressures, or temperatures to your geometry.
A beam model can provide valuable insight into overall design issues, while also
providing accurate loading data for a more detailed solid model—for example,
support connections. Due to the point nature of their connection to your
geometry, which is merely an approximation, use beams only near areas where
you are not interested in specific, evaluated quantities.
Like beams, use springs only near areas where you are not interested in specific,
evaluated quantities. Springs are ideal, however, for determining gross behavior
in your model, when you need to know specific loading input information for a
more detailed solid or shell model.
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• Define contact regions when you anticipate contact between portions or parts of
your model. Mechanica will only look for interpenetration of a model during a
contact analysis, in the regions specified.
• Use the Check Model command to make sure that you have a valid simulation
model. This command checks your model for errors. It will validate the correct
application of properties and boundary conditions, and will perform some
automatic adjustments, such as shell normal alignment.
• Use the Model Tree to list many of the modeling entities associated with your
model and to select these entities easily for various tasks.
When material properties are assigned to geometric entities like parts, surfaces, and
curves, they are automatically assigned to the resulting elements.
When you create or assign a material property to a model, the specific property
values are determined by the principal system of units (such as IPS and MKS)
previously set for the model. However, you can change units for individual properties
from the Material Properties dialog box. It is important to note that even though you
can define each material property in different sets of units, when you run an
analysis, the units for materials are always interpreted as the principal system of
units set for the model. You can create and display custom units from
Pro/ENGINEER's Units Manager.
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Simulation Advisor
Using the following combination of elements, properties, and model subsets, you can
make your simulation model more flexible and effective.
Shells provide quick and accurate results for sheet metal type models, with far
fewer elements than the corresponding solid model.
You can use solid and shell elements together in a mixed-mesh model. Be aware
that analysis of such models is slower than for pure shell models.
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Simulation Advisor - Help Topic Collection
• Beam Elements and Orientations — You can use beams and shells together
often. An example would be a grain silo, where you are interested in the overall
behavior of the walls and supports when the silo is filled—but not in specific
stress results, where you would be interested in a support/wall connection.
Once you have assigned beam sections, you must use beam orientations to align
your standard or sketched sections correctly. Use beams when the ratio of the
largest cross-sectional dimension to its length is less than 1:10.
• Spring and Mass Elements — You can use these elements with all solid, shell,
and mixed-mesh models.
Use spring elements and an associated stiffness property to pass linear and
torsional loads from one portion of your model to another. You can define springs
either between two points or between a point and ground. The associated
property defines both linear and torsional stiffness. Use spring orientations to
align the directions inherent in the stiffness property.
Use mass elements to replace a solid component or feature, if you are not
interested in the specific internal behavior of the feature, but only the larger
effect of its mass and inertias on other portions of your model. A mass property
describes the component's physical characteristics and serves to lump them at
the point-applied mass element. Using mass elements instead of solid elements
greatly reduces the size and computational requirements of your model. Mass
elements are only important for modal analysis, such as buckling and dynamic
analysis types, and for body force loads, such as gravity and centrifugal loads.
Mass elements are typically used in modal dynamics problems to account for
lumped masses.
o Use 2D plane strain in Structure or Thermal when the out of plane strain (or
temperature gradient) is negligible. This is applicable to geometry with
extruded cross-sections. All geometry must lie in the XY plane, so you may
need to create a coordinate. Mechanica assigns 2D solid or 2D shell
elements to the geometry.
o Use 2D plane stress Structure or Thermal when the out of plane stress (or
temperature gradient) is negligible. This is applicable to thin, flat geometry.
All geometry must lie in the XY plane, so you may need to create a
coordinate. Furthermore, you must assign a thickness for this type of
model. Mechanica assigns 2D plate elements to the geometry.
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Simulation Advisor
• Bearing loads simulate the load of a shaft or bearing on its mounting hole.
Applying Loads
Consider these aspects of applying loads to your model.
• Preparing to Apply a Load — To prepare for applying a load, you often add
regions, or create datum curves or datum points. If it is not convenient to define
load vectors or distributions with respect to the default coordinate system, you
should also define the appropriate Cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical coordinate
systems. You can also choose from several different distribution and spatial
variation methods when applying certain loads.
• Load Distribution — Entity and pressure loads allow you to choose from several
distribution and spatial variation methods. The spatial variation option lets you
define a non-uniform load on a geometric entity. To do this, you can use either
interpolation points or you can define a function of coordinates. For example, if
you want to create linearly-varying hydraulic pressure or tapering load, you can
select interpolation points on a curve or surface.
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• Load Sets — Every load you add in Mechanica is a part of a load set. Load
sets provide a logical means of organizing your analyses. You can select one
or more load sets for a particular analysis. Because convergence is performed
for each load case, specifying more than one load set, rather than combining
loads into one set, will increase computation time. The computation time,
however, will be significantly less than if you run the analyses separately.
Using more than one load set also allows you to combine and scale load case
results in postprocessing.
You define the time or frequency dependency of a load set for dynamic
response analysis on the Analyses and Design Studies dialog box. You can
also transfer load values from a Mechanism Design analysis to represent
structural loads, joint reactions, or body loads.
Before running an analysis, use the Review Total Load menu to check whether
the load values at a particular location are what you expect.
Note: You do not need a load set if your model contains prescribed
displacements, or if you are only running modal analyses.
• Heat Loads — You can use heat loads to define local heat sources or sinks
in your model. You specify a heat load as the heat rate (Q), where a positive
value represents a heat source and a negative value is a heat sink. You can
make the heat load time-dependent.
Applying Constraints
In a Structure model, when you add constraints, you restrict the translation and/or
rotation movement of a part in reference to a Cartesian, cylindrical, or spherical
coordinate system.
When you define a constraint, you indicate whether the degrees of freedom along
each of three translation or rotational axes is free, fixed, or has prescribed non-zero
values. Use constraints to:
• Simulate real-world mounting — For example, you can constrain the radial
and axial direction at a bolt hole to allow rotation about the hole. This requires a
cylindrical coordinate system with the z-axis aligned with the hole's axis.
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• Eliminate rigid body motion — For all analyses, you should, at minimum,
specify constraints to prevent rigid body motion. An insufficiently constrained
model will give an error during run time. There are two exceptions to this rule:
You can also use rigid connections to tie degrees of freedom between portions of a
model that are disconnected.
There is no limit to the number of constraint sets you can have in a model. However,
you can only include one constraint set in an analysis. Therefore, make sure that
your constraint set contains all constraints needed for your analysis.
You can apply constraints to multiple geometric entities, such as points, curves,
surfaces, and regions. Be aware that point and curve constraints can introduce
singularities that produce infinite stresses or flux in both solid and shell models.
Excess or redundant constraints can also introduce singularities. For example, a bar
undergoing tensile loading will shrink slightly in diameter due to Poisson's effect. If
the bar is fixed in all degrees of freedom at one end, the constraint will restrict the
contraction and you will see unrealistically high stresses.
Full Model
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a b
Dx, Ry and Rz are fixed in a, and Dz, Rx and Ry are fixed in b. Note that solid
elements do not have rotational degrees of freedom, so it is not necessary to
constrain Rx, Ry and Rz in this case.
In conventional finite element programs, you must refine a finite element mesh
(adding elements in areas where the errors are high). Then you must compare a
sequence of results until changes are minimal.
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• The default convergence method for most types of problems is SPA (Single-Pass
Adaptive), which is the most efficient choice for general problems. In the first of
two solutions, Mechanica calculates results and estimates errors, based on
continuity of stresses over element boundaries—these errors are then used to
predict the polynomial order required for a converged solution. The software then
performs a second run that produces the final converged results. During each
pass, Mechanica calculates single element stresses and superconvergent
stresses, and reports the stresses as a percentage error.
Mechanica stores a convergence results summary in the .rpt file. Take care when
using point loads and constraints, sharp internal edges, and other singularities that
could cause theoretically infinite results. These entities can have detrimental effects
on the errors reported and the computer resources required.
In Structure, you can obtain results for stress or strain, displacement, structural
frequencies, or mode shape in a model subjected to structural or thermal loads,
using one of the following analysis types:
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In Thermal, you can obtain temperature or heat flux results in a model subjected to
thermal loads, using these analysis types:
• Use static analysis when you are looking for displacement, stress or strain
results, when the load does not change over time, or when the load frequency is
less than approximately one-third of the structure's lowest natural frequency).
Use the large deformation analysis option to account for geometry nonlinearity.
• Use modal analysis when you are looking for natural frequencies and mode
shapes of a constrained or unconstrained structure.
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• Use buckling analysis to calculate the critical buckling load in situations where
your model may fail by buckling under a compressive load.
• Use contact analysis, instead of static, when there are one or more regions of
contact and the contact area changes as the structure deforms.
• When the applied load is not quasi-static, you must use dynamic analyses to
account for the inertia of the model. The type of dynamic analysis you run is
determined by the input forcing function.
• Use fatigue analysis to calculate the fatigue damage, fatigue life, safety factor,
and life confidence for a structure subjected to large numbers of repeated load
cycles. Before you run a fatigue analysis, you must run a static analysis for the
same model.
• Use steady state thermal analysis to calculate the equilibrium temperature and
heat flux distributions of a model subjected to a heat load, known temperature,
and/or convection boundary conditions.
• Use transient thermal analysis if you are interested in temperature and heat flux
time history from an initial condition.
Static Analysis
Perform a static analysis when the loads and other boundary conditions on your
model will not change over time, or the load frequency is less than approximately
one-third of the structure's lowest natural frequency.
Typically, static analyses produce interesting results for stress and displacement:
• If the stress in a part exceeds a certain value, the part may fail. Interpreting
stress results depends on the type of material and the nature of the loading. For
example, most engineering materials are ductile and thus will yield prior to
fracture. Von Mises stress is generally considered most accurate for predicting
ductile material failure. Maximum Shear (Tresca) theory may also be used for
ductile materials. Since brittle materials fail in fracture, you may want to use the
Modified Mohr theory in such cases. Composite structures generally have
different modes of failure, and thus require different theories for predicting them,
such as Tsai Wu, Maximum Stress, or Maximum Strain. If the loads are cyclical in
nature (that is, they are applied and removed many times, like an automobile
running over a rough road surface), the part may fail at a lower stress due to
fatigue.
• The displacement results produced by Mechanica indicate how the structure will
deform under the applied boundary conditions. Most designs need to be both stiff
enough to perform a job and strong enough not to break.
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You can produce reliable stress and displacement results from a static analysis by
making sure you:
• Ensure that the geometry of the Pro/ENGINEER model accurately reflects the
geometry of the real part in areas where high stresses may occur.
For example, if you suppress a round in an area where Mechanica finds a high
stress, the reported stress will be much higher than in reality (since theory
predicts that an inside corner will produce an infinitely high stress or singularity).
Additionally, Mechanica will require more computer time and resources to
calculate these unrealistic stresses.
• Use the Single-Pass Adaptive (SPA) method wherever possible—this is the most
robust and efficient way to obtain reliable results in the least time.
• Use the Multi-Pass Adaptive (MPA) method to converge on the quantities you are
particularly interested in, using predefined or user-defined measures.
• If your part is thin and subject to compressive loading, it may buckle rather than
fracture. In this case, you can perform a buckling analysis.
• If the displacements are large with respect to the size of the part, you may need
to consider a nonlinear effect called large deformation. Most static analyses use
"small deformation theory," which tends to underestimate and in some cases
overestimate the deflections—for example, where a part is thin and flexible. In
this case, you can perform a large deformation analysis.
• If you are interested in the stresses that occur where two parts contact and
transfer loading, you will want to perform a contact analysis.
Modal Analysis
Perform a modal analysis when you want Mechanica to calculate the
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Typically, engineers need to know these natural frequencies for situations where the
structure is exposed to excitation forces. In this case, the part may resonate and fail
if the excitation frequencies coincide with the natural frequency of the structure.
Even if the excitation frequency is offset from the natural frequency, it may still be
close enough to produce undesirable vibrations.
In modal analysis, it is important that you accurately model the mass and stiffness
distribution. Small features that are important in static stress analysis (to avoid
stress concentrations) are not as important in a modal analysis.
When deciding what factors to include in your analysis, you will want to consider the
following aspects of your model:
• Use the Single-Pass Adaptive (SPA) method wherever possible—this is the most
robust and efficient way to obtain reliable results in the least time.
• Use the Multi-Pass Adaptive (MPA) method to converge on the quantities you are
particularly interested in, using predefined or user-defined measures.
Convergence plots of calculated entities are only available with MPA.
In such a case, you can substitute a mass element for the supported part. Mass
elements must be connected to the rest of the part with elements, usually beams.
Because these beams should behave in a rigid manner, you should increase the
stiffness or the dimension of the section and give them a zero material density.
Review the modal shape results to ensure that the beam elements are not bending.
In a similar way, you can substitute spring elements for flexible components.
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Constrained modal analyses are required for all base excitation dynamic problems.
You can use unconstrained modal analysis for dynamic time, frequency, and random
analyses, provided a load set is specified.
Dynamic Analysis
Perform a dynamic analysis when:
• the magnitude, direction, or position of the applied load varies over time, or
As a result, the structural response to a dynamic load varies over time or frequency.
• Dynamic Time Analysis — Use a dynamic time analysis when the load is
transient, and you know the time variation of the loading. An example would be
an impulse load on a structure.
Mechanica uses the modal method for obtaining dynamic response and uses output
from a predefined modal analysis. This means that the response is expressed as a
summation of the free-vibration shapes. You can use a previously executed modal
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analysis. The accuracy of a dynamic response analysis depends upon the number of
modes used, which you can specify when defining the modal analysis.
• To produce accurate results from a dynamic response analysis, you must know
the necessary modes to be included in your analysis. The number of modes you
include depends upon the nature of the input load and the analysis type:
o For all Dynamic Analysis types with base excitation, request enough modes
to ensure that the industry standard of 80% total effective mass
participation is reached.
o For Dynamic Random analysis, include enough modes to cover the entire
frequency range of the Power Spectral Density (PSD).
o For Dynamic Time analysis with a time-dependent load, you must compare
the results from several analyses to determine the dependence on the
number of modes. Use 80% total effective mass participation if you are
using base excitation as a starting point. Furthermore, the mode shapes
you request must be representative of the deflected shape of the part as if
the loads were static. For example, in a dynamic analysis of a flat plate
subject to bending loads, ensure that you have included out-of-plane mode
shapes.
• You need to consider several issues concerning base excitation when you define a
dynamic shock analysis. These include:
If the frequencies of major contributing modes for your model are not very
close together, the SRSS provides a better approximation method. In this
case, the Absolute Sum method overestimates the maximum response.
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2. Set up the first dynamic study. The purpose of this is to sweep over the time or
frequency domain and report measures. You must specify these measures prior
to running the analysis. You must also specify the modal range, and specify non-
zero damping.
3. Graph the results from the measures and note where the peaks occur. These are
the intervals where full results should be specified.
4. Set up the second dynamic study. This time, specify the intervals for full results
based on the plots from the first run. Full results will enable you to create fringes
and animations.
Thermal Analysis
Perform thermal analyses to calculate temperatures and heat fluxes for your model.
Mechanica offers two types of thermal analyses.
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You can transfer thermal analysis results to Structure as MEC/T temperature loads to
determine thermal strains due to thermal gradients.
The following methods are available for convergence of the two thermal analysis
types:
You can base MPA convergence on local temperatures combined with local energy
norms, local and global energy norms, or measures.
Fatigue Analysis
Perform a fatigue analysis to see if your model is susceptible to fatigue damage
when subjected to a time-varying load. Loads that fluctuate or repeat at regular
intervals can induce stresses that result in failure by fatigue. Repeated stress can
produce cracks and ultimately fracture in a part, even when stress levels are well
within the elastic range of the material. Because materials that are under a repetitive
or fluctuating load will fail at a lower stress level than those under a constant load, a
model subject to such stresses is a candidate for fatigue analysis.
• You have defined a static analysis, since the software uses the stress results from
the static analysis along with the load factors you specify to determine the
loading variation for one life cycle.
You can run an analysis interactively or in batch mode. When the analysis is running,
you can monitor its progress through summary files and diagnostic messages.
When the analysis is complete, you can view results and make design changes as
needed:
• You can see predefined measures and user-defined measures, which Mechanica
summarizes, in the summary or report file.
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• You can create color fringes, x–y plots, and animation of deformed meshes in the
Mechanica postprocessor.
• You can use convergence and error estimate results to assess the accuracy of
your finite element solution.
• Ensure that the output files write to local directories rather than over a network.
• Select the solver you want to use (the direct solver or the iterative solver).
• Reuse an existing mesh from an earlier analysis of the same model, even if the
analysis is not of the same type.
Histories of computer resource usage information such as CPU elapsed time, total
elapsed time, memory and disk space usage are available interactively and through
engine summary files to help you allocate and manage your computer resources.
This information helps you determine whether the results are acceptable, if you can
improve them, or if you can run the analysis more efficiently by modifying computer
resources.
The summary report includes a table showing RMS stress error estimates from an
analysis and provides important statistics about the accuracy of the results. In
general, this error should be 5% or less.
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• For a static study, the table shows stress errors, which are estimated RMS values
for each load set, as well as its values as a percentage of maximum principal
stress.
• For modal analysis, the table shows stress errors for each mode as a percentage
of max modal stress.
Typically, high percentage values indicate that the analysis may not have converged.
Convergence failure can be caused by several factors:
• The maximum polynomial (P) order may have been reached while running a
multi-pass adaptive convergence analysis. In this case, Mechanica prints a
warning message in the report file.
After reviewing the report file, you can view the results of your analysis to further
gauge the quality of the results.
• in the summary file directing you to use results to review a diagnostics display of
your model, you should display the highlighted entities associated with the error.
• in the summary or log file telling you that the model is insufficiently constrained
for the analysis, you may be able to locate your model's problem area by using
Mechanica entity ID numbers.
• If you use multi-pass adaptive (MPA) convergence, you can plot a graph of
measure(s) versus the P pass to view how the convergence was reached. A
minimal difference between the last two passes (flattening of the curve) indicates
good convergence. Measures you might want to graph include are:
o Specify a higher P level in the analysis data form for MPA analysis.
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o Remesh your model with a lower aspect ratio and/or allowable angles.
• You can remesh your model with a lower aspect ratio and/or allowable angles.
However, this will create many more elements in your model, slowing your
analysis.
When evaluating your analysis results, you might take a minute to note whether
your results are close to what you expected. If not, first make sure that any failure
to converge or other error condition is not due to a simple mistake, such incorrectly
entering a load or material property. If the reported convergence errors are
acceptable, and the values of other significant measures are within an expected
range, you can proceed with viewing and interpreting results.
You can plot results using a variety of graphical methods, including point query,
fringes, contours (lines and surfaces), vectors, and graphs. You can use several
effects to better communicate the information, such as animation, shading, and color
smoothing. Additional methods for obtaining results information include:
• Cutting and capping planes — Use to slice through the model and view results
of a cross section. You can drag the cross section dynamically to gain improved
insight.
After you generate results windows for display, be sure to take sufficient time to
understand and interpret the results from an engineering point of view. You can then
determine whether any design changes are necessary, and/or define additional
results measures and design parameters for sensitivity and optimization studies.
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Once you have defined a design parameter, it is important to see how its change
affects the topology of your model. You can do this by performing a shape animate
on the model. Shape animate allows you to choose a design parameter and sweep it
from its lower to upper bounds in a specified number of steps. This will point out any
parameter settings that render a model unable to regenerate, without the resource
expense of attempting an engine run. Alternatively, you can use Shape Review to
test a particular parameter value.
How do you ensure that your model will be robust enough to support large design
parameter changes? One way is to create a "flexible model". What this implies is that
a model can regenerate through a wide range of dimensional values. There are a few
ways to ensure this robustness.
• Keep individual features as simple as possible. Do not try to capture too much
detail in a feature sketch.
• Capture flexibility in your sketched sections. Once you have defined your sketch,
modify the dimensions using the drag dimension value functionality. In this
manner, you can quickly evaluate how flexible the individual sections are.
• Perform design studies early in the design process. The fewer features there are
in a model, the more flexible it will be. By performing these studies earlier in the
design process, not only will your models be more flexible, the time required to
run them will be dramatically reduced.
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study, the results will contain five data points, including the extra point from the
initial position.
It is important to note that when selecting the design parameters, you also specify
the initial value—as such, if you accept the default initial values, mass history and
other results often show a jump for the initial step. This is because the optimization
begins with all of the design parameters at their lower bound. It is often a good idea
to have the optimization begin with the design variables at their current value.
You can run optimizations without specifying a goal. When you run a goal-free study,
the optimization will stop as soon as the limits are satisfied. The converse is also
true—you can run an optimization without limits, with only a goal.
Although optimization runs can take considerable amounts of time and resources,
and cannot run under some circumstances, there are ways to reduce or avoid these
conditions.
Once the optimization run is complete, you can review the topology of the model,
tracking the steps Mechanica takes through the optimization iterations. To do this,
use the Optimize Hist command under the Dsgn Controls menu. At this point, you
can also accept the final, optimized, design of the Mechanica simulation model. When
you accept the optimized design, Mechanica sets the values of all the design
parameters to their optimal configuration, which also changes these values in the
underlying Pro/ENGINEER model.
You can also use optimization to correlate to experimental data. In some situations,
you may not know specific properties, but you have empirical data. You can run an
optimization study to determine what the properties should be in order to achieve
the measured deflection, stress, temperature, and so forth.
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• The first is to limit the number of optimization iterations when defining the study
on the dialog box.
• You can also try starting the optimization with the values of the design
parameters as close to optimal as can readily be determined.
• In this instance, the optimization may run if a different starting point is selected
for the design parameters. This is because it is possible to find local optimums,
which can be different from the global, optimal design. If time permits, it is also
a good idea to run an optimization from a few different starting points to ensure
that the results returned are for a global optimum.
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