Simultaneous Motion and FEA Simulation
Simulate for Geomagic Design allows the functional performance of mechanical parts and assemblies to be simulated and validated. It combines 3D multi-body dynamic motion simulation with 3D finite element analysis in a unified environment. Designs that are made up of moving mechanical parts present challenges when it comes time to answer fundamental questions like “Does it work?” and “Will it break?”. Dynamic forces are hard to calculate and the part stresses induced by motion are even more difficult to quantify. A unified simulation environment leverages motion simulation data with the FEA analysis to make this process simple.
How Combined Simulations Work
Figuring out the dynamic forces that need to be applied to an FEA simulation can be difficult. With a unified approach, the first thing you do is define the motion of the assembly. Once this is done, you can enable FEA and the magic starts to happen:
- Joint forces from the motion are converted to distributed loads
- Inertial information is transferred into the FEA model
- Stress and strain are calculated at every step of the simulation
With this approach you can simulate the FEA conditions across the full range of the intended motion of the mechanism and see the FEA results change as the forces from the motion simulation change over time.
H-Adaptivity and Meshing
Simulate for Geomagic Design provides significant control over the mesh, including controls that can be attached to geometric faces or edges. The control allows the mesh size to be specified on that particular feature and the resulting 3D mesh will be the specified size along or across the geometric feature.
H-Adaptivity takes meshing to a new level. During FEA simulations, the error of the stress is computed across the model. The error results can be used to drive an iterative solution process called h-adaptivity where the error results are used to refine the Finite Element mesh in areas with large error values and use that new mesh to run another solution. The errors in the new solution are compared to a goal and if error values in the model still exceed the goal, the process is repeated with successive mesh refinements and analyses until the error goal is achieved. Confidence in the results are increased and no special knowledge about appropriate meshing techniques is required.
Results and Reports
A rich set of results analysis and reporting features comes with Simulate for Geomagic Design. Interactively view many options on-screen such as iso-surfaces, heat values, model deformation, and more. Export a comprehensive HTML report of the analysis with a single click.
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