When using the Area Hatch/Fill tool in a SOLIDWORKS drawing, you can modify the scale and angle of the default pattern with options in the PropertyManager. If you constantly need to make changes to get the pattern you want, or if none of the out-of-the-box patterns fit with what you need, you can modify the SOLIDWORKS Hatch Pattern file to create a custom pattern.
Each node in a model meshed for a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) study has six degrees of freedom or DOF. Three are translational and three are rotational. In order to stabilize the model, the nodes’ DOF must be constrained.
Iso Clipping is a post-processing tool available in SOLIDWORKS Simulation. It allows us to modify the display of a result plot to cut away regions of the model above or below a certain value. It can also be used to show a range between two values and view surfaces of up to six specified values. Isolating areas of very high or low stress can be informative when investigating failures and optimizing designs.
This article is a companion to this SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Tutorial. In it, Free Surfaces are used in combination with time-dependent gravity to simulate water flowing out of a pitcher when rotated 90 degrees. The Transient Explorer is employed in order to view the results of this study, specifically the motion of the water over time.
Design Studies are a tool in SOLIDWORKS Simulation that allows us to evaluate or optimize designs by seeing how they perform when selected parameters are changed. These parameters can be model dimensions, global variables, Simulation or Motion study properties, or materials applied to bodies.
In order to run an internal flow analysis in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation, we need to be working with an enclosed volume. If our model has openings, then we need to close them by adding bodies called lids. SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation includes a tool called Create Lids that will, as the name suggests, create lids automatically.
In this tutorial, we demonstrate how to add a torsional spring to a SOLIDWORKS Motion study. In order to affect how a hinge assembly responds to the forces of gravity and a motor, we'll add a damper, which dissipates energy, and a torsional spring, which stores it.
In SOLIDWORKS, solar access studies are a kind of motion study used to simulate the motion of the sun as it passes over a model. This type of study is useful for applications like deciding where to place solar panels on a roof.