There is a fundamental difference between Remote Loads with Direct Transfer and with Rigid Connection:

1. Remote Load with Rigid Connection links all the nodes from all the faces to the remote load location with rigid bars. There is no special calculation needed to distribute the entered force and moment value on the selected faces.
   Because of the rigid bars, all selected faces are rigid (and also rigidly connected to each other).
2. Remote Load with Direct Transfer simulates the presence of a relatively soft component which connects all the faces together. SolidWorks Simulation has to calculate how the entered force and moment value should be distributed on the selected faces. Once the load (force + moment) to apply on each node of each selected face is determined and applied, the faces deform independently from each other.

To access the Remote Loads/Mass PropertyManager in SolidWorks Simulation, carry out one of the following:

• In the Simulation study tree, right-click the External Loads folder and select Remote Load/Mass.
• Or click Simulation > Loads/Fixture > Remote Load/Mass.

Remote Load

The post What is the difference between Remote Loads with Direct Transfer and with Rigid Connection? appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Nonlinear Analysis

A Linear Static analysis can be performed on a problem if the following assumptions are valid:

• The material is linear elastic, where the geometry will return to its original shape if the load is removed.
• Deformations are small in relation to the dimensions of the model.
• Loads and restraints are constantly applied to the model, without change in magnitude or direction. Also, the loads do not cause separate parts to come into contact with one another

A Linear Static solution is not valid if any of these points are violated. The relationship between the loads (generalized force) and the response (generalized displacement) becomes nonlinear, and a Nonlinear Analysis must be performed in order to get accurate results that reflect true-to-life behavior.

To determine if you need to do a nonlinear analysis, the following key questions should be answered:

• Has the maximum stress exceeded the yield stress for the material? Or are any of the material properties modified as a consequence of the stress level reached?
• Are the deflections large? (rough guide: if deflections are close to the thickness of the material then the deflections are large).
• Is stress stiffening/stress softening occurring?
• Are there dynamic or inertial effects?
• Is a no-penetration contact area expected to change shape or size during the simulation?
• Is a material experiencing creep or viscoelasticity?
• Does the load direction/magnitude vary due to the deflection of the model?

If the answer is yes to any of the above then you should use the Nonlinear Analysis for your study

Want to learn more about Nonlinear Analysis? Download our White Paper

The post When to use Nonlinear Analysis? appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Depending on the settings, nonlinear analysis may require the input of stress / strain curves. When that is the case, the curve should be entered using the correct definition/values for stress and strain. As a matter of fact, several definitions of stress exist: true stress, engineering stress. And several definitions of strain exist as well: engineering strain, logarithmic strain.

The table below summarizes the type of stress and strain to be used for the stress/strain curve, depending on the analysis option and the type of material model used.

The post Nonlinear Analysis – Stress / Strain Curves for Material Models appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SolidWorks Composer offers true flexibility when it comes to creating technical documentation. When creating line drawings, you can customize the outline colour of each actor individually.

To achieve this:

1. Activate the technical illustration workshop
2. Deselect the option “Same colour for all actors” option for the visible lines
3. Select the desired actor and change the Width and Colour properties under the Outline category.

When you publish the desired illustration it will have the outlines as specified in the part properties.

The post SolidWorks Composer Coloured Outlines appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

As I was learning to use SolidWorks Composer, one of the tasks I found difficult to master was the transform command. The pivots were aligned in a way that did not follow the assembly direction. I had to use the “detect curves” option and at times there was no curve to detect. SolidWorks Composer gives us the flexibility to align the pivots in directions which are more meaningful to us. Watch the video to see how you can make your transforms in Composer much more easier.

The post SolidWorks Composer – Detect Curves & Align Pivot [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

The digger tools allows you to capture detailed 2D images. The quality of the captured images is controlled by the last used settings of the high-resolution image workshop.

The post SolidWorks Composer – Digger 2D Image Quality appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

SOLIDWORKS 2015 is finally here and I have had the chance to play around with the latest simulation capabilities in SOLIDWORKS. Here are some of the enhancements that you will see in the upcoming release of SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION. I will be showing you each one of these in detail over the coming few days but here is a list for you.

1. Rotating Mesh in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation

You can simulate Fluid Driving motion with enhanced rotating regions. The “sliding mesh” mode simulates rotating equipment where fluid flow entering the rotor is highly non symmetric with regard to the axis of rotation. Since angular velocity can be dependent on time, you can simulate motion at a specified angle.

2. Edge-to-Edge Bonding for Shells

You can now create bonded contact between non-touching edges of shell bodies.

3. Self-contact Detection

A new option allows the detection of self-contact for faces of a body or part that have regions that can come into contact with each other during the simulation. The self-contact option is available for nonlinear studies and static studies running with the large displacement option.

4. Fatigue with Vibration

You can predict the damage and remaining life of a part that is exposed to repeated cyclic loading at a given operating frequency or to a random vibration environment.

5. Load Case Manager for Static Studies

A new load case manager interface within a Static study allows you to define (secondary) load combinations from (primary) load definitions quickly and evaluate the effects of the various load combinations on your model.

6. CFD preparation while solving

You can pre- and post-process other Fluid Flow projects while another is calculated.

7. Improved Leak tracking

The connection between components in the Leak Tracking tool is displayed as a two color band to help identify the gap location.

8. Mesh Failure Diagnostic Tool

When meshing fails, you have better visualization tools to display these parts which failed to mesh.

9. Intermediate Results in Nonlinear Analysis

You can visualize intermediate results during a nonlinear solution. By getting visual feedback of the results as the solution progresses, you can make decisions to either stop the simulation and make adjustments to the input, or let the solver proceed with the current settings.

10. Cyclic Symmetry for Nonlinear Studies

Cyclic symmetry is supported for nonlinear studies.

To learn what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2015 CAD, please click here

To Learn More About SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2015

We invite you to attend a live demonstration of SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2015 in October. Reserve your seat at an Event in a Canadian city near you. Register now, as space is limited.

The post SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2015! Enhancements that will blow you away appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

If you have tried applying SOLIDWORKS Composer texture, you know that textures can be applied on individual actors only. Here is little workaround if you want to apply textures on individual faces rather than the entire actor.

1. Select the desired actor
2. Go to the Geometry Tab on the Ribbon Toolbar
3. Click on Explode (This splits the actor into individual faces.
4. Apply the desired texture on each of the individual faces
5. Once you are done applying textures, select all the faces that were created from the explode process
6. Use the Merge command to stitch the free faces back into a Solid body

Watch the video for a quick demonstration.

The post SOLIDWORKS Composer Texture by Faces Tutorial [VIDEO] appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

In SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2015, you can visualize intermediate results during an incremental nonlinear simulation. By getting visual feedback of the results as the simulation progresses, you can make decisions to either stop the simulation and make adjustments to the input, or let the solver proceed with the current settings.

To view intermediate result plots while running a nonlinear study, in Default Options > Results, select Show intermediate result plots up to the current iteration (while running the nonlinear study).

When the first iteration step completes, the results for the active plot are shown on the graphics area. As the solution progresses to the next iteration step, the active plot gets dynamically updated. If you have not activated a result plot, the first plot under Results is dynamically updated in the graphics area.

To toggle the visibility between plots, under Results right-click the active plot, and click Show or Hide.

Watch the video for a quick demo.

Don’t forget to check out what else is new SOLIDWORKS CAD and SIMULATION.

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2015: Incremental Nonlinear Simulation Results appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Ever seen a fluid flow animation created in SOLIDWORKS Composer? Here are simple steps you can take to create the illusion of fluid flowing through a pipe in SOLIDWORKS Composer.

To begin, apply a texture on an actor that would resemble the presence of a fluid in the pipe. After adjusting the scale and ratio of the texture, activate the textures workshop. At the same time activate the Animation Mode in Composer. Now activate the texture translation. Move the time marker along the time line and translate the texture along the direction of flow. Repeat the process a number of times. With the autokey turned on, the motion of the texture will be captures automatically.

Watch the video for a quick demonstration on how to create this effect.

The post SOLIDWORKS Composer Tutorial: Fluid Flow Animation appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

In SOLIDWORKS Simulation a new load case manager interface within a Static study allows you to define (secondary) load combinations from (primary) load definitions quickly and evaluate the effects of the various load combinations on your model.

• Right-click the top icon of a Simulation static study tree and select Load Case Manager.
• Use the Load Case Manager to define:
  • Primary Load Cases that link to the loads, fixtures, and connectors of the static study. You can suppress features or add new features (loads or fixtures) for each primary load case. For example, each primary load case can correspond to a “Dead”, “Live”, “Wind”, or “Earthquake” loads.
  • Load Case Combinations are linear combinations of the primary load cases. You enter the equation that describes the primary load combination through an equation editor, for example: 1.4 * “Dead” + 1.6 * “Live” + 0.5 * “Wind”.
  • Simulation data sensors to track results for the primary loads and secondary load case combinations.

Note: Only available for SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional and SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium.

Please watch the video below for a demonstration of this feature.

Don’t forget to check out what else is new SOLIDWORKS CAD and SIMULATION.

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2015 Load Case Manager appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

A Bolt can connect two components, multiple components, or a component and the ground. You can define bolts through a mixed stack of solids, shells and sheet metal bodies. You can also define a bolt by selecting entities of the same component.

SolidWorks Simulation uses a beam element to represent the bolt shank and uses rigid bar elements to connect the beam to the flanges. It simulates the bolt preload using thermal expansion/contraction. The calculation of the thermal expansion/contraction is done automatically by the solver.

The simulation of bolt connectors involves the internal creation of rigid links which can lead to inaccurate results, particularly stress results, in the bolt areas. Error reduces away from the bolt regions. The level of accuracy is much higher for calculating the forces in the bolt regions. Therefore, it is always expected that stresses in the close vicinity of bolts are not to be taken at face value.

The bolt connector is defined by a beam element which does not have any resistance to torque because axial rotational degree of freedom is released. This is consistent with the physical model. In reality, the slippage between the connecting parts is resisted by the frictional force provided by the clamp force (preload).

In addition, it is important to note also that the beam used between the two ends is tension-resistant only (no resistance to compressive force). As a matter of fact this feature is the reason for the problem to become nonlinear (in the absence of any other nonlinearity), and simulate a contact behavior (but in opposite direction to no-penetration contact due to the tension-resistance feature of it). That is why the problem has to go through iterations and subsequently becomes slower (in the absence of any other nonlinearity such as actual contacts defined between the parts)

The number of rigid bars created for the bolt connector depend on the kind of bolt connectors and the mesh created.

For loose fit bolt: On each side of the modeled bolt, the number of rigid bars is equal to the number nodes on the face in contact with the nut and the screw head respectively. Therefore, it can only be determined after the model has been meshed.

For tight fit bolt: In addition to the rigid bar elements as generated for loose fit bolt, program generates the rigid bar elements between the nodes on the cylindrical surfaces in contact with the screw shank and the node from where spider arrangement originates.

Bolt pre-load in SolidWorks Simulation can be either calculated from a defined Axial force are from a combination of Torque and Torque coefficient. This combination helps calculate a tensile force.

In static studies, the definition of bolts induces two successive runs of the analysis:

1. The defined Pre-load value is used to pre-stress the Bolt Connectors. The analysis is run without any other load applied. Then, the tensile forces in the bolts are obtained, and they are compared with the Pre-load values for each bolt.
2. Based on the difference between the tensile forces in the bolts and the Pre-load values that was entered for each bolt, a new adjusted Pre-load value is internally calculated such that when used in a new similar run, the new tensile forces obtained in each bolt will match the initially desired Pre-load.
3. The analysis is run once again with all the loads and the internally adjusted Pre-load for each Bolt Connector

From an absolutely rigorous standpoint, the Pre-load should not be adjusted based on a first run with no load included at all. As a matter of fact, some loads could have been present when the bolts were actually tightened and they should be included in the first run. Such loads will typically include Gravity, but can also include all the loads representing the state of stress that was present when the bolts were tightened: this could potentially include some Forces, Pressures, thermal loads, Spring Pre-loads, etc. It is not currently possible to select which should be included.

In nonlinear analysis, the Pre-load is solved during the first time step of the analysis, and its value is taken as is and never adjusted by the program.

The bolt is prescribed the same reference temperature at zero strain as the rest of the assembly (T0), which is defined in the static study’s Thermal/Flow effects tab in the Properties dialog box. For calculating the thermal expansion or contraction of the bolt, a uniform temperature distribution is assumed for the entire bolt (T). If the tight fit option is not selected, then the bolt temperature is obtained by averaging the temperatures of the head and nut contact surfaces. If the tight fit condition is enabled, then the temperature of the cylindrical hole surface
is also taken into account for the calculation of bolt temperature. Since the bolt connector shank is modeled as a beam element, the bolt connector can only expand or contract in the axial (not the radial) direction.

The implementation of the Bolt Series option on middle plate for bolt connectors is much like the Tight fit option. The program creates rigid bars (light blue)to connect the bolt shank to the nodes of the cylindrical face of the middle plate (red) as shown below. The consequence is that the cylindrical face of the middle component is then rigid. It wont’s compress, and will
only show stress on the nodes belonging to the two circular edges.

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation – Bolt Connector appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

You define a bearing connector between split cylindrical faces of a shaft and cylindrical or spherical faces of a housing. You can use a bearing connector when the housing is not much stiffer than the shaft.

To define a bearing between the shaft and the housing, right-click Connections in the Simulation study tree and select Bearing.

The exploded view shows a cylindrical split face of a shaft connected to a spherical face of the housing.

SolidWorks Simulation uses two methods for implementing the Bearing connector, depending on whether the bearing is Self Aligning or not. The Allow self-alignment specifies whether the Bearing connector allows an unrestricted off-axis shaft rotation. You can define radial and axial direction stiffness values for a self-aligning bearing.

No self-aligning

This is a standard non-self-aligning bearing, which would typically correspond to a roller or needle bearing. The Bearing connector is represented using radial springs distributed radially around the shaft which are projected from one surface of the shaft to the surface of the housing you have selected to define the bearing connector.

Self-aligning

A Self-aligning bearing allows off axis rotation of the shaft. This typically corresponds to a self-aligning ball bearing with two rows of balls and a common concave sphered raceway in the outer ring. It simulates a bearing insensitive to angular misalignments of the shaft relative to the housing, and which offers no resistance to a bending deformation of the shaft.

The Bearing connector is represented using a very short spring-like element that allows there to be a stiffness in the axial and lateral directions. The Spring-like element is connected by rigid bars to the entire surface of the shaft you have selected and to the entire surface of the bearing housing that you have selected.

Bearing Stiffness

When the bearing is set to be Rigid, a very high stiffness value is attributed to the many springs (when not self aligning) or the spring-like element (when self aligning).

When the bearing is set to be Flexible, the stiffness of the springs is adjusted so the overall behavior in translation (radial or axial translational stiffness) corresponds to the requested values.

The post SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION: The Bearing Connector appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are concerned as a special case of solid material having anisotropic thermal conductivity. The integral characteristics of a PCB, i.e. its effective density, specific heat, and components of thermal conductivity, are calculated on the basis of the PCB structure. You can either select a pre-defined PCB from the Engineering Database, or create a user-defined one by specifying its parameters. In the latter case, you must specify density (r), specific heat (C), and thermal conductivity (K) for both dielectric (denoted by ‘D’ index) and conductor (denoted by ‘C’ index) materials of the PCB, and describe its internal structure in one of the provided types:

Conductor Volume Fraction

The Conductor Volume Fraction type requires the specification of Percentage conductor in PCB volume (A), i.e. the volume fraction of conductor material in the PCB.

Board Mass

With the Board Mass type, the PCB total mass (M) and PCB total volume (V) are used to calculate the fraction of conductor material (A) in it.

Layer Definition

The Layer Definition type implies that you must specify the PCB total thickness (t) and the Number of conducting layers (nC). Also for each conducting layer you must specify the Percentage Cover (Ai), i.e. the volume fraction of conductor material in the layer, and the Layer Thickness (tCi).

You may assign one of PCBs stored in the Engineering Database to a solid body. The body is considered as a solid with Axisymmetrical/Biaxial type of anisotropic thermal conductivity. The direction is determined automatically from the body geometry. The selected body should be a thin plate (one of the body’s dimensions is substantially smaller than two others) with two parallel surfaces and can be arbitrary aligned, not necessarily along global coordinate system axes.

To create a Printed Circuit Board (PCB):

1. Click Printed Circuit Board on the Flow Simulation Features toolbar or Flow Simulation > Insert > Printed Circuit Board.
   – or –
   In the Flow Simulation analysis tree right-click the Printed Circuit Boards item and select Insert Printed Circuit Board.
2. In the flyout FeatureManager design tree select a component which you want to consider as the PCB. You can also select a component in the graphics area. The selected components appear in the Components to Apply PCB list under Selection.
3. Under Printed Circuit Board select a PCB from the list of those currently available in the Engineering Database.
   If you want to add a new PCB to the Engineering Database or edit an existing one, click Create/Edit to open the Engineering Database.
4. Click OK . The new PCB item appears in the Flow Simulation Analysis Tree.
   To edit definition of a PCB, in the Flow Simulation analysis tree, double-click the PCB item, or right-click the item and select Edit Definition.

NOTE: This feature is available for Electronics Cooling module users only.

The post SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation: Printed Circuit Board appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

The Two-Resistor Component Model captures the thermal behavior of small electronic packages like Integrated Circuits (ICs). A small package is considered as consisting of two flat solid plates: Junction and Case, which are mounted on the Board. The junction represents a die or a chip. The case represents the die’s case. It is used to simplify the simulation of heat transfer problems involving ICs in an electronic enclosure. It features an increased accuracy compared to using a classic single-resistor model.

In Flow Simulation a Two-Resistor Component Model is modeled simplistically two identical parallelipipedic solid bodies, one on top of the other, and mounted on another solid body representing the board or PCB.

The Junction and Case plates are modeled as a high conductivity bodies with heat-insulating side walls (No material applied to them). So each of them will have an almost uniform temperature.
Sidewalls are insulated (adiabatic). The generated heat only spreads through the package top and bottom

NOTE: You have to make sure the dimensions in the Engineering Database totally match (or are very close to) the dimensions of the solid bodies.

The Two-Resistor Component Model is represented by

• 2 solid blocks of specific dimensions
• Input of power dissipation [W] (Source)
• Thermal resistance [°C/W] between Junction and Case (Rjc) as well as between Junction and Board (Rjb)

The temperature in the Junction body is the highest temperature of the IC. The maximum Junction temperature is typically specified in an IC’s datasheet and is used when calculating the necessary case-to-ambient thermal resistance for a given power dissipation. This in turn is used to select an appropriate heat sink and/or fan if necessary. Using a Two-Resistor Component will therefore allow to ensure the thermal safety of the Junction.

The required mesh density is highly dependent on the size of the component and the amount of heat the specific component is dissipating. The Flow developers recommend the “Grid convergence”
method. Start with a coarse mesh and run the analysis. This is the baseline result. Increase the refinement and rerun the analysis. If the component temperature results change significantly from the baseline result than the more refined mesh becomes the new baseline result. Increase the refinement again and rerun again and compare results to the new baseline results. This is the best method available for meshing the components.

NOTE: The Two-Resistor Component Model is available in the Electronics Cooling Module of the SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation

The post SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation – Two-Resistor Component appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

A Pin Connector connects a solid or a shell body to another solid or shell body. The selection entities can be cylindrical faces or circular edges from the same body or two different bodies.

The Pin connector is represented with a very stiff beam. Each end of the Pin is located at the center of the cylindrical face (on the axis, and halfway across the height). Each end is then connected with perfectly rigid bars to each node of the cylindrical face it corresponds to.

Under loading, pin connectors behave as follows:

• The pin remains straight (it does not bend)
• Each face maintains its original shape but can move as a rigid body
• All faces defining the pin connector remain coaxial

The With retaining ring and With key options are implemented by freeing some DOFs between the rigid bars (translation for With retaining ring and rotation With key)

The Material properties and the Tensile Stress Area are not used to realistically represent the stiffness of the pin.

Instead, the Pin forces are calculated based on assumption that the Pin is very stiff. The axial and shear forces and the bending and torsional moments in the Pins are calculated during the solution based on that assumption. Then, from the obtained values, the defined Strength data is used to calculate the factor of safety.

The pin connectors can be defined between two cylindrical faces from two separate parts. However, if you want to define between three (or more) components, you need to define two pin connectors (or more). Before you define the pin connectors, split the cylindrical surface of the middle component in two cylindrical faces (each of half the initial face’s height) and use them for each pin connector definitions (first cylindrical face with one part and the second cylindrical face with the other part).

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation Pin Connector appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

A heat pipe is an extremely efficient device for transferring heat from its hotter surface to its colder surface due to evaporating a liquid and condensing its vapor in this device’s inner hollow.

In Flow Simulation a Heat Pipe is modeled simplistically as an extremely heat-conducting body with a low (or null) thermal resistance. It avoids the need to model the complex two-phase physics happening within the device. The solid body for the pipe should not be hollow. It is internally modeled as a regular solid material with thermal conductivity that corresponds to the geometry and typed in Effective Thermal Resistance.

To define a heat pipe:

1. Select ONE component
2. Specify the heat flux direct, i.e. Heat In and Heat Out faces
3. Enter the heat pipe’s equivalent Effective Thermal Resistance

Heat Pipe Definition

NOTE: This feature is available in the SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Electronics Cooling Module

The post SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation Heat Pipe appeared first on SolidWorks Tech Tips, Videos & Tutorials from Javelin.

If you have tried applying SOLIDWORKS Composer texture, you know that textures can be applied on individual actors only. Here is little workaround if you want to apply textures on individual faces rather than the entire actor.

1. Select the desired actor
2. Go to the Geometry Tab on the Ribbon Toolbar
3. Click on Explode (This splits the actor into individual faces.
4. Apply the desired texture on each of the individual faces
5. Once you are done applying textures, select all the faces that were created from the explode process
6. Use the Merge command to stitch the free faces back into a Solid body

Watch the video for a quick demonstration.

The post SOLIDWORKS Composer Texture by Faces Tutorial [VIDEO] appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Incremental Nonlinear Simulation

In SOLIDWORKS Simulation you can visualize intermediate results during an Incremental Nonlinear Simulation. By getting visual feedback of the results as the simulation progresses, you can make decisions to either stop the simulation and make adjustments to the input, or let the solver proceed with the current settings.

To View Incremental Nonlinear Simulation

To view intermediate result plots while running a nonlinear study, pick Default Options > Results, then select Show intermediate result plots up to the current iteration (while running the nonlinear study).

When the first iteration step completes, the results for the active plot are shown on the graphics area. As the solution progresses to the next iteration step, the active plot gets dynamically updated. If you have not activated a result plot, the first plot under Results is dynamically updated in the graphics area.

To toggle the visibility between plots, under Results right-click the active plot, and click Show or Hide.

Incremental Nonlinear Simulation Demonstration

Watch the video for a quick demo.

Don’t forget to check out what else is new SOLIDWORKS CAD and SIMULATION.

The post SOLIDWORKS Simulation Incremental Nonlinear Simulation Results appeared first on The Javelin Blog.

Ever seen a fluid flow animation created in SOLIDWORKS Composer? Here are simple steps you can take to create the illusion of fluid flowing through a pipe in SOLIDWORKS Composer.

To begin, apply a texture on an actor that would resemble the presence of a fluid in the pipe. After adjusting the scale and ratio of the texture, activate the textures workshop. At the same time activate the Animation Mode in Composer. Now activate the texture translation. Move the time marker along the time line and translate the texture along the direction of flow. Repeat the process a number of times. With the autokey turned on, the motion of the texture will be captures automatically.

Watch the video for a quick demonstration on how to create this effect.

The post SOLIDWORKS Composer Tutorial: Fluid Flow Animation appeared first on The Javelin Blog.