CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R19

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Generative Structural Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Pull-down Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Generative Structural Analysis Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Bottom Toolbar Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Meshing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Clamp Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Clamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Mechanical Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Surface Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Sliding Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Ball Joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Advanced Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
User-Defined Restraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Isostatic Restraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pressures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Distributed Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Bearing Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Imported Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Imported Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Accelerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Rotation Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Line Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Surface Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Volume Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Enforced Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Temperature Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Temperature Field from Thermal Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

© Wichita State University Table of Contents, Page i

CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R19
Restraints and Loads Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Computing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Viewing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Imaging Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Visualization Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Creating Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Global Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Local Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Resultant Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Adaptivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Managing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Results Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Color Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Rigid Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Smooth Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Contact Virtual Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Rigid Spring Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Smooth Spring Virtual Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Periodicity Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Virtual Parts Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Frequency Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Distributed Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Line Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Surface Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Distributed Mass and Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Combined Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Assembled Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Table of Contents, Page ii ©Wichita State University

CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R19
Generative Assembly Structural Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Analysis Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
General Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Point Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Point Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Line Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Line Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Surface Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Surface Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Points to Points Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Point Analysis Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Connection Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Face/Face Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Distant Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

GAS Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Analysis Connections and Connection Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Restraints and Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Computing and Viewing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Advanced Meshing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Advanced Meshing Tools Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

© Wichita State University Table of Contents, Page iii

CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R19
Advanced Meshing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Meshing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Beam Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Surface Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Advanced Surface Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Octree Triangle Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Octree Tetrahedron Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Global Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Local Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Global Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Execution Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Mesh Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Clean Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Edit Simplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Imposed Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Remesh Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Remove Mesh by Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Lock Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Edit Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Split Quadrangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Mesh Analysis Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Mesh Operators and Mesh Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Extrude Mesher with Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Extrude Mesher with Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Extrude Mesher with Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Extrude Mesher along a Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
FMS Continued Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Tetrahedron Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Coating 1D Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Coating 2D Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Move Mesh Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Sweep 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Welding Meshing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Spot Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Seam Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Surface Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Nodes to Nodes Connection Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Node Interface Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Import/Export Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Table of Contents, Page iv ©Wichita State University

CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R19
FMS Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

2D-3D Meshing Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Composite Panel Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Product Engineering Optimizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Data Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Periodic Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Thermo-Mechanical Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Visualization Transferred onto Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Self-balancing on Load set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Practice Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Problem #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Problem #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Problem #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Problem #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Problem #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Problem #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Problem #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Problem #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Appendix A - Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

General - Parameters and Measure - Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Analysis & Simulation - External Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Analysis and Simulation - General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Analysis and Simulation - Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
Analysis and Simulation - Post Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Analysis and Simulation - Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Analysis and Simulation - Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

© Wichita State University Table of Contents, Page v

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Introduction
CATIA Version 5 Generative Structural Analysis
Upon completion of this course the student should have a full understanding of the
following topics:

- Applying a mesh

- Defining restraints

- Defining loads

- Defining virtual parts

- Applying an isotropic material

- Defining groups

- Applying each analysis type

- Managing results

- Refining results

© Wichita State University Introduction, Page 1

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Generative Structural Analysis

Generative structural analysis is useful to acquire the various structural characteristics of
your parts and products in a 3D environment. Using these tools allows you to analyze your
parts or products to determine their structural qualities before they are manufactured.

The Generative Structural Analysis workbenches utilize the Finite Element Method of
numerical approximation. This method works by approximating the model by breaking it
down into smaller, more simplified pieces. These broken down pieces are referred to as
elements. Elements are connected together at what are commonly known as nodes. The
illustration below provides greater clarity.

Below is an original model and its finite element model representation. The representation
will vary based on the size and shape of the elements. This allows the user to customize
analysis. Based on the simplicity and size of the elements, the analysis can be very simple
or very complex based on the requirements of the analysis.

It is important to understand that to fully utilize the tools in this course you should be
familiar with the fundamentals of the Finite Element Method. It is not the intention of this
course to teach you Finite Element Analysis. However, it is not a requirement of this course
that you fully understand the Finite Element Method since utilizing the tools in this course
do not require it.

Introduction, Page 2 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Preview
This section will give you a brief overview of what the ensuing sections will cover in detail.

Open the Basic document. This is a basic part. You must have a material defined for any
part that you wish to create an analysis on. Therefore, the first step will be to apply a
material to the part.

Select the Apply Material icon in the bottom toolbar. The Library window
appears.

From this library, you may select any type of material that is listed and apply it to your part.

Select the Metal tab. The library changes to display all of the metal materials.

Select Aluminium from the list and select the Partbody from the specification tree. It is
a good idea to apply the material to the partbody and not the part model itself.

© Wichita State University Preview, Page 9

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select OK to apply the material. It should appear in the tree as shown

Now that the part has a material applied to it, an analysis may be created.

Switch to the Generative Structural Analysis workbench. It is located in the Start menu
under Analysis and Simulation. This will create an analysis of the part. The CATAnalysis
will be linked back to the original part as shown below.

The New Analysis Case window appears. You have to define what type of analysis you
would like to do.

Select the Static Analysis case and select OK. This creates a Static Case analysis
document. You will see the Static Case branch in the specification tree. You actually have
a new document up at this point.

Preview, Page 10 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

By default, a mesh and some model properties are applied to each body in the part when the
analysis is created. For now, we will work with the default mesh and properties. Later in
the course, we will experiment with adjusting the mesh and properties in order to refine the
results. The mesh and model properties are represented by the following symbols in the 3D
environment.

Select the Model Checker icon. The Model Checker window appears.

The model checker will show you all of the specifications of the model and determine if the
model is okay to use or not. If the model is okay, the Status will read OK. If there is
something wrong, the Status will read KO. This will play a more important part in the steps
later on when there are more details defined.

Select OK. The model is ready for an analysis.

© Wichita State University Preview, Page 11

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Take a look at the Static Case analysis that was inserted into the specification tree. Notice
that there are several branches underneath the Static Case.

There are no restraints or loads applied to the model, and therefore, there are no solutions to
the static case. Defining the restraints and loads on the model are the only remaining steps
to get some results from your analysis.

Select the Clamp icon. The Clamp window appears.

Select the bottom face of the part as shown. This will define the support for the clamp.

Preview, Page 12 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select OK. The clamp should appear on the model as shown.

The clamp appears under the Restraints.1 branch of the specification tree.

Select the Distributed Force icon. The Distributed Force window appears.

© Wichita State University Preview, Page 13

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Supports Defines the supports that the force acts on

Axis System

Type Defines the axis system that the force will be based upon

Display locally Displays a local axis to help show orientation with respect to
the part’s local axis

Force Vector

Norm Defines the force in the normal direction

X Defines the force in the X-direction

Y Defines the force in the Y-direction

Z Defines the force in the Z-direction

Handler Defines the point where the forces are applied. By default this
point is at the centroid of the selection.

Select the hole as shown for the support.

Set the X, Y and Z values to be 50.0, 50.0 and 0.0 respectively. This will yield a Norm
vector of 70.711 lbf.

Preview, Page 14 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select OK. The force is applied as shown.

The distributed force appears under the Loads.1 branch in the specification tree.

This completes the creation of the necessary elements required for the analysis model. Now
the analysis is ready to be computed. It is recommended that the model be saved before you
compute the analysis.

Select the Compute icon. The Compute window appears.

All Computes everything

Mesh Only Computes the mesh only

Analysis Case Solution Selection Allows you to select a specific case solution to
compute

Selection by Restraint Computes based off of an individual constraint

© Wichita State University Preview, Page 15

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select All and select OK. The Computation Resources Estimation window appears.

This window gives an approximation on the time the analysis will take as well as how much
memory and disk space will be necessary. You may want to check to make sure that the
computer has the necessary memory and disk space.

Select Yes. The analysis is computed.

Select the Deformation icon. This will display the deformation of the model based
on the applied restraints and loads.

The model should appear as shown.

Preview, Page 16 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Rotate the model around to view the deformation more clearly.

Notice that the part deforms off to one side even though the restraints and loads were
applied symmetrically. The reason for this is the fact that the mesh is automatically
generated and, therefore, not necessarily symmetric. Additional restraints would be
necessary to force the part to behave correctly.

There are many other things that could be done in order to acquire more results. However,
at this time we will stop here. The next thing that needs to be done is to save the analysis.

From the File pull down, select Save Management. The Save Management window
appears.

Notice that the part and analysis both need to be saved. There are also two temporary files
that need saved as well. The two extra files are the results and computations files.

Select Analysis1.CATAnalysis as shown above and select Save As. Define a place to save
the file. It is a good idea to create a new folder and save everything that pertains to the
analysis in the same folder.

Save the analysis as Basic. You should be returned to the Save Management window.

© Wichita State University Preview, Page 17

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Propagate directory option. This will save not only the analysis and part, but
also the temporary files into the directory that you defined. This important to do so that you
don’t have to worry about breaking links between any of the necessary components.

Select OK to save the documents.

Close all documents.

Preview, Page 18 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

2D-3D Meshing Exercise

This exercise will involve using solid meshing and surface meshing in combination to
complete an analysis.

Open the 2D-3D Meshing document located in the 2D-3D Meshing folder. The two
parts in the assembly have already been constrained together.

Expand the Frame part and hide the PartBody and show the Mid Surface geometrical
set. The mid surface has already been created for you.

© Wichita State University 2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 333

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Switch to the Generative Structural Analysis workbench and create a Static Analysis.

Expand the Nodes and Elements branch and the Properties branch in the specification
tree. It should appear as shown.

Notice a mesh and a property was automatically generated for each of the parts.
Unfortunately, the mesh and property for the Frame are incorrect, because they were based
off of the solid. Since you will be using a surface mesh for this part, the automatically
generated mesh and property are not needed.

Delete the mesh and the property that corresponds with the Frame. To see which
property is tied to the Frame, expand the Frame part in the specification tree so that you can
see the PartBody. When you select the Property in the tree, it should highlight the
PartBody that it is attached to.

A mesh must now be created for the Frame.

Switch to the Advanced Meshing Tools workbench.

Select the Advance Surface Mesher icon and select the surface from the display.
The Global Parameters window appears.

Set the Mesh size to be 0.25in. Set the Element type to be Linear and turn on the
Minimize triangles option. All other options in the Mesh tab should be deactivated.

In the Geometry tab, set the Constraint sag to be 0.025in and turn on the Automatic
curve capture option with a Tolerance of 0.02in.

Select OK. You are switched to the Surface Meshing workbench.

Expand the Bracket part and show the Fastener Locations geometrical set. The set
contains four points specifying where the Bracket will be attached to the Frame. Spot
welding connections will be used to simulate the connections at those locations.

2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 334 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Add/Remove Constraints icon. The Add/Remove Constraints window

appears.

Select the Points tab and select the four points from the display. It may be easier to
select the points from the back side of the surface as shown.

Select OK. This will force nodes to be created at the four point locations.

Select the Mesh the Part icon. The mesh is created and the Mesh the Part window
appears.

© Wichita State University 2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 335

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select OK. Notice there are a few poor elements.

Use the Edit Mesh icon to drag the nodes around until the elements appear green.
They should appear similar to the picture below.

Select the Exit icon. You are returned to the Advanced Meshing Tools workbench.

Switch to the Generative Structural Analysis workbench.

Select the 2D Property icon. The 2D Property window appears.

Select Advanced Surface Meshing.1 to define the Supports for the property.

Right select in the Thickness field from the 2D Property window and select Edit
Formula from the contextual menu. The Formula Editor window appears.

2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 336 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Thickness parameter from the Frame model to define the formula.

Select OK to the Edit Formula window.

Select OK to the 2D Property window. This will specify that the surface mesh will behave
as if it were 0.1 inches thick.

Connections need to be defined between the two parts.

Select the General Analysis Connection icon. The General Analysis Connection
window appears.

© Wichita State University 2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 337

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the face as shown to define the First component for the connection.

Hide the surface and select the bottom of the bracket as shown to define the Second
component for the connection.

Select OK. The analysis connection is created.

Show the surface.

2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 338 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Contact Connection Property icon. The Contact Connection Property
window appears.

Select the General Analysis Connection.1 and select OK. The property is defined. This
will specify that the two faces are connected together and cannot protrude into one another.

Select the Point Analysis Connection icon. The Point Analysis Connection window
appears.

Select the surface to define the First component and the Bracket to define the Second
component.

Select the Fastener Locations geometrical set from the Bracket part to define the Points
selection.

Select OK.

Select the Spot Welding Connection Property icon. The Spot Welding Connection
Property window appears.

Select the Point Analysis Connection that you just created to define the Supports for
the property. Set the Type to Rigid and select OK. This creates a connection at each
point in the Fastener Locations geometrical set that will simulate a spot weld. In this case,
the actual connection would be some type of fastener, but a spot weld should approximate
the connection just fine.

© Wichita State University 2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 339

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Clamp icon. The Clamp window appears.

Select the edges shown below.

Select OK. The restraint is defined.

Define a second clamp restraint on the other side, selecting the corresponding 5 edges.

The model should appear as shown. The clamped edges will be unable to move during the
analysis.

2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 340 ©Wichita State University

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Smooth Virtual Part icon. The Smooth Virtual Part window appears.

Select the two faces shown below to define the Supports for the virtual part.

Select OK. The virtual part is created.

Select the Distributed Force icon. The Distributed Force window appears.

Select the virtual part to define the Supports for the load.

Set the distributed force to be 150lbf in the positive Y direction and select OK. This
will define the load on the virtual part which would represent a pin or bolt through the two
holes.

Compute the analysis.

© Wichita State University 2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 341

CATIA Generative Structural Analysis CATIA® V5R19

Select the Von Mises Stress icon. The model should appear as shown.

By utilizing both solid and surface meshing, the analysis can be optimized so that you get
accurate results while minimizing the analysis runtime.

Save and close the document.

2D-3D Meshing Exercise, Page 342 ©Wichita State University