CATIA Stress Analysis CATIA® V5R30

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Clamp Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Clamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Mechanical Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Surface Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Sliding Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Ball Joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Advanced Restraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
User-Defined Restraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Isostatic Restraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Pressures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Distributed Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Bearing Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Imported Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Imported Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Accelerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Rotation Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Line Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Surface Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Volume Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Force Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Enforced Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Temperature Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Temperature Field from Thermal Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

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Restraints and Loads Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Computing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Viewing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Imaging Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Visualization Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Creating Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Global Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Local Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Resultant Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Adaptivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Managing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Results Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Color Bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Rigid Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Smooth Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Contact Virtual Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Rigid Spring Virtual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Smooth Spring Virtual Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Periodicity Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Virtual Parts Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Frequency Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Distributed Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Line Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Surface Mass Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Distributed Mass and Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Combined Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Assembled Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Generative Assembly Structural Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Analysis Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
General Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Point Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Point Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Line Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Line Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Surface Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Surface Analysis Connection within one Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Points to Points Analysis Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Point Analysis Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

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Connection Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Face/Face Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Distant Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

GAS Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Analysis Connections and Connection Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Restraints and Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Computing and Viewing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Advanced Meshing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Advanced Meshing Tools Workbench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Advanced Meshing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Meshing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Beam Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Surface Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Advanced Surface Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Octree Triangle Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Octree Tetrahedron Mesher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Global Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Local Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Global Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Execution Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Mesh Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Clean Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Edit Simplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Merge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Imposed Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Remesh Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Remove Mesh by Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Lock Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Edit Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Split Quadrangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Mesh Analysis Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Mesh Operators and Mesh Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Extrude Mesher with Translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Extrude Mesher with Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Extrude Mesher with Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Extrude Mesher along a Spline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
FMS Continued Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Tetrahedron Filler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Coating 1D Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Coating 2D Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Move Mesh Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Sweep 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

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Welding Meshing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Spot Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Seam Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Surface Welding Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Nodes to Nodes Connection Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Node Interface Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Import/Export Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

FMS Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

2D-3D Meshing Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

Composite Panel Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Product Engineering Optimizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Data Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Periodic Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Grouping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Thermo-Mechanical Loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Visualization Transferred onto Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Self-balancing on Load set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Practice Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Problem #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Problem #2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Problem #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Problem #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Problem #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Problem #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
Problem #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Problem #8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Appendix A - Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

General - Parameters and Measure - Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Analysis & Simulation - External Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Analysis and Simulation - General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Analysis and Simulation - Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Analysis and Simulation - Post Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Analysis and Simulation - Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Analysis and Simulation - Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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 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.

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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 is important because, by
doing so, you will not have to worry about breaking links between any of the necessary
components.

Select OK to save the documents.

Close all documents.

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Virtual Parts Exercise

This exercise will walk you through applying a couple of virtual parts to a model and then
applying restraints and loads to the model as well.

Open the Virtual Parts document. This is just a part model.

Switch to the Generative Structural Analysis workbench. The New Analysis Case
window appears.

Select Static Analysis and select OK. The analysis is started.

We will create a virtual part to represent a bolt passing through the holes on the end of the
model. A rigid virtual part will be used since we want to stiffen the geometry that it will be
attached to.

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

Select the inside of the four holes as shown to define the Supports for the virtual part.
Make sure that you select the inner faces and not the edges.

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Notice that the virtual part appears as shown.

Select the point as shown above to define the Handler location for the virtual part. It is
a part design point. In this case it was not really necessary to define the Handler since the
centroid for the four faces that were selected is located exactly where we want the handler
point anyway. If it was not, however, you would just create a point in the model and define
that to be the handler point.

Select OK. The virtual part is created.

This virtual part will not allow the geometry supports to deform.

Select the Clamp icon. The Clamp window appears.

Select the rigid virtual part to define the Supports for the restraint. This will restrain
the virtual part so that it cannot move at all.

Select OK. The virtual part is restrained.

Now we will create another virtual part through the holes on the opposite side of the model.

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

Select the inner faces of the two holes as shown to define the Supports for the virtual
part.

Since we want the Handler point to be at the centroid of the two surfaces, we don’t need to
define the Handler.

Select OK. The virtual part is created. A smooth virtual part was chosen so that the
geometry will deform based on its own properties.

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Select the User-Defined Restraint icon. The User-Defined Restraint window

appears.

Select the smooth virtual part to define the Supports for the restraint.

Release the translation and rotation in direction 2 and select OK. The restraint is
created. We want the part to be able to slide and rotate about the axis of the holes.

Now we will apply loads to the model.

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

Select the face as shown to define the Supports for the load.

Set the force in the Z direction to be -50.0 and select OK. The load is created.

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Select the Moment icon. The Moment window appears.

Select the smooth virtual part to define the Supports for the moment. The moment will
act through the handler point of the virtual part.

Set the Y direction to be 15 and select OK. The moment is created. Make sure that the
other two values are zero.

Compute the analysis.

Select the Deformation icon. The model is deformed.

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Take a look at the holes on the back of the model.

Notice that the holes are all still fairly round. These holes had a rigid virtual part attached
to them which prevented them from being deformed.

Look at the holes on the front of the model.

Notice that the holes appear to be more oval now. These holes had a smooth virtual part
attached to them, so they were allowed to deform based on their properties. The moment
has been hidden for better viewing.

Virtual parts can be used to represent parts that have not been modeled or even to simply
exert more control on how a restraint or load will be applied upon the model.

Save and close the documents.

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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.

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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, then select the surface in 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 0.06in.

Select the Multi Selection icon. The Geometry Selector window appears.

Select the bracket from the display. The entire body will be selected.

Select OK to the Geometry Selector window and the Global Parameters window. You
are switched to the Surface Meshing workbench. You should notice yellow curves
matching the outline of the Bracket’s interface with the Frame.

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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.

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.

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Select OK. Notice there are a few poor elements.

Select the Edit Simplification icon. The Edit Simplification window appears.

Turn on both remesh options and select the eight yellow half circles that represent the
holes in the Bracket. The mesh should update as shown.

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Use the Edit Mesh icon to split the last few yellow elements. 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.

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.

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Connections need to be defined between the two parts.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 X 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.

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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.

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