2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

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Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodesk
Inventor
Design&CADAutodeskInventor
meshfeasolutiontipsntricksconvergencerefinement
ByIoannisSkarlatakisonJune19th,2013Nocomments
ThistutorialwasoriginallycreatedasananswertothisQuestion:
https://grabcad.com/questions/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisin
autodeskinventor

FEAisnotasimplemathematicaloperation.

Insteaditisacomputerbasediterativenumericaltechniquealongwithinevitablediscretizationerrors,asa
functionofelements.

Thereforetheseerrorscanbereducedby...
specifyingmoreelements(Hrefinement)
or
employingahigherorderofpolynomialateachiteration(Prefinement).

Effectivelymorecomputationalpowerisrequiredtosolvecomplexshapedgeometrieswithhighdensemesh
(Elements).

Buthowdenseshouldbemymeshtogetappropriateresultswithoutwastinghoursonsimulation???

ThisistheGoldenQuestion!

...Thereisacriterionforthat,calledConvergedsolution...

Inplainwordsthemeshdoesnotneedanyfurtherrefinement(densermesh)aslongasthesolutionis
"Converged".

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 1/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

Thesolutionisassumedtobe"Converged"whentheresultsofthepolynomialeq.doesnotchangeaccording
toaprespecifiedtolerancee.g.10%GoodResults,0.1%GreatResults.

So,letmesharesomeinformationhowtomanipulatethemeshforamodelalongwiththreeexamples.

Asaconclusionwewillenhanceyourconfidenceregardingtheresultsyouget,whetherarerelatively
accurateornot(LowPercentageofDiscretizationErrors)withoutwastinghoursonsimulation!!!

Don'tForgetthesimulationresultsarenothingwithoutanyexperimentalresultstocomparewith.

1.Step1

Assumingthatyouappliedtheconstraintsandtheloadingaccordingtoyourproblemandyouare1
stepbeforehittheRunbuttonofthesimulation!!!

Namelytherearetwowaystofollowforaconvergedsolution

TheManualrefinement&TheAutomaticrefinement.

Wewillfirstexplainthefeaturesofeachdialoguedepictedbelowandthenwewillseehowtheyaffect
oursolution.

2.Step2

Manualrefinement...

TheAverageElementSize.
ThisParametercannothaveavaluegreaterthan>1.
AnExamplecangiveyouanideaofhowyoucancalculatethelengthofit.
Sizeofmeshelement=Longestparameter(dimension)ofobject*AverageElementSize.
DependsonhowsimpleorcomplexbutmostimportanthowBIGisyourmodelIwouldsuggestan
Initialvalueofof0.4.
Thisisageneralrulethatwillkeepyoursimulationtorunforashorttimewhileyouwillcapturesome
ofthemostcriticalareasofinterest.

MinimumElementSize.
ThisparameterensuresthatNOelementbelowthatlengthwillappearinourmodel
Isrecommendedtobearound0.2

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 2/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

GradingFactor.
Produceamoreuniformmesharoundcurvesthatisalwaysdesirableforthesmoothoperationofthe
numericaltechnique.
Itisrecommendedtobearound1.5dependsonthetransitionofthemesh

MaximumTurnAngle.
Itistruethatasmallervaluewillconcludetoadensermesh.
Itisrecommendedforthisparametertobebetween30&60deg.

CurvedMeshElement.
Ensuresthatcurvedelementswillbeusedtorepresentamoreaccuratesolutionthanstraightelements
aroundcircularfeatures.

Sofaryousawhowyoucanmanipulatethemeshofyourmodel...asdepictedbelow!

3.Step3

Automaticrefinement...

MaximumNumberofhRefinements
Thisparameterspecifiesthenumberofelementrefinementsbasedaroundmaximumstresses.
Keepthatbelow5asmayresultinstresssingularities.

StopCriteria(%)
Thisisthetolerancethatyouallowbetweenthetwosolutionsinordertoassumedconverged.
(Rememberthewespeakaboutaniterativenumericalmodel)
Itisobviousthatalower%willneedmoreiterationandconsequentlymoretime.
Asmentionedbefore...10%GoodResults,2%GreatResults(ForInventor).

hRefinementThreshold(0to1)
Thisvalueissetto0.75thatmeans25%ofelementsaroundpeakstressregionsarelikelytoberefined
Therefore,smallervalueleadsmoreelementsaroundpeakstressregionstogetrefined.

ResultstoConverge
Inthissectionyoucanspecifywhichresultsdoyouwanttoconverge...Apparentlyisrelatedtothe
StopCriteria(%)
Trickychoicesolet'sstickwiththeVonMisesfornowP

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 3/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

GeometrySelections
Usethissectionmainlytoavoidstresssingularities
Thestresssingularitiesareinfinitestressesduetoverysmallareaalmost=0
Generallyisveryimportant&youshouldbeabletorecognizetheseGooglewillhelpP

ThedefaultConvergenceSettingsdialogueisdepictedbelowthe"MaximumNumberofh
Refinement"issetto0.

4.Step4

Let'sseenowwhatexactlyishappeningonthebackgroundwhenyouruntheanalysisalongwiththe
convergedresultsandtheStopCriteria%

TheHPConvergenceProcessontheleftasdepictedbelowisthealgorithmthatsolvesyouranalysis.
Forthefirstthreeiterationsthealgorithmistryingtoreducetheerrorsbyemployingahigher
polynomialorder.(thereisnospecifiedtolerancesoyouhavetocheckyouconvergencerateeverytime
fordesirableresults)
Additionallyforthesethreeiterationsnorefinementtakeplacethereforeanypotentialrefinementfor
moreaccurateresultshastobedonemanuallybychangeparametersfromthe"MeshSettings"
(manualrefinementofmodel).

AsitcanbeseenfromtheConvergenceplot,bysettingthe"MaximumNumberofhRefinement"to4
(Keepitbelow5issuggested),another4solutionstepsoccur.Ifyouassignallthesesolutionstepsto
thealgorithmontheleftyoucanseehowmanyrefinementstookplaceautomatically.

Itisobviousthatyoursolutionnowisfluctuatinginaverysmallinterval(0.044%).Thereforeyoucan
beconfidentthattheMathematicalmodelgaveyouthebestresultthatcouldcompute.

Whileonthemanualrefinementyouneedtodothefollowing
1.RunanalysiswithAverageElementSizeof0.1
2.RerunanalysiswithAverageElementSizeof0.05
3.RerunanalysiswithAverageElementSize0.025
Ifthedifferencebetweenthefirstandlastanalysesiswithin10%,youcanassumethatyour
resultshaveconverged.
(ThislastoneisCopyPastefromthereferencebook)

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 4/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

5.Step5

Example1

Iruntheanalysiswiththeinitialconditionofthemeshsettings(TooRoughMesh)&norefinement.
Ihavegota~8.5%Convergenceratethatisnotsobad.
HoweverarefinementisalwaysagoodwaytodoublecheckandreduceyourConvergencerateeven
more.
Whatyouneedtocheckis...
ThenumberoftheElements,3570
MaxVM=110.5MPa

6.Step6

Example2

Ireruntheanalysiswithacoupleofchangesinthemeshsettingstogetamoreuniformnotverydense
meshthatwillallowmyconvergenceratetodropevenmore...
Whatyouneedtocheckis...

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 5/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

Ihavegota~8.064%Notbigchange.
TheincrementoftheElements,5692
TheAv.ElementSizeof0.05refinement,
Andthemaxstressisnowonadifferentpoint.Oops!
ThisisbecauseoftheGradingfactorreduced(1.5)andabettercalculationaroundthecircumference
obtained.
MaxVM=110.5MPa
PreviouspointwithMaxVMhasnow~88MPa

7.Step7

Example3

IreruntheanalysisforthirdtimewhileIamtryingtobringmyConvergencerateloweralongwitha
nicemesh.Istarttheautomaticrefinementsbysettingthisto2.
Whatyouneedtocheckis...
TheincrementoftheElements,8680
MaxTurnAngleis50deg
MaxVM=113.2MPa

https://grabcad.com/tutorials/tutorialhowtoobtainrelativeaccurateresultsfromstressanalysisinautodeskinventor 6/8
2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

8.Step8

Example4

IreruntheanalysisbutIsettheautomaticrefinementto3andnextto4.
Whatyouneedtocheckis...
ConvergenceRate0.084%(inamorecomplexmodelorassemblyapercentageofbelow10%is
accurateenough).
TheincrementoftheElements,13798
ThestopCriteriaissetto0.1%ToomuchconfidenceP
MaxVM=113.3MPa

9.Step9

ConclusionDiscussion

InconclusiontheworkflowofFEAitissimple.Whatitisnotsimpleistogetvalidresults.Infact
eventheseresultsof113.3MPaisjustthebestsolutionthatyoucangetfromthecomputationofthe
numericalmodel.Thevalidationofresultsneedsrealexperimentsonlythenyouwillbe100%sureof
whatishappening&howfarisyoursolutionfromthesimulation.

LetmeknowifthistutorialenhancedyourconfidenceagainsttoFEA.Atleastnowyouknowthatthe
meshisnotasimpleclickandyoucaneasilymistakeninyourPREDICTIONS/RESULTS.

Ihopeyouwillenjoyit.

Regards

F.E.A.Rules...Onlywhenyouknowwhattoexpect!!!

P.S.ThesolutionsaboverepresentLinearproblem...YieldStrengthetc.

Nocomments
Pleaselogintoaddcomments.

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2017/3/15 Tutorial:HowToObtainRelativeAccurateResultsFromStressAnalysisinAutodeskInventorGrabCAD

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