Sheet Metal Simulation Solidworks

[Adah Orhenkowski]

The3DEXPERIENCE WORKS Simulation portfolio includes the ability to simulate the metal-forming process. The products can be leveraged on SOLIDWORKS models when connected to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Forming processes may include stamping, punch stretching, forging, drawing, and more. Truth be told, simulating forming processes can be a difficult task. Usually because they involve geometric, material, and contact nonlinearities.

However, simulation of forming processes offer advantages that outweigh the difficulties. Forming simulations can reduce both the cost and length of a product development cycle by identifying potential problems prior to tooling or fabrication.

Simulation can also improve the quality of the part being manufactured through testing to ensure that the manufacturing processes appropriately account for spring back, stretching of the parts, and thickness reduction.

Forming simulation tools on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform recreate manufacturing processes virtually to check for potential problems such as thinning, wrinkling, or cracking. This enables you to adapt on the fly during development, which often eliminates the need for multiple physical prototypes. Plus, you can experiment with different kinds of materials to see how they will behave in the real world (virtually) and then decide which material works best for your application based on actual performance. Also, you can test process parameters such as manufacturing speeds or temperature levels.

Metal forming simulations are numerically challenging because you will often see large deformations, plasticity, or complex contact situations (with large sliding interactions and friction) which makes for highly nonlinear simulation studies.

The 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS portfolio of simulation solutions provides additional tools for your FEA tool belt. When you encounter simulations in SOLIDWORKS that demand a deeper level of nonlinear studies, you can simply reach for another tool, in this case, the explicit solver within 3DEXPERIENCE to validate forming processes that will increase the efficiency and speed of your product development process.

Click here to watch the forming simulation technical webinar that will walk you through the part development process and demonstrate how forming simulation recreates the manufacturing process virtually. If you would like more information about simulation for metal forming processes, please contact your local reseller.

The use of sheet metal bodies in SOLIDWORKS Simulation provides a streamlined study setup workflow. The nature of sheet metal geometry leads to the utilization of shell elements to represent their shape in a simulation study.

The use of solid elements is prohibitive due to the large aspect ratio difference between the span and thickness of sheet metal bodies. Their usage would lead to very large mesh size and corresponding computational effort. Shell elements allow for the creation of a mesh with high surface fidelity while limiting the required system resources needed for the calculation. This document will cover how sheet metal bodies can be used to simplify the creation of linear static analysis.

A planar surface is selected in the convert to sheet feature to represent the fixed surface for the flat pattern. Model edges can be selected to specify where the bends will take place. The software will automatically rip appropriate edges so that the body can be flattened properly. A sketch can also be used to create a rip across a solid surface so that it can be unfolded.

During the creation of a linear static analysis, sheet metal bodies are automatically converted into shell entities. A surface body is created at the mid-plane of each sheet metal body for utilization in the shell definition and the offset condition is set to middle surface. The shell thickness is tied to the thickness defined for the sheet metal body and cannot be manually changed. Changing the thickness of the sheet metal body at the part modeling level will update the shell definition. This process ensures that the resulting shell mesh will always match the underlying solid geometry during the calculation.

The global no-penetration contact condition does not apply to contact regions involving sheet metal bodies meshed with shell elements. Local no penetration contact sets need to be created and will work for the following scenarios:

Using sheet metal bodies simplifies the workflow of setting up boundary conditions since fixtures and loads can be applied to any edge or surface on a sheet metal body. A fixture or load that is applied to the exterior surface of a sheet metal body is projected onto the mid-surface of the shell mesh created for the sheet metal body. A boundary condition applied to the thickness surface of a sheet metal body is projected onto the edge of the mid-surface shell mesh.

Meshing sheet metal bodies with shell elements greatly reduces the overall size of the mesh. Shell elements only mesh the exterior surfaces of sheet metal geometry and take into account the thickness during the calculation. The number of elements and nodes in the mathematical model is dramatically reduced by not having to mesh the volume of a sheet metal body. This limits the number of degrees of freedom in the calculation resulting in greater computational efficiency.

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SolidWorks sheet metal modeling remains the top choice for design engineers and fabricators for its features and functionalities. Here are the top five tips you can use to efficiently model sheet metal parts in SolidWorks.

Sheet metal fabrication needs a constant check to ensure that the manufacturing is as per the actual design briefs shared. Fabrication processes like bending, welding, and punching, if carried out without proper design intent understanding, increases scrap and rework.

To enhance overall fabrication efficiency, designers and fabricators have adopted 3D sheet metal modeling as a primary platform for design communication. 3D CAD tools address design complexity by breaking down the assembly into part drawings and sub-assemblies. Modern 3D parametric CAD platforms further optimize the design concepts and create production-ready designs.

SolidWorks offers an array of specialized features to develop complex sheet metal assemblies. For example, the sheet metal module in SolidWorks offers tricks, shortcuts, and automatic commands to create specific sheet metal features.

Because of these benefits and many others, SolidWorks has become the most popular CAD design and drafting platform across the industry. Hence, we bring you some tips to model sheet metal parts in SolidWorks.

As a 3D CAD modeler, you are free to sketch anything in the CAD environment. However, an understanding of optimizing raw materials usage during manufacturing takes you to the next level. It gives you the power to build 3D CAD models that accurately fit production pipelines and provide positive outcomes.

When you design a metal component made from thin plates or sheets, assign it as sheet metal part in SolidWorks. The platform will then start the specialized module for sheet metal by fetching the suitable properties. So when a designer initiates drafting, SolidWorks automatically adds special instructions for sheet metal product design.

The weldments module allows creating structures with only a few sketches in 2D or 3D. The final models are then generated by customizing pre-loaded shapes. By default, it automatically creates two configurations of machined parts and welding parts.

With the use of the design table, one can have many configurations of structural channels and tubes. These can then be stored in the CAD library as standard product models for reuse. And the users can save hundreds of such standardized configurations using the design table. They can create structural sheet metal part families, along with specifications regarding shapes, sizes, thicknesses and materials.

SolidWorks drafting for sheet metal product design guides the user throughout the assembly development and spares design and/or modeling reworks. It also helps capture all the DFMA requirements into your model accurately via an intuitive and flexible sheet modeling CAD environment. It can further be integrated with external databases, such as Excel spreadsheets, to automate CAD models.

The CAD designer or the engineer might not have the opportunity to start with the sheet metal module every time. In this scenario, one can start with the free form concepts of 3D solid models and surface creation. These models can then be converted into sheet metal models using the shell function omt-3f SolidWorks with relevant thickness.

For example, a model of a hopper of an SPMs, or a duct of an HVAC system, goes through multiple steps when using the sheet metal module. But if it is done using a standard 3D CAD environment and then converted, the steps required for modeling are reduced and simplified.

If no gauge table is used, the thickness of the material and bend radius can be entered in the sheet metal parameters. Here the user can also choose to reverse the direction, which determines on which side of the sketch the material is applied. The SolidWorks user interface also shows arrows to guide the users.

In the bend allowance section, one can select how SolidWorks finds the neutral axis to auto-calculate flat patterns. By choosing the K-Factor, bend allowance, or bend deduction from the pull-down menu, specific values can be entered.

Use of SolidWorks parametric modeling for large sheet metal assembly saves a lot of time while modifying the design intent. Designers can use a top-down approach for assembly creation to save time on updating designs while changing any parameters of a part or parts in sheet metal assembly. Such detailed drawings help address multiple concerns of sheet metal fabricators including communicating design essence.

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