SOLIDWORKS Video Tech Tips

Want to save time when using SOLIDWORKS Simulation? In this week’s Video Tech Tip, we show you how to duplicate a study and copy features from one study to another. This makes it easy to run several iterations of a simulation. Because, let’s face it, we never run just one simulation. It’s a process, made up of many iterations of a study. Here’s how to save time and do this efficiently.

With SOLIDWORKS Motion you can animate your assemblies based on real physics. This next level realism takes your models from just an animation to a real movement, exactly like you’d see in the real world. That’s the big difference between animation and motion in SOLIDWORKS. In this Video Tech Tip, we focus on SOLIDWORKS Motion and how to use solid body contacts, which is the feature that makes it all possible.

How many times have you been working in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation and gotten a pop-up message about your model not being watertight? This week's Video Tech Tip shows you how to overcome this pop-up error in SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation by teaching you how to deal with a non-watertight volume.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation has revolutionized the design process by enabling designers to perform analysis on their models–no engineering degree required! Simulation is easy to understand because the complexities of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are disguised by the familiar and intuitive SOLIDWORKS user interface. SOLIDWORKS Simulation is written in the language of 3D CAD. 

As designers leverage the power of simulation in their workflow, they run multiple "what if" scenarios on their models. This offers them insight into their designs never before possible because a quick change can be made, and the simulation rerun instantly gives a designer feedback on their model. Finally, providing the answer to the looming question every designer is compelled to ask, “Was that change helpful to my design?”

As you run all these “what if" scenarios you’ll need to know a few tips and tricks to help make this process as easy as possible. In this Video Tech Tip, we share with you the quickest way to probe your model to get results at a specific location. 

SOLIDWORKS Simulation is an incredibly powerful tool that enables you to run any "what if" scenario on your design way before you begin prototyping. These virtual simulation capabilities allow you to validate your design before it’s built—reducing the time it takes to constructing something. And it’s easy. In this video tech tip, we demonstrate how the "Find Unconstrained Body” feature to SOLIDWORKS Simulation is used.

Having an optimized design is one of the most important things to nearly every SOLIDWORKS designer. Typically, this means the most lightweight design that still gets the job done. In this Video Tech Tip, we walk through the process of how to use Topology Optimization to come up with the most optimal shape. 

A common question in simulation is how to represent radiation, especially when it comes to electronic devices. In this Video Tech Tip, we tackle that question by demonstrating a simple radiation study.

When running a SOLIDWORKS Simulation on particularly complex geometries, it can be especially useful to use a technique called Submodeling. Using Submodeling is like having a magnifying glass to zoom in on small areas of stress, solve them independently, and get highly accurate results.

Did you know in a static study you can simulate the effects of fluid such as hydrostatic pressure without ever having to simulate the fluid itself? Watch the Video Tech Tip for a full explanation on how this is done.