SolidWorks Finite Element Analysis on
A Stepped Shaft Tutorial
This brief guide will cover how to analyze a stepped shaft subjected to multiple loading
conditions using the Finite Element Method in SolidWorks
Part 1: Start A New Study
1. Open SolidWorks
2. Open your part file (File  Open)
3. Go to Office Products  SolidWorks Simulation
4. A new tab called “Simulation” should appear. Go to Simulation  Study Advisor 
New Study
5. From the opened sidebar menu, select “Static” as the study type and click the green
check mark. This will create a new study tab located at the bottom of the SolidWorks
window.
Part 2: Editing the Material Properties
1. Right click your part name listed in the FeatureManager Tree Area on the left and
click “Apply/Edit Material”
2. Select “AISI 1045 Steel, Cold Drawn” as the material from the left panel and select
“English (IPS)” as your units
3. Click “Apply” to save your material properties
Part 3: Adding Fixtures to your Part
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, right click “Fixtures” and
select “Fixed Geometry”
2. Rotate the part until you can see the square back of the stepped shaft
3. Click on the back surface of the stepped shaft to highlight it as a fixture
4. Once you have selected the back surface of the shaft, click the green check mark to
complete adding the fixture
Part 4: Applying External Load Conditions
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, right click “External Loads”
and select “Force”

2. Select the front circular face of the shaft. (A default normal force will be applied)
3. To change the load from the normal direction to a bending direction, click the
button in the left “Force/Torque” menu
4. Then proceed to indicate a new line of action by selecting an edge from the
rectangular base that is parallel to your desired new load direction
5. Under “Units,” select
6. Under “Force,” indicate a force value in pounds (there is also an option to reverse
the force direction, if necessary)
7. Click the green check mark to save changes
Part 5: Creating a Mesh to Analyze
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, right click “Mesh” and
select “Create Mesh”

2. Under the Mesh menu on the left, you can adjust the density of the mesh using a
slider. Coarse meshes are less accurate but faster to analyze, while fine meshes are
more accurate but take longer to analyze. Select a mesh density that somewhere in
the middle between Coarse and Fine (preferably closer to the fine end)
3. Click the green arrow to save and apply your mesh to the shaft
(Fine)
(Coarse)
Part 6: Running a Finite Element Analysis
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, right click
and
select
. Depending on how coarse/fine you made your mesh, this
process may take a couple of minutes to complete
2. Once completed, results of the analysis should appear under
Study
FeatureManager
Tree
on
the
left.
Go
to
in the Static
,
right
click
and select
3. Under the Stress Plot menu on the left, go to “Display” and make sure
is selected
4. Then go to “Advanced Options” under the Stress Plot menu and make sure the
selected units are ksi (This may be also listed under “Display”)
5. Click the green check mark to save your changes
6. If the heat map of the analysis doesn’t appear, go back to
and select “Show”
, right click
Part 7: Creating a Torsional Load
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, go to
click
load.
and select
2. Then right click
, right
. This temporarily removes the bending
and select
3. Select the round, circumferential face of the smallest step of the shaft for the blue
box
.
4. Select this same face for the pink box
5. Select
for units
6. Define a value for the applied torque (in lbf-in)
7. Click the green check mark to save and apply the load configuration
Part 8: Running a New Finite Element Analysis
1. Under the Static Study FeatureManager Tree on the left, right click
and
select
. Depending on how coarse/fine you made your mesh, this
process may take a couple of minutes to complete
2. Once completed, results of the analysis should appear under
Study
FeatureManager
Tree
on
the
left.
Go
to
in the Static
,
right
click
and select
3. Under the Stress Plot menu on the left, go to “Display” and make sure
is selected
4. Then go to “Advanced Options” under the Stress Plot menu and make sure the
selected units are ksi (This may be also listed under “Display”)
5. Click the green check mark to save your changes
6. If the heat map of the analysis doesn’t appear, go back to
and select “Show”
, right click