Femap Express in Solid Edge
Femap Express analyzes the stress, displacement, and vibration characteristics of a part.
You can display the results on your computer, or save the results to a file. For example,
you can define pressure loading and constraint parameters to determine the stress
characteristics of the part.
Some of the features of Femap Express include:
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Stress and Modal (Natural Frequency) Analysis
NASTRAN Solver
Pressure and Force Loading
Full Post-Processing Capabilities: Stress Contours, Factor of Safety, Deformation
Explode-Render-Animate, HTML Reports, and Image and Movie Capture
Workflow Overview
The steps required to perform an analysis on a part consist of:
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Defining the type of analysis (Stress or Modal) and analysis settings
Defining a material for the part
Defining the forces acting on the part (Stress analysis only)
Defining the constraints on the part
Processing the input
Displaying the results
Defining the Analysis Type and Settings
When you select the Femap Express command, the Femap Express SmartStep ribbon bar
is displayed. If no previous analysis has been performed on the model, the Select Body
Step is active.
For part documents (.PAR), if a solid body exists in the document, it is automatically
selected. If a disjoint solid body exists, a warning message is displayed.
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During this step, you can use the Analysis Type option on the ribbon bar to specify
whether you want to perform a Stress or Modal analysis:
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A stress analysis analyzes how pressure or force acts on a part.
A modal analysis analyzes the vibration characteristics of a part to determine its
natural frequencies.
You can also use the Analysis Settings dialog box to control the mesh resolution and
animation speed. You can also set these values anytime before you process the input.
Sheet Metal Parts
To perform an analysis on a part in a sheet metal document (.PSM), you must select an
existing mid-surface feature. If a mid-surface feature does not exist, you can use the MidSurface command in the Sheet Metal environment to construct a mid-surface feature.
You can then use the Femap Express command to analyze the mid-surface feature.
Defining the Part Material
If you have already defined a material for the part using the Material Table, the existing
material is listed in the Select Material box on the ribbon bar. You can also use the
Material button to display the Material Table to change the material or edit its properties.
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Only isotropic materials are supported for analysis. Isotropic materials include most of
the metal and plastic materials in the material table. Anisotropic materials, such as wood,
cannot be analyzed. Anisotropic materials are automatically excluded from the materials
list.
Defining the Forces Acting on the Part
If you are performing a stress analysis, the Load Definition dialog box allows you to add,
edit, and delete loads on the part. The dialog box steps you through the load definition
process:
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Defining the load name, type, and value
The faces which carry the load
The load direction
You can apply one or more loads to the part. The loads can be force or pressure loads,
using a load value and working unit you define. After you define the load name, type, and
value, you can select the faces and direction to apply the load. These would typically be
the faces which carry the load in the physical assembly (A).
When applying a pressure load, a default load direction is selected (A). You can use the
Flip Direction option on the dialog box to control the load direction (B).
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After you have defined the load parameters, you can click the Next button to define
another load. When you are finished defining the loads, click the Finish button to proceed
to the Constraints Step.
Defining the Part Constraints
The Constraints Step allows you to select part faces which are constrained from moving
during the analysis. These would typically be faces which are bolted or fastened to other
components in the physical assembly, such as faces (A) and (B). Faces that were selected
during the Select Load Step cannot be used as constraint faces.
Processing the Input
After you finish defining the constraints, the analysis process starts automatically. A
dialog box is displayed while the input is processed. The length of time required for
processing depends on the complexity of the model. When the processing is complete,
the graphic window updates to display the results.
The shape of the model changes to simulate the deformation characteristics of the model
under the loads you defined. A color contour map that illustrates the stress characteristics
of the model is also displayed.
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Displaying the Results
Along with a graphical representation of how the model reacts to the analysis parameters,
the part name, material name, type of analysis, display format, and date are also displayed
in the graphics window.
You can use the output options on the ribbon bar to change the display format, control
whether contours and deformation are displayed in the graphic window, and to play back
an animation of the model reacting to the parameters you defined. You can also use the
output options to create an HTML report and save an image or movie to a file type you
define.
To see a sample animation, right-click the image below, then click Play on the shortcut
menu.
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