Dear Forum,
I would like to do a simulation of a thin sheetmetal “skin”. So I created a very simple flat rectangular surface in SolidWorks and then saved as a STEP file. I am trying to import that STEP file into PrePoMax, and PrePoMax has issues with this every time I have tried importing the surface. Ultimately I would like to do a plane stress or plane strain simulation of this part.
What am I missing?
TIA,
–Neal
What issues ? Are there any error messages ? Note that the surface has to lie on the XY plane for plane stress/strain analysis and you have to select the right type of the model.
Besides the fact that all points must have the z coordinate equal to 0, as FEAnalyst suggested for 2D analysis, the normal of the surface must be oriented in the positive z direction. The .step file should also only contain shell bodies.
Right, that’s also crucial. Fortunately, it can be easily corrected in PrePoMax using Geometry —> CAD Part —> Flip Face Normal. It’s often neccesary unless you ensure a proper face orientation in CAD software prior to export.
Thank you all for the replies. My structure was NOT in the XY plane. I actually have 2 intersecting surfaces…somewhat like an L-Bracket. I suppose that a plane stress or plane strain analysis will not work for this case because one of the surfaces will be out of plane.
Thank You,
–Neal
Yes, then you should use shell elements if the part is thin-walled.