SOLIDWORKS Simulation

Premium: Dynamics
SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Premium: Dynamics

Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation

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Waltham, Massachusetts 02451 USA
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 Contents

Introduction
About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Course Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Using this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Laboratory Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
About the Training Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Windows 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
User Interface Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Conventions Used in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Use of Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
More SOLIDWORKS Training Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Local User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What is SOLIDWORKS Simulation?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

i
Contents SOLIDWORKS Simulation

Lesson 1:
Vibration of a Pipe
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Static Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Frequency Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Dynamic Analysis(Slow Force) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Linear Dynamic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Dynamic Analysis (Fast Force) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Exercise 1: Vibration of Cantilever Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Exercise 2: Shock Load of PCB Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lesson 2:
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Mass Participation Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Cumulative Mass Participation Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Viscous Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Time Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Model with Remote Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Remote Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Exercise 3: Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Maximum Number of Time Increments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Lesson 3:
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Harmonic Analysis Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Single DOF Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Harmonic Study Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Exercise 4: Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Contents

Lesson 4:
Response Spectrum Analysis
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Response Spectrum Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Response Spectrum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Response Spectrum Analysis Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Response Spectrum Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Mode Combination Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Lesson 5:
Random Vibration Analysis According to MIL-STD-810G
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Distributed Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Random Vibration Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Power Spectral Density Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Overall Level of Acceleration PSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Decibels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Random Study Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Advanced Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
RMS Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
PSD Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1s, 2s, 3s, … Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Exercise 5: Random Vibration Analysis of
an Electronics Enclosure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Exercise 6: Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Exercise 7: Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor . . . . . . . 145
Lesson 6:
Random Vibration Fatigue
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Random Vibration Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Material Properties, S-N Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Random Vibration Fatigue Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Exercise 8: Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam . . . . . 159

iii
Contents SOLIDWORKS Simulation

Lesson 7:
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Project Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Linear Dynamic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Linear vs. Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Rayleigh Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Time Integration Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Iterative Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

iv
Introduction

1
Introduction SOLIDWORKS Simulation

About This The goal of this course is to teach you how to use the SOLIDWORKS
Course Simulation software to help you analyze linear and nonlinear dynamic
structural behavior of your SOLIDWORKS part and assembly models.
The focus of this course is on the advanced skills and concepts central
to the successful use of SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium:
Dynamics modulus. You should view the training course manual as a
supplement to, and not a replacement for, the system documentation
and on-line help. Once you have mastered your basic skills and
developed a good foundation in advanced skills, you can refer to the
on-line help for information on less frequently used command options.
Prerequisites Students attending this course are expected to have the following:
 Mechanical design experience.
 Experience with the Windows™ operating system.
 Completed the on-line SOLIDWORKS tutorials that are available
under Help. You can access the on-line tutorials by clicking Help,
Online Tutorial.
 Basic knowledge of SOLIDWORKS Simulation software discussed
and practiced during the basic training courses.
 Knowledge of basic concepts in Finite Element Analysis discussed
during the basic SOLIDWORKS Simulation training courses.
 Completed the on-line SOLIDWORKS Simulation tutorials (except
those relating to nonlinear analysis) that are available under Help.
You can access the on-line tutorials by clicking Help,
Online Tutorial.
Course Design This course is designed around a process- or task-based approach to
Philosophy training. Rather than focusing on individual features and functions, a
process-based training course emphasizes processes and procedures
you should follow to complete a particular task. By utilizing case
studies to illustrate these processes, you learn the necessary commands,
options and menus in the context of completing a design task.
Course Length The minimum recommended length of this course is two days.
Using this Book This training manual is intended to be used in a classroom environment
under the guidance of an experienced SOLIDWORKS Simulation
instructor. It is not intended to be a self-paced tutorial. The examples
and case studies are designed to be demonstrated “live” by the
instructor.
Please note, there may be slight differences in results in certain lessons
due to service pack upgrades, etc.
Laboratory Laboratory exercises give you the opportunity to apply and practice the
Exercises material covered during the lecture/demonstration portion of the
course.

2
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Introduction

About the A complete set of the various files used throughout this course can be
Training Files downloaded from the SOLIDWORKS website,
www.SOLIDWORKS.com. Click on the link for Support, then
Training, then Training Files, then SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Training Files. Select the link for the desired file set. There may be
more than one version of each file set available.
Direct URL:
www.SOLIDWORKS.com/trainingfilessimulation
The files are supplied in signed, self-extracting executable packages.
The files are organized by lesson number. The Case Study folder
within each lesson contains the files your instructor uses while
presenting the lessons. The Exercises folder contains any files that are
required for doing the laboratory exercises.
Windows 7 The screen shots in this manual were made using the SOLIDWORKS
software running a mixture of Windows® 7 and Windows 10. You may
notice slight differences in the appearance of the menus and windows.
These differences do not affect the performance of the software.
User Interface Throughout the development of the software, there have been some
Appearance cosmetic User Interface changes, intended to improve visibility, that do
not affect the function of the software. As a policy, dialog images in the
manuals which exhibit no functional change from the previous version
are not replaced. As such, you may see a mixture of current and “old”
UI dialogs and color schemes.
Conventions Used This manual uses the following typographic conventions:
in this Book
Convention Meaning
Bold Sans Serif SOLIDWORKS Simulation commands and
options appear in this style. For example,
External Loads Advisor > Force means
click the External Loads Advisor icon on the
Simulation tab of the CommandManager.
Typewriter Feature names and file names appear in this
style. For example, Restraint-1.
Double lines precede and follow sections of
17 Do this step the procedures. This provides separation
between the steps of the procedure and large
blocks of explanatory text. The steps
themselves are numbered in sans serif bold.

3
Introduction SOLIDWORKS Simulation

Use of Color The SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS Simulation user interface

make extensive use of color to highlight selected geometry and to
provide you with visual feedback. This greatly increases the
intuitiveness and ease of use of the SOLIDWORKS Simulation
software. To take maximum advantage of this, the training manuals are
printed in full color.
Also, in many cases, we have Radius 50mm
used additional color in the
illustrations to communicate
concepts, identify features,
and otherwise convey
important information.
For example, we might show
the fillet areas of a part in a Radius 5mm
different color, to highlight All Around Radius 6mm, 4 Places
areas for mesh control, even
though by default, the SOLIDWORKS Simulation software would not
display the results in that way. Please note, there may be slight
differences in results in certain lessons due to service pack upgrades,
etc.
More MySolidWorks.com enables you to be more productive by connecting
SOLIDWORKS you with relevant SOLIDWORKS content and services - anytime,
Training anywhere, on any device.
Resources Plus, with MySolidWorks Training you can enhance your
SOLIDWORKS skills on your own schedule, at your own pace.
Just go to My.SolidWorks.com/training.
Local User Groups Discover the benefits of the SOLIDWORKS User Group Network
(SWUGN). Attend local meetings to hear technical presentations on
SOLIDWORKS and related engineering topics, learn about additional
SOLIDWORKS products, and network with other users. Groups are
led by SOLIDWORKS users just like you. Check out SWUGN.org for
more information, including how to find a group in your area.

4
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Introduction

What is SOLIDWORKS Simulation is a design analysis tool based on a

SOLIDWORKS numerical technique called Finite Element Analysis or FEA.
Simulation? SOLIDWORKS Simulation belongs to the family of engineering
analysis software products developed by SRAC, now part of
SOLIDWORKS Corporation. Established in 1982, SRAC pioneered
the implementation of FEA into desktop computing. In 1995, SRAC
entered the emerging mainstream FEA software market by partnering
with SOLIDWORKS Corporation and creating COSMOSWorks
software, one of the first SOLIDWORKS Gold Products.
COSMOSWorks soon became the top-selling, add-in analysis software
for SOLIDWORKS Corporation. The commercial success of
COSMOSWorks integrated with SOLIDWORKS CAD software
resulted in the acquisition of SRAC in 2001 by Dassault Systèmes, the
parent company of SOLIDWORKS Corporation. In 2003, SRAC
merged with SOLIDWORKS Corporation. COSMOSWorks was
renamed in 2009 to SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
SOLIDWORKS is a parametric, solid, feature-based CAD system. As
opposed to many other CAD systems that were originally developed in
a UNIX environment and only later ported to Windows,
SOLIDWORKS has, from the very beginning, been developed
specifically for the Windows operating system. SOLIDWORKS
Simulation has also been specifically developed for the Windows
operating system. Full integration between SOLIDWORKS and
SOLIDWORKS Simulation is possible because both of the programs
are native Windows OS applications.
SOLIDWORKS Simulation comes in different “bundles”, or
applications, designed to best suit the needs of different users. With the
exception of SOLIDWORKS SimulationXpress, which is an integral
part of SOLIDWORKS, all SOLIDWORKS Simulation bundles are
add-ins. A brief description of the capabilities of different bundles is as
follows:
 SOLIDWORKS SimulationXpress
The static analysis of parts with simple types of loads and supports.
 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
The static analysis of parts and assemblies.
 SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional
The static, thermal, buckling, frequency, drop test, optimization and
fatigue analysis of parts and assemblies.
 SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium
All capabilities of SOLIDWORKS Simulation Professional plus
nonlinear and dynamic analyses.

5
Introduction SOLIDWORKS Simulation

6
 Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Understand the difference between static and dynamic solutions,
and when to choose each type of study.
 Define and complete a basic dynamic transient analysis.
 Understand the basics of the modal analysis method.

7
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

Problem In this lesson, we will study the dynamic

Description response of a pipe subjected to a 450 N (101 lb)
transient load. Before performing the dynamic
analysis, we will begin with a static study to
validate that the static stresses are below the
yield strength of the material. We will then
consider different cases in which the load is
applied gradually. We will show that if the load
is applied sufficiently slowly, the results from
the static study provides a good indication of the
behavior of the model. However, if the load is
applied abruptly then the results from the static
study can be very different.

Static Analysis In the first part of this lesson, the problem will be solved using linear
static analysis assuming that the force is applied very slowly and all
inertial and damping effects can be neglected.

1 Open a part file.

Open Pipe from the Lesson01\Case Study folder.
Review the model and notice the small, orange-colored, circular
surface on the vertical part of the model. This surface was created in
order to apply a lateral load at this location.
2 Define static study.
Create a Static study named Static.
3 Exclude solid bodies.
In the Parts folder, Exclude from Analysis
the three solid bodies.
4 Define shells.
Edit Definition of the five surfaces. Specify
Thick shell and enter 4mm for the Shell
thickness.
The material for the shells will be the same as
that in the SOLIDWORKS model. Verify that
Plain Carbon Steel is applied and review the
material properties.

8
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

5 Define force.
Define a Force of 450 N (101
lb) on the brown colored face
of the pipe using the Right
plane for orientation.

6 Restraints.
Apply Fixed Geometry fixture to the outer edge of the
bottom of the pipe.

The setup of the Static study is now complete. Verify that the force is
applied on the face in the x-direction and that all the features in the
study are set up correctly.
7 Mesh.
Create High quality mesh with the default settings. Use
Standard mesh.
8 Run study.

9
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

9 Stress results.
Plot the von Mises stress in the model.

Top Bottom

Notice that the maximum stress in the model is much smaller than the
yield strength of plain carbon steel.
10 Displacement results.
Plot the resultant displacement to validate that the displacements are
smaller compared to the dimensions of the model.

The maximum displacement at the tip of the pipe is 1.835 mm (0.072

in).

10
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

Frequency In general, it is strongly recommended to run a frequency analysis prior

Analysis to attempting the dynamic solution. Natural frequencies and modes of
vibration are important structural characteristics. They provide some
insight into how a structure prefers to oscillate and whether the load
may excite some important modes.
As will be shown later in this lesson, linear dynamic analysis is solved
using a method called modal analysis. Because this method requires
structural natural frequencies and modes, frequency analysis always
precedes the actual linear dynamic analysis.

11 Perform frequency analysis.

Create a Frequency study. Drag and drop the shell definitions,
Fixtures and Mesh from the previous study.
Run the study to obtain the first five natural frequencies of the model.

Note that the largest time period of the natural frequency is about
0.04 seconds (or 40 milliseconds).
Plot the deformation corresponding to these frequencies and compare
them to the undeformed model.

11
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

Run the animation on each of these frequency mode-shapes to

understand the deformation behavior.

Discussion Note that the displacement magnitudes do not represent the real
displacement of the oscillating structure. In frequency analysis, the
displacement magnitudes can be used to determine the displacement of
a specific location on the structure relative to another location if the
structure oscillated at the given mode.
Notice that the second and the fourth frequency mode shape show
deformation in the x-direction.
In the Static study, we had assumed that force is not changing with
time. In the following studies, we will consider various cases in which
the force is changing with different rates.
We will consider two cases of loads - in the first loading case, the load
ramps up slowly from 0 to 450 N in 0.5 seconds. In the second loading
case, the load ramps up much faster from 0 to 450 N in 0.05 seconds.

Case 2
Load (fast)
[N]
Case 1
(slow)

Time [s]

12
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

Dynamic This part of Lesson 1 will analyze the transient response of the pipe
Analysis structure on a slowly applied force load.
(Slow Force) Note that damping is a subject treated in Lesson 2 and will not be
applied in the dynamic solutions in this lesson.
Linear Dynamic The structural matrix equation of motion can be expressed as:
Analysis
[M]{ u·· } + [C]{ u·} + [K]{u} = {F(t)}
where [M], [C], and [K] represent mass, damping, and stiffness
matrices and { u··}, { u·}, {u}, and {F(t)} represent nodal accelerations,
velocities, displacements, and time dependent forces. When the finite
element model features a substantial number of degrees-of-freedom n
(unknown displacements at the nodes of the finite element mesh), the
above matrices take on significant size and the solution to this problem
may require substantial computational resources and time.
In the case of linear dynamic analysis (small displacement analysis
with linear elastic material model), the above complex problem may be
solved using an elegant method called modal analysis. Using this
method, the above complex coupled system of n equations of motion is
simplified into m independent (decoupled) equations of motion of the
following type:

x 1 +  1 x·1 +  1 x 1 = r 1  t 
·· 2

where  1 and  2 are certain constants and m represents the number of

1
the included natural modes computed using the frequency analysis. The
above equation is shown for mode 1 (notice the index 1). A solution to
these m decoupled equations is incomparably faster and far less
complex. Their combination then provides the solution {u} of the
original finite element model.
Modal analysis requires natural frequencies and modes of vibration. In
order to proceed with the linear dynamic analysis, frequency analysis
must be completed first.

13
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

12 Create a Linear Dynamic Study for slow

loading-case (Case 1).
Create a study named Slow force. Choose
Linear Dynamic as the study type and
click on Modal Time History .

13 Create shells, restraints, and mesh.

Drag and drop the shell definitions, fixture, force and mesh from the
previous study.
14 Edit force.
Under Variation with Time select Curve and
click the Edit button.

For the Curve information, enter Slow as a Name and enter the data
shown in the following table.

X Y
0 0
0.5 1
1 1

Column X denotes the time (in seconds) and column Y denotes the
multiplication factor that will be applied to the 450 N (100 lb) force
that was entered in the Force value.

14
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

Click OK for the Time Curve window and for the Force
PropertyManager.
15 Set up Properties of the study.
Right-click on the Slow force study and choose Properties. In the
Frequency Options tab, enter the Number of Frequencies as 5.

Important! It is important to note that we are using only five frequency modes to
characterize the dynamic behavior of this model. As you will learn in
the upcoming lessons, such a low number of frequencies can be
insufficient.

15
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

Click on the Dynamic Options tab and set the Start time to 0 and the
End time to 1 sec.
In order to enter a Time increment, we will use the information about
the time period of the highest frequency. Recall from the previous
frequency study that we had 5 frequencies, and the time period for the
fifth frequency was 0.003 seconds. We will choose the time increment
to be roughly about 1/10th of the smallest time-period of the frequency
mode that was used for the analysis. Hence, enter the Time increment
as 0.0003.
Note Lesson 2 will treat the computations of the time increment in greater
detail.

Click OK.
Note that the number of increments can be calculated by dividing the
total time with the time increment; in this case, we have 3334
increments (roughly equal to 1/0.0003).

16
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

16 Result Options.
Right-click on Result Options in the study
and choose Edit/Define.
For Save Results, choose the option For
specified solution steps.
In the Quantity section, under
Displacements and velocities, select
Absolute.
For Stresses and Reactions keep All
stress components.
In the Solution Steps - Set 1, enter the
following data: Start at Step No. 1, End at
Step No. 3500, and Increment every 10
steps.
Under Locations for Graphs select Tip
displacement sensor.
Click OK.
Note The number of steps entered in the End field must be equal or larger
than the actual number of time steps used in the analysis.
17 Run the study.
This run takes a few minutes to complete.
18 Review the displacement results
for slow loading case (Case 1).
Define URES: Resultant
Displacement plot for the last
saved time time-step (334). Notice
that the last step is selected by
default and the corresponding time,
0.9993 sec, is displayed.
The maximum displacement at the
end of the loading period, 1.81 mm
(0.071 in), is nearly the same as the
maximum displacement obtained
from the Static study. This is
because the loading force is applied slowly, which is one of the basic
assumptions of the linear static analysis.
Note The displacement plot can be requested for all saved time-steps.

17
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

19 Graph displacement at the tip.

Right-click the Results folder and select Graph Transient Sensors.
Keep Time for X axis and Tip displacement transient sensor for Y
axis.
Click OK.

Note Alternatively, you can probe and create a response plot of the resultant
displacement at the tip of the pipe.
We can see that once the application of the load is complete, the pipe
continues oscillating. In real life, such oscillation would vanish in time
due to the damping effects. Because the present study lacks damping,
the oscillations would continue without decay.
20 Maximum displacements of the structure.
While plot generated in the step 18 provides the displacement values at
a given time-step, the graph then shows the oscillation as function of
time for one selected location. It is, however, important to locate the
maximum values for the entire model over all saved time-steps.
Edit Definition of the displacement plot defined
in step 18. Under Plot Step click on the Plot
bounds across All Steps button .
Select the Maximum and click OK.

18
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

The maximum displacement over

all saved time steps increased
somewhat to 1.836 mm (0.72 in).
The closeness in the maximum
displacement from the last time-
step (step 18) and maximum
displacement obtained from all
saved time-steps is coincidental. In
general, maximum over all saved
time-steps can be significantly
different. Also note that the
maximum displacement over all
saved time-steps is nearly the same
as the maximum displacement obtained from the Static study. This is
because the loading force is applied slowly, and only every 10th step
from the dynamic study was saved on the disk.

Discussion Is the maximum result from the previous plot actually the maximum
displacement of the model?
What has been plotted in the previous step is the maximum
displacement of all of the saved time steps. We set the Result Options
to save only every tenth solution, therefore the actual maximum may
fall in one of the steps that was not saved. Can you think of a way that
we can obtain the maximum displacement among all of the time steps?
Other reasons the previous plot may not be the maximum is that we
may not have chosen our time step correctly. Additionally, we may not
have included enough modes in our solution to get an accurate result.
We will discuss these last two topics in the next lesson.

19
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

Dynamic The last part of Lesson 1 will analyze transient response of the pipe
Analysis structure when loaded by a quickly applied force.
(Fast Force) As in the previous dynamic analysis, no damping is applied.

21 Create new Linear Dynamic Study.

Duplicate study Slow force into a new Linear Dynamic study named
Fast force.
22 Edit force.
Edit Definition of the force time
curve, as shown in the figure
below.
Note that this force increases at a
much faster pace.

23 Run the study.

Again, this run takes a few minutes.
24 Displacement results.
Plot URES: Resultant
Displacement at the last saved
time-step. (close to 1 sec).
The maximum resultant
displacement at the last saved time-
step is 1.59 mm (0.00625 in).
However, as was shown in step 20,
the maximum displacement of the
structure during the entire
dynamics motion must be
determined from all saved time-
steps.

20
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 1
Vibration of a Pipe

25 Show plot across all time steps.

Edit Definition of the displacement
plot and request the plot showing the
bounds across all saved time-steps.
We can see that the maximum
displacement of the pipe over all
saved time-steps, 2.255 mm (0.089
in), is different than the maximum
obtained for the last time-step (1.59
mm).

26 Graph displacement at the tip.

Similar to step 19, create a response graph of the resultant displacement
at the tip of the pipe.

Comparing the above response plot with the response plot of the tip
from the Slow force study, we can see that the oscillation amplitudes
are significantly higher.

21
Lesson 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of a Pipe

Summary In this lesson, we showed a simple problem of a pipe loaded with

concentrated force. It was shown that the dynamic solution for a slowly
applied force provides results which are close to the results of the static
analysis. This confirms the basic assumption of the static analysis, that
the forces must be applied very slowly over time to minimize the effect
of inertial forces.
The Fast force study, with the sudden increase in the force magnitude,
provided a very different solution because of the substantial inertial
effects.
Damping was not defined and is a subject of Lesson 2.
It was also shown how to compute a basic estimate of the minimum
time step increment. Lesson 2 deals in detail with the time step
calculation, number of natural modes, and other aspects of the linear
dynamic analysis.
We successfully calculated transient response of the pipe. To verify the
accuracy of the result, we could refine the mesh, include more natural
frequencies in the solution, or reduce the time step.

Questions  What would the solution look like if only one natural frequency
was included?
 What is the name of the solution method used by SOLIDWORKS
Simulation (and many other FE programs) to solve the linear
dynamics problem?

22
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 1
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

Exercise 1: In this exercise, we will perform a transient vibration analysis of a

Vibration of cantilever beam. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
Cantilever  Frequency Analysis on page 11
Beam  Linear Dynamic Analysis on page 13

Problem The horizontal

Statement cantilever pipe is
anchored in the load
bearing wall at one
end, and is loaded
by a vertical
downward transient
force. We would like to find the response of the beam in the form of its
transient displacements and stresses.
1 Open an assembly file.
Open Cantilever beam from the Lesson01\Exercises\
Cantilever Beam folder.
2 Define static study.
Create a Static study named Static.
3 Specify material.
Assign Plain Carbon Steel as the material of the Cantilever beam
pipe.
4 Restraints.
Define Fixed Geometry fixture on the indicated
face, where the cantilever pipe is anchored to the
wall.

5 Define force.
Define a Force of 600 N (134.9 lb) on the split
face, as indicated in the figure. Orient the force
vertically downward.
6 Mesh control.
Apply 1.5 mm mesh control over the bend
(select both inner and outer faces).
7 Mesh.
Create High quality mesh with the default element Global size of 3.56
mm. Use Standard mesh.
8 Run study.

23
Exercise 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

9 Stress results.
Plot the von Mises stress in the model.

The maximum stress in the model reaches approximately 193 MPa,

which is just below the yield strength of plain carbon steel.

Note Note, however, that the mesh is not refined properly at the location of
the stress peak. Also, the presence of sharp corner at this location
causes stress singularity and hence the actual maximum value of the
stress is not bounded.
10 Displacement results.
Plot the displacement results.

The maximum stress in the model reaches 0.98 mm.

11 Perform frequency analysis.
Create a Frequency study. Drag and drop material, Fixtures and
Mesh from the previous static study.
12 Run study.
Run study and solve it for 5 natural frequencies.

24
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 1
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

13 List natural frequencies.

Note that the largest and
smallest time periods of the
natural frequency are about
0.0033 seconds (or 3.3
milliseconds) and 0.00041
seconds (or 0.41
milliseconds), respectively.
14 Plot natural modes.
On your own, plot and
analyze the computed natural mode shapes.
15 Create a Linear Dynamic Study.
Create a Linear Dynamic, Modal Time History study named
Dynamic force.
16 Copy material, restraints, force and mesh.
Drag and drop the material, Fixtures, External Loads and Mesh
from the Static study.
17 Edit force.
Under Variation with Time assign the following time variation to the
force.

X Y
0 0
0.05 1
0.1 1

Column X denotes the time (in seconds) and column Y denotes the
multiplication factor that will be applied to the 600 N (134.9 lb) force.
18 Set up Properties of the study.
In the Frequency Options tab, enter 5 for the Number of
Frequencies.
Click on the Dynamic Options tab and set the Start time to 0 and the
End time to 0.1 second.
In order to enter Time increment, we will use the information about
the time period of the highest frequency. Recall from the previous
frequency study that we had 5 frequencies, and the time period for the
fifth frequency was 0.00041 seconds. We will choose the time
increment to be roughly about 1/10th of the smallest time-period of the
frequency mode that was used for the analysis. Hence, enter the Time
increment as 4.1e-5.

25
Exercise 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

Note Note that the number of increments can be calculated by dividing the
total time with the time increment; in this case, we have 2439
increments (roughly equal to 0.1/0.000041).
19 Result Options.
For Save Results, choose the option For
specified solution steps.
In the Quantity section, under
Displacements and velocities, select
Absolute.
For Stresses and Reactions, select All
stress components.
In the Solution Steps - Set 1, enter the
following data: Start at Step No. 1, End at
Step No. 2500, and Increment every 10
steps.
Under Locations for Graphs, select Tip
Displacement transient sensor created
beforehand.
Click OK.
20 Run the study.
This run takes a few minutes to complete.
21 Review the displacement results.
Define URES: Resultant Displacement plot for the last saved time
step (244).

The maximum displacement at the end of the loading period, 0.973 mm

(0.0381 in), is nearly the same as the maximum displacement obtained
from the Static study. This could indicate that the force does not cause
significant oscillatory displacements.

26
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 1
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

22 Graph displacement at the tip.

Right-click the Results folder and select Graph Transient Sensors.
Keep Time for X axis and Tip displacement transient sensor for Y
axis.
Click OK.

We can see that the impulse of the applied force indeed does not cause
significant oscillatory displacements. The dynamic displacement
closely follows the static solution.
Also, once the application of the load is complete, the pipe continues
oscillating. Similar to the lesson, this is due to the lack of damping in
the dynamic study.

27
Exercise 1 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Vibration of Cantilever Beam

23 Maximum displacements of the structure.

Edit Definition of the displacement plot defined in step 21. Under Plot
Step click on the Plot bounds across All Steps button.
Select the Maximum and click OK.

The maximum displacement over all saved time steps is 0.978 mm

(0.0385 in) is virtually the same as the displacement we obtained from
the static study.

28
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 2
Shock Load of PCB Board

Exercise 2: In this exercise, we will perform a transient vibration analysis of a PCB

Shock Load of Board. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
PCB Board  Frequency Analysis on page 11
 Linear Dynamic Analysis on page 13

Problem The PCB Board is mounted to the base using 6 foundation bolts. The
Statement base is excited with a half-sine shock wave, which is transmitted
directly to the support bolts. We would like to find out the response of
the PCB Board, and plot the variations of the displacements on the
Chip.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open PCB_Assembly from the Lesson01\Exercises\PCB Board
folder.
2 Create a Linear Dynamic Study.
Create a Linear Dynamic, Modal Time History study named
Transient Analysis.
3 Define PCB Board shell.
Define Thick shell on the
top face of the PCB Board.
Enter 2 mm for the Shell
thickness.
4 Specify material.
Assign Copper to
Integrated_Circuits and
Transformer, Ceramic
Porcelain to Chip and Relay, Epoxy Unfilled to Board and Silicon to
Capacitor.
5 Restraints.
Define Fixed Geometry fixture on the six circular edges of the bolt
holes.

29
Exercise 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Shock Load of PCB Board

6 Mesh.
Create High quality Curvature-based mesh with the default
Maximum element size of 14.715 mm.
7 Run frequency study.
Run frequency study and solve it for 30 natural frequencies.
8 List natural frequencies.
Note that the lowest and
highest natural frequencies
are 39.2 Hz and 830.4 Hz,
respectively.
The smallest time period
(corresponding to the
highest natural frequency)
is 0.0012 seconds (or 1.2
milliseconds).

9 Base motion.
Under the External Loads
folder, specify the
acceleration Uniform Base
Excitation in the magnitude
of 100 g.
Use the top face of the PCB
Board as a reference and
orient the excitation direction
downward.

30
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 2
Shock Load of PCB Board

Under Variation with Time,

specify the following data points.
for the half-sine pulse shock.
Click OK twice to close the force
definition.

Note Because we did not specify any loading data after 0.003 seconds,
software will assume that load stopped for any time instance after 0.003
seconds (isolated half-sine pulse).
10 Set up Properties of the study.
In the Frequency Options tab, enter the Number of Frequencies as
30.
Click on the Dynamic Options tab and set the Start time to 0 and the
End time to 0.1 second.
In order to enter a Time increment, we will use the information about
the time period of the highest frequency. Recall from the frequency
study that we had 30 frequencies, and the time period for the 30th
frequency was 0.0012 seconds. We will choose the time increment to
be roughly about 1/10th of the smallest time-period of the frequency
mode that was used for the analysis. Hence, enter the Time increment
as 0.0001.

Note The total number of calculation steps in this simulation is therefore

1000 (0.1/0.0001).

31
Exercise 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Shock Load of PCB Board

11 Result Options.
For Save Results, choose the option For
specified solution steps.
In the Quantity section, under Displacements
and velocities, select Relative (to Uniform
Base Excitation).
For Stresses and Reactions, select All
stress components.
In the Solution Steps - Set 1, enter the
following data: Start at Step No. 1, End at
Step No. 1500, and Increment every 10 steps.
Under Locations for Graphs, select All
Tracked Data Sensors.

Note Four transient displacement sensors monitoring all displacement

components at one vertex of the Chip were defined beforehand.
Click OK.
12 Run the study.
This run takes a few minutes to complete.
13 Review the displacement results.
Define URES: Resultant Displacement plot for the last saved time
step (100).

The maximum resultant displacement at the end of the analysis is 8.75

mm (0.34 in).

32
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 2
Shock Load of PCB Board

14 Graph displacement on the Chip vertex.

Right-click the Results folder and select Define Response Graph.
Under Response, Predefined locations, select the vertex on the
Chip.
For the Y axis, select Displacement, URES: Resultant Displacement
in mm.
Click OK.

Notice that the displacement does not attenuate with time. This is due
to the lack of damping in the definition of this study.

33
Exercise 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Shock Load of PCB Board

15 Maximum saved displacement of the PCB Board.

Edit the displacement plot from step 13, and under Plot Step click Plot
bounds across all steps.

The maximum resultant displacement over the analysis time is 11.5

mm (0.45 in).
Given that the linear dimension of the PCB is 230 mm, the vertical
deflection of 11.5 mm is significant (approximately 5%).

Summary In this exercise we analyzed PCB Board subjected to a vertical half-

sine pulse shock base motion. This problem was run without any
damping. It was found that the maximum vertical resultant
displacement of 11.5 mm (0.45 in) is located on Transformer. The
value of 11.5 mm corresponds to approximately 5% of the linear
dimension of the Board.

34
 Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis
According to MILS-STD-810G

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Define transient dynamics study.
 Use the remote mass feature.
 Post-process results from dynamic analysis.
 Determine loading configuration from the MILS-STD-810G
standard.

35
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Problem An electronic enclosure is to be subjected to the functional shock test in

Description accordance with the MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.5. In general, this
test is conducted to asses the physical integrity, continuity and
functionality of the components in shock loading. The referenced test
requires that the shock loading is applied independently along all three
orthogonal axes.
The linear dynamics analysis in this lesson simulates the classical pulse
shock loading applied in the direction of the positive global x-axis.
Note, the MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.5 does not, in general, accept
the classical shock pulse loading unless it can be shown that it
approximates the real situation. Also, classical shock loading must then
be applied individually in both the negative and positive directions
along all three major orthogonal axes.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Electronic_Assembly from the Lesson02\Case Studies
folder.
2 Configuration.
Make sure that Default configuration is active.
3 Units.
Verify that N/mm^2 (MPa) and mm are used for Pressure/Stress and
Length/Displacement, respectively.
4 Define study.
Define a Linear Dynamics , Modal Time History study , and
name it Full model.
5 Explode assembly.

36
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

6 PCB shell.
Base as well as the Cover are both sheet metal features and their
definition does not need any special attention. You should verify that
the Aluminum 1060 is assigned to both.
Define shell on the
bottom face of the PCB
component. Specify
Thin shell formulation
and a Thickness of
0.75 mm (0.03 in).
Make sure that PCB
FR-4 material is
assigned to the PCB shell.
7 Chip and Cap.
Make sure that Copper and Ceramic Porcelain materials are applied
to the Cap and the Chip, respectively.
Chip (Ceramic Porcelain)
Cap (Copper)

Note In this study, these two components are modeled as solids object. This
approach is applicable to simpler models where the meshing of these
non-structural components does not cause performance degradation.
8 Global bonding.
Set the top level component contact (Global Contact) to Allow
Penetration.
9 PCB vs. Chip and Cap contact.
Specify Bonded contact between the
Chip , Cap and the PCB.

37
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

10 Cover vs. Base contacts.

Create Bonded contacts between the bolt openings on the Cover and
the Base.

Note Use the cylindrical faces of the bolt openings on the Cover for Faces,
Edges, Vertices for Set 1 and the indicated face on the Base for
Faces for Set 2.
Specify identical contact on the opposite side.

11 PCB vs. Base contacts.

Create Bonded contact between the PCB and the Base.

38
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

12 Fixtures.
Specify Fixed Geometry fixtures for the eight bolt openings on the
Base and the Cover.

Note Use the cylindrical faces of the bolt holes on both the Base and the
Cover.
13 Collapse assembly.

14 Mesh.
Create Draft quality mesh with the element Global size of 8.85 mm.
Use the Standard mesh.

15 Run frequency analysis for 25 modes.

39
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

16 Resonant frequencies.
List the Resonant frequencies.
We observe non-zero values,
indicating that all contacts are
reflected and no rigid body
modes exist in our model.

17 Mass participation factor.

List Mass Participation factor.

We can observe that the recommended value of 0.8 in the direction of

the predominant vibration is not met. The value of the X component is
only 0.61 (we plan to analyze the response on shock along the X
direction). Therefore we may need to increase the number of the modes
to, for example, 65.
18 Increase number of modes, re-run frequency analysis.
Increase the number of the requested modes to 65 and re-run the
frequency analysis.
19 Mass participation.
List the mass participation.

The cumulative value along the X direction increased to 0.66. This is

still smaller than the recommended value of 0.8.

40
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Mass Participation The mass participation factor is only an approximate indication of

Factor whether a sufficient number of modes is included in the analysis. As
you gain more experience, you will discover that in the case of shells it
is often difficult to meet the recommended value of 0.8 along the planar
directions of the large shell features (in our case, X and Z directions).
This phenomenon implies that high frequency (typically axial) modes
are not yet included. Typically, it is the lower frequency bending modes
which are crucial for the results of the base motion analyses, while the
axial modes are of less importance. The recommended value of 0.8 is
then less relevant.
In fact, a cumulative mass participation factor value of 0.8 does not
guarantee that all important modes are included. A good analysis of the
results, accurate spatial description of the highest modes and of the
response, as well as sufficient temporal description of the transient
loading are all important.

20 Plot the last mode shape.

Plot the last mode shape number 65.

The plot of the last mode shape is important because the density and
quality of our mesh must be able to describe its shape smoothly. If a
choppy plot with large elements is observed, mesh refinement may be
necessary. In our case, the plot is barely acceptable, so we will improve
it by changing the element quality and decreasing its global size.
21 Fine mesh.
Generate a Draft quality mesh with the default element Global size of
4.42 mm. Use Standard mesher.
22 Re-run frequency analysis with 65 modes.

41
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

23 Mass
participation.
List the mass
participation.
The cumulative
value along the X
direction is
practically
unchanged, 0.66.
As previously
discussed, this value is of less importance however.
24 Graph mass participation.
Right-click Results and click Define
Frequency Response Graph.
Select Cumulative Effective mass
participation (CEMPF) as the quantity to plot
versus frequency.
In the Summary dialog, check Show
Frequencies (Hz) where the CEMPF is
greater than. Make sure that all three
directions are checked. Click OK.

The frequency response graph provides great visual insight into the
relative contribution of each mode into the cumulative mass. Notice
that the Z direction cumulative mass participation contribution is
accelerating towards the end of the considered frequency range.

42
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Cumulative Mass Including larger number of modes (in this case 600) will eventually
Participation bring both X and Z directions above the recommended 80% value. The
Factor Z direction crosses the 80% value at about 6,500 Hz, and the X
direction crosses that value at frequency close to 12,000 Hz. These
frequencies are too high and do not need to be considered in this
simulation.

25 Plot the last mode shape.

Plot the last mode shape number 65.

The description of the last modal shape is very good. We can therefore
conclude that our mesh density appears sufficient.

43
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

26 Damping.
Specify a modal damping ratio of 0.05 for all
the modes.

Note The MILS-STD-810G, Method 516.5

recommends the damping value through the
quality factor Q=10 if no other damping
information is available. Please review the
discussion below to see that this corresponds to
a modal damping ratio magnitude of 0.05.

Damping Damping characterizes the capacity of a structure (or a material) to

dissipate the energy due to various phenomena. In general, three major
types of energy dissipation models occur in the structure:
Frictional effects: Any structural components in contact with each
other exhibit some level of frictional interaction. For example, bolted
joints undergo miniature relative displacements giving rise to frictional
forces consuming some portions of the vibratory energy. Frictional
damping falls under the category of structural damping. A theoretical
model used for this description is called Coulomb damping.
Material damping: Due to the repetitive plastic material deformations
and reorientations of the ferromagnetic vectors, materials dissipate
energy as the structures vibrate. This type of damping is called Material
or Hysteresis damping.
This type of damping can be characterized as either structural or purely
material. In the structural case, the material damping constant pertains
to a structure of a certain shape and type manufactured from a given
material. In the material case, the material damping constants are real
material property independent of the structural shape.
While pure material damping constants (material property) appear as
the ideal choice to characterize material damping, their use is very
complicated and the subsequent computations may become tedious.
Therefore, it is more common that structural material damping
constants are used in technical computations and in literature. Because
of the complexity of this subject, a detailed discussion goes beyond the
scope of this text.

44
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Viscous damping: A vibrating structure interacting with fluid

dissipates a significant portion of the vibratory energy by displacing the
surrounding fluid. Viscous damping magnitude is proportional to the
velocity of the vibrating structure and its mathematical treatment is
well known.
Fd = c  vn
where Fd is the damping force, c represents the damping magnitude,
and v is the structural velocity raised to the power of n. The typical
value for the exponent n is 1; this magnitude is also used by the
Simulation Dynamics modulus.
Because the mathematical treatment of the viscous damping is well
known, other types of damping are typically converted to an equivalent
viscous damping using the equivalence of the dissipated energies
principle. Students may consult any text on vibrations in order to
further their knowledge of this subject. The rest of this discussion
addresses viscous damping in more detail.
Viscous Damping
Viscous Damping of The structural viscous damping of a
a Single DOF single degree of freedom (DOF) of
mass m, stiffness k and damping c is
typically characterized by the
following constants:

Damping constant c
c = --------------
Damping ratio , where  = ---- c
cc 2 km

Rayleigh damping: c =   m +   k

All of the above constants are of course related as follows:

c- =  +    2 = 2
--- n n
m
Note that the above constants characterize structure of a certain
stiffness and mass. They do not characterize material, but rather
structure. For consistency, whenever we refer to damping in the
remainder of this chapter it should be understood as structural damping.

45
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Viscous Damping of In modal analysis, a complex set of the differential equations

a FEA Structure characterizing FEA structure is decoupled and reduced into a set of
independent equations. Each such equation then characterizes a single
DOF oscillator. A combination of their solutions is then equal to the
response of the whole structure. It follows that in modal analysis each
independent modal equation can be damped independently (i.e., each
modal equation may have different damping constant magnitude). The
damping constants are therefore identical to those used for the single
DOF:

Damping matrix [C]

c ci
Modal damping ratio vector [], where  i = -------i- = -----------------
c c i 2 ki mi
Rayleigh damping in matrix form:  C  =    M  +    K  , and
c
in the coefficient form as: -----i =  +    i2 n = 2 i  i n
mi

Other Measure of Literature often uses the following other measures of structural
Structural Viscous damping; all of them are related to already discussed damping
Damping measures.

Loss factor of the system:  = 2

2
Specific damping capacity of the system:  = ------
Q

Logarithmic decrement of free vibration of the system:  = 2

The resonant amplification (or quality) factor: Q = --1-


Note that the above relations hold for structures exhibiting small
oscillations.
Other less common measures are Reverberation time, Phase angle,
Attenuation of plane bending waves and Attenuation of plane
longitudinal waves.

46
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

How to Obtain To obtain relevant damping constants is rather difficult. The user is
Damping Constants typically left with two choices:
 Available literature
It is necessary to search the available literature to obtain constants for
structures of similar type, shape, and material composition. Some
literature may also list material property damping properties.
 Experiment
It is possible to experimentally measure some of the damping constant.
A typical test represents the measurement of the vibration decay, for
example.

27 Base motion.
Under the External Loads folder, specify the acceleration Uniform
Base Excitation in the magnitude of 20 g.

Important! Use the vertical face of the enclosure as a reference and make sure that
the direction of the excitation is as shown in the figure below.

47
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Under Variation with Time, select

Curve and click the Edit button.
Specify the following data points.
Click OK.

Note The classical shock specified above is not the preferred shock loading
recommended by the MILS-STD-810G, Method 516.5. Replication of
the real measured shock data or shock synthesis from the previous
Shock Response Spectra (SRS) estimates is strongly preferred.
Classical shock pulse is only permitted if no data is available;
furthermore, its use must be justified by the pulse correspondence to
the real loading conditions.
28 Time step and analysis duration.
Under the study properties, in the Dynamic Options tab, specify the
Time increment and the End time (duration of the analysis) as 5e-5
sec and 0.022 sec, respectively. (See the following discussion on how
the time step was determined.)

48
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Note In general, the duration of the analysis is determined by the inclusion of

the sufficient peak response oscillations. The analysis duration is
smaller for high frequency response than when low frequency response
oscillations are expected. The MILS-STD-810G elaborates on how the
minimum duration of the analysis is computed. If no measured data is
available, the approximate recommended duration of the shock
response for the functional test of the flight equipment is 15-23 ms. The
value selected for our analysis, 22 ms, is also double the duration of the
classical shock pulse.

Time Step A minimum time step is extremely important, and a multitude of

parameters must be considered. Too large a time step may result not
only in the analysis failing to complete. Analysis with too large a time
step may complete, but the results may be inaccurate. The following
parameters must be considered in determining the minimum required
analysis time step:
 Time resolution of the highest important modal wave
The oscillation of the last important natural mode included in our
analysis should be discretized by a minimum of 5 (optimally 10)
time increments. It may be difficult to determine what the highest
important mode is for an inexperienced user; therefore, the highest
mode should be considered.
t < 0.1 Tmin = 0.1*0.00064251 s = 6.4e-5 s
This criterion must always be considered.
 Resolution of the elastic stress wave propagation
If resolution of the elastic stress waves propagation in the model is
required, time step must be computed according to the following
formula:
0.2L characteristic 0.2L characteristic
 t  ---------------------------------- = --------------------------------- 0.2  0.192- = 7.6  10 – 6s
- = -------------------------
v elastic wave E-
---- 6.9  10 10
---------------------
 2705
The Young’s modulus and mass density used in the above formula
are for the enclosure material, Aluminum 1060-H18, in the SI sys-
tem of units. The length of the enclosure is approximately 192 mm.
Note that the parameter 0.2 discretizes the elastic wave in 5 time
steps. If finer resolution is required the value of this parameter can
be adjusted.

49
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

 Time resolution of the loading

It is crucial to accurately resolve the shock loading. If coarse
description is used, some of the wave characteristics may be omit-
ted and the loading description may become grossly inaccurate.
In our analysis, the shock pulse will be discretized using 10 time
points. Therefore:
t < 0.1 (pulse duration) = 0.1*0.011 = 1.1e-3 s
While the frequency characteristics of classical shock loading is fairly
easy to determine, determination of the frequency characteristics in the
case of a general oscillatory shock loading can be more difficult.
Fourier transform of the load provides the best insight into the
frequency characteristics of the loading. The figure below shows the
Fourier transform of the classical shock pulse used in our lesson.

50
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

We can observe that the peak amplitude occurs at 46.8 Hz, which does
not pose any difficulties in this case. The frequency of the highest
modal wave (at a frequency of 1556.4 Hz, or time period of
0.00064251 s), resolved accurately with a time step of 6.4e-5 s, is
significantly higher. In general, not only the extreme amplitude peaks
but also a significant portion of the loading amplitude spectra should be
discretized.
Important! The frequency of the highest modal wave included in the analysis must
be higher than any important frequency of the load, or important
frequency of our interest.
For our analysis, we choose the time step t = 5e-5. We have therefore
satisfied all the time increment criteria except the stress wave
propagation. This criterion must be satisfied only if stress propagation
is important. As long as only displacements, velocities, and
accelerations are of interest, this criterion can be relaxed.

29 Advanced options.
Still under the study properties, in the Dynamic Options tab, click the
Advanced Options button (see the previous step for image of the
Dynamic Options tab).

Under Time integration method, keep the default selection of

Newmark with the default first and second parameter values.

51
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Note For a description of the time integration methods, please refer to

Lesson 7 of this training manual. The numerical parameters are used to
adjust the approximation of the acceleration in the temporal domain
during the time integration procedure. The default values are suitable
for most of the applications and, in general, do not need to be modified.
Advanced users may consult the numerous pieces of literature available
on this subject for more information.
30 Define sensors.
In the SOLIDWORKS feature tree, define Simulation Data, Workflow
Sensitive sensors for the two locations shown in the image.

These locations represent important components and areas where

detailed graphs will be plotted at the end of the dynamics analysis. The
storage requirements are specified in the following step.

52
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

31 Result options.
Dynamics analysis may generate very large
amounts of data. It is recommended that
selected data is specified prior to running the
analysis.
Under the Result Options folder, under Save
Results, select For specified solution steps.
Under Quantity, select Relative (to Uniform
Base Excitation) for Displacements and
velocities, keep Stresses and Reactions and
keep All stress components.
Specify the three sets for which full results for
contour plots are to be saved.
Note that each set has a different increment to
reduce the storage requirements.
Still under Results Options, select the
Workflow Sensitive1 sensor list for the
Locations for Graphs.
The sensor locations will have full data saved
for all time steps.
Click OK.

Note The relative displacements are referenced with respect to the moving
base. Absolute values would also include the base displacements.
Typically we are interested in the relative values.
32 Save and Run.
Save the setup of the analysis and Run the dynamic analysis.

53
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

33 Displacements results.
Plot the distribution of the
UX: X Displacement.
Under Plot Step, click the Plot for Single
Step button and specify a Plot step number of
10 (this plot step corresponds to the time
0.00905 sec).
Under Deformed Shape make sure that
Automatic is selected.

With Automatic deformed shape magnification, the plot is shown in

magnified deformation. This is the reason why the parts are displayed
as severely penetrating. However, this is only a visual appearance; no
such penetration exists in the model. You may change its value to True
(or 1:1) to see the real magnitude of the structural deformation; the real
displacements are rather small.
In reality, some penetration does occur, but it is negligible.
We can observe the largest displacement for step #10 at -0.26 mm.
Animate the deformation to verify that the results are as expected.
The above plot, however, shows the results only for the time step 10.
We are interested in the maximum amplitudes of the displacements and
velocities.

54
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

34 Edit the plot.

Under Plot Step, click the Plot Bounds
across All Steps button and select Maximum.

Create a similar bounding plot over all the time steps for the
Minimums.

From the above plots, we can observe the maximum and minimum
displacements along the global X axis as 2.68e-1 mm and -3.3e-1 mm,
respectively. These values need to be compared against the
requirements to decide whether the enclosure fails or passes.

Note Most of the time we are interested in acceleration (or velocity) results,
rather than the displacements.

55
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

35 Acceleration results.
Create Plot Bounds across All Steps for both the Maximum and
Minimum of ARES: Resultant Acceleration in the units of g.

We can observe the overall maximum resultant acceleration of 37.2g.

Again, comparison with the limits decides whether the enclosure
performs well or fails.
For the electronics design, however, the most important results are the
accelerations of the PCB components.

56
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

36 Response graphs at sensor locations.

Create response graph for the saved sensor locations for the
Acceleration, ARES: Resultant Acceleration in the units of g.

We can observe the overall maximum resultant acceleration is nearly

identical to the peak exciting acceleration of 20g for both monitored
locations. Also, because the peak amplitudes often occur at a later time
after the initial shock was administered, it is recommended to run the
analysis for longer duration until the oscillations are damped to lower
levels.
It is a good habit to verify the correctness of the results of the transient
analyses by refining the mesh and increasing the number of the
considered modes. The results obtained from such refined analysis
should not differ considerably from the results of the original analysis.
If the opposite holds true, our original analysis results are not correct
and more modes and finer mesh must be considered. This may happen
if some important structural modes have been omitted from the
analysis.

57
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Model with In the second portion of this lesson, we will simplify our analysis and
Remote Mass eliminate the PCB components with the help of the remote mass
feature.
Remote Mass Remote mass feature was already introduced in the SOLIDWORKS
Simulation Professional training course for the frequency study. Any
SOLIDWORKS part or subassembly, identified as a remote mass, will
be treated as rigid object with its real mass properties transferred into a
single location, center of mass. This location is then connected with the
specified load bearing faces through the rigid bars. This feature can
greatly simplify the model while preserving the realism of the
simulation.

37 Create new study.

Copy Study Full model into a new study.
Name the new study Model with Remote Mass, and associate it with
the configuration Split faces.
38 Explode assembly.

39 Specify remote masses.

In the Parts folder, right-click on
the Cap component and select Treat
as Remote Mass.
In the Faces, edges or vertices for
Remote Mass field select the
circular split face where the forces
due to the Cap mass will be
transferred. It is located on the
bottom face of the PCB.
Click OK.
Repeat the same for the Chip, only this time
selecting the square split face for the transfer of
the loads.

Note Note that the Treat as Remote Mass property manager lets you create
a split face for the transfer of the forces. Application of the additional
forces and moments at the center of mass of the components is also
possible.

58
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

40 Update PCB shell.

Update definition of the PCB shell.

41 Update contacts.
Delete the contact between the
Chip, Cap and the PCB.
Update the bonded contact
between the PCB and the Base.

42 Mesh.
Create Draft quality mesh with the default element Global size of
4.42 mm. Again, use the Standard mesh.

Notice that the two components treated as remote masses, Chip and the
Cap, are not meshed.
43 Frequency analysis.
Run the frequency analysis for 65 modes.
Note We are purposely using 65 modes; this number was shown to be
sufficient in the previous analysis.

59
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

44 Resonant frequencies.
List the resonant frequencies.

We observe that the values of some frequencies have changed

somewhat while the others are nearly the same. For example frequency
number 1, which involves oscillations of PCB, changed a bit, while
some other modes, less sensitive to the treatment of PCB can be
affected much less. Students are encouraged to plot several modes and
compare the frequency results from the two studies.

Important! With different modeling approach, order of natural frequencies may

change. Therefore when comparing frequencies, it is important to
ensure that shapes of the modes remain the same.
Because the last modes are nearly identical, the identical time step will
be used in the solution.

60
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

45 Mass participation factor.

List Mass participation factor.

The maximum value of 0.66 is nearly identical to the cumulative value

from the previous study.
46 Plot last mode shape.
Plot the last mode shape number 65.

The spatial resolution of this mode is acceptable.

47 Time step and analysis duration.
In the study properties, verify that the time step and the duration of the
analysis as 5e-5 sec and 0.022 sec, respectively.
48 Run dynamics study.

61
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

49 Displacements results.
Plot the distribution of the UX: X Displacements for step number 10
(0.00905 s).

We can observe the largest value of the X component of the

displacement for step #10 at -0.25 mm, which is the same as the largest
value of the same quantity in the previous analysis.
Animate this plot to verify that the results are as expected.

Note As in the previous study, you will observe that the components
penetrate severely; this is due to the magnification factor which is
specified by default. You may change its value to True (or 1:1) to see
the real magnitude of the structural deformation; the real displacements
are rather small.

62
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 2
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

50 Acceleration results.
Create Plot Bounds across All Steps for the Maximum of ARES:
Resultant Acceleration in the unites of g.

We can observe the ultimate maximum resultant acceleration of 37.6g.

This value again compares well with the maximum resultant
acceleration of 37.2g obtained from the study with the two PCB
components included.

Summary In this lesson, we analyzed electronic enclosure on shock motion of the

base in accordance with the MILS-STD-810G, Method 516.5.
In the first part of this lesson, all of the components were included and
meshed. While their mass and stiffness contributions were accounted
for accurately, additional meshing was required.
In the second part of this lesson, some electronic components were
modeled as remote masses. Using this approach, significant
simplification while maintaining a very high level of realism can be
achieved since many complex parts and subassemblies whose mass is
important for the analysis do not need to be meshed.
Theoretical discussion sections in this lesson also addressed the
concept of damping and the types used in SOLIDWORKS Simulation.
Time increment computations and mesh resolution was discussed and
demonstrated in detail.
Typically, we would know the maximum acceleration level that our
electronics could withstand. We would compare that to the maximum
acceleration in our model to make a determination on the design.
Additionally, we would want to run this same simulation 5 more times
to have the shock loading applied in the positive and negative
directions before any conclusions are made.

63
Lesson 2 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Shock Analysis According to MILS-STD-810G

Questions  How do you determine the optimum number of modes included in

the dynamic simulation?
 How do you determine that your mesh density is sufficient for the
dynamic simulation?
 What is the mass participation factor and what do you use it for?
 What is the modal damping ratio?
 The maximum time step must properly discretize: 1. ________ and
2. ________ .
 The remote mass feature (does / does not) correctly account for the
mass.
 The remove mass feature (does / does not) correctly account for the
mass distribution and its shape.

64
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 3
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Exercise 3: In this exercise, we will perform a transient vibration analysis of an

Transient alternator bracket. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
Analysis of  Mass Participation Factor on page 41
Alternator  Cumulative Mass Participation Factor on page 43
Bracket  Damping on page 44
 Time Step on page 49
 Remote Mass on page 58

Problem A vehicle alternator is

Statement mounted on the bracket
manufactured from plain
carbon steel. The bracket is
the bolted to the rigid frame
of the engine compartment.
The vibratory environment is
rather complex. In this
exercise, we will analyze
response of this bracket on
transient shock load caused
by a vehicle riding at a speed
of 20 km/h over the bump in
the shape of half sine wave.
The measured sample
response of the vehicle chassis riding over the bump is shown in the
figure below.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Alternator from the Lesson02\Exercises folder.

65
Exercise 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

2 Create a Linear Dynamic Study.

Create a Linear Dynamic, Modal Time History study named
Transient analysis.
3 Define shell.
Define Thick shells on the three top
faces, and on the left side face of the
Bracket.
Enter 3 mm for the Shell thickness.
4 Specify material.
Assign Copper to Inner_Body of
the alternator, Alloy Steel to
Outer_Body and Casing, and Plain
Carbon Steel to Shaft, Pin parts
and Bracket.
5 Exclude Pins.
Exclude from Analysis all four Pin parts.
Note The mass of the Pin parts is negligible when compared to the mass of
the remaining alternator components.
6 Define remote masses.
Treat as Remote Mass all remaining components of the alternator
(Casing, Inner_Body, Outer_Body and Shaft).
Use the four edges on the shell face
for Faces, edges or vertices for
Remote Mass.

7 Fixtures.
Define Fixed Geometry fixture on the two
circular edges of the bolt holes.
8 Mesh.
Create High quality Curvature-based
mesh with the default Maximum element
size of 7.44 mm.

66
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 3
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

9 Run frequency study.

Run Frequency study and solve it for 15 natural frequencies.
10 List natural frequencies.
Note that range of the first
fifteen natural frequencies
from 30.6 Hz to 5501.8
Hz.

11 List mass participation factor.

The cumulative values of the mass participation factor are well above
the recommended value of 0.8.
12 Base motion.
Specify the Acceleration, Uniform
Base Excitation with the
magnitude of 1 g.
Use the Top plane as a reference,
and orient the excitation direction
Normal to Plane and upward.

67
Exercise 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Under Variation with Time, specify the following data points:

Base Acceleration
Time [sec]
[g]
0 0
0.09 1.02
0.17 2.14
0.254 0.987
0.28 0
0.324 -2
0.41 -4
0.516 -2
0.55 0
0.58 0.96
0.7 3.93
0.79 2
0.83 0
0.89 -2.04
0.97 -3.3
1.16 0
1.35 1.2
1.61 0
1.68 -3.24
1.91 -3.23
2 -3.05
2.17 0
2.37 1.85
2.57 0
2.77 0.075
3 0.06
3.25 0
3.37 0.014
3.5 0

68
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 3
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Note You can open file Base_motion.csv located in the exercise folder, and
copy / paste the data into the table.
View the data to see the profile of the base motion.
Close the Time curve plot window.
Click OK twice to close the base excitation definition.

13 Damping.
Specify 0.02 for modal Damping Ratio for all 15 natural modes.
14 Calculate time step - resolve the highest modal wave.
The highest natural frequency included in the simulation (5501.78 Hz)
has a time period of 0.00018176 seconds. Following the guidelines in
the lesson, we can calculate the time step as:

T Natural – Lowest
 t  ------------------------------------- = 0.00018176
---------------------------- = 1.8176  10 –5 s
10 10

69
Exercise 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

15 Calculate time step - resolve the loading.

Just looking at the loading, we can conclude that the dominant wave
content of the signal is somewhere in the vicinity of approximately 2
Hz (consider the wave with its crests and valleys as it moves in time).
We can therefore expect that this load consists of mostly low frequency
waves. However, the best way to understand its content, or wave
spectrum, is to apply Fourier Transform (or Fast Fourier Transform for
larger data sets) algorithm. We must ensure that no high frequency
wave content is accidentally omitted, because it could result in damage
of some structural or electronic component sensitive to higher
frequencies.

The graph above shows the Fourier transform of the loading history
from step 12 above. The peak value is reached at frequency of
approximately 2 Hz, just as it was expected. However, some non-zero
spectrum can also be observed up to 10 Hz. We will therefore ensure
that the wave with the frequency of 10 Hz is resolved by our time step.

1-
-----
T Load·· – Lowest 10
 t  -------------------------------- = ------ = 0.01s
10 10

The time step from the resolution of the highest modal wave, 1.8176e-5
second is significantly smaller than the time step resolving the loading.
We will therefore use it for the analysis.

70
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 3
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Maximum Number Current limitation of the linear dynamic module is 10,000 time
of Time increments. This needs to be considered when setting the study
Increments properties, namely Start time, End time and Time increment.

16 Set up Properties of the study.

In the Dynamic Options tab, specify 0 sec for Start time, and 1.8 sec
seconds for End time.
Enter 0.0001817 seconds for Time increment.
Note Even though we would want to run the simulation for longer time
duration (approximately 10 seconds), the maximum number of time
increments (10,000) and the current time increment of 0.0001817
seconds only allows us to solve the simulation up to 1.8 seconds.
17 Result Options.
For Save Results, choose the option For specified solution steps.
In the Quantity section, under Displacements and velocities, select
Relative (to Uniform Base Excitation).
For Stresses and Reactions, select All stress components.
In the Solution Steps - Set 1, enter the following data: Start at Step
No. 1, End at Step No. 10,000, and Increment every 50 steps.
Under Locations for Graphs, select All Tracked Data Sensors. Four
sensors simulating all three displacement components and its resultant
were created beforehand.
Click OK.
18 Run the study.
This run takes a few minutes to complete.

71
Exercise 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

19 Graph displacement at the tip.

Right-click the Results folder and select Define Response Graph.
Under Response select Predefined locations. Vertex at the tip where
displacement sensors were defined should be selected by default.
For Y axis select Displacement, UY: Y Displacement in mm.
Click OK.

Observe that the displacement mostly follows the frequency of the

applied low frequency load (around 2 Hz). There is, however, also a
visible higher wave carried along. Closer analysis reveals that it
corresponds to the first natural mode (30.6 Hz). It can be attributed to
the initial impulse of the base motion (in which case it will be damped
out with time), or to any of the higher frequency loading waves with
relatively small power (Using the FFT we concluded that power of the
loading waves with frequency higher than 10 Hz exhibited relatively
small energy).
In the next steps, we will therefore increase the solver time increment,
and solve the simulation over a larger time duration. We can do it,
because it follows from the foregoing that higher frequency waves
included in our solution do not impact the bracket noticeably.
20 Set up Properties of the study.
In the Dynamic Options tab, specify 10 sec seconds for End time.
Enter 0.001 seconds for Time increment.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 3
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Note Time increment of 0.001 second, and the end time of 10 seconds results
in the maximum number of calculation time increments of 10,000.
Additionally, the maximum frequency of the wave sufficiently resolved
in our solver will now be only 100 Hz. Given the foregoing, that may
be enough to safely analyze response of the bracket on our base motion
load.
21 Result Options.
Keep all value identical as they were set in step 17.
In the Solution Steps - Set 1, reduce the Increment to save results on
the disk every 10 steps.
Click OK.
22 Run the study.
This run takes a few minutes to complete.
23 Graph displacement at the tip.
Follow step 19 to generate the displacement graph.

Observe that the displacement still mostly follows the applied load
(around 2 Hz), and it reaches values close to zero as the base motion
stops.

73
Exercise 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Transient Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Summary In this exercise we analyzed alternator bracket loaded with transient

load. The load was caused by vehicle riding over a half-sine bump at a
speed of 20 km/h. Following the minimum mass participation criteria
we determined that 15 natural modes will be included in the simulation.
The corresponding time increment, however, was rather small, and we
were only able to solve the simulation for 1.8 seconds.
We then observed that the load mostly consists of the low frequency
waves, and 15 natural frequencies may not be required to solve this
problem. We therefore reduced the number of time increment, and
increased the duration of the simulation to cover the entire desired
simulation time.

74
 Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a
Bracket

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Analyze models subjected to external loads that vary with the
frequency.
 Perform harmonic analysis.

75
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

Project A bracket with a block used in a

Description vehicle light mounting is analyzed
for deformation and stresses. The
force acting on the bracket
depends on the speed of the engine
as shown below:

RPM Force (N)

0 0
60 4.4
1000 5.8
3000 13.3
5000 15.6
10000 15.6

Harmonic Analysis Harmonic analysis is a great tool to analyze the response of

Basics components on harmonic oscillatory loading (rotating machinery, for
example).
While transient analysis provides dependent response of a component
loaded by a specific general time dependent loading (Lesson 1 and
Lesson 2), harmonic analysis provides only the amplitudes of the
response quantities (displacements, velocities, accelerations, stresses,
etc.) when the component is loaded by harmonic oscillatory loading at
varying operating frequencies. Therefore, harmonic analysis elegantly
enables us to scan through a range of operating frequencies (multiple
harmonic loading histories) using just one analysis.
As was mentioned in Lesson 2, a complex set of coupled differential
equations of motion characterizing FEA model is decoupled and
reduced into a set of independent equations. In explaining the details of
the harmonic analysis, we can therefore focus on the single degree of
freedom oscillator.

76
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

Single DOF The single degree of freedom oscillator loaded by a harmonically

Oscillator oscillating force is characterized by the following equation of motion:
mx·· + cx· + kx = F 0  cos t

In the equation above,  represents the operating frequency of the force

and F0 represents the amplitude (maximum value) of such force. The
variation of the harmonic force function can be seen in the following
figure.
F(t)

F0

Time

A solution to the above equation is well known. It is also a harmonic

function, x  t  = X  cos  t –   , where X represents the amplitude
and  represents the phase angle. It is interesting to observe that the
component will (after some time) oscillate at the frequency identical to
the operating frequency of the force.
The maximum value of the response, X, is then obtained from:
F0
X = -------------------------------------------------
 k – m  + c 
2 2 2 2

Therefore, knowing the operating force parameters (F0 and ) and the
structural characteristics (k and m), we can immediately compute the
maximum structural response X.

77
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

In harmonic analysis, we specify the input as a function of F0 on the

operating frequency . The solution is then a variation of the maximum
response amplitude, X, on the operating frequency of the loading, .

Harmonic In this lesson, we will perform a harmonic analysis on a bracket.

Analysis of a
Bracket

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Bracket Assm from the Lesson03\Case Study folder.
2 Create harmonic study.
Create a Linear Dynamics study .
Under Options, select Harmonic .
Name the study Harmonic Analysis.
Click OK.
3 Assign materials.
Assign AISI 1020 steel to the Box part, and
PE High Density to the bracket.
4 Define remote mass.
Box will be modeled with the help of the
remote mass feature.
Right-click the Box in the Parts folder and select Treat as Remote
Mass.
Select the two
cylindrical holes on
bracket as Faces,
edges and vertices
for Remote Mass.
Click OK.

78
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

5 Apply restraints.
Right-click the Fixtures folder and
choose Fixed Hinge.
Select the four cylindrical holes (that
have axis along the global
Y direction) as shown in the
following figure.
Click OK.

6 Apply load.
Apply Force as shown in the
figure.
Select the two cylindrical
holes (that have axis along z-
axis) as shown.
For the Direction, choose
Top Plane.
In the Normal to Plane direction enter 1 N, and make sure that the
force is oriented as shown in the figure.
In the Variation with Frequency field, select the
Curve and click the Edit button.

Change the Units to Hz and input

the values shown in the figure.
Click OK for Frequency curve
and the Force PropertyManager.

Note The RPM input values must be

converted to the units of Hz or rad/
s. To obtain the input values in Hz,
divide the given RPM values by
60.

79
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

7 Mesh.
Create Draft quality Curvature based mesh with Maximum element
size of 1.5mm, the Minimum element size of 0.3mm, the Number of
elements in a circle of 8, and the Ratio of 1.6.

Note The remote mass is not meshed.

8 Specify properties of the study.
Right-click on Harmonic study and choose Properties.
In the Frequency Options tab, keep the default value of 15 for
Number of Frequencies.
Specify Direct Sparse solver.
Note Because the FFEPlus solver may experience convergence issues when
remote mass is used, the Direct Sparse solver is recommended.
Click on the Harmonic Options tab.
In the Operating frequency limits, set the Units to be Cycles/sec
(Hz), Lower Limit to be 0, and Upper Limit to be 166.

9 Specify the Advanced Options.

Click on the Advanced Options button.
Enter 15 for No. of points for each frequency and 0.4 for the
Bandwidth around each frequency.

80
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

Keep the default Logarithmic setting for the Interpolation.

Click OK.

Harmonic Study The harmonic study is solved at all natural frequency points included in
Properties the requested frequency range (in our case, 0 - 166 Hz). In order to
properly scan the entire requested frequency range, additional
frequency points are required. The number of such additional points
and their distribution is controlled with the help of the parameters in the
advanced options.
No. of points for each frequency: Each frequency is surrounded by a
specified number of additional points.
Bandwidth around each frequency: This parameter controls the
width of the band around each frequency where the additional points
are distributed.
Interpolation: This controls the spacing of the additional frequency
points.
For more information on these parameters, please consult
SOLIDWORKS Simulation help.

10 Run frequency.

11 List frequencies.
We can observe that two
natural frequencies (55.6
and 158.2 Hz) are included
in the requested operating
frequency range of 0 - 166
Hz.

81
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

12 List mass participation factor.

The cumulative values of the mass participation factor are well above
the recommended value of 0.8.
13 Plot higher mode shape.
Request the plot of the higher (15th) mode shape.

The highest mode is discretized properly.

14 Damping.
Define Modal damping with Damping Ratios equal to 0.03 for all
fifteen modes.
15 Result options.
Under Result Options, keep the default settings.
Full results will be saved for all modes at all of the frequency
calculation points.
Note If the size of the problem becomes substantial, or the number of
frequency points increases, the storage requirements may become
considerable.

82
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

16 Run the study.

17 Displacement results.
Request a resultant displacement plot for the last frequency step.
For the Component, select URES: Resultant Displacement, and for
Units choose m.
Make sure that the Plot Step indicates the last
step that was calculated for the analysis.

Notice that the maximum displacement for the upper limit of the
operating frequency is rather small.
18 Probe displacement.
Probe the displacement at the indicated
corner vertex. This displacement will be
very close to the displacement of the
attached component.

19 Plot the response graph.

Still in the Probe results property manager, click on the Response
button in the Report Options.

83
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

The Response Graph below shows the displacement amplitudes at

this location for various values of the operating frequencies.

Notice that the peak displacements occur at the first resonance

frequency of 55.7 Hz. There is no significant displacement at the
second resonant frequency (158.2 Hz).
20 Displacement results.
Plot the resultant displacements for the operating frequency coinciding
with the first natural frequency.

f natural, 1 = 55.6 Hz

We can observe that the maximum displacement amplitude at the

operating frequency of 55.6 Hz is 4.56e-5 m.
A good way to review the displacement amplitudes is by using an
envelope plot over all the frequency steps.

84
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 3
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

21 Bound over frequencies displacement plot.

Edit any displacement plot, and under Plot Step, click the Plot
Bounds across All Steps button .

Note that the maximum resultant displacement amplitude over all

frequency steps indeed occurs when the operating frequency coincides
with the first natural frequency of 55.6 Hz.
22 Stress results.
Request a Plot Bounds across All Steps plot of the von Mises
Stress.
Set the Deformation Shape to True scale.

The maximum stress in the model for the range of given operating
frequencies is approximately 3 MPa. This value is below the tensile
strength of 22.1 MPa. Since the stress maximum occurs at the location
of the support, better modeling approach may be needed to capture
stresses with more fidelity.

85
Lesson 3 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of a Bracket

Summary In this lesson, we used harmonic analysis to compute the response

amplitudes of the vehicle light mounting bracket when loaded by a
harmonic force. At each operating frequency, the force exhibited
different amplitude (as shown in the table at the beginning of this
lesson).
It was shown that the largest structural response occurred when the
operating frequency of the force coincided with one of the natural
frequencies of the bracket.
To model the effect of the attached component, we used remote mass.
The critical response amplitudes were found to occur at the first natural
frequency of 55.6 Hz.

Questions  Harmonic analysis (does / does not) assume that the loading
oscillates in a oscillatory fashion. The amplitude of the load (may /
may not) decay with time.
 Input for harmonic analysis (is / is not) the variation of load as a
function of time.
 The output from the harmonic analysis (is / is not) the variation of
amplitudes of the resulting quantity as a function of time.
 Because in harmonic analysis the load (is / is not) represented as its
amplitudes at various loading frequencies, the output also (does /
does not) represent only amplitudes of the resulting quantities at the
same frequencies.

86
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 4
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

Exercise 4: In this exercise, we will perform a harmonic analysis of an alternator

Harmonic bracket. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
Analysis of  Harmonic Analysis Basics on page 76
Alternator  Harmonic Study Properties on page 81
Bracket

Problem A vehicle alternator from

Statement Exercise 3: Transient Analysis
of Alternator Bracket on
page 65 is now going to be
analyzed on the harmonic load
caused by the imbalance of the
engine.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Alternator from the Lesson03\Exercises folder.
2 Create a Linear Dynamic Study.
Create a Linear Dynamic, Harmonic study named Harmonic
analysis.
3 Define shell.
Define Thick shells on the three top
faces, and on the left side face of the
Bracket.
Enter 3 mm for the Shell thickness.
4 Specify material.
Assign Copper to Inner_Body of
the alternator, Alloy Steel to
Outer_Body and Casing, and Plain
Carbon Steel to Shaft, Pin and
Bracket.
5 Exclude Pins.
Exclude from Analysis all four Pin parts.
Note The mass of the Pin parts is negligible when compared to the mass of
the remaining alternator components.

87
Exercise 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

6 Define remote masses.

Treat as Remove Mass all remaining components of the alternator
(Casing, Inner_Body, Outer_Body and Shaft).
Use the four edges on the shell face
for Faces, edges or vertices for
Remote Mass.

7 Restraints.
Define Fixed Geometry fixture on the two
circular edges of the bolt holes.
8 Mesh.
Create High quality Curvature-based
mesh with the default Maximum element
size of 7.44 mm.
9 Run frequency study.
Run Frequency study and solve it for 15
natural frequencies.
10 List natural frequencies.
Note that range of the first
fifteen natural frequencies
from 33.1 Hz to 5501.8
Hz.

Note Observe that only the 1st frequency is included in the frequency range
of the base excitation (upper limit of the excitation is 100 Hz). The ratio
of the highest natural frequency to the maximum loading frequency, 55
(5501.8 / 100), is rather high, indicating that not all 15 frequencies may
be required for this simulation.

88
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 4
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

11 List mass participation factor.

The cumulative values of the mass participation factor are well above
the recommended value of 0.8.
12 Base motion.
Specify the Acceleration,
Uniform Base Excitation in
the magnitude of 2 g.
Use the Top plane as a
reference, and orient the
excitation direction downward.

Under Variation with Frequency,

specify the following data points.
Click OK twice to close the base
excitation definition.

13 Damping.
Specify 0.02 for modal Damping Ratio for all 15 natural modes.

89
Exercise 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

14 Set up Properties of the study.

In the Harmonic Options tab, specify 0 Hz for Lower Limit, and 100
Hz for Upper Limit.
Click the Advanced Options button. On the Advanced tab increase
No. of points for each frequency to 20.
Note Because only the 1st natural frequency is included in the operating
range of the base excitation, we will request more calculation points
around this natural frequency value.
15 Result Options.
For Save Results, choose the option For all solution steps.
Keep the rest of the options at their default setting.
16 Run the study.
This run takes about a minute to complete.
17 Review the displacement results.
Define the envelope plot for URES: Resultant Displacement.
Request Plot bounds across all steps, Maximum.

The maximum resultant displacement across all saved frequency steps

is 1.1 mm (0.043 in).

90
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 4
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

18 Graph displacement
response at the tip.
Right-click the Results folder
and select Define Response
Graph.
Click any node on the tip of
the bracket.
For the Y axis, select
Displacement, UY: Y
Displacement in mm.
Click OK.

Notice that the maximum displacement occurs when the frequency of

the exciting base motion coincides with the 1st natural frequency of the
bracket.

91
Exercise 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Harmonic Analysis of Alternator Bracket

92
 Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Analyze the maximum response of objects with loading in the form
of a spectrum.
 Perform response spectrum analysis.

93
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

Response So far, we have learned about transient and harmonic analysis. In

Spectrum transient analysis, we calculate the entire response of a structure that is
Analysis subjected to some loading (curve) in time. As you can imagine, the
transient analysis can become time consuming as the loading becomes
more and more complicated because the time step will be reduced
further and further depending on the complexity of the loading and the
natural frequencies you use in the solution.
Sometimes, you may only be interested in the peak response of the
structure, and not the entire time history solution. In this situation, you
can use the response spectrum analysis. It is significantly less time
consuming than a traditional transient analysis and also can provide
insight into the severity of some transient loads.
Response The input for response spectrum analysis is the response spectrum. It is
Spectrum defined as the maximum (peak) response of a single degree of freedom
oscillator plotted versus its natural frequency.
To construct the response spectrum, we need the transient acceleration
loading as a function of time. We then subject that excitation
acceleration to a single degree of freedom oscillator with some mass
and stiffness. If we know the mass and stiffness of the oscillator, we
know its natural frequency. We then measure the peak response
(typically acceleration) of the oscillator. That provides us with one data
point on the response spectrum. The peak response (again, typically
acceleration) is plotted on the y-axis while the natural frequency of the
oscillator is plotted on the x-axis.
We then repeat the process with an oscillator that has a different natural
frequency. We again measure the peak response due to the same
transient load, and plot it on the response spectrum.
This procedure must be done manually beforehand, as the response
spectrum is needed for the input in the analysis.

Peak Acceleration

Base Acceleration Excitation

94
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

Response A single degree of freedom oscillator has only one natural frequency.
Spectrum Analysis By calculating the response spectrum, we have obtained the peak
Procedure responses of many different single degree of freedom oscillators.
A finite element model has many degrees of freedom and many natural
frequencies. Each natural frequency can participate in the solution and
as we know, the magnitude of participation is dependent on the loading
direction. Because we have the response spectrum information on the
loading (peak response at all natural frequencies), we can sum the
responses of all the natural frequencies in the structure to obtain the
structure’s peak response. This is what the software is doing in the
response spectrum analysis.
Project In this lesson, we will perform a
Description response spectrum analysis on the
electronics inside a non-lethal
projectile. When a projectile is
dropped, it undergoes a shock load.
A test was run with an accelerometer
located on the electronics mounting
location. The transient acceleration Image courtesy of
TASER International
data was measured, and then the
method described above was used to convert the transient data to a
response spectrum. The response spectrum will be used as the input
into the analysis.
We will use the response spectrum analysis to study the peak response
of the structure to this applied shock loading.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open payload from the Lesson 04\Case Studies folder.
2 Configuration.
Make sure that the board only configuration is active.
This configuration has the battery pack suppressed. For the purposes of
this analysis, we will assume that the electronics board is rigidly
connected to the battery pack. Additionally, the stiffness of the battery
pack is significantly greater than that of the board.
We will also assume that the loading data taken during the simulation
comes from the position where the board is mounted to the battery
pack.

95
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

3 Define study.
Define a Linear Dynamic , Response Spectrum Analysis study
and name it SRS.

Note SRS stands for shock response spectrum as our spectrum was
constructed from a transient shock load.
4 Materials.
All material properties are automatically transferred from
SOLIDWORKS. Notice that the board is modeled as a shell with a
thickness of 0.5mm.
5 Global contact.
Be sure that the Global Contact condition is set to Bonded.
6 Fixtures.
Apply a Fixed Geometry fixture to the back
face of the board where it connects to the battery
pack.
This fixture assumes that the battery pack is
very rigid compared to the board. Additionally,
this is where the base excitation will be input, so
we are also assuming this was the location of
our data collection.

7 Mesh.
Mesh the model with the default settings. Use
the Curvature based mesh.

8 Study properties.
Set the study properties to calculate 75 frequencies to be used in the
analysis.
9 Run frequency analysis.

96
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

10 Resonant frequencies.
List the resonant frequencies.

11 Mass participation factor.

List the mass participation factors.

We see that in the y-direction, we have achieved the recommended

mass participation of 0.8. We should however remember that this does
not guarantee that all important modes are included in the model.

97
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

12 Plot the last mode shape.

Generate a plot for mode shape 75.
Notice the shape of the plot is
quite smooth. This mesh looks to
be good enough to proceed with
the solution.
As in other dynamic simulations,
the results are highly dependent on
the quality of the mesh.
Sometimes it is necessary to re-
mesh and re-run the model to
insure that the frequency results
are not significantly affected by
the mesh.
13 Base motion.
Under the External Loads folder, specify the acceleration Uniform
Base Excitation in the y-direction with magnitude 1 g.

98
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

Under Variation with Frequency,

click the Edit button and specify
the following data points.
Make sure the Units are set to Hz.
Click OK twice.

Response The input response spectrum curve comes from experimental test data.
Spectrum Input As was described previously, a drop test experiment was run with an
accelerometer mounted to the chip mounting location. Experimental
data was taken at this location and then processed into a response
spectrum to be input into the software. When creating the response
spectrum, it is always best to use data taken from an experiment
representative of the real loading condition that excites the structure. If
no data is available, you may refer to MILS-STD-810 for sample
curves for a generic loading condition.
The experimental curve and curve used as our input are plotted and
shown below.

Image courtesy of TASER International

99
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

14 Study properties.
Right-click the study name and select Properties.
Select the Response Spectrum Options tab.
Set the Mode Combination Method to Square Root Sum of Squares
(SRSS).
Set the Curve Interpolation method to Logarithmic.

100
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

Mode Combination The mode combination method that is selected defines how the
Method response of each mode is summed to compute the peak response to the
input excitation. Each mode has some peak response that occurs at
some time instance. To obtain the overall peak response, the responses
of all individual modes must be summed and included in the solution.
In SOLIDWORKS Simulation, we have four different ways to combine
the peaks for a solution. The modal combination method to be used in
the analysis should be specified by the designer.
 Square Root of the Sum of Squares (SRSS)
This method takes the square root of the sum of the squares of the
maximum responses.
 Absolute Sum
This method assumes that the maximum responses occur at the
same time instant. It is simply a summation of the maximum
responses. This method typically provides an overly conservative
result.
 Complete Quadratic Combination (CQC)
This method is based on random vibration theory and is thought of
as an improvement of the SRSS method for modes that are closely
spaced.
 Navy Research Laboratory (NRL)
This is another method that removes the peak response of all modes
and adds it to the SRSS of all other modes.

15 Run.
Run the study.
16 Displacement results.
Plot the resultant
displacement.

Notice that the peak

displacements occur at the
edge of the board away
from the fixture.

101
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

17 Acceleration results.
Plot the resultant acceleration.

Again, the peak acceleration occurs at the edge of the board.

18 Stress results.
Plot the von Mises stress.

Notice the maximum stress of 40.7 MPa occurs in the ceramic

porcelain small chip. We would compare this to the yield strength of
the material to make a determination of failure.

102
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 4
Response Spectrum Analysis

Summary In this lesson, we performed a response spectrum analysis on an

electronics board in a non-lethal projectile. The peak responses that the
board will see when the projectile is dropped were calculated. The
response spectrum curve input into the software was obtained from a
representative experiment.
We learned how the response spectrum is generated as well as how the
solution is obtained. We also reviewed the different modal combination
methods available in SOLIDWORKS Simulation. It is recommended to
try the different modal combination methods to see how the results are
affected. Typically, the modal combination method will be specified by
the designer.
To make a conclusion on the integrity of the design is difficult. Often
times, a maximum acceleration that the electronics can sustain is
known. Additionally, failure can occur when something breaks off of
the board. The failure mode should be known before in order to make a
conclusion on the design.

Questions  In SRS analysis, the input (is / is not) entered as a function of the
load amplitudes on the loading frequency.
 SRS (Shock response spectrum) and VRS (Vibration response
spectrum) (does / does not) represent the maximum response of a
single degree of freedom system on the given load.

103
Lesson 4 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Response Spectrum Analysis

104
 Lesson 5
Random Vibration Analysis
According to MIL-STD-810G

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Perform random vibration analysis.
 Understand the input and output of the random vibration analysis.

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Random Vibration Analysis According to MIL-STD-810G

Project A cabinet securing the electronics

Description equipment is mounted on the deck of
a ship. In this lesson, we will subject
this cabinet to the functional
qualification random vibration test
levels according to MIL-STD-810G,
Method 514.5. The result of this test
can be used to determine possible
critical design regions as well as the
random input levels for the
electronics enclosures mounted in the
cabinet. The model used in our
analysis houses three electronic
enclosures modeled as boxes attached
to the inner cage racks. The masses
and other relevant information are
specified within the lesson.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 5
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1 Open an assembly file.

Open 300series from the Lesson05\Case Study folder.

Notice that the assembly is already simplified; multiple small bolt and
mounting holes not required for the analyses were suppressed to ease
the meshing and computations.

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2 Simplify and review the model.

Analyze the front panel component.
This panel is attached to the rest of the
structure with the slide mounts which
do not provide significant stiffness. The
front panel will therefore be
eliminated from the analysis and its
mass will be modeled using the
distributed mass feature.
Make sure the configuration no front
panel is active.
Notice that the front panel as well as
the other components of less
significance were suppressed.
Also, notice the three boxes modeling
the presence of the electronic enclosures
mounted on the vertical racks inside of
the cabinet. The enclosures are assumed
to be rigid with a mass of 54 kg [120 lbm] each. The rest of the typical
payload, approximately 180 kg [400 lbm], will be modeled using the
distributed mass features.
3 Random vibration study.
A Dynamics-random dynamic study was defined beforehand.
4 Review the shell features.
The sheet metal components are modeled as shells; review the
corresponding shell features. Rubber mounts and small parts of the
model such as Gussets are modeled as solids.
5 Review materials.
All components but the rubber mounts are manufactured from 5052-
H32 Aluminum Alloy. The mounts are manufactured from Neoprene.
For the purpose of our simulation, Rubber material from the database
is used.
All materials are already assigned.
6 Review Equipment thicknesses.
Also, review the Thickness that was assigned to the Equipment shell
features. With Young's modulus of 5052 - H32 Aluminum and a
Thickness of 25mm [1in] their stiffness is sufficiently high.

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7 Mesh.
Mesh the model with the Draft elements
and the following Curvature Mesh
parameters:
Maximum element size: 65 mm.
Minimum element size: 15 mm.
Min number of elements in a circle: 6.
Elements size growth ratio: 1.5.
Notice the three shell features connected to
the Inner cage EIA RAILS. To simplify
the analysis, the mass-less (very small mass
is assigned to these features) shell mesh
features with considerable thickness are
used to approximate the electronic
enclosures and give the components higher stiffness. The masses of the
enclosures are then modeled using the distributed mass feature.
8 Contacts.
The model features multiple Bonded contacts already defined in the
Connections folder. Review the sets, and familiarize yourself with the
definitions of the mixed contacts in complex assemblies.
Notice that No Penetration contacts are not used. Because random
vibration analysis is essentially of a steady state type, it requires
constant stiffness matrix and No Penetration contact is not allowed.
No Penetration contact implies that stiffness of the model may change
as the configuration of the contact condition changes. This theory
limitation is, however, not a serious obstacle as typically No
Penetration contacts are not required; the assumptions on Bonded or
Allow Penetration contacts are sufficient. Review the Frequency
Analysis of Assemblies lesson of the SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Professional training manual for more information on this subject.

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Random Vibration Analysis According to MIL-STD-810G

9 Apply restraints.
Apply Fixed Geometry fixtures on the ten cylindrical openings in the
BASE WELDMENT.
Tip You may use the exploded view for easier definition of this boundary
condition.

Note You should select the faces of the openings, not the edges. The BASE
WELDMENT components are modeled using solid elements.
10 Equipment shell features.
As mentioned earlier, the mass-less shell features representing the rigid
enclosures (Equipment 1 - 3) are important due to their stiffness
contribution. To eliminate the mass contribution of these shell features,
the mass density for their material needs to be set to a very low value.
Review Material of the Equipment shell features and verify that their
mass density is set to 10 kg/m^3. This value is approximately 200 times
smaller than the mass of the 5052- H32 Aluminum Alloy used to
manufacture most of the cabinet components.

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Distributed Mass Distributed mass, the second feature enabling us to simplify the
dynamic analysis by reducing the number of included components
(remote mass was introduced in Lesson 2) uniformly distributes the
mass of the excluded components onto the selected load bearing faces.
Contrary to the remote mass feature, no stiffness of the excluded
components is modeled during the simulation.

11 Mass of the electronic

enclosures.
Apply 162 kg [360 lbm]
Distributed Mass to the three
shell features representing the
electronics enclosures.

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12 Other payload mass.

Apply 180 kg [400 lbm] Distributed
Mass to the eight front and rear
vertical faces of the EIA RAILS.

13 Front panel mass.

Apply 10 kg [22 lbm] Distributed
Mass to the two front vertical faces
of CORNER POST RIGHT and
CORNER POST LEFT
components.

14 Frequency analysis.
Run Frequency analysis for 65 modes. Use FFEPlus solver.

Note FFEPlus solver solves this problem faster.

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Random Vibration Analysis According to MIL-STD-810G

15 List the natural frequencies.

The lowest and highest resonant frequencies are equal to 4.9 Hz and
104 Hz, respectively.
16 List the mass participation factor.

The cumulative value of the mass participation factor is above the

recommended value of 0.8 for each direction. However, it was
discussed in Lesson 2 that a value of 0.8 does not guarantee that a
sufficient number of modes are used for the dynamic analysis, and also
that this value does not always have to be achieved. The best way to
judge the dynamic analysis results is to make sure that the mesh is fine
enough to discretize the model and the highest natural mode shape.
Also, if possible, the analysis should always be re-run with finer mesh
and higher number of modes to verify that the results are converged.

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17 Plot the 1st natural mode shape.

As expected, the Inner cage in the first
natural mode oscillates on the resilient
Mounts nearly independently of the Outer
cage.
You can also Animate this mode shape.

18 Plot the last natural mode shapes.

Plot and verify that a few last modes shapes are
discretized sufficiently.
The figure to the right shows the last mode,
mode #65.

Note The components mutually penetrating in this (and any other) modal
shape plot do not indicate physical penetration; it is the magnification
scale of the plot which amplifies the displacements to the extent that
they appear as penetrating.

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19 Verify bonded contact conditions.

It is highly recommended that the bonded contacts are verified using
the modal shape plots; this holds especially true if analyzing complex
mixed mesh models with multiple bonded conditions. It is very easy to
mistakenly omit some of the bonded conditions which would yield
incorrect results.
Scan through and Plot a couple of modal shapes and Animate them.
Then, by looking at the animation, verify that the bonded conditions are
reflected correctly and no two parts or interfaces are flying apart (a sign
of incorrect or missing bonded contact).
Note This procedure can also be used effectively when building a complex
Static stress analysis model. One would have to copy all the stress
study features into a Frequency study, and the resulting modal shapes
would reveal potential problems.
We can now proceed with the random vibration analysis.

Random Vibration Random vibration analysis solves dynamic problems involving loads
Analysis which are difficult (or impossible) to characterize using common
mathematical functions. Such loads are called nondeterministic; see the
figure below for an example of such loading history.
Load

Time

Because the exact description of the loading history is difficult, or

impossible, it is common to describe it using its statistical
characteristics.

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Random Vibration Analysis According to MIL-STD-810G

Random Loading The following assumptions are commonly introduced on the random
History loading history:
Assumptions
 Stationary random load
Random loading is stationary when its statistical characteristics do
not change over time. The corollary of this assumption is that any
part of the loading time history is enough to obtain correct statisti-
cal characteristics of the entire loading. The example of stationary
random loading history can be seen in the image below.
Load

Time

The assumption of a stationary load does not pose too much diffi-
culty since from the engineering perspective any part of a random
loading history can be assumed as stationary. For example, take off,
cruising, and landing of an aircraft represent three distinct loading
histories during the flight. However, each can be treated separately
as stationary over a large period of time.

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 Random loading history satisfies Gaussian probability

distribution
The example of a typical bell curve for the Gaussian probability
distribution function can be seen in the figure below.
p(x)

– -------------------
x – m -
2

1
p  x  = -------------- e
2
2
 2

34.1% 34.1%

13.6% 13.6%

2.1% 2.1% x

Basic statistical characteristics used in the random vibration theory are:

m = --1-  x  t  dt
T
 Mean value:
T
0

---  x 2  t  dt
T
1
 Root Mean Square: RMS =
T
0

 = RMS – m
2 2 2
 Variance:

 Standard deviation: 
Mean value from the loading history shown in the previous figures is
constant and can be treated using traditional static stress analysis. It is
therefore not needed in the random vibration analysis, and we subtract
it from our random loading history. An important consequence is that
setting m = 0 yields the following expression for variance and standard
deviation:
 = RMS

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Lesson 5 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
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As we will see, RMS is one of the two major result quantities obtained
from the random vibration analysis. According to the above equation, it
represents one standard deviation (1 ) of the magnitude of the
resulting amplitude (of the displacements, velocities, acceleration or
stresses).

Power Spectral Because the random loading can not be clearly resolved in the time
Density Function domain, it is transformed into the frequency domain using Fourier
transformation. As a consequence, we loose the information about the
period but gain information about the frequency content of the loading
signal. Such decomposed signal can then be used as input in the
random vibration analysis. Similar to the harmonic analysis, random
vibration analysis is therefore performed in the frequency domain.
Due to certain mathematical limitations of the Fourier transformation,
the procedure stated above cannot be directly applied, however.
Instead, using the time loading histories, we construct a so-called auto-
correlation function first. Then, the Fourier transform of this auto-
correlation function results in a function which is referred to as power
spectral density (PSD). Power spectral density also provides full
information about the frequency content of the loading signal and is
used as direct input into the random vibration analysis. (The detailed
description of the above procedure goes beyond the scope of this text
and the user is referred to the literature referenced at the end of this
lesson.)
Depending on the type of the measured loading signal, we can input
power spectral density of displacements, velocities or accelerations.
Due to the physical limitations of the test equipment (shaker tables),
PSD of the velocities or displacements is not typically used; it is the
industry standard to use the acceleration PSD for the input load
characterization.

How to Obtain Power spectral density function serves as input into random vibration
Power Spectral analysis. If one has available measured data (displacement, velocities
Density Function? or accelerations), the power spectral density can be obtained using the
available commercial software.
In many instances, however, measured data is not readily available.
This is typically a situation when a designed component is intended for
use on a military aircraft or naval ship and similar environments. It is
usually the responsibility of a customer to supply relevant PSD input
data. Frequently, the designer is referred to a relevant standard which
must be met. In this lesson, we demonstrate a very common example of
a cabinet mounted on the deck of a ship. Often such design must be
tested in accordance with the MIL-STD-810G standard, which is also
utilized in this lesson. Requirements of the customers may vary,
however.

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Units of the Power Units of the Power Spectral Density are:

Spectral Density
 Units of Quantity 
2
---------------------------------------------------
Units of Frequency
For the acceleration PSD, the following unit and conversions in the
English EPS system of units can be used:

 in  s –2 
1 ------- = 386.4 ----------------------
in  s –2  = 386.4
2 2 2 2
g 2
--------------- ----------------------
-
-
Hz 2 rad  s
–1
Hz
In the Metric system, the following conversions would be used:

 m  s –2 
1 ------- = 9.81 ---------------------
m  s –2  - = 9.81
2 2 2 2
g 2
------------ ---------------------
-
Hz Hz 2 rad  s –1
2
g-
The most common unit used to characterize the acceleration PSD is ------
Hz
,
which also eliminates any dependency on the unit system.
Power Spectral Density is used for the input. It is also equally
important for the output quantities such as velocities, accelerations and
stress. Together with the Root Mean Square values of the amplitudes,
they are the two most important output quantities from the random
vibration analysis.

20 Loading PSD acceleration.

According to the MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.5, functional
qualification random vibration test levels for a material installed in the
ship environment are to be subjected to the acceleration PSD shown in
the figure below.

Important! The frequency of the highest natural mode characterizing the structure,
103 Hz, should always be larger than the highest important frequency
of the load, 100 Hz.

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The loading frequency range is in the interval of 1 - 100 Hz, indicating

that the typical material on board ships is subjected to the acceleration
oscillations in the specified range.
Specify Uniform Base Excitation in the global
X direction.
Under Type select Acceleration, and specify
g^2/Hz as the Unit.
Click the Edit button and enter the specified
acceleration PSD curve data.

Note Make sure that the units of the frequency are set to Hz.

Overall Level of Power Spectral Density function is used to characterize certain random
Acceleration PSD loading in random vibration analysis. It not only provides information
about the frequency content of the input signal (acceleration), it also
indirectly provides information about the overall level of the input
oscillations. Overall level of the input signal can be obtained by
integrating the PSD curve over the requested frequency range. Because
most of the input PSD curves are specified in the units of g2/Hz, the
overall level is then expressed in the units of gRMS (Root Mean Square
of the acceleration input signal in the units of g). More often the
notation GRMS is used instead.
In our case, the integration of the input PSD curve (step 20) results in
the overall level of the input oscillations equal to 0.315 GRMS.

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Decibels Often, the specified input PSD values or overall levels of the input
signals are increased or decreased in terms of the units of decibels [dB].
The new value is calculated using the formula:
dB
 ----------
10 
-
New value = Old value  10  for PSD curve values in the units of
2  
g /Hz, and:
dB
 ----------
20 
-
New level = Old level  10  for the overall level of the input signal
 
in the units of GRMS.

 dB represents the increase or decrease of the PSD curve values or

overall levels in decibels.
For the definition of a decibel unit, please consult the internet
(www.wikipedia.org, for example) or available literature on the subject.

21 Damping.
Specify 0.025 Modal damping for all 65 modes.
22 Result locations.
Since we expect the extremes of the
output quantities to occur at the locations
of the natural frequencies, full data
storage will only be requested for these
locations. Review the sensor defining
these locations.
The selected vertices represent important
locations where either electronic
equipment or other devices may be
mounted. Also, locations on both the
inner and outer cages were selected to
analyze the output characteristics on the
structure of the cabinet.

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23 Set Result Options.

Under Save Results, select For Specified
solution steps.
Under Solution Steps - Set1, enter the values
for the Start, End, and Increment shown in
the figure.
Under Quantity, keep the default selection; all
quantities will therefore be saved.

Note The Start, End, and Increment parameter

values are determined with reference to the
Number of frequency points parameter
specified in the study properties in the next
step.
Storage of the data on the disk may become a
problem for larger models and higher number
of the frequency data points. Selection of the
PSD Stresses significantly increases the disk
storage requirements.
Under the Locations for Graphs, select the
following locations for graphing of the PSD results. Full data at all
frequency steps is saved at these locations.
24 Study properties.
In the study, under the
Random Vibration Options
tab, specify Cycles/sec (Hz)
as Units.
Set the Lower limit and
Upper limit of the exciting
frequency to 0 and 100 Hz,
respectively.
For the Number of
frequency points, enter 5.
Under Correlation, select
Fully correlated.

Important! The Number of frequency points option should not, in general, be set
too low because it directly effects the accuracy of the RMS results. In
this lesson we use a value of 5 which should be considered as a
minimum for this type of analysis.

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25 Set up the advanced

options.
Click the Advanced Options
button.
Select Standard for the
Method, 2-pt for the Gauss
integration order, and 2 for
the Biasing parameter.
Leave the Cross-mode cut-
off ratio at the default value of 10000000000.

Random Study The following parameters need to be specified for the random study:
Properties Units, Upper limit, Lower limit: Parameters specifying units and the
limit of the loading PSD curve. In some instances, the Upper limit and
Lower limit specify the considered range which may be smaller than
the frequency limits of the PSD curve.
Number of frequency points: The number of frequency points
parameter specifies how many points are considered for the analysis in
between every two adjacent natural frequency points. Because the
extremes of the output quantities such as accelerations, displacements,
velocities, or stresses are expected to occur at the natural frequency
locations, these frequency points are automatically considered as data
points. The value of this parameter should not be set too low because it
effects accuracy of the RMS results.
Correlation: This defines how much correlation between the nodes of
the finite element model is required during the solution process. It is
recommended that the Fully correlated option is always used. The Fully
uncorrelated option should only be used if the system lacks sufficient
computation power. The Partially correlated option is not used
frequently and should be used by advanced users only.

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Advanced Options Method: The following options are available for Method:
 Standard selected: Full random vibration solution is performed.
This option should always be used unless not enough computation
power is available.
 Approximate: This method assumes that PSD of the exciting
quantity is locally constant (i.e., each model is excited by a white
noise of a different magnitude). This option should only be used if
the system lacks sufficient power and the input PSD resembles the
white noise locally. The input PSD in this lesson is a good example,
as it is constant over the entire considered frequency range.
Biasing parameter: This parameter defines how the frequency points
specified in the Number of frequency points option are spaced. A value
of 1 ensures evenly distributed data; any value larger than 1 pushes
points towards the natural frequency data locations. The typical value
for this parameter is 2.
Cross-mode cut-off ratio: Modes with very large frequency spacing
may not interact significantly. Two modes with their frequency ratio
larger than the value of this parameter will be treated as non-
interacting. It is suggested that this value is kept at its default value of
10,000,000,000.
Gauss integration order: RMS of the resulting quantity (RMS of
displacements, for example) is obtained by numerically integrating the
resulting PSD function (PSD of the displacements, for example). This
option lets you select the integration order. The higher selection
represents higher accuracy, but slower performance.

26 Run the analysis.

It takes approximately 25 minutes for the analysis to complete.

RMS Results Root Mean Square (RMS) results provide information on the levels of
the output amplitudes (of displacements, velocities, accelerations,
stresses, etc.). Because it is assumed that the Mean value m = 0, RMS
directly equals to the one standard deviation (1 ) of the output
quantity.
RMS does not provide any information about the frequency at which
the output quantities oscillate and, therefore, what energies are
involved (1 in/s^2 at 5 Hz feels very different from 1 in/s^2 at 50 Hz).

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27 RMS of displacements, velocities and accelerations.

Plot RMS of the resultant displacements, velocities and accelerations.

It can be observed that the maximum RMS (or 1 ) displacement,

velocity and acceleration are 4.8 mm, 162 mm/s and 2.37g
(23,260 mm/s^2). These values must now be compared against the
customer specifications to decide whether the design of the cabinet
passes or fails. Also, note that the location of the maximum
displacements and velocities is different from the location of the
maximum acceleration.

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28 Probe results.
Using the above plots, determine the value
of the displacement, velocity and
acceleration at the top enclosure location.
The plot at right shows the RMS resultant
acceleration value at the requested
location. The table below summarized all
RMS values for this location.

Displacement Velocity Acceleration

4.14 mm 141 mm/s 0.5 g (approx. 4905 mm/s^2)

29 RMS of stresses.
Plot RMS of the von Mises stress.
It can be observed that the
maximum RMS von Mises stress
is 85.2 MPa. This stress magnitude
is rather small and occurs in the
vicinity of the bolt hole. Stresses in
the vicinity of the bolt hole or
contact definition tend to be not
well defined or singular.

30 Change the stress limits.

To determine distribution of real
RMS stresses in the cabinet walls,
reduce the upper limit of the
legend to approximately 15 MPa.
It can be observed that, apart from
the edges of the bolt holes, the
maximum RMS of stresses occurs
in between the bolt openings. RMS
stresses in the rest of the cabinet
walls are very small.

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PSD Results PSD results provide information about the frequency characteristics of
the output.
PSD does not provide information about the actual levels (RMS values)
of the displacements, velocities, accelerations and stresses.

31 Acceleration PSD graph.

Create a response graph of the resultant acceleration PSD at the
selected vertex on the top enclosure shelf.

PSD is a frequency dependent quantity. The values in the graph show

how each frequency contributes to the resultant acceleration output. It
can be observed that the most significant contribution to the signal
occurs at the frequency of approximately 5.39 Hz. It can therefore be
concluded that the predominant response of the cabinet will occur at
approximately the second natural frequency of 5.39 Hz.

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32 Acceleration PSD graph.

Create an identical graph at the same location on the middle enclosure
shell.

We can observe identical variation with the maximum at the same

frequency of 5.39 Hz.
Combining RMS and PSD results at the vertex location on the top
enclosure shell, we can conclude that the electronics enclosure would
oscillate predominantly at 5.39 Hz with the 1 resultant acceleration
amplitudes of 0.52g; this or smaller amplitude would then occur for
68.2% of the time.

1, 2, 3, … To obtain results with higher level or probability (2 , 3 , or 4 , etc.),
Results one needs to multiply the RMS result by 2, 3, 4, etc. The table below
shows magnitudes for higher  values. The last column lists the
corresponding probabilities assuming the Gaussian distribution of the
output signal.

1 (one standard deviation) 0.52 g 68.2%

2 1.04 g 95.4%

3 1.56 g 99.6%
.

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33 Acceleration PSD contour plots.

Using the graph above, we determined
the predominant output signal frequency
of 5.39 Hz. Plot distribution of the
resultant acceleration PSD at this
frequency value.
The above plot shows the maximum
resultant acceleration PSD value of 6.94
g^2/Hz at the front location of the inner
cage. This would indicate that this
location feels the least comfortable. This
maximum value must now be compared
against the customer limits to determine
whether the design passes or fails.
To scan the PSD values for the maximums over all of the frequency
steps, we can request the envelope plot.
34 Acceleration PSD contour plots.
Create a new plot of the resultant
acceleration PSD. Under Advanced
Options, check Show PSD value.
Under Plot Step, check Plot bounds
across all steps. The resulting bound
plot can be seen below.
The maximum value indicated in the
plot above is practically the same as in
the previous contour plot. It was
previously found that the maximum
resultant acceleration PSD value
occurs at the frequency of 5.39 Hz. The
Plot bounds across all steps option
must show the same global maximum. However, notice that the
distribution of the contours in the two plots above is different.

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Summary In this lesson, we analyzed the performance of a shipboard deck-

mounted cabinet when subjected to the functional qualification random
test levels according to MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.5.
Due to the complexity of this model, the contacts and shells were
specified beforehand. Also, the model of the cabinet was already
simplified by eliminating all the unnecessary features.
The cabinet is used to house electronics mounted on the inner cage
rails. Typical payload for this class of cabinet is in the range of 350 kg
(770 lbm). The enclosures mounted on the rails were modeled using
shell features with considerable thickness and negligible mass density.
This enabled us to simulate the necessary stiffness contribution of the
enclosures to the overall stiffness of the cabinet. The mass of the
enclosures was then modeled using the distributed mass feature. The
front door of the cabinet was not meshed; rather, its mass was again
modeled using the distributed mass feature.
The lesson showed the input of the random acceleration PSD based on
the MIL-STD-810G and discussed the basics of the random vibration
analysis and its parameters used during the setup of the study.
In the last section of the lesson, a considerable portion was allocated to
the discussion of the results. It was shown that two major types of the
results in the random vibration analysis are root mean square (RMS)
and power spectral density (PSD). While RMS provides information on
the actual amplitudes of the result quantities (displacements, velocities,
accelerations, stresses, etc.), PSD shows the information on the
frequency content of the output.

References D. E. Newland, An Introduction to Random Vibrations, Spectral &

Wavelet Analysis, 2005.
L. D. Lules and S. Sarkani, Random Vibrations, 2004.
L. Meirovitch, Elements of Vibration Analysis, 1986.

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Questions  The distributed mass feature introduced in this lesson (does / does
not) correctly model the mass magnitude of a part simulated with
this feature. It (does / however does not) account for its shape.
 In random vibration theory we assume that the input random signal
(random loading) follows the Gaussian distribution. Thus, the
output signal (simulation solution) (is / is not) also of a Gaussian
type. This (is / is not) characteristic of most of the other statistical
distributions.
 The primary solution from the random vibration problem is the
(PSD / RMS) result. To compute the (PSD / RMS) result, software
must integrate the (PSD / RMS) curve. To achieve better accuracy,
a higher number of frequency solution points is recommended.
 What is the advantage of using the units of g^2/Hz in the PSD
specification of the loading environments as opposed to (m/s^2)^2/
Hz or (in/s^2)^2/Hz?
 RMS result (does / does not) indicate the output level of 1. To
obtain an output level of, for example, 3, the RMS result (needs to
/ cannot simply) be multiplied by a factor of 3.
 The probability of the output levels of acceleration between zero
and the reported RMS acceleration result (is / is not) 68.2%. The
same (does / does not) apply to the RMS of displacements, and
velocities. The same (does also / however does not) apply to RMS
of stresses.
 You are given a PSD curve corresponding to an overall GRMS
level of 1.2. The specification requires that you increase this level
by 3 decibels. What will be your new GRMS level?

131
Exercise 5 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

Exercise 5: In this exercise, we will perform a random vibration analysis on the

Random electronics enclosure. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
Vibration  Random Vibration Analysis on page 115
Analysis of an  RMS Results on page 124
Electronics  Random Study Properties on page 123
Enclosure

Problem The electronics enclosure mounted inside

Statement of the shipboard cabinet analyzed in this
lesson is to be subjected to the random
vibration levels specified for the
functional qualification test as per MIL-
STD-810G, Method 514.5. Because the
enclosure is housed in the cabinet it will
be loaded by the acceleration PSD
computed in the lesson. We would like to
find the RMS and PSD of the output
quantities.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Electronic_Assembly assembly from the Lesson05\
Exercises\Electronics Enclosure folder.
A Random Vibration study with all the model features (materials,
fixtures and contacts) identical to those used in Lesson 2 was defined
beforehand.
2 Specify acceleration PSD input.
Define the Uniform Base Excitation acceleration PSD input in the
negative global X direction.
The curve data can be found in the acceleration PSD.xlsx file in the
Exercises folder. Make sure that you specify Units of (m/s^2)^2/Hz.

132
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 5
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

Notice how this input acceleration PSD differs from the input
acceleration PSD specified in Lesson 5.

Note The base excitation acceleration PSD must be specified for the same
orientation as the input levels for the cabinet analysis in Lesson 5.
Because the functional qualification test requires the simulation along
all three orthogonal directions, it is necessary to perform the analysis
three times. Alternatively, one may also elect to include the electronic
enclosure boxes directly in the cabinet analyses; however, this can pose
a problem due to increased complexity of the mesh and size of the
problem.
3 Mesh.
Create Draft quality mesh with the default element Global size of
4.42mm. Use the Standard mesh.
4 Frequency analysis.
Run the Frequency analysis for 65 modes.
Note It was determined in Lesson 2 that 65 modes are sufficient for the
dynamic analysis of this enclosure.

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Exercise 5 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

5 Review the natural frequencies and the modes.

f 1 = 49.73 Hz

f 65 = 1556.4 Hz

We can observe the lowest and highest frequencies as 49.7 Hz and

1556.4 Hz, respectively. Also, the description of the highest mode is
sufficient.

134
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 5
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

6 Random study properties.

Set the Upper limit to 100 Hz
and the Number of
frequency points to 2.

In the Advanced Options, set

the Biasing parameter to 2.

7 Result Options.
Set the Save Results option to For all solution steps.
Note The Locations for Graphs field is not available when For all
solutions steps is specified; all nodal results are stored already.
8 Damping.
Specify Modal damping ratio of 0.05 for all 65 modes.
9 Run random vibration study.

10 RMS results.
Because the input acceleration PSD excites the enclosure in the
X direction, the result quantities will be requested in this direction. You
should, however, always check the other directions or the resultants
because significant oscillations in other directions may exist as well.
Plot RMS of the displacements, velocities and accelerations in the
X direction.

135
Exercise 5 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

The plots above indicate the maximum RMS (or 1) magnitudes of
6.3e-4mm, 9.3e-2mm/s and 0.044g (388 mm/s^2) for the
displacements, velocities and accelerations, respectively.
Important! As we will see, these results may be inaccurate.

136
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 5
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

Accuracy of In order to compute correct RMS values and to accurately perform the
Random Vibration computations, a minimum number of computational points is required.
Results In Lesson 5, we selected 5 points between every two adjacent natural
frequency points. In addition, our loading frequency range (1 - 100 Hz)
contained numerous natural frequency points (the total number of
points in the frequency range 1 - 100 Hz was 270) sufficient for the
accurate numerical integrations and other computations.
In the present case, we choose only 2 points between every two
adjacent natural frequency points. Having only one natural frequency
included in the 1 - 100 Hz range, this brings the total number of points
to 5, which is insufficient.
To accurately solve the analysis, we should require at least 20 (but
preferably more) computational data points.
We will now rerun the model with a higher number of the data points
and compare the results.

11 Random study properties.

Increase the Number of frequency points parameter to 20.
12 Run random vibration study.

13 RMS results.
Plot RMS of the displacements, velocities and accelerations in the
X direction.

137
Exercise 5 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

The maximum RMS (or 1) magnitudes increased to 4.3e-3mm (32%

decrease), 0.3 mm/s (222% increase) and 0.44 g (2676 mm/s^2) (no
increase) for the displacements, velocities and accelerations,
respectively. For accelerations, the absolute maximum remained the
same, but the values over the body of the enclosure changed
significantly.
14 RMS of von Mises stress.
Plot the distribution of the RMS of the von Mises stress.

138
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 5
Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics Enclosure

We can observe that the maximum RMS (1) of the von Mises stress in
the enclosure is approximately 0.44 MPa (63.82 psi).
15 PSD acceleration response graph.
Plot the response graph for the x component of the acceleration PSD at
the two defined sensor locations.

We can observe that both curves peak at approximately 5.6 Hz with a

magnitude of 0.038 g^2/Hz. Other peaks, significantly smaller than the
peak at 17 HZ, can be observed as well.
The conclusion is that the enclosure will oscillate predominantly at a
frequency of 5.61 Hz with the:
1 acceleration amplitude of 0.44 g. This or smaller amplitude will
occur for 68.4% of the time.
2 acceleration amplitude of 2*0.44=0.88 g. This or smaller
amplitude will occur for 95.4% of the time.
3 acceleration amplitude of 3*0.44=1.32 g. This or smaller
amplitude will occur for 99.6% of the time.
Results for 4 or higher, or results for stresses and other quantities can
be obtained in a similar fashion.

139
Exercise 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates

Exercise 6: In this exercise, we will calculate circuit board fatigue estimates based
Circuit Board on our random vibration results.
Fatigue
Estimates

Project The electronics enclosure mounted inside of the shipboard cabinet was
Description analyzed in Exercise 5: Random Vibration Analysis of an Electronics
Enclosure on page 132 on the random vibration levels specified for the
functional qualification test, as per MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.5. In
that exercise, the enclosure was subjected to the excitation along the X
axis and it was the objective to determine the output levels of the
displacements, velocities, accelerations and stresses.
In this exercise, the cabinet with the enclosure mounted at the same
location is subjected to the same excitation in the Y direction. (The
MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.5 requires that the material is excited and
analyzed along three orthogonal directions.) Analyses identical to those
in Lesson 5 and Exercise 5: Random Vibration Analysis of an
Electronics Enclosure on page 132 have been carried out for the Y
direction excitation and the resulting PSD curve is stored in the
Lesson05\Exercises folder.
The objective of this exercise is to determine fatigue resistance of the
electronic components on 3 output levels according to the
approximate method described in Vibration Analysis for Electronic
Equipment by D. S. Steinberg.
1 Open an assembly file.
Open Electronic_Assembly from the Lesson05\Exercises\
Fatigue of Circuit Board folder.

140
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 6
Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates

2 Review random excitation.

Review the PSD acceleration excitation applied in the Y direction. This
curve was obtained from an analysis identical to the one in Lesson 5.

Note The PSD acceleration Y.xlsx document stored in the folder Fatigue
of Circuit Board contains the data.
3 Solve random vibration simulation.
Follow steps 3 to 9 from the previous exercise to complete the random
vibration simulation.
In the properties of the study, specify 20 for the Number of frequency
points.
4 RMS results.
Plot RMS of the displacements in the Y direction.

We can observe that the maximum RMS (or 1) magnitude of the
displacement in the Y direction is 1.8e-1 mm.

141
Exercise 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates

5 PSD response graphs.

Plot the response graph for the Y component of the acceleration and
displacement PSDs at the two sensor locations.

142
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 6
Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates

We can observe that both curves peak at approximately 4.06 Hz.

Acceleration and displacement PSDs show the maximums of 0.38 g^2/
Hz and 3.3e-3 mm^2/Hz.
The magnitudes of the peaks for the acceleration can be compared
against customer qualification limits to determine whether this design
passes. Displacement magnitude is not useful; commonly, acceleration
spectra are used only.
The important conclusion is, however, the predominant output
oscillation which occurs at approximately 4.06 Hz. This value will be
used for the fatigue calculations.

Fatigue of the In this exercise we will use the empirical formula from Vibration
Circuit Board Analysis for Electronic Equipment by D. S. Steinberg. According to
this publication, the 3 limiting displacement for 20 million cycles can
be obtained from:
Z 3limit = 0.00022B
-----------------------
Chr L
where
B = length of circuit board edge (in inches) parallel to the component
L = length of the electronic component in inches
h = circuit board thickness in inches
r = relative position factor for the component mounted on the board
C = constant for different types of electronic components
0.75 < C < 2.25
Let us assume that the
PCB has a standard dual
in line package soldered
at the location indicated
in the figure.

Then:
B = 3.36 in

143
Exercise 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Circuit Board Fatigue Estimates

Note that the distance used in the empirical formula is equal to the
distance between the supports, rather than the total length of the PCB
along the y edge.
L = 0.96 in
H = 0.03 in
r = 1 (the component is approximately
at the center of the distance between
the supports
C=1
Substituting these values into the above formula we obtain:

0.00022  3.36
Z 3limit = -------------------------------------------- = 0.025in
1  0.03  1  0.96

The maximum 3 displacement from our simulation is

3*1.8e-1=0.54mm*1in/25.4mm = 0.021 in. According to this empirical
approach, this electronic component would therefore pass the 20
million cycles criterion.

Conclusion If all of the oscillations occurred at amplitudes of 0.025 in levels

(nearly 1.17 according to our random computations), with the
predominant frequency of the stress reversal of 4.06 Hz, the life span of
this electronic component would be a minimum of 58 days.

References Steinberg D. S., Vibration Analysis For Electronic Equipment, 2000.

144
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 7
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

Exercise 7: In this exercise, we will perform a random vibration analysis on the

Random starter motor. This exercise reinforces the following skills:
Vibration  Random Vibration Analysis on page 115
Analysis of a  RMS Results on page 124
Starter Motor  Random Study Properties on page 123

Problem During the motor starting

Statement process, the starter motor
engages the spur gear of the
flywheel. This engagement
lasts from approximately
0.01 to 1.2 seconds. The
input data is obtained from
to the SAE and MIL-STD-
810G. We would like to find
the RMS and PSD of the
output quantities, and
understand the response of
the motor to this event.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open Starter_Motor assembly from the Lesson05\
Exercises\Motor folder.

145
Exercise 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

2 Define study.
Define a Linear Dynamic , Random Vibration study and name it
random vibration.
3 Specify material.
Assign 1060 Aluminum Alloy to Front_Cover, Cylindrical_Shell
and Back_cover, Alloy Steel to Pinion, Shaft and Solenoidal_body.
4 Fixtures.
Define Fixed Geometry fixture on the two
cylindrical holes of the Front_Cover.
5 Mesh.
Create High quality Curvature-based mesh with
the default Maximum element size of 17.06 mm.
6 Run frequency study.
Run Frequency study and solve it for 15 modes.
7 List natural
frequencies.
Note that range of the
first fifteen natural
frequencies from
167.2 Hz to 3492.9
Hz.

146
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 7
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

8 List mass participation factor.

The cumulative values of the mass participation factor are well above
the recommended value of 0.8.
9 Damping.
Specify 0.022 Modal damping for all 15 modes.
10 Loading PSD acceleration.
Specify the following Uniform Base
Excitation in the Along Plane Dir 2
direction, as indicated in the figure.
Enter 1 g^2/Hz as the magnitude.
Specified the acceleration PSD curve data as
shown in the figure below.

Note Note that only the 1st natural frequency of 167.2 Hz falls within the
range of the base excitation frequencies. More frequencies, however,
need to be included. In our case the ratio of the highest included natural
frequency to the highest base excitation frequency is approximately 7
(3492.9 / 500), which is ok. We will therefore keep all 15 natural
frequencies in the solution.

147
Exercise 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

11 Set Result Options.

Request storage For all solution steps.
Under the Locations for Graphs, select Workflow Sensitive 1
sensors defined beforehand.
12 Study properties.
In the study, under the Random Vibration Options tab, specify
Cycles/sec (Hz) as Units.
Set the Lower limit and Upper limit of the exciting frequency to 0 and
500 Hz, respectively.
For the Number of frequency points, enter 20. Because only one
natural frequency falls withing the computational range, we need to
include sufficient number of solution points to accurately integrate the
PSD curves.
Keep all other settings at their default values.
Click the Advanced Options button and make sure that Biasing
parameter is set to 2.
Keep again all other settings on the Advanced tab at their default
values.
13 Run the analysis.
It takes several minutes for the solution to complete.
14 RMS results.
Plot RMS of the resultant displacements, velocities and accelerations.

148
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 7
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

The plots above indicate the maximum RMS (or 1) magnitudes of
7.8e-3mm, 2.65e-3mm/s and 1.45g for the displacements, velocities
and accelerations, respectively.
15 RMS of von Mises stress.
Plot the distribution of the RMS of the von Mises stress.

149
Exercise 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Analysis of a Starter Motor

We can observe that the maximum RMS (1) of the von Mises stress in
the enclosure is approximately 11 MPa (1595 psi). Note, however, that
this stress is isolated. A solution with refined mesh is required for better
stress results.
16 PSD acceleration response graph.
Plot the response graph for ARES: Resultant Acceleration at the
sensor location on the starter.

We can observe that the peak response is at a frequency of

approximately 57 Hz, and not at the 1st natural frequency of 167.2 Hz
(the only natural frequency withing the excitation range). This confirms
the importance of including sufficient number of intermediate solution
points, especially in cases where only a few natural frequencies fall
withing the range of the excitation limit.

150
 Lesson 6
Random Vibration Fatigue

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Calculate fatigue analysis based on the random vibration dynamics
results.

151
Lesson 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue

Project A cabinet securing electronics

Description equipment was subjected in Lesson 5 to
the functional qualification random
vibration test levels according to MIL-
STD-810G, Method 514.5. In this lesson
you will continue with the random
vibration fatigue analysis. You will
determine whether the cabinet is able to
sustain the vibration levels for a period
of 10 years.

1 Open an assembly file.

Open 300series from the Lesson06\Case Study folder.
2 Random vibration study.
A random vibration dynamic study Dynamics-random was defined
beforehand.
Results from this study are already available.
3 Solve random vibration study.
It takes approximately 25 minutes for the analysis to complete.

Note Alternatively, you can use results calculated in Lesson 5.

4 Create fatigue study.
Create a new study named Fatigue. Select Fatigue as the analysis type
.
Click Random vibration-fatigue of random vibration option.

152
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 6
Random Vibration Fatigue

Random Vibration Fatigue damage assessment for components that operate in a random
Fatigue vibration environment is estimated in the frequency domain based on
the statistical properties of the response stress power spectral density
(PSD) function.
The term vibration fatigue (or frequency-based fatigue) refers to the
estimation of fatigue life where the loading and response (stress and
strain histories) are random processes, and therefore are best described
using statistical measures such as Power Spectral Density (PSD
functions).

5 Add Event.
Right-click on Loading and choose Add
Event.
Under Study select Dynamics - random.
Under duration select Seconds for Units of
Time, and enter 315,360,000 sec for the event
Duration.
Click OK.
Note Duration of the event, 315,360,000 sec corresponds to 10 years of
continuous service life. Fatigue results from random vibration dynamic
simulation are additive along the temporal domain. To determine the
damage after 20 years of service life, you would double the damage
obtained for 10 years of the service life.

Material The traditional S-N curve used in deterministic fatigue calculations is

Properties, S-N not directly applicable in random vibration fatigue. The S-N curve
Curve needs to be linearized in the log-log space using the Basquin’s equation

 -
N = ------------
 Sr  m ,

where N is the number of cycles to failure, S r is the reference value of

the fatigue strength, m is the slope of the log S – log N fatigue S-N
curve, and B is the value of stress at cycle one.

Coefficients B and m have to be input in the Material property dialog.

If they are not readily available, traditional S-N curve can be entered
instead and the two coefficients will be estimated by the software.

153
Lesson 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue

6 Material.
Edit material properties for all components.
Under Source, make sure that Interpolate is set to Log-log.
Under S-N Curve Equation (Basquin Equation), check Estimate
Basquin constants from S-N curve and set Units to N/m^2.
Click File to open Function Curves window.

Right-click the folder S-N Curve and

select Create curve.
Name the new curve Lesson 06 material.
Keep the Stress Ratio (R) equal to -1 to
represent fully reversed fatigue, and enter
data shown in the following figure.

154
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 6
Random Vibration Fatigue

Make sure that Units are set to N/m^2.

Save the curve file (*.cwcur) in your lesson folder and click OK.
Enter 4 in Consider the cut-off point for the S-N curve at row.

Note In general, Basquin linear approximation of S-N curve (in log-log

scale) depends on how many data points are included. The
approximation must always consider the first point. However, the last
point is variable and should be selected so that all dominant alternating
stress cycles are included in the solution. In this lesson all four S-N
curve data points are used.
Software will
automatically fit the
S-N curve with the
Basquin equation.
The Basquin equation
fit in the log-log scale
is a straight line
indicated with green
color in the figure to
the right.

155
Lesson 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue

Note In this lesson we assume that all components, meaning Aluminum

5052, rubber and the material of the stiffening plates all share one S-N
curve. Because we are only interested in fatigue results of the
aluminum components, incorrect fatigue data for the rubber isolators is
ok. Fatigue results for the rubber isolators will be therefore ignored.
Apply and Close the Material window.

Random Vibration Three computational methods are available:

Fatigue Options
 Narrow bank Method, where the probability density function of
peaks for a narrow band signal tends towards a Rayleigh
distribution (Bendat J.S., Probability Functions for Random
Responses. NASA report on Contact NASA-5-4590, 1964).
 Wirsching’s method, which modifies the Narrow Band method
with an empirical correction factor to take into consideration a wide
band process (Wirshing, P.H., Paez, T.L., and Ortiz K., Random
Vibration, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 1995).
 Steinberg's three band method. The assumption of the
Steinberg’s method is that the probability density function of the
random stress response follows a Gaussian distribution, and
therefore the expected values of the stress response amplitudes are
bound by certain probability levels:
- 68.27% chance that the amplitude of the stress cycles will not
exceed the range of 2 times the root-mean-square of the stress
response signal.
- 27.1% chance that the amplitude of the stress cycles will not
exceed the range of 4 times the root-mean-square of the stress
response signal.
- 4.3% that the stress cycles will not exceed the range of 6 times the
root-mean-square of the stress response signal.
It is recommended that the fatigue calculations are performed using all
three methods. Considering the worst solution leads to the safest
fatigue design.

7 Study properties.
In the study properties, under Options, select
Narrow Band Method.
Keep the rest of the options at their default
values.

8 Run the analysis.

It only takes a couple of seconds for the analysis to complete.

156
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 6
Random Vibration Fatigue

9 Damage plot.
Show the Damage plot with the
Percentage values.
Set the legend Max to 100 and Show
Max Annotation.
The maximum damage of the cabinet
reaches very high values suggesting
that cabinet is not able to sustain the
vibration environment for too long.
However, more in depth analysis of
the result plot is required.

10 Damage detail.
Zoom onto the region where
the maximum damage is
indicated and Probe a few
locations.
Notice that the damage is
highly localized around the
bolt holes. As soon as you
move away from them the
values drop significantly.
This is to be expected
because the stress results
were likewise concentrated
around the same bolt holes.
The bolted connections were
modeled in a simplify
fashion to correctly model
the overall structural
response, but not to analyze
the stress (and fatigue)
results directly at their near
vicinities. The resulting stress and fatigue results here from the present
study need to be ignored.
The rest of the model exhibits very little damage. Because connections
would have to be analyzed separately, you can conclude that the cabinet
design is safe and is able to sustain the applied vibration levels for a
period of at least 10 years.

157
Lesson 6 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue

11 Life plot.
Show the Life (Time to failure)
plot.
Set the legend Max to 315360000 s
and Show Min Annotation.
The location of the minimum life to
failure (1,244 s) corresponds to the
location of the maximum damage.
This location was already identified
as the location of the bolted
connection. Enhanced modeling, or
alternative approach is required to
reliably evaluate its fatigue
performance. For the purpose of
this simulation, a total life of 1,244
s at this location is unrealistic and needs to be ignored. The rest of the
model exhibits life to failure much longer.

Summary In this lesson, we analyzed fatigue resistance of a shipboard deck-

mounted cabinet when subjected to the functional qualification random
test levels according to MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.5. Random
vibration fatigue results were already computed in Lesson 5.
Setup of the fatigue study based on random vibration study is very
similar to the setup of a regular fatigue study. The only difference is
input of the fatigue resistance curve (S-N curve) and study properties.
Random fatigue requires that S-N curve be approximated in the log-log
scale with Basquin equation. User can input Basquin equation
coefficients directly, or let the software estimate them from the entered
S-N curve. Later approach was presented in this lesson.
Results obtained in this study indicated, that the cabinet would be able
to sustain the vibration levels for a period of 10 years. This conclusion,
however, excludes locations of the bolt connections where more in
depth simulation or alternative calculations are required.

158
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 8
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

Exercise 8: In this exercise, we will perform a random vibration fatigue analysis of

Random the cantilever beam mounted on the shakers table. This exercise
Vibration reinforces the following skills:
Fatigue of a  Random Vibration Fatigue on page 153
Cantilever  Material Properties, S-N Curve on page 153
Beam  Random Vibration Fatigue Options on page 156

Problem The cantilever beam is mounted on a shaker table and subjected to the
Statement random vibration test for a period of 30 minutes. We would like to
solve for the damage induced in the material by this event.

1 Open a part file.

Open Cantilever_beam part from the Lesson06\Exercises folder.
2 Define study.
Define a Linear Dynamic , Random Vibration study and name it
random vibration.
3 Specify material.
Assign 5454-O Aluminum Alloy to the beam.
4 Define shell.
Define Thick shell on the top face of the Cantilever_beam.
Enter 2 mm for the Shell thickness.
5 Fixtures.
Define Fixed
Geometry fixture on
the circular edge on
the same face where
the shell was defined.

6 Mesh controls.
Apply default mesh controls on all both edges of the neck regions.
7 Mesh.
Create High quality Curvature-based mesh with the default
Maximum element size of 7.81 mm.

159
Exercise 8 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

8 Run frequency study.

Run Frequency for 15 modes.
9 List natural frequencies.
The natural frequencies
range from 14.4 Hz to
1587.7 Hz.

10 List mass participation factor.

The cumulative values of the mass participation factor are well above
the recommended value of 0.8 in the direction of the vibration. Similar
to Lesson 2, the values in both in-plane directions are not at the
required value, but they are also less important in this example.
11 Damping.
Specify 0.02 Modal damping for all 15 modes.

160
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 8
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

12 Loading PSD acceleration.

Specify the following Uniform Base
Excitation in the Normal to Plane direction.
Enter 1 g^2/Hz as the magnitude.
Specify the acceleration PSD curve data as shown in the table below:

PSD
Frequency [Hz] Acceleration
[g^2/Hz]
0 0
10 0.048
50 0.12
100 0.24
150 0.33
165 0.6
200 0.6
250 0.54
300 0.21

You can also copy / paste the data from input_data.xlsx stored in the
exercise folder.
13 Set Result Options.
Request storage For all solution steps.
Keep all other options at their default settings.
14 Study properties.
In the study, on the Random Vibration Options tab, specify Cycles/
sec (Hz) as Units.
Set the Lower limit and Upper limit of the exciting frequency to 0 and
300 Hz, respectively.
For the Number of frequency points, enter 10.
Keep all other settings at their default values.
Click the Advanced Options button and set the Biasing parameter to
2.
Keep again all other settings on the Advanced tab at their default
values.

161
Exercise 8 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

15 Run the analysis.

The analysis completes quickly.
16 Create fatigue study.
Create a new Fatigue, Random vibration-fatigue of random
vibration study named Fatigue.
17 Add Event.
Right-click on Loading and choose Add Event.
Associate the fatigue study to the random vibration study random
vibration.
Under Duration select Minutes, and enter 30 min.
Click OK.
18 Material.
Edit material properties.
Under S-N Curve Equation (Basquin Equation), check Estimate
Basquin constants from S-N curve and set Units to N/m^2.
Click File to open Function Curves window.
Create a new curve titled Exercise material. Keep the Stress Ratio
(R) equal to -1.
Enter data as shown in the following table:

Alternating
Number of cycles
stress [Pa]
1e6 200e6
1e7 138e6
1e8 100e6
1e9 72e6

You can also copy / paste the data from input_data.xlsx stored in the
exercise folder.
19 Study properties.
In the study properties, under Options, select Narrow Band Method.
Keep the rest of the options at their default values.
20 Run the analysis.
The analysis completes quickly.

162
SOLIDWORKS Simulation Exercise 8
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

21 Damage plot.
Show the Damage plot with the Percentage values.
Set the legend Max to 100 and Show Max Annotation.

The maximum damage of the cantilever beam reaches highest values,

over 1000%, at the location of the first neck. The study correctly
predicts the location of the damage that occurs during the vibration test.
The damage at the location of the neck close to the side is small.

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Exercise 8 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Random Vibration Fatigue of a Cantilever Beam

164
 Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis
of an Electronic Enclosure

Objectives Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:
 Perform Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis.
 Compare Linear Dynamic Analysis with Nonlinear Dynamic
Analysis.
 Understand when Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis is needed.
 Use Rayleigh Damping.

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Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Project Recall the dynamic analysis of the electronic enclosure performed in

Description Lesson 2, where we use a linear dynamic modulus. This model was
subjected to a 20g uniform base excitation along the global X axis. In
this lesson, we will use the same model and compare results using both
the linear and nonlinear dynamics.

Linear Dynamic In the first part of this lesson, we will perform a linear dynamic analysis
Analysis on the electronics enclosure.

1 Open an assembly file.

Click Electronic_Assembly from the Lesson06\Case Studies
folder.
Review the model and notice that the linear dynamic study named
Linear dynamics is already set up.
2 Review the linear dynamic study.
Expand the connections folder and notice the similarities with the
study that was used in Lesson 2.
Double-click on the Damping folder and review the Rayleigh
damping parameters. Rayleigh damping is used because it is available
in the nonlinear dynamic modulus. Having identical damping models
and magnitudes will enable us to compare linear and nonlinear results.
Review the properties of the study and confirm that 65 frequency
modes are specified in the Frequency Options. In the Dynamic
Options verify that the time increment is 5E-5 seconds for a total time
of 0.022 seconds (both parameters were computed and explained in
Lesson 2).
3 Mesh.
Generate a Draft quality mesh with the default element Global size of
4.42 mm. Again, use the Standard mesh.
4 Perform linear dynamic analysis.
Run the Linear dynamics study.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

5 Plot displacements graph.

Plot the response graph of the UX: X Displacement at Point A
indicated in the figure.

We can observe that the maximum and minimum X displacement at

Point A from the linear dynamic analysis is approximately 0.051 mm
and -0.14mm, respectively.
Linear results at this location will now be compared with the results
from the nonlinear dynamic analysis.

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Lesson 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Nonlinear In the second part of this lesson, the electronic enclosure will be
Dynamic analyzed using nonlinear dynamic analysis.
Analysis
Linear vs. The first five lessons of this training manual dealt with the linear
Nonlinear dynamic solutions. Four linear analysis types were considered:
Dynamic Analysis  transient analysis
 harmonic analysis
 response spectrum analysis
 random vibrations
As discussed in Lesson 1, in linear dynamic analysis, the structural
matrix equation of motion [M]{ u··} + [C]{ u·} + [K]{u} = {F(t)} is
solved by applying a special technique called modal analysis. This
method decouples the above system of n coupled equations of motion
into m decoupled equations similar to equations of motion, each of
which is then solved independently (here, n represents the number of
degrees of freedom and m represents the number of natural modes used
for the linear dynamic analysis). This method allows for extremely
efficient solutions. However, it requires structural natural frequencies
and their corresponding modes (this is why frequency analysis is
always required prior to launching linear dynamic analysis), and is
limited to linear small displacements analysis (constant stiffness
matrix) only.
On the other hand, nonlinear analysis directly solves the complex
coupled system of equations of motion. It is, therefore, capable of
describing large displacements with various advanced material models
(von Mises plasticity, hyperelasticity, visco-elasticity, etc.) but may
require substantial computational resources and time.

6 Create a nonlinear dynamic study.

Create a study named Nonlinear dynamics.
Under Type, select Nonlinear Study , and click the
Dynamic button .
7 Set up shells and solids for nonlinear dynamic study.
Drag-and-drop the Parts folder from the previous study into the
current study. Confirm that the material properties are also copied.
8 Contacts.
Define four Bonded contacts identical to those specified in study
Linear dynamics.
9 Mesh.
Generate a Draft quality mesh with the default element Global size of
4.42 mm. Again, use the Standard mesh.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

10 Set up loads and restraints.

Drag-and-drop the Fixture from the previous study into the current
study.
You will not be able copy the Base Excitation-1 load feature from the
linear dynamic to the nonlinear dynamic study. Therefore, we will
create a new uniform base excitation feature in the nonlinear dynamic
study.
Define 20g peak Uniform Base Excitation in the global X direction.
Specify the classical pulse time curve identical to that used in the
Linear dynamics study or in Lesson 2.
11 Damping.
Specify Rayleigh Damping values of  = 32.4
and  = 1.4E-5.

Note The same values were used in the linear dynamic study Linear
dynamics.

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Lesson 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Rayleigh Damping For the Rayleigh damping, a global damping matrix is constructed as a
proportional combination of the mass and stiffness matrices,
C =  [M] +  [K].

12 Properties of the
nonlinear dynamic
study.
In the Stepping Options,
enter an End time of
0.022 seconds.
For the Time increment,
choose Automatic
(autostepping) with an
Initial increment of 5e-5
and Max of 5e-5.

Note In the nonlinear dynamic study, the Max increment parameter value is
not used. The maximum increment is equal to the initial increment
value.
In the No. of adjustments enter 20.
Under Geometry nonlinearity options, make sure that the Use large
displacement formulation checkbox is selected.
Select the Intel Direct Sparse solver because it is significantly faster
for this model than the other solvers.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Note To correctly compare the linear and nonlinear solutions we have to

specify identical time step values. This way both linear and nonlinear
dynamic analyses are able to resolve the same higher frequency waves.
The No. of adjustments parameter is set to a larger value to allow for
multiple time step reduction. This step reduction may be required when
the acceleration is suddenly brought to zero at time t = 0.011 seconds.
13 Set the Advanced Options.
Click on the Advanced Options button.
Under Method, choose Newmark for the Integration.
Keep NR (Newton-Raphson) as the preferred Iterative method.
Click OK to close the dialog.

Time Integration Three integration methods are implemented in Simulation:

Methods
 Modified Central Difference
Modified Central Difference time integration technique falls into
the category of explicit method, where solution at time increment i
+ 1 is based on equation of motion at time increment i. This method
is conditionally stable and requires a time increment smaller than a
certain critical time increment value,  tcritical. For smaller systems,
this value can be computed as  tcritical = Tn /  , where Tn is the
system's smallest natural period.
To evaluate  tcritical, an iterative technique is implemented which
evaluates the highest frequency of the finite element system. This
calculation is done once at the start of the solution (using the linear
stiffness matrix) and the critical time increment is printed in the
output file.
Because the Modified Central Difference method does not require
inversion of the system stiffness matrix, but needs very small time
step increments, it is suitable for high frequency shock loading, col-
lisions, or high frequency output (axial vibrations) analyses. The
time step used during the time integration procedure is continu-
ously checked against the  tcritical to improve the convergence and
accuracy of the solution.
 Newmark and Wilson methods
Both Newmark and Wilson time integration techniques fall into a
group of implicit methods. These methods use the equation of
motion at time increment i + 1 to compute the solution at the same
time (i + 1). As a result, these methods are unconditionally stable
and do not require as small a time step to converge to a solution as
needed with the Modified Central Difference method. However, an
excessively large time step will lead to an inaccurate solution.

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Lesson 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Because of a larger time step and a necessity to invert stiffness

matrix at each time increment, these methods should not be used for
very high frequency characteristic analyses. Both methods are suit-
able and should be the default selection for all other general class of
dynamic problems.
Iterative Methods Newton-Raphson and Modified Newton-Raphson iterative methods are
both available in the nonlinear modulus. For detailed information on
these methods, please consult the SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Premium: Nonlinear training manual.

14 Result options.
In the Result Options, under Quantities to
save into file, keep Stresses and strains.
Under Save Results, specify For specified
solution steps.
Under Solutions Steps - Set 1, enter the values
shown in the figure.
Under Response Plots, select the Workflow
Sensitive1 sensor definition (Point A is defined
in this sensor).
Note To reduce the storage requirements, only every
5th step will be saved on the hard disk.
15 Run the study.
Right-click on Nonlinear Dynamics and
choose Run. This run takes about 45 minutes.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

16 Time history of the displacements

results.
Generate the response graph of the
UX: X Displacement at Point A on
the Chip.

It can be observed that the maximum and minimum resultant

displacements obtained from the nonlinear dynamic analysis in the
time interval 0 - 0.022 seconds is approximately 0.039 mm and -0.06
mm, respectively.

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Lesson 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Discussion The graph below shows both linear and nonlinear resultant
displacements at Point A.

Comparing the resultant displacement at Point A computed using the

nonlinear dynamic analysis against the results obtained from the linear
dynamic analysis, we can conclude that the variation is very similar,
but the absolute maximums are somewhat different. The minimum
resultant displacement at Point A using the linear and nonlinear
solutions is -0.14 mm and -0.06 mm, respectively. This represents a
difference of approximately 175% (with respect to the linear result).
For shock loads of significant magnitude and models with different
materials (plastics, for example), nonlinear dynamic analysis would be
favored. Unfortunately, the time required to obtain the nonlinear
solution and the limiting computational power often prohibits us from
attempting nonlinear solution. Linear dynamics then provides us with
the only estimate of the structural response and is therefore an essential
tool for engineers and designers.

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SOLIDWORKS Simulation Lesson 7
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

Summary In this lesson, we analyzed the electronic enclosure from Lesson 2

using both linear and nonlinear analyses. It was observed that both
transient solutions gave somewhat comparable, but not the same
structural displacements. If the shock levels or duration change, or if
the model and the material change, nonlinear dynamic analysis may be
required. However, due to substantial computational requirements,
nonlinear dynamic analysis is not always feasible and a linear solution
may be the only choice. Linear solution also provides efficient
information about the structural response and potential high stress
concentration regions.
This lesson also showed the full set up of the nonlinear study and
discussed time integration techniques, their uses, advantages, and
disadvantages.

Questions  The nonlinear dynamics study (does / does not) feature the modal
damping ratio.
 In the properties of the nonlinear dynamic study, the maximum time
step input parameter (is / is not) used because it (is / is not) limited
by the initial time increment value.
 Newmark and Wilson time integration methods fall into a category
of the (explicit / implicit) methods. As such, the time increment
(must / does not need to) be smaller than the critical time increment
value. Both of these methods (should / should not) be used as the
default time integration methods for a general class of low to mid
range frequency problems.

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Lesson 7 SOLIDWORKS Simulation
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of an Electronic Enclosure

176
 Index

A G P
Absolute Sum 101 Gaussian distribution 117 Power Spectral Density 118
Analysis GRMS 120 Units 119
Random Vibration PSD 118, 119, 127, 130
Properties 123 H Overall level 120
Random vibration 109, 115 Harmonic Analysis 76 Results 127
Auto-correlation function 118 Harmonic study
Properties R
C Bandwidth 81 Random Vibration Analysis 115
Complete Quadratic Combination 101 Interpolation 81 Random Vibration Fatigue 153
CQC 101 Options 156
Cumulative Effective mass I Remote Mass 58
participation 42 Iterative Methods 172 Response Spectrum Analysis 94
Iterative methods RMS 117, 130
D Modified Newton-Raphson 172 Results 124
Damping 44 Newton-Raphson 172 Root mean square 117, 119, 124
Attenuation of waves 46
Damping constant 45 L S
Damping constants 47 Linear Dynamic Analysis 13 S-N Curve 153
Damping matrix 46 Load Square Root of the Sum of Squares 101
Damping ratio 45 Nondeterministic 115 SRSS 101
Frictional effects 44 Random Standard deviation 117, 124, 128
Logarithmic decrement 46 assumptions 116 Static Analysis 8
Loss factor 46 Stationary 116
Material damping 44 T
Modal damping ratio 46 M Time integration
Rayleigh damping 45, 46, 170 Modified Central Difference 171
Mass
Resonant amplification 46 Newmark 51, 171
Distributed 111, 112
Reverberation time 46 Wilson 171
Mass Participation Factor 41, 43
Specific damping capacity 46 Time step 49
Maximum Number of Time
Viscous damping 45, 46
Increments 71
decibel 121 V
Mean value 117
Distributed mass 111 Variance 117
MILS-STD-810F 106, 118
MILS-STD-810G 119, 130, 140, 152,
E
158
Equation of Motion 13 Modal Analysis 13
Modal Time History 14, 36
F Mode Combination Method 101
Fatigue 140
Circuit board 143 N
Fourier transform 118 Navy Research Laboratory 101
Frequency Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis 168
Loading 120 NRL 101
Frequency Analysis 11
Frequency response graph 42

177
Index SOLIDWORKS Simulation

178