For mechanical engineering applications, CAE software has emerged as an essential tool in the later stages of a product development both for design approval as well as enhancement of the product performance. For mechanical engineering, CAE is the computer-aided simulation where the software exposes how an element or system will perform in various situations. However, CAE simulations provide exhaustive information, and the ways of its right interpretation are rather important to get effective and accurate results.
Here are some important things you need to know when interpreting simulation results when using CAE software for mechanical engineering.
- Understand the Purpose of the Simulation
To facilitate easy completion of the simulation, one needs to understand the purpose of conducting the simulation. It must be understood whether you are focusing on the structural mechanics, thermal fluids, solid mechanics or dynamics and vibration. Being informed of the purpose help in preventing the concentration and reconcentration of parameters which are pertinent to the goal. For instance, in structural analysis, focus on stress, strain, and deformation. While in thermal analysis, the important variables are temperature distribution and heat flow.
Clearly defined objectives streamline the interpretation process and prevent unnecessary distractions from secondary data.
- Verify Input Parameters
In the case of simulation analysis the results derived are always comparable to the input data fed into the system. All inputs and outputs should be checked twice, particularly the material properties: mass density, stiffness, thermal conductivity etc., forces and restraints, heat fluxes etc. Finally, you need to check the mesh and the size of the elements. The errors in these inputs leads to a wrong result irrespective the sophistication of the CAE software for mechanical engineering.
- Examine the Mesh Quality
Meshing is the other essential process in any simulation. This is because poor quality meshes with excessively large or distorted elements give wrong results. As a result, finer meshes are applied in what is known as hot regions, which are areas of high stress or potential topology complexity. Do perform the mesh convergence analysis to observe how the outcomes change with the diminishing mesh size. Do not create too fine meshes in areas that are simple regions; instead, they take time to compute, hence increasing the total time spent in the computation. Rather it is more reliable to arrive at results from a well constructed mesh, as in doing so, the high variance and unspecified parameter estimations are avoided.
- Cross-Check Results with Hand Calculations
While CAE software for mechanical engineering offers the most detailed insights, as a good practice, cross-verifying key results with basic hand calculations or theoretical models is advisable. The reason being it helps in the identification of glaring errors or inconsistencies in the simulation outputs. For instance, conduct the estimation of approximate stresses or deflections with the use of simplified formulas. Compare flow rates or thermal values with known benchmarks.This step builds confidence in the accuracy of the simulation results.
- Focus on Critical Areas
It is not mandatory that all regions chosen in a model are important. Therefore, try to find parts of the model which are most likely to fail or regions where the performance parameters are important; for example high stress regions of structures and thermal condition hot spots in thermal analysis. Areas of vortices in the field of fluid dynamics. Eventually when concentrating on such zones you will be able to make actual conclusions based on the results given by the cae software for mechanical engineering.
- A Wise Use of Stress and Deformation Results
In structural analysis, stress and deformation results that are computed may require some form of elaboration. Searching for regions where the material yield or ultimate strength is exceeded can also allow a judgment of failure regions. Precisely, relating the deformation results to the functional specifications of the design. Some of them may be regarded as acceptable since the deformation is low and does not produce significant effect that compromises on the performance of the system. Learn stress concentrations which are more at sharp edges or corner and this may lead to one needing to modify the design.
- Validate with experimental data
Wherever possible, simulations should be verified by experimental testing or real-world data. This process helps in check and verification of creating reliable designs and outcomes by matching CAE software for mechanical engineering to real-life simulations. Thus they may point out areas where maybe the model is not properly optimized or where input parameters require fine tuning.
- Recognize restraints on the software
No simulation is perfect. Understand the assumptions and limitation of the mechanical engineering CAE software you operate. Linear analysis of a structure may not take into consideration deformation of the material as occurs in metallic materials. This means that, though including ideals as an element of boundary conditions may be straitened, simplified extremities may not capture concrete boundary conditions appropriately either. Material properties are often assumed to be uniform and isotropic, which may not reflect actual behavior. Being aware of these limitations helps you interpret results within the appropriate context.
The final word
Collaboration must be enhanced when using cae software for mechanical engineering interpretation. Share simulation results with colleagues or subject matter experts. In doing so, different perspectives can be achieved that could further help in the identification of overlooked insights or validate conclusions drawn from the results. A collaborative approach ensures that the findings from cae software for mechanical engineering are both accurate and actionable.
