3D Body Armour Design 2

[Pulsar123]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anybody could give me some tips on how to create a 3D model of body armour that I could then import into an FEA software like Ansys or Abaqus. There are very few tutorials on YouTube, and they aren't too helpful. I want to create a vest that covers the torso without arms, but I do not know which software is the best for this, or where to find detailed/useful guides for this purpose. Advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[mfgenggear]

any use freecad?

 

[FACS]

any use freecad?

I have freeCAD.
It's open source so you have to hunt around for solutions to do anything, difficult to use, and no way it will do this.

 

[drawoh]

mfgenggear,

I am trying to learn FreeCAD. To date, it is limited, but you probably can make it work.

--
JHG

 

[SwinnyGG]

Surfacing something as simple as an armor plate in Solidwords is very easy. Want to accurately surface an entire car body? Solidworks won't get you there.

Want to model a very simple flat plate that's radiused in multiple directions? This is very easy. You don't even need surfacing. Model a spherical segment or elliptical segment of the correct radii, cut your plate shape, done.

I guess I'm missing what you really need.. are you a CAD operator or an FEA operator only?

 

[CWB1]

There are very good reasons Dassault sells Catia. I have no personal experience with modeling body armor, only wearing it, however I have seen enough detail in products significantly smaller than armor to crash Solidworks just the same as our automotive models.

 

[Pulsar123]

Thank you all for the helpful advice here. I have decent experience with Solid Edge only as far as CAD goes. I am mostly an FEA operator. I will try my hand with surfacing or contact a vendor/expert who could guide me.

 

[Pulsar123]

Would anyone recommend Autodesk Alias for surfacing? I know it is mostly used for automotive, but can it hypothetically be used to create a 3D ballistic vest?

 

[SwinnyGG]

You don't need surfacing.

Modeling a typical body armor chest plate can be done very easily as a solid model.