Exporting Line Bodies with Parasolid to ANSYS Workbench

[JSN86]

Hello there.

I'm trying to simulate bolts in ANSYS using beams, and to do that i'm drawing them as line bodies. It would be easier to draw them inside ANSYS, however I have a fairly complex geometry, with lots of bolts, already modeled in SW. So, in the end, I need to export the line body along with the other solid and surface bodies as a Parasolid file and opening it on ANSYS Workbench DesignModeler.

Any sugestions?

 

[KevinDeSmet]

I'm not sure Parasolid can carry wireframe geometry, try a STEP file instead.

Certified SolidWorks Professional

 

[tph216]

I import SW models into Ansys Classic and Workbench and have had most success with the ACIS (.sat) file type. Make sure you go back a few versions on the version number though, I think 11.0 works well. The setting for that is in the export options when you click save as.

In Classic I model bolts as spar elements with 'spiders' linking their heads or threaded sections to their connection points. However in Workbench, its not so easy to do that. I have instead imported an idealised representation. This is basically a solid bobbin shaped geometry. The 1st large cylindrical portion at the diameter across flats of the bolt head and the length equal to head height. Then the bolt shaft is modelled at its stress diameter. Then the nut is modelled like the head but with the shaft passing straight through.

The contact faces are defined and given a friction. I then put mesh controls on the body to get a nice square mesh along the shaft, and then use Workbench's "pre-strained bolt" feature to apply some strain to the shaft. This removes a slice of the shaft and pulls them back together (so to speak). I.e. it applies an effective axial preload to the bolt which makes the frictional contact faces grip. The feature doesn't seem to work well unless the mesh is good on the shaft, though.

This is of course only a reasonably quick method and I wouldn't place too much confidence in the results in an absolute sense.

Hope that is helpful.