[Brief Introduction to CATIA FEA] CATIA FEAの簡単な紹介

Here is a very good tutorial video uploaded on YouTube by a gentleman, named Ionut Ghionea. I would like to briefly explain (using this very cool video) what can be done with CATIA in order to perform FEA analysis. Roughly speaking, in CATIA V5, FEA can be done by taking the following 3 steps.

     1. Set up Analysis Conditions (Apply material, add clamps, and apply force)
     2. Perform Calculation
     3. Display Calculated Analysis Results with Mesh (Deformation, Von Mises, Principal Stress, Displacement, etc.)

1. Set up Analysis Conditions
00:20
A material (Steel, in this video) has been applied to the solid, using the [Apply Material] command.

00:33
Right-click [Steel] in the spec tree to go to [Properties], and change the material attributes.

00:47
The workbench has been switched to GSA (Generative Structural Analysis), where analysis work (settings, calculation, display of results) will be performed.

00:52
The [Clamp] icon is clicked in order to specify the clamping areas. (The clamped areas have been shown with the red fork-like shapes. (Multiple faces can be selected.))

01:11
The [Distributed Force] command had been applied. This will specify the applying force to the geometry. 1 face has been selected, and at [1:26] the force has been specified. (-150N in the X axis direction, 0N in the Y and Z directions) The unit can be changed to Mpa (instead of N (Newton)) if necessary. The directions to apply forces, by the way, does not necessarily have to be in the X, Y, or Z direction.

01:43
[OCTREE Tetrahedron] is clicked in the spec tree. The window opens to let you modify the mesh information, including the mesh size, the sag (tesselation) value. - In solid geometries created in PartDesign workbench, meshes will be created automatically when you enter the GSA workbench. When working with surfaces (created in GSD), meshes need to be created manually in another workbench, called the [Advanced Meshing Tool] workbench. - In this video, surface meshing process is not introduced.

2. Perform Calculation
01:57
The [Compute] icon is clicked, in order to calculate the analysis with the settings that have been given.

3. Display Calculated Analysis Results
02:08
The [Deformation] icon is clicked to show the computed result with the mesh structure. Deformed shape is displayed in the 3D area.

02:13
The [Animate] icon is clicked to show the animated result. - Note this animation is not the movement based on the time. It only shows how the deformed geometry looks like when the displacement values are divided by the [Steps Number] that has been set by a user.

02:28
The [Von Mises] command is clicked, to dislay the result of the Von Mises stress analysis result. The color scale can be found at the right top in the 3D area when the [Von Mises] icon is clicked. - The more stressed, the more the area becomes closer to red.

03:09
The [Extrema] icon is clicked to show the maximum value in Von Mises representation. - This command detects the minimum and maximum values of both global extrema and local extrema.

03:42
The [Displacement] icon is clicked to show the analysis result by the displacement. Getting closer to the colored area, you will know the displacement values for nodes, represented by colored arrows. The farther the node has been displaced, the more close to red the arrow will be colored.

[Closing]
I currently don't work with FEA but back in Japan (although it was only a short period of time while I was preparing to move here) I was teaching FEA for the engineers in a CATIA class. - While teaching about it, I came to realize that many of the issues and questions on FEA would involve analysis setting issues, meshing problems, or computation error issues. - I would like to learn more about FEA, in order to have more opportunities in that field some day.

[Detroit Auto Show 2014] デトロイト オートショー 2014

--- ENGLISH ----
One of my coworkers asked me if I wanted to go to this year's auto show together. He said he had 1 extra ticket. I said, "Sure!" I had wanted to go to the auto show ever since I had moved to Michigan about a year and a half before. - I couldn't even go to the previous year's auto show partly because of the snow on that day, and partly because of my impression toward Detroit that I had heard of up until that day. At the same time, as a beginner driver, I didn't want to pressure myself to go to a place I didn't really know of, especially when it was a cold and snowy holiday. I'd rather sleep longer and stay warm at home.

This year, unfortunately, was also a cold and snowy day. The coworker was more worried about what his wife would have to say to him than the condition of the road on that day.

He came to my place at 7:30 am to pick me up. My 15-year-old daughter also woke up early on that day. She said she wanted to go with us. - She and I hopped into his car.

Getting to Detroit, we noticed that the roads were covered with snow and there was nobody walking outside. My daughter raised her voice, saying, "Wow, smoke is coming here and there from the ground! It's a horror show!" - Thanks to my coworker, we were able to get to the designated location a little before the show was open. We had some meal and had some talks in three.

 

 My 15-year-old asked my coworker questions sometimes. "Which automaker is the most famous in the world? How do we know that?"

My coworker answered to these childish question she had asked. "Mmm, that's a great question... I want to say it's our company but sometimes it might not be true depending on the location... I think you would be able to know the most famous automaker by how large an area they are allowed to share in an exhibition like this."


"Mmm, I see... Makes sense," my daughter said.

I bought some gifts for my wife, who was waiting for us at home.

My coworker's wife was staying home with a 3-year-old. I had wished we all could get together, but it didn't become. He said his kid might not behave herself and go anywhere.

We went to a Mexican restaurant after we came back to Ann Arbor. It was still snowy and the roads were slippery. I said to him, "Please say hi to your wife, and tell her it was not snowy at all in Detroit." - My daughter and I thanked him for the ride.

It was a great day, I thought. My daughter said it was very fun. She said she definitely wanted to go back soon.

夏休みの絵日記のようだ、と家人は言う。

交差点付近にいる
時々信号機が停電する
星占いが的中

----JAPANESE ----
同僚の一人が一緒にオートショーに行きませんかと私に言ってくださった。一枚余分にチケットを持っておられたのだった。私は「いいですね」と申し上げた。ミシガンに引っ越してきて以来、オートショーには行きたいと私はかねてから思っていた。 前年のオートショーには自分自身行けなかった。というのも、当日の雪のためというもあったし、それまで人から聞かされていたデトロイトへの印象のため、というのもあった。またそれと同時に、運転初心者として、あえて知らない土地に、殊に寒くて雪の降る休日を選んでまで行こうとすすんで無理する気になれなかった、というのもあった。いつもより長く寝て、家で温かく過ごしていたい派の我が心。

今年もあいにく寒くて雪の降る日であった。同僚は当日の路面状況よりもむしろ彼の奥さんが何を言ってくるかのほうを心配されておられた。

同僚は朝7:30に我が家に来られた。私の15歳になる娘も当日は早起きしていたのだったが、一緒に行きたいという。娘と私は、同僚の車にひょいと乗った。

デトロイトに着いた我々が気づいたものは、雪に覆われた道と、誰も外を歩いていないということだった。娘は「ワオ、地面のいろんなところから煙が出てる！ホラーショーみたい！」と声を上げた。
同僚のおかげで我々は目的地にショーが開場する少し前に到着できたのだった。食事をとり、三人して話をしたりした。

娘は同僚に質問したりしていた。「世界で一番有名な自動車メーカーってどこなんですか？どうやったらそれが分かるんですか？」

同僚はそんな子供じみた質問に答えてくださった。「うーむ、いい質問ですね。自分の会社、と言いたいところですが、場所によってはそういかないかもしれません。きっと、こういう展示会のようなところで占める面積の大きいところを知ることで、どこがもっとも有名なメーカーだと分かるのかもしれません」

「うーむ、そうですよね。言われて納得です」と娘は言った。

私は家で帰りを待つ妻に土産を買った。

同僚の奥様は家で3歳のお子さんと一緒に留守番されておられる。みんな出てこられればと思ったのだが、実現はしなかった。同僚曰く、お子さんがじっとせず、いろんなところに行ってしまう、とのことだった。

アナーバーに帰ってきてから、我々はメキシカンレストランに行った。まだ雪は降っており、路面は滑りやすかった。私は同僚に言った。「奥様にどうぞよろしくお伝えください。あと、デトロイトは全然雪など降っていなかった、とも」
私と娘は車に乗せていただいたお礼を申し上げた。

いい日だった、と私は思った。娘はとても楽しかった、絶対また行きたい、と言った。

これでいいのだ