ABSTRACT
Based on the geometry of the model, there are a few different types of finite elements (FEs), adopted by SW Simulation – solid FEs, shell FEs and beam FEs. Otherwise, these types of FEs are known as spatial or 3D FEs, plane or 2D FEs and linear or 1D FEs. The program chooses the type of the FE, based on that geometrical criterion automatically, but the user can interact and change software’s decision if he/she finds this appropriate. Compared to some other commercial products for FE analysis, SW Simulation does not allow the user to select the type of the FEs. For example, all solid FEs are tetrahedrons (Figure 3.2), and no parallelepipeds or any other prismatic elements can be used. The program automatically creates the following meshes:
• Solid Mesh – suitable for bulky objects. The program creates a solid mesh with tetrahedral 3D solid elements for all solid components (Figure 5.1). The user chooses whether linear or parabolic FEs are to be applied.
