Hello All,
I am a long time Solidworks user but my FEA skills are very low and I want to learn more. I have bought a few FEA books for solidworks, but while it does show me how to use the software it does not show me how to set up my exact problem correctly and if I dont do that my results will be useless. This is a skill I really want to learn but sadly my math skills are not the best and while I have been working as an engineer for decades I dont have a formal degree and never had a need for this sort of extreme optimization so even my foundation is a bit lacking... So thats the back story.
I bought plans for the APEV Demoichelle and due to non metric material availability in the USA it forces me to make some changes and all the changes I am making are on the order of increased size and wall thickness but with that increased weight sadly. So I thought this would be a good simple problem to try and delve into understanding the FEA on simple structures such as this. I am not looking to do the entire plane, I just want to compare the stock spar and strut layout with the material I can find so it will be a 1:1 comparison. Ie I can look at the trend between the two. My thinking is in regard to the spar I can fix it at the mating end to the fuselage but I also need to add a fixed point where the strut attaches and then apply a load to the spar. Has anyone done this in Solidworks and can give me some advice. Also I could model the spar, strut and strut connection as an assembly and run that but I think thats trying to run before walking but I would like to get to that eventually.
Now in regards to loading. If the plane has a rated gross of 300kg (mine might be a bit heavier) and I am only modeling one wing and strut and for a G loading off the cuff say 4G. Would I build in a safety factor (4 *1.6 = 6.4) to get my load (6.4G) and then half it for one side for 3.2G load? I had read elsewhere since the wings produce lift I can deduct the weight of the wings, but that seems strange since if the loading was from a steep turn weight and the tight turning Radii bumps the loading up quickly...
Marc
I am a long time Solidworks user but my FEA skills are very low and I want to learn more. I have bought a few FEA books for solidworks, but while it does show me how to use the software it does not show me how to set up my exact problem correctly and if I dont do that my results will be useless. This is a skill I really want to learn but sadly my math skills are not the best and while I have been working as an engineer for decades I dont have a formal degree and never had a need for this sort of extreme optimization so even my foundation is a bit lacking... So thats the back story.
I bought plans for the APEV Demoichelle and due to non metric material availability in the USA it forces me to make some changes and all the changes I am making are on the order of increased size and wall thickness but with that increased weight sadly. So I thought this would be a good simple problem to try and delve into understanding the FEA on simple structures such as this. I am not looking to do the entire plane, I just want to compare the stock spar and strut layout with the material I can find so it will be a 1:1 comparison. Ie I can look at the trend between the two. My thinking is in regard to the spar I can fix it at the mating end to the fuselage but I also need to add a fixed point where the strut attaches and then apply a load to the spar. Has anyone done this in Solidworks and can give me some advice. Also I could model the spar, strut and strut connection as an assembly and run that but I think thats trying to run before walking but I would like to get to that eventually.
Now in regards to loading. If the plane has a rated gross of 300kg (mine might be a bit heavier) and I am only modeling one wing and strut and for a G loading off the cuff say 4G. Would I build in a safety factor (4 *1.6 = 6.4) to get my load (6.4G) and then half it for one side for 3.2G load? I had read elsewhere since the wings produce lift I can deduct the weight of the wings, but that seems strange since if the loading was from a steep turn weight and the tight turning Radii bumps the loading up quickly...
Marc
