Elite Consulting are UK stress analysis consultants providing Pro/Engineer and Pro/Mechanica training courses, software consultancy and support.

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Structural Optimisation with Pro/MECHANICA®

Pro/MECHANICA is the finite element analysis part of the Pro/ENGINEER suite. It has built-in sensitivity & optimisation capabilities, so that designs can be optimised efficiently and automatically for structural and/or thermal performance. Typically this will involve determining the minimum mass or minimum cost design that meets certain targets such as strength and stiffness. Design parameters are set up in Pro/ENGINEER and these are allowed to vary within appropriate limits in a Pro/MECHANICA design study. A global sensitivity study can be run to determine how the output changes as each parameter is changed.  Alternatively an optimisation study can be run, whereby as many parameters as you like are allowed to vary and Pro/MECHANICA uses an in-built routine to determine the optimum design. In a Pro/MECHANICA optimisation there can be 1 goal, but multiple constraints, from a number of analyses; e.g. max. principal stress, maximum deflection, minimum fundamental frequency etc.

Download the Optimisation Brochure

 How Mechanica optimises shape to minimise mass and meet structural targets

Automatic Convergence Original shape Optimised shape

Mechanica can also handle thermal problems

Case Study - Thermal Distortion of an OHP
Text Box: Case Study - Thermal Distortion of an OHP

Company X had redesigned an OHP to be made from ABS instead of aluminium, only to find that it suffered from thermal distortion. They had tried some ‘fixes’, but none worked, so we were called in to see if we could find a solution. We analysed the model in Pro/MECHANICA Thermal and Structure, obtained correlation and then optimised the design to obtain two possible solutions; a long term one that would require a tooling change, and a short term one that didn’t.
Text Box: Company X had redesigned an OHP to be made from ABS instead of aluminium, only to find that it suffered from thermal distortion. They had tried some ‘fixes’, but none worked, so we were called in to see if we could find a solution. We analysed the model in Pro/MECHANICA Thermal and Structure, obtained correlation and then optimised the design to obtain two possible solutions; a long term one that would require a tooling change, and a short term one that didn’t.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact us for more information.  

Elite Consulting can undertake design optimisation projects off-site or work with you to help you to develop your own design optimisation routines.

Text Box: Elite Consulting can undertake design optimisation projects off-site or work with you to help you to develop your own design optimisation routines.
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Copyright © 1998 - 2008 Elite Consulting Ltd. Registered in England & Wales No. 2823712 . Last modified: April 05, 2008

Pro/ENGINEER, MECHANICA, Wildfire, Windchill & Behavioural Modelling are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other countries. CETol is a trademark of Sigmetrix LLC. PD-Trak is a trademark of PD-Trak Solutions. GrafiCalc & ToleranceCalc are trademarks of Geomate Company. Stage-Gate is a registered trademark of Product Development Institutte Inc.

Some text and images on this web site have been supplied by kind permission of Sigmetrix, Geomate & PD-Trak.