

Unfortunately, there is no automated way to set up the water level for floating objects.

The liquid velocity can also be pulsed to create a wave effect. In this simulation, you can’t really play with gravity to perform the simulation.Instead, the programmers set it up to change the velocity of the liquid. In a deep river, the riverbed will likely have little effect however, near the shore, where the canoe is tied up, this is a different story. But in the future, we want to incorporate multiphysics so we will need to have a more rigorous setup.”įor external flows, like the canoe on the river, the engineer must first decide if modeling the bottom of the riverbed will be important to the simulation.

“For now, it is just a single physics so we can get away with moving the gravity.

“Changing the gravity is a little smoke and mirrors, but it is physically correct if you are only working with a single physics,” said Endersby. The sneaky way SOLIDWORKS modeled this is by moving the gravity vector around while keeping the tank stationary. (Image courtesy of Dassault Systèmes.)įor internal flows, like the gas tank, the simulation will model how the fuel slushes around. The setup of a free surface flow changes depending on if it is internal or external. Then the workflow changes depending on internal or external flows. The first step to start a free surface flow simulation is to set the water level. “They are challenging to solve computationally so it took us a while to get there.” “When you look at energy, power and utilities, there are a lot of flows that are free flows,” said Endersby. To properly assess the interface of the gases, liquids and solids, these locations will need a finer mesh than any bulk areas.
#SOLIDWORKS FLOW SIMULATION FREE SURFACE SOFTWARE#
The software also considers any solids that might be affecting the flow of either the gas or liquid. The simulation assesses the interface between gases and liquids. Examples include anything from a half-filled gas tank to a canoe on a river. SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation: Free Surface Flows and Sector PeriodicityĪccording to Stephen Endersby, director of product portfolio management at SOLIDWORKS, one of the biggest simulation additions to this release is the ability to simulate free surface flows.Īny flow where fluids and gas interact is considered a free surface flow. Here you will learn about other tools Dassault Systèmes has added to the mix,including cyclic symmetry for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), free surface CFD flows, nonlinear safety factors and displacement controls for nonlinear analysis.įor more improvements to SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2018 not covered in this article, watch this video: The discussion around this advancement could take up a whole article in and of itself, so we have written it here on Engineers Rule ( click here).īut there is much more in the realm of simulation for SOLIDWORKS 2018 than topology optimization. This tool gives users an optimal design for a part given its design space, loads, constraints and manufacturing methods. One of the biggest additions of note is the new topology optimization tool for structural parts. (Image courtesy of Dassault Systèmes.)Īnother SOLIDWORKS launch has come and gone, and this year has marked some big improvements for the SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2018 portfolio. The addition of free surface flows to SOLIDWORKS Simulation 2018 means you can simulate how water fills up this tank.
