Synchronize SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD and COMSOL Multiphysics® Model Geometries
LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® enables synchronization between your COMSOL model geometry and the corresponding SolidWorks CAD file. Through synchronization, physics definitions and boundary conditions remain associated with their respective model domains even when a design has changed. Using the One Window Interface, synchronization is automatic when a change in the design has been detected during switching between the SolidWorks design environment and the COMSOL simulation environment.
SolidWorks design parameters can be iteratively accessed by COMSOL Multiphysics, facilitating optimization studies including parametric sweeps to evaluate the effect of properties such as the diameter of a hole or thickness of a component in your design. LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® ensures that design changes are propagated automatically eliminating the need to import and export your designs each time they are updated.
File Handling and Sharing
LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® includes functionality to import, export, and even link CAD files with models in COMSOL Multiphysics. There are several options for saving files that facilitate sharing both SolidWorks designs and the associated COMSOL models with your collleagues. LiveLink™ forSOLIDWORKS® features all of the functionality of the CAD Import Module plus enhanced connectivity including the One Window interface embedded within SolidWorks.
CAD files can be imported in the SOLIDWORKS format (.sldprt, .sldasm) and in the widely used IGES, STEP, ACIS®, and Parasolid® formats. In addition, you can import the native files of the Inventor®, and PTC® Creo® Parametric™ CAD systems. The optional File Import for CATIA® V5 provides support for importing the native file format for this system. Imported CAD geometries are converted to Parasolid® geometries using LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS® permitting a range of geometry operations that prepare your designs for simulation. Parasolid geometries can be further modified in COMSOL Multiphysics to add larger domains surrounding the original CAD design to simulate external physical effects such as fluid flow. To share modified geometry from COMSOL Multiphysics just export to either the ACIS or Parasolid formats.
Streamline Geometries for Simulation
COMSOL model geometries created from an imported CAD geometry often require some manipulation to reduce the complexity of the mesh and improve the efficiency of the simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics. LiveLink™ for SOLIDWORKS®provides functionality for geometry manipulation also available in the CAD Import Module. Important capabilities include the ability to automatically repair and defeature geometries.
During the import of a CAD geometry, anomalies that exist in a design are automatically detected and removed from the geometry. Healing is also performed to eliminate gaps so that a solid can be formed after the import. Tolerances can be specified for the file import to control the geometry repair process. The process works in very much the same way to defeature an imported design that contains many small, features such as fillets. LiveLink™ forSOLIDWORKS® can detect small features that will produce a dense mesh and decrease the efficiency of your simulations. Features can be removed and repaired manually in SolidWorks or in the COMSOL environment.
Virtual geometry operations are available with COMSOL Multiphysics to provide yet another method to prevent fine design details from creating regions with dense meshes. By using this functionality, you create a virtual geometry for meshing where you exclude selected features of the CAD design. A distinct advantage is that the original curvature of the design is maintained, which may improve simulation accuracy for certain applications such as analyzing stresses in structural contact.
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