Material Calibration in 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

Posted on February 22, 2021September 13, 2024 by Narendra L Palande

What is Calibration?

Calibration is the comparison of measurements with a standard, accurate reference. The mathematical material model is generally defined using equations. This mathematical model represents the response of the material, constitutive behaviour and parameter dependency for material behaviour. Material calibration techniques helps to achieve optimum, best fit or closest value of material laboratory test data concerning the actual material behaviour. In this blog, material calibration capabilities of 3DEXPERIENCE platform are discussed in detail.

Why Material Calibration?

The main reason behind material calibration is to avoid the challenges and lengthy process of advance material modelling in Finite Element Analysis. For example, in the case of hyper-elastic materials generally, we have laboratory test data so as to understand which strain energy potential or coefficient would be best suitable. In such a scenario, material calibration will be of help.

The manual calibration process is time consuming, difficult and might not be accurate which might lead to errors whereas the calibration process in 3DEXPERIENCE uses similar data points which are obtained during laboratory tests. It will also capture proper behaviour and reduces errors between test data and material model.

General Process of Calibration:

Import the Test Data
Select the material model and apply various filters
Execute the calibration process

Calibration example using 3DEXPERIENCE platform:

The above window shows the Calibration tab and other tab is about the imported test data. Calibration tab consists of several settings to work smoothly on imported data.

Importing and processing Test Data:

Material can be imported from CSV, XLS and text format. Units and time have to be defined and temperature can be used if needed. Input data can be processed using decimation, smoothing and zero shift option. If many data points are used, then there are chances of errors or increase in execution time. In such a scenario, decimation option can be used to define the range of data to choose for execution by defining upper and lower limits just by dragging through the plot area.

Further, material model needs to be selected and the model depends on execution and numerical modes. For example, available models for numerical modes are linear elastic, hyper elastic, hyper foam, parallel rheological framework (including two-layer visco plastic) and user defined material. Analytic mode offers hyper elastic and hyper foam models.

Execution mode covers variety of material models of which most of them are implemented in Abaqus. Numerical mode generally takes more time to execute over analytical but it calibrates the material as accurately as possible. Since it uses Abaqus code material subroutine, it may be slower but it covers large number of material models and is efficient. Analytical mode is faster as it uses built-in equations of mathematical models.

Correction of Imported Data:

Correction of imported data can be done through various error measure settings such as:

Coefficient of Determination
Mean Square Error
Mean Absolute Error
Root Mean Square Error
Relative Square Error

Along with error measure settings, there is also flexibility to choose optimization algorithms, solver settings and selection of units.

Executing, Saving and Exporting Material Model:

Once the optimization control is done, material model is finalized for execution. It is possible to enter the initial and known value for material model but not necessary. Once the execution is completed, the calibration history panel appears and the selected material parameters are also updated in the calibration setup panel.

The final result can be saved in the material pallet by creating a new material so that it can be used in 3DEXPERIENCE platform as and when required. Also, if execution in Abaqus is required, then the pallet can be exported as .inp file but unit selection must be done prior to exporting the data.

Conclusion:

The 3DEXPERIENCE – Material Calibration apps offer many options to calibrate the material model, specifically the new and complex material models such as hyper elastic, non-linear viscoelastic material and prony series. It is definitely a choice for faster and error free calibration.

Save options in CATIA V5

Posted on February 22, 2021September 13, 2024 by Md. Shahnawaz Ahmed

There are multiple ways to save a document in CATIA V5. It sometimes depends on organization guidelines. In this blog, multiple options of saving a document in CATIA V5 are discussed. For saving a CATIA V5 document, three options are available. Click on Tools ➜ Options ➜ General ➜ under General tab ➜ Data Save to access these options. The save options are as follows:

No automatic backup
Automatic backup every ___ minutes
Incremental backup

No automatic backup

The documents here are not saved automatically.

Automatic backup

This is the option which is enabled by default and user can choose after how many minutes data should be saved automatically. It depends on the user what save frequency he wants.

The default value given here is 30 mins.

Incremental backup

This option is not available for all the workbenches. In this case, the documents that are open are stored in a directory which is temporary. It enables data recovery up to the last interaction.

Customizing CATIA CATSettings

Posted on February 22, 2021September 13, 2024 by Sangram Akhade

Every organization has its own standards and requirements when it comes to designing in CATIA. To adhere to these standards and requirements, some changes need to be made in the software application settings. In this article, setting up of global environment using customization setting from single source is explained in detail.

Introduction:

From selecting license while opening CATIA V5 to modifying shortcut keys for commands, all settings done in CATIA are saved as CATSettings. CATSettings files are created once a user does some customization. A single CATSettings file may contain multiple attribute values.
To make sure that users meet key company design practices and industry standards, CATSettings need to be administered. For the same reason, many OEMs create their own environment in CATIA and ask vendors to use the same.
CATSettings created by users are stored in CATUserSettingPath.
CATSettings created by administrators are stored in CATReferenceSettingPath in environment file.

There are many advantages of customizing CATIA settings which are listed below:

It will lead to standardization of CAT Settings.
Unnecessary start up settings and configurations are avoided.
Default paths can be set which eliminates searching time.
Custom Environment is created.
Custom start parts and drafting standards are created.
Best practices are followed by users.

The following steps are performed to set up CATIA V5 variables:

Create a folder in the name of EDST_CATIA_Environment on network drive.
Create two more folders in the name of say CAT_COLLECTION_STANDARD and CAT_Refrence_settings_path in EDST_CATIA_Environment folder.
Click on CAT_Refrence_settings_path folder and copy the path from the Address
Environment Editor can be opened by clicking Start > All Programs > CATIA > Tools > Environment Editor V5 R29 (the release issued from the user company).
For setting new environment, click Environment ➜ New From and rename it as EDST_CATIA_Environment and click OK.

Environment is created and desktop icon is also generated for the same.

The new environment file location is saved at the location:
C:\User\hostname\AppData\Roaming\DassaultSystemes\CATEnv
Select Environment (EDST_CATIA_Environment), click on CAT_Reference_settings_path and right click on variable.
Click on Edit Variable. Now paste the path copied earlier.

Similarly, copy and paste the same path for CAT_COLLECTION_STANDARD.
Now save the modifications and exit the workbench.

Now, the modified CATIA Environment is created successfully.
Copy Environment file from C:\User\hostname\AppData\Roaming\DassaultSystemes\CATEnv and paste to the network drive. EDST_CATIA_Environment folder will be created.

The following are the steps to launch CATIA in Admin mode:

Copy and paste the CATIA icon (in this document EDS_CATIA_Environment) on desktop.
Rename EDS_CATIA_Environment to EDS_CATIA_Environment-ADMIN (only for reference)
Right click on EDS_CATIA_Environment-ADMIN ➜ Properties
Search for CNEXT in target tab and change exe to CNEXT–Admin.exe
Change directory of Environment from “C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\DassaultSystemes\CATEnv“–nowindow to EDST_CATIA_Environment -direnv “Network Location“–nowindow for both EDS_CATIA_Environment and EDS_CATIA_Environment –ADMIN icons.
Changing CATIA environment paths

Now click EDS_CATIA_Environment-ADMIN and CATIA will be opened in Administration Mode.

Steps followed to modify System settings:

Go to Tools ➜ Options
Settings with a lock sign will appear
Modify the required settings
Click on the lock sign to lock the settings

Reset and Dump settings:

This is used to reset CATSettings to default value. User can reset the values which are changed to default. It can be changed for tab, workbench, selected solution and for all tab pages.
To view values of given settings, comparing settings between different releases and viewing each attribute of settings in detail, dump settings are created. This setting is used to create CATVBS files of settings.

How to Solve CATIA V5 R29 GA Installation Error

Posted on February 22, 2021September 13, 2024 by Sangram Akhade

When the setup application is launched, Some times CATIA V5-6R2019 GA installation crashes out immediately. This is due to the bug reported in the original installation launcher. In this blog, we learn how to resolve this error while installing CATIA V5 R29 GA.

What is the CATIA V5 R29 GA installation error?

While installing CATIA V5 R29 PLM Express or Legacy configurations, CATIA displays the following error.

This error occurs due to the redistributable packages installed in Windows 10.

What are the steps to resolve this error?

Download any CATIA V5 R29 Service Pack (1 to 5) from DS support portal.
Extract the ZIP file.
Copy exe file from location:

V5-6R2019.SP1.SPK.win_b64.1-1\SPK.win_b64\1\FIXGA

Replace existing exe file in GA folder with the downloaded setup.exe from Service Pack.

After replacing exe file, CATIA V5 R29 installation starts without any error.

How to Solve CATIA V5 R29 GA Installation Error-3

By downloading and replacing setup.exe file in CATIA V5 GA folder, CATIA V5 R29 can be installed without any error.

How CATIA 3DEXPERIENCE helps in the design of hydroforming-manufactured parts

Posted on January 24, 2021September 23, 2024 by Kiran Makam Setty

Introduction:

There is always a challenge to meet the high expectations of auto and aero industry when it comes to the parts. The suppliers need to maintain industry standard accuracy and precision in these parts. These parts undergo processing to achieve the desired component dimensions keeping their end application in mind.

One has to also go through documentation, various processes and extensive quality checks to deliver as per industry standards due to demand in the projects. To ensure this, one can rely on effective and standard engineering processes. One such process is Hydroforming.

Hydroforming process involves a hollow tube of metal (aluminum) placed inside a negative mold that has the shape to be achieved. A hydraulic pump injects fluid at very high pressure in the inner portion of aluminum tube which causes it to expand until it results in the desired shape.

Sheet Hydroforming: This process was originally patented in the 1950s when it was called hydramolding by Fred Leuthesser, Jr. and John Fox. This process helped to meet the parts supply for auto, aero and other OEMs effectively by easy workability of the process on various metals such as brass, aluminum, stainless steel and low alloy steel. These metals and alloys are lightweight in nature and has high stiffness structurally which is passed on to the finished parts. The hydroforming process can produce complex shapes, stronger, lighter and more robust unibody structures which are predominantly used in parts of automobiles. This process is used in high-end sports car manufacturing industry and in aluminum tubes for bicycle frames.

Advantages:

Hydroforming is better compared to solid stamping for manufacturing complex shapes with concavities (which is impossible or difficult with standard solid die).
Stiffness-to-weight ratio and lower unit cost of hydroformed parts are some of the other benefits when compared to traditional stamped and welded parts.
Generally, cold forming metals like copper, high strength alloys, stainless steel, brass, carbon and aluminum are best suited for hydroforming process.

3DEXPERIENCE CATIA – It helps in achieving the design of parts to be manufactured with hydroforming keeping in mind the process and various industry standards.

The image below shows a typical automotive industry process for car door part. This part is designed using 3DEXPERIENCE CATIA application.

Parts and components are designed with hybrid approach using both surface design and hydro-formed design. One can achieve concepts of surface creation and web creation, detailed design and manufacturing preparation with hydro-formed sheet metal application.

Design Considerations during Design of Rubber Parts

Posted on January 18, 2021September 13, 2024 by Satya Ranjan Dolai

During designing a rubber component, multiple factors need to be taken care of. These factors are as listed: material considerations with required technical specifications and also as per applicability and function, radius and wall thickness, gate location in mould, rib inclusion, mould shrinkage and draft.

Basic Design Aspects (Wall Thickness, Radius, Draft)

While designing rubber components, some basic aspects to adhere to is wall thickness. Most of industry hoses or pipes are made of rubber for carrying some liquid. Where there is liquid flow, it is important to sustain the burst pressure and for that designing right thickness is significant. Smooth flow of the liquid is also important and for that a good amount of radius or curvature can help. Parallelly providing draft helps in smooth ejection of the part as well.

Corner and Edges: In any design, sharp corners should always be avoided as machining in mould would be difficult due to sharp corners and edges. During part ejection too, it results in lot of part defects as well as mould defects.
Undercuts: Sometimes design needs some undercut feature which is an opposite projection of material against tool movement. In rubber components, force ejection can be done up to a certain height for undercut feature. However, the designer should take care of such feature in terms of ejection, long run mould capability, production rate etc.
Holes: If any hole should be placed in the designed body, designer can plan for placing metal insert into the mould itself. There is one thumb rule: the height of the hole should not be more than twice of its diameter and the minimum diameter should be about 1.27mm.

Functional Applicability and Environmental Condition

A designer must consider the functional aspect during a rubber component design. The component should be checked whether it will be responsible for 1) any sealing (then compression factor needs to be considered) 2) transmitting some fluid flow (then smoothness and wall thickness should be taken on priority) 3) providing any structural support (then inclusion of ribs inclusion need to be taken care of). There may be various functional aspects depending on which the designer has to define the design.

For environmental condition, the designed part will come under the impact of any chemical solvent or from air or water. The designer has to check whether the part is under some dynamic stress or not.

Rubber Material Selection

Material selection is one of the most important aspect in designing any elastomer component because only a best suited elastomer can give the right performance with respect to cost. The life span and durability are two other factors which basically depend on material itself.

During material selection, choosing the right elastomer hardness can give the desired result. If the purpose is sealing, then there should be a defined hardness of 70 Shore A. The most common hardness range is 50-80 Shore A. The designer should not always go for very soft or very hard material as the components are being designed with some complicated feature or deep undercut. To account for these features, the component needs the right amount of hardness and for that hardness tester can help.

Moulding Process

For manufacturing rubber components, multiple moulding process are employed. Some of them are compression moulding, blow moulding, injection moulding and transfer moulding.

In compression moulding, material surplus is placed into a cavity calculating the volume of the component and then heat and pressure are applied. Compression moulding is basically chosen for medium hardness compounds with high volume production rate.

Injection moulding is the most automated process in moulding technology. In this process, the material is heated and passed through a flowing state and injected into the cavity with high pressure. Injection moulding is the ideal and commonly used process for mass and high-volume production rate.

Category: Blog