Glossary

The following are terms in Autodesk Inventor simulation and analysis.

acceleration

A vector quantity defined as the rate at which an object changes its velocity.

analysis

In Autodesk Inventor, any form of real-world physical valuation. Valuations usually involve real materials, mass, densities, inertia, forces, and reactions. Included are rigid body motion studies, material stress studies, and frequency response.

bearing load

It is the compressive load at the interface

body load

The load applied to the entire part. Single entities such as a face, edge, or vertex are not valid selections.

CAD edit

An edit of the model, such as a geometry feature, which affects the model directly. Thus, any regular consumer of the model, such as a parent assembly or a drawing, will witness the edit.

CAE

Computer Aided Engineering (& Analysis). In practice, this term equates to software that assists with engineering analysis.

contact

Defines how components interact with one another during the simulation.

design constraint

A simulation output value.

FEA

Finite Element Analysis. Currently the most common method to conduct many types of stress, frequency, thermal, and shock analyses. The term finite elements refer to refining the geometry into a series of small simple shapes, collectively called a mesh

fixed constraint

Fixed constraint prevents the face, edge, or vertex from moving or deforming.

force

A uniformly distributed load, when applied to a face or edge. A point load when applied to a vertex.

frictionless constraint

Frictionless constraint prevents the surface from moving or deforming in the normal direction relative to the surface. The surface is free to rotate, move, or deform in a tangential direction to the applied frictionless constraint.

gravity

Applies gravitational acceleration effect in the selected direction.

limit

A bounding value for a result.

override material

Material which overrides the assigned material during simulation. Use to evaluate different materials for the design solution.

mesh

The collection of finite elements used to split up the body into discrete elements. The value you define for mesh divides the body in multiple elements for analysis.

moment

The moment is calculated by multiplying the force by the perpendicular distance to the location at which the moments are about.

normal

The load applied is in the direction perpendicular to the selected face.

pin constraint

Applies a rotational constraint on the selected combination of cylindrical faces.

pressure

Pressure when applied on a face is the force measured per unit area.

reaction forces

The added force generated by the lack of motion when a force is applied on a part.

reaction moments

The reaction generated by a load which generates a moment load.

remote force

Load applied without modeling the source. For example, an engine is statically supported by three brackets. To analyze the brackets, use a remote force to represent the weight and location of the engine.

rotational velocity

Rotational velocity is a quantitative expression of the amount of rotation that a spinning object undergoes per unit time. It is a vector quantity, consisting of an angular speed component and either of two defined directions or senses.

simulation

In the context of Autodesk Inventor, the term Simulation has grown to be an equivalent term to analysis. Note, the Dynamic Simulation environment strictly refers to rigid body motion studies.

stress analysis

An analysis showing that the model is statically and dynamically stable and free from divergence on application of external loads and frequencies.