The Stress Analysis settings are applicable on a per document basis. These settings define the defaults for all new simulations. If you change the settings while working in a simulation, the simulation is not affected. Only simulations you create after you change the settings are affected. You can override the global settings in a single simulation by changing the simulation properties.
- Access
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Ribbon:
Stress Analysis tab
Settings panel
Stress Analysis Settings
Stress Analysis Settings - General tab
- Default Type
- Specifies either Static Analysis or Modal Analysis default analysis type.
- Default Objective
- Specifies either Single Point or Parametric Dimension as the default objective.
- Contact Defaults
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- Tolerance Specifies the maximum distance between faces or edges to consider in automatic contact detection.
- Type Specifies the default contact type.
- Normal Stiffness and Tangential Stiffness Specifies the default value for the input normal. This attribute affects how loads are transferred between surfaces. Available only for spring contact types.
- Excluded Components
- Shell Connector Tolerance
- Specifies the maximum ratio between shell gap and shell thickness used to bridge gaps within a midsurface. These gaps are connected using connectors. A connector is a system generated contact that helps to consider the midsurface as physically connected even when it has gaps. Display as: Specifies the default visibility settings for excluded components.
- Invisible Component visibility is turned off.
- Transparent Uses the disabled component visibility characteristics
- Shaded Uses the standard shaded component settings.
- Glyph Display
- Global Glyph Scale: Specifies the glyph size as a percentage of the model bounding box.
- Initial Label Placement Distance
- Specifies the displacement distance of the labels relative to where you click in the model, as a percentage of the diagonal of the model bounding box. Changes to the setting do not affect the positions of existing labels.
Stress Analysis Settings - Solver tab
Solver Defaults
- Maximum Number of h Refinements
- Sets the number of h refinement steps for convergence. The default value is 0. Generally, it is best to keep this number below 5, ideally 3 or 4.
If the Stop Criteria is met, the solve process stops before the maximum number of refinements.
- Stop Criteria (%)
- The refinement process stops when the selected simulation result returns consecutive values within the designated percentage. The default value is 10.
If the number of refinements is satisfied before the Stop Criteria is satisfied, the process stops.
- h Refinement threshold (0–1)
- Specifies the h refinement threshold for all new simulations.
- 0 specifies all the elements in the set as candidates for refinement. 0 can be viewed as maximum refinement.
- 1 removes all elements in the set from refinement, thus no refinement occurs.
The value of 0.75 specifies that elements with equivalent errors at the top 25% are subject to refinements.
- Detect and Eliminate Rigid Body Modes
- Removes the rigid body modes in problems where not enough constraints are defined, but they have a balanced load with a valid elasticity solution.
- Separate Stress Across Contact Surfaces
- Specifies whether to have explicit representation of discontinuous stress across the contact interface in the FEA formulation. Some components of the stresses can be discontinuous due to different materials of the contacting parts. Note: When selected, deactivates averaging of results across contact surfaces.
Results
- Create OLE link to Result Files
- Creates an OLE link to the result files. When cleared, no OLE link is established. This setting applies to ALL simulations in the document.
Stress Analysis Settings - Meshing tab
Meshing Defaults
- Average Element Size (as a fraction of bounding box length)
- Specifies the fraction of the longest axis of the model between adjacent nodes. A smaller value creates smaller mesh elements.
- Minimum Element Size (as a fraction of average size)
- Specifies the fraction of the average mesh size to place the closest pair of element nodes.
- Grading Factor
- Specifies the maximum ratio of adjacent mesh edges for transitioning between coarse and fine regions. A smaller grading factor produces a more uniform mesh.
- Maximum Turn Angle
- Specifies the maximum angle for arcs from 1 through 90 degrees. A smaller angle produces smaller mesh elements.
- Create Curved Mesh Elements for Parts or Assemblies
- Specifies whether to create meshes with curved edges and faces. When cleared, produces meshes with straight elements which can lead to less accurate representation of the model.
Assembly Options
- Use Part-based Measure for Assembly Mesh
- Specifies that part mesh sizes in the assembly are to be like their part based context (the part outside of the assembly context).