Adding a mass to an assembly

[Anonymous]

Hey Everyone,

I'm trying to analyze a small satellite for a trade study I am doing. I am only worried about the structure of the satellite for my study so I don't need to analyze any of the flight components that are in the structure but I will need to include the masses of these components. Is there a way that I can simplify my analysis to remove these components while keeping their masses. I have heard from other people in my department that in FEMAP you can add a point mass and add rigid links to the part of my structure that it would attach to and I was wondering if something similar can be done with inventor or if there is another way to add these masses without just making simplified boxes with the mass and running them through the analysis as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Tim

[blair · Accepted solution]

Wish it was available in Inventor as with stand-alone FEA programs, unfortunately Inventor looks at the components, location and mass of the components within the assembly. Other than use your full IAM with all the components, any other ways to simplify the model may produce incorrect results. Possibly creating a FEA friendly model with simple shapes (easier to mesh) with the correct mass may get you "close enough" results.