Finding the minimum wall thickness in a part

[kstate92]

Short of FEA, are there any other analysis tools available to find the minimum internal wall thickness in a part?  I'm aware of the cross-section tool, but that only analyzes an area the user has already noticed.  In a prismatic part with several cross-holes and features (cavities), it could be easy to miss a thin spot that could give up under internal pressure just by 'eyeballing' the part with Hidden Edges turned on.

I guess I could try the 'unground and move the part thru a sectional plane' trick, but I think it would be too haphazard, especially if the weak point is not thru a principal plane.

Is there a tool I'm missing or maybe something that has been added in newer releases?  Maybe this is too much analysis to ask of a modeling package.

[harco]

I would have thought the measure tool would give you what you want.

It's normal setting is minimum distance so selecting one cavity to another should find the thinnest wall.

You may need to switch view to hidden or wire frame to select and show the small red minimum distance indicator if it is within the body.

HTH

[blair]

Not that I know. Using the "Pressure" analysis would be the easiest as a thin spot would show up immediately.

[mcgyvr]

Thought there was an addin on the labs site (a few years ago) that had that exact functionality.. Maybe its gone. 

...oh yep.. it was "project Krypton" I think and its been retired/removed..

[kstate92]

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@harco wrote:

I would have thought the measure tool would give you what you want.

It's normal setting is minimum distance so selecting one cavity to another should find the thinnest wall.

You may need to switch view to hidden or wire frame to select and show the small red minimum distance indicator if it is within the body.

HTH

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Good point, though it still falls into the 'known unknowns' category, if you will.

Looking at the Cross-Section tool again, I had missed the multiple plane option under Advanced.  Might be worth using, though the result is a bit 'forest for the trees' busy with say, 1/16" spacing.  Writing this, I'm now not certain if you can actively highlight each row result in the main view with the results dialog active, which would be handy, as many of the minimum hits are irrelevant.  There is still the problem of possibly missing the key thinnest section that may not necessarily be aligned with a principle plane (I think).

[blair]

Pressure will be applied to the normal face of the part (the force load will be applied perpendicular to the face). This should be close to getting you the "Thin" portion.

This can also be verified by running the pressure on the outside as well should there be any irregular surfaces.

[kstate92]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Pressure will be applied to the normal face of the part (the force load will be applied perpendicular to the face). This should be close to getting you the "Thin" portion.

This can also be verified by running the pressure on the outside as well should there be any irregular surfaces.

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True, after 'plugging' the right holes to get the max pressure differentials for the different modes of operation.

Not quite through all the MEP tutorials yet, and nothing seems more sensitive to 'garbage in' than FEA.

[blair]

No need to plug the holes, it's not like a balloon that needs to be air-tight. Just select the inside or outside faces in question and apply the pressure load.

[Bob-SprMtTech]

I agree that this would be a very useful tool in Inventor.  I do a lot of valve body casting design and it is easy to overlook wall thickness "violations" in obscure areas.  Sometimes I find it helpful to "thicken/offset" an interior surface by the amount of the required wall thickness.

If the surface is visible from the outside of the part the actual wall thickness is sub-minimum.

[kacper.suchomski]

Hi

Look this:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-F7849D0D-D29E-4F89-A0F5-22727BD5D630