Inventor 2013 FEA Documentation

[bellsx]

Hi there!

Would someone mind directing me to where I could find some *detailed* documentation for Inventor 2013's Stress Analysis environment?  I'm have a surprisingly difficult time finding any - I seem to only be able to find brief, vague descriptions of various dialog box options, old forums posts that tend to be full of dead links, or random pages that are mid-way through a tutorial (and only tell you which options to choose for that tutorial instead of details about all the options). The few sort-of helpful pages that I actually was able to find didn't tell me what version of Inventor they're referencing so I don't know if they're applicable.

I'm mainly just looking for details on things like the types/orders of elements used, mesh refinement methods, is there any way of checking mesh quality, etc; basically concrete information on what the program is actually doing and what it's capable of.  Right now it sort of seems like a black box that I'm just supposed to trust.

Thanks!

[JDMather]

http://www.amazon.com/Running-Autodesk-Inventor-Professional-2013/dp/1475129351/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&i...

[JDMather]

http://vrblog.info/

[bellsx]

Thanks but what I'm really looking for is documentation from Autodesk; most engineering programs I've used have documentation somewhere where they get into all the nitty gritty details.  RISA for example has a very comprehensive manual available as a PDF posted on their website in addition to their basic help files.

Is there nothing from Autodesk other than the help files?  They seem somewhat lacking; for example this is all I can find on "curved mesh elements":

"Select to create meshes with curved edges and faces. Clearing this option produces meshes with straight elements which can lead to less accurate representation of the model."

I assume they are talking about linear vs higher order elements here, but don't they have something that goes into detail?

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

Autodesk no longer produces comprehensive documentation.

I think there is a bit more than you have found - but it might not be easily discoverable.

[bellsx]

Wow really?  That's a little unnerving and also disappointing.  Any idea why?  Either way thanks for the info.