Inventor 2014 thin body and solid body FEA

[janellvincent]

I'm getting an "internal solver error" when running a static analysis for a monorail structure that has both thin bodies and solid bodies in the model. Is this becuase Inventor 2014 can't analysis these to types of bodies together? Or am I just doing something else wrong? I am currently starting the simulation over to see if that helps but with over 1000 connections to sift through, I don't want to do this very often. Thanks to anyone who can answer this and possible help me out. 

Janell

[JDMather]

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@janellvincent wrote:

....over 1000 connections to sift through, I don't want to do this very often. 

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What is the largest assembly (in terms of number of "connections") that you have successfully run in the past?

My immediate thought (based on the books on FEA that I have) is to dramatically simplify the assembly for analysis purposes.

Ref:  Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis by Vince Adams.

[janellvincent]

I have analysed a model with about 600 connections. Granted, it took a couple of hours, but it was a success. 

To simplify my model, I read that shrink wrapping similar thin bodies is a method. Are there any other methods that I should be aware of, because I have different types of steel? 

[raviburla · Accepted solution]

Hi Janell,

Internal solver error is not very common in typical workflows. The reason for solver throwing an internal solver error could be due few reasons:

1. The contact configuration is no proper or physical.

2. There could some meshing issues. 

3. Some parts may not get necessary material properties, and so on.

Would you be able to post your model so that we can take a look? Is the model too big/complex? Can you simplify the model which still reproduces the problem? 

We will be able to give out more information once we take a look at it.

Thanks, 

Ravi Burla (Autodesk)

[janellvincent]

Thanks!

I have found that there were some connection issues. I deleted some parts that were causing the issue and re-inserted them into the assembly. Re-connecting the part seemed to fix the problem for me. I also suppressed all bolts and bolt holes and used bonded connections on everything to simplify the model.

I also have noted that the issue comes back for me when I suppress parts for one analysis, then un-suppress them to run another analysis. Until I figure out the reason for this, I will run my analyses in order, starting with all parts un-suppressed. 

[raviburla]

Thanks Janell. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with.

Ravi Burla (Autodesk)