Inventor 2015: Inacurate Stress Analysis Simulation Results

[Anonymous]

I am trying to stress test a rack for solar panels. I'm confused by some results I'm getting.

I seperately tested using both gravity and a down force equal to the panel weight. Both came with weird results. When I increased the tubing thickness from 1/8" to 1/4", the displacement increased. I thought this would go down? Isn't displacement the material flex? 

Y displacement 1/8": 1.26716e-015 (this is 0.1267 with fifteen zeroes before it right? 0.0....1267?)

Y displacement 1/4": 4.92159e-008

Third, the visual does not seem to match any of these results. This flexes much more than I would have figured based on real life experiences and much more than what the other numbers seem to show (if I'm interpreting them right).

Could someone please help me and guide me in the right direction? All of my simulations seem to turn out bad...

[JDMather]

From the images - it appears to me that the analysis is poorly set up.

Can you attach your assembly here?

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Q1.  1.26716e-015 (this is 0.1267 with fifteen zeroes before it right? 0.0....1267?)

Q2. Third, the visual does not seem to match ...... 

---

A1. No.  Well, OK.  But I don't normally count the zero left of the decimal in a number less than 1.

A2. Visual is a adjusted exageration so that you can clearly see.  The displacement (you report) is so minor that it is not even possible to measure.

[Anonymous]

The website is giving me trouble uploading. It keeps giving me ticket error messages, so here's a google drive link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0V4E2-zyGdna1BtcFV3bHQ2cTQ/view?usp=sharing Thank you very much for your help.

[JDMather]

Can you upload to A360 drive instead?

In general

 - there should be no need to include fasteners in this analysis

 - I suspect you don't need the panels in the analysis - only their weight

 - I suspect you should be using Frame Anaylis or Thin Features analysis.

(Didn't you get a warning about thin features?)

Lightning bolt indicates that the analysis in at least one of your images is out of date.

[JDMather]

I don't need teh 1.66 GB of analysis files.

The OldVersions folder(s).

The Bolted Connections.

The Weld beads.

[Anonymous]

Ok, thanks for letting me know. That vastly improves the file tranfer time.  What email should I share it with on A360?