Simulation-only fillets for re-entrant edges (to prevent stress singularities)

[Gabriel_Watson]

In Simulation (FEA), sharp re-entrant corners can produce stress singularities. That means, the more you mesh a corner, the bigger the stress value will be for a few elements in that corner... never converging to a maximum stress value!

To prevent that singularity, we need to apply very small fillets to the corners and refine the mesh in those areas. The problem here is, sometimes we simulate assemblies, and there is no "Assembly Fillet" feature to apply. Even if there was one, we probably would only want to include those needed fillets for the simulation sake, and not carry those over to the actual model.

Right now the workaround for this is using "Create Simplified Part" to generate an IPT out of a given assembly, then apply fillets to it and simulate on that IPT. This approach also has limitations, given that some 3D models might require different contact types than bonded (as they become if converting all into a single IPT "blob").

[Gabriel_Watson]

Weld fillets are another workaround too, but they won't always fit the application.

[Rory_M]

There is a fillet command in assembly mode.

Look for the 3D Model tab when in an assembly.

[Gabriel_Watson]

Thanks @Rory_M. I found it now, but we still would like to see something like that for only simulation, not affecting the actual 3D model.

[dan_szymanski]

This idea has been implemented within Autodesk Inventor 2022. Please review the Inventor 2022 What's New article here, for more information regarding how you may leverage their power within multiple workflows. Special thanks to everyone who cast a vote for it.