(http://blogs.solidworks.

com/)
(http://3ds.co

SOLIDWORKS Tech Blog

(https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/)

Non-Linear Tips and Tricks

By Alessandro Bellini
(https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/author/alessandrobellini)
August 14, 2019

When you are dealing with a Non-Linear Analysis inside

SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium sometimes is really hard to get
the job done. Here there is an extract from my presentation at
SWW Los Angeles in 2017 to enhance your workflow and have a
smoother experience with Non-Linear module.

First some advice about the use of the module: don’t go

immediately with it but start with a Linear Static Analysis. Later on,
when you are ok with the setup, you can convert easily (image1)
the linear study in a Non-linear one.

In addition, if you find it unstable you can again convert it in a Non-

linear study and try to use the damping as a “stabilizer” for the run
(check also my presentation at SWW 2018 about Rayleigh damping
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6NcZuBUOFE
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6NcZuBUOFE)). This
approach has many benefits:

It’s quick to run to check contacts and boundary conditions

The mesh can be transferred once you find the good balance
between precision and speed
Linear material model will give you an idea what to expect.

Speaking about meshing, start always with a draft mesh to save

time. Once you identified a good mesh, you can easily switch to the
second order.

Also Standard mesher should be preferable in the first place

because it has more predictable behavior and you won’t get
additional nodes that you don’t need. If the standard mesher is not
good for your model switch to curvature-based.

It’s a good practice to use the split command over geometry hard
to mesh. Use it for helping the mesher to start with edges you
decide, in addition it’s a good tool to have results exactly where you
need.

Now let’s talk about contacts, the most difficult part to manage in a
Non-linear analysis. Some hints about contacts:

Start always with Global bonded contact and then apply no-
penetration contact sets.
Try to have to the same mesh element dimension across the
region in the contact set
Use a mesh control to have a uniform mesh over a highly
deformable component (like rubber sealing) (image3)
Choose source and target selection (in the contact set
window) thinking about a bullet that is smashing into a wall.
The source will be always the selection with more complex
surfaces and/or smaller than the target. The target usually is
selected over much smoother surfaces.
Don’t use many contact sets with fewer selected surfaces but
try to group them in relation to the contact region you
imagine will occur.
Always use surface-to-surface contact option in the no-
penetration contact sets
Use friction only when necessary and only in a specific contact
set (it slows down the calculation)
Use 0.05 friction in problematic contact set to avoid sliding
and so stabilizing the run.

The last part of this article is about solver settings. Usually the
default settings are fine but with complex models, involving many
contact sets, hyperelastic materials or load-unload boundary
conditions, it’s better to change them. Let’s review them:

Use always Direct Sparse or Intel Sparse (make sure to have

a lot of RAM)
FFE+ or other solvers should be used only if you are running
out of core (not enough RAM)
Set convergence tolerance to 1e-06. It will slow down the run
but it’s more probable to finish it. Better to wait more but to
have results to watch.
Set maximum equilibrium iterations to 50 to help in difficult
step calculation.

In addition, It’s very important to setup a good time step in the

solver window. There are few tips here based on experience. Try to
imagine the time step as the speed and acceleration you want to
drive your car. If you use a slow speed and low acceleration, you
can easily drive everywhere but you will waste a lot of time.
Instead, if you use too much acceleration before a curve you can
have troubles.

The minimum time step is exactly the minimum speed you want to
set for the analysis, this is extremely important but the default is
fine for almost every run. Then you have to set a maximum time
step, this is again in terms of velocity the maximum speed you
allow to drive your run. If it’s too high the risk is to receive an error
from the solver that has stopped due to convergence problem.
Usually I try it a 1/10 or a 1/20 of the total time set for the
analysis. Last value to set is the initial time step, this is the initial
speed you take to start your drive. If you know there is some
complex contact at the beginning of the simulation you can cut it in
half from the maximum time step but usually I set it at the same
value.

Hope to be of help, enjoy your Non-linear analysis!

Bio Latest Posts

Alessandro Bellini
Technical Manager with more than 13 years of
experience in Pre-Sales and Post-Sales activities in
CAD-related market. Strong knowledge about
Simulation products, PDM and implementation
projects. Deep experience in manufacturing
companies processes and workflows. 5 Years of
experience managing SOLIDWORKS Resellers in a
global environment: Italy, Balkans, Turkey, Israel,
Middle East and North Africa.

Categories: SOLIDWORKS 2018

(https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/category/solidworks/solidworks-
2018), SOLIDWORKS 2019
(https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/category/solidworks/solidworks-
2019), SOLIDWORKS Simulation
(https://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/category/solidworks-simulation)
Tags: Simulation (/tech/tag/simulation)

0 Comments The SolidWorks Tech Blog

& Recommend t Tweet f Share

Start the discussion…

LOG IN WITH

OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ?

Name

Be the first to comment.

ALSO ON THE SOLIDWORKS TECH BLOG

PREPARING A SOLIDWORKS Tricks to help out Sheet Metal

MODEL FOR 3D PRINTING Fabricators through the
1 comment • a year ago SOLIDWORKS
1 Flatten
comment • 4 months ago Tool
jorge — amazing Emir Ahmetspahić
one, i use the exact same
procedure for tube slides on
children playgrounds. Effective
What IS the Best CPU for Showing Global
and not Min and Max
complicated.
SOLIDWORKS? Values of Results in Flow
1 comment • a year ago Simulation
1 comment • 10 months ago
ddearborn — HmmmGiven the Nirmal Mayilsamy
age and the "maturity" of the difference between plot
Solidworks, the lack of maxima and global maxima?
support for multi-core CPU's
✉ means that
Subscribe d Addin aDisqus
very real
to your siteAdd DisqusAdd
sense, this program is firm
🔒 Disqus' Privacy PolicyPrivacy PolicyPrivacy
stuck in the previous century.
Now that 32 physical core
workstation chips can be had
for a nominal sum this glaring

SEARCH

Search

RECENT POSTS

SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News – August 2019

(/tech/2019/08/solidworks-support-monthly-news-august-
2019.html)

SP4 Delay (/tech/2019/08/sp4-delay.html)

Non-Linear Tips and Tricks (/tech/2019/08/non-linear-tips-and-

tricks.html)

SOLIDWORKS Tech Tip – Using the S Key

(/tech/2019/08/solidworks-tech-tip-using-the-s-key.html)

Proper Engineering Practices & Data Management

(/tech/2019/08/proper-engineering-practices-data-
management.html)

RECENT COMMENTS

Keith Hekman on Engineering Love with SOLIDWORKS Motion

(/tech/2018/02/engineering-love-solidworks-
motion.html#comment-37334)

Will Hughes on How to get FREE Access to SOLIDWORKS as a

Student (/tech/2014/10/how-to-get-free-access-to-solidworks-as-a-
student.html#comment-37333)

Mark on Creating a Testing Vault for SOLIDWORKS PDM

(/tech/2017/03/creating-a-testing-vault-for-solidworks-
pdm.html#comment-37332)

Kaiming Ai on How to create a wind turbine blade using Surface

Lofts (/tech/2015/08/create-wind-turbine-blade-using-surface-
lofts.html#comment-37331)

FlowJoe on Is This a Good FEA Mesh? Here’s How to Answer Yes,

No, and All-You-Need-to-Know About Meshing Infographic
(/tech/2017/08/good-fea-mesh-heres-answer-yes-no-need-know-
meshing-infographic.html#comment-37330)

ARCHIVES

Select Month

SOLIDWORKS RESELLER BLOGS

Alignex (http://blog.alignex.com/)

ARON (https://aron.com.co/blog/)

CAD2M (https://www.cad2m.nl/blog/)

CADimensions (http://www.cadimensions.com/blog)

CAD AVSHMEIP (https://www.cadavshmeip.com/blog/)

CAD MicroSolutions (http://www.cadmicro.com/)

Cadtek Systems Ltd (http://www.cadtek.com/)

CATI Tech Notes (http://blog.cati.com/)

Cimworks (https://www.cimworks.es/blog/)

COFFEE (http://www.coffee.de/blog)

DASI Solutions (http://blog.dasisolutions.com/)

DesignPoint (http://www.design-point.com/blog/)

DPS Software (http://www.dps-software.de/cad/news/)

Easyworks (https://easyworks.es/blog/)

EGS India (http://solidworksreselleregsindia.blogspot.in/)

FISHER/UNITECH (http://blog.funtech.com/)

GoEngineer (http://blog.goengineer.com/)

GSC (https://www.gsc-3d.com/articles/)

Hawk Ridge Systems (http://www.hawkridgesys.com/blog/)

Innova Systems (https://www.innova-

systems.co.uk/category/blog/)

Intelligy (http://intelligy.com/blog/)

Javelin Technologies (http://www.javelin-tech.com/blog/)

MB CAD (https://www.mbcad.de/solidworks-schulungen/solidworks-
blog/)

MLC CAD Systems (https://www.mlc-cad.com/)

Nine Dot Connects (https://www.ninedotconnects.com/solidworks-

pcb)

NT CADCAM
(https://www.thenewtechnologygroup.com/resources/blog)

Origen (https://origencadcam.es/noticias/)

PBI (https://www.pbicadcam.com/)

Prism Engineering (http://www.prismengblog.com/)

SolidExpert (http://solidexpert.com/)

SolidLine (https://www.solidline.de/ueberuns/news-presse/)

Solidpro (https://www.solidpro.de/blog.html)

Solid Solutions (http://www.solidsolutions.co.uk/blog/)

SolidXperts (http://www.solidxperts.com/blog/en/)

Symmetry Solutions (http://www.symsolutions.com/symblog)

TMS CADCentre (http://www.tms-

scotland.co.uk/Articles/SolidWorks)

TPM (https://blog.tpm.com/topic/solidworks)

TriMech (http://blog.trimech.com/)

Unitec (http://www.unitec.com/category/blog/)

©2019 Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp.

Site Map (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/sitemap.htm) |
RSS (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/1391_ENU_HTML.htm) |
Terms of Use (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/termsofuse.html) |
Privacy (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/privacypolicy.htm) |
Piracy Prevention (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/piracyprevention.htm) |
License Agreement (http://www.solidworks.com/sw/eula.htm)

LEGAL INFO (HTTP://BLOGS.SOLIDWORKS.COM/LEGAL-INFORMATION/) | TERMS OF USE