| Item | Who | Notes |
|---|
| Creating one solidy body | Ed | - The tubes were each set as seperate bodies, and the mesh was not properly connecting the two. This led to gaps in the actual design of the tubes.
- After a lot of playing around, figured that you need to use the "combine" function in Solidworks (highlight the chassis > Insert features > combine).
- When inserting the chassis into ANSYS, it will all appear as one body
|
| Mesh refinement | Ed | - Start with a coarse mesh, and decrease the mesh size until the results are the same
- A small mesh size is especially important around the nodes and weld areas
- Confirm meshing results by continually refining it
|
| Fixing the model | Ed | - For static loading, fixing the opposite side makes sense
- Look into different types of ways to fix the opposite side
- May need to fix the members only in the same direction as the force, and keep it floating in other directions
|
| Dynamic vs. Static Loading | Ed | - Possibly do a dynamic loading test representing a crash scenario
- Confirm with regulations, and look into testing scenarios
|
| Simulation Results | Ed | - The sharp corners modeled in Solidworks right now increase the stress concentration for the welds than what would be seen in reality
- If the max stress is shown at the weld point, this max stress will be greater than actual. Therefore, this proves the chassis is good
- Keep the max stress in each state lower than the yield strength
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