One of the more under-utilized features of Simulation Professional is the Trend Tracker (Editors note: Trend Tracker is now also available in the new SOLIDWORKS Simulation Standard Package). Trend Tracker helps you detect trends in results from different iterations of a static study. It allows us to change parameters or dimensions, rerun the study, and compare the results without bogging down the file or results folder with configurations or design studies.
Here we are going to apply 1000 psi to the circular face and fix the bolt holes.
We will change the geometry and see how that affects our results. We will iterate the thickness of the rib between 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, and 14mm.
To set up the Trend Tracker, we simply Right-Click the study in the Simulation Design Study Tree and choose Trend Tracker.
The “Trend Tracker” icon shows up in the Simulation tree. You can now Right-Click and select “Set Baseline”. This will give us our first data point.
It will also make a Trend Journal and three result plot graphs: Mass, Stress, and Displacement.
You can also add sensors for Trend Tracker to monitor. These sensors, as well as the default plot graphs, are documented in the Trend Journal.
We can now go back and change our model. In this case, as mentioned above, we are changing the rib thickness. We change the dimension, rebuild, and re-run the analysis three more times.
We can see that the stress stabilizes after 12mm (iteration 3), but the displacement continues to decrease. Let’s make a more drastic design change. We will add a fillet and a cut out to increase strength and reduce weight.
We see here that the additional changes have been added to our graphs. Mass has been significantly reduced between iterations 4 and 5. Stress has also been reduced.
At any point, we can Right-Click the “Trend Tracker” icon and “Restore model to Iteration.”
This will change the model back to the state to which it was made.
The Trend Tracker allows you to seamlessly iterate your design by changing dimensions and adding features, without worrying about running a simulation. It keeps track of your design iterations automatically and allows you to choose the best solution based on Simulation criteria you defined using sensors and result plots.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to give us a call to discuss Trend Tracker; or any other aspects of SOLIDWORKS for that matter. In the meantime, happy modeling and happy simulating!