6 Replies Latest reply on Apr 23, 2008 5:12 AM by Derek Bishop

    Treat all structural members as beams

    19109 Apr 15, 2008 4:11 PM
      I have 180 structural members in my model. Converting them into beams in Cosmos yields to 80 only got converted. Which can be the problem?
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        • Treat all structural members as beams
          Derek Bishop
          Derek Bishop Apr 20, 2008 2:48 PM (in response to 19109)
          Could it be related to other bodies being merged to the beams in the component?
            • Treat all structural members as beams
              19109 Apr 20, 2008 4:59 PM (in response to Derek Bishop)
              I create the structural members by repeated and nested linear patterns. I have discovered that Cosmos does not treat as beams the members obtained by a pattern whose father does not contain any member of first level.
              It seams that this is a bug, and my dealer is dealing with SOlidWOrks development team.
              Thanks for your answer
                • Treat all structural members as beams
                  Derek Bishop
                  Derek Bishop Apr 21, 2008 1:18 PM (in response to 19109)
                  That used to be the case with CW designer. CW professional recognizes the patterns as structural members. Guess there has to be some incentive to move up to professional.
                    • Treat all structural members as beams
                      19109 Apr 21, 2008 1:31 PM (in response to Derek Bishop)
                      I have professional already (SP3.1). Bur it does not work.
                      My dealer supposed that this is a defect reintroduced with the last SP.
                      Another problem is that with mixed mesh it refuses to convert beams in trusses (radiobutton not enabled).
                      A huge problem for me now (I am a new user) is that with no more than 180 beams (obtained by the function 'add a beam' over a replenishment function) and with perhaps two thousand solid elements in the solid structure it gives me 'out of memory'. If on the same model I get out all the beams but the first true element of the replenishment function all goes fine. I fear that this is another bug
                        • Treat all structural members as beams
                          Vince Adams
                          Vince Adams Apr 21, 2008 4:19 PM (in response to 19109)
                          Hi guys, a little clarification...

                          1) We changed the algorithm for identifying beams in 2008 to remove the patterned beam limitation. We're making progress at increasing its robustness as we learn all the ways customers are creating beam-like geometry. One of the downsides of a General beam creation (from solids) algorithm is that we could only plan for combinations of entities we could predict. That, it turns out, was incomplete but we are working very hard at increasing the capabilities.

                          2) There is NO difference between Designer and Professional functionality with respect to beams. I'm not sure where this misunderstanding came from but I thought I'd clear that up.

                          Finally, with regards to (1) above, if you have a particularly difficult, large, or complex beam or mixed mesh model that is having trouble, please forward it to your reseller and make sure an SR is filed with the database attached. The more samples of this we get, the better we'll be able to perfect this.

                          Thanks!!!

                          Vince
                            • Treat all structural members as beams
                              Derek Bishop
                              Derek Bishop Apr 23, 2008 5:12 AM (in response to Vince Adams)
                              OK Vince. Interesting to hear that difference doesn't exist between designer and professional. I had the same problem some time back and that was the reason I was given to believe.

                              Always glad to hear of bugs in algorithm's being fixed. I like the beam analysis. I find it a quick and convenient design tool even for relatively large trusses and structures.