Hi,
I have Solidworks premium 2012 and I am using the simulation add-on to do a study. I was able to get rid of most of the issues I've had with meshing and mating (I had to treat most members as beams for analysis). Now, my issue is that when I simulate this structure, it gives me a very weird response and I'm not sure if I've done something wrong in the assembly or it is maybe my simulation settings. I have tried everything I can think of to try and analyze this structure. I would just like to add some forces on the cross beams and on the roof (seperate studies if necessary) and get a simple stress analysis that works (deformation, von mises stresses). Thank you very much in advance for your help, since I really need it!
Also, let me know if my upload worked, because I uploaded only the assembly file and I'm not sure if I also have to upload all of the individual parts as well (there are quite a few). Thanks in advance for the help!
I was able to take a quick look, and you had a few things incorrect in your setup. The use of beams is the correct way to go on this, but you need to make sure to apply all your loads accordingly (your roof loading was set to surface face).
Second, look closely at your joints. You need to be sure all connections are pink, not gold. You can click on a gold node and it will highlight the associated beam, from which you can click on additional beams to add to the connection and click 'Calculate', but be sure the 'Keep modified joint on update' box is checked.
You also had 'Inertial relief' checked in your setup properties, but since your model had adequate fixtures this is unnecessary and was giving me errors.
The sim ran well for me after changing these, give it a shot and let me know how it goes!
P.S. - I assume you initially setup your sim for solids, but for beams you want to analyze your stress results accordingly (yours still had the solid's Von Mises used). Adjust your stress charts' Definition to beams, using 'Upper bound axial and bending'.