I am running a frequency analysis on Solidworks Simulation (Version 2013 SP5). The objective is to find the resonant frequencies on the assembly. The assembly model that I have is not a very large model and after simplifying the model I am down to approximately 25 parts. However the parts in question have pretty complex and small geometries. So much that I had to use 9 different types of mesh controls (Element size ranging from 0.1mm to 4mm) on a lot of surfaces. I did this since I am after more accurate results. (I have already run the test on the same model using a very average sized mesh. But the mesh looked horrible so I do not know how accurate the results were). To increase accuracy I also tried to use a finer curvature based mesh (Max Element size 20 and Min Element size 4). The resulting mesh was much better.
I ran the simulation on this mesh using an FFEPlus solver for around 50 frequencies but the problem that I was facing was that the simulation was completed to approximately 18.2% in around 3 minutes and was stuck at the same place for over 2 and a half hours. I assumed that the solver might be having convergence troubles and so aborted the simulation.
I tried running the simulation using the Direct Sparse solver. During the simulation I noted down the following
DOF: 30251808
Number of Nodes: 10161435
Number of Elements: 6647214
In the middle of the simulation (at approx 30%) the solver window changed and the numbers had changed to
DOF: 251808
Number of Nodes: 161,435
Number of Elements: 47,214
Is this normal? (Looking at it carefully 30251808 was reduced to 251808. The reduced DOF is just the last few digits of the original DOF. You can see the same pattern in nodes and elements). After trying to start the simulation in the new solver window I got the following error
"DSTAR has stopped working"
Then I tried consulting my reseller and read a few topics on the forums here. They all advised to simplify geometry further or reduce the number of elements or try different solvers. Not wanting to compromise too much on the accuracy I used a coarser curvature based mesh (Max Element Size 30 and Min Element Size 6) and reduced the mesh control on a few surfaces and ran the mesh. It still looked pretty decent and uniform. To reduce calculation times I also reduced the number of frequencies from 50 to 30.
I tried running the simulation using the Direct Sparse solver. Again I noted down the following
DOF: 26660055
Number of Nodes: 8964094
Number of Elements: 5855154
Again In the middle of the simulation (at approx 30%) the solver window changed and the numbers had changed to
DOF: 660056
Number of Nodes: 964094
Number of Elements: 55154
Again I got the following error
"DSTAR has stopped working"
Then without changing the mesh I tried running the simulation using the FFEPlus solver. The DOF, Nodes and Elements remained unchanged. At approximately 18.2% of the simulation being completed I got the following error.
"STAR has stopped working"
I am not really sure now how to deal with the problem. Is there a way to get around the problem without making changes to the geometry? Or without compromising on the accuracy?