What is CAD Simulation and how can it help expedite production for your business?
Does this sound like you? Your manager’s expectations for product delivery are getting shorter and shorter. To top it off, your vendor’s lead times are getting longer due to staffing shortages and supply chain issues.
You only have time allocated into this project for one production run. So, you’re probably asking, “How can I test my ideas without making any physical parts?”
Thankfully, CAD simulation can expedite your production process to keep business moving.
The great thing about simulation is that you can test different properties and factors- almost infinitely. By running a CAD simulation, you’re conducting an experiment without having to spend the resources or time to do so in real life. So, what might that look like for different types of simulations?
Think about the components of your design that will experience fluid flow- air, gas, or water. You could simulate the airflow going around a wing, water flowing through a pipe, or gas expanding in a container.
Will your assembly overheat? Are you meeting the minimum flow rate requirements? Are your cooling and heating elements optimized? These are just a few problems that fluid simulation can resolve.
Structural reliability is critical, whether it be for a consumer or commercial product. Do you need to protect against resonance? Does your model withstand the required loading conditions?
The purpose of a structural simulation is to ensure your hardware and physical components do not fail. For example, if your product cannot withstand an accidental drop, that could spell major problems.
Plastics simulation can spot any issues with your plastic mold sooner rather than later. Will your part fill correctly? Will the cycle time be one gate or two?
If your plastic ends up failing under any circumstance, you’ve just wasted time and money. Plastic simulation can solve issues relating to injection molding, warpage, and cooling line placement.
Simulating a model in CAD could be right for your business under certain circumstances. First, are you in product development? Are you trying to create a new product or redesign an old one? In either case, simulation is an incredible way to future-proof your design and test its validity before going to market.
Modifying and testing your design (virtually) means spending less time, money, and human resources building physical prototype iterations. Going back to the problem of long vendor lead times, simulating a model will cut down the time in your design cycle, speeding up production.
For example, let’s say you need to build an airplane wing. Instead of building ten different wings to determine what works, 3D model it. Test the materials used, make of the wing, airflow around the wing, etc.
And that’s just one use-case.
If any of the above sounds relevant to your business’ situation, we think simulation should be on your radar.
If you have a project that requires CAD simulation, you’re going to be faced with two options: do it in-house or hire out the work. In the long run, it will end up saving your team an immense amount of resources.
Why? Because you need not only the software but also the talent. You’ll have reduced overhead costs because you’re taking all that out of house for the occasional simulation projects you have.
You can get your project simulated in SOLIDWORKS by our team of engineers today, or if you’re unsure what exactly you need, someone will be happy to point you in the right direction.