InCAD Tutorial Using Autodesk Inventor

Motor Bracket Model

Part Number 4710.547

Revision 1.06
June 2002
June 27, 2002

ALGOR, Inc.
150 Beta Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15238-2932 USA
Phone: 1.412.967.2700
USA/Canada: 1.800.48.ALGOR
Fax: 1.412.967.2781
Product/Services e-mail:
info@ALGOR.com
Technical Support e-mail:
service@ALGOR.com
Internet Address:
www.ALGOR.com

Copyright 2002 ALGOR, Inc.

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose, either in part or in
its entirety, without the expressed written permission of ALGOR, Inc.

This publication describes the state of ALGOR software at the time of its printing and may not reflect the software at all
times in the future. This publication may be changed without notice. This publication is not designed to transmit any
engineering knowledge relating specifically to any company or individual engineering project. In providing this publication,
ALGOR does not assume the role of engineering consultant to any user of this publication and hereby disclaims any and all
responsibility for any errors or omissions arising out of any engineering activity in which this publication may be utilized.

This document has been designed to be printed on the customer's local computer and printer. ALGOR cannot be held
responsible for any errors incurred in the printing of this document.

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The Purpose of this Tutorial

Welcome to the ALGOR Design and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Systemthe best value in desktop computer FEA. This
InCAD Tutorial Using Autodesk Inventor provides an introduction to the system in general and meshing capabilities in
particular.

After working through the tutorial’s demonstration model of a three-dimensional motor mount assembly, you should have a
basic understanding of how the system works. You should also have a good appreciation for some of the advanced modeling
tools included in the ALGOR Design and FEA System.

For additional information about FEA, see Appendix A. For complete product and purchasing information, please contact
your account representative at ALGOR, Inc.

Files List for this Tutorial

In addition to this document file (which is in Adobe Acrobat 4.0 format), the following files are referenced in the tutorial:

KnuckleShaft.IPT
LeftBracket.IPT
RightBracket.IPT
MotorMount.IAM
MotorMount.IDV
These files are available in the ALGOR12\models directory.

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Tutorial Conventions
To make this tutorial easy to use, the following conventions will be employed. For the command conventions, the item (or an
example of one) that you need to perform is noted in bold on the left. To the right of the item is a short description of the
action and/or results of the action.

User Input Notation Conventions

algframe Type "algframe" using the keyboard. Text that you need to type is noted in bold type using a Courier
font.

<Esc> Press the <Esc> key (or choose "Esc" from the current menu if using Superview). Some of the other
keys expressed in this manner are <Enter>, <Tab> and the function keys, for example <F9>.

<Ctrl>-c Press <Ctrl> and the letter "c" simultaneously. Keys to be pressed at the same time are shown with a
hyphen between them.

"Enclose" Choose the "Enclose" option. The names of pop-up menus, options and buttons are enclosed in
quotation marks and shown as they are on the screen.

"Selection: Access the SELECTION pull-down menu and choose the "Shape" option. Then, from the cascading
Shape:Point" menu, choose "Point". Commands in sequences are separated by colons.

Mouse Use the mouse to click on the specified location. ALGOR software is designed for a two-button
mouse. Where "click" or "left click" is used, you should press the left mouse button. "Right click"
means you should press the right mouse button. If you have a three-button mouse, you will not use
your middle button for ALGOR software.

In the tables throughout this tutorial, input instructions for using toolbars and pull-down menus are in the two left columns.
Descriptions or more detailed instructions are given in the right column. For example:

"Selection:Shape:Point" Access the SELECTION pull-down menu and choose "Shape" and
then "Point" to activate point selection mode.

Other Notation Conventions

sd3.dmit, an .esx file Filenames and file extensions are lowercase and italic.

filename.doc Filenames that are user-supplied are in bold, lowercase italics.

\model directory Directory names may appear in Courier type and be followed by the term "directory". (The directory
where all your ALGOR software is stored is usually referred to as the ALGOR12 directory, where
"ALGOR12" is in bold, lowercase italics.)

FILE menu Menu names are shown in uppercase characters.

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3-D Motor Mount Assembly Model
In this tutorial, we will introduce you to ALGOR software's CAD Interface and InCAD capabilities. The tutorial will go
through Preprocessing and further work can be done in the Processing and Postprocessing areas through later tutorials.

You will perform the following steps:

I. Preprocessing – Retrieve assembly and part files and bring them into the CAD Interface. From the CAD Interface,
we will go through ALGOR’s meshing process. Also there will be added keystrokes to demonstrate the steps to
refine the meshed model.

I. Preprocessing
In the Preprocessing phase, the CAD model can be retrieved from the ALGOR12 directory and the models folder. From
here, the model will be brought into Autodesk Inventor. The part then will be transferred to the CAD Interface. From the
CAD Interface various meshing sequences will be performed.

1. Problem Description

A motor mount assembly is designed to hold a 15-pound motor. The assembly consists of a left bracket, a right bracket and a
knuckle shaft. The brackets are made of aluminum (6061-T6) and the shaft is made of steel (ASTM-A36). The motor is
mounted to the brackets with bolts. The assembly has a tension force due to the output of the motor.

For the meshing tutorial, the model will first be meshed taking the default values. Once this has been completed, the model
will be meshed again taking into account the thickness of the brackets and the number of elements generated.

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Starting ALGOR Software

Start the ALGOR interface from the Windows taskbar.

Note: Alternatively, at the Windows desktop, you could double click on the "ALGOR FEA" icon, .

"Start:Programs:ALGOR Software: In the Windows taskbar, click on the "Start" button. Use the
ALGOR FEA" mouse to drag the cursor to "Programs" and then "ALGOR
Software". Click on "ALGOR FEA".

The initial ALGOR interface screen will now appear with the "Open" screen active.

"Files Of Type" In the “Files of Type” pulldown menu, select the Inventor
Assembly files (*.iam)” option, then browse to the
ALGOR12/models directory. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Choosing to Open Inventor Files In ALGOR

Mouse Click on the "Look in:" field to access a pull-down list of your
computer's contents. Browse to the ALGOR12\models
directory, which is where the archive file is stored.
MotorMount.IAM Click on the MotorMount.IAM
file. The file name will appear in the "File name:" field.
(Alternatively, you could type the file name.)
"Open" Click on the "Open" button. (Alternatively, you could double-
click on the file name.)

When you click to open the drawing file, ALGOR will automatically open Inventor, and start the file you selected in
Inventor. ALGOR will then perform a Direct Memory Image Transfer, and create a Direct Memory Image Transfer File
(filename.dmit), which will import the model’s geometry without the need to translate the file into a neutral file format.
Once the file is imported directly into ALGOR, the model is displayed in ALGOR’s CAD interface, and Inventor is closed.
If it is necessary, select "View:Enclose" to adjust the size of the part to the screen. The solid model should be displayed as
shown in Figure 2.

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 Figure 2: Model in CAD Interface

Generating a Mesh

“Mesh” Click “Mesh” on the Create Mesh window. A surface mesh will be
generated at this time. Since the Solid option is active, the solid
mesh will be generated when you perform the analysis. See Figure
3.

Figure 3: Meshed Model

These mesh results are fine, but instead we would like to have at least one element through the thickness of this part. We
know that the thickness modeled is 0.2 inches thick across the bars. So we want to enter an absolute mesh size of 0.1 inches
so that we have two elements through the thickness of the bars.

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 "Details" Press the Details button to access the Detailed Mesh Creation
Options screen.
Mesh Size: Type: Absolute mesh size Set the mesh size type to Absolute Mesh Size using the pulldown
menu.
0.1 Enter “0.1” for the absolute mesh size. See Figure 4.
Mouse Click “Mesh” on the Detailed Mesh Creation Options screen.
Mouse Press the X at the top right of the Detailed Mesh Creation Options
screen to get a good view of your model. Figure 5 shows the
model with a refined mesh.

Figure 4: Advanced Meshing Options

Figure 5: Final Model with Refined Mesh

Congratulations! You have completed the InCAD tutorial using Autodesk Inventor.

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Appendix A. Additional Information
Consult the following sources for more information about finite element analysis:

Suggested Reference Materials

Book I: Finite Element Modeling in Engineering Practice. Spyrakos, C.C. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: ALGOR Publishing
Division, 1994. Available as a reference textbook and multimedia CD-ROM.

Book II: Finite Element Analysis in Engineering Practice. Spyrakos, C.C. and Raftoyiannis, J. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
ALGOR Publishing Division, 1997. Available as a reference textbook.

Other Reference Materials

First Course in Finite Element Method Using ALGOR. Logan, D. L. A. Boston, Massachusetts: PWS Publishing Company,
1997.

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Appendix B. ALGOR Software Reference
The following software version was used in this tutorial:

ALGOR Interface 13.16 27-JUN-2002

CAD Solid Model Interface 13.26 27-JUN-2002

CAD Import Extender: Inventor 13.06 08-NOV-2001

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