Algor DesignCheck - Displacements - Help!

[woodard]

Algor DesignCheck - Displacements - Help!

Hi -

Can anybody tell me how to show displacements in Algor? The stress plots are fine, but now I need the same thing showing displacements.

The report that is generated includes the following:

****BEGIN DISPLACEMENT OUTPUT
****PRINT OF DISPLACEMENT OUTPUT SUPPRESSED
****END DISPLACEMENT OUPUT

Can anyone tell me how to 'unsuppress' the displacement output?

And this brings up another question...Why are the add-ons shipped with no documentation? No users guides, nothing. I paid extra for Alibre Professional because of the add-ons. I assumed something would be included to explain how to use them. I don't have the time to fiddle around with them for hours and hours until I happen upon an answer. When I contacted Alibre support, they were very prompt in replying which I appreciate very much. However, the answer that I got, 'watch the demo' wasn't very helpful. I've watched the demo, several times now, and it shows how to show the displacement model, but not how to obtain the displacement outputs. And the Algor help menu...is not very helpful.

Thanks,

S.Woodard

 

[Frantisek Tkac]

Design check is limited,

this tool is only a very basic one and shows only the stresses. The quantified displacement and other functions are disabled deliberately. You have to purchase the more capable modules directly from Algor (http://www.algor.com). However, be prepared for some higher end cost.
This tool gives only a basic stress information to the experienced designers and shows deformation without any displacement values. Generally it's "good enough" for checking if you are not reaching critical stresses on your component. If you need to get the deflection (or displacement) values accurately, this is not the tool for the task.

 

[barrykingwill]

I have not yet installed Algor design check, cos I had the full featured Algor before aquiring Alibre, but I am guessing it is the same capability, just has suppressed features.

It has to calculate the displacements to get to the stresses anyway. There can be no difference in accuracy between design check and full feature. You would just have less features, on the pre-processing side and the post processing side, but I doubt the actual processing engine is any different.

It is the same for Cosmos that gets bundled with Solid Works. No displacements. Maybe Alibre and Algor got the idea from them.

BTW the full featured Algor costs many many times more than Alibre Pro, hence the limitations they have built in.

 

[woodard]

I did find where you can get the displacements, but it's somewhat tedious. After you run the analysis you can choose 'Inquire' then 'Results'. This will bring up a window that asks you to choose a node. When you click on a particular node, it will give you the displacement for that node. (I have to scroll to the right to be able to see the magnitude.)

So you can get the info in a round about way. I just ended up creating images showing the node choosen and naming them with the magnitude of the displacement. Then I inserted those images into the report. I put the appropriate displacement in the title for each image. It worked...

I talked to Algor about upgrading to the full featured product...it's a lot of money, too much for me. So I'll make do with DesignCheck for now. It just would have been nice if I had been told when I purchased Alibre that all it would do is the stresses, but to be fair, I didn't specifically ask if it showed the displacements.

Thanks,

Sherry

 

[Cameraman]

Hi Sherry,

Yeah, if you choose Feature-Limited (as I did as well), you can't get the displacement plots (and a bunch of other nice stuff as well). I haven't tried DesignCheck yet (I just installed it yesterday), but I've used the full Algor package for years (at a previous employer) and consider them one of the best values in the FEA industry.

My plan here is to use DesignCheck to verify that I'm staying linear on my parts, and if I need to do something more rigorous I will lease a package from Algor on a case-by-case basis.

And thanks for that displacement tip -- I will look for that when I try the package.

Regards,
Greg