AUTODESK INVENTOR FEA ANALYSIS TUTORIAL

By: Jonathan DeRoner

This tutorial is to serve the purpose of performing calculations within the stress analysis
environment of Autodesk Inventor Professional. While the environment may slightly
change in terms of layout during each release, this will give the basics on how to set up
the different types of calculations that can be performed. This tutorial is being written
using Autodesk Inventor Professional 2014.
Getting Started
You will first want to begin by opening the desired part in Inventor. For this part of the
tutorial we will be using a simple 1 X 2 inch rectangular beam that is 12 inches long.

Name: FEA Tutorial Bar

A- Defining Material
Inventor has a very large library of materials to choose from for your parts that you
produce. By applying these materials, this will make calculations that we will be doing as
accurate as possible. For this part we will be applying Mild Steel as our material to the
rectangular beam.

Step 1: Click on the dropdown list above and locate Steel, Mild in the list. You will
notice that once you select the material that the color of the part changes to a brighter
gray color. This means the part is now made of mild steel in Inventor.

Tip: If you cant find the material you are looking to apply to a part in the basic drop
down list of materials, the Autodesk Material Library at the bottom of the dropdown
list will update the current list and will give you a much wider array of materials to
choose from. You can also check the physical properties of the material by clicking the
material icon next to the dropdown list.

This will bring open the Material Browser menu where you can check the physical
properties of every material. You can even edit existing materials and create your own
new ones relative to what will be used in the part you are producing.

B- Getting Setup in Stress Analysis Environment

Now that we have our material defined, we can begin FEA analysis in the Stress Analysis
environment.
Step 2: Click on the Environments tab and then the Stress Analysis Icon.

This will take you to the Stress Analysis environment where we can begin setting up our
simulation. We first need to create a simulation however.
Step 3: Click on the Create Simulation icon. A menu to set up the simulation will then
appear. Simply click OK to accept the default setup. You will then notice a new array
of tools to use .

As of now, this is what your screen should look like.

C- Applying Constraints
Applying constraints properly is very critical in the Stress Analysis environment.
Improper application could result in improper and incorrect calculations as the end result.
You ALWAYS want to double-check and make sure you have everything constrained the
way a part would be as close in relation to the real life scenario the part will be used for
as possible.
For this simulation we will be simulating the 12 inch long Mild Steel Beam as if it were
welded to the side of an existing structure. Even though we have no other structure in
place, our constraints will help us simulate the situation. There are 3 types of constraints
to choose from, however, for this tutorial, we will only be using Fixed constraints.
Step 4: In the Constraints tab, click on the Fixed constraint icon.

You will then be prompted with a menu to select a location for the constraint. For this
simulation, select the back, 1 X 2 inch face of the beam. You will have to rotate the beam
to select the face.

Once you have selected the face, click OK. This will then close the menu. You will
notice in the simulation browser on the left that in the constraints dropdown, there is now
a fixed constraint in the browser on the face we selected.

Make sure to rotate the view of the part to the original view we began with after the
constraint has been placed.

E- Applying Proper Physical Forces

When applying forces, its best to research the type of force that will be acting upon the
part before applying the force to proper area of the part. You will notice in the menu there
are 5 different forces to choose from in the Loads menu.

You have Force, Pressure, Bearing, Moment, and Gravity. Typically every situation will
have gravity as a factor so we can define gravity easily by selecting the gravity icon.
Step5: Click on the Gravity icon and the following menu will appear.

The amount shown is Earths default gravity. We then need to select the direction gravity
will be acting on the part.

Step 6: Select one of the vertical edges of the part.

Notice an arrow will appear relative to the direction of the edge shown. If the arrow is not
pointing in the direction desired, this can be flipped or adjusted with the gravity menu as
shown by simply flipping the direction, or adjusting the XYZ coordinates of direction in
the gravity dropdown.

Once gravity is set properly, click OK the arrow for the direction of gravity will remain
shown on the part. Gravity now will also appear under the Loads dropdown in the
simulation browser.

Now we can add our force that will directly be acting on the part. For this simulation, we
will have a 25 lbs of force (NOTE: Not Pressure/PSI) on the top face of our rectangular
block.
Step 7: Click on the Force icon in the loads tab.

The following menu will appear asking us to select a location.

Step 8: Select the top face of the rectangular block. Then in the magnitude tab, type in 25.
The force tab will recognize that it is 25 lbforce.

Click OK when finished.

Your screen should look like the image below when finished this step.

In any simulation we may create, there are 3 very critical steps to complete before we run
any simulation. We need to define our material the parts will be made out of, define the
constraints of the part, and the loads that will be acting on the part. We have now
completed all 3 basics and are now ready to run our simulation.
F- Running the Simulation
Up to this point, we have completed all the basics to running a simulation in the Stress
Analysis Environment. We have defined the material of our part, defined the constraints,
and the loads that will be acting on the part. Now we can run the simulation.
Step 9: Click on the Simulate icon.

The following menu will then appear. When it does, click Run and then Inventor will
generate the simulation. This may take a few minutes to complete.

Your screen will look something like the image below when the simulation is complete.

This means the simulation is finished and we can see the results of our simulation. The 3
types of results you will want to check are the Von Mises Stress, Displacement, and
Safety Factor.

The Von Mises Stress is the amount of stress occurring on the part at a time during the
simulation and is the default result always shown. Your results should be similar to those
shown below.

We can then check the displacement and safety factor as well.

Step 10: Double-click on the Displacement result in the simulation browser and this
will then show the displacement results.

While the results seem exaggerated compared to what they really are, there is only a
displacement of .001 inches which is very little. We can change the level of exaggeration
of the resulting image under the display tab.

Step 11: Click on the display dropdown and select Actual. The image will then change
and the actual level of displacement can be seen on the part. You will notice that there is
very little change in the image now.

Never be quick to judge what you see in the results right off the bat. Inventors default
representation is to multiply the effects in the image shown so you can see what the
results of the forces are doing to the part in the simulation.
The next thing we will want to check is the Safety Factor.
Step 12: Double-click on the Safety Factor result in the simulation browser and the
screen should look like the image below.

The safety factor isnt listed because it is well above the range listed. So to see a safety
factor, we are going to adjust the amount of force acting on the beam.
Step 13: Double-Click on Force 1 in the simulation browser and change the force to
500 lbforce and click OK

We need to update the simulation so we will run the simulation with the new force acting
on the beam.
Step 14: Click the Simulate icon and then click run.

The simulation is now updated and there are new results listed under the Von Mises
Stress, Displacement, and Safety Factor.

Step 15: Double-Click on Safety Factor results in the simulation browser. Your screen
should show similar results to those shown below.

Now that we can see the Safety Factor, this beam maintains a Safety Factor of
approximately 3.55 with 500 lbforce pressing down on the top face. As long as a part has
a Safety Factor above 1, it is ok to use. The higher the results are above 1, the better. If
the results are ever below 1, the design would likely fail and be a safety hazard if used in
the real world for the intended purpose. This is the end of part 1 of the tutorial.

G- Making Calculations Precise

In many cases, we usually only want a force to apply to a specific part on the face of an
object. If we know where that force will be precisely and how much there will be, we can
edit the part itself to reflect where the force will be acting. In this simulation, we will be
seeing the results of force acting on the end of the beam in a 2 X 2 inch region at the very
end of the rectangular block.
Step 1: Open the FEA Tutorial Bar and create a sketch on the top face. (Note: If you have
the FEA Tutorial Bar still open from the steps before, close the file. Do NOT save any
changes to the part and re-open the original)

Make sure to create a 2 X 2 inch rectangle at the end of the top face as shown. Once this
is complete, click Finish Sketch
We will then want to split the face of the rectangle.
Step 2: Click on the Split tool in the modify tab and follow the instructions below.

Step 3: Inventor prompts us to select a split tool. So in this step, select the rectangle we
sketched previously.

You will then need to select the face of the object to be split. Click on the Faces tool
and select to the top face. Then click OK

The top face of the rectangle has now been split into 2 separate faces on the screen as you
can see in the image below.

To make the faces easer to distinguish in the FEA environment, we are going to change
the color of the new split face to beige.
Step 4: Click on the new split face and then click the Color Wheel icon in the top left of
the screen.

The following menu of colors from Inventors library will appear. Click on the color
Beige and upload it to the parts face by clicking the icon and then the Add appearance
to document command that will appear just below the icon. You can always select other
colors also. Once finished, close the browser.

Your part should look like the image below.

Now we are ready to run the simulation again. Follow the directions as listed previously
for applying material of mild steel to our part before moving on to the Stress Analysis
environment.
Step 5: Under the Environments tab click on the Stress Analysis icon and then create a
new simulation. Accept all the defaults given.

Your screen should look similar to the image below when finished.

We are now ready to apply the constraints and loads just like we did before. Only this
time, the load will be placed on the face that is colored beige instead.
Step 6: Apply a fixed constraint to the back face of the rectangle.

The constraint will appear in the Simulation browser like we have seen before.

Now we are ready to apply the force to the split face of the rectangle.
Step 7: Click on the Force icon and then select the beige face of the rectangle. Notice
that the force is now only being designated to the face we have created.

Change the force amount to 500 lbforce and then click OK

Note: Make sure to define gravity after applying the 500 lbforce by selecting the edge
like we did previously.

Your screen should look like this when all these steps have been completed.

Now we are ready to run the simulation again since we have the 3 essentials for any
simulation. We have defined our material, our constraints, and our loads.
Step 8: Click the Simulate icon and then run the simulation.

You will now notice a great difference in the results as they now relate to the force only
acting on the 2 X 2 inch face rather than the whole top face of the rectangular block. Your
results should be very similar to the ones listed below.
Von Mises Stress

Displacement

Safety Factor

Even with the 500 lbforce now being more concentrated at the end of the rectangular
block in relation to where it is fixed in the simulation, it is still able to hold a safety factor
above 1.
H- Conclusion
Making sure that a simulation is run as close in relation to what a part will be doing in
real life is very important and having knowledge of how these simulations work is key to
getting the correct results that would also be relative to those we would otherwise
perform hand calculations to obtain. Always make sure when running simulations that
you have the 3 factors that need to be defined before jumping to conclusions of the results
that are given. 1. Always define a parts material. 2. Always make sure the constraints
are defined correctly in relation to where a part will be and what it will be doing. 3.
Always make sure the forces acting on a part are input correctly and as precise as
possible. Even to obtain maximum precision, some small edits need to be made to a part
to relate to what a part is supposed to do in many cases. These simulations will help save
time when determining the capabilities of parts and also help determine if a part is safe
for use before it is even produced.