Defining the material For SolidWorks Simulation Tutorials

SolidWorks is, first and foremost, a 3-D modeling tool. Look in the tutorials folder for a SolidWorks model named “glass.SLDPRT”. When you open it, it should show a wine glass, as in Figure 1. This is the model we are going to study in this tutorial. Save a copy to your Charlie account.

If you wish to practice your modeling, part of a technical drawing of this wine glass is included in Appendix A. Units are in millimeters. This should be enough information to draw your own.

To use the model of the glass in Simulation, we must specify the material that the model is made of. Can you guess what material we want the model to be? That’s right, glass! You can specify a material in the Feature Manager design tree on the left-side panel. There should be an icon named “Material <not specified>,” as in Figure 2. Right-click this and choose “Edit material” to be brought to the Materials window, shown in Figure 3. Glass is found in the folder SolidWorks Materials > Other Non-metals. Click “Glass,” then click “Apply” and “Close.” Your model should change from opaque grey to transparent grey, as in Figure 4.

 Figure 2. How to change a model's material in SolidWorks Simulation



Figure 3. Materials window in SolidWorks Simulation.

Figure 4. The glass, now shown as glass in SolidWorks Simulation Tutorial.