Hi Jonathan,
could you provide an image of your assembly or the model itself? There may be several reasons why you obtain various errors when using the Simulate fastener feature, so I can just speculate. First of all some remarks:
- You must bolt exactly two different parts together – three or more (e.g. two flanges and additional washer(s)) don’t work, neither does 1 single part bolted with itself, like a clamp
- If there is a gap between the flanges in contact (what you state), the algorithm that detects the contacting surfaces cannot find the flange interstice, and a warning should be issued
- Unusual part geometry may also prevent the algorithm from detecting contacting surfaces at the flange interstice correctly. Also, a volume region applied there may be responsible for that. You should obtain a GUI message what’s up.
- Yes, fastener (threaded) holes must have at least the nominal fastener diameter, you have to change the Pro/E-model accordingly.
- You may have used wrong references or wrongly applied “bolt” or “screw” type fasteners. E.g., you cannot use the cosmetic surface used as thread representation as reference
I guess a volume bolt and the preload element would be a better choice to solve your problem, but I have to see the model to judge.
According to my experience, the fastener feature in Creo 2 works relatively robust now. I filed some cases leading to SPRs approx. two years ago, but those should be fixed in the meantime. I remember there was (and may be still is, I don’t remember exactly) a problem if you mix fasteners with linear and contact interfaces in one model, but this should not be responsible for the trouble you are facing.
From Altran side, we offer a special 3-day workshop how to do fastener analysis with Creo Simulate: This consists of a 1-day workshop in nonlinear contact analysis and a 2-day-workshop in fastener theory and application. This may be helpful for users that want to become familiar with this topic. Analyzing fasteners with a FEM code correctly is more difficult as many users believe.
Best regards,
Roland
