Re-using a preload step

Question

Hi,Take a bolted structure with fasteners preloaded and then subjected to many loadcases.Contact interfaces making the problem non-linear. Using SPA. No changes to geometry and mesh re-used.The first part of the calculation for each loadcase is identical.Is there a way of re-using the solution to pass1?This would better than halve the time. Studies I have just completed are 4 hours elapsed each.ThanksCharlesThis thread is inactive and closed by the PTC Community Management Team. If you would like to provide a reply and re-open this thread, please notify the moderator and reference the thread. You may also use "Start a topic" button to ask a new question. Please be sure to include what version of the PTC product you are using so another community member knowledgeable about your version may be able to assist.

sdensberger · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, no; you'll have to re-run the preload phase for each different load case you want to look at.

346gnu · Answer

Hi Steven,I thought that too. My SPA studies reach 6/7th order with the majority of the time (75% or there abouts) on Pass1 where the edge orders are all 3. Wouldn't increasing all edges to 7th order would make it much slower? I shall try it later and surprise myself. Besides, I can't anticipate all areas where the edges need to be a higher order for any particular load case.We used to have a 'restart' function for MPA but not to select different loads before restarting; only changing plotting grids, max p-level, output tab checks and some others I never used.We lost the restart function for MPA sometime ago. It's not even a mecbatch option that I've found.I know SPA doesn't write intermediate results to disk like MPA.Thanks

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