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T
tleati12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
July 2, 2015
Question

How to store FEM results in Windchill

  • July 2, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 3958 views

Hello,

I am going to upload some structural FEM results in Windchill and I am just wondering how to store them:

-the complete result file? --> in this case the Simulate saves a back-up of the model and then I will find the back-up in Windchill? (thing that I want to avoid to prevent having double products in the Common Space)

-Or am I forced to load all the folder (with the back-up)?

Anyone has any suggestion on how to do this?

thanks

bye bye

3 replies

C
cc-21-Visitor
1-Visitor
July 2, 2015

Hello,

very interesting question. I faced the same problem a few years ago. I am a strong advocate to keep things in one place with the relationship and Mechanica files are one of those.

One thing I still do not like is that you can't create your constraint etc... directly into the Creo file without creating a new iteration so we ended up creating a new model inherited from the original one for obvious reasons.

PDMLink will take easily all the files created in mechanica to define the conditions of the analysis and create the relations with the model.

All those files are quite small size.

However the results files can be very large and therefore, we decided not to bother with it. WHat was important was to be able to recalculate with the same conditions at any time in the future (ok our calculation lasted only a few hours so not a big deal if needed to recalculate).

The report created from the results was also uploaded in PDMLink and nicely tied up with the rest of the documentation.

Hope this helps

    T
    tleati12-AmethystAuthor
    12-Amethyst
    July 2, 2015

    Hi Chris,

    thanks for your reply. When you wrote about creating a new iteration, were you meaning for already checked-in models?

    I have just made some more specific attempts, and I came to these conclusions:

    - from Analysis and Design Studies window I can set as results (temporary and final) storage directory neither the workspace, nor the common space.

    - from the workspace I can import neither the results folder, nor a simple .rwd file, since the import interface does not recognize it.

    - The same of the precedent point is valid for the common space

    - zip files cannot be imported in the workspace


    I have also found this article which points out uncompatibility with windchill:


    http://www3.eng.cam.ac.uk/DesignOffice/cad/proewild3/usascii/proe/promec/online/database.htm#windchill_support

    so the only way to store the results would be to upload a zip file of the entire results folder in the common space.

    But this would just be equal to double the space occupied by the folders, might as well keeping them where they are, outside Windchill, on a regularly back-upped server...

    It would be much more convenient, instead of making the simulate back-up files in the result folder, to have the results directly linked to the corresponding version in the common space...

    and with report of the result what do you mean? is it your own internal procedure or is it a function of simulate?

    thanks

    bye

    C
    ChrisPLM12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    July 3, 2015

    Hi

    as said, we did not store the results file. We only stored associated with the version of the model used the conditions so we could reproduce the exact same calculation in the future (of course if you had the result files, it would be quicker, just open the result file but they are too large and our calculation only last a few hours).

    For the reports, our own report.

    Best regards

    H
    HugoHermans12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    July 6, 2015

    Hi Tommaso,

    We also only store the input, never the output.  We have several engineers working daily with FEM, for years now, and we've never had bad experiences by not storing these results in Windchill.  We keep them for a while on network drives, organized based according Windchill data, so that there is a quick and conprehensive path from the Windchill repository to these results.

    Hugo.

    C
    ChrisPLM12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    July 6, 2015

    Hello Hugo

    long time not seen.

    I am glad you have the same experience that I have. You keep everything so the exact same calculation can be made (ie giving the same results files) but you do not keep that huge file.

    Best regards

    T
    tleati12-AmethystAuthor
    12-Amethyst
    July 8, 2015

    Hello Hugo and Chris,

    the problem in your procedure of storing only the input files is that in my country, according both to international standards and national laws, we must keep the FEM calculation results stored in order to, for instance, promptly demonstrate the quality of the designed product in case, for example, of a controversy due to a contigent accident (fingers-crossed ) --> if we are subject to an ispection by authorities we cannot tell them to wait for the calculations to be done , even if they last a few hours (which is not our case however) therefore the results must be there ready to be opened.

    Bye bye

    C
    ChrisPLM12-Amethyst
    12-Amethyst
    July 9, 2015

    If by law you must keep those files, good luck. I wonder in which country and industry you work. I have never heard of that before.

    If your IT department is happy for you to upload all those files in to PDMLink……

    Otherwise you could create a Document Link that will point to where those files lives outside PDMLink, on a shared drive. 

    That document link could be added to your WTpart.

    T
    tleati12-AmethystAuthor
    12-Amethyst
    July 9, 2015

    Maybe it's you who is working in a strange country, there are international standards (ISO) and every industry which certificates its products according to certain specifications should have all the necessary calculation results as proof of compliance to those same standards.

    But this It's basic don't you think so??

    For me there is not a problem of loss of data, I store the FEM results on our server and stop, but it seems very bizarre that the user cannot have these files available in windchill so that he can:

    - use them in the workspace while designing without having to surf in the windows folders

    - neatly store them in the respective folder in the Common Space and readily open them.

    bye bye

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