- [Tony] Hi, my name's Tony Abbey
and I've been using FEA in design and analysis
of structures for many years.
Now, during that time, I've covered a wide range
of structural components.
Some have been solid, chunky-looking structures,
however, a lot of them have been thin-walled, or beam-like.
In this course, I wanted to illustrate
how to handle these types of structures efficiently,
within SOLIDWORKS simulation,
by using shell and beam elements.
Now, it's always been a bit of a judgment call
on how we idealize a structure.
In many cases, we'll stick with traditional
solid element meshing,
but by following the ideas in the course,
you can open up your own options considerably.
I hope you'll find these alternative methods
of using beams and shells to be a powerful addition
to your analysis toolkit.
It may take a little practice,
but combined with a good knowledge of SOLIDWORKS geometry,
it will put you in a strong position,
so now sit back and enjoy the course.