SOLIDWORKS FEA & CFD Simulation Training Event – Toronto (May 7, 2026)

 

SOLIDWORKS FEA & CFD Simulation Training Event 

Looking to reduce prototyping costs, improve product performance, and validate designs faster? Join our free SOLIDWORKS Simulation training event in Toronto and experience how engineering teams are using simulation to make smarter decisions—before anything is built.

What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation

What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation: Key Features & Enhancements

As engineers and designers continue to push the boundaries of innovation, simulation tools play a crucial role in ensuring that designs meet the necessary performance standards. With SOLIDWORKS 2025, users can look forward to a host of new features and improvements in SOLIDWORKS Simulation that further enhance design validation, accuracy, and efficiency. 

Here’s a look at some of the standout updates in SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation.

Enhanced Performance for Large Assemblies
Working with large assemblies can be a challenge when running simulations, often resulting in long computation times. SOLIDWORKS 2025 addresses this issue with improved performance, making it easier to handle and analyze complex, multi-part assemblies. Whether you're testing the integrity of mechanical assemblies or analyzing a large set of components, the time required to get simulation results is now significantly reduced, allowing for faster iterations and quicker decision-making.

Multiphysics Simulation Capabilities
The ability to simulate multiple physical phenomena simultaneously has become increasingly important for modern product designs. SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2025 takes multiphysics simulations to the next level by integrating thermal, structural, and fluid flow analyses into a single model. This allows for more comprehensive simulations that reflect real-world scenarios. With this enhancement, engineers can better understand the combined effects of heat, stress, and fluid dynamics on their designs, leading to more accurate and reliable results.

New Mesh Control Options
Mesh generation is one of the most critical aspects of any simulation, as the accuracy of the mesh directly impacts the results. In SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2025, users now have access to additional mesh control options that provide finer control over how the mesh behaves in key areas of the model, such as fillets, holes, and other complex geometries. This results in more accurate simulations, especially for designs with intricate features that require precision.

Simulation-Driven Design Integration
SOLIDWORKS has always emphasized a simulation-driven design approach, and SOLIDWORKS 2025 takes this even further. The integration between SOLIDWORKS Simulation and the CAD environment has been improved, allowing users to iterate on designs quickly and validate them in real-time. The seamless connection between design and simulation enables engineers to make data-driven decisions early in the development process, ultimately reducing time-to-market and improving product quality.

Expanded Materials Library
Accurate material properties are essential for realistic simulations, and SOLIDWORKS 2025 offers an expanded materials library to improve the precision of your analysis. With more materials and material properties available, users can now better match the materials used in their designs, ensuring that simulations reflect real-world performance under various conditions.

Advanced Nonlinear and Fatigue Simulations
SOLIDWORKS 2025 brings notable improvements to nonlinear and fatigue analysis capabilities. Nonlinear simulations, especially those involving large deformations and contact analysis, are now more efficient and provide more accurate results. Similarly, fatigue analysis has been enhanced to offer better predictions of failure under cyclic loading, helping engineers assess the durability and lifespan of their designs more effectively.

Improved Post-Processing Tools
Once a simulation is complete, interpreting the results is just as important as running the analysis. SOLIDWORKS 2025 introduces several enhancements to post-processing, offering improved result visualization, more advanced charting options, and new ways to evaluate critical factors such as stress, strain, and deformation. These enhancements allow engineers to gain deeper insights into their designs, making it easier to identify potential issues before physical testing.

With these exciting new features and enhancements, SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in design validation. By improving performance, adding multiphysics capabilities, refining mesh controls, and enhancing post-processing tools, SOLIDWORKS 2025 offers a more powerful, efficient, and accurate simulation environment. These updates make it easier for engineers and designers to validate their designs, iterate quickly, and ensure that their products meet the highest standards of performance and reliability.

Whether you’re working on a simple part or a complex assembly, SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation provides the tools you need to bring your designs to life with confidence. Stay ahead of the curve and take full advantage of these new capabilities to streamline your design process and achieve better results.

For more information or to see how SOLIDWORKS 2025 Simulation can benefit your projects, feel free to contact us today! Our team is here to help you make the most out of these powerful new features and assist you with any questions or support you may need.

SolidWorks Simulation 2016 - Contact Sets

Contact Sets - New in SolidWorks Simulation 2016

When a designer is putting together an assembly there may be a few missed mates which will cause the part to be free and unrestrained.  Usually the designer will need to go back and find the missing mate to fully restrain the assembly.  This is a similar concept to contact sets in simulation where a designer must define contact sets or the connection conditions between elements.  This was typically a difficult task that involved looking through the model to find the missing contact set. 

Consider a crane tower as shown:

We will setup a simulation study for this crane tower where it is fixed on the ground and experiencing horizontal and vertical loads at the top.  

Before running the study, the designer now has a new tool to help check for free moving bodies.  This tool is found by right clicking Connections then selecting “Find Underconstrained Bodies”

With the new tool selected, the designer may use the tool by selecting “calculate”.  This allows the software to run a simplified analysis to find whether there are under-restrained bodies.

The results return by isolating and clearly highlighting bodies of interest and showing all modes in which it is under-constrained.  In this case, Body 1 is shown as free floating and can move in every direction. 

This is a problem for the simulation analysis.

Upon closer inspection it was determined that this crane tower was originally modeled with a small gap between the elements to account for welding and tolerances. 

Usually the designer would need to create individual contact sets to account for the gap, however also new to SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION 2016 is the ability to accommodate small gaps.  This option is found under Connections> Component Contacts > Global Contact > Edit definition

Under the component contact option, the designer now has the ability to include “Non-touching faces” by selecting a gap size to treat as bonded.

This is one more tool to help designers be more efficient and effective when using SolidWorks Simulation by spending less time finding missing contact sets and more time analyzing the results.  

Fundamentals of SolidWorks Simulation

SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION

Get Started with SolidWorks Simulation

Contact Sets in SOLIDWORKS SIMULATION

Simulation Contact Set

SolidWorksSimulation of assemblies or multi bodies requires the application of contact sets to define the interface between two objects.  If the contact sets are not defined properly we will obtain incorrect results.

Consider a simple weldment framed structure with a steel plate sitting on top.  

This weldment is fixed at the end of each leg and has a load applied to the plate on top.

By default, SolidWorks Simulation treats weldments as beam elements and the plate on top as a solid element.  As such we have two different element types in this analysis; therefore we need to define a contact set.  As an option we can use the “automatically find contact set” function by selecting a beam element and the plate.  The software will find the connecting surface where you may apply a condition, in this case bonded.  This is repeated for all four faces.

Upon closer inspection, we find those contact sets to be a face to face contact

Following the creation of the contact sets we can mesh our model and run the analysis

However in doing so will result in an error message. 

This is because the contact set defined was incorrect.  When the contact sets were created they were treated as faces, however since this is a solid to a beam element, we need to select the beam element contact set under “Type”.  By redefining all four contact sets, remeshing and running the study, we now have the correct results.

Application of Loads in SolidWorks Simulation

Simulation:  Application of Loads

 SolidWorks Simulation allows users to set up and run tests using finite element analysis (FEA).  The manner in which a user sets up a test will determine whether the results are an accurate result of real-world conditions.  (Also Read:Symmetry in SolidWorks Simulation -Guide to applying loads and restraints appropriately)

Consider the electrical component shown below.  The main grey surface consists of ceramic porcelain whereas the small red parts indicate components that generate heat on the board.  We are interested in the heat distribution for this part under working conditions.

In order to set up the problem we define the material properties for each component.  This includes the red electrical components as well as the grey ceramic porcelain.  Following material definition, we define heat generation power of 0.2W for the red components and convection of 0.2 W/m^2 K for the outside surfaces.  The convection is a mechanism of heat transfer used to dissipate the heat.  

It is important to pay attention to detail when defining a simulation study.  Consider the definition of 0.2W heat generation for the red components.  The user must differentiate whether the heat generation is generated for each component or whether it is generated across the sum total of components.  This is an important distinguishing factor.  In this case it is set to “Per item” which is correct.

Furthermore, as a tip, if the user were to use symmetry to divide a heat generating part in half and the heat generation is defined in terms of Watts, it follows that the Watt value must also be divided by half since Watt is a total heat generating value.  The relationship is similar to that of force and pressure.

Once the analysis is successfully set up we need to mesh the component.

Once the component is meshed, we may run the analysis.  According to the conditions set for this thermal analysis we are seeing a maximum value of 460C occurring on the inner components.  The heat generated from the components travels outward to a temperature of 427C towards the outer edges of the ceramic porcelain.  

The manner in which the simulation analysis was set up can greatly affect the results.  

Difference between Direct Transfer and Rigid Connection

In SolidWorks Simulation you may define external loads known as remote loads.  Upon creation of a remote load you have the option of setting it to be either Direct Transfer or Rigid Connection.  What is the difference?

Consider a simply supported cantilever composed of two parts: front and back: 

We may create a simulation study that reflects the cantilever beam loading conditions.  It is fixed on one end and has a load applied on the other end.

We can simulate the results of this study by excluding half of the beam and applying a remote load in place.  

When creating a remote load, the user must specify whether it is a direct transfer or rigid connection

Direct Transfer: Assumes that the component between the remote force and the connection point is adequately flexible, allowing the structure to deflect.  The program decomposes the remote force into a shear force and coupling moment acting on the connection face.  This allows the connection face to distort.  Displacements must be within the small displacement assumption.

Rigid Connection:   Applies rigid links/ connections from the remote load to the connecting face.  As a result when the face deflects, the face shape is maintained.  High stresses can develop near faces with rigid connections.

The results of the remote load direct transfer is shown below:

The results of the remote load rigid connection are shown below:

At first glance the results are not easily distinguishable; however upon closer inspection along the vertical axis of the connection face reveals that the stress distribution from the direct transfer and rigid connection options are different.

Choosing whether the remote load will be applied as a direct transfer or rigid connection will affect the simulation results.