Introduction

Welcome to another tutorial videos related to finite element simulation of thin sheet inflatable bag. In this tutorial I will explain the simulation process of a cube on inflatable bag type model.

(If you feel bored reading this you can skip to the introduction video and then part 1 and part 2 videos.)

What is in this tutorial?

The solid cube is pushed by some distance towards the inflated bag. The bag gets the impression of cube. This impression disappears when cube is removed. We can have sphere or a ball or human head type shape or another inflated bag in place of cube.

Why this tutorial?

Simulation of this type of model may finds applications in designing of airbags, airbag pillow and similar other things. It might be helpful in designing of inflatable pouches of fruit juice, sauce, shampoo, oil etc. The proper simulation of this type can also be used to design the loading of snacks packets such that void space in the container can be minimised.

Introduction video:

Demonstration

The demonstration of this tutorial has been broken down in two videos, part 1 and part 2. These have been discussed in following sections.

Part 1: create part, mesh, assembly, step and load

In part 1 video, I have explained the steps to create part, mesh, assembly, step, load and boundary conditions. I have used thin bag model from my previous simulations which are available in tutorial section of this site. I would suggest to through the following tutorial

Finite Element Analysis: inflation of thin sheet bag

before you go through this tutorial, because I will skip things which I have covered in above videos. After digesting above prerequisite videos, continue with this tutorial.

Click here to watch the part 1

Part 2: create interaction properties

In part 2, I have explained the steps of creating interaction properties. This part is the most important part and is the core of this simulation. This is a little bit advance video as per requirement of this complex modelling.

Click here to watch the part 2

Simulation files

Click here to download the simulation files.

Conclusion

This tutorial has been published just to demonstrate the process so that some basic concepts can be developed. The real world simulation requires tweaking of basic parameters described in the above tutorial.

If needed, I can provide the simulation files to start with.

Thank you!