The ANSYS® extension for
automated analyses
of bolts, screws and rivets
About FAST+MORE
Bolts and screws belong to the most frequently used fastener types and are therefore often used in large numbers in assemblies. We know from our experience how time-consuming it is to create and evaluate hundreds of bolts in a FE model and not losing overview. So why not let the job do a software tool which can do this much quicker and more reliable than any human.
Preprocessing
Fast+More is an add on to ANSYS Mechanical and can create hundreds of bolt connections in just a few minutes. By entering a suitable search range for the diameter, the software automatically detects holes in the CAD geometry and creates a preview with suitable bolts, which can be further edited. After selecting additional bolt data, such as strength category, these objects are generated, clearly grouped and available to the user in the ANSYS Mechanical Outline (“object tree”).
It doesn’t matter if you´re dealing with volume or shell models, Fast+More can handle both. Also, Fast+More works not only for bolts and screws, but for rivets, too.
Solve
Fast+More has been fully integrated into ANSYS, the Solve process is just as easy as you are used to.
Postprocessing
After the solution results are available such as forces, moments, degree of utilization, gliding path, contact pressure and many more, both in graphical and tabular form. Special Fast+More evaluation objects are available, but standard objects can of course be created also. The table can be filtered and sorted easily so that the critical load case and the corresponding bolt can be easily identified. In addition, a detailed resiliance diagram can be displayed for each individual bolt.
The results can be exported to MDESIGN® or KISSsoft® with one click in order to use the extensive verification options according to VDI 2230.
Presentation at the 23. Swiss CADFEM ANSYS CONFERENCE 2018:
FAQ’s
General
FAST+MORE is a software add-on to ANSYS Mechanical and enables FE models with a large number of fastener elements to be generated and evaluated in just a few minutes. It is based on the ANSYS Customization Toolkit (ACT) and is therefore also called an ANSYS Extension.
– Because you have models with many fastener elements (bolts, screws, rivets, …) and have something better to do than create all of them manually and then evaluate them in an Excel sheet.
– Because people get tired and make mistakes when they have to do the same job over and over, the software doesn’t.
– Because you want to have full control on quality, nothing is overlooked.
No, FAST+MORE is an ANSYS extension and therefore completely integrated into the ANSYS Mechanical user interface. You can find everything where you expect it to be.
No, ANSYS Extensions work only in the ANSYS Workbench environment.
Licenses
There are 3 levels of licenses available: Starter / Professional / Enterprise.
The Starter level is completely free of charge and unlimited in time.
Professional and Enterprise is available as:
– Node-Locked License or
– Floating Network License
Find more details here.
You have 2 options:
– Paid-Up license with 1 year maintenance contract
– Subscription license for 1 year
As long as the maintenance is active or subscription period is valid, you are entitled to receive hotline support and software updates.
The software can be installed very quickly in less than a minute via the ANSYS Workbench menu “Extensions”. Simply place the license file that you receive from us in the defined path and that’s it.
Of course, contact us! Or directly request a trial license here.
Technology
Yes, the workflow in FAST+MORE is intended for that.
FAST+MORE takes into account and calculates all important assessment values like:
- standard Dimensions and Strength Grades from an internal database
- Pretension Force, Residual Clamping Force, Safety Factor against static Friction for Shear Forces
- scatter for Pretension (alpha a) and resulting max. and min. Bolt-Working-Loads
- Stress components of the Bolts and resulting Safety Factors and Degrees of Utilization
- …
So FAST+MORE finds quickly the critical Fasteners (independent of a specific Standard)!
After the critical bolts have been identified, a detailed standard assessment can be performed by exporting the data to third-party software like MDESIGN Bolt (for VDI 2230 or Eurocode 3) or KISSsoft Bolt (for VDI 2230). With that comprehensive reports with all necessary details can be generated.
FAST+MORE has one-click interfaces to MDESIGN and KISSsoft.
Yes, you can also export all values in table form and then postprocess the data in MS Excel according to your own needs.
Bolts, screws and rivets.
– No, FAST+MORE even recognizes elongated holes and polygon holes, as they often occur with blind rivet nuts.
– They can be recognized in one search or, if you prefer, one after the other. This allows you to create different object groups with different attributes.
Yes, both, of course also mixed models. You can also carry out any type of analysis available in ANSYS Mechanical, since standard objects are used.
As VDI 2230 describes:
– Model class I: FAST+MORE creates joints for the connection between the components and virtual prestressing.
– Model class II: FAST+MORE creates beams with a selectable connection (beam, MPC, …) to the hole and real FE bolt pre-tension.
– Model class III: FAST+MORE creates the solid bodies in SpaceClaim, which are transferred back to Mechanical and have to be meshed. This is for detailed analysis, but not suitable for large models due to the long solution duration.
Wrong, FAST+MORE creates standard objects in ANSYS Mechanical (object tree, or “Outline”) in preprocessing. You can access, regroup and edit them at any time. So if you want to calculate an old model again, no problem.