Track Specific Mode
In Structure only, this item appears if you select modal_frequency as the measure for the goal or a limit. Select this item to direct Creo Simulate to follow a particular mode through the optimization, even if that mode's frequency becomes greater or less than a neighboring mode's frequency.
As Creo Simulate modifies a design variable during optimization, frequencies of different modes can change, so that Mode 2 at the beginning can become Mode 3 at the end.
For example, if you select Mode 2 for the Mode and select Track Specific Mode, Creo Simulate tracks at each step of the optimization the frequency of the mode whose shape is closest to the shape of mode 2 in the original model.
Creo Simulate reports the mode number of the frequency in a summary file, which you can access with the Info > Status command on the Analyses and Design Studies dialog box.
If you do not select Track Specific Mode, Creo Simulate optimizes whatever mode has the second lowest frequency, even if the mode shape changes.
Keep the following points in mind if you select Track Specific Mode:
• Mode tracking requires the polynomial order on each edge to remain constant during the optimization. Creo Simulate calculates values for the analysis connected to the modal_frequency measure at the first interval of the optimization. Creo Simulate then uses the polynomial order it reached to achieve convergence in the first interval at each remaining interval.
• Do not select Track Specific Mode for a rigid mode. If your analysis contains rigid modes, Creo Simulate ignores them when tracking a non-rigid mode.
• For buckling analyses, Track Specific Mode is not available. Since the smallest positive buckling mode is the mode that will cause failure first, Creo Simulate automatically tracks the lowest positive mode.