Using Parameters
You can use Creo Parametric parameters as Creo Simulate material properties, certain load and constraint values, design variables, or measures. This functionality enables you to do the following:
• Define material properties in such a way that Creo Simulate can vary individual characteristics of the material—for instance, Young's modulus or mass density—during a design study
• Vary Creo Parametric dimensional parameters as part of a design study
• Use Creo Parametric parameters as the limits or goals of an optimization study
You can also use
Creo Parametric parameters to define the
thickness of simple shells or the
stiffness properties of simple springs.
Before addressing the specific issues that you need to consider when creating Creo Parametric parameters for use in Creo Simulate, let us take a moment to review some basic concepts.
In Creo Parametric, you can control many aspects of part design through the use of parameters. Parameters enable you to set particular values for a dimension, drive the value of one dimension based on the behavior of another dimension, dynamically suppress features based on changes in the part, and so forth.
When working with an assembly you can assign individual part parameters as well as top-level assembly parameters to Simulation objects. However for the design study of an assembly you can only use assembly level parameters as design variables.
You can define Creo Parametric parameters in the following two ways:
• Through the > command in Creo Parametric — In this case, the value of the resulting parameter depends on other values, and can change as those values change. For example, if you define parameter1 as equal to d0 using the Relations command, Creo Parametric ties the value of parameter1 to d0 as a symbolic variable and does not record d0's current value. Thus, if you later change the value of d0, parameter1 changes along with d0.
Parameters created through the
Relations command are sometimes known as
driven—or dependent—parameters because they are controlled by the equation you define.
• Through the > command in Creo Parametric — In this case, the resulting parameter is a symbolic constant—in other words, a single, unchanging value. For example, if you define parameter1 as equal to d0 using the Parameters command, Creo Parametric determines the current value of d0 and records parameter1 as equaling that value. Even if you later change the value of d0, the value of parameter1 does not change.
Parameters created through the Parameters command are sometimes known as driving—or independent—parameters because they are capable of controlling activity.
If a conflict occurs, bear in mind that parameters created through the > command override parameters created through the Parameters command.