modelling a drinks pouch

How you approach this is primarily a function of what you will use the model for. If it is just a "looks like" model for documentation, it may be more difficult, depending on how much realism or accuracy you need. I'm going to guess and say that the thickness of the material is relatively unimportant compared to the volume, so it might be ok to just model the outside dimensions. At the worst, a usable approximation might be to simply multiply the surface area of the solid by the thickness of the material to subtract the volume of the material from the overall volume. You may also find that starting out with surface tools is more appropriate than solid features. If you go the surfaces route, you cannot get a volume determination until you make a solid from it.

On a highly flexible part like this, it seems like the bulge is going to account for a fair amount of the volume. I don't know if you have a way to prototype a few to get an average projected volume.

In terms of modeling to a specific volume, any time I have done that with bottles or buckets, it has always been an iterative process. Unless you have a very specific shape with an accurate volume formula, you are looking at an iterative process. The easiest is if you have the flexibility to use a scale function rather than needing to tweak dimensions.

Then again, if a company like the one on the link you posted is helping you, they have probably been through the process many times.

As Matt mentioned the manufacturer probably has a pretty good idea of the volume of any particular design. On something proprietary like this that is usually the case.

If a really accurate volume is needed one could go the FEA approach and model the actual deflections. Cosmos/M would be pretty good at this as would ABAQUS, ANSYS or Nastran.

As Matt mentioned the manufacturer probably has a pretty good idea of the volume of any particular design. On something proprietary like this that is usually the case.

If a really accurate volume is needed one could go the FEA approach and model the actual deflections. Cosmos/M would be pretty good at this as would ABAQUS, ANSYS or Nastran.

"If" you can model the pouch in solids to its "full" condition you can run a cavity routine(see help). Then use mass properties to get the volume of the interior.

Mike

Hi Guys, Thanks for the thoughts...

Well It's pretty much as I thought. The models (4 sizes) will be used to check the volumes and to send to the graphics guys for the arty stuff to be added. I'm not too concerned about the absolute volume as this has a +10% tolerance on it - so I think I'll just scale them up.

The bigger concern for me was the "bulge" And I guess at this stage I'll take a trip to the local supermarket, buy some and measure them to get an approximation as a potential supplier has not yet been contacted.

The way I normally model rigid bottles - if the shape allows, is to model the volume then shell outwards - this means the material thickness can be increased/decreased without re-sizing the volume.

These pouches are new to me and I was wondering if there was any cunning trickery .

Cheers,

Kev

Michael Eckste> "If" you can model the pouch in solids to its "full" condition you can run a