CATIA V5 Tutorial: Creating Stiffeners using PAD Thickness Option

There are several methods of adding Stiffeners for a Sheet metal part. This includes using Stiffener command, using Rib command, etc. In this example we will explain you how to create stiffeners for a simple part using PAD command in Part Design Workbench. This is one of the fastest ways to add stiffeners.

Consider a simple Part as shown in the image below. The part is kind of a tray. Stiffeners are to be added all over the surface to make it stiffened.

Create a Sketch of profiles where you need ribs. In our scenario, we are adding few straight ones. The profile ends need not get trimmed to the end of the Part. PAD feature can be used right away to merge the ends to the Part.

Sketch is shown in the image below. You can see clearly that the lines are not merged to the ends. The sketches also need not be closed.

Now click on PAD command and select the sketch. CATIA warns that the Sketch contains several open profiles and asks whether to use the selected sketch anyway. Click “Yes”.

Now with in the PAD definition, click on “More” button and expand the definition. Check “Thick” box and give “Thin Pad” Thickness value. E.g. We gave 3mm. Also check the “Neutral Fiber” to create the pad keeping the sketch profile as the center curve.

Now check the “Merge Ends” box if you want the stiffeners to be automatically trimmed as per the part shape. This will only work if the ribs can be closed with the existing face.

After giving all the options, Click “OK”.

All the Stiffeners will be formed as shown in the image above. This is one of the simple way of creating Stiffeners using the PAD definition in CATIA Part Design Workbench.