Accurately evaluating internal volume is a common requirement for many CAD designs (bottles, storage tanks, medical devices, the list goes on), and while it’s not particularly difficult to measure in SOLIDWORKS, there’s no single command you can run to return this value directly without a few prerequisite steps. Our 2-Minute Tech Tip on Measuring Internal Volume shows how the Intersect command can be utilized to generate a separate solid body inside of a hollow part which represents this internal volume. The standard Measure command can then be used with this new body selected to return the proper value in just a couple clicks:
Creating a separate body using the Intersect command and measuring internal volume
If needed, the Intersect feature used to create the internal body can be modified or even configured to represent different fill levels, and the resulting body can be hidden or suppressed as required. This is an excellent strategy for measuring internal volume in SOLIDWORKS, even for parts with complex geometry, and works very well alongside the other multibody techniques covered in our SOLIDWORKS Advanced Part Design course.