Straus7 Automeshing Tutorials

Using geometry and automeshing tools in Straus7

Straus7 Automeshing Tutorials

Contents
Introduction
1
Overview of Converting CAD Models for FEA in Straus7
5
Tutorial 1: Automeshing a Simple Solid Model
9
Tutorial 2: Extrusion of Solid Meshes
21
Tutorial 3: Checking Mesh Quality
37
Tutorial 4: Geometry Cleaning
49
Tutorial 5: Advanced Features
57
Tutorial 6: Geometry Attributes
81

Introduction
Straus7 Release 2 includes a set of powerful new tools that can dramatically inc
rease pre-processing productivity by automatically converting CAD models into FE
A models for analysis. Included in this set of tools
are the Clean Geometry, Surface Automeshing and Solid Automeshing tools. Clean G
eometry tools are used to
prepare the CAD model geometry for FEA use. This may involve the removal of unwa
nted geometric detail
or unintended discontinuities in the model. The Surface Automeshing tool is used
to generate a high quality
surface mesh consisting of Tri3, Quad4, Tri6 or Quad8 elements. The Solid Autome
shing tool is used to generate a solid mesh consisting of either Tet4 or Tet10 e
lements. To illustrate the use of tools - and the many
other related new tools and features - and to show how they work in practice, a
set of tutorials is provided.
Tutorial 1 gives an introduction to the three main tools by showing how a solid
CAD geometry can be converted into a solid FEA model. It describes how the model
can be imported and cleaned. It then shows how
the surface of the model can be meshed, followed by the solid meshing of the int
ernal volume. Importantly,
it gives examples of problem areas to consider when converting a CAD model for F
EA use. Consequently
the tutorial shows how an FEA mesh can be improved by cleaning the geometry in S
traus7.
Tutorial 2 shows how some manual input can be used to exploit the Extrude tool i
n Straus7. This can then
create a solid hexahedral mesh of higher quality than can otherwise be expected
from a tetrahedral mesh.
Tutorial 3 focuses on checking the quality of automatically generated surface an
d solid meshes, which can
then determine the usefulness of the mesh for analysis.
Tutorial 4 emphasises the need for a clean geometry for automeshing by highlight
ing what can go wrong
when meshing incorrectly prepared geometry. It also describes the use of a numbe
r of tools to obtain information from the geometry.
Tutorial 5 explains other uses of the Clean Geometry tool and other methods of c
leaning the geometry. This
tutorial also gives an in-depth description of how settings for the Surface Auto
meshing tool can be used to fine
tune a resultant mesh.
Tutorial 6 demonstrates how attributes can be applied to geometry. These attribu
tes are then converted to
their plate or brick equivalents by the automesher.
1

Terminology
To understand the terminology used throughout the tutorials, a list of is given
below with reference to Figure
1.
Figure 1. Types of geometric entities
Surface meshing: Automatically generated 2D finite elements (plates) created fro
m underlying geometry
describing the shape of an object. The surface mesher can generate triangular or
quadrilateral dominant plate
meshes.
Solid meshing: Automatically generated 3D finite elements (bricks) created from
a skin surface mesh of
plates. For a solid mesh to be generated a surface mesh must be closed, having n
o unbounded or free edges.
The solid mesher generates tetrahedral elements.
Geometry and Topology: Straus7 geometry mathematically represents the physical t
hree dimensional domain of an object, in a manner analogous to Boundary Represen
tation (Brep) solid modelling. In this representation, any geometric object can
be represented by a collection of faces requiring the definition of the
following geometric and topological entities:
Face: A face is a topological entity, consisting of one or more loops located on
an arbitrary, three-dimensional surface. The face defines a region of finite ar
ea, on a surface that may be of either finite area (e.g.
a sphere) or infinite area (e.g. an unbounded plane). Each face contains either
one or two bounding or
outer loops. All non-periodic faces contain one outer loop. Periodic faces, such
as could be used to
define a simple cylinder without any seam, may contain two outer loops. All face
s can contain any
number of additional cavity loops. A cavity loop defines a region on the face wh
ere material has been
removed (e.g. a hole). Faces may be assigned attributes such as pressure. These
attributes are then automatically assigned to elements upon meshing.
Loop: A loop is a topological entity, consisting of a collection of connected ed
ges. In a well-defined
loop, the end of the last edge is coincident with the start of the first edge.
Edge: An edge is a topological entity consisting of one or more connected curves
. Associated with each
edge are a start vertex and an end vertex. For single edges that form a closed l
oop, the start vertex is the
same as the end vertex. Edges may be assigned attributes such as shear stress. T
hese attributes are then
automatically assigned to elements upon meshing.
Curve: A curve is a geometric entity, defining a line in 3D space. A curve may b
e a simple analytical
curve (e.g. ellipse, straight line) or a spline curve. When a curve is associate
d with a surface via the edge
to loop to face hierarchy, the curve may be defined with reference to global 3D
space, or with reference
2

to a local (u,v) coordinate system, on the surface. An example of the former cou
ld be a line segment
between two points in 3D space, which also lies on a specified plane in 3D space
. An example of the latter could be a circular segment that lies on a cylindrica
l surface, but is defined in terms of (, z) coordinates on the cylinder.
Vertex: A vertex is a geometric entity, defining a point in 3D space. These poin
ts are used to define the
ends (start and end points) of edges. A correctly defined vertex must lie on the
curve that is referenced
by the edge that referenced the vertex. Vertices may be assigned attributes such
as a point force. These
attributes are then automatically assigned to the node generated at the vertex p
osition, upon meshing.
Surface: A surface is a geometric entity that defines the finite or infinite dom
ain on which a face entity
lies. Surfaces can be either simple analytical surfaces such as planes, cones, s
pheres or torii, or they can
be spline surfaces. Simple surfaces such as a plane re uire a small amount of da
ta to define them - a
plane for example, can be defined by a vector representing the surface normal, t
ogether with a point that
lies on the plane. Spline surfaces, particularly complex curved surfaces defined
by many control points,
can potentially re uire large amounts of data.
3

Overview of Converting CAD Models for FEA in Straus7

Automeshing technology affords you the ability to uickly convert a CAD model in
to an FE model for analysis. However, due to differences between the end purpose
s of CAD and FEA, a successful conversion process involves correct preparation o
f the CAD model and checking of the automeshed product. The following
provides general guidelines to follow when converting a CAD model for FEA in Str
aus7. Each guideline
refers to a tutorial which provides a detailed description of individual tools a
nd/or procedures. This section
ends with a number of miscellaneous tips to successfully complete the conversion
for a variety of cases.
General procedure
Import the IGES or SAT file. (Tutorial 1)
Use the wireframe option to enhance the ability to visually inspect the geometry
and check if it is a correct representation of the CAD model. Wireframes also p
rovide a good means of selecting individual
faces because selecting faces by their edges can be difficult when faces share c
ommon edges. (Tutorial 1)
Display geometry free edges to see if all faces in the geometry are correctly co
nnected. In CAD, connection between individual faces need only go so far as to o
nly appear visually connected. For FEA, adjacent faces that are not seamed will re
present a cut in the model. A surface-only model will always
contain free edges at holes and along the outside perimeter. A solid model shoul
d not contain any free
edges. (Tutorials 1 and 4)
Display the geometry T-junctions. For a surface-only model, T-junctions may be e
xpected, but for a
solid model, they should not occur.
Always use the Geometry Clean tool, even if there are no free edges. The purpose
of the Geometry
Clean tool is to correctly seam together adjacent faces and to remove unnecessary
vertices. The latter
purpose is often re uired to avoid the clustering of nodes in the automesh due t
o closely spaced vertices.
In most cases, the default value of the Min free edge length for the tool is goo
d as a starting point unless
the aspect ratio of the overall model is high or if there are relatively small f
eatures that are to be kept
(which is often the case in large, complex models). In such cases, the default v
alue should be reduced.
The application of the tool should be repeated until no changes are made. Repeat
ed application is sometimes necessary because changes made by the tool may intro
duce new free edges or unnecessary vertices.
If free edges remain throughout the geometry, increase the default value and app
ly again to the whole
model. If very large free edges exist, the tool can be applied only to selected
faces so as to not disturb
correctly seamed geometry. Alternatively, apply the tool to only free edges. (Tu
torials 1, 4 and 5)
Load and restraints can be applied to the geometry as opposed to the completed m
esh. (Tutorial 6)
Once no free edges are found, necessary vertices are spaced as desired and attri
butes have been assigned
to the geometry, surface meshing can proceed. Use the Mesh Density Preview to ch
eck for the desired
mesh density. (Tutorial 1)
If the geometry is complex and contains a variety of large, simple surfaces and
small features, such as

small fillets and holes, some fine-tuning of the mesh density may be re uired. I
f you can afford a very
large mesh, only the Max Edge Length value can be decreased to allow for a globa
lly fine mesh. However, a more efficient mesh can be created by keeping the Max
Edge Length value high and using the Custom Settings to allow for small elements
to be created around detailed faces and edges. (Tutorial 5)
5

 Check the density of the mesh, both on a global and local level. If undesired cl
ustering exists, undo and
correct the geometry using the Geometry Cleaning tool or adjust the Surface Auto
meshing settings. If a
solid mesh is ultimately re uired, remember that at least two elements should sp
an any thickness that
may experience bending. (Tutorials 1 and 5)
Check the completed surface mesh for free edges. If some exist, changes should b
e made to the geometry by cleaning it. Alternatively, the mesh can be manually e
dited or cleaned by using the Mesh Cleaning
tool. (Tutorial 4)
Check the overall uality of the mesh by using the element contouring options. (
Tutorial 3)
If a solid mesh is intended, ensure that no plate free edges exist and that no p
late T-junctions exist. Note
that the uality of a solid mesh is very much dependent on the uality of the su
rface mesh on which it is
based. Also note that very large differences between sizes of elements that are
nearby can result in a very
poor solid mesh. In particular, a surface mesh representing a thin region may be
very difficult to solid
mesh if there is a large discrepancy in plate mesh size across the two surfaces.
(Tutorial 3)
The Solid Automeshing tool allows for either a Coarse, Medium or Fine mesh. A mo
del that is simple,
with few features and of low overall aspect ratio can be meshed with the Coarse
setting. A model that is
thin in areas and/or contains small features should be meshed using the Medium or
Fine setting. Note,
however, that the surface mesh has a big influence on the resulting solid mesh a
nd that sometimes this
setting can have minimal effect. Additionally, note that if the surface mesh all
ows for only 2 elements
across the thickness of any walls in the model, Tet10 elements should be used.
Evaluate the solid mesh by using the element contouring options. Ensure that ele
ments near areas of
interest and along the surface are of good uality. Note that the Display Brick
Free Edges tool is not useful
for tetrahedral meshes. (Tutorial 3)
Miscellaneous Tips
This section describes some miscellaneous tips that can be used in many situatio
ns when converting CAD
models for FEA.
Geometry Cleaning
The Geometry Cleaning tool will collapse part of a face or an entire face that c
ontains an edge length (or edge
lengths) less than the cleaning tolerance. In some cases, these collapsed faces
lose their original neighbouring
connections, but remain connected to the model at one or two vertices, as shown
in Figure 1. These faces
are easy to find because their remaining edges are free edges or T-junctions. Th
e Geometry Cleaning tool will
not be able to repair such faces because the remaining edges are outside the cle
aning tolerance. Such faces
can be removed by selecting and deleting them individually. It is usually easy t
o select all these orphaned
faces by using the Select Free Entities tool.
.

Figure 1. Examples of orphaned collapsed faces

6

In many cases, a model will contain neighbouring faces that were intended to be
connected, but are separated
by a large distance. Such faces can be seamed by using the Geometry Cleaning too
l with a Min Edge Length
that is greater than the distance between the two faces. However, if this cleani
ng operation is applied to the
whole model, many intentionally small faces can be unintentionally collapsed by
the tool. In addition, faces
that are intended to remain separate may be unintentionally seamed if the distan
ce between the two faces is
less than the tolerance. This situation can be avoided by selecting only the two
faces that are to be seamed
and checking that the Geometry Cleaning tool is to be applied to the selected fa
ces only. The cleaning tolerance
can then be set to a higher value. Use the Entity Inspector to evaluate what the
tolerance should be.
Sometimes, two neighbouring free edges may exist, but cannot be seamed by the Ge
ometry Cleaning tool even
if the distance between the two edges is much less than the tolerance. Such a ca
se can occur with the free
edges shown in Figure 2. This occurs because there are no vertices within range
of the neighbouring face.
Seaming will only occur if a vertex of one face is within the tolerance range of
another face. Hence, to enforce
the faces to seam, a vertex can be created using the Create Vertex tool (Tutoria
l 5) along one of the free edges.
Seaming will then occur with a tolerance value determined by the distance betwee
n the two edges.
Figure 2. Example of two faces that cannot be correctly seamed without the creat
ion of a vertex at a neighbouring edge
Small Radius Fillets and Features
CAD models often contain every geometric feature of the object it represents. Th
is is normally to more completely represent the object visually. For FEA, howeve
r, many small features are irrelevant or well away from
areas of structural interest. If such features are to be kept in the FE model, a
n unnecessarily large and complex
mesh is re uired to capture these features. Two undesirable scenarios can occur
if such small features are
kept. If the mesh is fine enough to generate good uality elements, it may becom
e too large to allow a solution in reasonable time. If global transitioning (adj
ustable in the Custom Settings and described in Tutorial
5) is allowed to change rapidly, the mesh size may be sufficiently small, but th
e resulting mesh uality, particularly for tetrahedra, may be poor.
To avoid these problems, a global model should not include small features that a
re far from areas of structural
interest (possible stress concentration points, areas along main stress paths, p
oints of load and restraint application). If the small features are in areas of
interest, they can be defeatured in the global model and a submodel can be creat
ed so that only a local analysis can be performed.
Small features can be removed and corrected in a CAD package. The model can then
be meshed in Straus7.
Alternatively, the faces that represent the features can be manually deleted in
Straus7 or collapsed and removed by the Geometry Cleaning tool. However, collaps
ing such faces may introduce unwanted distortions
at other parts of the model. If this is the case, deleting the face is best. The
geometry can then be meshed.
However, this method will result in a hole in the mesh due to the removed face. If
the face was of a simple

shape, the hole can be filled by manually connecting a row or rows of elements.
If this is too laborious an
option, fixing the geometry in a CAD package is the best route to a successful m
esh.
Automeshing is not Always the Answer
The availability of the automeshing tools in Straus7 can prompt you to feel that
this is the one and only way
to create FE models whereby only a few button clicks are re uired. Many seemingl
y complex shapes can be
7

created by using element manipulation tools such as grading and extrusion in tan
dem with User Coordinate
Systems. Where this is not possible, and a solid mesh is re uired, an extruded s
urface automesh may be a
viable option. This can result in a vastly better hexahedral-dominant mesh with
fewer degrees of freedom
than would be generated by a tetrahedral automesh. This course of action and var
ious examples are described
in Tutorial 2.
Additionally, note that thin-walled solid CAD models are often better suited to
a 3D plate mesh. If a solid
model is re uired, the plate mesh can be extruded by thickness to create a hexah
edral dominant mesh of a
higher uality.
8

Tutorial 1:
Automeshing a Simple Solid Model
Introduction
This tutorial is a guide to converting CAD geometry files into finite element me
shes suitable for use in
Straus7 and FEA in general. It demonstrates both the Surface and Solid Automeshi
ng tools, which can be used
to automatically generate high uality finite element meshes. The tutorial also
addresses several problems
that can be encountered when converting CAD geometry into a finite element mesh.
The CAD model of Figure 1 (Automesh Tutorial 1.IGS), which represents a solid part
, is used in this tutorial. The model is imported, prepared for meshing and then
automatically meshed. Attributes such as restraints and pressures are assigned
to the geometry and these attributes are automatically transferred to the
elements by the automesher. Meshing of the solid model consists of two stages: t
he meshing of the surface
followed by the meshing of the volume.
Figure 1. CAD model of the solid part
Importing the CAD Geometry
Straus7 can import models from a
or IGES formats. Files
of these formats may be selected
to a new model or into
an existing model currently open
utomesh Tutorial
1.IGS, from the Straus7\Samples
wing steps:
9

number of CAD packages that export either ACIS

using FILE/Import. CAD files may be imported in
in Straus7. In this example, an IGES CAD file, A
folder, is imported into a new file via the follo

1
2
3
4
5
Create a new file by selecting New from the FILE menu;
The units specified in CAD files are used by Straus7. Upon import, the CAD file
units are
converted to the units of the current Straus7 model. For this tutorial, set the
Straus7 units to
Nmm before importing the CAD file. Click GLOBAL/Units and select Nmm;
Select FILE/Import to import the CAD file. Change the path to the Straus7\Sample
s folder;
Change Files of Type to display files of IGES type and select the model file Aut
omesh Tutorial
1.IGS from the file list;
Click OK.
After selecting the file, a dialog (Figure 2) is displayed that confirms the IGE
S file to be imported. This window also includes import options. The default set
tings are sufficient for this tutorial. To proceed with the
import, click OK.
Figure 2. IGES Import Dialog Box
Prior to displaying the geometry another dialog (Figure 3) is shown, which infor
ms you about the length
unit used in the CAD file. The dialog also shows the overall model size in both
the CAD files units and the
unit system used in Straus7. The dialog provides the facility to change the CAD
files length unit, in case it
has been incorrectly specified in the CAD file. For example, if the length unit
of the CAD file was defined
as millimetres (or not defined at all) when metres was intended, you can specify
the correct length unit on
this dialog. Note that if the scale of the model is intended to be changed by so
me arbitrary factor, this can
be performed by the scale geometry tool after import.
Figure 3. CAD File Units Dialog Box
The geometry of the imported CAD model, Automesh Tutorial 1.IGS, is then displayed
as shown in Figure 4. Notice that the model name has changed from the default M
eshxx to the IGES filename. New Straus7
model files will always adopt the name of the imported filename. Once saved howe
ver, the filename will not
be altered if additional geometry is imported.
10

Figure 4. Imported Geometry

Geometry Display Options
After importing, the geometry is displayed by showing the face edges using the d
efault settings for geometry.
The current view angle is a projection onto the XY-plane. On the Entity Toggle T
oolbar, there is a toggle
button for geometry and one for vertices; use these to show or hide these respec
tive entities. Change to a
dimetric display by:
1
2
3
4
5
Selecting Angles from the VIEW menu;
Click Dimetric;
Click OK; This updates the display of the model to a better viewing position;
Change the background colour from black to white by selecting Options from the V
IEW menu
and click the Screen Background colour s uare to change from black to white;
Click OK.
Geometry and vertices, as with elements, have display properties that can be alt
ered. By right clicking either
the Geometry Toggle Button
, or Vertex Toggle Button
, the display options dialog is shown. Here,
Edge and Vertex colours can be set along with their style. Included in the optio
ns available (Figure 5), is the
option to display the geometry wireframe to better visualise the model. The dens
ity of the wireframe can
also be altered to more clearly represent surface contours by:
1
2
Right click on the Geometry Toggle Button
and set the geometry display to the settings
shown in Figure 5. A Wireframe density of 20 is used. Altering this value change
s the
number of lines drawn on the geometry. A higher density provides better visualis
ation but
slower drawing performance;
Click OK.
11

Figure 5. Geometry display options

To display the vertices on the model, click the Vertex Toggle Button
with vertices and geometry wireframe.
. Figure 6 shows the imported model
Figure 6. Geometry with vertices and wireframe displayed
Preparing CAD Geometry for the Automesher
CAD models are often created for the purpose of visually conveying a models physi
cal geometry in an easily
portable and exchangeable form. Discrepancies in the CAD model that are harmless
in the CAD environment, can result in problems for finite element mesh generati
on. Although FEA models may appear similar
to solid CAD models, they must in addition fulfil the non-visual purpose of math
ematically simulating the
structural behaviour of the physical object. It is because of this added re uire
ment that checks should be
made to ensure that the imported CAD model is suitable for meshing. Straus7 incl
udes specialised tools to
assist in this conversion.
12

For a CAD model to be successfully meshed and used as an FE model, all faces mus
t have common edges.
This ensures the resulting meshes for each face will be compatible. On the Entit
y Toggle Toolbar, the Display
Geometry Free Edges button
can be used to identify mismatched face edges. Figure 7 shows this function
identifying two free edges.
Figure 7. Display Geometry Free Edges tool highlighting free edges found
For this particular CAD model, these free edges were never intended, but they we
re of no conse uence in
the CAD package as the edges formed a gap that was too small to appear. However,
if imported as is into
an FEA model, these free edges would represent a cut in the faces of the model. Be
cause of the cut, the faces
would not be closed and therefore, cannot correctly describe a solid entity.
The free edges can be seamed or zipped by using the Clean Geometry tool, which is si
milar to the Mesh
Cleaning tool. The Clean Geometry tool provides a number of options and paramete
rs as shown in Figure 8.
The Edge Merging Angle is used to specify whether edges connected to the same ve
rtex, are to be merged as
a single edge. For example, if an Edge Merging Angle of 90 is set, edges that mee
t at an interior angle greater than 90 will be merged to become a single edge and
the vertex between then is removed. An Edge Merging
Angle of 180 means that only edges that are perfectly tangential are merged.
The Minimum Edge Length parameter determines the minimum edge length of any face
. Faces that have an
edge that is less than the minimum will have that edge collapsed by the Clean Ge
ometry tool. If this means
that the face is reduced to two superimposed edges the face will be deleted by t
he tool. Note that the Mininum Edge Length can be specified relative to the leng
th of the longest dimension of the model or by an absolute length.
The Clean Geometry tool also provides the option to delete duplicate or co-incid
ent faces. When duplicate
faces are found, you can specify whether all co-incident faces are to be removed
, or whether at least one face
should remain.
Geometry cleaning can be applied to the whole model or just selected faces. This
works together with the
Free edges only option; by setting Free edges only, it is possible to operate on
the cuts and gaps in the model,
without affecting any other features in the model that are smaller than the mini
mum edge length.
13

The default settings are often a reasonable starting point for geometry cleaning
. All CAD models imported
should be cleaned to remove unreferenced geometry entities not re uired when the
CAD geometry is translated into Straus7 geometry entities.
Figure 8. Clean Geometry Dialog
To clean this model follow the steps below:
1
2
3
4
Select TOOLS, Clean Geometry;
Choose the Relative option;
Enter a relative Minimum Edge Length of 0.002;
Click OK.
The above procedure results in the Clean Geometry tool zipping free edges within
the tolerance specified.
Upon completion, a dialog box reports the changes made to the model.
If geometry cleaning results in the removal of all free edges, the Display Geome
try Free Edges button will automatically become inactive as there are no free ed
ges to display. By clicking on the Display Geometry Free
Edges button again, a message box will report that no free edges are found. Once
this is the case, the geometry is ready to be surface meshed.
Assigning Attributes to the Geometry
Attributes are assigned to geometric entities in the same way they are assigned
to elements and nodes. Vertices, faces and face edges can all be assigned attrib
utes. These attributes include restraints, thermal attributes,
loads and masses amongst others. In this tutorial, the model will be set up such
that the rear face is fully
restrained and the front face is assigned a normal pressure.
Restraints can only be applied to vertices. To assign a restraint to a vertex, c
arry out the following steps:
1
2
3
4
Ensure the Vertex Select toggle
and the Entity Select toggle
Select the vertices;
Click ATTRIBUTES, Vertex, Restraint;
Specify the desired restraint type;
14
are on;

5
Click Apply.
Attributes assigned to geometry are maintained after an automeshing operation. H
ence, when one vertex is
assigned a restraint, the node that is created at that location will inherit the
same restraint. Applying a restraint to an edge or a face usually involves assi
gning the restraint to two or more vertices. In the case where
two or more vertices on an edge are assigned restraints, nodes generated along t
hat edge (between the two
vertices) are assigned the least restrictive of the two attributes assigned at t
he vertices. Similarly, an entire
face will be assigned the least restrictive of all vertex restraints that are pa
rt of that face. Hence, if only one
vertex on a face is not restrained, that face will not be assigned a restraint.
Instead only the edges will be
assigned a restraint.
There are cases where an entire edge or face uses only one vertex. In such cases
, the entire edge or face inherits the restraint assigned to the one vertex. Bes
ides restraints and the mesh size attribute, the vertex temperature attribute is
also interpolated along the nodes generated on an edge. Other vertex and edge a
ttributes
(such as a point force at a vertex or an edge shear on an edge) are only applied
to the generated node or edge
respectively, without interpolation. The mesh size attribute is discussed in Tut
orial 6.
To fully fix the rear face of the imported model, select all vertices belonging
to that face and assign fully fixed
vertex restraints (not node restraints). Next, a pressure can be applied to the
front face. Ensure the Face Select
toggle is on and select the front face. In the Attributes menu, select Face, Pre
ssure, Normal (not plate pressure).
Apply a pressure of 1MPa. Figure 9 shows the restraints assigned to the rear fac
e and the pressure assigned
to the front face.
Figure 9. Vertices with restraint attributes and face with pressure attribute as
signed
Surface Automeshing
The Surface Automeshing tool is used to automatically generate a mesh of plate e
lements for specified geometry faces. This generates surface elements on the sur
face of the model. Note that the Surface Automeshing
15

tool must be used prior to creating a solid mesh. The tool can be configured to
mesh at a specified density,
and to mesh all or a selected number of faces. Meshes can be created using Tri3,
Tri6, Quad4 or Quad8
elements. Note that if a uadrilateral element type is specified, some triangula
r elements may still be generated, but usually only a small number. Hence, these
meshes are often referred to as uadrilateral dominant
or uad dominant meshes.
The decision as to which element type to generate can be made by determining whe
ther a plate or a brick
mesh is ultimately re uired. For plate meshes modelling plate/shell structures,
and for plate meshes to be
extruded into brick meshes, a uadrilateral dominant mesh is preferred. This is
because the four-node uadrilateral element is a better uality element than the
three-node triangular element. However, triangular elements should be used for
generating tetrahedral meshes. The decision to create either linear or uadratic
elements is dependent on the re uired analysis. A suitable mesh density is also
dependent on the analysis type
and the density necessary to provide an acceptable solution within the available
computer resources.
The Surface Automeshing tool (Figure 10) can function in two modes. In Auto mode
(default option) the
mesh density is specified by the Maximum Edge Length, either as an absolute leng
th or a percentage of the
maximum model size. Clicking Custom allows detailed control of the surface mesh
creation parameters. For
this tutorial the default automatic settings are used.
Maximum edge length sets the largest edge length of any element created by autom
eshing. This maximum
edge length can be previewed graphically by clicking on the Preview button, whic
h temporarily displays nodes
along the edges. Previewing the mesh can be achieved by the following steps:
1
2
3
Click TOOLS, Automeshing, Surface Mesh;
Select the mesh density by entering a value into the Maximum Edge Length field a
s either a
percentage or absolute value;
Click Preview.
Figure 10. Surface Automeshing dialog
This function gives an indication of the mesh density by displaying nodes at the
specified edge length. You
should use this function if you are uncertain about the mesh density re uired to
correctly represent the geometry. The node density displayed is only indicative
, however. The actual density may be somewhat different as the preview does not
take into account transitioning or the local edge curvature. Figure 11 shows
the resulting display using a Maximum Edge Length of 3%.
16

Figure 11. Mesh density preview

The Maximum Edge Length can be adjusted until a satisfactory mesh density is fou
nd. For the example problem, a Maximum Edge Length of 5% will be used to create
a linear triangular mesh. This can be achieved by
the following steps:
1
2
3
4
Click TOOLS, Automeshing, Surface Mesh;
Specify the Maximum Edge Length of 5%;
Under the Target tab, select the Tri3 icon and set Plate Property as Face Number
(such that
resulting plates are assigned a plate property number e ual to the parent face n
umber);
Click Mesh.
The resulting mesh is as shown in Figure 12. Note that the meshing operation has
preserved the restraint
and pressure attributes. The mesh, however, contains some anomalies. Although th
e mesh density is uniform on most faces, some faces have a mesh density that sha
rply varies across the surface. This can be seen
as a clustering of nodes in the figure. To see the plate outlines more clearly,
change the plate outline colour
to black (white is also a good colour) in Entity Display for plates. Unless the
geometry has intentionally small
features in relation to surrounding features (such as a hole in a sheet), this i
ndicates a problem with the geometry.
17

Figure 12. Automeshed model with mesh density irregularities

By zooming into these regions, small sliver faces can be seen in between two large
r faces. The small faces
are the cause of the clustering. Figure 13 shows one of these slivers.
Figure 13. Meshed sliver face causing mesh density irregularity
This sliver face was not an intended feature of the CAD model. Its purpose was s
imply to maintain visual
coherence of this area of the model. For an FEA model however, this sliver face
disrupts the uniformity of
the mesh and should be removed. This can be done by cleaning the geometry with a
larger Minimum Edge
Length. This ensures that the Clean Geometry tool collapses the sliver face, hen
ce joining the two neighbouring faces. A Minimum Edge Length of 0.05 should be l
arge enough to remove any small faces in this model.
18

This operation could be performed only on those faces by choosing the selected o
ption, however this zipping
tolerance is still a safe global zipping tolerance for this model as there are n
o intentionally small features that
need to be maintained. Removal of the sliver faces can be achieved with the foll
owing steps:
1
2
3
4
5
Click EDIT, Undo to undo the previous automesh operation;
Display the geometry by clicking the Show Geometry toggle button;
Click TOOLS, Clean Geometry;
Specify a relative Minimum Edge Length of 0.05;
Click Apply.
Once the sliver faces are removed by the cleaning operation, the model is ready
to be automeshed. Figure14
shows the remeshed model with a 5% mesh density. The mesh is now more uniform wi
thout noticeable
clustering.
Figure 14. Remeshed model with slivers removed
Solid Automeshing
The Solid Automeshing tool (Figure 15), can generate solid meshes of either line
ar or uadratic tetrahedral
elements (Tet4, Tet10). The Surface Automeshing tool must be used to create a cl
osed surface (plate) mesh
prior to using the Solid Automeshing tool. Because tetrahedral elements are gene
rated, it is usually preferable
to create a surface mesh of triangles such that better tetrahedral aspect ratios
are generated. However, the
Straus7 solid mesher accepts any Straus7 plate type for the definition of the su
rface. With a model containing
plate elements that enclose a volume, applying the Solid Automeshing tool involv
es carrying out the following
steps:
1
2
Click TOOLS, Automeshing, Solid Mesh;
Select target element type (Tet4 or Tet10);
19

3
4
Specify that automeshing is to be applied to all of the model by setting Whole m
odel under the
Options tab;
Click Mesh.
Figure 15. Solid Automeshing dialog
The tetrahedral brick mesh is shown in Figure 16.
Figure 16. Solid meshed geometry
A Important Note about Tetrahedra
When using tetrahedra for solid models, it is important to ensure that a suffici
ently fine mesh density has
been used. Tet10 elements will provide results that are far superior to Tet4 ele
ments, especially for coarse
meshes or for modelling structures in bending and/or shear. However, a Tet10 mes
h re uires significantly
more computer resources than a Tet4 mesh with the same number of elements. It is
recommended that you
familiarise yourself with the limitations of these elements before using them fo
r real analysis work. The
Straus7 Verification manual provides some comparison of the results achieved by
different brick types.
20

Tutorial 2:
Extrusion of Solid Meshes
Introduction
In many cases, solid geometry is created by extruding one or more surfaces in a
straight line or about an axis
of rotation. Solid meshes of such geometry can be generated without the solid au
tomeshing tool. Instead,
a surface (plate) mesh is generated and then extruded into brick elements by usi
ng one of the element extrusion tools in Straus7. By following this procedure, i
t is possible to create a hexahedral or hexahedral dominant solid mesh of better
uality than a solid automeshed tetrahedral mesh.
This chapter provides three examples to show how solid CAD models can exploit th
e Extrude tool to create
a solid mesh from a surface mesh. The CAD models are Automesh Tutorial 2a.IGS (Fig
ure 1), Automesh
Tutorial 2b.IGS (Figure 10) and Automesh Tutorial 2c.IGS (Figure 18).
The tutorial also highlights some of the considerations that should be made when
creating any CAD model
for finite element use.
Figure 1. Solid CAD model
Example 1
The model of Figure 1 can be created by two extrusion operations. Firstly, the s
urface of the bottom of the
boss can be extruded to create the solid base. Secondly, the solid boss can be e
xtruded by its top surface to
meet the solid base. Both extrusions can be performed in CAD and in Straus7. How
ever, to achieve this on
an imported geometry in Straus7, several steps must be performed on the model in
the CAD package first.
21

If the CAD model is imported into Straus7 as it is, a problem will arise because
the top surface of the boss
in not aware of the bottom surface and conversely, the bottom surface is not aware
of the top of the boss.
A modification to the CAD model can be made to ensure that the boundary edge of
the top of the boss has
a corresponding edge on the bottom surface. This modification entails splitting th
e bottom surface such
that a split line e uivalent to the top of the boss is created. This results in
two faces superimposed on the
same plane. With two faces, automeshing can be controlled such that nodes confor
m to the boundary of the
split line. For the model of Figure 1, the face of the base surface is split such
that the outline of the boss
becomes an edge on this face. In this way, the two faces on the base surface can
be independently extruded
to create a compatible solid mesh. The split line is shown in Figure 2. The two
surfaces that are produced
are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2. Split line to create two faces on the bottom surface
Figure 3. Two surfaces created via split line of Figure 2
This geometry is then ready to be exported into either IGES or ACIS format for i
mport by Straus7. As an
aside, as with building any CAD model for finite element use, any features that
are not to be analysed (such
as purely decorative features or small features far from areas of interest) shou
ld be removed.
Importing and Meshing the CAD Model
The model of Figure 3 can be imported as described in Tutorial 1 using the defau
lt settings. This model is
shown in Figure 4 with the wireframe option on.
22

Figure 4. Imported CAD geometry

The bottom surface of the model can then be surface meshed using the Surface Aut
omeshing tool (Figure 5),
the following steps:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Select the two faces on the bottom surface of the model;
Click TOOLS, Automeshing, Surface Mesh;
Specify a Maximum Edge Length of 3%;
Under the Target tab, select the Quad4 icon and set plate properties as Face num
ber;
Under the Faces tab, choose Selected Graphically to ensure only the two selected
faces are
meshed;
Click Mesh.
Figure 6 shows the resulting surface mesh together with the geometry.
Figure 5. Surface meshing dialog
23

Figure 6. Meshed bottom surface

The surface mesh is now ready to be extruded. Extrusion distances can be found b
y holding the shift key
while the mouse is over an edge of a face that runs the length to be determined.
This will display the Entity
Inspector with the edge length shown. Ensure that the Toggle Geometry Select but
ton is on. For the example
model, the thickness of the base is 0.01 units and the height of the boss is 0.0
4 units. The base surface is to
be extruded through to the thickness of the base such that there are 4 layers, e
ach layer having a thickness of
0.0025 units. In this case, the direction of extrusion is the positive Z axis. T
he following steps achieve this
task using the Extrude tool (Figure 7):
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Select all plates on the bottom surface;
Click TOOLS, Extrude, by Increments;
Specify an extrusion increment of 0.0025 in the Z direction;
Set Repeat=4;
Select that the Source is to be moved;
Check Keep Selection;
Click Apply.
24

Figure 7. Extrude by Increments dialog

Figure 8 shows the result of this procedure with bricks and geometry displayed.
The above procedure has
kept the plates created by the surface mesh and moved them to the end of the ext
rusion. The plates that are
at the joining face of the boss and web (in yellow) are to be used for extruding
the boss, but the others are
no longer needed. These can be deleted after unselecting the boss plates with th
e Select by Property tool.
Figure 8. Extruded base mesh
The boss plates can then be extruded to form the boss. The same procedure is use
d, except that in this case,
8 layers of a thickness of 0.005 are created. Figure 9 shows the resulting and c
ompleted solid mesh.
25

Figure 9. Completed solid mesh

Example 2
Figure 10 shows a solid CAD model of a tunnel (Automesh Tutorial 2b.IGS). This mod
el can be imported
and a solid mesh can be obtained via the Surface and Solid Automeshing tools. Ho
wever, the geometry of
the model is composed of relatively thin walls. A tetrahedral mesh will not prov
ide the best result in such
circumstances. Instead, the extruded geometry of the model can be exploited such
that a surface mesh is extruded to form a hexahedral dominant mesh. This would
be of higher uality than a tetrahedral mesh with
a similar number of nodes. The following describes the procedure.
Figure 10. CAD model of a tunnel
26

Figure 11 shows the imported Straus7 model in an isometric view complete with wi
reframes. This example
shows that only a surface mesh of the cross section of the tunnel is re uired. T
his mesh can then be extruded
with the plate extrusion tool. Specifically, the Extrude, by Project, to Plane t
ool will be used to exploit the
planar end of the tunnel. Hence, the diagonally cut end of the model will be surfa
ce meshed and extruded
to the opposite end. For this operation to be carried out only the end faces are
necessary. All other faces are
not needed and can be deleted as shown in Figure 12
.
Figure 11. Imported geometry
27

Figure 12. Tunnel geometry end faces

Ensure that the geometry does not contain any internal free edges. In this case
there are some unwanted free
edges so the Clean Geometry tool is used to correct the model. The model can the
n be meshed. It should be
noted that a hexahedral mesh should contain at least two elements through the th
ickness of the walls for a
basic analysis. Use the Surface Automeshing tool to mesh with a 1% relative edge
length. Both ends should
be meshed in this case even though only one end is to be extruded to form a soli
d mesh. This is because a
node is re uired on the other end to designate the end position for the Extrude
tool. Figure 13 shows the
meshed ends of the geometry.
28

Figure 13. Surface meshed ends

Extrusion of the diagonally cut end involves the selection of all plates on this s
urface and the use of the Extrude to Plane tool. In this case, the surface is to
be extruded to the YZ Plane at the opposite end. The following outlines the ste
ps.
1
2
3
4
5
Select the mesh of the diagonally cut end using the Select by Property tool;
Click TOOLS, Extrude, by Projection, to Plane;
In the dialog (Figure 14), select the YZ Plane, and set N2 to be any node at the
opposite end;
In the Direction field of the Parameters tab, select Normal - this means that ex
trusion will be
normal to the plane;
Click Apply.
29

Figure 14. Extrude to Plane dialog

After the extrusion, all plates can be deleted as they are no longer needed. Fig
ure 15 shows the extruded
brick model.
Figure 15. Model after extrusion
For the solid mesh to be useable for analysis, the mesh needs to be subdivided a
long the axial direction. However, because there are both hexahedral and wedge e
lements in the model, not all bricks can be selected and
subdivided at once. This is because the wedge element re uires two subdivision v
ariables, whereas hexahedra
re uire three. Instead, all bricks of a type can be selected and the subdivision
operation can be performed
se uentially.
Selecting all hexahedral bricks involves right-clicking the Brick Select toggle,
selecting the Hexa8 toggle
and using the Select All tool. To subdivide these as shown in Figure 16:
30
,

1
2
3
4
Click TOOLS, Subdivide;
Select all Hexa8 bricks;
Set C to 30 so that there are 30 subdivisions in the axial direction;
Click Apply.
Figure 16. Subdivision of Hexa8 bricks
Next, repeat the same operation on all remaining elements by selecting them with
the Wedge6 toggle
In this case, B is set to 30 in the Subdivide tool dialog. The final mesh is sho
wn in Figure 17.
31
.

Figure 17. Final mesh

32

Example 3
Figure 18 shows a surface CAD model of a relatively thin structure consisting of
two intersecting pipes and
a fillet between them (Automesh Tutorial 2c.IGS). This model could be analysed as
a thin shell using only
plate elements located at the mid-plane surface, or if it is considered that the
thickness effects are important
in the analysis, it could be analysed using brick elements. This example shows h
ow to generate hexahedral
brick meshes for such structures.
Figure 18. Isometric view of imported CAD model of intersecting pipes with wiref
rames displayed
The model file (Automesh Tutorial 2c.IGS) is imported into Straus7 and all default
s are accepted. The
model is cleaned using the defaults and the Wireframes are generated for better
visualisation.
The first step to generating a solid mesh is to generate the surface plate mesh.
It is assumed that the CAD
model surface has been constructed as a the mid-plane surface. In any case, as l
ong as we know whether it
is an inner surface, a mid-plane surface or an ourter surface model, the procedu
re is basically the same.
The surface mesh is generated using a 4% relative edge length and the target typ
e set to Quad8. Quad8 elements can be curved and this generates a more accurate
mesh for this type of geometry, particularly around
the fillet.
Figure 19 shows the resulting plate mesh in Orientation display. The display rev
eals that the surface normals
are not consistent between the cylinders and the fillet. Plate Normals consisten
cy is essential for the extrusion
process. The normals can be easily adjusted by using TOOL, Align, Plate Normals.
Figure 20 shows the
aligned mesh.
33

Figure 19. Orientation display of Quad8 surface mesh

Figure 20. Plate mesh with surface normals aligned
The next step generates the first layer of brick elements by using TOOL, Extrude
, By thickness. All plates are
selected and the first extrusion extrudes inwards by an amount of 0.02. The sour
ce plate elements are left by
setting Source/Leave and Keep selection is checked. Figure 21 shows the result o
f this operation.
34

Figure 21. Result of first extrude by thickness operation

The extrude operation is repeated, this time specifying an increment of -0.02 an
d setting Source/Erase. The
final mesh is shown in Figure 22.
Note that if the CAD file represented the inner surface of the pipes, then the e
xtrusion could be performed
by extruding outwards (-0.02) two times. After the first extrusion, the option S
ource/Move would be set to
ensure that the second extrusion started from where the first one left off. Alte
rnatively, a single extrusion of
-0.04 could be performed, followed by a TOOL, Subdivide operation to subdivide a
ll brick elements by 2 in
the extrusion direction (similarly to Example 2).
Figure 23 shows a zoomed cut-away view to illustrate that the brick elements gen
erated, Hex20, are curved.
Whilst this procedure can be very useful for generating high- uality hexahedral
meshes of relatively thin
structures, if the extrusion thickness is large relative to local surface curvat
ure, it is possible that elements may
become collapsed during extrusion. In such cases, it is best to extrude in the d
irection of increasing radius.
35

Figure 22. Mesh after second extrusion

Figure 23. Zoomed view showing fillet detail
36

Tutorial 3:
Checking Mesh Quality
Introduction
Although the Automeshing tool in Straus7 employs some of the latest methods to m
esh practically all surface
and solid models, this does not guarantee that the resulting mesh will not re ui
re further improvement or
uality checking or that it is suitable for analysis at all. As with any FE mesh
, checks should be made to ensure
that created elements are of a good uality and that the mesh is an acceptable r
epresentation of the intended
geometry. This entails inspection of element aspect ratios and internal angles.
Both these uantities represent how effective each elements formulation will be i
n calculating a resultant displacement field. Elements
of a bad uality with poor aspect ratio and/or internal angles are referred to a
s distorted elements. Such
distorted elements will give poor uality results and should be avoided.
The results obtained by automatic meshing can be highly dependent on the uality
of the underlying geometry. So it is not always known in advance what uality o
f mesh will be obtained. Therefore, uality checking
of the mesh is limited to after the mesh has been created. Factors that influenc
e the uality of an automatically generated mesh include the complexity and clea
nliness of the geometry and the prescribed mesh density.
A low density mesh with a large variation in geometrical feature size (e.g. larg
e faces near small holes or slivers) will re uire a sharp transition in element
size and will heighten the possibility of the creation of distorted
elements. A common problem in solid automeshes is the flat or near-flat tetrahed
ral element.
This tutorial demonstrates the use of a number of tools in Straus7 that can help
identify problem areas when
generating a solid mesh. The geometry of a bike wheel hub (Automesh Tutorial 3.IG
S, Figure 1), is used
as an example. The tutorial will also show how symmetry can be exploited to redu
ce meshing time.
37

Figure 1. CAD model of a bike wheel hub

Importing the CAD model
Figure 2 shows the imported CAD model. It contains all of the geometric features
of the bike hub and is a
large model with many faces. In this example however, it was deemed that the thr
eading about the ends of
the axle of the hub were unnecessary or of little interest for structural analys
is purposes. These features should
then be removed to make a more efficient and effective mesh possible. Furthermor
e, the model has a great
deal of symmetry that can be exploited. A 1/8 symmetric model can be used for me
shing purposes. This
symmetric model can be converted back into a full model once meshed. The benefit
of using a symmetric
model for meshing is that meshing time is significantly reduced.
38

Figure 2. Imported CAD model

A 1/8 symmetric version of the model was created in the CAD package. This model
was then imported, as
shown in Figure 3. The reduced model contains 17% of the number of faces of the
model in Figure 2. To
prepare the model for surface meshing, free edges are checked using the Show Geo
metry Free Edges tool.
Figure 3. Imported 1/8 symmetric geometry
39

Surface Mesh Checking

After finding that the geometry of Figure 3 does not contain free edges, the mod
el is ready to be meshed
using the Surface Automeshing tool. The Preview button can be used to determine
the Maximum Edge Length
for an appropriate mesh density. Use this function to verify that a relative edg
e length of 2% is sufficient to
capture the detail of the geometry. The resulting surface mesh is shown in Figur
e 4 using Tri3 elements as
the target element type.
Figure 4. Surface meshed model
Before generating a solid mesh, the surface mesh should be checked to see if it
is of sufficient uality for solid
automeshing to proceed. Mesh uality checking is expedited when using the elemen
t contouring options
available in Straus7. For surface meshes, aspect ratio, warping and internal ang
les are all relevant element
attributes that can be contoured. Extreme values for any of these attributes ind
icate distorted elements that
may not provide accurate results. This means that such distorted elements should
not be used around areas
of primary interest. However, the negative effects of distorted elements diminis
hes with distance and can be
tolerated in regions of little interest. All contouring can be displayed via the
Entity Display options dialog,
Figure 5. This window can be opened by one of three ways. Click VIEW, Entity Dis
play; or right click the
Model Window; or right click the appropriate icon on the Entity Toggle toolbar.
Click the Plate icon to display
the options for plate elements. Under the Contour Options section, a pull down m
enu of available contour
types is shown (Figure 5).
40

Figure 5. Entity Display dialog

The aspect ratio contour indicates how stretched elements are. It is simply a rati
o of the longest edge length
to the shortest edge length within the element. The aspect ratio can be contoure
d as a minimum over maximum or as a maximum over minimum ratio. For both contour
s, values that are close to 1 represent elements
of good uality. Figure 6 shows the bike hub mesh contoured by aspect ratio in c
olours that relate to the
legend shown in the top left corner of the Model Window. This legend also gives
the plate numbers that are
attributed with the highest and lowest values on the scale. The legend and conto
ur can be configured to display in one of a number of styles, via the Contour Co
nfiguration dialog tab pages (Figure 7). This dialog can
be opened by clicking the Settings button in the Contour Options panel in the En
tity Display dialog.
Figure 6. Elements contoured by aspect ratio
41

Figure 7. Contour Configuration dialog tab pages

The Contour Configuration dialog can be used to change (amongst many other optio
ns) how contours are to
be displayed. The legend can also be displayed as a histogram. The histogram opt
ion is particularly useful
for obtaining an overall mesh uality assessment as it shows the distribution of
values, as opposed to simply
offering the range of values. This is important as there are many examples of go
od meshes with a very small
proportion of distorted elements that are far from areas of interest. The legend
of Figure 8 is shown using
the histogram option in Figure 7 - the legend Width is set to 50. It can be seen
that the majority of elements
have an aspect ratio between 1 and 1.8 and that no elements have a high aspect r
atio (in excess of 3).
42

Figure 8. Histogram option

The warping contour indicates how out-of-plane shell elements are. For the surfa
ce mesh of Figure 4, there
is no need to check for warping, as linear triangular elements are defined by on
ly 3 nodes, which prohibits
the possibility of any warped connections.
The internal angle contour indicates how skewed out of s uare elements are and is
a measure of element
corner angles. Unlike the aspect ratio contour, internal angles are contoured by
nodes. This means that individual plates can be contoured with a varying contou
r as opposed to a constant contour. For uadrilateral
elements, internal angles should be near 90, whereas triangular elements should h
ave internal angles near
60. Figure 9 shows the bike hub mesh contoured by internal angle along with a his
togram legend and 100
contours. It can be seen from the histogram that most elements contain well form
ed corner angles and that
no elements have extremely acute or obtuse internal angles.
Figure 9. Elements contoured by internal angle
Besides using the information provided by the contours, free edges should always
be checked for incompatibilities by using the Display Plate Free Edges toggle b
utton. Furthermore, a visual inspection should always
be performed. Once all these checks are performed, it can be determined that the
surface mesh is ready to
be converted into a solid mesh in the same way as carried out in Tutorial 1.
43

Solid Mesh Checking

Checking of solid meshes can rely on the use of tools such as contouring more so
than surface meshes. This
is because, unlike surface meshes, the internal regions of a solid mesh are diff
icult to visually inspect. Hence,
the use of features such as the histogram become even more helpful.
As with plate elements, brick elements can be contoured with a number of attribu
tes that are relevant to mesh
uality checking. These include aspect ratio, internal angles, mixed product and
dihedral angles.
Similarly to the aspect ratio for plate elements, brick element aspect ratio is
defined as the ratio between the
longest and shortest edge of that element. An element with an aspect ratio that
is far greater than 1 is usually
one of low accuracy. Figure 10 shows the bike hub meshed with Tet4 elements cont
oured by aspect ratio.
From the histogram, it can be seen that the vast majority of elements have an as
pect ratio of less than 3. However, there are some that have high aspect ratios,
reaching 12.4. It is important to know where such poor
elements are located. If they are on the surface or near an area of interest, th
en it is advisable to improve the
original geometry, or refine the surface mesh to improve the solid mesh. A refin
ement can involve a manual
improvement of the surface mesh near the region where the poor element was found
or changing the internal
element density in the Solid Automeshing dialog.
Figure 10. Brick elements contoured by aspect ratio
It is possible to locate the element with the highest aspect ratio by using the
Find tool (Figure 11). The Find
tool can be activated by clicking Find within the EDIT menu, or by pressing Ctrl
+ F. The number of the
brick with the highest aspect ratio is shown in the legend of Figure 10 as being
18810. Figure 12 shows this
element found within the interior of the axle of the hub.
44

Figure 11. The Find tool

Figure 12. Find tool used to locate element with the highest aspect ratio
The internal angle contour option for bricks is identical to the same option for
plates. However, the internal
angles through the thickness of the solid are not visible if only the surface is
displayed. Hence, mesh checking
using this contour type relies on the histogram. Figure 13 shows the hub contour
ed by internal angle. Based
on the information given by the histogram, it can be seen that the majority of e
lements have reasonable internal angles. However, some elements are composed of
either highly acute or obtuse angles. The Select by
Region tool can be used to only select elements that are located in regions of i
nterest. The entities that are
not selected can then be hidden by using the Hide Unselected toggle. This way, t
he histogram will only graph
data available from the bricks that are displayed. If all bricks (particularly t
hose on the surface) within the
regions of interest are of an ade uate uality, then the solid mesh is suitable
for analysis.
45

Figure 13. Solid mesh contoured by internal angle

The mixed product is an indication of how close to s uare each corner of an elem
ent is. Element corners that
are s uare are given a value of one; conversely, those that are not s uare are g
iven a value less than one. In
the case of tetrahedral meshes, s uareness of corners is not expected for optimal
elements. Instead, tetrahedral elements should a have a mixed product that is cl
ose to 0.707. Figure 14 shows the histogram for the
mixed product contour type for the hub mesh.
Figure 14. Histogram for the Mixed Product contour type
The dihedral angle is a measure of the internal angle between two connected face
s of a brick. For a tetrahedron, the optimum dihedral angle is near 72, for a hex
ahedron it is 90. The dihedral angle ratio is a normalised measure of how close t
o the optimum the worst angle in a brick is. Those that are close to optimal
are given a value close to 0. Those that contain an angle that is much larger th
an the optimum are given a
ratio close to 1. Conversely, those with an angle much less than the optimum are
given a value close to -1.
Figure 15 shows the hub contoured by dihedral angle ratio. Note that the histogr
am for the dihedral angle
ratio will show a distribution that is concentrated above and below the optimum.
In this case, most elements
have an angle that is more acute than the optimum.
46

Figure 15. Contouring by Dihedral Angle Ratio

After determining that the solid mesh is suitable for analysis, the 1/8 symmetry
mesh can be restored to the
full model by using the Mirror tool (Figure 16). The mesh can be mirrored about
the models planes of symmetry which can be defined for the Mirror tool by any 3 n
odes on these planes. Because the model is a 1/8
symmetric mesh, the mirror function has to be performed 3 times to restore the f
ull model, which is shown
in Figure 17. The following steps show how this function can be performed:
1
2
3
4
5
Select all bricks using the Select All button;
Click TOOLS, Mirror;
Select 3 Nodes as the plane - this changes the pointer into a hot pointer (as sh
own in Figure
16);
Click on 3 nodes that lie on a plane of symmetry the model is to be mirrored abo
ut;
Click Apply.
47

Figure 16. Mirror tool dialog

Figure 17. Mirrored mesh
48

Tutorial 4:
Geometry Cleaning
Introduction
Tutorial 1 highlighted some problem areas that can be encountered when importing
CAD geometry. This
tutorial will further stress the importance of ensuring that the geometry to be
meshed is ade uately prepared
by illustrating a number of techni ues and tools that can be used to clean the g
eometry. The model of a
household tap (Automesh Tutorial 4.IGS, Figure 1) is used as an example.
Figure 1. CAD model of a household tap
Displaying the Geometry
The imported geometry is shown in Figure 2.
49

Figure 2. Imported geometry

This CAD model consists of different types of CAD entities. Namely, geometric fa
ces on conical and planar
surfaces and B-splines. Individual entity types may be separately displayed by u
sing the Show by Type function, found under the VIEW menu. Figure 3 shows this i
n use, displaying only the B-splines and planes in
the CAD model.
Figure 3. Show by Type tool displaying only B-spline and plane face types
A uick way of extracting basic information and determining the type of entities
is via the Entity Inspector.
By holding down the shift key the Entity Inspector window appears for any entity
under the mouse cursor.
Figure 4 shows this in use where the underside face of the spout of the tap mode
l is inspected. Here, the
50

Entity Inspector gives information about Face 47 of the model, which is a B-spli
ne surface. The length of the
nearest edge, Edge 40, is also given.
Figure 4. Use of Entity Inspector
As with any geometry that is successfully imported, this model can be immediatel
y surface meshed using the
Surface Automeshing tool. Using a relative Maximum Edge Length of 8%, the mesh o
f Figure 5 is produced.
In this example, however, this mesh is invalid if used for analysis. By clicking
the Show Plate Free Edges button, a number of free edges are shown, as seen in
Figure 5. Figure 6 shows a zoomed view. The free edges
that can be seen in Figure 5 imply that parts of the model are near, but topolog
ically separated from one
another. These free edges were not the result of the automeshing operation, but
due to the lack of compatibility between faces of the imported geometry. The mes
hing operation can be undone by clicking the Undo
button, or clicking EDIT, Undo. The free edges of the imported geometry can then
be found by clicking the
Show Geometry Free Edges tool, as shown in Figure 7.
51

Figure 5. Meshed geometry with free edges

Figure 6. Mesh incompatibility
52

Figure 7. Geometry free edges

The free edges of Figure 7 must be removed by the Clean Geometry tool (Figure 8)
if a resultant meshing
operation is to produce a fully compatible mesh. An attempt to clean all the fre
e edges may be performed
by the clean tool with the default settings. For this example, however, the sett
ing for the Maximum Edge
Length is based on the information that can be obtained from the model. The defa
ult settings are usually
sufficient for most models where unintended free edges due to cuts in the surface
are small and where intended features are not proportionally very small in compa
rison to the overall size. However, this is not always the case. It is possible
to import geometry where gaps are of a dimension that is greater than that
specified by the default Minimum Edge Length. This would then mean that such gap
s would not be seamed.
It is also possible to import a geometry containing features with edge lengths s
maller than that specified by
the default minimum. In such a case, these intended features can become distorte
d or removed by the Clean
Geometry tool. If you are uncertain as to whether the default Minimum Edge Lengt
h setting is correct, you
should manually inspect the edge length of a small feature in the geometry. The
minimum edge length of all
faces of a geometry can be obtained from the Statistics page. Figure 9 shows the
Statistics page results for the
tap model.
Figure 8. Clean Geometry tool dialog
53

Figure 9. Statistics for the tap model

From the results offered in the Statistics page as shown in Figure 9, the shorte
st edge length was found to be
very small. If all features in the model are to be retained, then the whole mode
l can be safely cleaned using
an absolute Minimum Edge Length that is less than the shortest edge length. Howe
ver, this edge length may
be that of a small unnecessary feature. If this is the case, the Entity Inspecto
r can be used to manually find
the edge length of the smallest intended feature to succeed the cleaning operati
on. Figure 10 shows the Entity
Inspector being used to inspect the edge length of a small face at the end of th
e spout of the tap.
Figure 10. Using the Enity Inspector to find the edge length of a small feature
If the intention is to preserve the small face shown in Figure 10, then based on
the information obtained in
the Entity Inspector, the whole model is cleaned with an absolute Minimum Edge L
ength of 0.01. Upon completion of the clean however, two free edges remain about
the tap orifice. This means that the gap between
the two free edges is greater than the edge length of the smallest intended feat
ure. Hence, to direct the Clean
Geometry tool to seam the remaining edges, a larger Minimum Edge Length is re ui
red, but with the cleaning
operation limited to selected faces only. This can be done by the following step
s:
54

1
2
3
4
5
Select faces that neighbour existing free edges (as in Figure 11);
Click TOOLS, Clean Geometry;
Specify a Minimum Edge Length of 0.02 (ensure that the value is otherwise smalle
r than edge
lengths in the selected faces);
Select Act on ... selected only;
Click Apply.
Figure 11. Selected faces around free edges
After all free edges are removed, the geometry is ready to be meshed. Figure 12
shows the resulting surface
mesh using a relative Maximum Edge Length of 4% and Quad4 elements as the target
element type.
An alternative to selecting the faces to be acted upon would be to set the Free
edges only check box. In this
case, only the edges that are free would be seamed, without affecting other edge
s in the model that are already
correctly seamed. The result would be the same as achieved above.
55

Figure 12. Meshed geometry

56

Tutorial 5:
Advanced Features
Introduction
This tutorial illustrates a number of tools and methods that can fine-tune a mes
h or repair imported geometry. To demonstrate these, four examples are presented
. The first is of a sheet metal part (Automesh Tutorial 5a.IGS) with poor geometry
definition. The second is a detailed 3 dimensional model (Automesh
Tutorial 5b.SAT) that includes a number of features that are unnecessary for anal
ysis purposes. The third
example focuses on the meshing of a single face of the model used in the second
example. The last example
demonstrates the use of the Surface Automeshing tools custom settings and vertex
attributes for local mesh
control.
Example 1
The geometry of a sheet metal part (Figure 1), is composed of two separate faces
. The figure displays the
wireframe, vertices and free edges of this geometry. Note that the geometry is i
nvalid for analysis purposes
as there are free edges between the two faces (the free edges along the perimete
r of the model are expected
as this is a surface-only model). In addition, there are a number of vertices th
at are not necessary for meshing.
The geometry is cleaned using the default settings.
Figure 1. Geometry of the Sheet Metal Part example
57

Figure 2. Cleaned geometry

The cleaned
e perimeter
metal part.
ready to be
3 shows the

geometry is shown in Figure 2 with free edges existing only along th

of the sheet
Note that intermediate vertices have been removed. This geometry is
meshed. Figure
part meshed with a relative Maximum Edge Length of 4%.

Figure 3. Meshed part

A visual inspection of this mesh shows that a line of high aspect ratio elements
borders the edge that connects
the two faces. The accuracy of such elements will not be very high. These elemen
ts are due to the very narrow face. This can be eliminated by cleaning the face
such that the thin region that joins the two larger regions is removed. This pro
cedure will then convert the lower face into two separate faces. Performing such
58

a clean re uires knowing the width of the narrow portion. In this example, the w
idth is e ual to the shortest
edge near the chamfer of the same face. Figure 4 shows the Entity Inspector disp
laying the length of this edge.
Figure 4. Entity Inspector displaying edge length
The length of the shortest edge is 6.35. To remove these edges along with the na
rrow region, the geometry
should be cleaned with a Minimum Edge Length that is greater than this value. Fi
gure 5 shows the result of
the geometry cleaned with an absolute Minimum Edge Length of 7.0. It can be seen
that the resulting cleaning operation has split the single face into two.
Figure 5. Cleaned geometry with the narrow region removed
59

Meshing the geometry of Figure 5 using the same settings used in the previous au
tomesh, results in the mesh
of Figure 6. This mesh does not suffer from the inclusion of high aspect ratio e
lements and would be preferred for analysis. It is important to note that if you
intend to mesh this part at a mesh size near to 6.35 (the
shortest edge size of the uncleaned geometry), you should not perform the defeat
uring shown here.
Figure 6. Meshed geometry
Example 2
Figure 7 displays the solid CAD model of an embossed bracket with 3 holes. When
imported, it displays as
shown in Figure 8. The imported geometry shows two additional cylinders. These a
re holes in the original
model that have been plugged with solid cylinders. For analysis, such plugged hole
s must be corrected.
More importantly, the embossing is unnecessary for analysis purposes and should
also be removed, otherwise
an unnecessarily large mesh would be generated.
60

Figure 7. Bracket CAD model

Figure 8. Imported Bracket geometry
The cylinders representing the bores of the plugged holes can be removed by firs
t ensuring that the Toggle
Face Select button is on and then selecting the entities and pressing the Delete
key. The circles that define the
ends of the holes on the bracket face, on the other hand, are not as straightfor
ward to remove. An attempt
to select these will instead select the entire face to which these circles are c
onnected. By right-clicking the
Toggle Face Select button on the main menu bar, two icons will appear denoting w
hether geometry faces
are to be selected or only geometry loops
are to be selected. The latter option can be used to select circles
or other internal loops (cavities) that may be part of a larger face. Removal of
the remaining circles in the
model then involves setting the Toggle Select Loop button on, selecting these ci
rcles and pressing Delete. Figure 9 shows only these circles being selected.
61

Figure 9. Circular ends of the plugged holes selected with Toggle Loop Select on
The embossing may be removed manually by selecting each face that comprises the
embossing. This is a slow
process that can be expedited by using the Select Connected Entities tool. Howev
er, the embossing geometry
is connected to the bracket geometry, which would mean that selecting all entiti
es connected to a face on the
embossing would select the entire geometry. Because the Select Connected Entitie
s function can apply to only
entities that are drawn, this problem can be avoided by not displaying the face
that the embossing is connected to. To hide this face, first select it and then
click Hide Selected. Figure 10 shows the result of such an
action.
Figure 10. Geometry with selected faces hidden
62

The Select Connected Entities function can then be used on only the embossing. A
fter clicking the Select Connected Entities toggle, a dialog appears prompting y
ou to select a Master Entity of a specified Entity Type.
Note that by default the Select Connected Entities tool does not consider hidden
entities, which in this example
is what is re uired. Upon selecting a single face of one of the letters of the e
mbossing click Apply to select
all visible entities connected to it. This action selects the entire letter. Pre
ss Delete to remove these selected
entities. Figure 11 shows the Select Connected Entities dialog along with a lett
er of the embossing selected
with the tool.
.
Figure 11. Select Connected Entities tool used to select the embossing
Once all the letters of the embossing have been removed, the faces of the bracke
t that were hidden can be
displayed again by clicking the Show Selected Entities toggle. Viewing the face
that the embossing was connected to will then reveal the outlines of the removed
embossing, as shown in Figure 12. Removal of these
can be performed after selecting these entities with the Toggle Loop Select func
tion. Figure 13 shows the completed model.
63

Figure 12. Outlines left after the removal of the embossing

Figure 13. Completed model without extraneous features
Example 3
To focus on the fine-tuning of generating a surface mesh, only the front face of
the previous example will be
used for this example. This then involves the removal of all other faces, which
can be done by selecting the
front face and then inverting that selection by clicking the Select All button.
Figure 14 shows the result of
64

this action. Press Delete when the selection has been made. Figure 15 is a plan
view of the remaining front
face with vertices displayed.
Figure 14. All but front face selected
Figure 15. Front face
The result of using the Surface Automeshing tool with the default settings is sh
own in Figure 16. From the
figure, it is clear that there is a clustering of elements about the top left ch
amfer. To see why this is the case,
the meshing operation can be undone by clicking the Undo button and displaying t
he geometry by clicking
the Show Geometry toggle. Focusing on this area reveals a number of closely spac
ed vertices (Figure 17).
65

Figure 16. Meshed face

Figure 17. Top left corner of the face
The close spacing of the vertices has a significant effect on the resulting mesh
. This is because the Surface
Automeshing tool will always position a node at every vertex. This then means th
at a clustering of elements
will be created around the region. The extra vertices can be removed and the cur
vature of the geometry in
Figure 15 retained by using the Clean Geometry tool with an appropriate Merging
Angle setting. The Merging
Angle determines at what interior angle (defined by the tangents of two edges) a
vertex gets removed. If the
interior edge angle at a vertex is greater than the Merging Angle, that vertex i
s removed. This function is
useful for removing unnecessary vertices that are positioned along straight or n
ear-straight edges. Applying
66

the Clean Geometry tool with a Merging Angle of 140 results in the geometry and v
ertices as shown in Figure
18. This operation has eliminated all 4 vertices positioned along the chamfer.
Figure 18. Cleaned geometry
The Surface Automeshing operation can then be reapplied to the geometry. The res
ulting mesh is as shown
in Figure 19.
Figure 19. Meshed geometry
67

The result of an automeshing operation can be fine tuned by using the Custom Set
tings in the Surface Automeshing dialog (Figure 20). The following will offer an
overview of the four extra settings.
Figure 20. Custom Settings dialog
The Length ratio setting can be used to specify the minimum edge length that can
be created by any one element (with exception of elements that connect closely
spaced vertices as seen in Figure 16). By default the
Length ratio is set to 0.1, which means that the minimum element size created wi
ll be limited to 10% of that
specified by the Maximum Edge Length setting. To highlight the use of this setti
ng the face of Figure 18 is
remeshed with a Maximum Edge Length of 10% and a Length ratio of 0.01. This sett
ing should allow for
relatively large and relatively small elements to be created in the one mesh. Fi
gure 21 shows the result of this
setting. Here, the curvature of the circular holes is well defined with small el
ements, which uickly grow into
larger elements with distance away from the holes.
Figure 21. Result of Maximum Edge Length of 10% and Length ratio set to 0.01
The change in element size across faces of a geometry can be controlled with the
Maximum Increase setting.
This defines the percentage difference in edge length that is allowed between ne
ighbouring elements. In68

creasing this value gives a faster transition in element size from small geometr
ic features to large. Reducing
this value maintains a more gradual transition between element sizes. A small Ma
ximum Increase value will
produce a better uality mesh, but will introduce more elements. Figure 22 shows
the result of repeating
the last meshing operation with a Maximum Increase of 8%. The effect of this set
ting is pronounced when
compared to Figure 21. The much more stable gradation of element size has produc
ed more elements overall
resulting in a better defined mesh which is most obvious around the centre circl
e.
Note that it is possible and valid to enter a Maximum Increase of zero. Such a v
alue means that the increase
in edge length between neighbouring elements is zero. Therefore the entire mesh
will be composed of elements of a size dictated by the smallest edge length or f
eature in the model.
Figure 22. Mesh with Maximum Increase of 8%
The Edges per circle setting determines the minimum number of elements to be pla
ced around a circle and,
effectively any curved edges. For this example with no closely spaced vertices d
efining the geometry, the Edges per circle setting is the one factor that has fo
rced some elements down to a size that approaches that defined
by the Length ratio. If a circle is so small that to put the minimum number spec
ified means that the edge
length of those elements will be smaller than that defined by the Length ratio,
then the number created around
that circle will be less than the minimum specified. Instead only the maximum nu
mber of elements of the
minimum size that can fit around that circle will be created. The minimum value
that can be assigned to the
Edges per circle setting is 8. Figures 23 and 24 show the result of repeating th
e last operation with Edges per
circle set to 8 and 34, respectively.
69

Figure 23. Mesh with Edges per circle set to 8

Figure 24. Mesh with Edges per circle set to 34
The fourth parameter that is part of the Custom Settings determines on which edg
es the Edges per circle setting
should be applied. By default this value is set to 0.0, meaning that the Edges p
er circle setting is applicable to
all edges. However, if this value is set to a value that is greater than the cir
cumference of a particular circle,
that circle will not necessarily be assigned the specified minimum number of edg
es. For example, Figure 25
is the result of repeating the last meshing operation with the fourth setting (.
..on edges longer than) set to
10mm, which is larger than the edge length (circumference) of the two smaller ci
rcles.
70

Figure 25. Mesh with ...on edges longer than set to 10mm
The Edges per circle and ...on edges longer than settings are not limited in the
ir application to only circles; these
settings apply to any edge with curvature. An edge with curvature has a radius o
f curvature. Based on the
radius of curvature, a circumference is derived. This circumference is compared
to the ...on edges longer than
setting. If it is greater than that value, the edge is assigned a portion of the
elements defined by the Edges per
circle value, corresponding to the ratio of the edge length and the circumferenc
e of a circle with the same
curvature. For example if an edge has a length of 10mm and is shaped as a uarte
r arc of a circle, it is considered as a circle of length (circumference) 40mm.
An ...on edges longer than setting of less than 40mm will
assign the minimum number of elements to that edge.
The custom settings in the Surface Mesh dialog are not the only way to control o
r fine tune a mesh. Much
more control is afforded through the use of the Mesh Size attribute and the crea
tion of new vertices. The use
of attributes applied to geometric entities such as vertices was discussed in Tu
torial 1. The following describes how the Mesh Size attribute and creation of ne
w vertices can be used to change the local mesh density.
Consider that at the bottom left portion of the geometry a support is to be mode
lled via a number of contact
elements. This would then re uire a locally dense mesh. A locally dense mesh can
be enforced by adding a
number of vertices that can be used to delimit the region. Create two vertices a
long the bottom of the left
straight edge via the following procedure:
1
2
3
4
Click CREATE, Vertex;
Select the left straight edge of the geometry;
Use the slider tool or specify an absolute or relative edge position in the dial
og (Figure 26);
Click Apply.
71

Figure 26. Creation of a vertex

After the two vertices have been created, the mesh size that is to be enforced a
t the region delimited by the
vertices can be assigned. The mesh size that is specified is the edge length of
elements that will surround the
vertex and is given as an absolute value in the current length unit. In this cas
e, a 1mm edge length is desired.
If two neighbouring vertices are assigned a mesh size, then the edge between the
two vertices will be linearly
interpolated between the vertices. In the case where there is no neighbouring ve
rtex with an assigned mesh
size, the mesh size will return to what is ordinarily stipulated by the Auto or
Custom settings. The rate of
change will follow a geometric progression based on the Maximum Increase value.
To specify a 1mm mesh size along the edge between the two vertices, follow the s
teps below:
1
2
3
4
Click ATTRIBUTES, Vertex, Mesh Size;
Select the two newly created vertices;
Specify a mesh size of 1mm in the dialog (Figure 27);
Click Apply.
72

Figure 27. Vertex Mesh Size attribute

The geometry can then be meshed. Figure 28 shows the result (with vertices) when
using the Auto setting
with a 10% relative edge length. The effect of the two additional vertices is cl
ear.
Figure 28. Locally enforced mesh density
73

Note that the two additional vertices are positioned along a straight edge and d
o not specify any additional
geometric information their removal would not affect the geometry. Hence, if the
Clean Geometry tool was
to be used, these vertices would be removed. This can be prevented by changing t
he vertex type attribute to
Fixed Type. To change the Type of a vertex, carry out the following steps:
1
2
3
4
Click ATTRIBUTES, Vertex, Type;
Select the vertices to be changed;
Select the type in the dialog (Figure 29);
Click Apply.
Figure 29. Vertex Type dialog
To further demonstrate the control provided by the use of the mesh size attribut
e, additional attributes can
be assigned. In this case, the small hole on the right is assigned a relatively
fine mesh density, along with a
small portion of the right side of the centre hole. To achieve this, create a ve
rtex at the right side of the centre
hole. Next assign both this vertex and the vertex at the small hole on the right
, a mesh size of 0.25mm. Figure 30 shows the meshed result. Note that the entire
small hole inherits this fine mesh size, whereas only a
small portion of the larger hole inherits the finer mesh size. This is because t
he small hole contains only one
vertex and the mesh size attribute is therefore applied to the entire edge. You
can avoid this if necessary,
simply by creating another vertex on the circle, somewhere diametrically opposit
e the first vertex. This new
vertex is not assigned an attribute and hence the mesh is not constrained betwee
n the two vertices.
74

Figure 30. Locally enforced mesh density at right side and centre hole
Example 4
The following figures are intended to further illustrate the use of the Vertex M
esh Size attribute. A s uare
face of edge length 1.5 units is imported. The face is then meshed at 10% and 30
% relative edge length, with
and without specifying a vertex mesh size at one or both of the top vertices. Wh
en a vertex mesh size is specified, its value is set to 0.05 units.
75

Figure 31. The face

Figure 32. Meshed at 30%
76

Figure 33. Meshed at 10%

Figure 34. Meshed at 30% with one vertex set to 0.05
77

Figure 35. Meshed at 10% with one vertex set to 0.05

Figure 36. Meshed at 30% with both vertices set to 0.05
78

Figure 37. Meshed at 10% with both vertices set to 0.05.

79

80

Tutorial 6:
Geometry Attributes
Introduction
This tutorial demonstrates how the vertex, face and edge attributes can be used
on the imported CAD geometry of a jig (Automesh Tutorial 6.IGS), which is shown in
Figure 1. These attributes include vertex mesh
size, vertex restraint, edge type and face pressure, amongst others.
Although geometric attributes such as restraints and pressures have element attr
ibute e uivalents, the application of the attributes at the geometry stage has s
ome advantages. In many cases a face represents a region
where an attribute such as a pressure can be assigned. At the meshed stage, howe
ver, applying such attributes
can be difficult because selection of the appropriate regions can be tedious. Th
is can be because there are
many elements in the region, or the region cannot be easily selected by using on
e of the selection tools.
The mesh size attribute, as discussed in Tutorial 5, is very useful if the local
mesh density is to be varied. In
Tutorial 6, one region, the fillet at the base of the shaft of the jig, is to ha
ve a relatively high mesh density to
capture the radius of the fillet. The edge type attribute, like the vertex type
attribute, is used to define how
attributes are interpolated. It controls how some attributes, such as vertex res
traints are interpolated along
the edge.
Figure 1. CAD model of a jig
Importing the Geometry
Automesh Tutorial 6 is a half symmetric model of the picture shown in Figure 1. An
isometric view of the
imported geometry is as shown in Figure 2. As with all imported geometry, the Cl
ean Geometry tool should
be used to perform preliminary cleaning.
81

Figure 2. Imported geometry

Assigning Restraints
To simulate the symmetry of the model, restraints are applied along the symmetri
c XY plane. In addition,
the model is fixed at the end of the shaft and the eyelet at the top of the jig
is to be pinned to model a pin
support. In this case, XY symmetry conditions are applied to the symmetric plane
, a fixed condition is applied to the end of the shaft and both translation and
rotation are to be fixed in the X and Y directions at the
eyelet.
Although restraints are applied to vertices, an entire edge or face can inherit
that restraint type. An edge will
inherit the least restrictive of restraints of the neighbouring vertices. A face
will inherit the least restrictive
of restraints of the edges it is composed of. Hence, in the case of the semi-cir
cular face at the end of the shaft
that is defined by two vertices, an assignment of the same restraint to the two
vertices will mean that the
entire face will inherit the same restraint. The following procedure shows how t
his is done to the symmetry
plane:
1
2
3
Click ATTRIBUTES, Vertex, Restraint;
Use the Select by Region tool and select the symmetry plane;
Click XY Sym and Apply.
Figure 3 displays all of the assigned restraints.
82

Figure 3. Geometry with assigned vertex restraints

Using the Edge Type Attribute
Complications can arise when the interpolation of vertex restraints causes unint
ended restraint assignment of
neighbouring faces. An example of such an unintended assignment can occur with t
he symmetric plane of
the model of the jig. The plane is composed of a number planar faces and three s
emi-circular holes. If all
vertices along the plane are assigned a vertex restraint, then not only will the
plane faces inherit the restraint,
but so will the three holes. This is because the faces that define the holes are
defined by the same vertices
used to define the plane faces. To ensure that these faces are not assigned a re
straint, the edge type attribute
can be used.
An edge can be of an interpolated or non-interpolated type. By default, edges ar
e of the interpolated type,
which means that those edges will inherit the attributes of their neighbouring v
ertices. In the case of two
vertices that span a non-interpolated edge, that edge will not inherit the attri
butes of the vertices.
Similarly, if one of the semi-circular edges of the three holes on the symmetry
plane is set as being of the noninterpolated type, the face that defines the hol
e will not receive the restraint of the edge.
To ensure that the holes remain free of restraints, the edges that define the ci
rcular parts of the holes are
marked as non-interpolated. This also applies to three semi-circular edges towar
ds the base of the shaft which
are defined by two vertices. The following steps show how edges can be marked as
being of the non-interpolated type:
1
2
3
4
Click ATTRIBUTES, Edge, Type;
Select the edges that are to be changed in type;
Select Non-Interpolated attributes;
Uncheck Free Edges;
83

5
Click Apply.
Edges that are marked as being non-interpolated have their colour changed (as de
fined in the Entity Display
dialog). Figure 4 shows the edges that are changed in type.
Figure 4. Non-interpolated edges
Assigning Pressures
A pressure is to be assigned to the model to represent a weight on top of the re
ar flat area. This flat area is
represented by a single face. Hence, applying a pressure to this region involves
assigning a pressure attribute
to the face. Because the geometry display does not currently support the orienta
tion display that is supported
by plate elements, determining the direction of the pressure can be achieved by
applying the pressure attribute and observing the direction of the vectors. The
following steps show how a pressure can be applied
to a face:
1
2
3
4
Click ATTRIBUTES, Face, Pressure, Normal;
Select the face to be assigned;
Enter a pressure in the dialog;
Click Apply.
In the case of the jig, a pressure of -1 MPa is assigned to the face. Figure 5 s
hows the model of the jig with
a pressure applied to the rear flat face.
84

Figure 5. Assignment of pressure to rear flat face

Altering the Local Mesh Size
The density of the mesh about the fillet near the base of the shaft is to be rel
atively fine to capture the curvature of the fillet. The rest of the model howev
er, is to have a relatively coarse mesh for efficiency. The density
of the mesh at the fillet can be controlled by assigning a Mesh Size attribute.
Because the Mesh Size attribute
re uires a size specified as an absolute value, the Entity Inspector is useful t
o determine the size of an edge
length near the vertex to find a suitable mesh size. In Figure 6, the Entity Ins
pector is used to determine the
edge length of the fillet (7.47 mm).
85

Figure 6. Entity Inspector used to determine the edge length of the fillet
The intention is to have 3 elements across the radius of the fillet. For this to
happen, the mesh size should
be approximately 2.5 mm. Use the following steps:
1
2
3
4
Click ATTRIBUTES, Vertex, Mesh Size;
Select all vertices that comprise the fillet faces;
Specify a mesh size of 2.5 mm in the dialog;
Click Apply.
Figure 7 shows the Mesh Size attribute dialog being used to change the mesh size
at the fillet.
86

Figure 7. Mesh Size attribute used on the fillet

Surface and Solid Meshing
Once all the geometric attributes have been assigned, the geometry can be surfac
e meshed. A relative maximum edge length of 3% and a Tri3 target type are used.
Figure 8 shows the result. It can immediately be
seen how vertex restraints at the symmetry face are interpolated across all elem
ents on the symmetry plane,
at the end of the shaft and at the eyelet. Also, it is clear that the pressure a
ttribute has been applied to all
elements at the top of the rear face. Finally, it can be seen that the mesh dens
ity is increased in the region of
the fillet.
Once surface meshed, the model can be solid meshed. Attributes such as pressures
and restraints are correctly
inherited by the brick mesh.
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Figure 8. Surface mesh of the jig with face attributes transferred to elements
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