Basic Ansa: Geometry Clean Up and Shell Meshing

Tutorial 1
BASIC ANSA
GEOMETRY CLEAN UP
AND SHELL MESHING
Table of Contents
1.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................2
1.1.2. Prerequisites .......................................................................................................................2
1.1.3. Problem description.............................................................................................................2
1.1.4. Data files .............................................................................................................................2
1.2. Read the CAD file .......................................................................................................................3
1.3. Perform Cleanup .........................................................................................................................9
1.4. Defeaturing................................................................................................................................37
1.5. Shell meshing............................................................................................................................49
1.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................62
BETA CAE Systems S.A.

BASIC ANSA – Geometry Clean up and Shell Meshing
1.1. Introduction
This tutorial presents in detail all the steps taken to read a CAD file of a part, perform clean up, as
well as some geometry simplification, in order to create a good quality shell mesh.
The steps described in this tutorial include:
• Read the IGES file with different tolerance settings and assess the results.
• Clean up geometry, close gaps, modify or create new Faces etc.
• Optionally, repeat the previous step with the help of Automatic Clean Up functionality.
• De-featuring, removing details such as small holes and fillets.
• Mesh the parts with an element length of 10 mm
• Improve the mesh by optimizing the shape of the Macro Areas
1.1.2. Prerequisites
Reading the 4 pages of section Intro.2.1. Getting Started of this Guide is recommended in order to
obtain a familiarization with the ANSA interface and terminology.
1.1.3. Problem description
The geometry of the part is shown here
in its final state. Note that the part
consists of more than one Property IDs
(PIDs), as shown in different colors.
1.1.4. Data files

The files of this tutorial are located in the directory tutorial_files/01-basic. One IGES file
named basic.igs contains the geometry. The result can be found for reference in the file
basic.ansa .
BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 2 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

1.2. Read the CAD file

Start ANSA.
By default you are in the TOPO menu.
Before reading any CAD data into ANSA you

can specify some settings concerning the
application of Topology (the connectivity of
neighboring Faces), and the Resolution (the
appearance of geometrical entities on the
screen).
These settings should correspond to the
dimensions, level of detail and tolerances of the
CAD file to be input.
Activate the SETTINGS>TOPO
SETTINGS SETTINGS function. In the Auto
TOPO SETTINGS Topology Settings window all flags are
by default active. The Perform
Topology flag ensures that the Topology is performed during
CAD file opening. As a result when you read the IGES file
later, the topology process will be applied.
For educational purposes de-activate the Geometry Clean Up flag button and press OK. In this
way the automatic geometry clean up step will not be performed and you will examine and perform
the clean up manually.
Note that the automatic topology is
SETTINGS performed according to the tolerance
TOLERANCES settings that are specified in
SETTINGS>TOLERANCES. Make sure
to specify appropriate tolerance values before reading a CAD
file, to avoid collapsed Faces (large tolerances), or gaps (very
small tolerances). For demonstration, activate the
SETTINGS> TOLERANCES function, select extra fine
tolerance settings (Nodes 0.003125, Curves 0.0125) and
press OK.
Also note that the appearance of
RESOLUTION
geometrical details depends on the
Resolution settings under RESOLUTION in the main pull-
down menu. Activate the function, press OK in the Warning
window, and the Resolution Definition window appears. Keep
the default value of 20 for CONS resolution. (Note that this
value also corresponds to the initial discretizarion length, or
element length). For 3D Curves specify a smaller resolution
(2) to view small geometrical features in more detail. Press OK
to close the window. (Ensure also that you have the default
distance distortion of 20% in the PERIMETERs>DISTOR
function, in the MESH menu).

Now read in the IGES data from FILE>OPEN.

The File Manager window appears. Navigate
and select the IGES file basic.igs.
Press Open to read the CAD data.
The CAD file is read and topology is applied.

You should see the part as shown. Change the
view of the part to better understand the
geometry.
Press:
Ctrl + left mouse button to rotate the part
Ctrl + middle mouse button to translate

the part
Ctrl + left and middle mouse button to

zoom in and out.
You can also zoom in and out with the F7 and F8 keys.
F7 F8
If at any time you lose the view, press F9 to fit all to the screen.
F9
Notice that as by default you are in ENT (Entity)

display mode, you see red, yellow and cyan
CONS (Curves ON Surfaces).
The coloring has to do with the connectivity of the

Faces.
Red: a SINGLE free edge CONS
Yellow: a DOUBLE CONS shared by two
neighboring connected Faces
Cyan : a TRIPLE CONS shared by three or more
connected Faces.

To make things clearer you can activate and

deactivate the visibility of each of the three types
of CONS separately using the SINGLE, DOUBLE
and TRIPLE flag buttons.
De-activating here the DOUBLE flag shows only

the free red and triple cyan CONS. Apart from the
free edges of the sheet metal there are other
opening (gaps, untrimmed Faces etc.) that must
be corrected.
Note that the current specified Tolerances are Extra Fine and the topology process has left many
gaps, as the CAD description is not very accurate. What if the specified Tolerances were larger?
Activate the
SETTINGS
SETTINGS>
TOLERANCES TOLERANCES
function.
Select middle tolerance settings (Nodes 0.05,
Curves 0.2) and press OK.
Activate the FILE>OPEN

FILE function to read again the
OPEN same CAD file with the middle
Tolerance values.
A Confirmation window opens, in case you want
to save the current database.
Press Discard.
The File Manager opens next. Select again the basic.igs file and press OK.
The CAD file is read and Topology is
applied, this time with middle tolerance
values.
The red free edges are now less,

because the topology process resulted in
the topological connection of more Faces
automatically.

Activate back the visibility of DOUBLE

CONS to view the whole part.
Activate the SHADOW view mode flag.
You can now view the Faces in gray and

yellow (as you are always in ENT view
mode). Gray color represents the
positive side of the Faces while Yellow
the negative.
The orientation is currently random.

There is not a uniform Face orientation.
Activate the FACEs>
ORIENT. ORIENT. function.
The orientation of all the visible Faces

becomes uniform. The Yellow side of the
Faces in the negative side, while the
gray color marks the positive one.
In order to flip the now uniform

orientation, you can use the
FACEs>INVERT function.
But where is this function?

Notice that next to the Group name of functions there is a number. For the FACEs group for
example, this number is 2. This implies that there are two more functions in this group that are not
displayed in the main window. These functions are located in a buffer window. To access the buffer
window use a right mouse button click on the Group name.
The Faces buffer window opens.
In this buffer window there are

more functions that you can use,
just by activating them with the left
mouse button.
In addition, you can store in the
buffer window any functions that
you do not use often. Just right
click on a function from the main
window (the SKIN function here).
The SKIN function is placed in

the buffer window. An empty space
is left in the main window. Note
that the number next to the group
name changes to 3.
Now select the INVERT function
from the buffer window with the
right mouse button.
The INVERT function is

moved to occupy the empty
space in the main window.
In this sense you can select which

functions you want to keep in the
main window and put all the
remaining in the buffer windows of
each group.
To exit the buffer window press the

ESC key in it.
ESC
SETTINGS Note also that you can save the current locations of all buttons (and
more user settings) using the SETTINGS> SAVE SETTINGS>SAVE
SAVE SETTINGS function, in the main pull down menu. This will save a text file called
ANSA.defaults in your home directory. The next time you will start
ANSA, this file will be read, and all your settings recovered.
Now press the FACEs>

INVERT INVERT function to flip the
orientation of the visible Faces.
Switch to PID color view mode.
You can now view the Faces colored

according to their Property ID. (Note that
the assigned colors to different PIDs are
random when opening a CAD file, so you
may see different colors).
Switch back to ENT color view mode to

proceed with the cleanup process.
Save the file from FILE>SAVE AS to your local directory under the name
FILE basic.ansa. The File Manager opens in order to specify the path and the
SAVE AS ANSA database filename. Remember when you save or output in ANSA you
must always type the appropriate extension for each file type.
You will now proceed with Geometry cleanup.
(If at any time you want to pause your work you can exit ANSA from FILE>QUIT, and then start
ANSA again and read the ANSA database basic.ansa from FILE>OPEN to resume work).

1.3. Perform Cleanup

De-activate SHADOW mode and the visibility
flag button for DOUBLE CONS.
You will now isolate a region of your part to

work on.
Activate the OR function of the
OR Focus Group of functions. Select
with left mouse button box selection the area
shown.
The OR function leaves visible only the selected

Faces.
(If you accidentally select wrong Faces, press
the ALL function of the same Group to bring all
the entities back to visible).
Activate the LOCK flag button in the Focus

group to lock the currently visible entities.
To view the complete Faces that you have left

visible, activate again the DOUBLE CONS
visibility flag.
Activate also the CROSH (cross hatch) visibility

flag. This allows the visualization of two green
dashed lines along the center isoparametrics of
the Faces. Apart from visualization purposes,
the crosshatches are also used for selecting
Faces.
Activate SHADOW mode again.
Note the problem in this area.
There seems to be a Face that is untrimmed

and extends well out of the boundaries of the
other Faces.
Activate the NOT function, of the

NOT Focus group, and select with the
left mouse button this Face from its crosshatch.

The selected Face is removed from the visible.
This leaves a better view of the other Faces.
You must somehow trim the big Face so that it

matches exactly to the boundaries of the other
Faces.
Press the ALL function of the

ALL Focus group.
Only the locked entities (all the entities that

were visible at the time that you activated the
LOCK flag) appear.
Notice that because we have specified a
Resolution length of 20, some Faces appears
coarser that their actual geometrical description.
Activate the
FINE function,
in the Geometry
group (at the
bottom center of the ANSA GUI), and left click
on the crosshatch of the big Face twice.
Each time you press the left mouse button the
Resolution length of the selected Face is
halved. This makes the Face appear with more
detail. The curvature of the Face is now clearly
visible. (Note that if you use the FINE function
with the right mouse button you double the
Resolution length of selected entities, making
them appear coarser).
Rotating the part you can see that this Face

covers well the gap of the remaining Faces. It is
only a matter of trimming it correctly.
Activate the CONS>

PROJECT PROJECT [NORMAL]
NORMAL function.
Select with the left mouse
button the four red CONS of the Faces behind.
De-select with right mouse button if required.
Confirm with middle mouse button.

Next select the Face to project and cut the

selected CONS onto.
You can pick the Face from its crosshatch or

one of its red CONS. De-select with right mouse
button if required.
The selected red CONS are projected on the

Face and cut it.
Press the ESC key to exit the

Esc PROJECT function.
Remember you can press the ESC key to abort

any function if you are unsure.
Activate the FACEs>DELETE

DELETE function.
Select the excess Face to be deleted from its
boundary
The Delete FACE window appears.
Press
DELETE to
delete the
Face.
(! Note that to retrieve a Face, which was

deleted unintentionally, activate the
FACEs>UNDELETE function, select it among
the previewed deleted Faces. Press middle
button. Use FACEs>TOPO function to re-
establish connectivity).
The Face is now properly trimmed, but not
topologically connected with the neighboring
Faces (note the red CONS).
Activate the FACEs>TOPO
TOPO function.
Select with left mouse button box selection the
CONS shown. Confirm with middle button.

Topology is applied by ANSA according to the

specified tolerances.
All CONS appear yellow, indicating proper
double connectivity.
De-activate the LOCK function
Press ALL to bring all the Faces

ALL back to visible.
Moving to the next problematic region on the

left.
Here we have the opposite problem. A Face

that is not large enough, and a resulting gap.
Activate the function

INFO SURFs>INFO.
Select this Face from its crosshatch.
Its Surface (its underlying CAD description) is

also not big enough to cover the gap.

DELETE function.
Select the Face with the left mouse button from

its crosshatch.

Note that when selecting a Face from its

crosshatch, this is deleted without any warning.
In contrast, when selecting it from its boundary
CONS, the Delete Face preview window
appears for confirmation.
Notice two magenta cross Hot Points that were

left over after the deletion of the Face.
Activate the HOT POINTs>

DELETE DELETE function.
Select with the left mouse button these two Hot
Points.
The Hot Points are deleted. (Although not
necessary, you can always delete such Hot
Points. This leaves uniform longer CONS that
are easier to select for Face creation, and also
results in better quality mesh later).
Now you will create a new Face to cover this

opening.
Activate the SURFs>COONS

COONS function. (COONS stands for the
name of the mathematician).
1 4 Select sequentially the four red CONS that form
the boundaries of the Face to be created.
(For the moment, ignore

3 the COONS Options
window that appears).
2
A preview of the Surface to be created is given

as a cyan net.
Press OK in the Accept Surface window that

appears if you are satisfied with the result.

Upon accepting the Surface the new Face is

also created, and is also topologically
connected with the neighboring Faces.
Note that if you have selected the CONS in a

counterclockwise order the orientation would be
positive (gray) outwards, according to the right
hand rule.
If you have not, use the functions

FACEs>ORIENT and INVERT to assign the
preferred orientation.
De-activate SHADOW, CROSH and DOUBLE

flags.
Note how the problematic regions drop in

number.
Activate back SHADOW, CROSH and DOUBLE

flags.
Move to the small triangular gap at the front.
Activate the SURFs>INFO

INFO function.
Select the Face from its crosshatch.
The previewed underlying Surface appears to

cover the gap.
In this case you will create a new Face using

the already existing Surface.

Activate the FACEs>NEW

NEW function.
In the New Face Options window that appears
2 3 select the MANUAL option.
Select with the left mouse button the three red

CONS and confirm with middle mouse button.
Next select with the left mouse button the

crosshatch of the Face whose Surface you will
use for the new Face.
The new Face is created. If you enquire its

Surface with SURFs>INFO you will see that it
uses the same one as the larger neighboring
Face.
Rotate the part to the other side.
You can see that in this area there are two

untrimmed and intersecting Faces.


flag buttons.
Activate the NOT function from

NOT the Focus group.
Select with left mouse button the two red CONS

as shown.
Their Faces become not visible.
Next press the INVERT function

INVERT of the Focus group.
The visible-not visible status of all entities is

inverted, making only the two selected Faces
now visible.
Activate DOUBLE and CROSH flags two view

better the two intersecting Faces.
Activate also the CURVEs visibility flag. To find

the intersection of these two Faces you will use
3D Curves. These are auxiliary curves that are
not connected to the Faces and are used for
CAD constructions in ANSA. 3D Curves appear
in magenta color and their visibility is controlled
by the CURVEs visibility flag.
To avoid confusion, temporarily de-activate the
FACEs visibility flag and perform a NOT
operation to make all existing Curves not visible.
Activate the CURVEs>SURF INT

SURF INT function.
Ignore the Extend Values window that appears.
Select with the left mouse button the first Face

from its crosshatch.
Next select the second Face from its

crosshatch.
ANSA calculates the intersection of the two

Faces and creates a 3D Curve. (The CURVEs
flag must be active to be able to see the Curve).
Activate the SHADOW flag button to view better

the intersection area.
Here you could project this 3D Curve on the two

Faces in order to cut them.
However a plain intersection would not suffice to

fix this area. In this location a fillet exists in the
neighboring Faces.
You will recreate the boundaries of this fillet and

then project and cut the two Faces.

Activate the CURVEs>TRANSF.

TRANSF. function. This function creates a
new Curve by transforming an existing one to fit
new start and end point positions.
Select with the left mouse button the 3D Curve.
Note the arrow that appears next. This arrow

indicates the start of the segment.
Select two point positions as target start and

2 end for the new transformed 3D Curve to be
created.
1 ! Note that the start and end positions should
correspond to the direction arrow.
Select the Hot Points as shown.
A new 3D Curve is created, from a

transformation of the selected one. Notice how
this Curve follows the shape of the initial one.
While still in the CURVEs>TRANSF. function,

select again the initial 3D Curve.

According to the direction of the arrow, select

the two target start and end Hot Points as
shown, on the other Face.
2
Another similar 3D Curve is created.
Activate the CONS>PROJECT [NORMAL]

function.
Select the 3D Curve shown.
Next select the Face to project onto.
You can select the Face from its crosshatch or

boundary CONS.

The 3D Curve is projected and cuts the Face. A

yellow CONS appears along the cut.
While still in the CONS>PROJECT function

select the other 3D Curve.
Select the Face to project onto and cut.
Having completed the work with the 3D Curves,

de-activate their visibility flag button, CURVEs.
Now you will delete the excess Faces.
You will use the DELETE function in the

Geometry group at the bottom center of the
ANSA GUI.

Activate the DELETE function.

DELETE Select the two Faces with the left
mouse button.
A Warning window appears.
Press OK to proceed with the deletion of the

selected Faces.
Press the ALL function in the

ALL Focus group to bring all the Faces
to visible.
Here you will create a curved face to close the

fillet area.
Activate the SURFs>COONS

COONS function.
Activate the Color-path flag button in the

COONS Options window that appears.
1
Select with the left mouse button one red

CONS.

Then select a second sequential CONS.
As the Color-path flag is active, after selecting

the second CONS, ANSA automatically
2 identifies and selects the whole closed string of
CONS of the same color, in this case red.
(Use right mouse button to de-select CONS if

required).
The Surface to be created is previewed as a

cyan net.
main
body
Press OK in the Accept Surface window that

flange appears. Note that in this case, in order to
create this Face you have selected CONS that
belong to Faces of different Property ID.
(Remember that the flange has a different PID
than the main body).
As a result ANSA prompts you to select a PID
for the new Face that you have created.
The Properties window appears. You can
double click on one of the available PIDs in the
list. As here you may not know which is the
correct PID to select, you can left click on
another Face (crosshatch or CONS) from the
screen to assign the same property
The Face is created. You can switch to PID

display mode to check the different PIDs in
color.
(You can always change the PID of selected
Faces using the FACEs>SET PID function, by
selecting them and pressing middle mouse
button).

Moving on to the next problematic area.
Activate the OR function of the

OR Focus group.
Select with box selection as shown.
(If you select wrongly, press ALL to bring all the

Faces back to visible and re-select. You may
also use the NOT and AND functions of the
Focus group).
You should leave visible only the round

protrusion and the large Face shown here.
It appears that the round protrusion is not

connected to the Face. See the red CONS all
around.
Rotate to the other side to see that the large

Face has no corresponding opening for the
protrusion.
Back to the front side, notice that again due to a

relatively large Resolution length the protrusion
appears quite coarse and it is hard to
distinguish its proper shape.
Activate the FINE function from

FINE the Geometry group of functions.
Left click a couple of times on the crosshatches
of the Faces in order to reduce the Resolution
length. (You can use the right mouse button to
do the opposite, i.e. increase the Resolution
length and make entities appear coarser).

Now the geometry appears much clearer.
Activate the CONS>

NORMAL function.
Select the four red CONS around the protrusion.

Note that if you
activate the flag in the
Corner Angle selection
window that appears, you only need to select
one CONS and ANSA selects the whole string
provided the angle between two CONS is
smaller than the specified limit
Next select the large Face to project the CONS

onto.
The CONS are projected and cut the Face.

Rotate the part to the rear side to view the

yellow CONS along the cut that was made.
Note that although the cut was made, still the

protrusion is not connected.

TOPO function.
Select with box selection the CONS as shown.
ANSA perform topology connection.
Now the boundary appears in cyan indicating

that three Faces are connected at each CONS.
Now you can delete the interior excess of the

large Face.

DELETE function.
Select the crosshatch of the inner Face.
Note that as you selected from the crosshatch

the Face was deleted with no confirmation.

Press ALL from the Focus group

ALL and rotate the part to view from
outside as shown.

DELETE function and select with the left
mouse button the crosshatch of the small round
Face shown.
The Face is deleted without confirmation and

the hole is opened.
Activate the FACEs>ORIENT

ORIENT function to make the orientation of
all the Faces uniform.
Moving to the next area shown here.


flag buttons, to view the remaining gaps more
easily.
Activate the OR function from the

OR Focus group and select with box
selection the area shown.
Activate back the CROSH and DOUBLE flags to

view the four Faces that remain visible.
Here we have a gap that was not closed by the

topology operation during CAD input.
Point the cursor near the opening and

F7 zoom in real close using the F7 key.
(The F8 can be used to zoom out).
Note that as you zoom in closer and closer, two

white horizontal lines appear as the bottom left
of the display.
These lines represent graphically the tolerance
values that you have specified in
SETTINGS>TOLERANCES. These are the
tolerances that are used by ANSA for the
automatic topology operation.
Notice that the gap here is larger that the
tolerances.
curves match dist As a result ANSA did not connect the Faces at
nodes match dist this location. You will have to connect (paste)
these CONS manually.
Activate the CONS>PASTE
PASTE function. Select with the left
1
mouse button the CONS as shown.
2 Confirm with middle mouse button.
As you are exceeding the tolerances a Warning
window appears. Press OK to confirm.

Upon confirmation the first CONS is moved and

pasted to the second one.
Perform the same operation for

PASTE the two CONS at the bottom.
(What will happen to this small red CONS??)
1
Select the two CONS.
2
Again the first CONS is pasted on the second

one.
As a result a white dot appears.
This is a topological problem, as a white dot in
the TOPO menu represents a collapsed CONS,
that is a CONS that has its start and end
coincident.
To fix such a problem you must first release all

topological conditions at that location.
RELEASE RELEASE function and select
with box selection the area shown.
All topological conditions are released. The

HOT POINTs>RELEASE function can always
be used to correct improperly pasted CONS.
As a result all CONS now appear in red, and

five distinct Hot Points are visible.
To be able to pair these CONS in pairs you
must ensure that they are properly segmented.

DELETE DELETE function and select with
the left mouse button the Hot point shown.

The Hot Point is deleted leaving one uniform

CONS at that edge of the Faces.
Now the CONS can be pasted correctly is pairs.

PASTE function and select the CONS as
shown.
2
1
Perform the same on the opposite

PASTE side. (Note that if you have not
exited the function you can proceed with the
selection of CONS without pressing the PASTE
button).
2 Here, although you cannot distinguish them,

1 there are two red CONS which are
superimposed.
Now you have a gap that can be closed.

Still in the PASTE function select the CONS as

shown.
1
2
And the two CONS here.

2 1
The problem is fixed.
Topology is correct with yellow CONS and a

single Hot Points at the center.
Press F9 to fit all to screen.

F9

De-activate CROSH and DOUBLE visibility

flags.
Some problematic red CONS that remain are at

the top of the image.
Activate the DOUBLE visibility flag and zoom in

close to that area.
Some CONS are not connected.

PASTE function and select them with the
left mouse button.
1
2
Select also the two remaining CONS.
2 1

The geometry here is now clean.
Press F9 to zoom all.
De-activate the DOUBLE and SINGLE bounds

flag button.
Only the cyan CONS remain visible. Cyan

CONS show connectivity of more than two
Faces. Cyan CONS are usually present at T-
junctions. If there are no T-junctions present
than usually cyan CONS imply the existence of
multiply defined Faces.
Zoom in to the area on the right.
Activate back the DOUBLE and SINGLE

bounds.
Activate SHADOW and CROSH button.
The resolution is a bit coarse to clearly identify

the problem.
Activate the FINE function and left

FINE click once on the crosshatch of
both Faces.

The resolution is better.
This is an area of overlapping Faces.
To inquire, activate the

INFO FACEs>INFO function and click
on one red CONS.
ANSA highlights the whole Face.
You can do the same for the other red CONS to

see the overlap.
Activate the CONS>

NORMAL function.
Select with left mouse button the CONS shown.
Next select the Face to be trimmed, from its

crosshatch.

The Face is trimmed.

INFO function and select the excess
Face.
Press DELETE in the Delete Face window that

appears.
A gap remains.

TOPO
function, select with box selection
the area and confirm with middle mouse button.
Activate the HOT PNTs>DELETE

DELETE function and use box selection to
delete all remaining unnecessary Hot Points.

Finally zoom in to the area where cyan CONS

are present.
To identify and correct the problem you will use

the FACEs>DELETE function and its preview
capabilities.

DELETE function.
Select the Face from one cyan CONS.
The Delete Face preview window appears,

indicating that 3 Faces are connected at that
CONS. The first one (1 of 3) is highlighted.
(! Note the order of preview may be different in
your case).
Press the KEEP

button (or K in the
keyboard) to keep
this Face and
proceed to the
next one.
The second Face

(2 of 3) is then
previewed.
Again press the
KEEP button (or K
in the keyboard)
to keep the Face.
Finally, the third Face is previewed.

This Face must be deleted, as it is redundant.
Press the
DELETE button
(or D in the
keyboard)

The Face is deleted.
Only yellow CONS remain.
The geometry is clean.
One last check by de-activating CROSH and

DOUBLE, leaves red CONS only at expected
locations, i.e. free edges and openings.
Activate SHADOW and DOUBLE flag buttons.
Save the file from FILE>SAVE.

At this stage, you could
SETTINGS start again from the
TOPO SETTINGS beginning, reopening the
IGES file, but this time
prior to doing so, activate the Geometry Clean
Up flag in SETTINGS>TOPO SETTINGS
window. Your Tolerances should be kept in
Middle again.
Several of the problems you previously fixed
manually, can be solved automatically.
In addition, you can use the HOT PNTs>RM.OVERL function. This function
RM.OVERL automatically trims overlapping Faces, and will fix one of the two cyan CONS
problem areas.

1.4. Defeaturing
Some small openings exist at the bottom of the
part. You will remove these, as they are too
small to be included in the mesh.
Activate the CONS>FILL HOL

FILL HOL function.
The Fill Hole Parameters window opens.
Select with the left mouse button the opening

shown.
The selected opening (red CONS perimeter) is

highlighted.
Alternatively you can enter a value of 20 and

press the Select button.
All the openings with an effective diameter

smaller than the input value are selected
automatically.
Press OK.
All the selected openings are filled.

Move to the top of the part.
Here there is a small non-uniform flange.
Activate the MEASURE function

MEASURE from the top menu.
The Measure window opens, where by default

the Nodes selection mode is active.
Select with the left mouse button the two Hot

points shown.
Confirm with middle mouse button
The distance as shown on the screen and

reported in the Text Window is less than 3mm.
You will replace this flange all around with a

constant height flange of 10mm.
Activate the FACEs>FLANGE

FLANGE [WIDTH] function.
WIDTH
Select all the red CONS shown (in the direction

of flange extension only) with the left mouse
button.
The Flange Distance window appears.

Type a value of 10 and activate the Delete Old
Flange flag.
Press OK.

The Faces of the old flange are deleted and

new Faces of the specified height are created.
Note some remaining red CONS.

TOPO function.
Select with box selection the CONS as shown.
Topology is applied.
The CONS are now yellow.

DELETE DELETE function.
Select with box selection the area shown.
The unnecessary Hot Points are deleted.

Finally press the FACEs>

ORIENT ORIENT. function to assign a
uniform orientation to all visible Faces.
Flip the current orientation with

INVERT the function FACEs>INVERT if
necessary.
The next step will focus of fillet sharpening.
Zoom in closer to the base of the top round

flange.
Although not very clear due to the coarse

Resolution, this base is a round fillet.
(You can check this using the SURFs>INFO

function to view the underlying Surface
description).
Activate the FACEs>DACH

DACH [DACH] function. The Dach
DACH Selection window opens.
Type in the values shown and press Select.
ANSA identifies and selected all the fillets with

radius of curvature less than 3 and arc angle
more than 60 degrees. Check that no other
Faces have been selected. De-select them with
right mouse button if necessary.
Press middle mouse button to confirm and
proceed.
A preview of the new Surfaces to be created, to

replace the fillets with sharp corners is provided.
The Dach Parameters window appears.
Select the DELETE FILLET option.
Keep the Join Macros flag active.
While in preview mode, rotate the part to view

better the Surfaces to be created.
Zoom out to ensure that ANSA has created nice

Surfaces.
Press OK in the Dach Parameters window.
The Faces of the fillet are deleted and new

Faces forming sharp corners are created.
Note that as you have used the Join Macros

option, some Double CONS are colored in light
brown color instead of yellow. This means that if
you switch to MESH menu, you will not see
them as they are joined. This allows a better
mesh, as it avoids narrow Macro Areas.

Zoom out.
You will apply DACH function to the fillet around

the large flange all round the part. This time you
will manually select the Faces.
Zoom in to this area.
Activate the FACEs>DACH

PARAM [DACH] and pick with the left
DACH mouse button the CONS
shown.
Ignore the Dach Selection window and select

with left mouse button the CONS shown.
ANSA should highlight the string of Faces

shown. Use right mouse button to de-select
Faces if required.
Confirm with middle mouse button the selected

Faces.
Again you get a preview of the Surfaces to be

created, and the Dach Parameters window
appears. The DELETE FILLET flag is now
active from the last time.

Press F9 to zoom all and ensure that all

Surfaces are well described.
Press OK in the Dach Parameters window.
The Faces of the fillet are deleted and replaces

with new Faces that form sharp corners.
Zoom to the top flange.
Notice that it does not have sharp corners.
Activate the CURVEs visibility flag.
The magenta 3D Curves appear.
As the specified Resolution for Curves is much

smaller than that of CONS, you can see better
the exact geometry description.

The 3D Curve shown that the corners of the top

flange are round.
Alternatively you could use the FINE function

and left click on the red CONS to view it with
better Resolution.
De-activate CURVEs visibility

CURVEs flag, as you do not need them.
Activate the FACEs>FLANGE

FLANGE [CORNER].
CORNER
The Radius Definition window appears.

Activate the
AUTO flag button.
Pick with the left mouse button the CONS near

its round corner.
ANSA makes the corner sharp and inserts a Hot

Point automatically.
Left click on the opposite corner, to do the same

there also.
The flange now has sharp and well-defined

corners.
This will help in the creation of a good quality

mesh.


F9
Switch to PID display mode.
You can now view the Faces colored according

to their Property ID. (Note that the colors may
appear different in your case, but this is not
important here).
Zoom in close to this area.
As you can see the DACH function that split the

fillet in two has left a discontinuity in Property.
(You may have to use the FINE function to

improve the Resolution locally and better
understand the geometry).
You will correct this in order to avoid quality

problems in the shell meshing later.
First de-activate SHADOW mode, to facilitate

viewing.

Activate the FACEs>CUT

CUT function.
Select with the left mouse button the two Hot

Points shown.
A cut is made between these two positions and

a new CONS appears (note that you can always
undo an unwanted CUT by selecting the new
CONS with right mouse button, while in the CUT
function).
Now Activate the FACEs>SET

SET PID PID function.
Select with the left mouse button the small
triangular Face from its crosshatch.
The Properties window appears, so that you can
select the PID you want to assign to the
selected Face.
To make it easier pick with the left mouse button

a Face from the screen to get its PID.
The PID is assigned to the Face.

Activate again the SHADOW display mode.
The area is now better shared by the two

properties.
The same PID difference problem occurs on the

other side as well.
Treat it in a similar manner.
Switch to ENT display mode.
The clean up process should now be complete.
You will make some final checks.


visibility flags.
You should only see three closed paths of red

CONS corresponding to the outer perimeter and
two openings of the part.
If not correct the problems.
Bring back SHADOW and DOUBLE flags.
Press the UNCHECKED function

UCHECKED
from the Focus group of
functions.
The UCHECKED function leaves only visible the

Faces that fail the SHADOW operation. Such
Faces usually are thin needle shaped Faces or
Faces that have bad Surface description.
In your case the display should be left blank,

indicating the absence of such problems.
Press ALL from the Focus group

ALL to make all the Faces visible.
The geometry defeaturing is completed. Save the file from FILE>SAVE.

1.5. Shell meshing

Switch to MESH menu.
In MESH menu the Faces are now Macro Areas

and the CONS are Perimeter Segments. The
Hot Points are here displayed as white dots.
Along the Perimeter Segments you can see
magenta Perimeter nodes. These are places
initially according to the CONS Resolution
settings. In this case the nodes are placed every
20mm, apart from some regions where you
have used the FINE function to change the
Resolution locally.
You will assign a uniform distance between

Perimeter Nodes, or Element Length.
Activate the MACROs>LENGTH
LENGTH function.
Select all the Macro Areas with left mouse
button. Confirm with middle mouse button.
The Input window opens.
Type in a value of 10 and press Enter.
The new element length is applied to all the

Perimeter Segments of the selected Macro
Areas.
(Note that although we started with a CONS

Resolution length (and correspondingly Element
Length) of 20mm, we will mesh the part with an
element length of 10, so as to keep more
details).
Activate the SHELL MESH>
RECON. RECON flag button. This will
enable the Reconstruction algorithm to run
automatically right after the meshing algorithms,
in order to get high quality mesh.
By default the switch button
MIXED.. SHELL MESH>MIXED.. is in
MIXED position, and a mesh of mainly quad and
some tria elements is generated.

FREE FREE [Visible] function.
Visible
All the Macro Areas are meshed with the FREE

algorithm.
The number of the visible elements is given in a

text legend on the left.
You will use some functions to improve the

quality of the generated mesh.
Zoom in to the front of the part. Notice how the

elements are squeezed in the small triangular
shaped Macros Area.
Activate the MACROs>JOIN

JOIN function. Select with the left
mouse button the two Perimeter Segments
shown.
The Perimeters are removed and the two

Macros are joined to form a larger one. The
mesh is of course erased.
Note that if you join a Perimeter by mistake, you
can retrieve it using the MACROs>RELEASE
function, just picking it from the preview).
Notice that some Hot Points are left over.

DELETE DELETE function and select them
with the left mouse button.
The Hot Points are removed and the Perimeter

Segments are connected into longer, more
uniform Segments. The mesh of the neighboring
Macro is also erased.
Activate the SHELL

RE-MESH MESH>RE-MESH [Visible]
Visible function.
The erased Macros Areas are remeshed with

the same meshing algorithm, in this case the
FREE.
Still you can see the middle Macro Areas are

quite narrow and do not leave space for a good
quality mesh.
You will split these in half.

Switch to TOPO to perform a

TOPO> vertical cut along the middle.
Activate the HOT PNTs> PARAM

PARAM function.
Select with the left mouse button the red CONS

at the bottom. The Input window opens.
Type in a value of 0.5 to place a Hot Point mid-

length of the CONS, and press Enter.
A Hot Point is created.
Activate the FACEs>PRJ-CUT

PRJ-CUT function.
Select the Hot Point and then the first opposite

Double CONS.
ANSA projects the selected Hot Point and

makes a Cut.
The new Hot Point remains highlighted

(selected). You can proceed with the selection
of the next opposite Double CONS to continue
the cut.

Proceed until the CONS shown.
Press ESC to exit the PRJ-CUT function.
Next move to the bottom flange.
Activate the HOT PNTs>PARAM

PARAM function.
Select the bottom red CONS.
The input window opens.
Keep the 0.5 value that was previously used

and press Enter.
A Hot Point is created.
Without exiting the function use the right mouse

button to select the three other Double CONS,
to create additional Hot Points at the same
parametric distance.
Finally, activate the FACEs>CUT

CUT function and the three cuts
shown, selecting two Hot Points every time.

The Faces have been cut in the middle.
Switch to MESH menu.

MESH >
The mesh has been locally erased, as the
Macros have been modified.
Before remeshing you will join some more

Macro Areas.

JOIN function.
To facilitate selection
of Perimeter Segments
for joining, activate the
flag in the Corner Angle selection window that
appears.
Select with left mouse button the string of

Perimeters, picking from the bottom.
Selected Perimeters are not immediately joined

but highlighted as selected.
Select also the other string as shown.
Confirm selected Perimeters with middle mouse

button.

ANSA joins the Macros.
As a result the mesh is erased.
Activate the HOT PNTs>DELETE

DELETE function and select with box
selection to remove all unecessary Hot Points.
Use the SHELL MESH>

RE-MESH REMESH [Visible] function.
Visible
Zoom in to the top area here.
Again here there are some narrow Macros.

JOIN function. De-activate the flag in
the Corner Angle selection window, to return to
normal selection (one by one).
Select the two outer Perimeters.
The Perimeters are joined and the mesh is

erased.
Note that again there are some

DELETE unecessary Hot Points remaining.
Delete them with HOT PNTs>DELETE function.
Note here that to avoid having to delete the Hot

Points after such modifications, you can activate
the flag auto-delete in the General Settings
window, avtivated by SETTINGS>GENERAL
SETTINGS.

Remesh the area with SHELL

RE-MESH MESH>REMESH [Visible].
Visible
The mesh now appears better in this area.
As you can see every action that results in the

modification of a Macro, leads to the erasure of
its mesh. Then you have to use the function
SHELL MESH>RE-MESH to remesh it.
A.MESH A.MESH flag button. From now
on Auto-Remeshing will take place without you
having to select it.
Move to the top round flange area.
Notice here a Perimeter Segment that is too

short to have even one Perimeter Node. This
leads some triangular elements that could
otherwise be avoided.
Activate the PERIMETERs>
NUMBER NUMBER function.
Select with the left mouse button the small
Perimeter Segment. The Input window opens,
where the current nodal number is reported.
Type in the value 1 and press Enter.

One nodal number is assigned to this Segment,
which is now colored red, to indicate the nodal
number has been specified explicitly and not via
the element Length.
The mesh was of course erased by this action,

but as the SHELL MESH>A.MESH was active,
ANSA remeshed the affected Macro Areas
automatically.
Notice how this inclined Perimeter

JOIN distorts the mesh. Activate the
MACROs>JOIN function and join it.

The mesh is better.
Move to the other side of the top flange.

A similar problem exists here also.
Activate the PERIMETERs>

NUMBER NUMBER function and apply a
nodal number of one.
The mesh is improved here as well.
Moving now to the round flange itself.
Suppose you want to have two rows of

elements along the flange.
Instead of using the NUMBER function and
assigning a nodal number of 1 to all Segments,
you can use the PERIMETERs>ALIGN function.
Activate the function.
ALIGN
Select with the left mouse button one vertical

Segment as shown. The Input window appears.
Type in a value of 1 and press Enter.

ANSA assigns automatically the specific nodal

number to all of the Perimeter Segments that
are parallel to the selected Segment in a
continuous path of Macro Areas.
The automatic remeshing results in a flange

with two rows of elements.
Move on to the top flange of the part.
Notice how the elements are misaligned.

2
PROJECT PROJECT function.
1
Select the Hot Point shown and then the

opposite Perimeter Segment.
A new Hot Point is created at the projection

location.
The Perimeter Nodes on the Segments are now

aligned resulting in a good mesh.
Suppose we want to place two rows of elements

in the top flange.
Activate the MACROs>CUT

CUT [Prj-Cut] function. Select the
Prj-Cut bottom Hot Point and the
2
opposite top Perimeter.
1 ANSA projects and cuts.

Finally use the PERIMETERs>

NUMBER NUMBER function to place one
node in the short vertical Perimeter.
Still you can improve the mesh of the fillet

region, by meshing it with a different algorithm.
Activate the function

MAP SHELL MESH>
Re-Generate MAP [Re-Generate].
Select the Macro Area with the left mouse

button. You can de-select with right mouse
button if required.
ANSA erases the current mesh and meshes

from new with the algorithm MAP.
The resulting mesh better represents the curved

fillet.
Move on to the area shown.
See how this tilted Segment interrupts the

1 orientation of the mesh.
Activate the MACROs>CUT

CUT [Cut] function.
Cut
2
Select the Hot Point and then the Perimeter
Node as shown.

A cut is made and a new Segment is created.
The affected Macros are remeshed.
Now activate the MACROs>JOIN

JOIN function and select the tilted
perimeter Segment.
The Segment is removed as the two Macro

Areas are joined into one.
The resulting mesh is of better quality.
Move to the area of the round protrusion.
Notice how many small elements are confined

in narrow Macro Areas.
Use the MACROs>JOIN function

JOIN to join the Segments, and create
larger Macros.
Then activate the HOT POINTs>

DELETE DELETE and select with box
selection the area shown.

Optionally you can use the

NUMBER PERIMETERs>NUMBER function
and assign numbers (1 and 7 nodes) to the two
remaining Segments shown.
Moving to the last area, near the top end of the

big flange.
Join these two small Segments.

JOIN
Assign a nodal number of 1 to this

NUMBER Segment.

The mesh is improved.

F9
Join these two Segments that

JOIN interrupt the mesh of the flange.
The mesh is complete. Note that the number of

elements displayed in the legend may differ
depending on the actions that were taken during
Macro manipulation.
(You can output the shell mesh in any of the

available output formats, through
FILE>OUTPUT).
You can de-activate the visibility flag buttons for

PERIMs and HOT PNTs in order to view the
mesh better.
The tutorial is completed.
Save the file from FILE>SAVE.

Quit ANSA from FILE>QUIT.

! Having quit ANSA, you may, or may not, want to delete the ANSA.defaults file that you have
created from FILE>SETTINGS>SAVE SETTINGS>SAVE (page 1-7). This file is located in your
home directory.
Deleting the file will ensure that the next time you start ANSA, it will appear with its inherent default
settings.
1.6. Conclusion
In this tutorial you have followed all the basic steps to clean up the geometry of a part, remove
some small details and mesh it with shell elements. Not all capabilities were demonstrated. Refer
also to ANSA v12.x User’s Guide and to the On-Line Help for the functionality of ANSA and detailed
description of functions and procedures.

Basic Ansa: Geometry Clean Up and Shell Meshing

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Tutorial 1

BETA CAE Systems S.A.

The steps described in this tutorial include:

1.1.4. Data files

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 2 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

1.2. Read the CAD file

Before reading any CAD data into ANSA you

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 3 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

Now read in the IGES data from FILE>OPEN.

Press Open to read the CAD data.

The CAD file is read and topology is applied.

Ctrl + left mouse button to rotate the part

Ctrl + middle mouse button to translate

Ctrl + left and middle mouse button to

Notice that as by default you are in ENT (Entity)

The coloring has to do with the connectivity of the

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 4 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

To make things clearer you can activate and

De-activating here the DOUBLE flag shows only

Activate the FILE>OPEN

The red free edges are now less,

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 5 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

Activate back the visibility of DOUBLE

Activate the SHADOW view mode flag.

You can now view the Faces in gray and

The orientation is currently random.

The orientation of all the visible Faces

In order to flip the now uniform

But where is this function?

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 6 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

In this buffer window there are

The SKIN function is placed in

The INVERT function is

In this sense you can select which

To exit the buffer window press the

Now press the FACEs>

Switch to PID color view mode.

You can now view the Faces colored

Switch back to ENT color view mode to

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 8 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

1.3. Perform Cleanup

You will now isolate a region of your part to

The OR function leaves visible only the selected

Activate the LOCK flag button in the Focus

To view the complete Faces that you have left

Activate also the CROSH (cross hatch) visibility

Note the problem in this area.

There seems to be a Face that is untrimmed

Activate the NOT function, of the

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 9 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

The selected Face is removed from the visible.

This leaves a better view of the other Faces.

You must somehow trim the big Face so that it

Press the ALL function of the

Only the locked entities (all the entities that

Rotating the part you can see that this Face

Activate the CONS>

Confirm with middle mouse button.

BETA CAE Systems S.A. Tutorial 1 - 10 ANSA v.12.0.1 Tutorials

Next select the Face to project and cut the

You can pick the Face from its crosshatch or

Confirm with middle mouse button.

The selected red CONS are projected on the