Hypermesh Manual

HyperMesh Desktop Introduction
Pre-processing for Finite Element Analysis
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Table of Contents

Pre-processing for Finite Element Analysis
Chapter 1: Basic Interaction with HyperMesh ...................................................... 7

Section 1: Getting Started With HyperMesh .................................................................... 7
Section 2: Opening and Saving Files ............................................................................. 17
Section 3: Controlling the Display .................................................................................. 19
Section 4: Working With Panels..................................................................................... 29
Section 5: Organizing a Model ....................................................................................... 34
Exercise 1a: Interacting With HyperMesh ...................................................................... 40
Chapter 2: Geometry ............................................................................................. 49

Section 1: Importing, Exporting and Repairing CAD ...................................................... 49
Exercise 2a: Importing, Exporting and Repairing CAD Geometry .................................. 59
Section 2: Simplifying Geometry .................................................................................... 66
Exercise 2b: Simplifying CAD Tools .............................................................................. 69
Section 3: Generating a Midsurface............................................................................... 75
Exercise 2c: Midsurface ................................................................................................ 79
Section 4: Generating and Editing Surfaces ................................................................ 101
Chapter 3: 2D Meshing ....................................................................................... 107

Section 1: Automeshing ............................................................................................... 107
Section 2: Checking and Editing Mesh ........................................................................ 115
Exercise 3a: 2D Shell Meshing and Topology Refinement........................................... 117
Exercise 3b: Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh ......................................... 124
Exercise 3c: Checking and Editing Mesh ..................................................................... 136
HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 3
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Section 3: Batch Meshing ............................................................................................ 165
Chapter 4: Solids and 3D Meshing .................................................................... 171

Section 1: Creating and Editing Solid Geometry .......................................................... 171
Section 2: Solid Meshing ............................................................................................. 176
Exercise 4a: 3D Solid Meshing with Hexas and Pentas............................................... 180
Section 3: Tetra Meshing ............................................................................................ 184
Exercise 4b: Tetra Meshing ......................................................................................... 187
Exercise 4c: Tetra Meshing Process Manager ............................................................ 195
Section 4: Shrink Wrap................................................................................................ 206
Exercise 4d: Shrink Wrap Meshing .............................................................................. 208
Chapter 5: 1D Meshing and Connectors ........................................................... 215

Section 1: 1D meshing and Connectors ...................................................................... 215
Exercise 5a: 1D Meshing and Connectors................................................................... 221
Chapter 6: HyperMorph ...................................................................................... 235

Section 1: Introduction to Morphing Technology using HyperMorph ............................ 235
Section 2: Free Hand .................................................................................................. 238
Exercise 6a: Using Free Hand ..................................................................................... 241
Section 3: Domains and Handles ................................................................................ 243
Exercise 6b: Using Domains and Handles ................................................................... 253
Section 4: Morph Volumes .......................................................................................... 259
Exercise 6c: Using Morph Volumes ............................................................................. 263
Section 5: Map to Geometry ........................................................................................ 267
Exercise 6d: Using Map to Geometry .......................................................................... 269
Chapter 7: Analysis Setup and Loading ............................................................ 271

Section 1: Setting up Loading Conditions .................................................................... 271
Exercise 7a: Analysis Setup and Loading.................................................................... 278
Chapter 8: Capstone Project .............................................................................. 301

Section 1: Bringing it all together ................................................................................. 301
Exercise 8a: Capstone Project .................................................................................... 302
Appendix A: HyperWorks Collaboration Tools................................................. 311

Section 1: Benefits ...................................................................................................... 311
Section 2: Terminology and Concepts ......................................................................... 312
Section 3: Organize Browser ....................................................................................... 313

Section 4: Creating and Using a Personal Library ....................................................... 314
Exercise A1: Creating and Using a Personal Library ................................................... 315

Chapter 1: Basics HyperMesh Desktop
Chapter 1
Basic Interaction with

HyperMesh Desktop
Section 1: Getting Started with HyperMesh Desktop
In this section, you will explore the basic layout of the HyperMesh Desktop user interface.
Overview of Finite Element Analysis

Finite Element Analysis was first developed over 60 years ago as a method to accurately
predict the reaction of complex parts to various inputs. Prior to the development of FEA, the
only way to validate a design or test a theory was to physically test a part. This was and still
is both time consuming and expensive. While FEA will never replace the final physical
testing and validation of a design, it can drastically reduce the time and money spent on
intermediate stages and concepts.
FEA in its infancy was limited to large scale computing platforms but the development of
powerful personal computers, combined with intuitive software packages such as
HyperWorks, has brought FEA to the engineers desktop. This has broadened its use and
accuracy many fold.
Finite Element Analysis is now a vital and irreplaceable tool in many industries such as
Automotive, Aerospace, Defense, Consumer Products, Medical, Oil and Gas, Architecture
and many others.
FEA is performed in three stages; Pre-Processing, Solving and Post Processing. These
stages are outlined below.

Step 1: Pre- Processing

Pre-Processing is the act of preparing (meshing) a model for analysis. Complex geometry is
broken down into simple shapes (elements) in the act of meshing. This allows the solver in
the next step to predict the action of these elements and analyze the reaction of a complex
part to external forces and interactions. The part is meshed and then definitions for the type
and thickness of the material(s) are added. Next, forces and constraints are applied. The
model is then prepared for the analysis with information the solver will need to perform its
calculations. The model is then written in a format that the solver can understand and is
sent to the solver for processing.
Step 2: Solving
Solving is performed by any of the many commercially available software written to perform
Finite Element Analysis. Some of these include popular packages such as Radioss,
OptiStruct, Acusolve, Nastran, LS-Dyna, Abaqus, and Ansys, as well as others. The solver
takes the information provided in the file (input deck) created in HyperMesh in Step One and
calculates the part’s reactions to the inputs defined. Common outputs are Displacement,
Stress, Strain and Acceleration. These results are stored in a file that then can be read in
HyperView in the Post-Processing stage.
Step 3: Post-Processing
Post-Processing is where the results of the solver solution can be reviewed and analyzed.
HyperView can provide presentation quality color contoured plots and animations
highlighting any of the requested results. Information can be queried, displaced and even
graphed in numerous windows allowing for customization geared toward the desired
audience.
8 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

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Running HyperMesh Desktop

 Windows: The installation process creates a HyperWorks group under All
Programs on the Start menu. The default name of the group can be changed during
installation. Most applications can be started using the following instructions.
o From the Start Menu, select All Programs.

o Click Altair HyperWorks (version or the name defined during installation).
o Select the name of the program you want to run HyperMesh Desktop.
Or
o User can create a Windows Shortcut by right clicking on the above program
and selecting Create Shortcut.
 UNIX and Linux:

o At the prompt, type <install directory>/scripts/hm.
o Set up an alias.

 Mac OS X: The HyperWorks Mac OS X applications can be invoked as follows.
o The icons in the Applications Menu under the default location (if defaults were
used) or the chosen install folder location.
o The install location under scripts via a terminal window. (For example, the
command /Applications/AltairHyperWorks/altair/scripts/hm under a terminal
window would launch HyperMesh.)
The Start-In Directory

The “Start-In Directory” or “Working Directory” is the location from which the HyperWorks
Desktop application is launched. This directory defines where certain settings files are
written by default, and where customization files will be searched.
 Configuration files (hmmenu.set, hmsettings.tcl, hwsettings.xml, hm.mac, etc.)
 History File (command.cmf)
 HyperMesh Model Files, FE Data and Geometry Files. (User can browse to different
directories for opening and saving)
The file browser will also use this directory as its default location for browsing for files. This
can be considered as the "current working directory".
This directory can be changed, thereby changing the location where these files are written to
or read from. This has the benefit of allowing different settings to be stored in different
directories to give control over the HyperWorks Desktop environment for different projects or
use cases.

Changing the Start-in Directory on Windows

On Windows, the default start-in directory for HyperWorks is the My Documents directory.
This can be changed by editing the "Start in" field on the application executable or its
shortcut.
1. Locate and right-click the relevant HyperWorks Desktop application icon from the
Start menu Altair HyperWorks <Version> group.
Or
Locate and right-click the HyperWorks Desktop executable file
(e.g. <altair_home\hw\bin\<platform>\hw.exe)
2. Select Properties to open the properties dialog.
3. Select the Shortcut tab.
4. Edit the Start in field to contain the path to the directory in which you want to run the
HyperWorks Desktop application. This directory becomes the start-in directory.
5. Click OK.
6. Start the HyperWorks Desktop application as defined in the "Starting HyperWorks
Desktop Applications" section.
Changing the Start-in Directory on Linux

On Linux, the start-in directory is defined by the directory from which the user runs the
application startup script.
1. cd to the directory in which you want to run the HyperWorks Desktop application.
Start the HyperWorks Desktop application as defined in the "Starting

HyperWorks Desktop Applications" section.
Settings Files
HyperWorks Desktop writes several different settings files. HyperMesh writes
command.cmf, hmmenu.set and hmsettings.tcl.
HyperWorks Desktop writes hwsettings.xml. Each of these files is detailed below.

command.cmf
The command.cmf file is a command history file containing the commands executed in
HyperMesh whenever any operation is performed. This file can be used to rerun operations
or as a basis for determining the commands required to automate a given process. The
command.cmf file is written to the start-in directory for each session. Deleting this file simply
results in a new file being created on the next operation.
hmmenu.set
The hmmenu.set file stores information about panel options, panel settings, user profiles,
graphics settings, element check settings, penetration check settings, and several other
settings. The hmmenu.set file is written to the start-in directory after each session is closed.
Deleting this file resets the stored settings to their default values. It is possible to customize
the location where this file is read from during start-up. HyperWorks Desktop uses the
following search order to find the hmmenu.set file. If copies exist in multiple locations, only
the first one found in the search order is used:
1. Start-in directory
2. Home directory
3. HW_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
4. Installation directory
hmsetting.tcl
The hmsettings.tcl file stores information on the browsers, the user interface layout (tab
locations, command window, panel location, toolbars, etc...), keyboard preferences,
import/export settings, recent files, and other various settings. By default, the hmsettings.tcl
file is written to the My Documents directory on Windows and in ~/.altair on Linux after each
session is closed. Deleting this file resets the stored settings to their default values. It is
possible to customize the location where this file is read from during start-up and written to
on exit. HyperWorks Desktop always writes the hmsettings.tcl file back out to the location
where it originally read it from for that session. The following order is used to find the
hmsettings.tcl file:
1. HM_SETTINGS_DIR environment variable. If this is defined, the search stops
even if the file doesn't exist.
2. My Documents directory on Windows or ~/.altair on Linux

hwsetting.xml
The hwsettings.xml file stores information on the browsers, the user interface layout (tab
locations, command window, panel location, toolbars, etc...), keyboard preferences,
import/export settings, recent files, and other various settings. By default, the hwsettings.xml
file is written to the My Documents directory on Windows and in ~/.altair on Linux after each
session is closed. Deleting this file resets the stored settings to their default values. It is
possible to customize the location where this file is read from during start-up and written to
on exit. HyperWorks Desktop always writes the hwsettings.xml file back out to the location
where it originally read it from for that session. The following order is used to find the
hwsettings.xml file:
1. HW_SETTINGS_DIR environment variable. If this is defined, the search stops
even if the file doesn't exist.
2. My Documents directory on Windows or ~/.altair on Linux

Online Help
HyperMesh offers comprehensive documentation in the online help. The Help can be
accessed through the menu bar or the use of the “h” key on your keyboard. If the user
accesses help through the use of the “h” key, the help documentation is “intelligent”,
opening in the section representing the panel that the user is actively in. Help also contains
detailed tutorials on many advanced HyperMesh functions.

HyperMesh Desktop Graphical User Interface
 Graphics area – displays the model

 Toolbars – give access to commonly used tools via icons
 Pull Down Menu – places functionality into groups, accessible via pull downs
 Menu Pages – divides the main menu into groups based on function
 Main Menu – contains “panels” grouped in columns
 Panels – menu items / functions for interacting with HyperMesh
 Sub-panels – divides panel into similar tasks related to panel’s main function
 Command Window – lets the user type in and execute tcl commands
o Available through the View drop down menu (turned off by default)
 Tab Area – contains the following tabs:
o Solver, Model, Utility, Include, Import, Export, Connector, Entity State, etc.
 Status Bar – shows status of operations being performed
o Indicates the “current” Include file, Component Collector, and Load Collector

HyperMesh Desktop Clients

HyperWorks applications can be selected from the Client Selector toolbar.
The Client Selector button on the left-most end of the toolbar allows you to select
HyperMesh, HyperView, HyperGraph 2D, HyperGraph 3D, MediaView, and TextView.
The toolbars, view controls, and menu bars change based on the application you select.
HyperMesh Desktop Keyboard Shortcut and Setting

The secondary menu is a list of panels that can be accessed by using the function keys F1
through F12, or in combination with the SHIFT or CTRL keys.

Section 2: Opening and Saving Files

Bringing data files into HyperMesh and saving them are frequent operations every user
should understand. This section will help you become proficient with the various ways this
can be done in HyperMesh. The remaining exercises in this course will assume you know
how to open and save files in HyperMesh.
In this section, you will learn how to:
 Open a HyperMesh file
 Import a file into a current HyperMesh session
 Save the HyperMesh session as a HyperMesh model file
 Export all the geometry to an IGES file
 Export all the FE data to a RADIOSS input file
 Delete all data from the current HyperMesh session
 Import an IGES file
 Import a RADIOSS file to the current HyperMesh session
File Operations
The following file operations are located in the Standard toolbar which can be accessed by
selecting View > Toolbars > HyperWorks > Standard.
New Model (New .hm File) – Creates a new session in the current window
Open Model (Open .hm File) – Loads a HyperMesh model into the current window
replacing the current model
Save Model (Save .hm File) – Saves the current model, opens browser window
Import Options – The following icons open the Import Tab with the appropriate import type
loaded:
Import Models (.hm) Import Session (.mvw)

Import Geometry (Unigraphics, Catia, ProE, Iges, Step, Parasolid, …)
Import Solver Deck (Radioss, OptiStruct, Nadtran, Dyna, Abaqus, …)
Import Connectors
Export Options – The following icons open the Export Tab with the appropriate export type
loaded:
Export Models (.H3D FE)
Export Geometry (IGES, PARASOLID, STEP)
Export Solver Deck (Radioss, OptiStruct, Nastran, Dyna, Abaqus, Stl …)
Export Connectors
Curves Export Text
Load User Profile – Opens the User Profiles Window.
Load Results – Loads a result file for post processing within HyperMesh.
Within the Scripting toolbar (View > Toolbars > HyperWorks > Scripting) there are
additional tools which allow you to open various files:
Open TCL/Tk Scripts - Opens a browser to load a Tcl Scripts (*.tcl) file.
Can be used to learn TCL/Tk commands and create macros.
Open Current Command File – Opens a window displaying the current

command.cmf file. Can be used to learn TCL/Tk commands and create macros.

Run TCL Script – Opens a browser to load and run a TCL file.
Run TCL Script – Opens a browser to load and run an HyperMesh command files
(*.cmf).
Section 3: Controlling the Display

When performing finite element modeling and analysis setup, it is important to be able to
view the model from different vantage points and control the visibility of entities. You may
need to rotate the model to understand the shape, zoom in to view details more closely, or
hide specific parts of the model so other parts can be seen. Sometimes a shaded
visualization is best, while other times a wireframe visualization is needed to work on details
inside the model.
HyperMesh has many functions to help you control the view, visibility, and visualization of
entities. This section introduces you to these functions.
 Control the points of view, mouse, and toolbar.
 Control the visibility of entities using the Mask panel.
 Control how entities look by using toolbars and the Model Browser.
 Rename components.
 Identify and delete empty components.
 Delete all the geometry lines.

View Control
View control is accomplished through the use of the Standard Views toolbar icons, and 3D
View Controls toolbar, and the mouse.
 Standard Views Toolbar Icons
 3D View Controls Toolbar Icons

From pull down menu Preferences > Geometry Options or click “o” from keyboard,
you can manage the rotate angle and the zoom factor linked to the previous buttons.

 Mouse Controls – The preferred method for Display Control is the use of the Mouse
Buttons. With the CTRL key held on the keyboard the mouse provides total control
over rotation, zoom and pan.
Model Visualization

 Geometry
From pull down menu Preferences > Geometry Options or click on “o” from keyboard
Transparency
Transparency is available from the Toolbar, allows surface shading in a component

to be set to any level of transparency (Viewing the midsurface of solid geometry).

 Elements
Wireframe
Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines
Traditional Element Representation
Composite Representation
See the pull down menu Preferences > Meshing Options or click “o” from keyboard,
to get more details.

Mask
The masking tools allow the user to show and hide select entities that might interfere with
the desired visualization. The icons can be found on the Display toolbar and are used as
follows:
The Spherical Clipping panel allows you to focus on specific areas of the model by
displaying only the portions of a model inside a 3D spherical volume, while masking
everything outside the sphere. If you want to work on a small section of a large model
without masking or turning off any entities, enable the clipping and pick the center and the
radius of the clipping sphere. It can be accessed using the icon and will open the
panel shown below.

Browsers
Different browsers are customized for usage with regard to the types of parts that you want
to work with.
Most browsers have similar basic functionality for sorting entities, filtering entities, and
finding entities and include a context-sensitive right-click menu and sets of control buttons.
The Selector is a tool to interactively select any type of supported entity via the
browser, or by selecting within the graphics area.

Model View
The Model View ( ) resides on the Model Browser and allows you to view the model
structure while providing full find, display, and editing control of entities.
The model structure is viewed as a flat, listed tree structure within the browser. However, if
the model has an assembly hierarchy then the Model Browser accommodates this
hierarchical structure.
The browser can list every named entity within the session and places those entities into
their respective folders; however, it does not support non-named entities such as nodes and
elements. Some of the more important entities within the model include: assemblies,
components, multibodies, properties, materials, entity sets, groups, load collectors, system
collectors, vector collectors, and beamsectcols -- all of which are placed into a tree-like
display.
To open the Model View, click the Model item located within the View menu. The browser
displays on one of the tab area sidebars.
The Model View is a powerful tool for controlling the visualization of the model.
In the Model Browser the user can:
 Complete Listing of all HyperMesh Entities in Model
 Each “Collector” is expandable and lists all contained “Entities”
 Turn on and off the display of the geometry and elements of collectors
 Control the color of the collector (Right click)
 Create, Card Edit, Delete and control component visualization by Right clicking on
the collector list

Component View ( )
 Lists All Components in Model
 Colors Model “by Component”
 Quickly Sort by Name, ID, Color, or Property
 Display State Icons (Geometry and FE: ON/OFF Single Picking)
 Global Controls to Operate on all Components (All, None, Reverse)
 Browser Modes (Graphics/Browser List Picking for: Select, Show/Hide, Isolate)
Mask View

Section 4: Working with Panels

Much of the functionality in HyperMesh is centered around the use of panels. While there
are often many ways to get to a function within HyperMesh, most often the actions lead the
user to the panel area to select entities, enter values and execute functions. The panel area
is split into seven pages and on each page are panels that allow the user to utilize all of the
functionality in HyperMesh. Even if the user accesses a function through the use of the
menu bar or the toolbars, much of the information will be entered in the panel area. While
this manual cannot explain the functionality of every panel, much of the panel functionality is
common amongst all of the panels and thus learning one panel will assist the user in the use
of all panels.
This section introduces you to common panel attributes and controls as it guides you
through translating nodes and elements using the Translate panel and measuring distances
between nodes using the Distance panel.
 Use the entity selector and the extended entity selection menu to select/unselect
nodes and elements from the graphics area
 Use the direction selector to define vectors along which to translate nodes and
elements
 Switch between different entities to select and methods to define vectors
 Toggle between two options
 Enter, copy/paste and calculate numbers
 Use the rapid menu functionality to execute commands with the mouse buttons
rather than clicking buttons
 Interrupt, but not exit, a panel to go to another panel using the keyboard function
keys
Panel Layout
In HyperMesh, panels have three general layouts. The Basic Panel, Panel with Sub-Panels
and Panels with Sub Panels organized in Columns. Their look and functionality will be
described below.
 The Basic Panel
Translate panel

 Panel with Sub-Panels
Project/to plane panel
 Panel with Sub-Panels as icons
Surfaces panel
 Panel with Sub-Panel and Columns
Surface Edit/trim with nodes subpanel
Generally panels are used in a left to right manner and those with columns are used in a left
to right and top to bottom manner using the following steps:

Step 1: “What to Do”

This step only applies to panels with subpanels. The user picks the functionality within the
panel that is desired by picking the appropriate subpanel radio button. The example below
to the left is from the Project panel and the “to plane” sub functionality is chosen. The
example below to the right is from the Surfaces panel and the “square” sub function is
chosen.
Step 2: “Method to Use”

This step only applies to panels with subpanels that are organized in columns. Often,
subpanels are organized into different columns when there are more than 7 subpanel
options. The column organization groups like functionality together in instances where the
entire panel is not needed for information entry. In this case the user picks the subpanel in
Step 1 and then chooses the method they wish to use within that sub panel and follows the
column top to bottom. The example below shows the Surface Edit panel with the “trim
with surfs/plane” sub functionality chosen. You can see the three columns providing
access to either the “with plane”, “with surfs” or “self intersecting surfs” options.
Surface Edit/trim with surfs/planes subpanel

Step 3: “What to do it to”

In this step the user will select the entities they wish to perform the function on. The entity
selection is shown below.
Step 4: “How to do it”

In this step the user defines parameters that dictate how the function will be performed.
Step 5: “Do the action”

Clicking the green “action” button performs the desired function while the “reject” button will
reject the last performed function.
Tools within the Panels

Within the panels there are many buttons and options that will be explained below:
Switches -
These allow the choice of multiple options through a popup menu
Toggles -
The toggle will change the function between 2 options.
Reset -
This will reset the selection of any entities.
Extended Selection -
Clicking the yellow selection button will open the extended selection window. This provides
numerous tools allowing for the advanced selection of entities.

Direction/Plane Selection
 X, Y, Z Axis -
 N1, N2 and N3 -
o Select 2 Nodes (N1 & N2) – This defines a direction from N1 to N2 where a
vector type direction is required. When a plane is required the plane is
defined as that which is normal to the vector N1 to N2 and its location at the
B node.
o Select 3 Nodes (N1, N2 and N3) – This defines a plane whose normal
defines a direction when a vector direction is required. Positive of the normal
is defined by the “Right Hand Rule.” In the event a plane is required the
plane is that which is created by the 3 nodes with its location at the B node.

Section 5: Organizing a Model

Organizing model data can be beneficial when creating a valid solver input file. Basic tasks
used to organize model data such as placing elements and loads into groups (collectors),
organizing collectors into assemblies, renaming, deleting, reordering, and renumbering are
discussed in this section.
 Create geometry and organize it into components
 Organize elements into components
 Rename components
 Identify and delete empty components
 Delete all the geometry lines
 Reorder the components in a specific order
 Renumber all the components, starting with ID 1 and incrementing by 1
 Create an assembly
 Organize the constraints
Model organization is at the heart of a quality Finite Element Analysis. The model can be
organized in a multitude of different ways as desired by the user, but below are the basics
for model organization.
Collectors
The basis for model organization is the collector. HyperMesh has many different types of
collectors:

*NOTE: Property and Material collectors do not “contain” any entities and are used to define
material and physical properties in the model. They are called collectors for uniformity.
Collectors can be created in a number of ways.

 HyperMesh Model Browser:
Right clicking in the Model Browser opens a
menu from which the selection of Create allows
for creation of any type of collector.
Right clicking in the Model Browser will also
allow you to edit, rename, change ID, change
color and delete collectors as well.
 Pull down Menus
Selecting the Collectors Pull-Down and then
selecting Create will provide the ability to
create any of the non property collectors.

Material and Property Collectors can be created in a similar manner using the
Material and Property Pull-Downs.
 Icon Toolbars
The Icons can be used to create collectors as well.
Current Collector
The Current Collector determines what collector new entities are placed in. The Current
Collector can be determined in two ways.
Using the Model View
 In the Model View the Current collector will be in BOLD
 Note the mid2 collector is in a bold font and thus is the Current collector.
 Right clicking on a collector will open a menu that will allow it to be made current.

Organize
Organize is a tool that can be used to move/copy entities to different collectors.
It can be accessed using the icon or from pull down menu View > Organize and will
open the panel shown below.

Renumber
The Renumber panel allows you to renumber entities. You may also enter a value by which
to offset the IDs of entities.
It can be accessed using the icon or from pull down menu View > Renumber and
will open the panel shown below.
Delete
The Delete panel allows you to delete data from a model database; preview and delete
empty collectors; preview and delete unused collectors (property, material, curves).
You can also delete an entire model database, if you wish to start with a clean database.
It can be accessed using the icon or (F2) and will open the panel shown below.
Nodes
The Nodes panel allows you to create nodes using a wide variety of methods.It can be
accessed from pull down menu Geometry > Create > Nodes or (F8) and will open the panel
shown below.

Temp Nodes
The Temp Nodes panel provides a way to control which nodes are on the temporary node
mark. Since all nodes not currently referenced in the model are deleted, the temporary node
mark is provided as a holding area to save the nodes you are not currently using.
It can be accessed using the icon from pull down menu Geometry > Create > Nodes >
Temp Nodes or (Shift+F2) and will open the panel shown below.
Distance
The Distance panel allows you to determine the distance between two nodes/points or the
angle between three nodes/points, or to change distances or angles.
It can be accessed (F4) and will open the panel shown below.

Exercise 1a: Interacting With HyperMesh

This exercise will cover many of the basic concepts that are central to many of the features
in HyperMesh. By the end of this exercise you should be familiar with the basic features of
the HyperMesh software.
Step 1: Set the User Profile and retrieve the model file, 01-GUI.hm
3. From the menu bar, select Preferences > User Profiles or select the icon .
4. Select the RADIOSS user profile and from the drop down menu select BulkData.
5. Click OK.
6. Select File > Open > Model from the menu bar or select the icon .
7. Select the file 01a-GUI.hm.
8. Click Open
Step 2: Rotate, Pan and Zoom the model

1. Hold down the CTRL key
2. Click the LEFT Mouse button. (Note the small square in the center of the screen
indicating the rotational center).
3. While holding both the CTRL Key and LEFT Mouse Button, drag your mouse around to
rotate the model.
4. Click near a node (Note the small square moves to the node selected and becomes the
new center of rotation). Continue to rotate the model.
5. While holding the CTRL Key and the RIGHT Mouse Button, drag your mouse around to
pan the model.

6. While holding the CTRL Key, click the Center Mouse Button (or clickable scroll wheel)
and draw a circle around a portion of the screen.
7. This will zoom into the region surrounded by the drawn circle.
8. While holding the CTRL Key rotate the scroll wheel forward to Zoom Out and backward
to Zoom In.
9. While holding the CTRL Key click the middle mouse button/scroll wheel to “fit” the model
to the screen.
Step 3: Use the Model Browser to control visualization

1. Press F on the keyboard to “fit” the model to the screen. If it does not work, click in the
graphics window and then press F.
2. Make sure the Model Browser tab is active

3. Expand the Components category by clicking the + next to it. This will list all of the
components in the model.
4. Using the Geometry and Elements Icons, turn on and off components.
Using the Show/Hide Button turn off and on components in the graphics window.
Right click to hide a component and left click in the area of a hidden component to see a
ghost image of the hidden component. Releasing the button reveals the component.
5. Using the Isolate Button , right click on a component in the graphics window to
isolate it (turn off all other components) and left click on a hidden component to see a
ghost image of the hidden component. Releasing the button isolates the selected
component.
6. Use the global controls to turn on, off and reverse all of the components.
7. Highlight components using the Left Mouse Button in the Graphics Area, and note how
the Global Controls now only affect the highlighted components.
8. Use the icon ( ) to switch the global controls between the Geometry, Elements and
Both options.
9. Review the other Model Browser Views:
a. Component View
This view is highly useful when working solely with components as none of the
other collectors are shown in the view. This view contains all of the visibility
control and right click functions of the Model View. Additionally it adds fields
that show the mesh and geometry shading as well as the property and material
applied to each component.

b. Property View
This view allows the user to view all of the properties in the model and color the
entities on the screen by their assigned property. The visibility controls as well
as all right click extended functionality work with this view as well.
c. Material View
This view allows the user to view all of the materials in the model and color the
entities on the screen by their assigned material. The visibility controls as well
as all right click extended functionality work with this view as well.
10. Use the right click Extended Menu to try the following functions:
a. Create a new component
b. Delete a component
c. Rename a component
d. Show/Hide a component
e. Isolate a component

f. Isolate Only a component (see if you can figure out the difference between
Isolate and Isolate Only)
g. Right click on a color and change the color of a component.
Step 4: Working with Collectors

1. Right click in the Model Browser and select Create > Component. The component
creation dialog will open.
2. Name it Bucket and select a color.

3. Click Create.
The new collector has been created and now we will move the elements for the bucket
into this new collector.

4. From the menu bar select Mesh > Organize > Elements > To Component or select
the icon .
5. In the Model Browser click the Selector Icon . This allows you to pick components
from the graphics window.
6. Click the bucket in the graphics window
7. Click the Add To Panel Collector icon . This will add the selected components to
the selection.
8. Click the dest component= button and select the newly created Bucket component.
9. Click move and the elements in the collector will be moved to the new component.
Step 5: Use of Panels and Directional Functions

This step will introduce the user to commonly used functions in panels as well as the use
of the directional definition tools found in many HyperMesh panels.
1. Locate the item in the menu bar that allows you to Translate Elements (Mesh >
Translate > Elements).
2. Select the component Support.
3. From the direction definition switch select N1, N2, N3.
X,Y and Z axis will translate along those cardinal axis, while N1,N2,N3 allows the user to
define a direction as a vector (N1->N2) or as a normal to a plane defined by the points
N1,N2 and N3 following the right hand rule.

4. Pick a node on the flat face of the Support component shown below. A green dot will
appear at the selected node showing that N1 has been defined there. The blue focus
square will automatically move to N2.
5. Continue in a Clockwise direction picking two more nodes on the face defining the blue
N2 and red N3 nodes. Your model should look similar to the picture to the right. NOTE:
It is not necessary that your nodes be identical to the image, just similar.
6. Enter 30 in the magnitude= field
7. Click translate -.
The entire component will move 30 model units in the negative direction defined by the
normal of the plane N1, N2 and N3.
8. Click reject.
9. Try moving the component in other directions using both cardinal axis and the N1,N2
and N3 options.
10. Try moving the component using only N1 and N2 and then change the magnitude= field
to N2-N1 and see what that option does.
11. Use the reject button and the opposite direction translation to bring your component
back to the previous location.

Step 6: Using the Mask Function and Selecting Entities
1. Using the Mask Icon enter the Mask panel.

2. Change the entity selection to elems.
3. Pick a number of elements on the screen.
4. Click mask.
This will hide the elements from view but they still can be affected through other panels
5. Click the Reverse Icon .

This will Unmask the hidden elements and will mask all the elements previously shown.
6. Click the Unmask Adjacent Icon .

This will Unmask elements immediately adjacent to those on the screen. This can be
done repeatedly
7. Click the Unmask All Icon to bring everything into view.

8. Click the Mask Icon again
9. Hold the Shift Key down and holding the Left Mouse Button, drag a box in the graphics
window to box select elements.
10. Hold the Shift Key down and holding the Right Mouse Button, drag a box in the
graphics window to de-select elements.
11. Click the yellow elems button to open the extended selection window.
12. Experiment with options, including the following;

 displayed – Selects entities currently displayed on the screen
 all – Selects ALL entities in the model, displayed or not.
 reverse – After selecting a few elements this will “reverse” the selection.
 by collector – Displays a list of collectors and entities can be selected by the
collector they are in.

 by geoms – By choosing either surfs or solids, elements can be selected by

picking the geometry that they were created from. Useful in that a single
geometry selection can select many elements.
 save/retrieve – Saving a selection places those entities into a 1 slot “user mark”
that can be retrieved again and again in selections until it is overwritten.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Chapter 2
Geometry
Section 1: Importing, Exporting and Repairing CAD
HyperMesh is capable of importing geometry from many CAD sources. Most of the popular
CAD packages are read directly, and for those that are not, HyperMesh supports the
popular intermediate languages. HyperMesh attempts to properly clean up surfaces during
import and offers a wide variety of tools to remedy these geometric issues.
The benefits of importing and repairing CAD are:

 Restore the surface data of the part (unconnected, missing and duplicate surfaces)
 Create the simplified part needed for the analysis
 Mesh a part all at once
 Ensure proper mesh connectivity
 Obtain a desirable mesh pattern & quality
In this section, you will:

 Delete untrimmed surfaces
 Close missing surfaces
 Set the cleanup tolerance
 Equivalence free edges
 Delete duplicate surfaces

Chapter 2: Geometry
Geometry Import
Importing geometry occurs in the Import tab, which is accessible through the Import
Geometry Icon or from File > Import > Geometry (drop down menu).
Using this tab the user can import data from popular CAD packages such as:
 Unigraphics (NX6,NX7,NX7.5,NX8)
o UG Part Browser
o Supports import of *.prt, *.asm files
o Provides a UG part browser
o Requires an installation of UG to be
accessible, either locally or on a
network
 CATIA (V4, V5 R21 & V5-6R2012)

o CATIA V4 (*.model and *.exp)
o CATIA V5 Altair license feature
required to import V5 files
(*.CatProduct, *.CatPart and *.cgr)
 Pro/Engineer (Wildfire 5.0, Creo 1)

o Supports import of .prt and .asm
files.
Additionally HyperMesh supports the import of the following intermediate translational

languages:
 STEP (AP203, AP214)
o Supports import of *.stp files
 IGES (v6, JAMA-IS)

o Supports Import of *.igs, *.iges files
 Parasolid
 JT
 SolidWorks
 DXF, ACIS, FiberSim, PDGS, Tribon, VDAFS

Chapter 2: Geometry
Geometry Export
Exporting geometry occurs in the export tab which is accessible through the Export
Geometry Icon or from File > Export > Geometry (drop down menu).
Using this tab the user can export data in the following format:
 Parasolid (V9)
 IGES (v6, & JAMA-IS)
 STEP (AP214)

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology Repair
Surface Definition
What is “Topology”
Topology is how surfaces are connected to adjacent surfaces of a part.
 Surface connectivity is controlled by the associated surface edges
 If a surface edge is associated with more than 1 surface, those surfaces are
considered to be connected (“equivalenced”)
 Surface edges are categorized, named, and colored according to the number of
associated surfaces
Connectivity is really important, and critical at the same time, when you need to create a
contiguous mesh over connected faces thus guaranteeing stresses, strains and
deformations that will propagate over the part in a realistic manner. HyperMesh uses a
tolerance calculation to determine when two or more edges should be connected and
provide tools to fix connectivity issues before meshing.
HyperMesh allows easy visualization of surface connectivity through the use of an edge
color scheme shown below:

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology Visualization
In the HyperMesh Visualization toolbar, the Topology Options Icon will open the
Visualization tab > Topology icon .
This tab will allow the user to:

 display or hide 2D and 3D topology based on its type
 control the transparency
 change the shading colors of mappable solid regions.
Other functionality in this tab:
Connector
Constraints
Equations
Loads
Morphing
Systems
Vectors

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology display mode is a default for some panels (surface edit, quick edit, point edit,
edge edit, autocleanup, and automesh).
Display of the topology can be controlled with the Geometry Color Mode icon
included in the HyperMesh Visualization toolbar.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology Repair: General Process

HyperMesh will in most cases create proper and connected geometry accurately
representing the initial CAD geometry.
In some cases you need to work with topology to repair geometry.
The general process is the following:
 Figure out what the ideal surface connectivity of the part should be.
 Observe the current display of topology colors (free, shared, t-junction). Figure out
what is causing the topology to be displayed this way.
 Use the tools in HyperMesh that get the connectivity from what it is to what it should
be as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology Repair: Tools

HyperMesh has a supply of tools to repair issues in the geometry.
Below you can find the tools that HyperMesh provides:
 Quick Edit panel (Geometry > Quick Edit or F11)
The Quick Edit panel is a “tool box” of utilities for geometry repair. Many of the tools can be
found in other panels and their functionality is exactly the same. The Quick Edit panel simply
provides a single location for many of the most often used tools. These include:
o Split surf-node  Divides a surface by cutting in a straight line between 2
selected nodes
o Split surf-line  Divides a surface by cutting in a straight line between a
node normal to selected line.
o Washer split  Adds a circular edge around a hole in a surface (Mostly
used for creating all quad mesh around a hole)
o Unsplit  Removes / deletes an edge created by splitting a surface in
HyperMesh
o Toggle  Change edge type within tolerance
o Filler Surf  Select a line on a free surface edge to recreate any missing
surfaces
o Delete Surf  Delete selected surface(s)
o Adjust/Set Density Allows to interactively change mesh node density
along selected edges
o Replace point Moves/retains points
o Add/Remove Point Creates/Deletes a fixed point at the selected locations
o Add point on line Creates a user specified number of fixed points along
the selected edge
o Release Point Disassociates the selected fixed point from all the
connected edges
o Project point Projects free points to existing surfaces or lines
o Trim-intersect Removes the edge fillets

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Edge Edit Panel (Geometry > Edit > Surface Edges)
o Toggle > (2 edges pair at a time) toggles edges from one state to another
(free > shared > suppressed, by clicking with the left mouse button) based on
the cleanup tolerance setting.
o (Un)Suppress  Selects multiple edges to suppress, all of them at once
o Replace > (1 edge pair at a time) combines two edges into a shared edge at
the location of one of the original edges, controlling which edge to retain and
which to move.
o Equivalence > (multiple edges at a time) searches for free edges and
combine them with a matching edge within the cleanup tolerance.
o Unsplit > removes previously created split-lines
o Edge fillets > removes fillets from surface edges.
o By feature > combines surfaces based on geometric features (angle surfs
and offset surfs )
 Point Edit Panel (Geometry > Edit > Fixed Points)
o Add > Adds new points to the model geometry to help control mesh pattern
(especially helpful along edges to control node seeding)
o Suppress > "Turn off" points in the model geometry. The points are not
deleted, they are ignored when meshing.
o Replace > Combines 2 fixed points together at a single location; moves one
point to another, combining them into a single point.
o Release > Use this panel to "release" vertices so that they become free
(unattached points) and any shared (green) edges that they were attached to
the point become free (red) edges.
o Project > Projects fixed points onto a nearby edge (Useful for aligning mesh
between 2 edges).

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Surface Panel (Geometry > Create > Surfaces > Spline/Filler)
o Spline/Filler ( ): Creates surfaces by filling in gaps, such as a hole in

an existing surface.
The Keep tangency option is valid for surface edge line selection only. It
considers curvature of any surfaces attached to the selected edges and tries
to create a surface tangent to them. This helps to form a smooth transition to
the surrounding surfaces.
The Auto create (free edges only) option is valid for free surface edge line
selection only. It simplifies the selection of the lines bounding the missing
surface. Once a line is selected, HyperMesh automatically selects the
remaining free edges that form a closed loop, and then create the filler
surface.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Exercise 2a: Importing and Repairing CAD Geometry

This exercise uses the model file, 02a-TOPOLOGY-REPAIR.hm.
Step 1: Open the model file, 02-TOPOLOGY-REPAIR.hm.
Step 2: View the model in topology display toolbar to evaluate its integrity.
1. Observe where the model has incorrect connectivity and missing or duplicate surfaces.
2. Click Geometry > Quick Edit to open the Quick Geometry Edit panel.
Note that the surface edges are now colored according to their topology status. This
occurs because Geometry Color is set to Auto ( ).
3. Click Wireframe Geometry ( ) to display the model in Wireframe mode.

The toolbar contains icons that control the display of the surfaces and surface edges.
Surfaces can be shaded with or without edges or wireframe. Right-click the icons to
access the drop-down menu for additional options. Place your mouse over the cursor to
view a description of the button’s functionality.
4. Click Visualization ( ) and navigate to the Topology tab.

Visualization controls the display of the surfaces and surface edges. Surfaces can be
shaded or wireframe. The check boxes within this menu turn the display of the different
edge types and fixed points (surface vertices) on or off.
5. Clear all the check boxes except the Free check box.
Only the free edges should be displayed at this point.
6. Observe the free edges and make note of where they are.
The free (red) edges show where there is incorrect connectivity or gaps.
7. Note the locations where there are closed loops of free edges. These are locations that
probably have missing surfaces.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Free edges indicating surface discontinuities of the clip geometry
8. Select only the Non-manifold check box.

9. Observe the non-manifold edges and make note of where they are.
The non-manifold edges show where there are more than two surfaces sharing an edge,
which might indicate incorrect connectivity or correct T-Connections. For this part, there
are no yellow edges. This indicates that there are not duplicate surfaces.
10. Select all the check boxes.
11. Click the Close button to close the Visualization tab.
12. Click return to exit the panel.
13. Click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( )

The surfaces should now appear solid rather than having only their edges displayed.
14. Rotate, zoom, and pan to locate any errors in the geometry.
15. Make note of the areas to be worked on:
 A surface that overhangs a round corner
 A missing surface

Chapter 2: Geometry
Surface overhanging an edge and a missing surface
Step 3: Delete the surface that overhangs the round corner.

1. Enter the Delete panel in one of the following ways:
 From the menu bar click Geometry > Delete > Surfaces
 Press F2
2. In the graphics area, select the overhanging surface shown in the picture below.
3. Click delete entity to delete the selected entities.

Step 4: Create surfaces to fill large gaps in the model.

1. Click Geometry > Create > Surfaces > Spline/Filler to create the surface.
2. Clear the Keep tangency check box.

The Keep tangency option is valid for surface edge line selection only. It considers
curvature of any surfaces attached to the selected edges and tries to create a surface
tangent to them. This helps to form a smooth transition to the surrounding surfaces.

Chapter 2: Geometry
3. Verify the entity type is set to lines.

4. Verify the Auto create (free edges only) check box is selected.
The Auto create option is valid for free surface edge line selection only. It simplifies the
selection of the lines bounding the missing surface. Once a line is selected, HyperMesh
automatically selects the remaining free edges that form a closed loop, and then create
the filler surface.
5. Zoom into the area indicated in the following image.
Pick one of the red lines bounding one of the gaps (missing surfaces).
HyperMesh automatically creates a filler surface to close the hole.
Repeat this step to create a filler surface in the other gap.
Area of missing surfaces
Step 5: Set the global geometry cleanup tolerance to 0.01 .

1. Press O to go to the options panel.
2. Go to the geometry sub-panel.
3. In the cleanup tol = field, type 0.01 to stitch the surfaces with a gap less than 0.01.
Step 6: Combine multiple free edge pairs at one time with the equivalence
tool.
1. From the menu bar, click Geometry > Edit > Surface Edges > Equivalence
2. Activate the equiv free edges only check box.

Chapter 2: Geometry
3. Select surfs >> all.

4. Verify that the cleanup tol = is set to 0.01, which is the global cleanup tolerance
specified in the options panel.
5. Click the green equivalence button to combine any free edge pairs within the specified
cleanup tolerance.
Most of the red free edges are combined into green shared edges. The few remaining
are caused by gaps larger than the cleanup tolerance.
Step 7: Combine free edge pairs, one pair at a time, using the toggle.
1. Go to the toggle sub-panel.
2. In the cleanup tol = field, type 0.1.
3. In the graphics area, click one of the free edges shown in the following image.
Use toggle to equivalence the other edges shown in the image

Chapter 2: Geometry
Area where free edges need to be toggled
4. Rotate and zoom into the area if needed. When the edge is selected, it will change from
red to green, indicating that the free edge pair has been equivalenced.
Step 8: Combine the remaining free edge pair using replace.

1. Go to the replace sub-panel.
2. With the selector under moved edge: active, click the leftmost free edge in the graphics
area.
Verify that the selector under retained edge: is now active.
4. Select the rightmost red edge.
5. In the cleanup tol = field, enter 0.1.
6. Click replace.
Once the line is selected, HyperMesh posts a message similar to:
7. Click Yes to close the gap.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Edges to retain and move for replacement
Step 9 (Optional): Save your work.

With the cleanup operations completed, save the model.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Section 2: Simplifying Geometry

This section looks at changing the shape of a part in order to simplify the geometry. Certain
details of the shape, such as small holes or blends, may simply not be necessary for the
analysis being performed. When these details are removed, the analysis can run more
efficiently. Additionally, mesh quality is often improved as well. Changing the geometry to
match the desired shape can also allow a mesh to be created more quickly.
In this section, you will learn:
 Mesh the part, review the mesh quality and determine the features to be simplified
 Remove pinholes, surface and edge fillets
 Find and delete duplicated surfaces
 Identify part symmetry
 Remove pinholes
 Create surfaces by filling in gaps
Defeaturing
There are many features on a part that are not critical to the structure of the part and have
little or no effect on the analysis.
These features can include:
 Lightening Holes – For part weight reduction
 Edge Filets – For reduction of sharp corners allowing safer part handling
 Surface Fillets – To meet manufacturing requirements
These features often are process driven and are not function critical.
While our goal is to mesh a part that as closely as possible accurately represents the
geometry, these features often degrade the quality of the mesh.
As such they can be defeatured out of the design allowing for a substantially improved mesh
with little impact on the results.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Simplifying CAD Tools

Defeature Panel (Geometry > Defeature)
 Pinholes: Searches for holes within a surface. Fills them in and leaves a fixed point
at their previous center.
 Surf Fillets: Searched for surfaces that act as a fillet between other surfaces and
tangentially extends them to achieve a sharp corner.
 Edge Fillets: Searches for rounded edge corner and squares them off.

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Duplicates: Finds and deletes duplicate surfaces.
 Symmetry: Identifies part symmetry and deletes or organizes the results.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Exercise 2b: Symplifying CAD Tools
Step 1: Load the model 02b-SYMPLIFYING-CAD.hm

1. View the model in topology display toolbar to evaluate its integrity.
Step 2: View the model in topology display toolbar to evaluate its integrity.
1. Observe where the model has incorrect connectivity and missing or duplicate surfaces.
Step 3: Find and delete all duplicate surfaces.

1. From the Menu Bar, click Geometry > Defeature > Duplicates
2. Click surfs >> displayed.

3. In the cleanup tol = field, type 0.01.

Chapter 2: Geometry
4. Click find.
The status bar displays the following message, "1 duplicated surface was found."
5. Click delete to remove any duplicate surfaces.
Step 4: Observe the model again to identify any remaining free edges, or
missing or duplicate surfaces.
1. Use the topology display and shaded modes to perform this task. All of the edges in the
model should be displayed as green shared edges, indicating that we have a completely
enclosed thin solid part.
Step 5: Removing Edge Fillets

2. Enter the Geometry > Defeature panel.
3. Enter the edge fillets sub panel.
4. Pick the displayed surfaces.
5. Enter 1 for the min radius.
6. Enter 20 for the max radius.
This will guarantee all edge fillets are selected.
7. Click find.
All of the edge fillets will be highlighted.
If there were fillets that you did not wish to be removed they could be right clicked at the
F and they would be deselected and not removed.

Chapter 2: Geometry
8. Click remove.
All of the edge fillets will be removed leaving sharp corners in their place. This will result
in better mesh quality as will be shown in the next chapter.
Step 6: Removing Surface Fillets

1. Select the surf fillets sub-panel.
2. Select the displayed surfaces.
3. Set the min radius to 0.1.
4. Set the max radius to 5.
5. Click find.

Chapter 2: Geometry
The radius around the hole will be selected but the larger fillet will not be. This is
because the larger fillet has a radius of 7 and thus was not found.
6. Click the two surfaces that make the larger fillet to highlight them.
7. Click remove.
The fillets will be removed once again providing for a better mesh quality.
Step 7: Removing Holes

1. Select the pinholes sub panel.
2. Select the displayed surfaces.
3. Set the diameter< field to 5.
4. Click find.

Chapter 2: Geometry
The small holes will be selected.

Once again if there is a hole that you do not wish to take out simply right click on it to de-
select it.
5. Click delete
The holes are removed and a fixed point is placed at their former center. This will
guarantee a node is in that location but the points can be removed if no node is needed.

With the cleanup operations completed, save the model.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Topology Repair: Strategy

 Understand model size & scale to determine an appropriate global element size
 Set a cleanup tolerance based upon the previously determined global element size.
o Set appropriate value in Preferences > Geometry Options > geometry
o Cleanup tolerance specifies the largest gap size to be closed by topology
functions
o Tolerances > 15-20% of global element size can cause mesh distortions
o Can change value multiple times for work on various areas of the model
 Use topology Visualization Options tools to determine what needs to be repaired.
 Use Edge Edit > equivalence to combine as many free edge pairs as possible
o Make sure surfaces are not collapsed in undesirable manner
 Use Edge Edit > toggle to combine any remaining free edge pairs, 1 by 1
o use Edge Edit > replace function if more control is needed
 Find Defeature > duplicates to check for any duplicate surfaces and delete them
 Use Geometry > Create > Surfaces > Spline/Filler to fill in any missing surfaces.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Section 3: Generating a Midsurface

This section uses CAD geometry data for a thin solid clip. Because of the small thickness of
the part, it is assumed that it will be modeled for FEA as shell elements. The elements will
be created on the mid-plane of the part.
 Create and Edit a midsurface
 Visualize the midsurface by using shading options and transparency
Midsurfacing: Introduction
Often the most accurate representation of a part is through the use of shell elements.
These elements best represent parts that are relatively thin compared to their overall
surface area and typically have a uniform thickness. Shell elements have no physical
thickness representation; they are displayed as two dimensional entities whose thickness is
simply a numerical value assigned to them. FE Solvers assume the shell element to lie at
the middle of the thickness. As that is the case, the mesh created on the surfaces needs to
lie at the mid-plane of the part. CAD geometry is usually created as either a solid part or a
series of faces representing a solid part. Using the midsurface tool in HyperMesh, proper
surfaces can be extracted that lie on the mid-plane of the part and can be meshed
appropriately.
Midsurfacing: Tools
Midsurfaces can be created using Geometry > Create > Midsurfaces panel

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Auto Midsurface – This subpanel allows you to extract, in one step, the midsurface
of a more complicated group of surfaces that represent a solid part
 Surface Pair – The surface pair subpanel offers a simplified function that allows
you to extract a midsurface from two faces that represent the two sides. This function
creates one surface that forms the midsurface.
 Quick edit -- The quick edit subpanel allows you to quickly repair a midsurface by
correcting its targets. It should be used after you have created (or attempted to
create) a midsurface using the auto midsurface subpanel. You first select a surface
that you want to edit/repair; this surface can either be a midsurface that was created
earlier, or a surface that is part of the solid. You will notice the appearance of new
temporary entities displayed in three colors (yellow, cyan and red).

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Assign target -- The assign target subpanel allows you to repair a midsurface by
correcting its targets. It has similar but advanced features respect to the quick edit
subpanel. It should be used after you created a midsurface. You should first select a
surface to edit/repair. This surface can either be a midsurface that was created
earlier, or a surface that is part of the solid. You will notice the appearance of new
temporary entities displayed in different colors (yellow, cyan and red).
 Replace edge -- Allows you to close gaps and slivers by replacing one edge with
another. This function is the same as the one in the Edge Edit Panel and is available
here for convenience.
 Extend surface -- This subpanel extends or retracts the edges of selected surfaces
to meet other selected surfaces, or to close gaps between surfaces or holes within a
selected surface. Several options affect how surfaces extension behaves, including
enabling or disabling the ability to shorten edges as well as extend them, or to force
the extended edges to attempt to maintain the overall shape of the surface.

Chapter 2: Geometry
 View / assign thickness -- This subpanel Allows you to review the thickness of
surfaces (including midsurfaces), or change them. Surfaces that have thickness data
stored are drawn with lines (probes) extending from each vertex of the surface. The
length of these probes represents the thickness at those locations. Only surfaces
created in the Midsurface panel have thickness information defined by default, but
you can use this subpanel to define/set a fixed, uniform thickness for any surface.
Midsurfacing: Process & Strategy

1. Obtain a closed volume of surfaces or solids
 Midsurface : auto midsurface requires an enclosed volume
 Use topology repair techniques if needed
2. For complex parts, try defeaturing the surface defining the volume
 This simplifies the part and may give better results with create : solid
3. Generate the midsurface using Midsurface > auto midsurface
 Use surface pair for areas that need more control
 Use midsurface : editing tools for midsurfaces that need fine tuning
4. View the midsurface and correct errors using the midsurface editing
functionalities
 Can generally use quick edit

Chapter 2: Geometry
Exercise 2c: Midsurface

This exercise will cover the basic aspects of geometry repair and preparation for
meshing. It will cover repairing problems with the geometry, midsurfacing and
defeaturing.
Step 1: Open the file 02c-MIDSURFACE.hm
Step 2: Review the model

1. Zoom, Rotate and Pan the model to find the issues with it.
HINT: Use the Visualization Options Icon to find edges to fix.
2. You can play with Geometry Cleanup Tolerance value to fix issues.
[HINT] The cleanup tolerance is used to determine if two surface edges are the same
and if two surface vertices are the same. The default cleanup tolerance toggle controls if
two surface edges are close enough to be automatically combined to shared edges
(green edges).
If you want you can specify a different value, greater than the default value. Increasing
the tolerance can cause serious problems. When this value is set, any features equal to
or less than the tolerance are eliminated.
If there are edges present that are important to the surface, that surface will be distorted,
or will fail to trim properly.
The tolerance value should not be set to a value greater than the node tolerance set in
the options panel to be used for your element mesh.

Chapter 2: Geometry
3. Use geometry repair tools to fix the following issues:

o Duplicate Surfaces to delete with Defeature Panel
o Missing Surfaces to create with Quick Edit > Filler Surface

Chapter 2: Geometry
o Free Edges to equivalence with Quick Edit > Toggle Edge
Step 3: Create and Edit the Midsurface

1. From the menu bar select Geometry > Create > Midsurfaces > Auto.
This brings you to the auto midsurface sub-panel in the midsurface panel.
2. Set the switch to surfs.

3. Toggle to closed solid.
4. With the surfs button selected pick one displayed surface, the “closed solid” option will
select all surfaces attached.

Chapter 2: Geometry
5. Click extract.
A new component will be created called Middle Surfaces and the new mid plane
surfaces will be placed in it. Additionally the original component will be set to be partially
transparent so the Middle Surfaces can be seen.
6. Turn off the display of the original component so that only the Middle Surfaces are
displayed.
7. There are multiple problems with the model. They need to be repaired. Zoom into the
area shown above. Rotate the model to the view shown below.
8. Zooming in reveals some serious problems with the midsurface in this area. These can
be fixed with the quick edit sub-panel.
9. If you have exited the Midsurface panel enter it again.

10. Select the quick edit sub-panel
11. Set the target type to point to point.
12. Set the target location to as selected.
13. Leave the remaining settings and pick the surface shown by the blue arrow.

Chapter 2: Geometry
The display will now show the way in which HyperMesh decided to create the middle
surface. That needs to be corrected.
14. Pick the point in the green circle (circle labeled 1) to indicate the point whose offset you
wish to fix (see image below).
15. Pick the point in the blue circle (circle labeled 2) to indicate which point it should have
been offset to (see image below). You will need to hold down the left mouse button to
highlight the line, and then click on the line to select a node.
16. HyperMesh then shows what the new surface offset will look like. This is now correct.
17. Select update.

18. Rotate the model slightly; a green line is left where the problem area was previously.
Use the toggle subpanel in the Quick Edit panel > Toggle Edge subpanel to toggle the
edge from a shared edge to a suppressed edge.

Chapter 2: Geometry
19. Fit the model to the screen and zoom in on the highlighted areas below.

Chapter 2: Geometry
20. [ZONE 1] Go to the Geometry > Create > Midsurfaces panel and select quick edit
sub-panel.
21. Set the target type to point to point.
22. Set the target location to as selected.
23. Leave the remaining settings and pick the surface shown by the arrow.
The display will now show the way in which HyperMesh decided to create the middle
surface. That needs to be corrected.

Chapter 2: Geometry
24. Pick the point in the green circle (circle labeled 1) to indicate the point whose offset you
wish to fix (see image below).
25. Pick the point in the blue circle (circle labeled 2) to indicate which point it should have
been offset to (see image below). You will need to hold down the left mouse button to
highlight the line, and then click on the line to select a node.
Select update.
27. Repeat step 24-25-26 using Point 3 and 4.

[HINT] Use Visualization Mode: Wireframe Geometry while you’re working with point 3,
4.
Select update.

Chapter 2: Geometry
29. Rotate the model slightly; a green line is left where the problem area was previously (see
pictures below).
30. Use the toggle subpanel in the Quick Edit panel > Toggle Edge subpanel to toggle the
edge from a shared edge to a suppressed edge (highlighted in violet).
31. Use the add/remove point subpanel in the Quick Edit panel to remove the fixed point
(highlighted in orange).
32. There are still edges (see picture below, red edges at the bottom) that need to be
connected.
Go to the Midsurfaces panel and select extend surface sub-panel.

Chapter 2: Geometry
33. Use setting as you can see in the picture above and pick the surface shown by the
arrow.
34. [ZONE 2]
35. [ZONE 2] Go to the Geometry > Create > Midsurfaces panel and select replace edge
sub-panel.
36. Select edge to move and retain (see picture below) and click on replace.

Chapter 2: Geometry
37. Select Yes when this dialog box will appear. The gap will close

Chapter 2: Geometry
38. (Optional) Find the remaining issues with the model and use the midsurfacing tools,
point replace, filler surface and other geometry tools to repair the part.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Midsurfacing: Extraction Options…
The following options are available by clicking on the extraction options... button:
 keep sides geometry / insert planes – When you choose keep sides geometry,
midsurfacing will find the middle points between surfaces and project one of the
surfaces to those middle points. This is the traditional approach for midsurfacing in
HyperMesh. When activating the insert planes method, HyperMesh will pair solid
surfaces and insert planes between them. Surface pairing is automatic and pairs can
be further organized using the Plate Edit panel.
 align steps/ keep jump steps – This is available only when you select keep sides
geometry. In the case of a part that has different "steps" of thickness, such as a flat
sheet that is twice as thick at one end as the other but uses an abrupt step-like
change in thickness instead of a constant slope or curve. The align steps option will
align midsurfaces whereas keep jump step will produce steps between the various
midsurfaces as in the original model.
 auto mid position / user mid position – This is available only when you select
keep sides geometry and align steps. If you select auto mid position, HyperMesh
will create a midsurface parallel to the largest side of the volume. This midsurface
includes "offset" data to represent the changes in distance between the midsurface
and the smaller faces at each "step". If you select user mid position, you have to
define the offset of the midsurface, using a value from 0 to 1, to specify the offset
from the largest side of the volume.

Chapter 2: Geometry
The midsurface (with orange nodes) is parallel to the larger face of the solid plate
 allow rerun – Adds the rerun option to the Auto Midsurface panel. The rerun option
allows you to visualize which points the extraction tool believes to be linked (and which
will therefore collapse to the same point on the midsurface), and manually define lines /
line chains to establish the linkage between points that should collapse to the same
location.
Starting Solid entity
Auto-extract its midsurface; Its result contains gaps.
Rejecting the midsurface, prepare for rerun, and then extracting again displays the same
midsurface, along with blue highlighting of the lines that connect associated points

Chapter 2: Geometry
Problem caused by the failure of extraction; it could be fixed by manually specifying the fillet
curves as additional lines to collapse.
 use base surfaces – The use base surfaces option allows you to select the separate-
but-aligned faces that you wish to treat as if they were continuous (in the image below,
these would be the three bottom faces) and create the multiple midsurfaces based on
them.
Extract midsurfaces from multiple solids as if they were a single solid using the align steps option.
It uses a new base surfaces setup... Button that allows you to select the desired based surfs to
add; new midsurfaces are created at the specified distance from the selected base surfaces.
Use this feature to create aligned midsurfaces for non-aligned solids, by specifying each solid and
its offset separately, using a different offset for each

Chapter 2: Geometry
 thickness bound / no thickness bounds – This option allows you to set the minimum
and maximum thickness of the plates in the part. If thickness bounds are specified,
middle surfaces are only created for plates with a thickness that falls into the specified
range. This option can improve the robustness of the results and speed up middle
surface creation. If you choose no thickness bounds, midsurface extraction still uses
the max thickness ratio. This is the highest acceptable ratio of the thickest plate’s
thickness to that of the thinnest plate.
 max R / T ratio – This parameter, while always present in the midsurface function, has
now been “exposed.” Previously this value was hard-coded into the function at a value
of 2.0
o R/T Information and Tips

 The R/T ratio is taken into account on T-, X- and more complex connections only,
as in the center of the picture below. On a curve without a T-connection (like on
the right side on the picture) it does not apply.
 If R/T is greater than the value specified in the panel, then this location will not be
recognized as a junction.
 If T is different on different sides on the junction (as in the above picture), then
the maximum T is used.
 Will work with fillets that have a variable radius across their length.
 Use of this parameter with a high value can result in situations where it is not
valid to use a midsurface representation. If these are not areas of high stress and
the results in this area are not of interest, then it is acceptable. This option does
not affect the core midsurface algorithm.

Chapter 2: Geometry
 thickness based stich tol – When the thickness based stitch tol checkbox is active,
the final stitching of midsurfaces is performed with a locally-defined tolerance of 1/5 of
the local thickness. If unchecked, global cleanup tol from the Options panel is used for
stitching.
 extract by component / cross components – This option is useful when you are trying
to extract the midsurface of multiple parts in a single step. If it is toggled to extract by
component, it assumes that each part is contained in its own component, so it extracts
the midsurface of one component at a time. If your model contains a single part
organized in multiple components, you should toggle this option to cross components.
 result in Middle Surface comp/result in current comp – This toggle specifies if the
midsurfaces are created in the Middle Surface component (created if it does not exist) or
in the current component. It is recommended to use the result in Middle Surface comp
setting.
 sort Middle Surface comp into – This option specifies how to organize the midsurfaces
generated in the Middle Surface component when the sort button is clicked. The
original comp option organizes the midsurfaces into their parent surface/solid
components.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Midsurfacing: Midsurface Mesh Tool

The Midsurface Mesh Tool is located at Mesh > Create > MidSurf Mesh menu.
This tool allows you to create a mdsurface, create finite elements and assign them related
thickness.

Chapter 2: Geometry

Chapter 2: Geometry
Midsurfacing: Map Mid-Mesh Thickness Tool

The Map Mid-Mesh Thickness Tool is located at Mesh > Edit > Elements > Midmesh
Thickness menu in RADIOSS (Block), OptiStruct, Abaqus, LS-DYNA, and Nastran user
profiles.
This tool can be used for calculating the thickness of a mid-mesh from the solid geometry.
The thickness will be assigned on the mid-mesh either on node card, element card, nodal
thickness on element card or also as properties on elements depending on the solver user
profile.
This tool allows you to create a mdsurface, create finite elements and assign them related
thickness.

Chapter 2: Geometry
 Input Section – The mid-mesh and solid can be specified by selecting entities in the
HyperMesh session interactively, or optionally, external geometry or FE solver decks
can also be selected as input
FE and Geometry displayed Traditional Element Visualization
 Thickness Output Options – Clicking the Calculate Thickness button will begin
the operation. The thickness will be computed and assigned on the mid-mesh.
o Minimun Thickness: (optional)
o Maximun Thickness: (optional)
o Assign offset to elements:
o Assign average thickness to element groups:
o Maximum Thickness Range Interval:
o Correction Method:
o Scaling at corners:
o Max Midmesh / Solid Angle (0,90):
o Max Thickness Gradient (0,10):
o Save log file:

Chapter 2: Geometry
 View Options – In the View section, there are several options for visualization:
o Element Coloring by thickness: Thickness Contour Applied 3D Element
Visualization
o 3D Element Representation: 3D Element Visualization
o Highlight Corrected Elements: 3D Element Visualization Corrected

Elements Highlighted

Chapter 2: Geometry
Section 4: Generating and Editing Surfaces

 Create surfaces
 Edit surfaces
Generating Surfaces
The Surfaces panel is located at Geometry > Create > Surfaces and it allows you to
create surfaces using a wide variety of methods:
 Square ( ) – Creates two-dimensional square surface primitives
 cylinder full / partial ( ) – Creates three-dimensional full/partial cylinder

surface primitives
 cone full / partial ( ) – Creates three-dimensional full/partial cone surface

primitives
 sphere four nodes / partial ( ) – Creates three-dimensional sphere surface

primitives
 torus center and radius / three nodes / partial ( ) -- Creates three-

dimensional torus surface primitives
 Spin ( ) -- Creates surfaces by spinning lines or a node list around an axis
 drag along vector / line / normal ( ) -- Creates surfaces by dragging

lines/nodes along a vector/line/normal
 ruled ( ) -- Creates surfaces by interpolating linearly between lines or nodes
 spline/ filler ( ) --, Creates surfaces by filling in gaps, such as a hole in an

existing surface
 skin ( ) -- Creates surfaces by skinning lines
 fillet ( ) -- Creates constant radius fillet surfaces across surface edges

Chapter 2: Geometry
 from FE ( ) -- Creates surfaces that closely fit a selection of shell elements
 meshlines ( ) -- creates lines from nodes or plot elems; mesh lines closed
chains of mesh lines can be used to generate surfaces or apply loads.
Editing Surfaces
The Surfaces Edit panel is located at Geometry > Edit > Surfaces and it allows you to
perform a variety of surface editing, trimming, and creation functions. This panel also allows
you to offset surfaces in their normal direction.
 trim with nodes – Allows you to trim (split) a surface using nodes. The surface can
be trimmed with two nodes, with multiple nodes, or with a node normal to and edge.
 trim with lines – Allows you to trim/split surfaces using a line (or a group of lines).
There are three methods (Trim with cut line, Trim lines, With offset line)
 trim with planes / surfs -- Allows you to trim or split surfaces with another surface
or a plane. This function determines the intersection of the selected surfaces and a
plane or a surface and then trims the original surfaces at this intersection
 untrim -- Allows you to remove trim lines so that the trimmed surfaces return to
their previous, untrimmed state
 offset -- Allows you to offset a group of surfaces by a given distance along the
normals of those surfaces
 extend -- Allows you to extend or retracs the edges of selected surfaces to meet
other selected surfaces, or to close gaps between surfaces or holes within a selected
surface. Several options affect how surfaces extension behaves, including enabling
or disabling the ability to shorten edges as well as extend them, or to force the
extended edges to attempt to maintain the overall shape of the surface.

Chapter 2: Geometry
Input Action
max extension / Max extension: extend the surface using a maximum extension distance.
extend over edges
Extend over edges: extend a surface over edges to another surface
to surfaces This choice is available when Extend over edges is selected. The
extending surfaces will extend as far as necessary to meet these ones.
by distance / by For by distance, type in the maximum distance that you wish the surfaces
thickness multiplier to extend.
For by thickness multiplier, type in the multiple of the surfaces' assigned
thickness that yields the maximum distance you wish the surfaces to extend.
by filling gaps / by by distance: This is the literal distance that selected edges will extend,
distance / to surfaces measured in the same units that the model was created for.
by filling gaps: extends the edges of the hole to fill the gap.
surfs: to extend Use this selector to pick only the surfaces that you wish to extend.
selector
If you selected any shared (green) or non-manifold (yellow) edges as lines:
to extend over, then this selector allows you to specify the corresponding
surfaces so that HyperWorks knows which surface to use to determine the
plane of extension for the shared/non-manifold edge.
Additionally, you may need to use use this selector to specify any "target"
surfaces, particularly if you use the cross extension option described
below. Edges will only extend toward surfaces that are also selected, even if
those additional surfaces have no extending edges. These recipient/target
surfaces will also be trimmed, if the trim result surfaces checkbox
described below is active.
cross extension / cross extension allows for all input surfaces to be used as both extension
surfs: to target and target surfaces. This is useful for doing bulk extensions where all
selector selected surfaces should extend to others within the selection. The input
surfaces will not extend beyond the specified max extension distance, nor
will any of their edges extend if there are no other surfaces within the max
distance.
When selecting this option for extending a surface over an edge, then all
selected surface/edge combinations will be extended or shrunk. Despite the
name, in this case the surfaces will not cross through each other; having
selected to surfaces ensures that they will meet rather than intersect.
surfs: to target simply extends the surfaces toward other surfaces. You
must use this selector to pick the destination surfaces; the extended
surfaces will then extend up to the specified distance to meet those
surfaces. If the target surfaces are too far away, no extension occurs.
When using the surfs: to target option, you can select surfaces already
selected as surfs: to extend. Selecting the same surfaces in both surfs: to
extend and surfs: to target produces the same result as the cross
extension option.
When selecting this option for extending a surface over an edge, then the

Chapter 2: Geometry
surfs: to extend that you have selected edges for in lines: to extend over
will extend toward the surfaces that you select with the surfs: to target
selector. The target surface does not need to be selected as an extending
surface.
lines: to extend over Pick the edges that you wish to extend. The surfaces will be extended
across these lines. If you select a free edge, this also selects and highlights
the corresponding surface.
surfs: to extend Pick the surfaces that you wish to extend.
surfs: to target / cross Extended surfaces will extend in the direction of surfaces selected in surfs:
extension to target.
If cross extension is selected, all the selected line and surfaces will be
extended.
trim result surfaces If the checkbox is on and all selected surfaces extend or shorten to have
their edges meet, then the selected surfaces will be trimmed or stitched
regardless of which components they belong to. If the checkbox is off, the
result varies further:
If the selected surfaces are in the same component, they will not be
trimmed but they will be stitched. This is the default stitching behavior for
• surfaces in the same component.
If the selected surfs are in different components, they will not be trimmed
or stitched. This is the default stitching behavior for surfaces in different
components. If you need them to be stitched, you must do so by way of
• edge equivalence (or some other edge editing).
If the checkbox is on and the selected surfaces extend through their target
surfaces, or even merely to the interior without actually touching any of the
target surface edges, the surfaces will be both trimmed and stitched at the
intersection regardless of whether or not they belong to the same
component. However, if the checkbox is off, the surfaces are not trimmed or
stitched, since they do not meet at any edges.
 shrink -- Allows you to shrink the surface by drawing all of its edges (including
internal edges from holes, etc.) "back" away from their starting location

Chapter 2: Geometry
Geometry Dimensioning
Use the dimensioning panel to change one or more dimensions of existing geometry, thus
changing the basic shape of solids and other enclosed volumes.
The Dimensioning function can be accessed through Geom page > Dimensioning.
The dimensioning tool allows you to select dimensions of or between surfaces, and modify
those dimensions as required. This is accomplished by means of the use of dimension
manipulators.
The dimensioning panel's behavior is controlled by several options. In addition, you may
wish to read about some advanced considerations in order to better understand some of
the behavior that results from changing some of the dimensions of existing geometry.
Dimensioning is based on continuous surface offset functionality. It provides assistance in

the selection of the surfaces to offset so that a change to the selected dimension can occur,
and calculates the offset values required for each surface to achieve the specified
dimension.

Chapter 2: Geometry

Chapter 3: 2D Meshing
Chapter 3
2D Meshing
Section 1: AutoMeshing
The optimal starting point for creating a shell mesh for a part is to have surface geometry
defining the part. The most efficient method for creating a mesh representing the part
includes using the Automesh panel and creating a mesh directly on the part’s surfaces.
The Automesh panel is a key meshing tool in HyperMesh. Its meshing module allows you
to specify and control element size, density, type, and node spacing, and also perform
quality checks before accepting the final mesh.
A part can be meshed all at once or in portions. To mesh a part all at once, it may be
advantageous to first perform geometry cleanup of the surfaces, which can be done in
HyperMesh.
The purpose for this section is to help you become proficient with using the Automesh
panel’s meshing module. In this section, you will learn how to:
 Mesh all the surfaces at once specifying different element sizes and element types.
 Practice changing the element density along surface edges.
 Practice checking element quality and changing the mesh pattern by changing the
mesh algorithm.
 Preview the mesh on all the unmeshed surfaces.
 Practice changing the element type and node spacing (biasing) along surface edges.
 Re-mesh surfaces.

Automeshing
The automesh function in HyperMesh allows for the rapid generation of a quality mesh on
one or multiple surfaces. Within the automesh panel there are many options available which
provide the user a high level of control over the ultimate mesh.
Topology Review
Automeshing of surfaces is dependent on surface topology, which is the connection of
adjacent surfaces edges. Properly connected edges ensure a properly connected mesh.
As discussed in the previous chapter, topology is represented graphically though edge color.

Automeshing: How topology affects the mesh

To properly represent a part with shell elements, those elements must be properly
connected. Unconnected elements are in effect a slice in a part and all stresses, strains and
deformations will stop at the unconnected region.
HyperMesh keeps edges in a part. This means that if you see a surface edge in the mesh
(unless it is suppressed) you will see that same edge in the mesh. HyperMesh will place
nodes along that edge and if the edge is properly connected then there will only be one set
of nodes that will be shared by elements on either side of the edge. Node sharing between
multiple elements is how elements are connected to each other.
Below are examples of how edge topology affects the resultant mesh. There is an example
for each of the 4 topological states (colors).


The Automesh Panel
Within the Automesh panel are numerous controls to allow for the creation of a quality
mesh to individual specifications.
 Flow:Align produces a more orthogonal quad dominated mesh
 Flow:Size is active only when align is used and it enforces the global mesh element
size with minimal min/max element size variation
Mesh with no flow control
Mesh with Align Control

Mesh with Align and Size Control
Size and bias Subpanel

This subpanel is the most widely used and is the default for automeshing. Within this panel
the user sets the desired element size and type, chooses options for flowing and mapping
and then is provided with a preview mesh. From within the meshing module there are many
options for mesh refinement.
 Density
o Adjust – Left clicking on an edge will raise the element density on that edge
by one, right clicking will lower the density by one. Clicking
will provide a new preview mesh with the changes.
o Calculate – Here the user can enter a new element size and either click on
an edge to recalculate the density on that edge or click recalc all and change
the element size for all the surfaces currently being meshed.
o Set – This option allows for the setting of element densities on a single or all
edges to a user set number.
 Mesh Style
o From this sub panel the user can indicated the type of mesh to create.

o This panel also allows the user to define the method or style of meshing. The
“style” is the manner in which the mesh transitions between different density
values.
 Biasing
o The biasing subpanel allows the user to control the distribution of nodes
during the nodes seeding by selecting biasing in the form of linear,
exponential or bell curve distributions.

 Checks
o The checks subpanel evaluates the quality of the generated mesh.
 General Controls
This toggle changes between automatic and interactive meshing modes. In automatic
mode, HyperMesh will generate the mesh based upon the user entered values and options.
In the interactive mode, HyperMesh will generate the same mesh but will do so as a
“preview” mesh allowing the user to use the above mentioned tools to manipulate the mesh
before finalizing it.

Section 2: Checking and Editing Mesh

Once a mesh is created, HyperMesh has many tools for checking element quality and
modifying the mesh to make it more desirable. These tools can be used at almost any point
in the meshing process. This section is separated from sections on creating mesh so that
the focus can be on checking and editing tools.
 Identify shell element connectivity problems.
 Correct shell element connectivity problems.
 Review the model’s shell elements to ensure connectivity problems were
corrected.
 Re-mesh the elements along the rib.
Checking and Editing the Mesh: Tools

These mesh editing tools can be found as follows:
• Mesh > Check > Nodes
• Mesh > Check > Elements
• Mesh > Edit > Elements
• Mesh > Check > Components
• View > Toolbars > HyperMesh > Checks Toolbar
 Edit element
o Combine – merge 2 or more elements into 1 single element

o Split – draw a line to cut elements
o Cleanup – interactively drag nodes to improve element quality
o Split – divide selected elements in a selected manner
o Replace – merge 2 nodes into 1 node (elements are now connected)
o Detach – disconnect selected elements from other elements
o Smooth – improves quality of selected elements
 Quality index
o Set criteria for all standard quality checks
o Simultaneously evaluate element quality
o Combine all checks into a single value called “composite quality index value”
o Edit nodes and elements interactively or by automatically maximizing element
quality
 Check Elems – evaluate elements against various element quality criteria
o Jacobian, warpage, angle, min. length, aspect ratio, skew
 Edges
o Display free edges in the model by creating 1D elements on each one
o Equivalence (merge) nodes within a specified tolerance
 Normals – display and correct element normals
 Penetration – display and correct element penetration

Exercise 3a: 2D Shell Meshing and Topology Refinement
Step 1: Load the model 03a-2D-MESH.hm.
Step 2: Automatic 2D Meshing

1. Go to Mesh > Create > 2D AutoMesh to open the Automesh panel.
2. Mesh the part with an element size of 5. Set all of the options to match the picture
above.
3. Review the mesh.
Overall the mesh looks pretty good but closer examination of areas around the
part reveals there are some extremely poor quality elements.

4. Manipulate the part using the Pan, Rotate and Zoom functions and identify areas of poor
mesh formation.
As discussed in the lecture, HyperMesh always maintains all edges in the model except
those that are suppressed.
Turning the mesh visualization off shows the surface edge lines and reveals that there
are many features within the model that interfere with mesh quality. This is very often
the case in geometric models imported from CAD. Topology refinement is used to fix
those areas to improve the quality of the generated mesh.

Step 3: Topology Refinement

The goal of topology refinement is to manipulate the geometry to remove or alter
geometric features that cause poor element quality. HyperMesh has many tools, both
automatic and manual, to assist in this process.
1. Enter the Geometry > Autocleanup panel.
2. From the Autocleanup panel select the edit parameters button.
3. Enter 5 for the element size.
4. Leave the Geometry cleanup option checked and deselect all other options.
5. Click OK.
6. Select the edit criteria button, Advanced Criteria Table option checked.
7. Enter 5 for the target element size, 3 for the minimum element size and 6 for the
maximum element size.
8. Click OK.
9. Select all the surfaces and click autocleanup.
HyperMesh has suppressed edges that it felt would not allow elements that met the
criteria to be created.
10. Review the part again having a look at the new mesh that was remeshed automatically
during the topology modification because of the Meshing Options already defined
(Preferences > meshing Options > topology revision: > remesh).

You will see that the quality of the mesh has improved drastically.
There are still some issues with the mesh though.

11. Using the quick edit panel improve the quality of the mesh using the following functions;
o Toggle Line
o Adjust Density
o Add Point
o Split Surface
o Add a washer around the hole using the quick edit panel with an offset value of 5.
12. Use the element editing tools to achieve a Quality Index as low as possible utilizing the
following tools:
o Split Element
o Combine Element
o Quality Index Node Editing
Step 4: Interactive 2D Meshing

While automatic meshing is quick and the overall mesh quality is good, HyperMesh
allows the user to interactively manipulate a preview mesh, controlling various settings
before the mesh is finalized.
1. Delete created displayed elements and enter the Automesh panel.

2. Change the toggle from automatic to interactive.

3. Select the surfaces in the Standard collector.
4. Mesh the part.
HyperMesh now enters the Size and Bias Interactive Mesh Preview Screen. The green
mesh that is shown is only a preview mesh and to see how changes affect it click the
green mesh button. The mesh will not be finalized until the return button is clicked.
5. From this screen try the following functions and see the effect they have on the mesh.
o Adjust the edge densities.
o Recalculate the entire model to have a 6mm element size.
o Change the mesh style so that the element type is all trias and then all R-Trias.
o Alter the biasing on edges and determine the difference between linear,
exponential and bell curve biasing.
o Recalculate the mesh to have 5mm quad elements on all surfaces.
6. Return to save the mesh.

Step 5: Model Organization

As this exercise will demonstrate the differences between meshing options, multiple
components will be necessary to separate the various meshes.
1. Create two component collectors called AlignOnly and AlignAndSize and make them
distinct colors.
2. Organize a copy of all the surfaces into both collectors.
Step 6: Meshing Options

There are a few options in the Automesh panel which can have a profound effect on the
mesh created. This section will explore those options.
1. Make the AlignOnly collector current and the only collector visible.
2. From the Automesh panel, size and bias sub panel, next to flow select the align
option. Leave the size box un-selected.
3. Mesh the surfaces in the AlignOnly collector.
4. Make the AlignAndSize collector current and the only collector visible.
5. From the Automesh panel, size and bias sub panel, next to flow select the align and
size options.
6. Mesh the surfaces in the AlignAndSize collector.
7. Utilizing the isolate function in the Model Browser to see the results of the different
meshing options.
Note that the non-aligned standard mesh tends to be more orthogonal following the
direction of the cardinal axis. The Align option allows the mesh to flow with the contours
of the part and the addition of the size option controls the size of the elements more and
results in less trias.

Step 7: Edge and Surface Deviation

1. Create 2 more component collectors called EdgeDev and SurfDev and make them
distinct colors.
2. Organize a copy of all the surfaces into both collectors.
3. Make the EdgeDev collector current and the only collector visible.
4. In the Automesh panel select the edge deviation subpanel.
5. Set the values as follows:
6. Mesh the part and if in interactive mode, finalize the mesh.

Note how the mesh size varies depending on surfaces curvature. At rounded edges and
around holes the mesh size drops down to the minimum element size to capture the
curvature. Areas of no curvature are meshed at the largest element size.

7. Make the SurfDev collector current and the only collector visible
8. Select the surface deviation sub panel.
9. Set the values as follows:
10. Mesh the part. Note how now the mesh size is dependent on and varies with the
curvature of the surfaces. Fillets between and areas of high surface curvature are
captured with smaller elements but large flat areas are of a higher element size.
11. Experiment in these two sub panels and determine how the interactive mesh controls
can be used to enhance the feature capturing abilities of these meshing styles.

Exercise 3b: Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh
Step 1: Open the model file, 03b-2D-MESH-EDIT-CHECK.hm.

The model for this exercise is 03b-2D-MESH-EDIT-CHECK.hm. Take a few moments to
observe the model using the different visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
Step 2: Create a preliminary mesh.

1. From the menu bar, click Mesh > Create > 2D AutoMesh to open the Automesh panel.
2. Set the selector type to surfs.
3. Go to the size and bias sub-panel.
4. In the element size = field, type 2.5.
5. For mesh type:, select mixed.
6. Switch the meshing mode from interactive to automatic.
7. Click surfs >> displayed.
8. Deactivate the flow: > align and size options.
9. Click mesh to mesh the surfaces.

Initial mesh on the defeatured clip model
Step 3: Review the mesh quality.

1. Take a minute to rotate, zoom, and pan the model to review the mesh that was created.
Note the locations where the mesh was not created in rows and columns of quads.
2. From the menu bar, select Mesh > Check > Elements > Check Elements to open the
Check Elements panel.
3. Go to the 2-d sub-panel.
4. In the length < field, type 1.
5. Click the length button to evaluate the minimum length.

6. Note the elements that failed the check. The topology will be edited to correct of some of
these, and the others will be left as is.
Step 4: Remove short edges by combining fixed points.

1. From the menu bar, click Geometry > Quick Edit > replace point: to open the panel.
2. Verify that the active selector is set to point(s).
3. Select the lower fixed point as indicated in the following image (point to move).
4. Once the point is selected, activate the retained button.
5. Select the upper fixed point as indicated in the following image (point to retain).
6. Once the second point is selected, click replace.
Selecting fixed points to be combined

Step 5: Remove the fixed points interior to all surfaces.

You should still be in the Quick Edit panel.
1. Go to add/remove point: sub-panel.
2. Select (mouse button: right click) the four fixed points as shown in the following image.
Each fixed point will be deleted as you select it.
These fixed points are left over from a defeaturing operation where small holes
(pinholes) were removed. They could remain without greatly sacrificing the element
quality, given the element size used for the mesh, but the mesh should be better without
them.
Fixed points to be removed

Step 6: Add edges to the surfaces to control the mesh pattern.

1. Go to split surf-line: sub-panel.
2. Zoom into the area indicated below and select the indicated fixed point as node.
3. With the active selector now on line, select the line shown in the following image.
Once both the point and line are selected, an edge will be created from the location of
the fixed point perpendicular to the line and the mesh will be modified accordingly.
Select fixed point and line to split the surface.

4. Repeat sub-steps 6.2, 6.3 for the following point and line.
Select fixed point and line to split the surface
Step 7: Add edges to the surfaces to control the mesh pattern.

1. Go to split surf-line: sub-panel.
2. Zoom into the area indicated below and select the indicated fixed point as node.

3. With the active selector now on lines, select the lines shown in the following image.
Once both the point and line are selected, an edge will be created from the location of
the fixed point perpendicular to the line, same for the other lines.

Step 8: Suppress shared edges causing a small edge.

1. Go to toggle edge: sub-panel.
2. Select each of the lines in the image below using your left mouse button and click
line(s).
Each line will become suppressed (blue) as you click line(s).
Surface edges to suppress by toggling

2. The mesh will be modified based on topology revision.
Step 9: Review the mesh quality.

1. Take a minute to rotate, zoom, and pan the model to review the mesh that was created.
Note that the mesh now consists completely of rows and columns of quads.
2. Enter the Check Elements panel.
3. Go to the 2-d sub-panel
4. In the length < field, type 1.
5. Click the length button to evaluate the minimum length.
Note the elements that failed the check. There are only two elements that fail the check,
and these fail the check because of the shape of the part. However, they are not too
small compared to the global element size, so you can leave them as they are.
6. Access the Automesh panel.
7. Go to the QI optimize sub-panel.
8. Verify that elem size = is set to 2.5 and the mesh type is set to mixed.
9. Click edit criteria.

10. In the Target element size field, type 2.500.
11. Click Apply and OK.

12. Select surfs >> displayed to select all displayed surfaces.

13. Click mesh.
Note that the old mesh is replaced by the new mesh.
14. If there is a message saying, "There is a conflict between the user requested element
size and quality criteria ideal element size," click the button, Recompute quality criteria
using size of 2.5.
15. Access the Quality Index panel by clicking Mesh > Check > Elements > Quality
Index.
16. Go to page1 and verify that the comp. QI is 0.01.
This low value indicates that the mesh is good quality. The higher the number, the lower
the mesh quality.

The part is now meshed and ready to be set up for an analysis. Save the model, if desired.

Exercise 3c: Checking and Editing Mesh
In this exercise, you will learn how to:

Identify shell element connectivity problems
Correct shell element connectivity problems
Review the model’s shell elements to ensure connectivity problems were corrected
Remesh the elements along the rib
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, 03c-2D-MESH-IMPRINT-EXTEND.hm.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the HyperMesh model file.

Open the file 03c-2D-MESH-IMPRINT-EXTEND.hm
Step 2: Review the model’s free edges to identify shell element connectivity
problems.
1. Access the Edges panel in the following ways:
 From the menu bar, select Mesh > Check > Components > Edges.
 From the Checks toolbar, select the Edges icon ( )

 From the main menu, select the Tool page, and then click edges
 Press the SHIFT+F3 keys

2. With the comps selector active, click any element in the graphics area.
The component containing the element is selected.
3. Click find edges.
Red, 1-D elements are displayed. They are organized into the new component named
^edges. A red 1-D element is created along each shell element edge that is free; one or
more of the element edge’s nodes is not shared by the adjacent elements.
Note: For a component name whose first character is ^, the component and its
contents is not written to the input file when the model is exported.
4. Click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).

5. Observe the red, 1-D elements (free edges).
6. Try to identify gaps in the continuity of the mesh.
Hint: Look closely at free edges interior to the model.

7. In the Model Browser, turn the display off for the component shells to continue to
identify which red, free edges do not belong.
8. Turn on the display for the component, shells.
Step 3: Correct the shell element connectivity problems using the Edges
panel.
1. In the tolerance= field, type 0.01.
2. Select an element in the graphics area to select the component.
3. Click preview equiv.
The status bar displays the following message: "81 nodes were found."
A sphere, , is created on nodes having a distance between each other equal to or

less than the specified tolerance.
4. Notice that for this exercise’s model, a sphere is not created on every node along all of
the red, free edges, which do not belong. A larger tolerance must be specified to identify
the rest of the nodes.
5. For tolerance =, increase its value until all 96 nodes are identified as shown in the
following image.
Be careful not to increase the tolerance value to too much. Although the 96 nodes will be
identified, an excessively large tolerance value may collapse elements when the
identified nodes are equivalenced. To find out the maximum value that can be safely
used for tolerance without collapsing the elements, press the F10 key to go to the check
elems panel, go to 2-d subpanel and click length. The status bar will display ‘… The
min length is 1.49.’ A tolerance value < 1.49 can safely be used, without causing any

elements to collapse when identified nodes are equivalenced. Click return to go back to
Edges panel.
The nodes identified with preview equivalence
6. Click equivalence.
The 96 coincident nodes are equivalenced.
7. Rotate and observe the model to see that the mesh still looks as it should and no
elements are collapsed.
8. Click delete edges.
The red, free edges and their component, ^edges, are deleted.
Note: Remain in the Edges panel.
Step 4: Review the model’s free edges again to confirm that all of the shell
element connectivity problems have been corrected.
1. Click find edges.
Observe the red, 1-D elements (free edges).
Are there any red, free edges that should not belong if the mesh was continuous or if all
of the elements were connected?
Hint: Only red, free edges should exist on the perimeter of the part and on periphery of
internal holes.

2. Use the Model Browser to turn the display off for the component, shells, to observe
that all of the free, red edges belong.
3. After verifying that the model has correct red, free edges, click delete edges.
Red, free edges that belong
Step 5: Display the element normals and adjust them to point in the same
direction.
1. Go to the Normals panel. The Normals panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the menu bar, select Mesh > Check > Elements > Normals
 From the Checks toolbar, select the Normals icon ( )

From the main menu, select the Tool page, then click normals
Press the SHIFT+F10 keys
2. Choose the elements subpanel and set toggle to vector display normals.
3. With the comps selector active, select one element from the graphics area to select the
component.
4. Click display normals.

Arrows (vectors) are drawn from the element centroids and show the direction of the
element normals.
Notice the arrows do not all point from the same side of the part. For some analysis, the
element normals should point from the same side.
5. Click size = and enter the size which the normal should be in model units and select
display normals again.
When size = is set to 0, the vector will be 10% of the screen.
6. Toggle vector display normals to color display normals.

The element normals are displayed using colors. The red side of the elements is the
positive normal direction, while the blue side is the negative normal direction.

8. Notice each side of the part shows red and blue.

9. Click the orientation: elem selector to make it active.
10. Select an element from the graphics area.
11. Click adjust normals.

All elements on either side of the part are the same color, red or blue.
The status bar displays the following message: "[X] elements have been adjusted."

If after adjusting the normals, there are still elements on one side of the part which are of
different color, change to elems from comps for the entity selector, choose these
elements and click reverse normals.
12. Click return.
Step 6: Review the quality of the elements using the check elems panel.
1. Access the check elems panel in one of the following ways:
From the menu bar, select Mesh > Check > Elements > Check Elements
 From the Checks toolbar, select the Check Elements icon ( )

From the main menu, select the Tool page, then click check elems
Press the F10 key
2. Go to the 2-d subpanel.

3. Verify that jacobian < field is set to 0.7.
4. Click jacobian to determine if any elements have a jacobian of less than 0.7.
Elements having a jacobian of less than 0.7 are highlighted.
5. Notice that several elements on the triangular rib and around the smaller of the two
holes have a jacobian of less than 0.7.
The status bar displays a message indicating how many elements failed this check.
6. In the graphics area, click an element.
A window appears that lists each quality check result for the element.
7. Click the right or left mouse button to close the pop-up window.
8. On the right side of the panel menu, switch from standard to assign plot.
9. Click jacobian to review again.
A legend for jacobian values appears and each element is colored accordingly. The red
elements have a jacobian less than the threshold, 0.7.

10. Verify that quads: min angle < is set to 45.

11. Click min angle to determine if any quad elements have an angle of less than 45.
12. Notice that a couple of elements on the rib have an angle of less than 45.
13. Verify that the max angle > field is set to 135.
14. Click max angle to determine if any quad elements have an angle greater than 135.

15. Notice that several elements on the rib have an angle greater than 135.
16. Click return.
Step 7: Remesh the elements on the rib using the automesh panel.
1. Access the Automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the menu bar, select Mesh > Create > 2D AutoMesh
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then click automesh
Press the F12 key
2. Verify that you are in the size and bias subpanel.
3. Switch the entity selector to elems.
4. Toggle to interactive.
5. For element size=, type 3.5.
6. Select one rib element from the graphics area.
7. Select one element on the plane of elements perpendicular to the rib and in the same
plane as the rib’s shortest edge as shown in the following image.

Example of elements to select
8. Select elems >> by face to complete the selection of elements as shown in the following
image.
Elements selected using by face
9. Click mesh.
The meshing module appears.

10. In the density subpanel, change the element density on the rib’s hypotenuse edge to 9.
11. Change the element density on the rib’s shortest edge to 5.
Adjusting element edge densities
12. Keep all other element edge densities the same.

13. Access the mesh style subpanel.

14. Under mesh method, set the last option to free (unmapped).
15. Under mesh method, select set all.
16. Click mesh to preview the mesh.

17. Go to the checks subpanel, and check the jacobian, quads: min angle, and quads:
max angle.
18. Notice that no elements fail the minimum and maximum angle checks.
Only a couple of elements have a jacobian of less than 0.7. The smallest jacobian is
0.68, which can still be considered good quality.
19. Click return to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.

Step 8: Use the smooth panel to adjust the node placement on the rectangular
plane of remeshed elements.
1. Click Mesh > Cleanup Elements > Smooth to open the Smooth panel.
2. Go to the plates subpanel.

3. With the smooth: elems selector active, select an element on the rectangular plane of
re-meshed elements.
4. Select elems >> by face.

5. For iterations = specify 10.

6. Switch the smoothing algorithm from autodecide to shape corrected.
7. Click smooth.
8. Click return.
Step 9: Remove tria elements from another area of the model using the edit
element panel, split and combine subpanels.
1. On the 2D page, enter the edit element panel.
2. Go to the split subpanel.

3. With the splitting line: points selector active, click four screen points as shown the
following image.
Temporary line segments are drawn to connect the points.
4. You can right-click to undo the last line segment drawn or you can click delete line to
start over with selecting points.
5. Click split.
Elements that have the line pass through them are split. The resulting mesh should look
like the mesh in the following image. There are two pairs of adjacent tria elements.

6. Go to the combine subpanel and set the toggle to combine to quad.
7. Select two adjacent tria elements as indicated in the following image.

8. Click combine.
9. Repeat 11.7 and 11.8 for the other two adjacent tria elements.
10. Remain in the edit element subpanel.
Trias to select Combining trias into quads

Step 10: Dynamically move nodes on the mesh area modified in the previous
step to improve element quality.
1. Go to the cleanup subpanel and ensure it is set to displayed elems.
2. Click cleanup.
The element cleanup menu appears. It allows you to select various combinations of
quality checks, specify a warning/unacceptable range for each check, and dynamically
move nodes around to place them where you desire.
Elements are colored as follows:
No color, appearing blank: element passes quality checks
Yellow: one or more quality check results falls into warning/unacceptable range
Red: one or more quality check results are beyond unacceptable
Among the group of elements you modified in the last step, Step 11, two quad elements
are red and one quad element is yellow.
3. Clear the warpage and jacobian check boxes, so that just the max angle is checked.
4. The model has three elements that are colored red.
5. With the node selector active, click an interior node of a red element and drag the node
around until the element is no longer red.
6. Repeat 12.5 for the other red elements.
7. Click return.
Step 11: For the same area of elements you focused on in the previous step,
optimize element quality by clicking nodes and elements.
1. On the 2D page, go to the qualityindex panel and select cleanup tools.

2. With the node optimize selector active, click a few nodes of the mesh area you
modified.
When a node is clicked, it is repositioned so that the elements attached to it have the
best possible quality based on the criteria specified in the qualityindex panel.
3. Click the selector element optimize to make it active.
4. Click yellow and red elements in the same mesh area.
When an element is clicked, it is adjusted to have the best quality possible based on the
criteria specified in the qualityindex panel.
When you click a red element, it may become yellow or the background color (no color
assigned). When you click a yellow element, it may become the background color (no
color assigned).
5. Click the selector modify hole & washers to make it active.
6. Select radial parameter and make active edit option.
Select a node around the hole, the radius field shows a value of 5.97.
Edit this field and set 7 as value.

Set a value of 3 in the remesh number of layer field.
The washer will change as shown in the following picture.
6. Click return.
Step 12: Add a ring of radial elements around the smaller of the two holes.
1. Click the Utility tab. If the Utility Menu is not displayed in the HyperMesh session, go to
View menu and check Utility Menu.
2. On the Geom/Mesh page, click Add Washer.
3. With the nodes selector active, select one node on the edge of the smaller hole as
indicated in the following image.

Example node to select
4. Click proceed.
A pop-up window for Add Washer along a Circular Hole utility appears.
5. Toggle to Width, and for Value specify 3.0.
6. Select the Minimum number of nodes around the hole check box.
7. In the Density: field, enter 12.

Add Washer along a Circular Hole dialog
8. Click Add.
9. Click Close.
The mesh around the hole should look like the mesh in the following image.
Resulting mesh around the smaller hole
Step 13: Imprint Mesh to different destinations.

1. Open Model Browser and select IMPRINT component, right-click on it and select
Show .
2. On the 2D page, go to the mesh edit panel and select imprint subpanel.

The imprint subpanel allows you to cause mesh from different, overlapping components
to sync or line up with each other, in order to facilitate better connection modeling
between them.
3. Select component IMPRINT as source, Select component shells as destination and
select destination for remain: option.
This tool takes existing elements and/or components and can be imprinted into elements
and/or components, changing direction and destination.
Original: Violet elements are offset from yellow.
3. Select create.

Violet source elements are imprinted in destination (yellow).
Select reject.
4. Select component IMPRINT as source, Select component shells as destination, select
destination for remain: option and make sure to flag option elems to destination
comp.
Violet source elements are imprinted in destination (yellow), element organized into yellow component.
Select reject.
5. Select component IMPRINT as source, Select component shells as destination, select
source for remain: option and make sure to flag option elems to destination comp.
Yellow destination elements are imprinted to Violet elements, element organized into yellow component.
Select reject and return.
Step 14: Extend Mesh to different destinations.

1. Open Model Browser; select IMPRINT component, right-click on it and select Hide.

Select EXTEND component, right-click on it and select Show .

2. On the 2D page, go to the mesh edit panel and select extend subpanel.
The extend subpanel allows you to create smoothly-meshed connections between
different components that do not quite touch, but are meant to. Mesh can be imprinted
such that both components are remeshed to match, or the source comp is remeshed to
match the destination comp, or vice-versa. In addition, you can actually merge the
elements of the source component into the destination component altogether.
3. Select nodes by windows (see red rectangular area in the following picture) from
EXTEND component (source), Select component shells as destination and select
along vector for projection: option (select N1 and N2 as shown in the following picture,
red circular area) to define direction.
4. Select create.
The resulted mesh, as shown in the following picture, connects the 2 parts with just 1
element along the projection, the remesh extension option is deactivated.

5. Select reject.
Repeat step 14.3 and 14.4 with the same options and selections, just make sure to flag
on remesh extension option.
The resulted mesh, as shown in the following picture, connects the 2 parts with
remeshed elements along the projection, the remesh extension option is activated.


With this exercise completed, you can save the model if desired.

Section 3: Batch Meshing

Geometry cleanup and meshing are often cited as time consuming aspects of finite element
modeling. In HyperMesh, these tasks can be performed in batch mode with the Batch
Mesher, requiring a minimum of input and user interaction. This section walks the user
through the basic process of meshing a part using the batch mesher.
 Define a configuration for the batch mesh
 Edit the criteria and parameter files
 Run the batch mesh job
 Monitor and review the batch mesh job
Batchmesher
 Performs geometry cleanup and automeshing in a batch mode
 Can dramatically improve productivity since there is minimal user interaction
(especially for large assemblies)
 Uses criteria and parameter files to determine how the parts should be meshed
 Can mesh multiple files in the same run


Batch Meshing Procedure

1. Create / specify Configurations
 Combination of element criteria and geometric parameters.
o Element criteria are element quality requirements.
o Geometric parameters are other requirements (element type, removal of
pinholes, removal of fillets, etc.)
 Criteria and parameters can be edited with the Criteria and Parameters Files
Editor.
2. Register and specify User Procedures (optional)

 Custom TCL scripts (macros) created by the user
 Performs additional operations on models during the batch run
 Pre Run and Post Run options can specify procedures performed before or after
the run
 Can specify when the procedure should be performed during the run
o Pre-geometry load – as soon as batch mesher is invoked
o Pre-batch mesh – just before loaded geometry is meshed
o Post-batch mesh – after meshing is finished

3. Set up the Batch Mesh job

 Specify a directory where geometry files are located
 Select geometry files from the directory
 Select a configuration to use for the mesh type for each file
 Specify any user procedures to be performed on each part
 Specify a directory where the meshed files will be located
 Run the batch mesh job

4. Monitor the Run Status of the job

 Use the Run Status tab to keep track of all your submitted jobs
 Use Load Mesh to open a selected file in a new HyperMesh session to view the
resulting mesh


Chapter 4: Solids & 3D Meshing
Chapter 4
Solids and 3D Meshing

Section 1: Creating and Editing Solid Geometry
HyperMesh has several functions that require the definition of a volume, such as creating
tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes. This can be done either with surfaces that enclose the
volume, or with solid geometry entities. Working with solids provides a couple of
advantages over surfaces. Selecting the volume for the function requires only a single click
because solids represent the volume with a single entity, as opposed to surfaces. Solids
that are topologically connected to each other also allow the functions being used to
recognize the connection. Creating mesh in these cases allows the mesh in adjacent
volumes to automatically have proper connectivity.
In this section, you will learn:
 What is solid geometry
 What is topology
 What does 3D topology look like
Solids are geometric entities that define a three-dimensional volume. Geometric entities are
defined as follows:
 Point: 0 dimensional; has only x, y, and z coordinates
 Line: 1-dimensional; has length, can be curved through 3-dimensional space
 Surface: 2-dimensional; has an area
 Solid: 3-dimensional, has a volume
Solid Geometry
HyperMesh supports the same solid geometry that is created in popular CAD software.
Solid geometry can be achieved through the importation of native CAD data or can be easily
created from bounding surfaces using the Bounding Surfaces option from the
Geometry > Create > Solids > Bounding Surfaces.

Additionally HyperMesh has numerous solid geometry creating tools to assist in the
manipulation of solids. These can be found through the pull-down menu, Geometry >
Create > Solids.
Solids panel
• Creates solid geometry of basic shapes:
• Square / Block - Cylinder / Cone – Sphere – Torus
• Full or Partial
• Bounding Surfs – Select surfaces that enclose a volume

• Drag along vector– “Extrude" a cross section along a a defined vector
• Drag along normal– “Extrude" a cross section along surf normal vector
• Drag along line– “Extrude" a cross section along a line
• Spin – “Extrude” a cross section via a circular path

Solid Editing
Tools for editing geometry:
 Surfaces panel
o Creates surfaces using various methods
o Can be used to split a solid
o Edges of the surface must be equivalenced to edges on the solid
 Solid Edit panel
o Trim with… – splits a solid into 2+ solids using:
 Nodes
 Lines
 Planes
 Surfaces
o Merge – combine 2+ adjacent solids into a single solid entity
o Detach – disconnects connected solids
o Boolean – advanced trim & merge operations
 Union (Solid A + Solid B) – same as merge
 Intersection (Solid A x Solid B) – keeps overlapping portions of 2
solids
 Removal (Solid A – Solid B) – deletes the volume of one solid from
another
 Cut (Cut Solid A with Solid B) – trims one solid with another solid
 keeps both solids, but they no longer overlap

Solid Topology
Topology governs the connectivity of solids and thus the connectivity of the elements
created from them. Similar to 2D topology, 3D topology is represented by colors as follows:
3D Topology visualization can be controlled using the Visualization Browser (visibility

of edges & faces based on topology, transparency of surface shading and visibility of fixed
points).

Geometry Color Mode to color geometry by component color or by

topology or by mappability.

Section 2: Solid Meshing

To mesh solid geometry, the Solid Map panel is used.
In particular are the one volume and multi solid sub panels. These allow for the automatic
creation of Hexa/Penta mesh on mappable shapes.
 Location:
o Mesh > Create > Solid Map Mesh
 What it does:
o Creates hexa-penta mesh in 1 or more volumes
 Each volume is defined by selecting a solid
geometry entity
 Easy to define shape for the mesh
since only one entity is selected
 Each volume must be a “mappable shape”
Mappable Shapes
To use the automatic Solid Map function the geometry must be split into mappable shapes.
Mappable shapes are defined as 2 opposing faces (source and destination) and faces that
directly connect the source and destination (along faces).

While this example shows two faces that are of the same shape and directly oppose each
other, that is not a requirement. The source and destination can be of drastically different
shape and contour and need not lie directly opposite each other.
Requirements and Tips

 Shape must be a closed volume
 Multiple source faces are allowed
 Destination face must be a single face
 No edges are permitted that are perpendicular to the drag direction. If they exist they
must be suppressed.
 When splitting solids into Mappable Shapes it is recommended to split the part into
the fewest possible regions to save time and offer more control over the mesh size.
This often means splitting parts in ways that are not perpendicular to surfaces.

 Placing a 2D mesh onto a “Source” face of a mappable shape will allow control over
the pattern of the resulting 3D mesh.
 When splitting solids into mappable regions, shared faces will guarantee 3D element
connectivity across the split. This connectivity will also assure that the mesh pattern
is carried through the part as subsequent regions are meshed.
 Mesh connectivity of properly split regions with shared faces is also guaranteed even
when mesh directions of the individual regions are not the same.
NOTE: The mesh pattern on the “along” faces will always be quads.

Solid Map Meshing

In solid meshing, the ability to be meshed is referred to as mappability. Mappability is
directional and can be likened to putting a surface mesh on one face of the solid, then
extending that mesh along a vector through the solid volume.
The ability to control the mesh pattern of a solid

mesh by placing a shell mesh on the surface has been available in previous versions. To
achieve this, though, the user had to put the shell mesh on the surface before the solid map
function was performed and had to do it for each desired face. The solid map panel
automatically places a shell mesh on the source faces and then enters into a mesh
adjustment panel similar to the one in the automesh panel:
This allows for control over the mesh density and style using tools that work the same as in
the automesh panel.

Exercise 4a: 3D Solid Meshing with Hexas and Pentas

This exercise will demonstrate a method for splitting a solid and then use the solid map
function to create Hexa/Penta Solid elements. It is important to note that this is simply one
way of splitting this solid. As with any solid geometry there are often many ways of
obtaining a fully mappable solid and while some are better than others, there is rarely a
“right” way of doing it. Experience is the key with this function; so experiment with different
techniques for solid splitting and observe the results you get.
Step 1: Import the model

1. Locate and import the file 04a-STAND-SOLID-MAP.prt
This model is in a ProE .prt format.
Step 2: Defeaturing
Small fillets make the geometry substantially more difficult to split into mappable regions
and result in a far more complex solid mesh. In many cases, these fillets are for
manufacturing purposes and can be eliminated from the geometry.
1. Defeature all of the small internal fillets.
HINT: Setting the search values to be 0.5->5.5 will select all of the fillets needed. This
range will also result in the fillet shown in the picture below to be selected. This fillet
must be removed (Right Click) from the selected fillets as defeaturing it would cause a
sharp point that would act as a severe stress concentration area.

Step 3: The first split

There is no set method for splitting a solid and often the first cut is the hardest, as picking
the location to begin can be confusing. Often it is easiest to find areas that look to be close
to being mappable. Many regions are only one cut away from becoming mappable and
these frequently are the best place to start. In the case of this model, these areas are the
flat “feet”. One cut will separate them from the rest of the solid and they will immediately
become mappable.
1. Turn on Mappable visualization:
2. In the solid edit panel select the trim with plane/surf subpanel.
3. Select the solid and using the N1 N2 N3 option, define a plane on the flat area as shown
in the picture below.
4. Trim the solid and the result will be a mappable region on the “foot”.
5. Repeat this trim on the other side of the part.
Step 4: Splitting out further mappable regions.

With the first splits done, now we can look to what is
remaining and determine how these regions can be made
mappable. It is often easiest to visualize this by masking the
areas already split into mappable regions, thus showing only
the areas of the part that remain to be split.
1. Mask the two mappable solids that were created in Step 3.

2. From the trim with plane/surf subpanel, select the solid and define a plane on the flat
recessed area.
3. Trim the solid.
4. Repeat on the other side.
The solid is now in three distinct regions; the two outer
regions being mappable and the central region which is still
un-mappable. .
5. Mask the two newly created mappable solids.
Step 5: The last trims.

With the thin slice of the part remaining, it is now important to
determine which feature(s) is(are) causing this solid to remain
non-mappable. Remember that the rules state that a mappable
solid can have multiple source faces but only ONE destination
face. The surfaces that make up the face of the pocket that was
on the complete solid (highlighted in red in the picture to the
right) occur on both sides of the remaining solid. This means
there are multiple surfaces on both sides of the solid and thus
violate the mappable rules.
In instances where specific regions prevent a solid from
mapping, trimming those regions out can result in a mappable
solid.
1. Select the trim with lines subpanel.

2. From the with sweep lines column, pick the remaining solid.
3. For the sweep lines, select the outline of one of the surface shown in red above.
4. As this model is aligned with the Global Axis, select the sweep to option to be by a
vector >> z-axis, select the sweep all option, and then trim the solid.
5. Repeat this process for the other side.
This will result in a fully mappable solid.
6. Save the model.

Step 6: Solid Meshing

With a fully mappable solid, the solid meshing tools can now be used to create the 3D
elements.
1. Enter the solid map panel and select the multi solids subpanel.
2. Set the options as below and mesh the solids.
The interactive multi solid meshing will allow for 2D mesh customization prior to the
creation of the 3D mesh. HyperMesh will show the order in which each solid is to be
meshed and will indicate the direction in which the mesh will be extruded.
Additionally the panel now allows the user to alter the 2D mesh that will be used as the
pattern to extrude the 3D elements. A panel similar to that used in interactive shell
meshing is opened and the pattern mesh is displayed on the solids.
Using procedures identical to 2D meshing, edge densities can be adjusted, element

sizes can be re calculated, mesh styles can be changed and other meshing options can
be altered. Clicking the mesh button will show the solid mesh but the mesh will not be
finalized until the return button is clicked so further changes can be made.
3. Use the edge density, master face style and options sub panels to make changes to
the mesh and see their outcome on the 3D mesh. When happy with the 3D mesh,
return from the function and save the part.

Section 3: Tetra Meshing

Introduction to Tetra Meshing
HyperMesh provides several methods of generating a tetrahedral mesh. The standard
method creates tetras from an enclosed volume of shell elements, plus several parameters.
This provides the user with a lot of control over the final tetra mesh. The volume tetra
mesher quickly and automatically creates a tetrahedral mesh on an enclosed volume of
surfaces or solid geometry with only a few inputs. Finally, the quick tetra mesher creates a
tetra mesh that maintains user specified quality requirements, but may sacrifice details in the
shape of the part to do so. All methods are valid in certain situations. The exercise in this
section focuses on the standard and volume tetra meshing methods.
In this chapter, you will learn about:
 Volume tetra mesher (Mesh > Create > Tetra Mesh > Volume tetra)
 Standard tetra mesher (Mesh > Create > Tetra Mesh > Tetra mesh)
 Checking tetra element quality
 Re-meshing tetra elements
Volume Tetra Meshing

The volume tetra meshing utility, found in the Mesh > Create > Tetra Mesh pull-down
menu and in the Volume tetra subpanel, provides a quick method for generating a tetra
mesh. No initial 2D mesh is required and the tetra mesh can be generated on solid
geometry or inside surfaces fully bounding a volume.
Two options are available to control the mesh:

 Use Proximity – Creates smaller elements next to small features to make a smooth
transition from small to large elements.
 Use Curvature – Will place more elements along curved surfaces based on user
specified settings.

Standard Tetra Meshing

Standard Tet Meshing involves wrapping a volume in 2D elements and then using that
predefined mesh to “grow” Tetra elements to fill the volume. The process is as follows:
1. Generate a surface mesh of shell elements
2. Check quality and connectivity of the plate elements
3. Generate the tetrahedral mesh
4. Delete the original surface mesh
5. Edit if necessary to obtain good quality
The standard method of Tetra Meshing can be found through the Mesh > Create > Tetra
Mesh pull-down menu and then select the Tetra mesh subpanel.
 Requirements for the shell mesh:

 Enclose one, and only one, continuous volume.
 There can be no free or T-connected edges.
 There can be no duplicates in the mesh.
 Elements should not fold over and overlap each other.
 Avoid very low minimum tria angles.
 Avoid a large difference in size between adjacent elements.
 Avoid a large difference in size between two sides of a wall thickness.

 For quad elements in the shell mesh:

 Split quads into 2 trias and create tetra elements under them
- OR –
 Keep the quad element and create pyramids under them
When using the Standard Tetramesh, the user will select the trias/quads that will define the
mesh and optionally the user can select fixed trias/quads. HyperMesh will, when creating
the tetra mesh, flip the diagonal of the 2D elements if it deems the resulting tetra mesh will
be of a higher quality with the flip. HyperMesh will not do this to elements selected in the
fixed selection.
 Floatable Trias/Quads
 Adjacent tria faces on the tetrahedral mesh may have their diagonal reversed
from the shell mesh if tetras are better quality
 Fixed Trias/Quads:
 Adjacent tria faces on the tetrahedral mesh always match the shell mesh

Exercise 4b: Tetra Meshing
Step 1: Load the model

1. Load the model 04b-VOLUME-TETRA-MESH.hm
Step 2: Attempt to TetraMesh the part

1. Either from the menu bar or the panel area, enter the panel to create a 3D Tetramesh.
2. Select the Volume tetra sub panel.
3. Change the enclosed volume switch to surfs.
4. Attempt to select a surface on the model. (Note: You will not be able to.)
With a properly enclosed model, the volume tetra panel will automatically select the
entire volume and allow a mesh to be created. With the model now in a topological
display mode, you will note there are many issues with the topography of the model.
Only a fully enclosed volume can be properly TetraMeshed, so we need to fix the model.
Step 3: Fix the geometry topology.

1. Using the Geometry menu in the menu bar, use the geometry cleanup tools to ensure a
fully enclosed volume.
Hints: Equivalence and Toggle will solve most of the problems. Some issues require
filler surfaces and point replacement. Remember that topology visualization can
assist in finding problems.
Step 4: TetraMeshing
With a properly enclosed volume you can now create the TetraMesh
1. Either from the menu bar or the panel area, enter the panel to create a 3D Tetramesh.

2. Select the Volume tetra sub panel

3. Change the enclosed volume switch to surfs.
4. Select a surface on the model. HyperMesh will automatically select all of the surfaces
that enclose the volume. If this fails, there are still errors in the volume and need to be
corrected using the geometry cleanup tools.
5. Leave all the default values and enter 30 into the element size= field.
6. Mesh the part. The part should now look similar to this:
7. Masking half the part shows the Tetrahedral Element structure.
8. Now delete the mesh.
Step 5: Using Proximity and Curvature Options

Proximity and Curvature options can provide a mesh that adheres closer to the geometry
in areas of curvature or small cross sections.
1. From the Volume tetra subpanel, select the part and select the Use proximity and Use
curvature options
9. Set the following fields to the values shown:
10. Mesh the part.

Note the areas of curvature have a smaller mesh size to better capture the geometric
curvature.
11. Optional: Mask half the part to view the internal structure
Step 6: Improve the mesh quality.

To improve the overall Tetrahedral Element quality we will check the tet collapse value
of the elements. Tet collapse uses a normalizing equation that checks the ratio of the
distance from each of the nodes to the area of the opposing face.
1. Find the Mesh > Check > Elements > Check Elements option from the menu bar.
2. Select the 3-d sub panel.
3. Enter 0.3 into the tet collapse< field and click the tet collapse button.
Note the number of failed elements in the dialog bar. The value should be around 43
elements.
4. Save the failed elements by selecting save failed.

5. Isolate the failed elements

Failed elements can be isolated on the screen anytime using the following procedure.
A. Go to the mask function.
B. Click the elems button.
C. Select retrieve.
D. Click the elems button again.
E. Select reverse.
F. mask the elements.
6. Using the unmask adjacent button twice to retrieve two layers of elements
surrounding the failed elements.
7. In the tetramesh panel select the Tetra remesh subpanel.

8. Select the displayed elements and remesh them.
9. Check the tet collapse again and note the number has dropped. Many of the remaining
elements are constrained by geometry but continued remeshing can result in further
drops in this number.
10. Delete the mesh.
Step 6: Defining Mesh Patterns

In instances where the user needs to define a specific mesh pattern for surfaces or features,
the volume tetra function can incorporate that pattern into the created tetra mesh.
1. Mesh the flat ring area with an element size of 10 and type of R-Tria. Set all edges to 45
elements. The resulting mesh pattern should look similar to the one below.
2. Create a new volume tetra mesh, this time selecting the match existing mesh option.
Make sure to set the tetra element size back to 30.
3. Note the Tetra Mesh has incorporated the defined mesh pattern
OPTIONAL Step 7: Improve Mesh Quality

1. Use Geometry Cleanup tools and Tetra remesh functions to try to achieve the best
possible mesh. Experiment with different techniques and discover the results.

Tetra Meshing Process Manager

The Process Manager is a step-by-step tool providing a checklist of procedures to allow the
user to quickly organize and tetmesh a geometric model. Each step is provided in a
hierarchal list providing the order in which the process needs to be performed and providing
specialized tools at each step to simplify the process. These steps, while they can be done
manually, can be performed in the TetraMesh Process Manager (Mesh > Create >
TetraMesh Process pull-down menu and then select the Create New) template in a much
reduced timeframe.
In this section, you will learn about using the TetraMesh Process Manager to:
 Import geometry or an HM File
 Clean up the geometry
 Organize the model (holes and features)
 Establish mesh size and pattern for the organized geometry
 Create a 2-D Mesh
 Clean up the 2-D mesh
 TetraMesh
The TetraMesh Process Manager will create a new tab (shown to the right) that will show
the step-by-step process required to create the tet mesh.

The current step will be indicated with a white arrow while completed steps will be shown
with a green arrow .
Additionally, the panel area will change from the standard HyperMesh panels and will
provide all the tools and functions needed to complete the current step.
The standard HyperMesh panels can be retrieved at any time by undocking the Process
Manager panels using the icon .
Selecting the icon will redock the Process Manager panels.

Exercise 4c: Tetra Meshing Process Manager
Step 1: Start the Process Manager.

1. From the Menu Bar, select Mesh > Create > TetraMesh Process >Create New to
access the Process Manager.
2. Enter a session name or leave it as my_session.
Note: Creating a session name and saving the session allows the user to stop
the process before completion and then load it again at a later time, picking up
the process at the point it was left off.
3. Select a working folder.
4. Click Create.
Step 2: Import geometry.

At this point the TetraMesh Process tab will open in the Tab area and will automatically
assemble the TetraMesh Process Flow.
The first step, Geometry Import, is highlighted and the panel area has been configured with
specific panels for aiding the Tetramesh Process Manager template. You can access the
HyperMesh panels by undocking the Process Manager panels using the icon in the upper
right corner of the panel area. This will separate the Process Manager panels so that you
can also access the HyperMesh standard panels. To redock the Process Manager panel,
simply click on in the upper right corner of the Process Manager panel.
1. In the panel area, change the Import Type to HM Model.
2. On the toolbar, click Import Filename ( ) and select the file

04c-TETMESH_PM.hm
3. Click Import.
The model will import and a green check will appear next to Geometry Import in the
Process Manager indicating that step is now complete.

Step 3: Clean up the geometry.
1. From the Geometry Color Mode selector ( ) pick By Topo and click
Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( ).
2. In the panel area, select the Edge Tools tab.
3. Click Isolate.
This will isolate the surfaces with free edges on them.
Isolated Surfaces with free edges.
4. Select the Free Edges tab and click Equivalence.
This will fix all the free edges. If this did not correct all of the free edges, the
Tolerance value could be increased until all free edges are equivalenced.
5. Select the Edge Tools tab and click Isolate again.
A window should appear with the message, “No edges found…” This confirms all
edges have been fixed.
6. Click Display All.
7. Click ACCEPT.
The Geometry Cleanup step has been completed and should have a green
checkmark by it.

Step 4: Organize and Cleanup Holes.

This step will allow you to organize the surfaces that form holes in the model. The
TetraMesh Process Manager can automatically sort and organize holes into separate
component collectors based upon their diameter. This will allow you to specify mesh type,
circumference element count, and longitudinal element size for different hole groups.
1. In the panel area, click the + ( ) button.
This will add a third line to the table.
2. On the first line, enter 3.3 into the D< field.
This will organize all holes with a diameter between 0 and 3.3 units, as indicated by
the Range field, into a collector.
3. Enter 5 into the second row and 10 into the third.
This will allow HyperMesh to organize the holes into three collectors that will include
holes ranging from 0 - 3.3 units, 3.3 - 5 units and 5 - 10 units collectively.
4. Click Auto Organize.
All of the holes in the model less than 10 units will now be organized into three
component collectors, each with a different color.
5. Click the HyperMesh Model Browser tab and expand the folder for Components.
You will see three new component collectors with the name solidholes followed by
the numerical average of the diameter range of the holes organized.
Transparent view of model showing all holes and bores organized

6. Return to the TetraMesh ProcessManager tab

7. In the Num Circumference Elems field enter 12 for each row.
8. In the Longitudinal Elem Size field enter 1 for each row.
The Num Circumference Elems field governs the number of elements that will be
meshed around the hole while the Longitudinal Elem Size field dictates the unit
size of the elements through the length of the hole.
9. Click ACCEPT.
The Organize & Cleanup Holes step is now complete should now have a green
checkmark next to it.
Step 5: Mesh holes.

1. In the panel area you will notice that each hole diameter row has a Mesh Type field
with a pull-down providing the options of R-tria regular and R-tria union jack.
Verify that all are set for R-tria regular and click Mesh All.
(The R-tria union jack mesh pattern will be discussed in a later step)
You will notice this process provides a perfectly straight tria mesh down the length of
the hole with no twisting.

2. Click ACCEPT.
The checkmark in the Mesh Holes step will now turn green.
Step 6: Organize and clean up features.

This step allows you to highlight and organize features that require specific mesh controls
beyond the overall mesh pattern that will be applied to the remainder of the part in a later
step. This organizational tool will place the required surfaces into their own collector or
collectors and allow you to set mesh size and pattern requirements for each.
1. In the panel area, click the + ( ) button.
2. In the Define New window that opens, type Faces and click OK.
3. Select all five of the flat faces around the circumference of the part as shown in the
following image.
4. Click proceed.
Faces that need to be picked

The panel will switch to the Organize panel with your surfaces pre-selected to move
into a new component called grp_Faces.
5. Click move, then return.
6. Click the + ( ) button again.

7. In the Define New window that opens, type TopHole and click OK.
8. Rotate the model so you are looking at it from underneath into the center, and select
the surfaces shown in the following image.
Note: With this tool you need only select one of the two surfaces that make up a
cylinder; when you click proceed HyperMesh will automatically select the other
surfaces.
9. Click proceed.
10. In the Organize panel, click move, then return.
Your model should then look similar to the following image, with the faces in one
collector and the top hole in another. Your colors may vary slightly.

11. Click ACCEPT.
Step 7: Organize and Cleanup Fillets.

Often a better mesh can be achieved if your fillets are split down the center. The step will
allow you to automatically split your fillets based on minimum and maximum radius criteria.
1. Click Components.
2. Select the part in an area that has not been organized into a new component so that
the large purple part is selected.
3. Click proceed.
4. Leave the Min Radius at 0 and the Max Radius at 5 and make sure the Suppress
Fillet Tangent Edges option is active.
5. Click Cleanup.
You will notice that many of the fillets now have an edge running down the center
and the original edges are suppressed.
6. Click ACCEPT.
Step 8: Mesh Features.

In this step you will mesh the features that you organized in Step 6. The panel area will
show a table with your organized features in it and will give you the option of selecting a
mesh type and size for each feature.
1. For the Faces feature, click the pull-down under Mesh Type and pick trias.

2. In the field under Elem Size, enter 0.5.

3. For the TopHole feature, select R-tria union jack for the Mesh Type.
4. For Elem Size, enter 0.5.
5. Click Mesh All.
6. Note the distinctive Union Jack mesh pattern ( ) in the top hole area and the
connectivity of the mesh to the previously meshed holes.
7. Click ACCEPT.
Step 9: Organize & Cleanup.

This step allows the user to organize and clean up the remaining portion of the model that
will then fall under the global meshing parameters. As the remaining surfaces are already in
the component you wish them to be in, there is no need for further organization.
1. Click ACCEPT.

Step 10: Mesh/remesh.

This step is where the remaining model will be globally meshed. Element size and type can
be set for all remaining components that remain unmeshed.
1. In the Element Size field, enter 1.

2. Set Mesh Type to trias.
3. Click Mesh.
4. Click ACCEPT.
Step 11: Elements Cleanup.

At this point the model should be entirely surface meshed. Proper adherence to the
previous steps ensures a surface mesh that is properly connected and controlled by the
previously entered values. This step will now allow the user to verify a proper mesh and
clean up any issues that are found.
1. In the panel area, click Components.

2. Select all of the components and click proceed.
3. Leave all of the values at their default (Min Size – 0.25, Max FeatureAngle – 60.0,
Normals Angle – 150.0) and click AutoCleanup.
The following message should appear.

This indicates that all failed elements have been fixed and there are no further errors
in the model.
4. (Optional) The Manual tab allows the user to manually check the model for free
edges and t-junctions and fix any that are found. There is also the option to display
normals. Use these options to find and fix any errors.
5. Click ACCEPT.
Note: The Tetramesh Process Manager will automatically place any elements that
fail this AutoCleanup procedure in the user mark. This will allow for easy retrieval of
problem elements and the user can employ the tools from the standard HyperMesh
panels to fix these remaining elements.
Step 12: Tetra mesh.

This is the final step in the TetraMesh Process Manager Template and will be the point
where the model is Tetra meshed. The Process Manager will automatically open the
TetraMesh panel and pre-select all of the float and fixed elements.
1. Click elems under select trias/quads to tetra mesh.
The surface elements will be selected under the general mesh selection option. This
will define them as “floatable” elements, meaning that the diagonals of the underlying
tetra elements can be flipped from the generated shell elements if HyperMesh
determines a better element quality will result.
2. Click elems under fixed trias/quads.
The elements that represent the interior of holes and bores will be selected under
this option. The will be defined as “fixed” elements meaning HyperMesh will always
adhere to the shell mesh pattern with generating the tetra elements.

3. Click mesh.
4. Click the Model tab in the Tab area.
5. Expand the Components list if necessary.
6. Right-click the tetmesh component.
7. Select Isolate Only.
The tetra mesh will be displayed.
8. Click Mask ( ).
9. Hold the SHIFT key down and while holding the left mouse button down, drag a box
to include roughly half of the model.
10. Click mask.
Your tetra mesh should look similar to the following image.

1. You can now save your model if you wish.

Section 4: Shrink Wrap

Shrink wrap meshing is a method to create a simplified mesh of a complex model when
high-precision models are not necessary. This is often the case for power train components
during crash analysis. The model's size, mass, and general shape remains, but the surface
features and details are simplified, which can result in faster analysis computation. You can
determine the level of detail retained by determining the mesh size to use, among other
options. Shrink wrap functionality was added to HyperMesh in the 9.0 release but has had
its capabilities greatly expanded in the later versions. The key additions are:
 Both solids and surfaces are valid as input to the shrink wrap – it is no longer
necessary to mesh the model beforehand.
 Shrink Wrap meshing has been improved for loose and tight algorithms by improving
the mesh flow and uniformity of the resulting mesh.
 Feature recognition for tight wrap is automatic; no need to manually define features.
 New “generate solid mesh” option has been introduced to provide a hexa only voxel
output. A jacobian parameter is definable to control the quality of the hexa mesh.
 New “mesh orientation” option is available to control the resulting shell/solid mesh
which will be orientated to either the global or user defined local system.
Panel Options and Settings

The Shrink Wrap function can be accessed through the pull-down menu through Mesh >
Create > Shrink Wrap Mesh and the panel shown below will open.
Shrink wraps can be generated using two algorithms: Loose or Tight. These determine how
closely the resulting mesh adheres to the details of the underlying model, and are best
suited to different use cases which will vary for any given use.
 Loose Shrink Wrap - generate a loose-fitting shrink wrap mesh that generally
conforms to the model.
 Tight Shrink Wrap - generate a tight-fitting mesh that adheres closely to the
underlying model, capturing as many features as possible.
The panel options for both Loose and Tight are the same and are as follows:
 Comps – Selection of the comps, elems, surfs or solids used to create the shrink
wrap mesh.
 element size= - Sets the desired target element size for the shrink wrap mesh.

 generate solid mesh - If selected, HyperMesh creates a solid hexa mesh under the
2d shell mesh.
 mesh orientation - Switch to choose element orientation with the global system or
previously created local system.

Exercise 4d: Shrink Wrap Meshing
Step 1: Open the model 04d-SHRINK-WRAP-MESH.hm.
Step 2: Create a loose shell shrink wrap mesh in the loose_gap component.
1. Click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges if the model is not shaded already.
2. Review the surface geometry on the screen. Notice the gap in the geometry.
3. From the pull-down menu, select Mesh > Create > Shrink Wrap Mesh.
4. Select the component in the graphics area.
5. Select the loose wrap option.
6. For element size, enter 4.
7. Click mesh to create the shrink wrap.
8. Expand the Component folder in the Model Browser.
9. Hide the surfaces component in the Model Browser.

Step 3: Review the solid geometry.

1. Show the block component in the Model Browser.
2. Review the model to see the features.
3. Hide the block component in the Model Browser.
Step 4: Create a loose shell shrink wrap mesh in the loose component.
1. Hide the loose_gap component in the Model Browser.
2. Right-click the loose component and click Make Current.
3. From the menu bar select Mesh > Create > Shrink Wrap Mesh.
4. Activate the loose wrap option.
5. Click comps and select block from the component list.
6. For the element size, enter 10.
7. Click mesh to create the mesh.

8. Click reject to reject the mesh.

9. Change the element size to 5 and click mesh to create the mesh.

11. Change the element size to 3 and click mesh to create the mesh..

The shrink wrap mesh with the geometry hidden
Step 5: Create a tight shell shrink wrap in the tight_shell component.

1. Hide the loose component using the Model Browser.
2. Right-click tight_shell and click Make Current.
3. Click comps and select the block component.
4. Activate the tight wrap option in the shrink wrap panel.
5. Make sure the element size is set to 3.
Step 6: Create a tight solid shrink wrap in the tight_solid component

1. Hide the tight_shell component in the Model Browser.
2. Right-click the tight_solid component in the Model Browser and click Make Current.
3. Click comps and select the block component
4. Activate the generate solid mesh option.
5. Change the minimum jacobian to 1.

8. Change the minimum jacobian to 0.7.
9. Click mesh to create the shrink wrap.
10. Click to open the Mask panel.

11. If not already set, set the panel collector to elems.
12. Use SHIFT + left mouse button to select a group of elements.

13. Click mask to mask the elements.

Step 7 (Optional): Change the minimum jacobian to 0.3 for optimized mesh.
1. Delete the elements displayed in the graphics area.
2. Click comps and select the block component from the list.
3. For the minimum jacobian, enter 0.3.
4. Click mesh to generate the mesh.


Chapter 5: 1D Meshing and Connectors
Chapter 5
1D Meshing and Connectors

Section 1: 1D Meshing and Connectors
1D elements perform a critical function in Finite Element Analysis as they can be used to
connect nodes together, attach dissimilar meshes, distribute loads and in general provide a
quick and easy way to attach things together.
There are numerous types of 1D elements ranging from infinitely rigid simple connections to
complex cross sectioned elements that can be stressed.
This chapter will cover many of the most widely used 1D elements and also cover an
important tool in HyperMesh called connectors. Connectors can provide a quick and easy
way to create many 1D elements with little work

Connectors: What are they?

Connectors are a geometric representation of connections between entities. The advantage
of connectors is the ability to create multiple connections at a single time. Hundreds or even
thousands of connections that would normally have to be created manually one at a time
can be mass created, even before the part is meshed. They can be used to create
numerous types of connection elements such as:
 Spot Welds
 Bolts
 Trim Masses
 Seam Welds
 Area Connections (Adhesives)
Connectors: Terminology
 Link Entities - The entities that are being connected
o User can explicitly define link entities or specify a search tolerance
o Can be components, elements, surfaces, nodes, or tags
o Typically components are linked

 Connector Location - Where the entities are linked

o Nodes – created at the node location
o Points – created at the point location
o Lines – created on the line
 The line may be split into multiple projection locations as specified by
the offset, spacing, and density values
o Elements – created at the element location (adhesives only)
o Surface – created at the surface location (adhesives only)
 Connector Realization – The creation of the finite element representation of that

connector
o Rigids, springs, etc., or custom configurations such as ACMs, CWELDS, etc.
 Connector State – Whether an FE representation of a connector has been created

o Unrealized - The initial status of the connector entity upon creation
o Realized - The status only if creation of the FE weld representation at the
connector was successful
o Failed – The status if creating the FE weld representation at the connector
was not successful
 # of Layers – number of FE weld layers to attempt to generate for the connector

o 2T, 3T, etc.

 Connect When – Specifies when the link entity information is added to the
connector
o Now - Allows you to add link entity information now. For this option, you must
select the connect what entities and num layers to successfully create a
connector.
o At FE Realize - The link entities to the connector are determined while
realizing the connector. The link entities are determined by the projections
and proximity from the connector location.
 Re-Connect Rule – Defines method for connector re-attachment during part
swapping/replacement
o None - If a link entity is deleted, the link entity is removed from the connector
o By ID - If a link entity is deleted, the connector retains the ID of the link entity,
and will to a new entity with that ID upon realization
o By Name – Same as the by id rule except that the entity name is retained
Connectors: Tools
 Spot
 Bolt
 Seam
 Area
 Apply Mass – adds a mass value to entities
o Used to represent mass of parts that are not present in the model
 FE Absorb – Create new connectors from existing elements of recognizable FE
representations of welds, bolts, adhesives, etc.
 Add Links – Add link entities to existing connectors
 Unrealize – Delete FE representations of welds / bolts / adhesives associated
with existing connectors
 Compare – Checks the MCF against displayed model file
 Quality – Check for duplicate connectors, combines connectors, and checks the
quality of realized elements

 Connector Browser – Hierarchal browser that provides information and the ability
to edit connectors.
 Shows:
o Type of Connector
o Link Information
o State of connector
 Editable
o Edit link entities, export mwf files, etc
 Found in Tab Browser Area

 Visualization – Controls how connectors are displayed:

 Color connectors by state, layers, or component
 Visibility by state or layers (can turn the display on or off)
 Control size of connector display

Exercise 5a: 1D Meshing and Connectors

This exercise will cover the basics behind the creation and visualization of 1D elements,
ranging from simple rigid entities to more complex 1D elements with a defined cross
section to automatic 1D element creation through the use of connectors.
Step 1: Load the model 05a-1D-MESHING.hm and set the user profile to
Radioss Bulk Data.
Step 2: RBE2 Elements

RBE (Rigid Body Elements) are the most simple of 1D elements and simply connect two
or more nodes together.
In the case of an RBE2, one node serves as the Independent and the other(s) the
Dependant node(s). The Dependant node(s) simply “follow” the motion of the
Independent node in the Degrees of Freedom that have been linked. These elements
are useful to simply represent welds or to tie together two dissimilar meshes. One word
of caution though is that RBE2 elements, as they rigidly link nodes together, can induce
a stiffness to the model that may not be desired.
1. Create a component called Rigids and make the color red.

2. Rotate the model as shown in the picture and zoom into the highlighted region.
3. Enter the mesh creation panel for Rigids.
4. Make sure the create sub panel is active.
5. Ensure that all 6 DOFs are selected.

6. Select the red circled node first (Independent Node) and the yellow circled node second
(Dependant Node).
A rigid element (RBE2) will be created connecting the two nodes.
7. Continue to make a few more RBE2 elements down the line.

8. Change the switch next to dependant node to multiple nodes.
9. Pick a node for the independent node and then pick multiple nodes for dependant.
10. Click create.
An RBE2 with multiple dependant nodes connected to one single independent will be
created.

11. Select the update sub-panel

12. Pick the RBE2 created with multiple dependant nodes.
13. Click the connectivity radio button
14. Click the nodes button next to dependant:
15. Right click one of the dependant nodes, it will become de-selected.
16. Left click a new node to select as the dependant node.
17. Click update.

You will note that the connectivity of the RBE2 has changed to remove the deselected
node and include the newly selected node. Update can also be used to change the
independent node, the DOFs of the element, and on a two noded RBE2 the independent
and dependant node can be switched.
Step 3: RBE3 Elements

RBE3 elements, on the other hand, serve to distribute loads without inducing unwanted
stiffness. It is not an element to be used to model a connection, but rather an element to
induce a motion in a node as a function of the weighted average of other nodes.
1. Go to Mesh > Create > 1D Elements > RBE3.
The RBE3 panel will open. You will notice it looks similar to the RBE2 with the only
changes being the reversal of the Independent and Dependant nodes and the addition of
a weight field.

2. Rotate and zoom so that you are looking down at the large hole in the blue upper part.
In this step you will create a very common rigid element feature often called the “wagon
wheel” or the “spider web”. When complete the reason will be obvious.
This type of feature is used to link the nodes around the circumference of a hole to a
single node in the center. This can then be used to:
 Connect the feature to something else (bolting two parts together).
 Constrain the central node. (Bolting to a fixture) (RBE2)
 Distribute a central load. (RBE3)
To create this feature, a node must be placed at the center of the hole. This can be
accomplished through the use of the Distance panel.
3. Press F4 to enter the Distance panel.
4. Pick the three nodes sub panel.
5. Pick any three nodes around the interior of the hole.
6. Click the green circle center button.
A yellow temp node will be placed at the circle center.

7. Return out of the function back into the RBE3 panel.

8. Select the new temp node as the dependant node.
9. Pick all the nodes around the interior of the hole as the independent nodes.
HINT: Using the extended selection by path option will make this task much quicker.
Simply select the by path option, click any node on the circumference then click another
node a ways further around. HyperMesh will automatically select all the nodes between
using the shortest route. Continue in this manner until all the nodes are selected.
10. Set the weight at 1.
11. Click create.
The Wagon Wheel or Spider Web will be created.
Step 4: Bar Elements – Creating the beam section

RBE2 and RBE3 elements are considered “rigid” elements. They are infinitely strong
and as such experience no stress and thus cannot be analyzed. In the event the 1D
element is actually a structural entity that needs to be studied, a bar is used. The bar
element (CBEAM in Radioss) has a definable cross section and material assigned to it
and thus will display stress results in post processing.

Before the element can be created, a cross section, a material, and a property need to
be defined and then applied to the element(s).
1. From the menu bar, select Properties > HyperBeam.
HyperBeam is a tool within HyperMesh that allows for easy and graphical creation of
cross sections for beam elements.
2. From the HyperBeam panel select the standard section sub panel.
3. From the standard section type switch pick standard H section.
4. Click create.
The graphical HyperBeam interface will now open
From within this interface the physical dimensions of the beam section can be defined.
5. Set the dimensions as shown below:

6. Right click on the words H_section.1, select Rename and rename it H_Beam.
7. Click File > Exit.
The beam section has now been created.
8. Right click in the Model Browser window and create a property.
9. Name it H Beam.
10. Assign it a Card Image of PBEAM.
11. Assign it the material Steel.
12. Check the box for Card edit property upon creation.
13. Click Create.
The Card Edit panel will open and display the PBEAM card. The beam section needs
to be assigned to this card.
14. Click the yellow beamsec button twice and select the H_Beam cross section.
You will notice that the inertial information calculated from the cross section will
automatically be placed into the value fields in the card.
15. Click return to exit.
Step 5: Bar Elements – Creating the bar elements

With the property and cross section defined the element can now be created.
1. Go to Mesh > Create > 1D Elements > Bars panel.

2. Click the orientation switch immediately next to the N1 button and select x-axis.
3. Click the property = button and pick the H_Beam property.
4. Pick any node on the blue upper component elements for node A.
5. With the focus automatically switching to node B, pick any node on the green lower
component elements.
The Beam element will automatically be created.
You will note that the element is displayed as a line in the color of the component it was
created in. Aside from the CBEAM label, it looks identical to the RBE2 and RBE3
elements created previously.
The 1D visualization mode allows for the graphical representation of the cross section
of the 1D element.
6. Click the Element Representation button ( ) and pick the 3D Element Representation
icon ( ).

7. Zoom on the CBEAM element.

It now shows the actual cross section. This cross section is selectable and reflects the
color of the component. It also is a live view so that if any aspect of the element is
changed, it will show that.
8. Re-open HyperBeam and change the dimensions to see the changes reflected on the
part.
9. Create a brand new cross section of some other standard type.
10. Right click on the H Beam property card in the HyperMesh Model Browser and card
edit the property.
11. Click the beamsec button and pick the new cross section.
12. Return out of the card and see the change in the model.
Step 6: Combining 1D Elements

A typical bolt representation consists of a “wagon wheel” inside the two bolt holes
connected at their centers with a CBEAM that has a solid circle section that represents
the bolt. In this step you will create one of those common structures.
1. Create a component called Bolts and give it a unique color.
2. Create a standard solid circle beam section with a diameter of 5

3. Create a PBEAM property named Bolt with a material of Steel and the solid circle
beam section just created.
4. Pick one of the two circle pairs between the Blue
Upper Component and the purple Flanges
Component to create the bolt in.
5. Put temp nodes at the center of both the upper and
lower holes
6. Create an RBE2 “wagon wheel” in each of the holes.
7. Create a CBEAM element connecting the center of
the RBE2 elements with the Bolt Property.
8. Repeat this for the other hole.
Step 7: Connectors
Connectors are a quick way of creating multiple and complex rigid entities representing
welds, bolts and adhesives.
First you will use the Connectors panel to create a weld of rigid elements similar to
those created in Step 2, Item 6. In that case, two nodes were selected and a single
RBE2 was created. To run down the entire length of the edge would have required each
node be picked individually. You will now accomplish the same result using connectors
in a fraction of the time.
1. From the menu bar, select Connectors > Create > Spots.

2. From the spot submenu, next to location, click the nodes button and pick by path.
3. On the opposite edge from the one used in Step 2, Item 6 to create the RBE2 elements,
pick the first node and using the by path option, proceed down the entire edge until all
the nodes are selected
4. Next to connect what, make sure comps is selected and pick the blue Upper Plate
collector and the teal Arm collector.
5. Make sure elems is selected by the toggle beneath and num layers should be total 2
as there are only 2 layers being connected.
6. tolerance = should be set for 10 (this determines the distance HyperMesh will search
from the node to find nodes of both collectors to create the welds. The distance is a bit
over 6, so 10 should work fine.)
7. For type= select rigid (this option allow you to establish what type of element will be
created.)
8. Change the mesh independent switch to mesh dependant.
9. Under mesh dependant, change the switch from quad transition to remesh.
10. Verify the panel has all the settings shown below:
11. Click create.

The entire row of rigid elements will be created with this one click.

The process can be used to create these types of rigids or rigids that will represent spot
welds. These elements can even be created before the part is meshed (must pick geom
instead of elems for the connect what option) and in that case a fixed point will be
placed at either end of the element, guaranteeing that a node will be there when the
mesh is created.
12. Experiment with creating other connectors in the model with other options in the panel.
13. From the connectors tools enter the Bolt panel.
14. Zoom to the section of the model shown below.
15. Pick one node on the circumference of each of the holes on the purple Flanges
component.
16. Set connect what to comps and pick the purple Flanges component and the green
Lower component.
17. Set the tolerance to 20 and fill in the rest of the panel as shown below.
Click on realize & hole detect details...

18. Set the values in the panel as the following:
19. Click return and then select create.

Immediately two rigid bolts are created. If desired, the type can be set as Bolt (CBAR),
and a PBAR card in combination with a beam section can be defined, and the bolt can
be analyzed. Bolt (Washer) types will not only select the nodes around the
circumference but will grab nodes around a washer ring as well.

20. Experiment with other options in the panel.
Step 8: Connector Browser

1. From the View menu activate the Connector Browser by selecting Browsers >
HyperMesh > Connector.
The Connector Browser will appear and display all of the connectors in the model.
From the browser you can see information about the connectors, reasons for realization
failure and when you right click on a connector you can edit the connectors.
2. Experiment with the Connector Browser.


Chapter 6: HyperMorph
Chapter 6
HyperMorph
Section 1: Introduction to Morphing Technology
using HyperMorph
HyperMorph is a mesh morphing module in HyperMesh that allows you to morph an FE
model in useful, logical, and intuitive ways which result in minimal element distortion.
HyperMorph can be used to:

 Rapidly change geometry of existing model interactively or parametrically
 Map an existing mesh onto a new geometry
 Generate and edit shape variables for optimization
HyperMorph Highlights:
 Freehand morphing: Direct morphing of the mesh without any morphing entities
 Morph Volumes: Efficient setup of morphing for complex FEA models
 Section Morphing: Map to new design lines using line difference
 Morphing Constraints: Preserve model attributes while morphing
 Morphing Shapes: Transfer morphing between different meshes (the shape can be
positioned to other parts of the model, animated to review the morphing and transfer
loads from one model to another
To provide greater control as well as an efficient morphing, you can use:

 Constraints
 Symmetries
 Biasing factors

After morphing has been performed, you can visualize the quality of the mesh, and can
automatically smooth it if need be. A re-mesh can also be performed, keeping the morphing
entities like handles, domains and shapes intact.
Accessing HyperMorph
HyperMorph can be accessed in one of the following ways:
 From the menu bar, go to Morphing, and select the appropriate function:
 On the Tool page click on HyperMorph, and click on the appropriate panel

HyperMorph Entities
• Handles – controls model shape during morphing
• Domains – divides a model into regions (for domain based morphing)
• Morph Volume – A cube shaped volume that morphs all entities that are
located inside the shape (for volume based morphing)
• Constraints – Control the motion of nodes during morphing
• Symmetries – forces regions to be morphed symmetrically
• Shapes – model state during morphing saved for retrieval at a later point

Section 2: Free Hand

Location: Morphing > Free Hand
Use this panel to morph your mesh without needing domains, handles, or morph volumes.
Separate options exist for moving selected nodes directly, recording actions made in other
panels, "sculpting" meshes with different virtual tools, and saving a morph as a shape.
The freehand panel consists of several subpanels, changes made on one subpanel do not
affect the others, and are persistent so that you can switch freely between subpanels
without losing any settings already made:
 move nodes
Use this panel to select specific nodes and move them directly to new locations while
optionally morphing the surrounding mesh.
Using the move nodes subpanel, you can translate and rotate nodes, move nodes
normal to a mesh, move nodes to a vector, node list, line, plane, surface, mesh, or
equation, and apply a shape. For each morphing option, you can choose whether or
not the morphing should be interactive. You can also control how those node
movements apply to the surrounding mesh.
Note: In the morph options panel, morphing subpanel, there is an option for
setting the minimum step size for interactive morphing. If the distance or angle
fields are set to values other than zero the morphing will be performed in discrete
steps with the given step size rather than an arbitrary value based on the position of
the mouse and relative to the size of the model. For example, setting the distance to
1.0 means that interactive translation will be performed in increments of 1.0, such as
1.0, 2.0, 11.0, etc. For distance, the value is given in model units. For angle, the
value is given in degrees. The minimum step size applies when using the
manipulator or using the translate, rotate, or move normal options.

 record
Use this panel to turn any panel into a morphing panel. When you click start in this
panel, the positions of all the nodes in the model are recorded. You can then go
outside of the freehand panel and use any tool in HyperMesh to move the nodes in
the model to new positions. When you return to this panel and click finish, those
node movements will be transformed into a morph which can be undone, redone, or
saved as a shape.
This feature can be particularly useful when using the Quality Index panel to adjust
a basic morph for the sake of mesh quality.
For example: after morphing, go to the Record panel and click start, go to the
Quality Index panel to adjust and fix any poorly-formed elements resulting from the
morph, and then return to the Record panel and click finish.
In the below example, sculpting resulted in poorly-shaped elements (highlighted in

the left image). Adjustments made in the Quality Index panel resolved the problems
on the left side of the mesh to produce the image on the right. By recording the node
movements in the Quality Index panel those node movements can be saved as part
of a shape and can be undone.
 sculpting
Use this subpanel to mold a mesh with a variety of virtual tools — for example,
creating hemispherical divots, cone-shaped projections, or molding sections with
feature lines.
Areas of the mesh can be pushed or pulled to reshape it, creating either indentations
or projections on the mesh.

Tool shapes include ball, cone, cylinder, node list, line, plane, surface, and mesh.
Use different tools to simplify the creation of different types of deformation.
For example, use the ball along a node list or line list to create a curved channel with
a rounded bottom and ends, but use the cone to create a channel with a V-shaped
bottom. Similarly, the ball can create a hemispherical divot or protrusion, while the
cone can create a conical pit or spike.
The following images illustrate use of the "ball" tool to create a raised ridge along a
node list:
Here two nodes are selected, but the tool is not yet applied .
Here, the ball tool has been applied to the mesh as if it had been rolled from one node to the other.
 save shape
Use this subpanel to save a current morph as a shape. This feature is a limited
version of the save as shape subpanel located in the Shapes panel.

Exercise 6a: Using Free Hand

This exercise shows how to translate Nodes to Increase the Length of a Propeller Blade.
Figure 1: Original blade
Figure 2: Blade after morphing
Step 1: Load the model.

Open the HyperMesh file, 06a-PROPELLER-FREE-HANDS.hm.
Step 2: Morph the blade.

1. Click the Morphing > Free Hand, then select the move nodes subpanel.
2. Verify that the morphing method is set to translate.
3. For the translate value, key in z= -100.
4. Open the View folder in the Model Browser.
5. Click next to View1 to set the view.

6. For moving nodes and fixed nodes select the nodes as displayed in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Node and element selections.
7. For affected elements select the elements that lie between fixed nodes and moving
nodes.
8. For mv bias and fx bias keep the default value (1.00).
9. Click morph to alter the blade of the propeller.
Summary
The length of the propeller blade has increased by 100. The fixed nodes do not move. The
affected elements were stretched evenly to maintain element quality. The stretching of the
elements takes place between the moving nodes and the fixed nodes.

Section 3: Domains and Handles

The domains and handles approach consists of dividing the mesh into regions called
domains with associated handles.
What are domains and handles?

Domains consist of selected nodes and elements.
Domains and handles are divided into two basic groups, global and local.
The global group consists of global domains, each of which is associated with a number of
global handles. Global handles will only influence the nodes in the global domain to which
they are associated. Global handles and domains are best for making large scale shape
changes to the model.
The local group consists of five types of local domains: 1D domains, 2D domains, 3D
domains, edge domains, and general domains. Local handles/edge domains can only
influence nodes contained in the domains they are associated with. Local handles/edge
domains are intended to be used to make small scale, parametric changes to the model.
While a model can contain both global and local handles and domains, it is not necessary to
have both types of domains and handles in a model.

The following table describes the various domains and their symbols when they are created.
When global domain and handles are generated using autogenerate or created with the
create handles option turned on, HyperMorph generates eight global handles, one at each
of the eight corners of a box laid out along the global axes surrounding the model. These
global handles are named “corner” followed by a number from one to eight.

Location: Morphing > Create > Domains
HyperMorph will also place at least one global handle within the box in areas of the model’s
peak nodal density. These handles are named “handle,” followed by a number.
Location: Morphing > Create > Domains
The automatic global handle generation works particularly well for space-frame models such
as full car models. However, for small models such as a control arm or bracket, the
recommendation is for you to build your own local domains and handles since you are more
likely interested in changing the local area rather than the entire model.
If the autogenerate process does not create handles in the positions where you want them
to be, you can always delete them, reposition them, or create additional handles. Handles
can be further classified as independent or dependent. An independent handle creates
displacements to the model only when it is moved. A dependent handle creates
displacements influenced from its own movements plus that of other handles it is linked to.
A handle can be made dependent on one or more handles. This allows you to create as
many layers of dependencies between your handles as you desire. For example, you can
make all the handles at one cross section of a beam (modeling using 2D shell elements)
dependent on a single handle allowing you to move an entire cross section while only
having to select one independent handle.

What is a partition?
The most important factor in local morphing is partitioning. It is logically dividing a 2D
domain into smaller 2D domains, such as where the angle between elements exceeds a
certain value or where the domain changes from flat to curved, is called partitioning.
Proper partitioning makes morphing faster and easier. By activating partition domains
user can invoke partitioning when auto-generating or when creating a domain. If the user is
unsatisfied with the results of the partitioning he/she can change the partitioning parameters
namely domains angle and curve tolerance.
Figure below shows an example of partitioning. For the model on the left, the 2D domain
was created without partitioning. For the model on the right, partitioning was used. Note
how the 2D domains divide along angle and curvature change boundaries.

Morphing operation by move Handles

Location: Morphing > Morph
The Morph panel consists of several subpanels: move handles, alter dimensions, set
biasing, set constraints, save as shape, apply shapes, and morph surfaces.
There are four common buttons in many of the Morph subpanels: undo, redo, undo all, and
redo all. These buttons allow you to move forward or backward through the morphs that you
have applied to your model. They remain active when you leave the panel but are not saved
with your model unless you check the box labeled save morphs with file in the global
subpanel of the Morph Options panel. Thus you could either perform an undo all before
saving your model in order to return it to the unmorphed state, or check the save morphs
with file box to save all of the morphs on the undo/redo list along with the file so that they
can be undone when the file is reloaded. You can also clear or compress the morphs stored
in the undo/redo list in the global subpanel of the Morph Options panel.
Many subpanels of the Morph panel contain a button labeled options…. This button
replaces the symmetry links and constraints checkboxes from earlier versions of
HyperMorph. Clicking this button will take you to the Morph Options panel where you are
able to adjust a large number of parameters that affect morphing.
Location: Morphing > Morph > move handles

The move handles subpanel allows you to move handles and morph a mesh.

Location: Morphing > Morph > alter dimensions

The alter dimensions subpanel allows you to morph your mesh by selecting handles and
altering the distance between them. There are many dimensional types that can be altered.

Location: Morphing > Morph > set biasing

Use this panel to change the biasing factors associated with each handle. You must click
update to apply bias changes to the handles, unless you update them interactively.
Clicking screen edit while the bias factors are displayed will hide the edit windows.
The initial bias factor for all handles is 1.000 except for dependent handles automatically
generated at the ends of 1-D domains which are given a bias factor of 3.000. Higher bias
values will increase the influence that handle has over nearby nodes. Lower bias values
decrease the influence. Bias values of 1 give linear results that result in morphs with sharp
angles at the handle locations.
For exponential biasing a bias value of 2 will result in morphs with a gentle curvature
through the handle locations.
For sinusoidal biasing a bias value of 2.0 for a handle at one end of an edge domain and 0.5
for a handle at the other end will give a perfect circular or elliptical curve for the domain.
Location: Morphing > Morph > set constraints

Similar to the Morph Constraints panel, this sub-panel allows you to fix certain nodes in
place so that they do not move during a morph.

However, the functionality is limited compared to that found in the Morph Constraints
panel. Refer to that panel for greater details on constraints.

Location: Morphing > Morph > save shape

The save shape sub-panel allows you to save the active morph as a shape entity.
Handle and Node Perturbations: You can save a shape as either handle or node
perturbations.
The difference becomes important when the model is reparameterized or when domains,
handles, and symmetries are created or deleted.
When a shape is saved as node perturbations, it always has the same shape no matter
what changes occur with the morphing entities.
If the shape is saved as handle perturbations, changes in the relationships between
handles and nodes will alter the resultant node perturbations when the shape is reapplied.
Location: Morphing > Morph > apply shapes

The apply shapes sub-panel allows you to saved shapes to the current mesh. This feature
is a limited version of the apply shapes sub-panel located in the shapes panel.
Location: Morphing > Morph > morph surfaces

Use this panel to Morph the surfaces in the model to adhere to any morphing of mesh nodes
that were previously associated with them.
Surface morphing will only morph surfaces that have nodes associated with them and
whose associated nodes have been morphed. There are several ways that result in a node
being associated with a surface. When you automesh a surface, the nodes for the elements
are automatically associated with the surface. Also, you can use the node edit panel to
associate nodes to surfaces. Note that after morphing nodes, the morphed nodes will no
longer be associated with their surfaces, but HyperMorph will save (and accumulate) the
associations so that the surfaces can be morphed at a later time.
There are no inputs on this subpanel; all surfaces are morphed when you click morph
surfaces. If the results are unsatisfactory, you may reject them.

Location: Morphing > Create > Symmetries

The Symmetry panel allows you to create symmetries that influence handles, morph
volumes, domains, blocks, rwalls, and shapes.

Exercise 6b: Using Domains and Handles

In this exercise you will create domains, handles and morph the model.
Step 1: Load and review the model.

Open and review the HyperMesh model 06b-DOMAINS-HANDLES.hm.
Step 2: Auto generate 2-D domains and handles.

1. Click the Morphing menu in the menu bar and pick Create > Domains.
2. Change the create method to auto functions.
3. Click generate.
Based on the model’s geometric features, all of the model’s elements are organized into
various domains and local handles are created and associated with the domains.
Step 3: Move elements into a new 2-D domain.

1. Set the selector to 2D domains. Toggle to the elems selector if not already there.

2. Click to clear the elements that were already selected.

3. Using elems >> by window, select the elements indicated in figure 1.
Figure 1: Elements to select to move into a new domain
5. Verify that partition 2D domains is active.

6. Click create to create the domain.
Local handles are created for the new domain. You should now have two local domains.
Elements can only belong to one domain at a time. Thus, the elements you selected
were moved into the new domain. This functionality makes it very easy to group
elements into different domains.

Step 4: Split the edge domain of the radius to have more control when
morphing.
1. Click the edit edges subpanel in the Morphing > Domains panel.
2. Verify that the split option is selected.
3. With the domain selector active, select the edge domain of the part’s radius as indicated
in the Figure 2.
The node selector automatically becomes active once the edge domain is selected.
Click the domain selector to make it active and see that you selected the desired edge
domain.
Figure 2: Edge domain to select
4. Click the node selector to make it active.

5. Select the node on the positive Y-axis end of the radius, as indicated in the Figure 3.

Figure 3: Node selection to split the edge domain of the radius
6. Click split to split the edge domain at the node.

7. Repeat the above process to further split the edge domain of the radius, this time at the
node indicated in the Figure 4.
Figure 4: Node selection to further split the edge domain of the radius
8. When complete, click return to exit the panel.
Step 5: Add local handles to the 2-D domain on the part’s left side.
1. Click the Morphing menu, and pick Create > Handles.
2. For name=, enter local.
3. Click the attached to: domain selector to make it active.
4. Select the 2-D domain on the part’s left side by selecting its red icon, as indicated in the
following image.

Figure 5: Adding handles to a 2-D domain
5. Click the by nodes: nodes selector to make it active.

6. Select the two nodes as indicated in the previous image.
7. Click create to create the handles and add them to the 2-D domain.
Step 6: Perform basic morphing to understand how domains and handles

interact with each other and the mesh.
1. Click the Morphing menu, and pick Morph.
2. Select the move handles subpanel if not already there.
3. Change the mode to interactive if not already set.
4. With the handles selector active, select the two handles on the right-hand end of the
part, as indicated in figure 6.
If you select one or more handle, those handles follow the handle you drag (in Step 6.10,
following).
5. Switch from on domains to on plane.
6. Click the N1 selector to make it active.
7. For N1, N2, and N3, select any three nodes on the model to define a plane.
8. Click morph.
The message, “pick handles and move to new location” appears in the status bar.
9. Click on and drag one of the selected handles to morph the part.
As you drag the handle, the mesh’s size and shape is adjusted. Notice that the following
occurs as the selected local handle is moved:
 The handles selected in step 6.2 above follow the handle you are dragging.
 All of the elements belonging to the selected local handle’s 2-D domain are affected
by moving that local handle.
 The 2-D domain’s non-selected local handles act like anchors (they do not move).
 The nodes on the edge domains and between any two non-selected local domains
do not move.
 None of the elements in the other 2-D domain are affected.

Figure 6: Example result of morphing the model
11. Click undo.

The HyperMorph module allows for multiple levels of undo and redo for all morphing
operations. This functionality is available for any particular HyperMesh session and its
current model as long as the session and its model remain open.
12. Click to clear the selected handles.

13. With the handles selector active, select one or more global handles.
14. Click morph.
15. Click on and drag any global handle to morph the part.
Summary
The following occurs as the selected global handle is moved:
 The handles selected in Step 6.2 above follow the handle you are dragging.
 The non-selected global handles act like anchors (they do not move).
 All of the elements, local handles and edge domains are affected.

Section 4: Morph Volumes

Location: Morphing > Create > Morph Volumes
The Morph Volume panel allows you to create, edit, save, load, convert, and delete morph
volumes.
A morph volume (or "mvol") is a six-sided prism that can be used to manipulate a mesh by
manipulating the shape of the morph volume, while maintaining tangency.
Morph volumes are very malleable; the length and curvature of each edge can be modified
independently of the others, and adjacent morph volumes can be linked through various
tangency conditions. This malleability allows you to enclose a given mesh with morph
volumes, alter the morph volumes to fit your model, and then change the shape of your
model by modifying the morph volumes. Morph volumes present a simple, powerful, and
intuitive way to morph.
A morph volume with handles at the corners.
volumes dragged along a node list

volumes spun about an axis
Profile lines dragged along a line to create morph volumes.
This rectangular matrix has X,Y,Z density of 3,3,3

This cylindrical matrix has X,Y,Z density of 2,8,1
The length and curvature of each edge of a morph volume can be modified independently.
Adjacent morph volumes can be linked through tangency conditions. This allows you to
update the characteristics of the morph volumes. Handles are placed at each of the vertices
of the morph volumes. Morphing involves moving these handles. Morph volumes thus
present a very simple, powerful, and intuitive way to morph.
Morph volumes will only morph the mesh for nodes that have been registered. In some
cases, nodes within morph volumes are automatically registered when the morph volumes
are created, while in others only the selected nodes or nodes on selected elements are
registered. If the morph volumes do not appear to be morphing nodes inside them, you may
need to register those nodes. (See the update mvols subpanel for more details.)

Although morph volumes can be created, edited, and deleted in this panel, the actual
morphing of morph volumes is performed either in the Morph panel, where you can move
the handles, or the map to geom panel, where you can map morph volume edges to a
variety of entities. Morph volumes behave very much like domains (by moving the handles
associated with the morph volumes the enclosed mesh can be manipulated) but morph
volumes have the additional feature that you can morph them independently of the enclosed
mesh. For instance, if you wish to change the shape of your morph volumes without
affecting the mesh you can set the morph volumes to be inactive. This allows you to use all
of the morphing capabilities to modify the shape and position of your morph volumes to
better fit your mesh. Then you can switch the morph volumes back to being active and use
them to morph the mesh.
Note that when you set your morph volumes back to being active, you may be asked
whether you want to remove the inactive handle perturbations from the morph list. Clicking
yes, which is recommended, will make it so that the undo and redo buttons do not undo
and redo the inactive movements of your morph volumes. Clicking no will treat the morph
volume perturbations just like any other morphing. The toggle that allows you to switch
morph volumes between being active and inactive can be found in the parameters
subpanel of the Morph Volumes panel, and in the morphing subpanel of the Morph
Options panel. (See the parameters subpanel for more details.)

Exercise 6c: Using Morph Volumes

This exercise shows how to change the Shape of the B-pillar with the help of Morph Volume
Figure 1: B-Pillar before and after morphing

Open the HyperMesh file, 06c-MORPH-VOLUMES.hm.
Step 2: Create morph volumes.

1. Click the Morphing menu in the menu bar and pick Create > Morph Volumes
2. Switch the creation method to pick on screen.
3. For handle placement, select corners only.
4. Keep the auto-tangent check box selected.
5. Click the XZ Right Plane View ( ) icon to set the view.

6. Draw a window by clicking at the four places shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Points for creating the morph volume
Note: A morph volume is created, enclosing the area.
Step 3: Split the morph volumes.

1. Click the split/combine subpanel in the Morphing panel.
2. Verify the split toggle is set to split mvols : by edges
3. Select an edge of the morph volume close to location 1 (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Locations to split the morph volume

The green colored cross moves to the location of the black dot.
4. Click split.
The morph volume is split into two. Follow the same steps to create another split at
location2.
Step 4: Change the profile of the b-pillar.

1. Click the Morphing menu and pick Morph. Click the move handles subpanel if not
already open.
2. Set the morphing method to translate.
3. For direction use along xyz.
4. Key in the following values:
x val = 0
y val = 100.00
z val = 0
5. Select the eight handles by window as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Select handles for morphing
6. Click morph.
Rotate the model to observe that the b-pillar is morphed.
Summary
The b-pillar is morphed in a smooth fashion with minimum distortion to the elements.

Section 5: Map to Geometry

Location: Morphing > Map to Geometry
The Map to geom panel does not include any subpanels, but its layout changes
dynamically depending on the options chosen, beginning with the type of geometry you wish
to map to.
You can complete inputs in any order, but since the panel layout can alter depending on the
inputs chosen, it is best to work from left to right to avoid negating any settings you've
already made if an "earlier" input setting changes the options for inputs you have already
selected.
Some of the types of geometry that can be mapped are shown below.
The following is an example of Map to Geom. The marked nodes and line are selected in
the picture on the left and the fit to line option chosen. The picture on the right shows the
results of clicking the automap button. HyperMesh distributes the selected nodes along the
specified line, and the rest of the mesh stretches to accommodate the mapping.

In the following example the highlighted morph volume edges are mapped to the line while
the dimmed edges are selected as follower edges. The highlighted edges are mapped
directly to the line while the follower edges are given a similar morphing. Note that the
number of handles per edge was increased to three to improve the accuracy of the
mapping.
The User Control panel can also be used to place handles and edge domains before the
previously selected mapping operation takes place. This capability is useful when mapping a
mesh to a surface. After selecting the mesh and surface you can go to the User Control
panel and fit each edge of the mesh to the lines around the surface. Then when you map,
the mesh will be fit to the surface.

Exercise 6d: Using Map To Geometry

In this exercise, you will use the line difference approach to change the Curvature of a
Bumper to a Curved Line
Figure 1: Bumper before and after morphing

Open the HyperMesh file 06d-MAP-TO-GEOM.hm.
Step 2: Morph the bumper.

1. Click Morphing > Map to Geometry to open the Map to Geom panel
2. Change the geometry selector to line difference.
3. Select the from line and the to line as shown in figure 2.
4. Toggle the morphing entity (2nd column) from map domains to map nodes.
5. Select nodes >> displayed.
6. Use no fixed nodes (2nd column, 2nd row).
7. Use map by line axis morphing with a 1.0 mvbias and fxbias (column 3).

Figure 2: The from line and the to line
8. Click map.
Summary
The profile of the bumper is changed to follow the new section line.

Chapter 7: Analysis Setup
Chapter 7
Analysis Setup and Loading

Analysis setup is the definition of all information for an analysis besides the mesh including:
 Specification of the solver to be used
 Creation of materials, properties, etc.
 Assignment of a solver specific format to HyperMesh entities
 Creation of boundary conditions (constraints, loads, contacts, etc.)
 Definition of other required information (solution requests, general run parameters,
etc.)
Section 1: Setting up Loading Conditions

A finite element solver can solve for responses of parts to
loading conditions placed on them. The loads can be in the
form of any combination of boundary constraints, forces,
pressures, temperatures, etc. This section focuses on defining
the loading conditions on a model.
 Create constraints (RADIOSS SPC) on the channel’s
geometry lines
 Create a force (RADIOSS FORCE) on the bracket to simulate a pressing load on it
 Define a load step (RADIOSS SUBCASE)

Interacting with Solvers

 HyperMesh interacts with many solvers
 Each solver has its own unique formats, terminology, etc
 Example : Compare nodes and elements in Abaqus and Radioss
 3 nodes
 2 quad elements
 Format/structure is obviously different
 HyperMesh can interact with different solvers using “templates”

 The selected template tells HyperMesh which solver the model is for
 The template also tells HyperMesh how entities are formatted for that solver
 Each entity may have several available formats for that solver
 Each format has fields that make up its definition
 These fields may need to have values entered by the user
 Example: A component for Radioss (Linear) can be a PSHELL or PSOLID
format
 PSHELL holds shell elements, ID =1, material =1, thickness = 5.0
 PSOLID holds solid elements, ID =2, material =1

Tools
 Collectors > Card Edit - or - Collectors toolbar icon

 View/edit the card image of any entity in the model
 Includes entities that are not collectors (nodes, elements, loads, etc.)
 Model Browser
 Right click a collector and select Card Edit
 View/edit the card image of the selected collector
 Preferences > Graphics
 template labels (type) option
 Activate the graphic displayed names of the entities in solver (template)
terminology instead of the HyperMesh (solver neutral) terminology
 Helps keep track of what is in the model
 Summary panel
 Displays a text window with various information about the model
 Helps to review the model and make sure all information has been entered properly

Process
1. Create materials and enter values into them using the Model Browser or material
collector icon .
2. Create properties and enter values into them. Material collectors can be associated
with properties during creation. Use the Model Browser or property collector icon
to create the properties.
3. Create component collectors and organize entities into them. Property collectors
can be associated with components during creation or properties can be assigned
directly to elements. Use the Model Browser or component collector icon to
create the components.
NOTE: Steps 1-3 can be done using the Model Browser in a single step. When
creating a component collector it is possible to also create and associate properties
and materials.
4. Mesh and load the model

5. Create solver specific cards and controls.
While it is not required that events follow these steps in order, if you follow these steps then
there is no need to go back to update or assign information to collectors as the required
information will already be in place.
The goal in formatting for analysis is:

 All entities have the proper formats (card image/type)
 Card images of all entities have necessary information entered
This section will focus on the creation of boundary conditions.
Supported Entities:
 FE Loading
o Loads (constraint, force, pressure, moment, temperature, flux, velocity,
acceleration)
o Equations (mathematical link between nodes)
o Contacts
o Groups (defines contact between entities)
o Contact Surfs (defines a list of entities that can be used as master or slave in
a group)
 Reference Entities
o Sets (a simple list of a particular type of entity)
o Blocks (a list of entities contained within a box shape)
 Coordinate Entities
o Systems (coordinate axes)
o Vectors

 Plotting
o Curves (X-Y data)
o Plots (a display of curves with axes)
 Output Requests
o Loadsteps (combinations of load collectors)
o Output Blocks (request output from an analysis for certain entities)
 Control cards (job-level, global parameters for the analysis)

Loads on Geometry
HyperMesh allows the user to place loads on geometry before the mesh is ever created.
Then using the BCs > Loads on Geometry pull-down, those loads will be mapped to the
elements that were created from that geometry. This is a time saving advantage as the user
only needs to pick one, or at most a few, geometric entities to ultimately create hundreds or
even thousands of loads or constraints.
To use this, change the entity selector from a node or element selection to a geometric
selection such as surfs or lines.
Then after the part is meshed, using the Loads on Geometry function, the loads will be
automatically mapped to elements created from that geometry.

Exercise 7a: Analysis Setup and Loading

This exercise will focus on setting up a model for analysis. At the end of this exercise,
you will run an analysis in RADIOSS. While this exercise is focused on a RADIOSS
analysis setup, the methods and techniques explored here are applicable to a setup in
any solver.
Step 1: Load the file 07a-ANALYSIS-SETUP-RAD-BULK.hm and the RADIOSS

BulkData user profile.
Step 2: Studying the Model

The normal process for setting up an analysis would be the setup of materials,
properties and components before the meshing of the model. As this exercise focuses
only on analysis setup, the mesh has already been created for you.
This model is a quarter segment of a submarine pressure hull. The exercise will cover
the steps required to analyze the stress on the hull of a decent to a depth of 300 meters
and determine if the hull design can handle that pressure.
1. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the model and get a concept of the size
and scale of the parts.
2. Based upon measurements and knowledge of how large a submarine is, what would you
assume to units of this model to be?
Now that the scale of the model has been determined, it is important to establish a unit
scheme. These are often dictated by corporate standards, but in this case it will be
established by the units that were used to create the model.
For this analysis, the Millimeter-Ton-Second scheme will be utilized.
The first step in any analysis should be model organization. This frequently occurs
before the model is meshed but can be done post mesh as well.
To make sure each step has the information already available, the ideal order is to
create materials first, then properties and then finally component collectors.

Step 3: Component Creation with Material/Property Assignment

Component collectors are, as previously discussed, used for model organization. One of
the most logical organization schemes for this model would be a component for the Hull
elements and then another for the Ribs. This, of course, is only one method and could
be altered for any number of organizational reasons.
1. Right click in the Model Browser and select Create > Component
A dialog box will open that will allow for the creation of a component that can have
Properties and Materials assigned
upon creation or the user can create the Properties and
Materials directly from this window.
2. Enter Hull in the Name: field.
3. Assign it a unique color.
4. Click the Property tab and select Assign property.

While the elements (quads and trias) have been created, they need to be defined as an
entity the solver can analyze. In the case of RADIOSS, these 2D elements are defined
as PSHELL. Creating the PSHELL property will give these elements their definition
(card Image) and will allow for the definition of the material thickness they have.
5. Name it Hull.
6. Pick a color.
7. For Card image select PSHELL.
8. Click Create property

The card editing panel for the PSHELL card is now opened. The only value that needs
to be entered in this card is [T], thickness.
9. Set the value for [T] at 19.

This will establish a thickness of 19 mm for the thickness of the pressure hull when this
property is applied to the elements representing the hull.
10. Click return.
The Create component dialog box will reopen.
11. Click the Material tab and select Assign material.
12. Enter Steel for the name.
13. For Card Image select MAT1 (A Linear Elastic Isotropic Material)
14. Assign it a unique color.
15. Click the Create material button.

16. The Material card editing panel will open.
17. Click [E], [NU] and [RHO] to open the fields beneath them.
These fields are the material properties for the material being created and are defined as
follows:

 [E] Young’s Modulus (Modulus of Elasticity)

 [NU] Poisson’s Ratio
 [RHO] Density
As it has been established the Millimeter-Ton-Second unit scheme will be utilized, the
Young’s Modulus needs to be in terms of Newton/mm2 (MPa) and the Density in
Ton/mm3. Poisson’s ratio is unit-less and is the same no matter what the unit scheme.
Enter the following values
 [E] 2.4e+5
 [NU] 0.3
 [RHO] 7.85e-9
18. Click return.

At this point you can see that a new field has been created in the Model Browser,
Material, and the new material, steel, is included in it.
The Create component dialog box will reopen.
19. Click the Component tab again.
You will note that the Property and Material just created are automatically assigned.

20. Click Create and the component will be properly created
Step 4: Property Creation

A property can be created on its own without creating a component at the same time.
This is usefull when the components have already been created.
1. In the Model Browser right click and select Create > Property.
A dialog similar to the Component creation will open.
2. Using the techniques explored in the previous step, create a property with the name
Ribs with the following settings:
Card image = PSHELL
Material = Steel
Thickness = 13
Step 5: Load Collector Creation

1. From the Model Browser, create a LoadCollector.
2. Name it Pressure.
3. Assign it a unique color
4. Leave the Card image as none
5. Create the load collector.
6. Follow the previous steps to create another LoadCollector called Constraints.
Step 6: Model Organization

In this step we will take the elements that represent the Hull and place them into the Hull
component. The collector that holds the remaining Rib elements will then be renamed
Ribs and assigned the appropriate property.

1. Organize ( ) the Hull elements into the Hull component.

HINT: Using the extended selection option of By Geom and picking the 20 surfaces that
make up the hull is the easiest way to get all of the appropriate elements.
2. Rename the Middle Surface component to Ribs.

As this component was created prior to the creation of the properties, it is now
necessary to assign the Rib property to this component.
3. From the Model Browser, select component “Ribs” and right click on “Edit”
4. The Edit component dialog box will open, click on Property tab
5. Set the Assign property checkbox.
6. In the Name field select the Ribs property.
7. Click update.
8. In the Name field select the Ribs property.
Step 7: Model Loading

With the elements properly assigned a card image (through the property) and a material,
it is now necessary to create the loads on the model. As this is a submarine hull, a
constant pressure will be applied to the exterior of the hull, directed inwards normal to
the elements.
To establish the orientation of the pressure load, the element normals direction must first
be discovered.
1. Go to View > Toolbars > HyperMesh > Checks toolbar, select the Normals
icon .
2. In the elements sub-panel select all of the elements in the Hull collector.


Arrows should now indicate the element normal direction.
The element normals should be pointing outward from the hull, so if they are not, click
reverse normals.
4. Make the Pressure Load Collector current.
5. From the BCs pull-down, proceed to the Create > Pressures panel.
6. In the create sub-panel, select the elements in the Hull collector.
7. Set the magnitude = to -3.0. (This value is in MPa and corresponds to the
approximate pressure at a depth of 300 meters)
The direction switch under the magnitude field allows for the direction of the pressure to
be set. If this value is NOT set then the default is to make the pressure normal to the
element. The value previously entered was negative so that the pressure is opposite the
element normal and thus directed inwards.
8. Change the magnitude%= toggle to uniform size = and set it to 200.
This option establishes the size of the arrow that will graphically represent the load.
Magnitude% will make the arrow length the set percentage of the value of the load in
model units. For example in our case of a 3.0 magnitude load, a magnitude%= value of
200 would result in a load arrow of 6 units in length. Uniform size will set the length to
the set number of model units regardless of the magnitude value.
9. Click the load types= button and select PLOAD.

PLOAD is the standard pressure loading card in RADIOSS. For explanations of other
types of pressures and loads you can consult the online help files.
10. Create the pressures. The model should now look similar to this picture.
Step 8: Save the Model

While this step is optional, it is good practice to frequently save your model.
Step 9: Constraints
Constraints hold the model in place. Without them any force applied to the model would
send it flying off. Constraints typically represent the physical restrictions on a part, some
examples being welds, fasteners or other parts that constrain the part and allow it to
resist the forces applied. These are represented through the use of an SPC (single point
constraint) which restricts the movement of a single node in any of 6 degrees of freedom
(X,Y Z translational and X,Y,Z rotational)
In the case of this model, a special constraining system called Symmetric Constraining is
used. This is a common practice when analyzing a part with some form of symmetry. In
the case of this Submarine Hull model, it represents ¼ of the complete hull circle.
Analyzing only part of a symmetric model saves time in both model setup and analysis.
The results can be assumed to be identical across planes of symmetry, assuming the
loading is also identical across the plane.
1. From the Model Browser, select Load Collector “Pressure” and right click on “Hide”
2. Make the Constraints load collector current.

3. From the BCs pull down, proceed to the Create > Constraints.
4. Select the YZ Front Plane View .

5. Select or de-select the appropriate check boxes so that the only DOFs selected are 2, 4
and 6.
6. Using a box select (HINT: Shift-Left Mouse Drag a box) to pick the nodes shown in the
image below.
7. Click create.
8. Select and de-select the appropriate check boxes so that the only DOFs selected are 3,
4 and 5.
9. Using a box select pick the nodes shown in the image below.
10. Click create.
11. Select the XY Top Plane View .

12. Select and de-select the appropriate check boxes so that the only DOFs selected are 1,
5 and 6.
13. Using the standard views and model rotation tools, select all of the nodes on both
remaining edges of the Hull elements.


14. You will have to manually select the nodes at the end of the ribs, component “Ribs”. on
see image below.
15. Click create.

16. The model is now properly constrained for the analysis.
Step 10: Control Cards

Control cards are special cards in the deck that control aspects of the solver run. They
can be used to:
 Set parameters of the analysis.
 Control aspects of the analysis.

 Request certain types of output.
1. From the Setup pull-down, proceed to the Create > Control Cards panel.
2. Find the FORMAT card. (Use the next button move scroll through the cards).
3. Change the number_of_formats field to 2.
4. Change the second FORMAT card to HM.

This will provide output in both HyperView (H3D) and HyperMesh (HM) formats.
5. Click return and then use next to find the SCREEN card.
6. Set the SCREEN_V1 to OUT.

Step 11: Define the LoadStep

The final step in the analysis setup is to establish a load step. A load step is
combination of constraints and loads that will define a single analysis in the solver.
Multiple load steps can be defined in a single model allowing for one run of the solver to
conduct numerous studies.
1. From the Setup pull down enter the Create > LoadSteps panel.
2. Name the load step as “pressure load”.
3. Set the type switch to linear static.
4. Click the check box next to SPC and click the = button to select the Constraint Load
Collector.
5. Click the check box next to LOAD and click the = button to select the Pressure Load
Collector.
NOTE: Your LoadCollector ID’s may differ from those above, do not copy the values
above.
6. Create the Load Step.

Step 12: Run the Analysis

For any other solver the next step be to export a solver deck and use the individual
solver tools to being the study. As RADIOSS is an Altair product it can very easily be
invoked from within HyperMesh.
1. From the Analysis page click the Radioss button.
2. Set the panel options to match those below
NOTE: Your model name and path will differ from the picture, leave the default.
3. After the settings are made, click the Radioss button to being the analysis
4. A new window will open to show the Radioss analysis is running

5. When the message “ANALYSIS COMPLETED” appears, the run is complete and the
window can be closed.
Step 13: Post Processing

While the workings of HyperView will be discussed in greater length in the Post
Processing section of the class, this step will cover basic post processing steps to review
the analysis you just ran.
1. In the previous Radioss analysis window, click on “Results” located at the bottom, to
load the results in the HyperView ( ) session.

2. Close any message that pops up.
3. Enter the Deformed Panel .
4. Set the Value to 100 and click Apply.

5. Change the animation type to Linear Animation Mode.
6. Go to the Contour Panel .

7. Select the Result Type to be Element Stress 2D&3D.
8. Change Averaging Method to Advanced.
9. Click Interpolate Color.

10. Click Apply.
11. Click the animate icon .

12. Rotate the model to review it using the same keys and buttons as HyperMesh.
Step14: Engineering Review

1. Given that the Yield Strength of an HSLA Steel is around 360 MPa, do you think this
structure, as designed, will survive a dive to a depth of 300 meters?
2. Using the Card Editing functions, experiment with thickness values to determine how the
changes affect the stress and deformation of the model and achieve a model that does
not exceed the yield strength.
NOTE: The more weight of the structure, the less weight that can go in it so try to keep
the materials as thin as possible.


Chapter 8: Capstone Project
Chapter 8
Capstone Project
Section 1: Bringing it all together.
At this point all of the major introductory topics have been discussed, demonstrated and
tried. Now it is time to put them all together and experience a project on the full process that
the engineer will experience using HyperMesh in a real world situation. This final exercise
will cover the following topics:
 Importing a Model
 Geometry Cleanup
 1D Meshing
 2D Meshing
 3D Meshing
 Analysis Setup
 Model Loading
 Analysis
 Post Processing
Each of these topics has been covered in previous chapters and the student is encouraged
to use this manual as a reference guide to assist in performing these tasks.

Exercise 8a: Capstone Project

This is a pseudo realistic situation where you as an analyst will be asked to determine the
inertial effects of a thrust scenario on a satellite in orbit. This will be an idealized analysis as
satellites typically do not have thrusters of this sort and in that we will be assuming many
things. We will also be ignoring other external factors such as micro gravity.
Step 1: Loading the model and setting the User Profile

1. Import the IGES model SolarPanels.igs.
In most cases you will be asked to start your analysis from a CAD model. This is a
geometric representation of the solar panels that will be attached to the satellite that we
need to study.
2. Import the HyperMesh Model SatelliteBody.hm.
There are often times when you or a coworker will have a HyperMesh model of a part
that needs to be included in your model. In this case we can import a HyperMesh model
into our current session.
3. Save the model.

Name the model whatever you wish but be aware of the location the model is being
saved. It will be the working directory unless that has been changed during the session
of HyperMesh.
4. Load the RADIOSS Bulk Data User Profile.
Step 2: Clean up the geometry

1. There are some issues with the model that need to be fixed to assure an accurate
representation of the geometry. Find and fix them.
HINT: Do not use the AutoCleanup tool on this model. Remember to use visualization
tools. There are 4 areas that need to be fixed.
2. Eliminate the solar panel mounting holes on the satellite body.
Holes can have an especially detrimental effect on the quality of mesh and if they are not
needed, it is best to remove them.

HINT: The hole locations are important as we will be attaching the solar panels at their
location after we mesh. Make sure there is a fixed point at each hole location so a node
will be placed there in the mesh.
Step 3: Organize the model

1. Move the Solar Panel surfaces to a component called SolarPanels (Choose any color
you wish).
2. The component Electrnics is misspelled. Correct the spelling of the component name to
Electronics.
3. Green is often a poor choice for a component color as it can hide topolological colors of
shared edges. Change the color of the Engine component to Grey.
4. Rename the component “Body” to “Body-Aluminum”
Step 4: Materials and Properties

The best practice for model setup is to create your materials first, then your properties
and then your mesh. This prevents the need to go back and assign properties later.
1. Create a Material for the Aluminum body of the satellite.
 Type: ISOTROPIC
 Name: Aluminum
 Card image: MAT1
 E: 7.0e+04
 NU: 0.330
 RHO: 2.1e-09
2. Create a Material for the Electronics Packages.
 Type: ISOTROPIC
 Name: Electronics
 E: 1000
 NU: 0.300
 RHO: Leave Blank for now. To be explained later
3. Create a Material for the Solar Panels.
 Type: ISOTROPIC
 Name: SolarPanels
 E: 2.0e+04
 NU: 0.400
 RHO: 1.0e-09
4. Create a Property for the elements that will make up the Body of the satellite.
 Type: 2D
 Name: Body-Aluminum
 Card image: PSHELL
 Material: Aluminum
 Thickness: 5.00mm
5. Create a Property for the elements that will make up the Electronics.
 Type: 3D
 Name: Electronics
 Card image: PSOLID
 Material: Electronics
6. Create a Property for the elements that will make up the SolarPanels.
 Type: 2D
 Name: SolarPanels
 Card image: PSHELL
 Material: SolarPanels
 Thickness: 1.50mm
7. Create a Property for the elements that will make up the Engine.
 Type: 3D
 Name: Engine
 Card image: PSOLID
 Material: Aluminum
8. Assign the properties to the appropriate components.
HINT: The Components view can help.
Step 5: Mesh the part

When solids are connected to surfaces, as is the case with the Electronics Packages
and the Engine, it is often best to model the solid elements first.
1. Split the Engine into mappable regions and solid mesh with an element size of 100.
Make sure to have a good circular pattern of elements. Also make sure you always
have at least two elements through the thickness.
2. Solid Mesh the electronics Packages with a size of 100.

3. With the solids now meshed, mesh the body of the Satellite with an element size of 100.
Assure good mesh pattern and quality as the quality of the analysis is highly dependent
on mesh quality.
TIP: Avoid using automatic element cleanup as it can cause distortion in solid elements
that are connected to shells.
HINT: Differences in mesh densities for edges across from each other cause trias.
Projecting points to edges can help mesh pattern problems around nodes enforced by
fixed points.
4. Mesh the Solar Panels with an element size of 200.
Step 6: Import the Satellite Dish

Often we can take information from previously run FEA’s and incorporate it into our FEA
model. In this case, we will take a Satellite Dish that has been previously modeled and
saved in a RADIOSS .fem format and import it into our model.
1. Import the file Dish.fem.
This model has previously defined materials and properties.
2. Verify that all the components have materials and properties assigned to them.
While the elements are properly imported into location, importing an FEM file will not
connect the nodes of the imported model into the existing model. We need to attach the
dish supports to the body of the satellite.
Equivalence the nodes at the 4 connection points where the Dish Supports meet the
Body of the Satellite.
HINT: Node equivalence is found on the edges panel.
Step 7: Connect the Solar Panels to the Body

1. Using HyperBeam, create a BeamSection that is a thinwalled box that is 100mm on
each side and 10mm thick. Name it Square_SolarPanel_Support.
2. Create a PBAR property and assign the Square_SolarPanel_Support and assign the
material Antenna that was imported in with the Dish.
3. Create a component for the Solar Panel Supports.
4. Create BAR2 elements that connect the top and bottom innermost nodes to the nodes at
the center of the connection holes you eliminated previously. Make sure they have the
Solar Panel Support property and align them with the Z axis.
5. Turn on the beam visualization mode to assure they were created properly.
Step 8: Analysis Setup.

By this stage all elements should be properly assigned properties and all properties
should be assigned materials. Shell elements should have thicknesses and a PSHELL
card and solids should have a PSOLID card. At this stage we begin the loading of the
model.

The analysis we will be conducting is an Inertial Relief Analysis. This method was
specifically designed to study spacecraft and aircraft in flight. The difficulty of studying
situations such as those is the lack of a constraint system. Free flying objects are not
constrained in a traditional manner so the SPC (Single Point Constraint) we have used
up to now will not work for this type of study. Instead we shall define a structure of
SUPORT1 constraints. These work to limit Rigid Body Motion (movement of the entire
structure without deformation) but do not constrain the body against local deformation
and thus are ideal for studying a free flying object.
An inertial relief analysis can only have 6 TOTAL Degrees Of Freedom (DOF)
constrained. When creating the SUPORT1 constraint system, the exact location of the
constraints is not critical but typically follows this pattern:
a) Create a SUPORT1 constraint at an extreme location of the part with X,Y and Z
translational DOF constrained (1,2 and 3).
b) Pick another node at an extreme location and whichever direction that node is
from the original node, that DOF is removed. For example, if to reach the second
node you traveled in the Z axis direction, the Z DOF (3) would be removed
making a new DOF of 1 and 2.
c) For the final location, pick one more extreme position and remove the DOF that
corresponds to the direction moved from the constraint created in step b. For
example, if you traveled in the Y axis direction from the “b” constraint, you would
remove the Y DOF (2) and would make the final constraint DOF 1 only.
1. Create a Load Collector called Supports.

2. Create the SUPORT1 constraints in the following pattern.
3. Now a force needs to be applied to the thruster. While it is not entirely representative of
an engine giving thrust, what we will do is to place a distributed force on the nodes of the
flat outer ring of the engine. The net force we will place on the thruster is 500N.
Because this net force is to be split across many nodes, we need to calculate the portion
of the force that will be applied on each node.
4. Create a Load Collector called Thrust.

5. Count the number of nodes on the flat outer ring of the thruster.
HINT: HyperMesh has a count function and selecting the nodes by plane makes
counting them easy.
Number of nodes on Thruster _138___________

6. Divide the Net Force (500N) by the number of nodes counted.
500N/_138______(number of nodes)=_3.623_________N (Force per node)
7. Create forces in the –Z direction at each node with the value calculated above.
Now all of the loads are in place for our Inertial Relief Analysis. Next a Control Card
must be set to tell the solver this will be that type of analysis.
8. In the PARAM control card, activate the INREL keyword and give it a value of -1.
This value indicates it is an Inertia Relief Analysis with SUPORT1 constraints. For more
information about the PARAM, or any other control card, consult the RADIOSS Bulk
Data Format Reference Guide in the HELP Documentation.

The final step in setting up an analysis is to define a LOAD STEP. The load step is a
combination of loads and constraints that represent an analysis in the solver. There can
be multiple load steps in a single model containing any combination of defined loads and
constraints. This saves time as multiple runs of a solver can be defined in one model.
9. Create a Linear Static Load Step that combines the Supports Constraints and the Thrust
Force.
HINT: Remember that the Supports are SUPORT1 loads and NOT SPCs. Make sure
you reference them in the correct location.
The model is now set to run. Save it.
Step 9: Emergency Engineering Change

At the last minute it has been decided that the Dish on this satellite is not large enough
to properly broadcast back to Earth. Engineers have determined the Dish needs to be
4500mm in Diameter.
Much time has been spent setting up the model. While it would be possible to remodel,
remesh and re-setup the analysis, this would take time. Morphing is a perfect tool to
quickly alter the already created mesh.
1. Using Morphing, create a domain and then change the dimension of the diameter of the
Dish to 4500mm.
HINT: It’s a 2D Domain.
Step 10: Run the Analysis

With everything set up and the emergency engineering change dealt with, it is time to
run the analysis.
1. Run the Analysis in RADIOSS.

Step 11: Post Process

1. In the HyperWorks Solver View dialog box, click the Results button to load the results
in HyperView.
2. Change the animation type to Linear Animation Mode ( ).
3. Go to the contour panel ( ).

4. Select the Result type to be Element Stress 2D & 3D) (t).
5. Change Averaging method to Advanced.
6. Click Apply.
7. Click the Start/Pause Animation icon.
Step 12: Design Changes

As you can see from the results, the bottom of the satellite is not strong enough.
1. Using the tools within HyperMesh, increase the strength of the satellite. Some options
are:
 Material Thickness
 1D Reinforcement Beams.
 Material Changes
Keep in mind though that it costs roughly $3,000-$4,000 per Pound to place something
in Low Earth Orbit and closer to $10,000/lb for a Geosynchronous Orbit, so try to
engineer the design and not just “beef it up!”


Appendix A: HyperWorks Enterprise Collaboration Tools
Appendix A
HyperWorks
Collaboration Tools
HyperWorks Collaboration Tools is a set of modules that deliver enterprise features and
functionality to HyperWorks users. Tightly integrated into the HyperWorks suite of
applications, HWE includes: With the HyperWorks Desktop collaboration tools, you can
explore and organize your personal data, collaborate in teams, and connect to other
data sources, such as corporate PLM systems to access CAD data.
Section 1: Benefits
HyperWorks Collaboration Tools provides many benefits that challenge users and team
managers to manage their CAD data. Some of these benefits are listed below:
• Well organized container for each project type
• Centralized location of project data files
• Easy access for team members
• Version controlled project data files
• Real time monitoring for individual projects
• Does not require any additional software installation

Section 2: Terminology and Concepts

Common terminology used with the HyperWorks Desktop collaboration features.
Explore Dialog
The Explore dialog provides access to data and information, beyond what is possible
through typical file browse dialogs. This additional and enhanced access, consisting of
keyword searching, as well as metadata based querying and full text searches, is
provided through the Explore dialog, which is an extension of the standard file dialog and
the Organize Browser.
Repository
A repository, is where data, information, and associated files are located. A Personal
repository is used where you want the contents to be versioned, allowing for full lineage
of the content and the files are moved to the library’s managed file staging area.
Library
Libraries can be created within a repository to logically organize or group the contents
stored within a repository. Most commonly library used is the CAE library. The CAE
library already has the necessary built-in content definitions for CAE content types
(HyperMesh model, result files, solver deck, etc..).
Common terminology used with the HyperWorks Desktop collaboration features.

Section 3: Organize Browser
HyperWorks Collaboration Tools features are mostly setup within the HyperWorks
Organize Browser.
The Organize Browser user interface can be accessed within HyperWorks Desktop by
clicking on the top window pull-down menu:
View > Browsers > HyperWorks > Organize.
Organize Browser - User Interface

Organize Browser – Toolbar
Section 4: Creating and Using a Personal Library

Using the Collaboration tools within the Organize browser is very easy and
simple to use. In this section, we will show you how to set up your first Personal
library and populate it with CAE files. From there, we will show you some of the
top level features how the Collaboration tools can help your CAE process.

Exercise A1: Creating and Using a Personal Library

In this exercise, you will learn to:
 Set up a first Personal library and populate it with CAE files
 Search for files both in the Organize Browser
 Load files into HyperMesh using the Organize Browser
 Viewing Model Properties and Version History
Step1: Creating a Personal CAE library
The first step to use any part of the Collaboration tools is to setup a library. The library
will store all the files you wish to be part of that given library.
To create a Personal CAE library:
1. Create two directories as shown below:
C:/My_HWCT/Libraries
2. The Organize Browser user interface can be accessed within HyperWorks
Desktop by clicking on the top window pull-down menu.
Go to View >Browsers > HyperWorks > Organize to open the Organize
Browser.
3. Click the Organize tab.
4. Click the Repository: arrow and select Personal from the list.

5. Click the Library: arrow and select <New Library…>.
6. In the New Library dialog, fill in the fields as shown below:
7. Click OK.

Step2: Adding CAE files to the Personal library
Once you have created your personal library, then the next step is to populate it with
files. You can simply add files one at a time, or by directories.
To add a directory of files to a given library:
1. Right click in the Content browser to access the Context menu.
2. Click Add Files and Folders.

3. In the Select Files/Folders dialog, click Add Folder icon.
4. In the Select File dialog box, locate the following folder:
C:/Program Files/Altair/12.0/demos
5. Click OK.
6. Back in the Select Files/Folders dialog, click OK.

7. When the HyperWorks Organize confirmation dialog appears, click Ok.

Wait for the indexing process to complete (it should take 10-20 seconds or few
minutes, depending on your client.).
Please wait till the entire directory has been indexed. Or you will not be able to
complete the exercise. It will complain "Library is currently locked"
8. When the indexing process has completed (will take few minutes), a confirmation
dialog will appear asking to refresh the Organize browser. Click Yes.

Step3: Searching for CAE files
Once your library has been populated with your CAE files, the Organize browser
provides a simple searching tool to find any files in a given library.
To perform a simple search for a CAE file within a given library:
1. Right click in the Content browser and then click Show Find from the Context
menu.
2. Click the Options for searching icon and click Use Wildcards.
3. In the Find: text box, enter: cleaned_up_geom*

4. Press Enter.
5. It should find and highlight the file: cleaned_up_geom.hm

Step4: Loading in a CAE model
Once you have found the proper file, you can quickly load in the model by simply right-
clicking on the file and click option to load in the file.
To check-out a file and load it into a HyperMesh graphics area:
1. Right click on the cleaned_up_geom.hm file from the Content browser to

access the Context menu.
2. From the Context menu, click Get.
3. Right click on the cleaned_up_geom.hm file and from the Context menu click
Load HM model.

4. The model will load automatically into the HyperMesh graphics area to the right.
Step5: Viewing Model Properties
The Organize browser as a built-in feature that extracts the meta-data for each file that
has been populated into a given a library.
While the files are being imported into a library, it also indexes and categorizes each of
the file’s meta-data.
These CAE meta-data can come in handy when you want to quickly review the
properties of each file without loading into HyperWorks.
To view the meta-data of any given file within a given library:
1. Click anyone of the files within the Content browser.
2. Click Show/Hide Properties icon from the Content browser tool bar.

3. A sub panel should appear below to the Content browser showing the
Properties panel.
Step6: Viewing Version History
On each instance when a file has been updated and checked-in; it will record a new
version number into a library. This feature helps to track the number instances of that file
has been checked-in. However, more importantly users can retrieve a particular version
of that same file to review what changes were made.
To review the version history of a file:
1. Click anyone of the files within the Content browser.

2. Right click on anyone of the files from the Content browser to access the
Context menu.
3. From the Context menu, click Version History.
4. The Version History sub-panel should appear similar as below.
If this file has multiple in-checks, you will see the different version umbers under the
Version column.
5. To return back to the main Organize browser, click on the blue arrow icon .



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HyperMesh Desktop Introduction

Pre-processing for Finite Element Analysis

www.altairhyperworks.com | HyperWorks is a division of

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Location Telephone e-mail

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The following countries have distributors for Altair Engineering:

Copyright© Altair Engineering Inc. All Rights Reserved for:

Copyright notice does not imply publication.

HyperMesh Desktop Introduction

Chapter 1: Basic Interaction with HyperMesh ...................................................... 7

Chapter 2: Geometry ............................................................................................. 49

Chapter 3: 2D Meshing ....................................................................................... 107

Chapter 4: Solids and 3D Meshing .................................................................... 171

Chapter 5: 1D Meshing and Connectors ........................................................... 215

Chapter 6: HyperMorph ...................................................................................... 235

Chapter 7: Analysis Setup and Loading ............................................................ 271

Chapter 8: Capstone Project .............................................................................. 301

Appendix A: HyperWorks Collaboration Tools................................................. 311

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 4

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 5

Basic Interaction with

Overview of Finite Element Analysis

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 7

Step 1: Pre- Processing

8 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

HyperMesh Desktop Introduction

Running HyperMesh Desktop

o From the Start Menu, select All Programs.

 UNIX and Linux:

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 9

 Mac OS X: The HyperWorks Mac OS X applications can be invoked as follows.

The Start-In Directory

10 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

Changing the Start-in Directory on Windows

Changing the Start-in Directory on Linux

Start the HyperWorks Desktop application as defined in the "Starting

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 11

2. My Documents directory on Windows or ~/.altair on Linux

12 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 13

14 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

HyperMesh Desktop Graphical User Interface

 Graphics area – displays the model

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 15

HyperMesh Desktop Clients

HyperMesh Desktop Keyboard Shortcut and Setting

16 HyperMesh Introduction HyperWorks 12.0

Section 2: Opening and Saving Files

Import Models (.hm) Import Session (.mvw)

HyperWorks 12.0 HyperMesh Introduction 17