Explicit Dynamics Chapter 6 Explicit Meshing

Chapter 5
Explicit Dynamics: Meshing
ANSYS Explicit Dynamics
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
1-1
February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665
What is required of Meshes for Explicit Applications?

Uniform element size (in finest zoned regions)
Smallest element size controls the time step used to advance the solution in time Explicit analyses compute dynamic stress waves that propagate throughout the entire mesh
Training Manual
Element size controlled by the user throughout the mesh

Not automatically dependent on geometry
Implicit analyses usually have static region of stress concentration where mesh is refined (strongly dependent on geometry) In explicit analyses, the location of regions of high stress constantly change as stress waves propagate through the mesh
Mesh refinement is usually used to improve efficiency

Mesh transitions should be smooth for maximum accuracy
Hex-dominant meshing preferred

More efficient Sometimes more accurate for slower transients
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Mesh
Right-click Mesh in the Outline Tree to: Insert Method Important for Explicit Sizing Contact Sizing Refinement Mapped Face Meshing Match Control Pinch Inflation Update Generate Mesh Preview Surface Mesh Show Sweepable Bodies Preview Inflation Clean Rename
Training Manual
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Meshing Methods Solid Bodies

Automatic Tetrahedron Hex Dominant Sweep Multizone CFX-Mesh
Training Manual
Surface Bodies (Shells)

Quadrilateral Dominant Triangles Uniform Quad / Tri Uniform Quad
Line Bodies (Beams)

Automatic
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Training Manual
Tetrahedrons
Advantages
An arbitrary volume can always be filled with tetrahedra Can be generated quickly, automatically, and for complicated geometry
Disadvantages
Element and node counts are higher than for a hex mesh with a similar mesh density Generally not possible to align the cells with a flow direction Not well suited for thin solids or annuli due to non-isotropy of geometry and nature of element
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Meshing Methods Solid Bodies Tetrahedrons - Patch Conforming

Default Tetrahedron Mesher All Faces, Edges, Vertices of the geometry are respected during mesh generation Delaunay Method Not good for Explicit Dynamics
Training Manual
Curves in Geometry are Reflected in the Mesh

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Training Manual
Tetrahedrons - Patch Independent

Recommended Tet mesher for Explicit Faces, Edges, Vertices not always respected Octree Method Element size Defined By
Maximum Element Size Approx. number of Elements
Max. Element Size = 2.5 mm
Max. Element Size = 1.0 mm
Curves in Geometry NOT reflected in the Mesh

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Meshing Solid Bodies Hex Dominant

Useful for meshing bodies that cannot be swept Recommended for meshing bodies with large interior volumes The hex-dominant meshing algorithm creates a quaddominant surface mesh first, then pyramid and tetrahedral elements are filled in as needed
Always check interior of mesh for good element structure Control Messages will appear to warn you if volume may not be suitable for hex-dominant meshing
Training Manual
Solid Model with Hex dominant mesh : Tetrahedrons 443 (9%) Hexahedron 2801(62%) Wedge 124 (2%) Pyramid 1107 (24%)
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665
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Training Manual
Hex Dominant
Sometimes produces a better (more uniform) mesh if a size control is placed on one or more edges / surfaces of a body
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Mesh Methods - Sweeping
Training Manual
Sweep methods for generating pure hex meshes

Sweep
Sweeping from a single source face to a single target face
Thin Sweep
Good at handling multiple sources and targets for thin parts
Multizone
Uses a free decomposition approach Attempts to automatically slice geometry into sweepable regions Supports multi-source and multi-target
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Meshing Methods Sweeping Multizone
Training Manual
Direct decomposition of complex geometries at the time of meshing to create a hex mesh
Select source and target surfaces for the Multizone sweep mesher
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Sweep vs. Thin Sweep

Use Sweep When:
The side faces are not thin You only have 1 source and 1 target
Sweep
Training Manual
The sweep direction changes along the path

Use Thin Sweep When:
The side faces are thin

In general, thin means that the side faces are small in relation to the source faces (aspect ratio of sides/sources is ~ 1/5th)
You only have multiple sources and targets Path is linear

Thin Sweep
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Sweep vs. MultiZone
Preview Sweepable Bodies shows all bodies that are sweepable
Training Manual
Use Sweep when you have a multibody part where some bodies should be meshed with Sweep, and some with Patch Conforming Tet
Use MultiZone when

you are meshing single body parts that are too complicated for Sweep you have multiple sources and targets you need to respect
Example:
Using Sweep, the single body part (left) must be manually sliced into a Multibody part containing five bodies (center) to obtain a pure hex mesh (right) With Multizone, it is meshed automatically!
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Thin Sweep vs. MultiZone
Training Manual
Use Thin Sweep when you have a thin solid part where the source and target faces dont exactly match, and you dont care about the features on the target side
Multiple source
Multiple target
Multiple sources captured
Multiple targets ignored
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Thin Sweep vs. MultiZone
Training Manual
Use MultiZone when you have a thin solid part where the source and target faces dont exactly match, and you care about the features on both sides
Multiple source
Multiple target
Multiple sources captured
Multiple targets captured
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Meshing Methods - Solid Bodies
Training Manual
Automatic (Patch Conforming/Sweeping)

Sweepable bodies are automatically swept If a solid body cannot be swept it will be meshed using the Patch Conforming Tetrahedron mesher
This is the default Method for Explicit Ensures that preferred Hex meshes are generated whenever bodies can be swept If any bodies are not swept, the tetrahedron meshes generated for these bodies should be remeshed by inserting a method that generates a Patch Independent Tet. mesh for those bodies
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Meshing Methods Surface Bodies (Shells)
Training Manual
Quad Dominant
Triangles
(not recommended for explicit)
Uniform Quad / Tri
Use sizing controls to obtain uniform element size

1-17
Meshing Line Bodies (Beams)

Method is Automatic
Training Manual
Cross-section is assigned
Can be visualized as line segments or showing cross-section Use sizing controls to obtain uniform element size
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Mesh Sizing Sizing can be applied to

Body Face Edge Vertex
Training Manual
Three options
Element Size (Body, Face, Edge) Number of Divisions (Edge) Sphere of Influence (Body, Face, Edge, Vertex)
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Mesh Sizing
Element Size
Element Size specifies average element edge length for bodies, faces or edges
Often will also improves mesh quality
Training Manual
1-20
Mesh Sizing
Number of Divisions
Specifies number of elements on edge(s) of bodies or faces Bias Type
Edge is discretized to include a bias towards one end, both ends, or the center Bias Factor is ratio of largest element size to smallest element size Effect of the Bias Factor is displayed
Training Manual
1-21
Mesh Sizing
Number of Divisions
Behavior
Soft (default) Size control and Number of Divisions used is controlled by the meshing algorithm Affected by proximity, curvature and local re-meshing during the meshing process Hard Specified Number of Divisions is fixed and cannot be changed by the meshing algorithm Increases likelihood of mesh generation failure Can have positive or negative effects on mesh quality No Edge Sizing Soft Hard
Training Manual
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Mesh Sizing
Sphere of Influence
Elements associated with the scoped entities, that are within the Sphere Radius have the specified Element Size
Vertex Sizing
Training Manual
Body Sizing
Vertex is the center of the sphere Vertex sizing is applied to all entities
For any entity other than a vertex, the definition of a Sphere of Influence requires that a Coordinate System be defined to set the center of the Sphere
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Mesh Sizing
Sphere of Influence
Elements associated with the scoped entities, that are within the Sphere Radius have the specified Element Size
Scoped to 1 Face Scoped to 2 Faces
Training Manual
Scoped to 3 Faces
Scoped to 1 Body
Surface meshing identical
Interior meshing different
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Defeaturing
Training Manual
Defeaturing reduces the influence that geometric features have on the meshing process
Avoids generating small elements that may force explicit calculations to run with a small time step
Two Meshing options are available for Defeaturing

Virtual topology Defeaturing tolerance
Can only be used with for Patch Independent Tetrahedral meshes
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Defeaturing
Training Manual
Virtual Topology
Default Mesh Small feature controls smallest element size and mesh type
Create a virtual face from small feature and larger body
Mesh is now uniform Hex Feature is simply meshed over Element size significantly improved
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Defeaturing
Training Manual
Virtual Topology & CAD
Virtual Cell
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Defeaturing
Training Manual
Defeaturing Tolerance
Only for Patch Independent Tetrahedrons
Without Defeaturing Tolerance
With Defeaturing Tolerance mesh ignores small feature Much better element size
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DM (DesignModeler) and Meshing

Bodies and Parts
Design-Modeler contains three different body types:
Training Manual
Solid body: Body has surface area and volume

Surface body: Body has surface area but no volume Line body: Body consists entirely of edges, no area, no volume By default, DM places each body into one part by itself Individual parts will always be meshed separately
If bodies in separate parts share faces, the meshes on those shared faces will not be matched
Multiple bodies in a single part will have matched meshes on shared faces
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DM and Meshing Bodies and Parts

Example:
Training Manual
In DM: 1 part, 1 body consisting of 1 solid

During Meshing: 1 solid ,1body
DM
Entire solid meshed as one entity

No internal surfaces
Mesh
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Example: In DM: 3 parts, 3 bodies consisting of 3 solids During Meshing: 3 solids, 3 bodies Each solid meshed independently
Nodes are not shared Nodes do not line-up Mesh DM
Training Manual
1-31

Example: In DM: 1 multi-body part, 3 bodies / solids During Meshing:1 multi-body part, 3 bodies / solids Each solid meshed independently but node connectivity among solids is preserved Mesh DM
Training Manual
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DM and Meshing - Slice
Training Manual
Slice geometry in Design Modeler to generate a Swept Hex Mesh
Original Geometry
Default Mesh
Sliced Geometry
Default Mesh
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DM and Meshing Slice
Training Manual
Combine Sliced Bodies into single Part to get Mesh to Match across body boundaries
Single Body Parts
Multi-body Part
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DM and Meshing Shared Topology & Match Mesh Overlapping Meshes and Contact
Explicit Dynamic Analyses require that there are no initial penetrations at contact surfaces For arbitrarily shaped bodies, this requires that nodes on surfaces that are initially in contact must match Shared Topology and Match Mesh Where Possible options allow you to do this
Training Manual
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DM and Meshing - Shared Topology and Match Mesh

Specified for each Part (in DM)
Applied at common boundaries of all Bodies in the Part
Training Manual
Options
Automatic (default)
Nodes are merged (bodies are bonded)
None
Bodies are meshed independently
Imprint
Meshes are across interfaces of bodies contained in Multi-Body Parts
When used with Match Mesh Where Possible option for Patch Independent Tetrahdron meshing, can prevent unwanted initial contact penetration
New feature in 12.0. Currently only implemented for tetrahedra
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DM and Meshing - Shared Topology and Match Mesh
Training Manual
No Match Mesh
Automatic
None
Imprint
Only Automatic has matching meshes

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DM and Meshing - Shared Topology and Mesh Matching
Training Manual
Mesh matching where possible
Automatic
None
Imprint
All cases have matching meshes

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665
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DM and Meshing - Spot Welds

Define points on source geometry at location of the spot welds
Corresponding points on target geometry are generated
Source geometry and target geometry can be in contact or separated
Training Manual
Meshing ensures that nodes are generated at the spot weld points
Explicit Dynamics uses nodes to define solid or breakable joints
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DM and Meshing - Mid-Surface Creation

Mid-Surface
Reduces 3D geometry of constant thickness to a simplified shell representation Automatically places surface body at mid point between 3D face pairs Allows shell element type meshing in Explicit Dynamics
Training Manual
3D Model
Mid-Surface representation
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DM and Meshing Surface Extension

Surface Extension
Creates a surface extension based on edge selection Often required after Mid-Surface operation
Training Manual
A thin solid model
The model is converted to a mid plane surface model. The result is a gap at the intersection of the 2 parts
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Extending the circular edge closes the gap

DM and Meshing Named Selections
Training Manual
Create Named Selections in DM or Meshing

Can be used to apply constraints and boundary conditions in Explicit Dynamics
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DM and Meshing - Cleanup and Repair of CAD

Edge and Face Merge for Model Simplification
Merge edges and faces based on angle criteria to simplify the model
Training Manual
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DM and Meshing - Cleanup and Repair of CAD Repair
Training Manual
1-44
DM and Meshing - Cleanup and Repair of CAD
Training Manual
Face Delete
Patch healing
Natural healing
Selected faces for delete
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FEModeler
Training Manual
Import a finite element (FE) model from a NASTRAN bulk data file or ABAQUS Input file. Import FE information from Workbench Meshing or Advanced Meshing Import archived ANSYS data created using the CDWRITE command. Navigate and visualize the data contained in the model. Generate a geometry from an FE Model using the Geometry Synthesis feature. Create named components based on element selections. Generate an ANSYS, NASTRAN, or ABAQUS input deck for downstream analysis.
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FEModeler
Import ANSYS model file into Workbench
Training Manual
Open the imported model in FEModeler
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FEModeler
Display Element Statistics in FEModeler
Training Manual
1-48
FEModeler
Convert to Geometry (Geometry Synthesis / Skin Detection)
Training Manual
1-49
FEModeler
Pass Geometry to Meshing
Training Manual
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Chapter 5

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

ANSYS Explicit Dynamics

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

What is required of Meshes for Explicit Applications?

Element size controlled by the user throughout the mesh

Mesh refinement is usually used to improve efficiency

Hex-dominant meshing preferred

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Solid Bodies

Surface Bodies (Shells)

Line Bodies (Beams)

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Solid Bodies

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Solid Bodies Tetrahedrons - Patch Conforming

Curves in Geometry are Reflected in the Mesh

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Solid Bodies

Tetrahedrons - Patch Independent

Max. Element Size = 2.5 mm

Max. Element Size = 1.0 mm

Curves in Geometry NOT reflected in the Mesh

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Solid Bodies Hex Dominant

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Solid Bodies

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Mesh Methods - Sweeping

Sweep methods for generating pure hex meshes

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Meshing Methods Sweeping Multizone

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Sweep vs. Thin Sweep

The sweep direction changes along the path

The side faces are thin

You only have multiple sources and targets Path is linear

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Sweep vs. MultiZone

Preview Sweepable Bodies shows all bodies that are sweepable

Use MultiZone when

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 27, 2009 Inventory #002665

Explicit Dynamics: Meshing

Thin Sweep vs. MultiZone

Multiple sources captured