Lecture 5:

Geometry Simplification and Repair

16.0 Release

Introduction to ANSYS DesignModeler

1 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Geometry Simplification & Repair

In this lecture we will learn about:

• Typical Geometry Issues
• Analysis Tools
• Dedicated Repair Tools
– Automated Cleanup
– Examples
• Semi-automatic/Manual Repair & Defeaturing tools
• Import Methods for Cleaner model

2 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Preprocessing Workflow

Import/
Geometry
Geometry Meshing Solver
Modifications
Creation

Sketches and Planes 3D Operations Meshing Methods

Booleans, Hybrid Mesh: Tet,

3D Operations Decompose, etc. Prisms, Pyramids

Extrude, Revolve, Hexa Dominant,

Sweep, etc Sweep meshing
Geometry Cleanup
and Repair Assembly
Geometry Import Meshing
Options Automatic
Cleanup Global Mesh
Bi-Directional
Settings
CAD/ Neutral
Simplification,
Mid-surface, Local Mesh Settings
Fluid Extraction

Sizing, Controls,
etc.
3 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Geometry Cleanup/Repair: Introduction
Why the need for Repair?
• Several translation methods available to
enable data exchange with CAD/CAE
systems
– Direct Integration/CAD Readers
– Import of generic CAD formats (IGES,
ACIS etc)
• Translation can:
– Return incomplete, corrupt, or
disconnected geometry
• Requires repair
– Return geometry details unnecessary
for CAE analysis
• Requires defeaturing
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How to Fix?
• Geometry Cleanup
– Processes required to prepare
geometry for meshing
• Fix incomplete or corrupt geometry
and connect disconnected geometry
• Remove unnecessary details
(Defeaturing)
• Decompose geometry into meshable
sections for hex/hybrid meshing
 Geometry Cleanup/Repair: Introduction
• DM provides geometry tools to:
– Analyze
– Repair
– Modify/Simplify
• All these commands are available under the
Tools Menu
• May need to view the model in wireframe
mode to visualize the problematic areas
• DM also give the ability to color edges
depending on connectivity

5 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Typical Geometry Issues

Many potential issues

– Missing faces
– Sliver faces
– Hard edges
– Small edges
– Sharp angles
– Others … Missing faces Sliver faces Hard Edges

These issues must be fixed to

– Create watertight fluid bodies
– Prevent meshing issues

Small edges Sharp angles

6 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Analysis Tools

• Set of features that provide information, detect

faults in geometry

Can be accessed also by

clicking RMB on the Part

7 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Fault Detection
• Fault Detection is a tool to find faults in the selected geometry/topology
• Very useful in identifying any issues in imported models

• The model faults get listed in Details View, where selecting a fault from
the list highlights its corresponding entities in Graphics Window
• The following faults will be detected:
• Corrupt Data Structure
• Missing Geometry
• Invalid Geometry
• Self Intersection
• Tolerance Mismatch
• Size Violation
• Invalid Line-Body Edge, region, shell or body orientation
• Internal Checking Error

8 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Distance Finder
• Distance Finder is a tool to compute the shortest distance between
two sets of entities (vertices/edges/faces/volumes)
• Shortest distance between two entities will be measured
• The selections may contain topology mix (See the image below)
• CG of each set is used for finding distance between two mixed sets
• In addition to the shortest distance,
component distances with respect
to the Global and Local plane axes
are computed and displayed

9 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Repair Tools
• Easy search and fix of unwanted geometrical features
or geometric errors
• Can be executed on both frozen and active bodies
• Repair Types
– Repair Hard Edges
– Repair Edges
– Repair Seams
– Repair Holes
– Repair Sharp Angles
– Repair Slivers
– Repair Spikes
– Repair Faces

10 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Repair: Automation
• Automatically detects and lists out
geometrical issues

• Highlights the location of fault in the

geometry
– Zooms into the location, when clicked on
the items in the list

• Proposes fixes to the issues

– Choose a different method to fix, if needed

• Analyze the list

• Fix issues all at once

– Upon clicking “Generate”
– Can’t be done one after the other

11 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Repair: Automation
• Automatically detects and lists out
geometrical issues

• Highlights the location of fault in the

geometry
– Zooms into the location, when clicked on
the items in the list

• Proposes fixes to the issues

– Choose a different method to fix, if needed

• Analyze the list

• Fix issues all at once

– Upon clicking “Generate”
– Can’t be done one after the other

12 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Repair: Automation
• Automatically detects and lists out
geometrical issues

• Highlights the location of fault in the

geometry
– Zooms into the location, when clicked on
the items in the list

• Proposes fixes to the issues

– Choose a different method to fix, if needed

• Analyze the list

• Fix issues all at once

– Upon clicking “Generate”
– Can’t be done one after the other

13 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Repair: Example
Repair Edges

Small edge in the model Details View of Repair Edges Small edge removed

Small edge in the model Details View of Repair Edges Small edge removed
14 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Repair: Example
Repair Holes

Holes in a solid body Details View of Repair Holes Holes removed

Hole in a surface body Details View of Repair Holes Hole removed

15 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Face Delete
• Used to remove features such as fillets, chamfers, holes etc., and
automatically heal the geometry at those locations
• Four Options for Healing: Automatic, Natural, Patch or No healing

Patch Healing

Automatic

Natural Healing

16 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Edge Delete

• Used to remove blends, chamfers, and holes from surface bodies

• Can also be applied to imprinted edges from all body types
• Can choose healing types: Automatic, Natural or No healing

17 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Face Split
• Allows faces to be split by:
– Points and Edges
– Locations
– Plane
– Surface

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 Surface Patch
• Fills the gaps in surface bodies
• Requires closed loop of edges
• Edges can be from different surface bodies
• Allows selection of multiple patch operations in a single go

Natural Healing

Details View of Surface Patch

Model with a
Gap filled using hole
Surface Patch
19 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
Patch Healing
 Merge
• Merges a set of edges or faces
• Useful to reduce model complexity
• Type
– Edge merging
– Face merging

• Method
– Manual: user selects the entities to merge
– Automatic: clusters of entities to merge are automatically
selected and highlighted

Edge Merging

Details View of Merge

20 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019
 Projection
• Allows projection of points on
edges/faces and edges on faces/bodies
Edge to project
• Options
– Points on edge or face
– Edge on face or body
• Works on both frozen as well as active
bodies Edge projected
on face

Details View of Projection

Edge projected on face with
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‘Extend Edges’ option YES
 Body Operation: Sew
• Sews selected surface bodies to form a single surface body where they
have edges common to within a given Tolerance
• Create Solids? option enables surface bodies forming a closed domain to
be converted to solid bodies

22 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Geometry Quality based on Import Type
CAD Import/Attach supports 2 options for
Target Geometry Type:
• Workbench Geometry: Geometry representation that is
used by various applications within ANSYS WB, including
WB Mechanical and WB Meshing.
– Faster and Cleaner import format, which avoids time-consuming
conversion of entire assembly in DM format during import
– This format is useful only, if user intends to change/modify only very few
(5-10%) bodies in DM
– Workbench type bodies must be converted to DesignModeler type
(Parasolid) for majority of operations
– Conversion from Workbench format to DesignModeler format will occur
automatically as needed by some operations

• DesignModeler Geometry: Geometry representation

which is used only by the DesignModeler application.
– DM, Parasolid, IGES, STEP, MCNP and other neutral formats import only as
native DM Geometry type

23 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019

 Summary

What have we learnt in this session?

• Types of Geometry Problems post Import
• Automatic Cleanup Tools
• Semi-automatic/Manual Controlled Cleanup Options
• Analysis Tools
• Miscellaneous Geometry Analysis Tools
• Import Methods

24 © 2015 ANSYS, Inc. December 26, 2019