Many of the methods to check and edit mesh are based around determining mesh quality, but others check for mesh penetration,
detect holes, and locate edges or features.
Use the Normals tool to display and reverse the normals of elements or surfaces. The orientation of element normals can also be adjusted.
The normal of an element is determined by following the order of nodes of the element using the right-hand rule.
The quality of elements in a mesh can be gauged in many ways, and the methods used often depend not only on the element
type, but also on the individual solver used.
HyperWorks includes some alternate methods of calculating certain element types, which only apply to quads or rectangular faces
of solids, and only include alternate checks for Aspect Ratio, Skew, Taper and Warpage.
For the most part, OptiStruct uses the same checks as HyperMesh. However, OptiStruct uses its own method of calculating Aspect Ratio, and it does not support 3D element checks.
Use the Criteria legend to investigate the model via individual criteria, and view a breakdown of all failed and worst
elements based on a set QI range. This is useful when you want to resolve criteria violations, and evaluate the overall
quality of a mesh.
Use the Replicate tool to replicate a mesh from one location to another, with options to keep the original mesh, as
well as to replicate into multiple copies. The replicated elements replace the original elements, maintaining relevant
information like properties, thicknesses, and other solver attributes.
Locally refine 2D elements and attached 1D elements using either the Auto Quads tool, the Box tool, or the Manual tool. These are most useful for aerospace and marine applications, where specific transition patterns are required
from the refined mesh to the existing mesh.
Use the Detach tool to detach elements from the surrounding structure. You can detach elements from a portion of your model so that
it can be translated or moved, or you can offset the new nodes by a specified value. You can also use this panel
to detach and remove elements from your model.
Use the Imprint/Extend tool to extend a mesh to meet another mesh and form a good connection between them, or to imprint overlapping meshes
so that they match one another.
Associate nodes to a point, line, or surface/solid face; move nodes along a surface; place a node at a point on a
surface; remap a list of nodes to a line; or project nodes to an imaginary line passing through two nodes.
Use the Split panel to split plates or solid elements. In addition, hexa elements can also be split using a technique
that moves progressively through a row of elements in the model
Stitch two unconnected meshes by adding elements between them, split elements at weld locations, and combine and split
elements to fix connectivity in the transitional area between fine and coarse mesh areas.
Perform a model-based CAD-CAD, CAD-FE or FE-FE comparison between two models, or two selections of entities, and find
and report geometrical/shape differences.
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality and create, edit, and apply
shapes for subsequent design optimization studies.
The Design Space environment is dedicated to topology optimization model build and setup. It facilitates rapid model creation by generating
the voxel design space for a number of different use cases.
Many essential utility tools using HyperWorks-Tcl have been developed over the years to support Aerospace customers. A few tools have been collected and upgraded to
be compatible with this release.
Many of the methods to check and edit mesh are based around determining mesh quality, but others check for mesh penetration,
detect holes, and locate edges or features.
The quality of elements in a mesh can be gauged in many ways, and the methods used often depend not only on the element
type, but also on the individual solver used.
HyperWorks includes some alternate methods of calculating certain element types, which only apply to quads or rectangular faces
of solids, and only include alternate checks for Aspect Ratio, Skew, Taper and Warpage.
HyperWorks includes some alternate methods of calculating certain
element types, which only apply to quads or rectangular faces of solids, and only include
alternate checks for Aspect Ratio, Skew, Taper and Warpage.
Note: Because these methods apply only to certain quality checks, in order to use
them you must choose the set individually option in the
Check Element settings.
Aspect Ratio
ratio1 = V1/H1
ratio2 = V2/H2
Skew value is larger of ratio1 or ratio2. Figure 1. Aspect Ratio
Skew
First, HyperWorks constructs lines connecting the
midpoints of each edge of the quad, dotted in the picture below. Next,
HyperWorks constructs a third line, green in the
picture below, perpendicular to one of the initial lines, then finds the
angle between this third line and the remaining initial line – with
which is it most likely not perpendicular, unless the quad is a perfect
rectangle.
α is the skew (angle) value. Figure 2. Skew
Taper
First, the quad’s nodes are projected to plane defined by the
orthonormal vectors U-V found as follows:
Z = X × Y
V = Z × X
U = X
Figure 3. Figure 4.
In HyperWorks, Taper angle is defined as: .
The optimal value is 0°, and a generally acceptable limit is. <= 30°.
The The ultimate limit, which the Taper angle cannot exceed is 45°.
Warpage
Only applies to quads or rectangular faces of solids. Figure 5.
Warpage = 100 * h / max { Li }, where h is the minimum distance
between the diagonals.