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Plate element meshing

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Message 1 of 4
roberthaas4107
1391 Views, 3 Replies

Plate element meshing

Hello

 

I am trying to simulate a welded structure and would like to have some of the pieces be plate elements, and others brick elements. When I import the model from Inventor all the pieces are solid. Is there a way of making some of the parts plate elements and having the plate element be on one side of the part?

 

Problem is that when I create the mid-plane mesh the two parts do not contact and I dont know how to set up contacts if the parts do not contact.

 

Attached is an image of an example with the mid-plane mesh.

 

Thanks,

Robert

3 REPLIES 3
Message 2 of 4

Hi Robert,

 

It depends on which CAD app you are using and which version of Simulation. Simulation 2013 will import solids and surfaces from Inventor. I do not know if any other CAD apps will support a mixed model.

 

Regardless, this work around may be applicable in your case.

  1. Import everything into Simulation as solid.
  2. For the parts that you want to be plate, right-click on the part and set "CAD Mesh Options > Part ..." and set the "Mesh type" to plate shell.
  3. Mesh the model.
  4. For the parts that are plate, you will need to delete the lines on the surfaces that do not belong to the plate mesh. See the page "Model Mesh Settings" in the documentation for a better understanding of the different mesh types.

 

Message 3 of 4

I am using Inventor 2012 and Simulation 2013. I would like to know if there is a way to mesh a solid part into one 2D surface, such that would be created during the mid-plane mesh, but have the surface be offset to one side of the plate.

 

Also how can I create a bonded constraint between a plate edge, and another surface if the two surfaces are not touching?

 

Thanks,

Robert

Message 4 of 4

The answer to the first question is no. At least, not automatically.

 

In my previous post, I suggested meshing the plate parts and deleting the meshes from the surfaces not required. An easier method would be to select the surfaces that do not need to be meshed, right-click > "CAD Mesh Options > Suppress for Meshing". When you generate the mesh, ONLY the surfaces you want to use as plate elements will be meshed.

 

You may also want to consider putting all of the surfaces that you do not want to mesh into a selection group. (right-click > Selection Groups > Create new group). This makes it a lot easier to re-select all of the surfaces in case you want to hide them, etc.

 

For bonding two parts that do not physically touch, you can use "Tied" type surface-to-surface contact if the analysis type is MES. If performing some type of linear analysis, the only thing that comes to mind would be to connect the edge of the plate to a region of the other surface using beam elements. The command "Draw > Design > Contact Elements" is a wizard-like command that will quickly connect one set of vertices with another set of vertices. The the beam properties should be relatively stiff compared to the other parts.

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