Import Autocad meshes in ARSA

[sergey.churilov]

Hello,

I need to transfer Autocad model of a helmet in Robot. The helmet was created with Autocad meshes.

The helmet shall be used for structural analysis with shell elements.

I am having difficulties transfering the file.

Can you please help me?

Is it possible to import the meshes as panels in Robot?

http://we.tl/ZhpvuE1byn

Thanks!

[t.sautierr]

Not directly as far as I know (or it needs be surface or something like that in Autocad to be properly converted), but you can read this post ->

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Robot-Structural-Analysis/Forcing-mesh-in-Robot/m-p/3850160/highlight/...

I use this technique want I want to draw a mesh by myself.

[Artur.Kosakowski]

Try to open dwg file in AutoCAD and run Explode command first. Then save the file as dwg again and open it in Robot.

If you find your post answered press the Accept as Solution button please. This will help other users to find solutions much faster. Thank you.

[sergey.churilov]

Thank you Artur. Your suggestion was very useful, and the model was transfered to ARSA.

Now I have problem assigning panel properties to the imported meshes.

I loaded the file and exploded objects into FE as bars or quandrilaterals (4 nodes).

- Bars. Program stops responding when assigning panels or if I select just several bars only few of them would generate panels. The others cannot be generated although all bars that surround the targeted panel are selected.

- Quadrilaterals (4 nodes). I cannot select anything in order to assign panels.

What should be your suggestion in order to create panels and later mesh them with FEs?

P.S. I tried saving the file from Autocad as .dwg and .dxf in different versions (from 2000-2010), but there are no obvious differences during the import.

[t.sautierr]

1)post your dwg file.

2) are your lines in Autocad properly connected? try to correct the structure with a small tolerance in robot and see if the number of nodes is smaller after correcting, after it should work.

[Rafal.Gaweda]

Example (after exploding helmet in ACAD): http://screencast.com/t/6P0CrVcgl4c
(halfs are made because of different LCS of FEs in model)

[kostastomp]

Hello everyone,

sorry to hi-jack the thread, I just didn't want to start a new one since what I am going to ask is quite similar to the original question.

I have a curved panel which looks like a circular pipe cut in half along the longitudinal axis and it also has a few holes to it.

I am not very comfortable in modelling objects with robot, so I would like to use AutoCAD instead which is much easier for me.

No matter what I tried, I haven't managed to import it in RSA as a 2d surface or panel. I tried modelling it as 3d solid or a 3d surface in ACAD, but no luck. I am using the File->Open Project commant for the import.

I have attached a file with the object I am trying to import, in case you want to have a look at it.

Any ideas?

Thanks