Simulation Mechanical - Help needed

[CPEProjE]

Good morning forum,

We have recently acquired new AD_Simulation license and are going through our growing pains of learning.

The PV and firetube model was constrained in the following manner:

•  A 2.0", 2nd order tetrahedral solid mesh was applied globally.
•  A refined mesh of 0.375" was applied through the flange components.
•  Symmetry constraints were applied for the use of a half-model (as shown)
•  Fixed constraints were applied to the bottom of the vessel skirt
•  Internal pressure was applied at specified load
•  Loads were applied on the flange openings to represent bolt loads

Question we have is would someone shed light on these comments from the "Check Model" report:

fem2esh - Make esh file from fem file for a specified design scenario

Version 2014.01.00.0025-W64/X64 26-Jul-2013

Copyright (c) 2013, Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

  Version of fem2esh.exe          : 2014.01000025

  Version of dcx1-win-x64.dll     : 2014.01000025

  Version of femapi-win-x64.dll   : 2014.01000025

  Version of agsdb_ar-win-x64.dll : 2014.01000025

  Version of tsx2tsy.exe          : 2014.01000025

  Design scenario : 1

  Analysis type   : Linear Stress

  Start time      : 2013/09/09-08:46:47 

  --- Get 12 active element parts in range [1, 12] from fem file

  --- Get 245437 points defined in range [1, 245437] from fem file

  Calling the Surface Topology Generator (tsx2tsy)...

  tsx2tsy: Update part surface contact/bonding data (duration=3 sec.)

  --- No mid-side node required

  Set up nodal properties such as admissible BC etc. by adjacent elements...

  In working on FEM file for a FEA model

  Terminal Error: FEM2ESH#63

    NO_3D_ELEMENT: please check meshing phase 1

2013/09/09-08:46:50

[ilyas_drawbridge · Accepted solution]

Are there non-volume entities(e.g: CAD surfaces) in your model? If there is, make sure that its element type under the part heading in the browser is set accordingly.  Plate/shell for surface elements, beam or truss for line elements, etc. Do not use brick element type for those entities. As for symmetry, you should also make sure that not only is the shape symmetrical, but the load must be symmetrical as well.

Regards

Ilyas

[schnautza]

I know this is old and is marked as "solved" but I had a different solution to the same problem...in case anybody else runs across this in the future, here is what I did to fix it.

I have 142 parts, all of them brick elements (as they should be).
In the error message, he last line was the key: "NO_3D_ELEMENT: please check meshing phase 1"
The last number in that line (1) indicates which part there is a problem with (in this example, part 1).
Right click on Part 1 in the browsing tree, and click "Create Solid Mesh". On the "Quality" tab, select "Upper Limit" and set the value to 100. Then click OK. If it still doesn't work, lower the value of the upper limit until it works.

That fixed my problems.

[dharhay]

Thanks for that explanation of the error fix.  We need more like that!