Advanced Control of Brick Mesh Dimensions

[cody.macneil]

I frequently model structures that have thin cross sections but are welded and oriented in ways that make plate/shell elements undesirable. It would be nice to be able to define requirements for meshing brick/tet elements such that one could have greater control over their generation.

An example of this is a welded structure of thin walled square tubing where von Mises stress is important to the design. The ability to control the meshing so that there are at least 3 elements through the thickness of the tubing but the elements are long and slender enough that there isn't too many elements would be advantageous. Additionally, this may help minimize the issue when the mesher goes into the mode where is "Closes Remaining Voids" ad infinitum.

Perhaps one way of doing this is to select two surfaces and define a minimum number of elements that must be placed in between them for standard brick/tet elements. Thoughts?

[Sualp.Ozel]

Hi Cody

In 2015 R1 (August 2014) release we introduce the per part meshing capability.

I think if you use this new functionality alongside with the preexisting

1) Layered mesher and

2) Smart bonding,

you will be able to control the number of elements through the tickness and the length dimention while making sure you can mesh each part with a specific mesh size and have them contact each other even though they do not have a matching (conformal) mesh and still get the results you are after.

If you have any questions on how to do any of this please feel free to contact tech support

Best regards

Sualp Ozel, PE

Product Manager

Autodesk Simulation

sualp.ozel@autodesk.com