Meshing Error with no further information.

[george_mcfarlane]

Hi guys,

I am undertaking a project to design an engine conversion to put an LS7 in the back of a Porsche Gt3 Cup car, and a I want to run an FEA study on the mounting plates to I can then put them through the shape optimization feature (not essential, but I have just finished an engineering degree and I like playing around with this stuff).

I figured my way through using bolted connections to setup the study, but am running into an issue with the meshing phase of the study. It brings up an error of: Meshing Error during the solid meshing phase. And it has no further information.

It seems like it is having an issue with the front crank pulley. I don't need to include this in the FEA study, but I am using an imported model of an LS7 engine to model my parts off. I am bolting the plate directly to the block so it seems like I can't suppress the block to get rid of this error. The front crank pulley has been modelled as part of the block, so its part of its component.

Anybody have any help they could provide to help me on my way?

Regards,

George

[Anonymous]

You want to use the simplify the workspace to remove the model components that you don't need in the simulation.

F360 has a few tutorials on this as well.

[george_mcfarlane]

Simplifying the workspace does not change the outcome, it still generates a mesh error on parts that I have removed. And now it is generating errors on different things, and stacking the error messages on top of each other so I cannot read them separately.

I guess one way to work around the issue is to import the plates/brackets I have designed into another design, and simulate them bolted to a simple piece of steel/aluminium. I am only interested in the results on the plates/brackets themselves, not any component of the engine. 

Would I be right in doing that?

I guess this is one of the issues with importing CAD models from somewhere else (grabcad), they can generate issues.

George

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@george_mcfarlane, Maybe I wasn't clear enough on the Simplify Workspace...or I don't properly understand your question. I put together a quick video to detail how I would mesh this simulation if I only cared about the bracket on the front. I also want to point out that I did not solve the simulation, I was only looking to resolve a mesh. As you have noted...models are always "dirty" when you download them from places like Grab cad because the focus is typically on aesthetics and not engineering. This meshed on the first shot for me, but depending on your simulation you may want further refinement. There's a fair amount that goes into a good FEA setup. 

Your suggestion about simulating with generic plates would probably work as well. You may not even need the plates if you can constrain it accurately enough...it really just depends on the level of accuracy you need. When I solve a large simulation at work, it's almost always a simplified model. 

[george_mcfarlane]

Thanks, that video helped a lot.

I have done minimal FEA in Fusion so am still feeling my way through it all.

Now to figure out how the bolted connections work and see what results they give me.

Cheers.

George

[george_mcfarlane]

Hi Sean,

Just another question. 

I tried to simplify the simulation like the video you did (thank you), but it gave me the result as shown in the two screenshots I have attached.

It is showing that I will cut the extrusion as shown in the first one, but the result is it cuts the piece of head that one of the plates is attached too, and leaves the other end of the head in place. Do you know why it would do this?

Regards,

George

[Anonymous]

That normally happens to me when I haven't made the sketch large enough to capture all of the features I want to cut given the plane I have selected. The rectangle you draw would have to "envelope" everything you want to cut when you extrude it out. 

However it looks like it's supposed to in the image you posted so it's a little confusing. Is the extrusion set to exclude some bodies in the cut?

Can you share the updated file?

[george_mcfarlane]

I tried playing round with how big the sketch was and some of the extrude settings but it did not make any sense to me. 

Updated file is attached.

It is simulation study 3. I want to play round with the bolt connection on this study. The other study (1) I just used fixed constraints in the bolt holes and a frictionless on the mating face. Im not sure which one would be more correct so seeing the difference between the two.

George