Global Merge tool

Use the Global Merge command to search the entire mesh to find and merge all nodes that are within a specified distance from each other. This distance is the merge tolerance. The Global Merge command acts on the entire mesh, whereas the Merge command acts only on the nodes you specify.

To use this tool, click (Mesh tab > Mesh Repair panel > Global Merge).

In the Input parameters section of the dialog, specify the merge tolerance. Nodes closer together than this tolerance will be merged together.

Decide whether you want to merge nodes along an element edge only. This option should not be selected when using the Global merge tool to fix free edges.

Then determine whether you want to take advantage of all the default mesh cleanup options.

In the Selection option section of the dialog, indicate whether you would like to use filtering and if so, the type of filtering.

Note: Many of the mesh repair tools involve selecting or manipulating nodes. Ensure that the nodes in the part are visible and selectable by activating the required layers in the Layers pane.

Dialog elements

Merge overlapped nodes

Merged nodes will adversely affect the quality of the mesh. Select this option to remove the overlapping nodes, automatically, and improve the quality of the mesh. The minimum distance between nodes is defined by the merge tolerance.

Merge tolerance

Specifies the minimum distance between nodes. If nodes are located closer together than the specified merge tolerance, they will be merged.

Enter the required merge tolerance (mm).

Remove duplicated beams and triangles

The option to remove duplicated beams and triangles is included primarily to address models that may have been meshed in older versions of the software and then imported. This option is selected by default.

Resolve sharp triangles

The aspect ratio plays an important role in the quality of the mesh. Very high aspect ratios should be avoided, especially when the longest side is in the direction of the flow, as this can affect localized results. Select this option to resolve sharp triangles (aspect ratio > 1000:1), automatically, and thereby improve the quality of the mesh. This option is selected by default.

Squeeze entity labels

Select this option to save on computer memory and analysis time by eliminating unused entity labels and renumbering nodes sequentially. If you select this option and deselect all others, the mesh will not be altered.

Merge report

Upon completion of a global merge, this area displays the number of nodes and elements that were moved.