Meshing the model

After you create or import an unmeshed geometry model, you must mesh the model before it can be analyzed.

The mesh consists of triangular elements connected with nodes, and provides the basis for the analysis. The three supported finite element mesh types are: Midplane, Dual Domain, and 3D.

Topics in this section

Meshing a model
After you create or import an unmeshed geometry model, the next step is to mesh the model.
Changing the mesh type and remeshing the part
Chord Angle
The number of elements used to represent the curved features of a CAD model can be specified by a chord angle.
Create 3D channel mesh for conformal cooling
Conformal cooling channels are meshed with the 3D Channel Mesh tool.
Generate Mesh tool
This panel is used to define and create a finite-element mesh.
Remeshing the Model
When generating a mesh, you are provided with the option to Remesh already meshed parts of the model
Meshing methods
There are two methods which may be used to generate the mesh on imported Nonuniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) surfaces.
Midplane mesh
A Midplane mesh consists of a web of 3-noded triangular elements and forms a 2D representation of a solid model.
Dual Domain mesh
Dual Domain analysis technology allows you to perform detailed analyses directly on thin-wall, surface meshed models imported from Autodesk Moldflow Adviser or an external CAD package.
3D mesh
A 3D mesh represents the CAD model by filling the volume of the model with four-node, tetrahedral elements (tetra).
Mesh density
Mesh density is the number of elements per unit area in a mesh.
Using different types of meshes in the same model
As a general rule, mixing meshes is not supported. However, some exceptions can be considered with elements used in structural analyses, and beams used in Flow or Warp analyses, and for conformal cooling channels.
Warped mesh/geometry
If you have run a warp analysis and have warp results, you can export the warped mesh/geometry for use in another applications. Likewise, you can import warped mesh/geometry from a previous warp analysis into a new study.
Aggregated mesh solver
Mesh aggregation is a feature that is incorporated into the Cool analysis solvers and is recommended to be used in all circumstances. The method works by aggregating similar elements with their immediate neighbors to form larger master elements, reducing the overall number of the elements of the model internal to the solver, and therefore, analysis time.

Parent topic: The mesh