Mesh Definition History in the Design Study Bar

When you define a mesh with Automatic Mesh Sizing, you define a process that the Mesher uses to generate the mesh. Unlike materials and boundary conditions, a mesh definition is a set of commands issued in a specific order. When you change the order of these commands, you often change the resultant mesh.

The Mesh Size branch of the Design Study bar lists every step in the mesh definition history. This includes when Automatic Sizing is invoked, size adjustments, and when Spread Changes is applied. Each step is listed as a separate branch, and can be modified, disabled, or deleted from the mesh definition.

All steps in the history constitute the mesh definition. Certain mesh definition commands prompt question dialogs regarding the re-institution of existing adjustment settings or the removal of existing mesh sizes. The responses to these questions affect the current mesh definition, but they do not remove earlier steps in the history. New steps are added to the definition may change the distribution and may even "undo" the effects of earlier steps.

These are the primary benefits of the Mesh History:

You have full visibility to every step that defines the mesh. This makes it easy to recreate the same mesh on a different model or at a later time.
You can "roll back" a mesh definition by disabling or eliminating one or more steps. This makes it easy to see the effect of a change or to fix errors.

Global Settings

Global settings such as Surface refinement, Gap refinement, and the Length scale appear under the Model mesh settings branch.

All other steps in the mesh definition are listed in the order they are applied to the model.

Managing the Mesh History

To change an existing setting in the mesh distribution:

Most mesh distributions on complex models are defined through a series of commands and refinements. Because every setting is accessible in the History, it is easy to modify a specific setting in the mesh definition.

Right click on the setting, and select Edit.
Modify the value in the dialog.

To rebuild the mesh distribution:

When a setting is modified or deleted, a "warning" icon is displayed over the Mesh Size branch:

This means that the mesh distribution is out of date and needs to be rebuilt.

Right click on either the Mesh Size branch or in the model window.
Click Rebuild mesh definition.

Note: The mesh seed points update after the mesh definition is rebuilt.

Note: The mesh is not generated until the simulation is started.

To disable a setting:

Sometimes it is useful to temporarily remove a setting without deleting it. This can be help determine the effect a setting has on the mesh distribution.

Uncheck the box adjacent to the setting.
Rebuild the mesh distribution.

To modify an existing mesh refinement region:

Right click on the region branch in the Design Study bar, and select Edit.
Modify the region settings in the dialog, and rebuild the mesh definition.

Note: Extrusion definitions do not appear in the Mesh Definition History.