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HyperMesh 10.0
Core Tutorials
Altair Engineering Contact Information
Web site www.altair.com
FTP site Address: ftp.altair.com or ftp2.altair.com or http://ftp.altair.com/ftp
Login: ftp
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2009 Altair Engineering, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,
transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated to another language without the written permission of Altair
Engineering, Inc. To obtain this permission, write to the attention Altair Engineering legal department at: 1820 E.
Big Beaver, Troy, Michigan, USA, or call +1-248-614-2400.
Trademark and Registered Trademark Acknowledgments
Listed below are Altair

HyperWorks

applications. Copyright

Altair Engineering Inc., All Rights Reserved for:

HyperMesh

1990-2009; HyperView

1999-2009; OptiStruct

1996-2009; RADIOSS

1986-2009; HyperCrash
2001-2009; HyperStudy

1999-2009; HyperGraph

1995-2009; MotionView

1993-2009; MotionSolve

2002-
2009; TextView 1996-2009; MediaView 1999-2009; HyperForm

1998-2009; HyperXtrude

1999-2009;
HyperView Player

2001-2009; Process Manager 2003-2009; Data Manager 2005-2009; Assembler

2005-2009; FEModel 2004-2009; BatchMesher 2003-2009; Templex 1990-2009; Manufacturing
Solutions 2005-2009; HyperDieDynamics 2007-2009; HyperMath 2007-2009; ScriptView 2007-2009.
In addition to HyperWorks trademarks noted above, GridWorks, PBS Gridworks, PBS Professional,
PBS and Portable Batch System are trademarks of ALTAIR ENGINEERING INC., as is patent # 6,859,792.
All are protected under U.S. and international laws and treaties. All other marks are the property of their
respective owners.
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HyperMesh 10.0 Tutorials
HyperMesh Tutorials
...........................................................................................................................................5
Finding the Installation Directory <install_directory>
...........................................................................................................................................6
Basics
...........................................................................................................................................7
Getting Started with HyperMesh - HM-1000
...........................................................................................................................................11
Opening and Saving Files - HM-1010
...........................................................................................................................................18
Working with Panels - HM-1020
...........................................................................................................................................25
Organizing a Model - HM-1030
...........................................................................................................................................35
Controlling the Display - HM-1040
...........................................................................................................................................45
Geometry
...........................................................................................................................................46
Importing and Repairing CAD - HM-2000
...........................................................................................................................................56
Generating a Midsurface - HM-2010
...........................................................................................................................................59
Simplifying Geometry - HM-2020
...........................................................................................................................................67
Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh - HM-2030
...........................................................................................................................................78
Creating and Editing Line Data - HM-2040
...........................................................................................................................................95
Creating Surfaces from Elements - HM-2050
...........................................................................................................................................107
Creating and Editing Solid Geometry - HM-2060
...........................................................................................................................................123
Geometry and Mesh Editing Using the Quick Edit Panel - HM-2070
...........................................................................................................................................131
Meshing
...........................................................................................................................................132
1-D Elements
..............................................................................................................................133
Creating 1-D Elements - HM-3000
...........................................................................................................................................137
2-D Elements
..............................................................................................................................138
AutoMeshing - HM-3100
..............................................................................................................................148
Meshing without Surfaces - HM-3110
..............................................................................................................................156
2-D Mesh in Curved - HM-3120
..............................................................................................................................161
QI Mesh Creation - HM-3130
..............................................................................................................................165
Batch Meshing - HM-3140
..............................................................................................................................173
Meshing a Model Using Shrink Wrap - HM-3150
...........................................................................................................................................183
3-D Elements
..............................................................................................................................184
Tetrameshing - HM-3200
..............................................................................................................................193
Creating a Hex-Penta Mesh using Surfaces - HM-3210
..............................................................................................................................208
Creating a Hexahedral Mesh using the Solid Map Function - HM-3220
..............................................................................................................................217
CFD Mesh - HM-3230
..............................................................................................................................229
CFD Mesh - HM-3240
..............................................................................................................................236
CFD Mesh - HM-3250
..............................................................................................................................248
CFD Mesh Plane 2-D Meshing with Boundary Layers - HM-3260
..............................................................................................................................260
Using the TetraMesh Process Manager - HM-3270
...........................................................................................................................................271
Quality
ii Altair Engineering HyperMesh 10.0 Tutorials
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...........................................................................................................................................272
Checking and Editing Mesh - HM-3300
...........................................................................................................................................285
Penetration - HM-3320
...........................................................................................................................................299
Assembly
...........................................................................................................................................300
Creating Connectors - HM-3400
...........................................................................................................................................321
Creating Area Connectors - HM-3410
...........................................................................................................................................328
Creating Bolt Connectors - HM-3420
...........................................................................................................................................332
Part Replacement Through Connectors - HM-3430
...........................................................................................................................................336
Morphing
...........................................................................................................................................337
Freehand Morphing - HM-3510
...........................................................................................................................................339
Sculpting - HM-3520
...........................................................................................................................................342
Changing a Curvature Using Map to Geometry - HM-3530
...........................................................................................................................................344
Changing a Profile Using Map to Sections - HM-3540
...........................................................................................................................................346
Morph Volume - HM-3550
...........................................................................................................................................350
Basics of Domains and Handles - HM-3560
...........................................................................................................................................357
Altering Cross-Sections Using Domains - HM-3570
...........................................................................................................................................359
Morphing About an Axis Using Domains - HM-3580
...........................................................................................................................................362
Morph Adhesive Layers - HM-3590
...........................................................................................................................................367
Morph Tube to Different Configurations - HM-3600
...........................................................................................................................................372
Shaping a Dome Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3610
...........................................................................................................................................377
Shaping a Bead Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3620
...........................................................................................................................................385
Morph a Symmetric Part onto a New Geometry - HM-3625
...........................................................................................................................................390
Morphing with Shapes - HM-3630
...........................................................................................................................................396
Interpolating Loads Using Shapes - HM-3640
...........................................................................................................................................400
Creating Shapes Using Record - HM-3650
...........................................................................................................................................404
Maintaining Area Using Constraints - HM-3660
...........................................................................................................................................408
Positioning a Dummy Using Limiting Constraints - HM-3670
...........................................................................................................................................411
Preserving a Shape Using Cluster Constraints - HM-3680
...........................................................................................................................................417
Remeshing Domains After Morphing - HM-3690
...........................................................................................................................................422
Analysis Setup
...........................................................................................................................................423
Setting up Loading Conditions - HM-4000
...........................................................................................................................................429
Formatting Model for Analysis - HM-4010
...........................................................................................................................................437
Obtaining and Assigning Beam Cross-Section Properties using HyperBeam - HM-4020
...........................................................................................................................................450
Defining Composites - HM-4030
...........................................................................................................................................455
Working with Loads on Geometry - HM-4040
...........................................................................................................................................466
Working with Include Files - HM-4060
...........................................................................................................................................475
OptiView - HM-4070
...........................................................................................................................................478
Customization
...........................................................................................................................................479
Scripts
..............................................................................................................................480
Add a Button to the User Page on the Utility Menu - HM-8010
..............................................................................................................................483
Create a Utility Menu Macro From a Command File - HM-8020
..............................................................................................................................487
Create a Utility Menu Macro to Create Constraints on a Plane - HM-8030
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..............................................................................................................................492
Create a Utility Menu Macro from a Tcl Script - HM-8040
..............................................................................................................................496
Create Forces on Nodes and Add a Button on the User Page - HM-8050
..............................................................................................................................501
Calculate the Resultant Sum of Forces - HM-8060
..............................................................................................................................505
Create Spline Surfaces on Tria Elements - HM-8070
..............................................................................................................................508
Calculate the Radius of an Arc - HM-8080
..............................................................................................................................511
Create an OptiStruct PSHELL property - HM-8090
...........................................................................................................................................516
Post-Processing
...........................................................................................................................................517
Exporting Data for Fatigue Analysis - HM-9000
...........................................................................................................................................520
Free Body Diagram - HM-9010
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HyperMesh Tutorials
Suggested Order
If you are a new user it is recommended that you complete the introductory
tutorial Getting Started with HyperMesh- HM-1000 before taking any other
tutorial. Most tutorials are built on the assumption that users are familiar
with the basic and common tasks presented in this introductory tutorial.
File Location
All files referenced in the HyperMesh tutorials are located in the HyperWorks
installation directory under <install_directory>/tutorials/hm/.
To locate the HyperWorks installation directory, <install_directory>,
use the following approach:
Press G on the keyboard to access the global panel and review the path
next to template file:. <install_directory> is the portion of the path
preceding the templates/ directory on PC, and the hm/ directory on UNIX.
If you need more help finding the installation directory, see Finding the
Installation Directory <install_directory> or contact your systems
administrator.
Basics
Getting Started with HyperMesh- HM-1000
Opening and Saving Files - HM-1010
Working with Panels - HM-1020
Organizing a Model - HM-1030
Controlling the Display - HM-1040
Geometry
Importing and Repairing CAD - HM-2000
Generating a Midsurface - HM-2010
Simplifying Geometry - HM-2020
Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh - HM-2030
Creating and Editing Line Data - HM-2040
Creating Surfaces from Elements - HM-2050
Creating and Editing Solid Geometry - HM-2060
Geometry and Mesh Editing Using the Quick Edit Panel - HM-2070
Meshing
1-D Elements
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Creating 1-D Elements - HM-3000
2-D Elements
AutoMeshing - HM - 3100
Meshing without Surfaces - HM-3110
2-D Mesh in Curved - HM-3120
QI Mesh Creation - HM-3130
Batch Meshing - HM-3140
Meshing a Model Using Shrink Wrap - HM-3150
3-D Elements
Tetrameshing - HM - 3200
Creating a Hex-Penta Mesh using Surfaces - HM-3210
Creating a Hexahedral Mesh using the Solid Map Function - HM-3220
CFD Mesh - HM-3230
CFD Mesh - HM-3240
CFD Mesh - HM-3250
CFD Mesh Plane 2-D Meshing with Boundary Layers - HM-3260
Using the TetraMesh Process Manager - HM-3270
Quality
Checking and Editing Mesh - HM-3300
Penetration - HM-3320
Assembly
Creating Connectors - HM-3400
Creating Area Connectors - HM-3410
Creating Bolt Connectors - HM-3420
Part Replacement Through Connectors - HM-3430
Morphing
Freehand Morphing - HM-3510
Sculpting - HM3520
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Changing a Curvature Using Map to Geometry - HM-3530
Changing a Profile Using Map to Sections - HM-3540
Morph Volume - HM-3550
Basics of Domains and Handles - HM-3560
Altering Cross-Sections Using Domains - HM-3570
Morphing About an Axis Using Domains - HM-3580
Morph Adhesive Layers - HM-3590
Morph Tube to Different Configurations - HM-3600
Shaping a Dome Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3610
Shaping a Bead Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3620
Morph a Symmetric Part onto a New Geometry - HM-3625
Morphing with Shapes - HM-3630
Interpolating loads Using Shapes - HM-3640
Creating Shapes Using Record - HM-3650
Maintaining Area Using Constraints - HM-3660
Positioning a Dummy Using Limiting Constraints - HM-3670
Preserving a Shape Using Cluster Constraints - HM-3680
Remeshing Domains After Morphing - HM-3690
Analysis Setup
Setting up Loading Conditions- HM-4000
Formatting Models for Analysis - HM-4010
Obtaining and Assigning Beam Cross-Section Properties using HyperBeam - HM-4020
Defining Composites - HM-4030
Working with Loads on Geometry - HM-4040
Working with Include Files - HM-4060
OptiView - HM-4070
Customizing
Scripts
Creating a Macro - HM-8010
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Create a Utility Menu Macro From a Command File - HM-8020
Create a Utility Menu Macro to Create Constraints on a Plane - HM-8030
Create a Utility Menu Macro from a Tcl Script - HM-8040
Create Forces on Nodes and Add a Button on the User Page - HM-8050
Calculate the Resultant Sum of Forces - HM-8060
Create Spline Surfaces on Tria Elements - HM-8070
Calculate the Radius of an Arc - HM-8080
Create an OptiStruct PSHELL property - HM-8090
Post-Processing
Exporting Data for Fatigue Analysis - HM-9000
Free Body Diagram - HM-9010
Altair Engineering HyperMesh 10.0 Tutorials 5
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Finding the Installation Directory <install_directory>
Most tutorials use files that are located in the tutorials\ directory of the software installation. In the
tutorials, file paths are referenced as <install_directory>\..\. In order to locate the files needed,
you will need to determine the path of the installation directory <install_directory>. This path is
dependent on the installation that was performed at your site. To determine what this path is, follow these
instructions:
1. Launch the application.
2. From the Help menu, select Updates.
The HyperWorks Update Information dialog opens. The installation directory path appears after Altair
Home:.
The HyperMesh tutorial model files are located in <install_directory>\tutorials\hm.
The HyperMesh solver interfacing tutorial model files are located in
<install_directory>\tutorials\hm\interfaces\<solver>.
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Basics
Altair Engineering HyperMesh 10.0 Tutorials 7
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Getting Started with HyperMesh - HM-1000
In this tutorial, you will explore the basic concepts of the user interface of HyperMesh 10.0.
Overview
It is highly recommended before you begin the exercise, you review the general overview for this tutorial.
Tools
The HyperMesh interface contains several areas. Each is described below.
Title bar The bar across the top of the interface is the title bar. It contains the version
of HyperMesh that you are running and the name of the file you are working
on.
Menu Bar Located just under the title bar. Like the pull-down menus in many graphical
user interface applications, these menus "drop down" a list of options when
clicked. Use these options to access different areas of HyperMesh
functionality.
Toolbars Located around the graphics area, these buttons provide quick access to
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commonly-used functions, such as changing display options. They can
now be dragged and placed at top or side of the graphics area.
Model browser The Model tab contains the Model browser. This tool displays the
contents of a model in a hierarchical tree format. It can be used to create
and edit many types of entities, and also to organize them and control their
display status.
Utility tab This area contains four pages of tools that perform various functions. By
default, the Disp page is active and therefore shaded. The Disp page tools
control how a model is displayed in the graphics area.
The other pages available are QA/Model (element checking tools), Geom/
Mesh (tools for working with a models geometry as well as for creating and
editing meshes), and User (custom tools you create).
The content of the Utility tab changes based upon the selected user profile.
Graphics area The graphics area under the title bar is the display area for your model. You
can interact with the model in three-dimensional space in real time. In
addition to viewing the model, entities can be selected interactively from
the graphics area.
Main menu The main menu displays for each page the functions available on that page.
You access those functions by clicking on the button corresponding to the
function you wish to use.
Main menu pages The main menu pages menu divides the main menu into groups of related
functions. Only one page of the main menu is displayed at a time.
The Geom page contains functions for creating and editing geometry.
The 1D, 2D, and 3D pages contain element creation and editing tools
grouped according to element type.
The Analysis page contains functions to set up the analysis problem and
define the boundary conditions.
The Tool page contains miscellaneous tools and model checking
functions.
The Post page contains post-processing functions.
Command window You can type HyperMesh commands directly into this text box and
execute them instead of using the HyperMesh graphical user interface.
This window is not displayed by default.
Status bar The status bar is located at the bottom of the screen. The left end of the
status bar displays your current location in the main menu. By default,
Geometry is displayed. The three fields on the right side of the status bar
display the current Include file, current component collector, and current
load collector. All three fields are blank by default.
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As you work in HyperMesh, any warning or error messages also display in
the status bar. Warning messages appear in green and error messages
appear in red.
Hint: You can hold the left mouse button down on top of a panel to see a
description for it in the status bar.
Starting HyperMesh
To start HyperMesh on a PC, go to Start > Programs > Altair HyperWorks > Altair
HyperMesh.
To start HyperMesh on UNIX, perform the following steps:
1. Go to your operating system prompt.
2. Enter the full path of the HyperMesh script (e.g., <altair_home>\altair\scripts\hm) and press
the ENTER key.
Or
3. Type in a pre-defined alias that you or a systems administrator has created in the user .alias or .
cshrc file in the user home directory.
By default, HyperMesh uses a "start directory" for files. HyperMesh reads and writes a number of files
from the start directory:
1. At start up, HyperMesh reads configuration files (hm.mac, hmmenu.set, etc.).
2. Upon closing, HyperMesh writes out a command history file (command.cmf) and a menu settings
file (hmmenu.set).
3. By default, HyperMesh will read from/write to this directory for any open, save, save as, import, or
export funcionality.
4. Image files (.jpg) created using the F6 key are saved to the start directory.
To determine the start directory on Windows, perform the following steps:
1. Right-click the HyperMesh icon.
2. Go to Properties.
3. On the Shortcut tab, view the path in the Start In field.
On UNIX, the start directory is determined by the following:
Location in which you typed the command to run HyperMesh
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Your "home" directory if configuration files are not found in the start directory
HyperMesh Help
To obtain help for a particular feature, go to the Help menu and select HyperMesh and Batch Mesher. The
help is organized by product and contains the following types of information:
How to use individual functions
Notes on interfacing HyperMesh with external data types
Tutorials
Programming guides
Model Files
All files referenced in the HyperMesh tutorials are located in the
<install_directory>\tutorials\hm\ directory unless otherwise noted. For detailed instructions on
how to locate the installation directory <install_directory> at your site, see Finding the
Installation Directory <install_directory>, or contact your system administrator.
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Opening and Saving Files - HM-1010
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Open a HyperMesh file
Import a file into a current HyperMesh session
Save the HyperMesh session as a HyperMesh model file
Export all the geometry to an IGES file
Export all the mesh data to an OptiStruct input file
Delete all data from the current HyperMesh session
Import an IGES file
Import an OptiStruct file to the current HyperMesh session
Exercise 1: Opening and Saving Files
This exercise uses the following model files: bumper_cen_mid1.hm, bumper_mid.hm, bumper_end.
igs, and bumper_end_rgd.fem. Each model file contains various sections, but the whole bumper model
is shown, following.
Step 1: Open the HyperMesh model file, bumper_cen_mid1.hm.
1. Access the Open File dialog in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose File, then Open...
From the standard toolbar, click Open ( )
2. Open the model file, bumper_cen_mid1.hm.
The model file, bumper_cen_mid1.hm, is now loaded. This file contains mesh and geometry data.

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HyperMesh model file, bumper_cen_mid1.hm, opened in HyperMesh
Step 2: Import the HyperMesh model file, bumper_mid.hm, into the current
HyperMesh session.
1. Access the Import tab in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose File, then Import
From the standard toolbar, click Import ( )
2. From the Import tab in the tab area, click the Import HM model icon .
3. Under File selection, click the file icon ( ) and browse to select the file, bumper_mid.hm.
4. Click Import.
The file, bumper_mid.hm, is now imported into the session.
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HyperMesh model file, bumper_mid.hm, imported on top of existing data in the HyperMesh session
Step 3: Import the IGES geometry file, bumper_end.iges, into the current
HyperMesh session.
1. From the Import tab in the tab area, click the Import Geometry icon .
2. In the File type: field, select Iges from the pull-down menu.
3. Click the file icon ( ) and browse to select the file, bumper_end.iges.
4. Click Import.
Geometry data is added to the model.
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IGES geometry file, bumper_end.igs, imported into the session
Step 4: Import the OptiStruct input file, bumper_end_rgd.fem, into the current
HyperMesh session.
1. From the Import tab in the tab area, click the Import FE model icon .
2. In the File type: field, seelct OptiStruct from the pull-down menu.
3. In the File field, click the folder icon and browse to bumper_end_rgd.fem.
4. Click Import.
This OptiStruct input file contains mesh for the bumpers end portion. The mesh is added to the existing
data in the current HyperMesh session and will be located in the same area as the geometry
representing the bumpers end.

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OptiStruct input file, bumper_end_rgd.fem, imported on top of data in the current HyperMesh session
Step 5: Save the HyperMesh session as a HyperMesh model file called practice.
hm.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File, then select Save As...
2. Enter the name, practice.hm.
3. Click Save.
The data currently loaded in HyperMesh is now saved in a HyperMesh binary data file of the name you
entered.
Step 6: Export the models geometry data to an IGES file called practice.iges.
1. Access the Export tab in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose File, then Export.
From the standard toolbar, click Export ( ).
2. In the Export tab, click the Export Geometry icon .
3. Set the File type: field to Iges.
4. Click the folder icon in the File field, browse to the desired destination folder, and enter practice.igs.
5. Click Save.
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All of the geometry loaded in HyperMesh (points, lines, surfaces) is now saved in an .iges file with the
name you entered.
6. Click Export to export the file.
Step 7: Export the models mesh data to an OptiStruct input file called practice.
fem.
1. In the Export tab, click the Export FE model icon .
2. Under File selection, choose File type: OptiStruct from the pull-down menu.
3. Under File selection, click the folder icon in the File field, browse to the desired destination folder, and
enter practice.fem.
4. Click save.
All of the finite element data loaded in HyperMesh (nodes, elements, loads, etc.) is now saved as an .
fem file with the name you entered.
5. Click Export to export the file.
Step 8 (Optional): Delete all data from the current HyperMesh session.
1. Access the delete New HyperMesh Model function in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, click New
From the standard toolbar, click New .hm File ( )
2. Answer Yes to the pop-up question "Do you wish to delete the current model? (y/n)".
Step 9 (Optional): Import the IGES geometry file you created, practice.igs.
Refer to Step 3 for detailed instructions.
Step 10 (Optional): Import the Optistruct input file you created, practice.fem,
into the current HyperMesh session.
Import practice.fem into the current session. The data in the file will be added to the existing data in the
current HyperMesh session. Refer to Step 4 for detailed instructions.
With the completion of Steps 8, 9, and 10, your current HyperMesh session should contain all of the
geometry and mesh data that existed in the HyperMesh session that was saved to a HyperMesh file in Step
5.
Step 11 (Optional): Save your work.
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18 HyperMesh 10.0 Tutorials Altair Engineering
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Working with Panels - HM-1020
A large portion of HyperMesh functionality is organized into panels. Many panels have common attributes
and controls, so once you become familiar with the features of one panel, it is much easier to understand
other panels.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Use the entity selector and the extended entity selection menu to select and unselect nodes and
elements from the graphics area.
Use the direction selector to define vectors along which to translate nodes and elements.
Switch between different entities to select and methods to define vectors.
Toggle between two options.
Enter, copy and paste, and calculate numbers.
Use the rapid menu functionality to execute commands with the mouse buttons rather than clicking
buttons.
Interrupt, but not exit, a panel to go to another panel using the keyboard function keys.
Exercise
Step 1: Open and view the model file, bumper.hm.
Step 2: In the translate panel, select nodes from the graphics area.
1. From the Tool page, access the translate panel.
2. With the nodes selector active, select a few nodes from the graphics area by left-clicking the corners of
the elements.
Node selector
The cyan border around it indicates that it is active; HyperMesh is expecting nodes to be selected as the
next action.
A node is positioned at each element corner. A selected node is highlighted with a small, white circle.
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Node Handles
3. Reset the selection of nodes by clicking the reset icon, .
Step 3: Select and unselect elements from the graphics area.
1. Click the entity selector switch ( ) and select elems. (Switch the entity selector to elems.)

Entity selector with its switch
The menu that pops-up contains a list of entities that can be translated.
2. With the elems selector active, select several elements from the graphics area.
To select an element, click its element handle (the dot at the elements center).
The elements are highlighted in white when they are selected.
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Element Handles
3. Unselect an element using the right mouse button.
Step 4: Select and unselect elements using the quick window selection method.
1. Verify that the elems selector is active.
2. Move the mouse handle into the graphics area.
3. Press and hold the SHIFT key + left mouse button and move the mouse to draw a rectangular window
around a few elements, and then release the SHIFT key and left mouse button.
All the element handles inside the rectangular window are selected.
4. Unselect elements by pressing and holding the SHIFT key + right mouse button and moving the mouse
to create a window around the selected elements.
5. Press the SHIFT key and quick-click the left mouse button.
A pop-up window appears, which contains four icons as shown in the following image.

Quick window pop-up menu
6. Select the inside polygon shape.
7. Press and hold the SHIFT key + left mouse button and move the mouse around a few unselected
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elements, and then release the SHIFT key and mouse button.
This draws a polygon window rather than a rectangular window. All element handles inside this window
are selected.
Step 5: Select and unselect elements by using the extended entity selection menu.
1. Click the elems selector and select reverse. (Select elems >>reverse.)
The selection of elements is reversed; the elements that were selected are now unselected and the
elements that were not selected are now selected.
The menu that appears contains a list of functions for selecting elements. Once you select a function
from the menu, the menu disappears. If you do not want to select a function, move the mouse handle out
of the menu.
Extended entity selection menu
2. Select elems >>by adjacent.
Elements adjacent to the selected elements are now selected.
Step 6: Shade the elements, reset the selection, and select a few adjacent
elements.
1. On the Visualization toolbar, click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines, .
The elements are displayed in shaded mode, rather than wireframe mode.
2. In the translate panel, click the reset icon ( ) to clear the elements selection.
3. With the elems selector active, select a few elements that are adjacent to each other.
Step 7: Specify a direction vector (N1 and N2 only) along which to translate the
selected elements.
1. Click the direction selector switch ( , ).
Direction selector along with the node selectors to define the direction vector
The menu shown in the following image appears. It contains a list of vector and plane options for defining
the direction in which to translate the selected elements.
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Direction selector pop-up menu
2. Select N1, N2, N3 from the pop-up menu.
N1 now has a cyan border indicating it is the active selector.
The selected elements are displayed in gray because the elems entity selector is not active.
3. In the graphics area, select any node for N1.
The selected node is highlighted in green. The active selector advances to N2.
4. Select a node near N1 for N2.
The selected node is highlighted in blue. The active selector advances to N3. Do not select a node for N3
.
Note: Selecting the two nodes, N1 and N2, defines a vector for the direction of translation. This vector
goes from N1 towards N2. Selecting a third node, N3,defines a plane. The direction of
translation is the positive direction of the vector normal to the plane. The positive direction is
determined by the right-hand rule.
Step 8: Specify a distance to translate the selected elements and then translate
them.
1. Click the toggle ( ) to change magnitude =to magnitude =N2-N1.
2. Click translate +.
The selected elements translate in the direction from N1 to N2 by N2-N1 units.
3. Notice the thick, black border around the translate button. It indicates this is a rapid menu button; you
can click the middle mouse button rather than click translate +.
4. Click the middle mouse button.
The selected elements are translated again by N2-N1 units.
5. Click translate - twice.
The selected elements are translated in the negative N1-N2 vector direction and are now in their original
position.
Step 9: Measure the distance between two nodes.
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1. Press the F4 function key to interrupt, but not exit, the translate panel and go to the distance panel on
the Geom page.
The element and node you selected in the translate panel are currently not visible. However, they are still
selected. They will be visible again when you return to the translate panel.
2. Verify you are in the two nodes sub-panel.
Notice N1 is the active selector.
3. Select any node for N1.
The entity selector advances to N2.
4. Select a node near N1 for N2.
Notice the distance =field value reflects the absolute distance between N1 and N2.
5. Click in the distance =field to highlight the value.
6. Press CTRL+C to copy the value.
7. Click return to return to the translate panel.
8. Notice the elements and nodes you selected in the translate panel before you went to the distance
panel are once again visible.
Step 10: Specify a distance to translate the selected elements and then translate
them.
1. Toggle from magnitude =N1-N2 to magnitude =.
2. Click in the magnitude =field to highlight its value.
3. Press CTRL+V to paste the distance =value copied from the distance panel.
4. Click translate +.
The selected elements translate in the direction from N1 to N2 by the number of units specified for
magnitude =.
5. Click translate once.
The selected elements are translated in the negative N1-N2 vector direction and are now in their original
position.
Step 11: Calculate 5.5 * 10.5 and specify the resulting value for magnitude =.
1. Double-click magnitude =.
2. Click 5 . 5 (in that order) and then click enter.
3. Click 10 . 5 (in that order).
4. Click X.
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The calculated value in the calculator window is 57.75.
5. Click exit.
The calculator closes and 57.75 appears in the magnitude =field.
You can type a value in the magnitude =field by clicking in the field once to highlight the current value.
Then type a new value.
Step 12: Specify a new vector and translate the elements again.
1. Click the reset icon ( ) for the direction selector.
2. Notice N1 is the active selector.
3. Select three nodes for N1, N2, N3 to define a plane.
4. Click translate +or press the middle mouse button.
The elements are translated 57.75 units in the positive direction normal to the defined plane.
5. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 13 (Optional): Save your work.
With all of the exercise complete, you can save the model if desired.
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Organizing a Model - HM-1030
A large portion of HyperMesh functionality is organized into panels. Many panels have common attributes
and controls, so once you become familiar with the features of one panel, it is much easier to understand
other panels.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create geometry and organize it into components
Organize elements into the components
Rename components
Identify and delete empty components
Delete all the geometry lines
Reorder the components in a specific order
Renumber all the components, starting with ID 1 and incrementing by 1
Create an assembly
Organize the constraint
Overview
It is recommend to review the general overview before completing this tutorial.
Step 1: Retrieve the model file, bumper.hm.
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Step 2: Create a component named geometry to hold the models geometry.
1. Access the component collector panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose Collectors, then Create, and then select Components.
On the Collectors toolbar, click component collector ( ).
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. For comp name=, enter geometry.
4. Click color and choose yellow.
5. Leave the card image=field blank.
6. Set the property type to no property.
7. Click create to create the component collector, geometry.
The message: "The component was created" appears in the status bar.
Left-click once anywhere in the HyperMesh window (except on a button) to dismiss the message in the
status bar.
The component called geometry now appears in the status bar. It is now the current component. Any
geometry or elements that are created will be organized into this component.
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8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 3: Create two geometry lines and organize them into different components.
1. Access the lines panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose Geometry, select Create, and click Lines.
From the main menu, choose the Geometry page, and click Lines.
2. Go to the from nodes sub-panel.
3. With the node list selector active, select two nodes, opposite and diagonal to each other, on the same
element as indicated in the following image.

4. Click create to create the line.
5. Notice the line is yellow, the same color assigned to the component, geometry. This is because the line
is organized into the current component, geometry.
6. On the status bar, located at the bottom of the screen, click geometry.
7. From the list of components in the model, click rigid.
8. The status bar now shows the current component as rigid.
9. Moving the cursor away from the collectors pop-up will return you to the lines panel.
10. With the node list selector active, select two nodes, opposite and diagonal to each other on another
element.
11. Click create to create the line.
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12. Notice the line is dark pink, the same color assigned to the component, rigid. This is because the line is
organized into the current component, rigid.
13. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 4: Move all the models geometry surfaces into the component, geometry.
1. From the Tool page, access the organize panel.
2. Go to the collectors sub-panel.
3. Switch the entity selector to surfs.
4. Select surfs >>all.
Displayed surfaces are highlighted in white indicating they are selected. All other surfaces that are not
displayed are still selected because you selected surfs >>all.
5. Click dest =and select the component, geometry, from the list of components in the model.
6. Click move to move the selected surfaces into the component, geometry.
Step 5: Move all the models shell elements (quads and trias) into the component,
center.
You should still be in the organize panel.
1. Switch the entity selector to elems.
2. Select elems >>by collector.
A list of the models components appears.
3. Select the components, mid1, mid2, and end.
Select a component by left-clicking its name, color, or check box. A component is selected when it has
a check in its check box. To unselect a component, right-click it.
4. Click select to complete the selection of components.
5. Set dest =to the component, center.
6. Click move to move the elements in the selected components to the component, center.
All of the shell elements should now be a cyan blue, the same color assigned to the component, center.
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 6: Rename the component, center, to shells.
1. From the Tool page, enter the rename panel.
2. Go to the individually sub-panel.
3. Verify the entity type is set to comps.
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4. Click original name =and select the component, center, from the list of the models components.
5. Click once in the new name =field to highlight its text.
6. Type shells.
7. Click rename to rename the component.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 7: Identify and delete all of the empty components.
1. From the Tool page, enter the delete panel.
2. Switch the selector to comps.
3. Click preview empty.
The status bar displays the message: "3 entities are empty."
These are the mid1, mid2, and end components that no longer have elements in them.
4. Click the entity selector, comps, once to see a list of the identified empty components.
A complete list of the models components appears. The empty components are indicated with an
activated check box.
5. Click return to return to the delete panel.
6. Click delete entity.
The status bar displays the message, "Deleted 3 comps."
Step 8: Delete all the geometry lines in the model.
You should still be in the delete panel.
1. Switch the entity selector to lines.
2. Select lines >>all.
3. Click delete entity.
The two lines you created earlier are deleted.
4. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 9: Move the component, geometry, to the front in the components list.
1. Access the reorder panel in one of the following ways:
From the Collectors menu, select Reorder and choose Components.
From the Tool page, go to the reorder panel.
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2. Click the comps selector to see a list of the models components.
3. On the right side of the panel, click the switch and select name(id). (Switch from name to name(id).)
4. Notice the IDs of the components. The ID for shells is one, the ID for rigid is five, and the ID for
geometry is six.
5. Select the component, geometry.
6. Click select to complete the selection.
7. Activate the option move to: front.
8. Click reorder to apply the reorder function to the component, geometry.
9. The status bar displays the message, "The selected collectors have been moved."
10. Click the comps selector once to review the reordered list of components.
11. Notice the component, geometry, is at the top of the list. However, it still has the same ID, six.
12. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 10: Renumber the components to be the same as their position in the list.
1. Access the renumber panel in one of the following ways:
From the Collectors menu, select Renumber and choose Components.
From the Tool page, go to the renumber panel.
2. Go to the single sub-panel.
3. Switch the entity selector to comps.
4. Click the comps selector to see a list of the models components.
5. On the panels right side, select comps >>all.
6. Click select to complete the selection of components.
7. Verify start with =is set to 1.
8. Verify increment by =is set to 1.
9. Verify offset =is set to 0.
10. Click renumber to renumber the components.
11. Click the comps selector to review the models component list.
12. Notice the components are numbered according to their position in the list.
13. Click return to return to the main menu.
Having components with IDs that do not reflect their position in the models list of components will not
result in errors. However, having components with IDs that do reflect their position in the models list of
components can be helpful for organizational purposes.
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Step 11: Create an assembly containing the components, shells and rigid.
1. Access the assemblies panel in one of the following ways:
From the Collectors menu, select Create and choose Assemblies.
From the Tool page, go to the assemblies panel.
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. For assem name =, enter elements.
4. Leave the card image =field blank.
5. Click the comps selector to see a list of the models components.
6. Select the components shells and rigid.
7. Click select to complete the selection of components.
8. Click create to create the assembly.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 12: Create a load collector named constraints.
1. Access the Load collector panel in one of the following ways:
From the Collectors menu, choose Create and select Load Collectors
On the Collectors toolbar, click Load Collectors Panel
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. For loadcol name =, enter constraints.
4. Click color and choose red.
5. Leave the card image =field blank.
6. Click create to create the load collector.
The status bar displays the message: "The loadcol was created."
7. Left-click anywhere in the HyperMesh window (except on a button) to dismiss the message in the status
bar.
8. Notice that loadcol constraints now appears in the status bar. The current load collector is constraints.
Any loads that are created will be organized into this load collector.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 13: Move the models one constraint into the load collector, constraints.
The existing load collector, loads, contains several forces and one constraint. The organize panel is used to
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move the one constraint in the load collector, constraints.
1. From the Tool page, enter the organize panel.
2. Go to the collectors sub-panel.
3. Switch the entity selector to loads.
4. Select loads >>by config.
5. Click config =and select const.
6. In the center of the panel, toggle from displayed to all.
7. Click select entities.
8. Verify that dest =is set to the load collector, constraints.
9. Click move to move the selected (constraints) into the load collector, constraints.
Step 14: Open the Model browser.
Click the Model tab in the tab area if the tab area is open. Or go to the View menu and select Model
browser.
Step 15: Create a component from the Model browser.
1. Right-click in the white blank area below the list of components, materials, load collectors, and system
collectors in the Model browser.
2. From the pop-up menu, select Create >Component.
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3. Click the color icon and chose the components color as pink.
4. Click Create to create the component.
The component named component1 is appended to the list.
5. In the Model browser, click the +button beside the Components entity to see that Component1 is
bolded in the list to indicate it is the current component.
Step 16: Review the existing assembly elements from the Model browser.
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1. Left-click the +button next to Assembly Hierarchy then click the + button next to elements to expand
its tree. Notice that it contains two components, rigid and shells.
Note that the assemblies panel allows you to add components, which are in one assembly, to another
assembly. The Model browser does not allow you to do this, but you can create assemblies from it.
Step 17: Add the components, geometry and component1, to the assembly,
assem_mid, using the Model browser.
1. Left-click the component name, geometry, to select it.
2. Press the CTRL key and left-click the component name, component1.
Press the CTRL key and left-click a selected item to deselect it.
3. Left-click any one of the selected components and drag the mouse pointer over the assembly,
assem_mid. When assem_mid is highlighted, release the mouse button.
The selected components are added to the assembly, assem_mid.
Use the SHIFT key and left mouse button to select multiple items in the Model browser list at one time.
Left-click the first item in the list. Then press the SHIFT key and left-click the last item in the list.
Step 18: Rename the assembly, assem_mid to assem_geom, from the Model
browser.
1. Right-click assem_mid and select Rename.
Assem_mid is highlighted and ready for editing.
2. Type assem_geom and press ENTER.
Step 19: Delete component1 from the Model browser.
1. Right-click component1 and select Delete.
2. Confirm that you wish to delete the component by clicking yes in the delete confirm dialog.
Component1 is deleted.
Notice that in the list, there is no bolded component name. This indicates there is no current component
specified.
Step 20: Set the current component from the Model browser.
1. Right-click shells and select Make Current.
The component name is bolded.
2. Notice that the staus bar specifies that that current component is shells.
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Controlling the Display - HM-1040
When performing finite element modeling and analysis setup, it is important to be able to view the model from
different vantage points and control the visibility of entities. You may need to rotate the model to understand
the shape, zoom in to view details more closely, or hide specific parts of the model so other parts can be
seen. Sometimes a shaded view is best, while other times, a wireframe view allows you work on details
inside the model.
HyperMesh has many functions to help you control the view, visibility, and display of entities.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Control the points of view using the mouse and toolbar.
Control the visibility of entities using the display panel, mask panel, and tools on the Utility menu.
Control how entities look by using the toolbar and the Model browser.
Rename components.
Identify and delete empty components.
Delete all the geometry lines.
Step 1: Retrieve the HyperMesh model file, bumper.hm.
Step 2: Manipulate the model view using the mouse controls.
The CTRL + mouse keys are used to rotate the model, change the center of rotation, zoom, fit, and pan.
1. Move the mouse pointer into the graphics area.
2. Press the CTRL key + left mouse button and move the mouse around.
The model rotates with the movement of the mouse.
A small white square appears in the middle of the graphics area, indicating the center of the rotation.
Release the left mouse button and press it again to rotate the model in a different direction.
3. Press the CTRL key and quick-click the left mouse button anywhere on the model.
The center of rotation square appears near where you clicked.
HyperMesh searches for one of the following conditions in the listed order and relocates the center of
rotation at or near the first condition identified (if none of the conditions are met, the center of rotation is
relocated to the center of the screen):
A nearby node or surface vertex
A nearby surface edge to project onto
A nearby geometry surface or shaded element
4. Press the CTRL key + left mouse button to rotate the model and view the change in rotation behavior.
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5. Press the CTRL key and quick-click the left mouse button anywhere in the graphics area, except for on
the model.
The center of rotation square is relocated to the center of the screen.
6. Press the CTRL key + left mouse button to rotate the model and observe the change in rotation behavior.
7. Press the CTRL key + middle mouse button, move the mouse around, and then release the mouse
button.
A white line is drawn along the path of the mouse movement. When the mouse button is released,
HyperMesh zooms in on the portion of the model where the line was drawn.
You can also simply draw a line to zoom in on a portion of the model.
8. Press the CTRL key + quick-click the middle mouse button.
The model is fitted to the graphics area.
9. Press the CTRL key and spin the mouse wheel.
The model zooms in or out depending on which direction you spin the mouse wheel.
10. Move the mouse pointer to a different location in the graphics area and repeat #9.
Notice the model zooms in or out from where the mouse handle is located.
11. Press the CTRL key + quick-click the middle mouse button to fit the model to the graphics area.
12. Press the CTRL key + right mouse button and move the mouse around.
The model is panned (translated) according to the mouse movement.
Step 3: Manipulate the view of the model using the rotate functions on the toolbar.
1. On the View Controls toolbar, left-click dynamic rotate, .
The status bar displays the message, "Move the mouse into the graphics region."
2. Move the mouse pointer into the graphics area.
The center of rotation square appears.
3. Press and hold the left mouse button, and then move the mouse around.
The model rotates with the movement of the mouse, similar to the way the model rotates when you press
the CTRL key + left mouse button and move the mouse.
4. Click the middle mouse button on the model.
The center of rotation square appears near where you clicked.
5. Move the mouse pointer out of the graphics area or right-click to exit the rotation mode.
6. On the View Controls toolbar, right-click dynamic rotate, , and move the mouse pointer into the
graphics area.
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Again, the center of rotation square appears. You can click the middle mouse button on the model to
change the center of rotation.
7. Press the right mouse button near the center of rotation square.
The model rotates continuously in the direction of your mouse pointer, relative to the center of rotation.
8. With the right mouse button still pressed, move the mouse around slowly.
The direction and speed of the rotating model changes. The farther the mouse pointer is from the center
of rotation, the quicker the model rotates.
You can release the right mouse button, and then press it again to rotate the model in a different
direction.
9. Middle mouse click anywhere in the graphics area, except on the model.
The center of rotation square is relocated to the screens center.
10. Move the mouse pointer out of the graphics area or left-click to exit the rotation mode.
Step 4: Manipulate the view of the model by using the zoom in and out functions
on the toolbar.
1. On the View Controls toolbar, left-click circle / dynamic zoom, .
The status bar displays the message, "Circle the data to be zoomed in on."
2. Move the mouse pointer into the graphics area.
3. Press the left mouse button, move the mouse around, and then release the left mouse button.
A white line is drawn along the path of the mouse movement. When the mouse button is released,
HyperMesh zooms in on the portion of the model where the line was drawn.
You can also simply draw a linear line to zoom in on a portion of the model.
This function is similar to pressing the CTRL key + middle mouse button to zoom into a portion of the
model.
4. On the Standard Views toolbar, click fit, .
The model is fitted to the graphics area.
5. On the View Controls toolbar, left-click zoom in / out, .
The model is zoomed in by the factor specified in the options panel.
6. On the View Controls toolbar, right-click zoom in / out, .
The model is zoomed out by the same factor.
7. From the Preferences menu select Meshing Options or Geometry Options.
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8. Go to the geometry or mesh sub-panel.
9. For zoom factor =, specify 4.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
11. On the View Controls toolbar, left-click zoom in / out, .
The model is zoomed in by the larger, specified factor.
12. On the View Controls toolbar, right-click circle / dynamic zoom, .
The status bar displays the message "Move the mouse into the graphics region."
13. Move the mouse pointer into the graphics area, press the right mouse button, and then move the mouse
pointer up and down.
The model is zoomed in and out according to how far you move the mouse up or down.
14. Move the mouse pointer out of the graphics area or left-click to exit the dynamic zoom mode.
Step 5: Manipulate the model view using the arrows and view panel on the toolbar.
1. On the View Controls toolbar, right-click or left-click any of the rotate icons ( , , ).
The model rotates in the direction of the arrow by the rotation angle specified in the options panel.
2. On the Standard Views toolbar, left-click view, .
The view panel pops-up.
3. Click top to view the model along the Z-axis.
4. Exit the view panel by moving the mouse pointer out of the pop-up window.
5. From the Preferences menu select Meshing Options or Geometry Options.
6. For rotate angle =, specify a value of 90.
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
8. Click either rotate icons ( , , ).
Notice the model rotates by the new specified rotation angle, 90.
9. Change the view of the model to any view.
10. Use CTRL + left mouse button, or the rotate icons on the toolbar to rotate the model.
11. Use CTRL + middle mouse button, or the zoom icons on the toolbar to zoom into or out on the model.
12. On the Standard Views toolbar, left-click view, .
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13. For save1 =enter my view.
14. Click save1 =to save the view.
15. Click top to display a different view of the model.
16. Click restore1 to retrieve the view stored for save1 =.
Both the view angle of the model and level of zoom are saved.
17. Exit the view panel.
Step 6: Control the display of components using the toolbar.
1. On the Visualization toolbar, click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines, .
2. Notice the shell elements now have been shaded.
3. Right-click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines, , and switch to Shaded Elements and Feature
Lines, .
4. Notice now the elements shading does not show any mesh lines. Only feature lines are displayed.
5. Right-click Shaded Elements and Feature Lines, , to access Shaded Elements, .
6. Notice now the feature lines are also removed from the display.
7. Click Wireframe Elements (Skin Only), , to return to the wireframe shading mode.
Step 7: Control the display of components using the Visual Attributes panel.
1. On the Visualization toolbar, click Geom/Mesh Styles, .
2. Click hidden line, .
3. Select a component from the list of components.
The components elements are displayed in hidden line (shaded) mode.
4. Click all to select all components and set their display mode to hidden line (shaded) mode.
5. Experiment with the other display modes.
Icon Display Mode
Wireframe Element edges are displayed with lines.
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Hidden Line The element is displayed as a filled polygon.
Hidden Line with Mesh Lines The element is displayed as a filled polygon with the feature
edges drawn in mesh line color.
Hidden Line with Feature Lines The element as a filled polygon with the feature edges in
mesh line color.
Transparent The element is displayed as a filled transparent polygon.
6. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 8: Control the visibility of various entity categories using the Model browser.
1. In the tab area, activate the Model tab.
2. Right-click anywhere in the white space of the browser list and pick Expand All from the context menu.
This will open all of the branches of the Model browser.
3. At the top of the Model browser, click Display none, .
The display of all entities in the model is turned off.
4. Click Display all, .
All entities in the model are now displayed.
5. In the browser list, left-click Component (5) to select it.
All entities in the model are now displayed.
6. Click Display none, .
The display of component collectors is turned off, but all other entities remain displayed.
Display all, Display none, and Display reverse act globally (on all entities) if nothing in the browser list
is selected. If a folder is selected (highlighted), the action will be performed only on the entities within
that folder. If an individual entity is selected, the action will apply only to that entity.
7. Left-click in the white space of the browser list.
This deselects all entities in the browser list.
8. Click Display reverse, .
The display is reversed. Only the components are now shown instead of everything but components.
9. Click Component view, .
Only the component collectors are shown in the browser list.
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10. Right-click the elements and geometry filter to change it from Elements +Geometry, , to Elements,
.
Display all, Display none, and Display reverse will no longer affect the display of geometry in the
components.
11. Click Display none, .
Only geometry is now left in the display.
12. Switch the elements and geometry filter back to Elements +Geometry, .
13. Click Display reverse, .
Only elements are now displayed.
Step 9: Control the visibility of individual components using the Model browser.
1. Click elements, , next to the mid2, end, and rigid components.
2. Only the components center and mid1 have their elements displayed now.
3. Press F on the keyboard.
4. The displayed components are fitted to the graphics area.
5. Click geometry, , next to the components mid2 and end.
6. Fit the displayed components to the graphics area (F).
The geometry in the components, mid2 and end, and the elements in the components, center and
mid1, are displayed.
A component collector has two compartments: one for elements and the other for geometry. The
display for elements and geometry in a component can be controlled separately.
Step 10: Control the display of entities using the mask panel.
1. Access the mask panel in one of the following ways:
On the display toolbar, click Mask,
From the main menu, click the Tool page, then select the mask panel
2. Go to the mask sub-panel.
3. With the elems selector active, select elems >>by collector.
4. Select the component, mid1.
5. Click select to complete the selection of components.
6. From the graphics area, manually select a few elements in the center (blue) component.
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7. Click mask to mask the elements.
The elements in the mid1 component and the elements you selected from the graphics area are no
longer displayed.
8. In the Model browser, notice that the elements ( ) for the components center and mid1 are still
displayed. Their display icons indicate that they are activated even though some or all of the elements in
these components are masked (hidden).
9. In the mask panel, click unmask all, or on the display toolbar click unmask all, .
All the elements in the components, center and mid1, are visible again.
Notice the elements in the other components are not displayed. This is because these components are
not active in the Display panel.
10. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 11: Control the display of entities using the find panel.
1. Access the find panel in one of the following ways:
On the display toolbar, click find, .
From the main menu, click the Tool page, then select the find panel.
2. Go to the find entities sub-panel.
3. Select elems >>by collector, and select the component, end, from the components list.
4. Click find to find the elements.
The elements in the component, end, are displayed.
5. In the Model browser, notice that the elements for the component, end, are now shown as active ( ).
This is because the collector containing the entities that are to be displayed (found) must be active.
6. Go to the find attached sub-panel.
7. For attached to:, select elems >>displayed.
8. Click find to find the elements.
Some of the elements in the components, mid2 and rigid, are now displayed. These elements are
immediately adjacent and connected to the selected elements.
Again, notice that the elements for these components are now shown as active ( ). The components
were made active so that the elements could be displayed.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
10. On the display toolbar, click Unmask All ( ).
All of the models elements are now displayed. This is because the find panel finds the entities it is
supposed to find, activates (displays) the corresponding collectors, and masks the other entities in the
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collectors it activated. In this case, the last find command displayed on the components, mid2 and rigid
, in the Model browser.
Step 12: Change the display of entities using the Mask By Config tab.
1. In the Model browser, click in the white space of the browser list to make sure nothing is selected.
2. Click Display none ( ).
3. Click Display all ( ).
Performing these two steps makes sure that everything is displayed in the model.
4. Click to the Mask By Config tab.
5. Click the 1 in the Isolate column for Components.
Only the components in the model (elements, geometry, and connectors) are displayed. Everything else
is now masked.
6. Expand the Components branch to expose connectors, elements, and geometry.
7. Click the in the Hide column for Elements.
The elements in the model are now masked, leaving only surfaces shown.
8. Expand the LoadCollectors branch to expose loads and equations.
9. Expand the Loads branch to expose constraints, forces, moments, etc.
10. Click the +in the Show column for Constraints.
Constraints are added to the display of the surfaces.
11. Expand the Elements branch to expose 0D/rigids, springs/gaps, 1D, 2D, and 3D.
12. Click the 1 in the Isolate column for 0D/Rigids.
Rigid elements are added to the display, while the surfaces are now masked. The constraints remain
displayed. This is because using isolate below the top level of the list will not mask anything outside of
the top level that entity belongs to. Rigids belong to components at the top level, so no entities in the
other top levels are masked.
13. Click the 1 in the Isolate column for Components.
All of the entities in the components are shown again, while the constraints are masked. This is
because using isolate at the top level of the list (components, groups, loadcollectors, morphing,
multibodies, and systemcollectors) will mask everything outside of the entity type being isolated.
Step 13: Change the color of components using the Model browser.
1. Click the Model tab to go to the Model browser.
2. Right-click color ( ) next to mid2.
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3. From the color pop-up, select a different color.
4. Observe the change in color of the elements in mid2.
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Geometry
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Importing and Repairing CAD - HM-2000
In this tutorial, you will:
Delete untrimmed surfaces
Close missing surfaces
Set the cleanup tolerance
Equivalence free edges
Delete duplicate surfaces
The benefits of importing and repairing CAD are:
Correcting any errors in the geometry from import
Creating the simplified part needed for the analysis
Meshing a part all at once
Ensuring proper connectivity of mesh
Obtaining a desirable mesh pattern and quality
Exercise: Importing and Repairing CAD Geometry Data
This exercise uses the model file, clip_repair.hm.
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Step 1: Open and view the model file, clip_repair.hm.
Step 2: View the model in topology display toolbar and shaded mode to evaluate
its integrity.
1. Observe where the model has incorrect connectivity and missing or duplicate surfaces.
2. Go to the autocleanup panel.
Note that the surface edges are now colored according to their topology status. This occurs because
Geometry Color is set to auto ( ).
3. Click Wireframe Geometry ( ) and Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( ) to explore the
different display modes.
The toolbar contains icons that control the display of the surfaces and surface edges. Surfaces can be
shaded with or without edges or wireframe. Right-click the icons to access the drop-down menu for
additional options. Place your mouse over the cursor to view a description of the buttons functionality.
4. Click Visualization ( ) and navigate to the Topology tab.
Visualization controls the display of the surfaces and surface edges. Surfaces can be shaded or
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wireframe. The check boxes within this menu turn the display of the different edge types and fixed points
(surface vertices) on or off.
5. Clear all the check boxes except the Free check box.
Only the free edges should be displayed at this point.
6. Observe the free edges and make note of where they are.
The free (red) edges show where there is incorrect connectivity or gaps.
7. Note the locations where there are closed loops of free edges. These are locations that probably have
missing surfaces.
Free edges indicating surface discontinuities of the clip geometry
8. Select only the Non-manifold check box.
9. Observe the non-manifold edges and make note of where they are.
The non-manifold edges show where there are more than two surfaces sharing an edge, which might
indicate incorrect connectivity. For this part, there are yellow edges completely surrounding two areas.
This indicates that there are probably duplicate surfaces in these locations.
10. Select all the check boxes.
11. Click the Close button to close the Visualization tab.
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12. Click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( )
The surfaces should now appear solid rather than having only their edges displayed.
13. Rotate, zoom, and pan to locate any errors in the geometry.
14. Make note of the areas to be worked on:
A surface that overhangs a round corner
A missing surface

Surface overhanging an edge and a missing surface
An edge that has apparently been collapsed

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Area of collapsed edge
14. Click Wireframe Geometry ( ) to switch back to wireframe mode.
Step 3: Delete the surface that overhangs the round corner.
1. Enter the Delete panel in one of the following ways:
From the Geometry menu, point to Delete and click Surfaces
Press F2
2. In the graphics area, select the overhanging surface shown in the previous figure.
3. Click delete entity and click return.
4. Return to the main menu.
Step 4: Create surfaces to fill large gaps in the model.
1. Access the surfaces panel.
2. Access the spline/filler sub-panel.
3. Clear the keep tangency check box.
The keep tangency option examines surfaces attached to the selected edges and tries to create a
surface tangent to them. This helps to form a smooth transition to the surrounding surfaces.
4. Verify the entity type is set to lines.
5. Verify the auto create (free edges) check box is selected.
The auto create option simplifies the selection of the lines bounding the missing surface. Once a line is
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selected, HyperMesh automatically selects the remaining free edges that form a closed loop, and then
create the filler surface.
6. Zoom into the area indicated in the following image.
Area of missing surfaces
7. Pick one of the red lines bounding one of the gaps (missing surfaces).
HyperMesh automatically creates a filler surface to close the hole.
8. Repeat sub-step 4.7 to create a filler surface in the other gap.
9. Click return.
Step 5: Set the global geometry cleanup tolerance to .01.
1. Press O to go to the options panel.
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2. Go to the geometry sub-panel.
3. In the cleanup tol =field, type 0.01 to stitch the surfaces with a gap less than 0.01.
4. Click return to go to the main menu.
Step 6: Combine multiple free edge pairs at one time with the equivalence tool.
1. Enter the edge edit panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Edit, then edges
From the main menu, select Geom Page, then choose Edge Edit
2. Go to the equivalence sub-panel.
3. Activate the equiv free edges only check box.
4. Select surfs >>all.
5. Verify that the cleanup tol=is set to 0.01, which is the global cleanup tolerance specified in the
options panel.
6. Click the green equivalence button to combine any free edge pairs within the specified cleanup
tolerance.
Most of the red free edges are combined into green shared edges. The few remaining are caused by
gaps larger than the cleanup tolerance.
Step 7: Combine free edge pairs, one pair at a time, using the toggle.
1. Go to the toggle sub-panel.
2. In the cleanup tol =field, type 0.1.
3. In the graphics area, click one of the free edges shown in the following image.
4. Rotate and zoom into the area if needed. When the edge is selected, it will change from red to green,
indicating that the free edge pair has been equivalenced.
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Area where free edges need to be toggled
5. Use toggle to equivalence the other edges shown in the image.
Step 8: Combine the remaining free edge pair using replace.
1. Go to the replace sub-panel.
2. Click user views ( ).
3. Click restore1 to bring back the saved view.
4. With the selector under moved edge: active, click the leftmost free edge in the graphics area.
Verify that the selector under retained edge: is now active.
5. Select the rightmost red edge.
6. In the cleanup tol =field, enter 0.1.
7. Click replace.
Once the line is selected, HyperMesh posts a message similar to:
"Gap = (.200018). Do you still wish to toggle?"
8. Click Yes to close the gap.
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Edges to retain and move for replacement
9. Click return to go to the main menu.
Step 9: Find and delete all duplicate surfaces.
You should still be in the geom cleanup panel.
1. Access the Defeature panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose Geometry, then Defeature
From the main menu, choose Geom Page, then Defeature
2. Go to the duplicates sub-panel.
3. Select surfaces >>displayed.
4. In the cleanup tol =field, type 0.01.
5. Click find.
The status bar displays the following message, "2 surfaces are duplicated."
6. Click delete to remove any duplicate surfaces.
Step 10: Observe the model again to identify any remaining free edges, or missing
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or duplicate surfaces.
1. Use the topology display and shaded modes to perform this task. All of the edges in the model should
be displayed as green shared edges, indicating that we have a completely enclosed thin solid part.
2. Click return to go to the main menu.
Step 11 (Optional): Save your work.
With the cleanup operations completed, save the model.
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Generating a Midsurface - HM-2010
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create a midsurface
Visualize the midsurface by using shading options and transparency
This exercise uses CAD geometry data for a thin solid clip. Because of the small thickness of the part, it is
assumed that it will be modeled for FEA as shell elements. The elements will be created on the mid-plane of
the part.
Exercise: Generating a Midsurface
The surfaces in the model have no connectivity errors. This could be because the file was imported without
errors or because the errors were corrected using HyperMesh. In this case, errors in the topology were
repaired in the previous exercise (missing surfaces are re-created, duplicate surfaces are deleted, gaps are
closed, etc.). You can use either the file created from the previous exercise, or open the new,
cl i p_mi dsur f ace. hm, file. Either way, the geometry is at the point where you can use the midsurface
panel to generate a midsurface.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
This exercise uses the model, clip_midsurface.hm.
1. On the visualization toolbar, change the visualization to Shaded Geometry And Surface Edges (
).
2. On the visualization toolbar, set the Geometry Color drop-down menu to Mixed ( ).
3. To change the model back to wireframe click wireframe ( ).
Notice how the surfaces represent a solid part, these visualization techniques will be necessary for
viewing the newly created midsurface.
Step 2: Generate a midsurface from midsurface panel.
1. Access the misurface panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Midsurface
From the main menu, select the Geom page, then select midsurface
2. Go to the auto midsurface panel.
3. Verify that the closed solid option and the yellow surfs selector are active.
4. Select one surface from the graphics area.
5. Click extract to start the midsurface generation.
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The midsurface is created, and the surfaces are organized into a new Middle Surface component. Note
that when a midsurface is created, transparency is turned on for all the other components in the model
except the new Middle Surface component. The next step covers how to control surface transparency.

Step 3: Review the parts midsurface.
1. From the Model browser, turn off the display of geometry in the component named lvl10 to display only
the Middle Surface component.
The midsurfaces generated for the solid sections of the model using the solid sub-panel are shown in the
following image.
Midsurface generated from a volume of surfaces
2. Turn the geometry for lvl10 component back on from the model browser.
3. On the visualization toolbar, access the transparency panel ( ).
4. With the comps selector active, select a line or surface of the lvl10 component in the graphics region.
You may need to zoom in on the model to select a valid entity.
Since the entity selector is set to comps, selecting a line or surface in the component selects the entire
component.
5. In the panel, click the arrow button on the right under transparency several times.
You should see the surfaces in the lvl10 component becoming more and more transparent.
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You can also drag the slider back and forth to control the level of transparency.
6. Rotate, zoom, and pan to visualize the midsurface.
Close-up of the midsurface with the lvl10 component set to full transparency
7. Click wireframe ( ) on the visualization toolbar.
Step 4 (Optional): Save your work.
Now that the midsurface has been created, it is a good time to save the model.
Summary
You now have surfaces created on the mid-plane of the part. These surfaces can now be meshed or further
modifications can be made to their topology, depending on the requirements of the analysis.
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Simplifying Geometry - HM-2020
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Mesh the clip, review the mesh quality, and determine the features to be simplified
Remove surface fillets
Remove edge fillets
Remove pinholes
This exercise involves changing the shape of a part in order to simplify the geometry. Certain details of the
shape, such as small holes or blends, may simply not be necessary for the analysis being performed. When
these details are removed, the analysis can run more efficiently. Additionally, mesh quality is often improved
as well. Changing the geometry to match the desired shape can also allow a mesh to be created more
quickly.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, clip_defeature.hm. The model file has geometry that has been
midsurfaced. (Surfaces have been created on the mid-plane of the part.) The model will be meshed using an
element size of 2.5. You can assume a simple structural analysis will be run on the part, and thus does not
require much detail. There are unnecessary features in he model that can be removed.
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Step 1: Open and view the model file, clip_defeature.hm.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File, then click Open....
2. Select the clip_defeature.hm file and click Open.
Step 2: To easily work with the midsurface, turn off the display of the lvl10
component.
If the lvl10 component is displayed, it needs to be turned off so that you can easily work on the midsurface
geometry. (It may be on if you used the model you had open for the previous section.)
1. Access the Model browser.
2. Verfiy that the Elements/Geometry selector is set to Geometry.
3. If geometry display for the the component lvl10 is selected as active click the check box for the lvl10
component to turn off the display of the geometry in that component.
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Step 3 (Optional): Mesh the clip to view mesh quality before defeaturing.
1. Click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( ).
2. Access the automesh panel:
From the Menu Bar, choose Mesh, then Create, then 2D AutoMesh
3. Set the selector type to surfs.
4. Go to the size and bias sub-panel.
5. In the element size =field, type 2.5.
6. For mesh type:, select mixed.
7. Switch the meshing mode from interactive to automatic.
8. Verify that the elems to surf comp toggle is set.
9. Select surfs >>displayed to select all displayed surfaces.
10. Click mesh to generate the mesh preview.
Initial mesh on the clip model
11. Click return to go to the main menu.
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Step 4 (Optional): Review the quality of the mesh.
Take a minute to look over the mesh that was created. Note the areas that have irregular, poor quality mesh.
Also, use the check elems panel to evaluate the minimum length check of the elements.
Take a minute to rotate, zoom, and pan the model to review the mesh that was created. Note the locations
where the mesh was not created in neat rows and columns of quads.
1. Access the check elems panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, then Check Elements
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select check elems
2. Access the 2-d sub-panel.
3. In the length field, type 1.
4. Click length to evaluate the minimum length.
Many of the elements failing the length test are located around the fillets of this model.
Elements failing the length check
Note: You may need to change the geometry display to wireframe for better visualization of element
quality. For this, click Wireframe Geometry ( ).
5. Click return.
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6. Use the Model browser to turn off the display of the elements in the lvl10 component.
Step 5: Remove the four small pinholes.
Pinholes are closed free edge loops within a surface. Pinholes do not need to be circular.
1. Access the defeature panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Defeature
From the main menu, click Geom Page, then click Defeature
2. Go to the pinholes sub-panel.
3. In the diameter field, type 3.0.
4. Select surfs >>all.
5. Click find to identify the pinholes having a diameter of 3 or less.
Notice the xP symbol at the center of the four circular holes. These symbols are highlighted in white,
indicating they are pinholes identified by HyperMesh for removal.

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Pinholes identified using a 3 mm diameter
6. Click delete to remove the selected pinholes in the model.
The selected pinholes are removed and replaced by fixed points located at the center of the original
pinholes.
Step 6: Remove all surface fillets in the clip.
1. Go to the defeature panel.
2. Go to the surf fillets sub-panel.
3. If the surfaces are not shaded, click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( ).
4. For find fillets in selected, select surfs >>displayed.
5. In the min radius field, type 2.0.
6. Click find to identify all the surface fillets with radius of 2 or greater.
Surface fillets identified for removal
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7. Click remove.
Step 7: Automatically identify and remove rounded corners of surfaces.
You should still be in the defeature panel.
1. Go to the edge fillets sub-panel.
2. Select surfs >>displayed.
3. In the min radius field, type 1.0.
4. Set the bottom switch to all to find all the fillets.
5. Click find.
The edge fillets that meet the filter criteria are identified on the screen with an F symbol and radial lines
marking the fillet beginning and end.
Edge fillets identified for removal
6. Notice that the selector moves down to the fillets entity selector.
7. Right-click on one of the F fillet markers on the screen to deselect the fillet.
8. Click remove to delete the selected edge fillets.
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All the fillets are removed.
Step 8: Mesh the defeatured geometry and view quality.
1. Go to the automesh panel.
2. Select surfs>>displayed.
3. Click mesh.
Observe the mesh and you will notice that the mesh is created in rows of quads.
Step 9 (Optional): Save your work.
Now that the model has been simplified, it is a good time to save the model.
Summary
The model is now represented in a much simpler form that suits the analysis that will be performed. Holes,
surface fillets, and edge fillets were removed that were considered too small to be captured by the desired
element size of 2.5.
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Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh - HM-2030
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Mesh the part to determine poor element quality
Suppress small edges
Split surfaces
Remove interior fixed points
Replace closely placed fixed points
Create final mesh
Topological details of the geometry may affect the quality of the mesh created from the surfaces. Some of
these details may not reflect any major feature of the parts shape, and can be removed without concern.
When modifying the topology affects the shape of the surfaces, a compromise must be made between the
part shape and the element quality necessary for the analysis. Other times, adding topological features that
do not change the shape of the part may actually help create a better quality mesh.
Exercise: Refining Topology to Achieve a Quality Mesh
Step 1: Open the model file, clip_refine.hm.
The model for this exercise is clip_refine.hm. Take a few moments to observe the model using the
different visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation, zooming, etc.).
Step 2: Create a preliminary mesh.
1. Access the automesh panel by doing one of thefollowing:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D AutoMesh
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then click automesh
2. Set the selector type to surfs.
3. Go to the size and bias sub-panel.
4. In the element size =field, type 2.5.
5. For mesh type:, select mixed.
6. Switch the meshing mode from interactive to automatic.
7. Select surfs >>displayed.
8. Click mesh to mesh the surfaces.
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Initial mesh on the defeatured clip model
Step 3: Review the mesh quality.
1. Take a minute to rotate, zoom, and pan the model to review the mesh that was created. Note the
locations where the mesh was not created in rows and columns of quads.
2. Access the Check Elements panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, then Check Elements
From the main menu, access the Tool page, and then click check elems
3. Go to the 2-d sub-panel.
4. In the length field, type 1.
5. Click the length button to evaluate the minimum length.
6. Note the elements that failed the check. The topology will be edited to correct of some of these, and the
others will be left as is.
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
8. Use the Model browser to turn off the display of the elements in the lvl10 component.
Step 4: Remove short edges by combining fixed points.
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1. Access the point edit panel by doing one of the following:.
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Edit, then Points
From the main menu, select the Geom page, and then click point edit
2. Go to the replace sub-panel.
3. Verify that the active selector is set to moved points.
4. Select the lower fixed point as indicated in the following image.
5. Once the point is selected, activate the retained point button.
6. Select the upper fixed point as indicated in the following image.
7. Once the second point is selected, click replace.

Selecting fixed points to be combined
Step 5: Remove the fixed points interior to all surfaces.
1. You should still be in the Points panel.
2. Go to the suppress sub-panel and choose at cursor option.
3. Select the four fixed points as shown in the following image.
Each fixed point will be deleted as you select it.
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These fixed points are left over from a defeaturing operation where small holes were removed. They could
remain without greatly sacrificing the element quality, given the element size used for the mesh.

Fixed points to be removed
4. Click return to go to the main menu.
Step 6: Add edges to the surfaces to control the mesh pattern.
1. Access the surface edit panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Edit, then Surfaces
From the main menu, select the Geom page, then select surface edit
2. Go to the trim with nodes sub-panel.
3. Under node normal to edge, set the active selector to node.
4. Zoom into the area indicated below and select the indicated fixed point.
5. With the active selector now on lines, select the line shown in the following image.
Once both the point and line are selected, an edge will be created from the location of the fixed point
perpendicular to the line.
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Select fixed point and line to split the surface.
6. Repeat sub-steps 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 for the following point and line.

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Select fixed point and line to split the surface.
7. Repeat sub-steps 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 for the following point and line.

Select fixed point and line to split the surface.
8. Repeat sub-steps 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 for the following point and line.
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Select fixed point and line to split the surface
Step 7: Add edges to the surfaces to control the mesh pattern.
1. Go to the trim with surfs/planes sub-panel.
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2. In the with plane column, set the active selector to surfs.
3. Select the surfaces indicated in the following image.

Surfaces to be selected for splitting
4. If necessary, toggle the direction selector to N1, N2, and N3. Click N1 to make the selector active.
5. Press and hold your left mouse button, and then move it over the edge indicated in the following figure.
Once over the line, the cursor will change to a square with a dot in the center, . Release your
mouse button. Click two points anywhere along the edge. Do not click a third.
Nodes will be placed on the line for N1 and N2.
6. Press F4 on the keyboard to enter the distance panel.
7. Go to the three nodes sub-panel.
8. As in 7.6, press and hold your left mouse button, and then move it over the edge of the hole, as indicated
in the following image. Once over the line, the cursor will change to a square with a dot in the center.
Release your mouse button.
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Select fixed point and line to split the surface
9. Click three points anywhere along the edge.
Temporary nodes will be placed on the line representing N1, N2, and N3.
Note that the technique used to create nodes to select where none existed before can be used in any
place where nodes need to be selected but dont exist in the model. You can create nodes in this
manner on lines, surfaces and elements. For more details, see the HyperMesh online help. Pick the
index and type, Picking Nodes on Geometry or Elements.
10. Click circle center to create a node at the center of the hole.
11. Click return to go to the surface edit panel.
12. Click B to make it the active selector.
13. Select the node that was just created at the center of the hole.
14. Click trim.
15. Click return to go to the main menu.
The surfaces are trimmed through the center of the hole.
Step 8: Suppress shared edges causing a small edge.
1. Go to the edge edit panel.
2. Go to the (un)suppress sub-panel.
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3. Select each of the lines in the image below using your left mouse button and click suppress.
Each line will become suppressed (blue) as you click suppress.

Surface edges to suppress by toggling
Step 9: Remesh the part.
Remesh the surfaces of the part, using the automatic mode, a size of 2.5, and the mixed mesh type.
1. Use the Model browser to display the elements in the lvl10 component.
2. Access the automesh panel.
3. Verify that elem size =is set to 2.5 and the mesh type is set to mixed.
4. Select surfs >>displayed to select all displayed surfaces.
5. Click mesh.
Step 10: Review the mesh quality.
1. Take a minute to rotate, zoom, and pan the model to review the mesh that was created. Note that the
mesh now consists completely of rows and columns of quads.
2. Enter the Check Elements panel.
3. Go to the 2-d sub-panel
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4. In the length field, type 1.
5. Click the length button to evaluate the minimum length.
Note the elements that failed the check. There are only two elements that fail the check, and these fail
the check because of the shape of the part. However, they are not too small compared to the global
element size, so you can leave them as they are.
6. Access the automesh panel.
7. Go to the QI optimize sub-panel.
8. Verify that elem size =is set to 2.5 and the mesh type is set to mixed.
9. Click edit criteria.
10. In the Target element size field, type 2.500.
11. Click Apply and OK.
12. Select surfs >>displayed to select all displayed surfaces.
13. Click mesh.
Note that the old mesh is replaced by the new mesh.
14. If there is a message saying, "There is a conflict between the user requested element size and quality
criteria ideal element size," click the button, Recomute quality criteria using size of 2.5.
15. Access the qualityindex panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, then Quality Index
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then select qualityindex
16. Go to pg1 and verify that the comp. QI is 0.01.
This low value indicates that the mesh is good quality. The higher the number, the lower the mesh
quality.
Step 11 (Optional): Save your work.
The part is now meshed and ready to be set up for an analysis. Save the model, if desired.
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Creating and Editing Line Data - HM-2040
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create a circle, arc, line, and tangent lines
Duplicate and translate lines
Edit lines by splitting and displaying their IDs
Delete redundant arcs and lines
Duplicate and reflect an arc
Create a surface square and two parallel lines on an X-Y plane
Create fillet between two lines
Sometimes CAE users need to create models from sketches where there is no pre-existing geometry. The
tools in this tutorial will help you accomplish that task.
Exercise: Creating and Editing Line Data
This exercise teaches you how to create lines and surfaces.
Step 1: Create a component collector to geometry.
1. Access the components sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the toolbar, click components ( ).
From the Menu Bar, select Collectors, then Create and click Components.
2. For comp name =type geometry.
3. Use the switch ( ) to toggle from card image =to no card image.
4. Click color and chose yellow.
5. Click create.
6. Click return.
Step 2: Create nodes.
1. On the standard toolbar, click Isometric View, ( ).
2. Access the create nodes panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, and then click Nodes.
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From the main menu, access the Geom page and click nodes
3. Go to the type in sub-panel.
4. Create five nodes by entering the X, Y, and Z coordinates from the following table and click create node
for each of the nodes.
Node X Y Z
1 0 0 0
2 0 0 25
3 0 0 37
4 0 5 25
5 0 5 -2
5. Click return.
6. Press f to fit the model to the model to the screen.
Step 3: Display the node IDs.
1. Pick the Tool page and click numbers to access the Numbers panel.
2. Change the entity type to nodes.
3. Select nodes and on the extended entity selection menu select all.
4. Click on to display all the node IDs.
5. Click return.
Step 4: Create a circle.
1. Access the circles panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, then Circles
From the main menu, select the Geom page, and select circles
2. Go to the center & radius sub-panel.
3. With the active selector set to node list, pick node 2 from the graphics area.
This will be the location of the circles center.
4. Switch ( ) the orientation vector to the X-axis.
5. With the active selector set to base point ( ), pick node 2 from the graphics area.
In this case, the base point defines the position of the plane on which the circle is going to be created.
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6. Toggle ( ) to circle.
7. For radius=, specify 5.
8. Click create.
9. Remain in the Circles: Center and Radius sub-panel.
Step 5: Create an arc.
1. Toggle from circle to arc.
2. With the active selector set to node list, pick node 2 from the graphics area.
This will be the center of the arc.
3. Verify that the orientation vector is set to X-axis.
4. Pick the node with ID number 2 again as the base for the axis of rotation.
5. For angle =specify 180.
6. For radius =specify 2.5.
7. For offset =specify 90.
8. Click create to create an arc.
9. Click return to exit the circles panel.
10. From the standard toolbar, click Rear ( ).

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Step 6: Create a line.
1. Access the lines panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, then Lines
From the main menu, select the Geom page, then select lines
2. Go to the from nodes sub-panel.
3. Pick the nodes with ID number 4 and node 5 in node list.
4. Click create to create a line between nodes 4 and 5.
5. Click return.
Step 7: Duplicate and translate lines.
1. Access the translate panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Translate, then Lines
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select translate
2. Change the entity type to lines.
3. Pick the line that was created between nodes 4 and 5.
4. Select lines, then duplicate, then current comp from the extended menu to copy the new line into the
current component (Geometry).
5. Click the plane and vector collector switch and select y-axis.
6. Click magnitude =and enter 10.0.
7. Click translate -.
8. Click return.
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Step 8: Edit lines by splitting at a line.
1. Access the line edit panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Edit, then Lines
From the main menu, select the Geom page, and then select line edit
2. Go to the split at line sub-panel.
3. With the lines selector active, pick the circle.
4. Click cut line and pick the line between node 4 and node 5.
5. Click split.
The circle has one quarter split off from the rest.
6. Repeat this procedure, picking the remaining 3/4 arc of the circle and the other line that was just
translated.
7. Click return.
Step 9: Display the line IDs.
1. Go to the numbers panel.
2. Change the entity type to lines.
3. Click lines, then all from entity selection menu.
4. Click on to display all the line IDs.
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5. Click return.
Step 10: Delete a redundant arc.
1. Access the delete panel in one of the following ways:
From the Collectors toolbar, click Delete ( )
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select delete
2. Change the entity type to lines.
3. Select the lower semi-circle (line IDs 5 and 10) from the graphics area.
4. Click delete entity to delete the redundant arc.
5. Click return.
Step 11: Duplicate and reflect an arc.
1. Access the reflect panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Reflect, then Lines
From the main menu, select the Tool page then select reflect
2. Change the entity type to lines.
3. Choose the arc (line ID 2) from the graphics area.
4. Click the plane and vector collector switch and select z-axis.
5. Pick node 2 as the base node.
6. Select lines, then duplicate, then original comp from the extended entity selection menu to copy the
new line into the current component (Geometry).
7. Click reflect to create the lower arc.
8. Click return.
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Step 12: Create two tangent lines.
1. Go to the Lines panel, at tangents sub-panel.
2. Select the node with ID number 3.
3. Click the line selector to make it active.
4. Select the semi-circular line with ID number 8.
Note: Line ID may be different, depending on whether you needed to perform the split/delete/duplicate
tasks more than once.
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5. Click find tangent.
There are two tangent lines on the screen.
6. Pick one of the tangents.
7. Repeat steps 4-5.
8. Select the other tangent.
9. Click return to exit the tangent panel.
Step 13: Redisplay the line IDs.
1. Go to the Numbers panel.
2. Change the entity type to lines.
3. Click lines, then all from the extended entity selection menu.
4. Click on to display all the line IDs.
5. Click return to exit the numbers panel.
Step 14: Split curves by tangent line and delete redundant line.
1. Go to the Line Edit panel and enter split at line sub-panel.
2. Pick semi-circular line 8 for lines and tangent line 12 for cut line.
Note: Line ID may be different.
3. Click split to split line 8 with line 12.
4. Repeat steps 3-5 in order to cut curved line 8 with tangent line 13 in line edit panel.
5. Press the F2 key to jump into delete panel from line edit panel.
6. Select the curved lines between tangent lines 12 and 13.
7. Click delete entity to delete the curves.
8. Click return twice to go back to main menu.
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Step 15: Create a component collector for surfaces.
1. Enter the components panel.
2. Click name =and enter surfaces.
3. Click the switch under creation method and select no card image.
4. Click color and select purple.
5. Click create.
6. Click return to exit the components panel.
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Step 16: Create a surface square on an X-Y plane.
1. Access the Planes panel:
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then select planes
2. Go to the square sub-panel.
3. Set the orientation vector to z-axis.
4. For base node, choose the node with ID number 1 to be the base reference node.
5. Switch from mesh, keep surf to surface only.
6. For size =enter 30.
7. Click create to create a square surface.
8. Click return to exit the planes panel.
Step 17: Create a line that connects two parallel lines on an X-Y plane.
1. Access the Lines panel.
2. Go to the at intersection sub-panel.
3. Select z-axis (located at the bottom-center of the panel, shared between the controls for elements with
plane and lines with plane) to represent the intersection plane.
The reason for choosing the z-axis is that you want to create the line on the X-Y plane.
4. For base, choose the node with ID number 1 to be the base node.
5. Use the lines with plane column.
6. For line list, choose the two straight lines that are perpendicular to the X-Y plane.
A bold line displayed on the screen represents the result.
7. Click intersect to create the line.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 18: Switch the current working component surfaces to geometry.
1. In the Model browser right-click the geometry component and click Make Current.
From this point onwards any element or geometry created will be placed in the geometry component
collector.
Step 19: Extend a line to a surface edge.
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1. On the standard views toolbar, click User Views ( ).
2. Click Iso1.
3. Go to the Line Edit panel.
4. Go to the extend line sub-panel.
5. Toggle from distance =to to:.
6. Change the entity type from node to line.
7. Activate the top line selector and pick the line created in step 17--the line that passes through node 1--
as the line to be extended.
A red V marks the beginning of the line to be extended.
9. Activate the lower line selector and--with the view still in iso1--select the lower-right edge of the purple
plane.
11. Click extend +.
You can see the line is extended to reach one surface edge.
12. Click return to exit the Line Edit panel.
The result should resemble the following image.

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Step 20: Create a fillet between two lines.
1. Access the line panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, then Lines.
From the main menu, select the Geom page, then select lines.
2. Go to the fillets sub-panel.
You will use the create option.
3. Check trim original lines.
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4. For radius=, enter 5.
5. For 1st line, pick the vertical line through which the line extended in step 19 passes.
6. For 2nd line, pick the extended line from step 19.
"Please select fillet quadrant" displays in the status bar. HyperMesh is asking you to select a reference
location for the fillet.

7. Pick the upper-right X for the fillet quadrant, as shown in the image.
HyperMesh immediately creates a fillet on the screen.
8. Click return to exit the Lines panel.
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Step 21: Trim a line by plane and delete a redundant line segment.
1. Go to the Line Edit panel.
2. Go to the split at plane sub-panel.
3. With the lines selector active, select the vertical line that does not have a fillet.
4. Set the orientation vector to z-axis.
5. Choose node 1 as the base node.
6. Click split to split line 4 by the X-Y plane.
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7. Press the F2 key to access the delete panel.
8. Switch the entity type to lines.
9. Choose the small line segment under the X-Y plane, and click delete entity to remove the line segment.
10. Click return twice to return to the main menu.
Step 22: Remove all temp nodes.
1. Access the temp nodes panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Delete, then Nodes
From the main menu, select the Geom page, then select temp nodes
2. Click clear all to remove all temp nodes.
3. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 23: Change the rendering mode.
1. On the visualization toolbar, click Shaded Geometry ( ).
The plane (purple) becomes shaded instead of wire frame.
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Step 24: Export all geometry as an IGES file.
1. On the Files menu point to Export and click IGES Geometry.
2. Click Export geometry, , on the Export tab.
3. Click File type: Iges.
4. Input a File name.
5. Click Export to save your file.
The IGES file you have generate can be shared with other CAD packages such as UG, Catia, and ProE.
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Creating Surfaces from Elements - HM-2050
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Generate surfaces from existing elements
Plot elements
Control what surfaces are created
The surfaces created in this process are regular surfaces that can be used for geometry editing (for changes
to a design) and meshing, and to export geometry information (in reverse engineering applications, for
example). This is particularly useful if you are trying to obtain geometry information (surfaces) from a model
containing elements only.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, fe_to_surf.hm. The model is the tetrahedral mesh of a bracket. It is
organized into a single component, and does not contain any entities besides the solid elements.
Step 1: Open the model file and create shell elements.
1. The model is loaded in wireframe mode. Shade the elements to review the shape of the bracket. This
solid mesh was obtained by running the HyperMesh tetramesher on a tria mesh of the surfaces defining
the initial part.
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In this tutorial, you will reverse this process by obtaining the shell elements and then the surfaces. You
can then, for example, remesh the surfaces with a different element size, or export them as an IGES file.
2. Use the faces panel to generate shell elements on the outside of the solid mesh.
1. From the Tool page, select the faces panel.
2. With the entity selector set to comps, click any element.
3. The element is temporarily highlighted, signifying that the component has been selected. The
tolerance field can be left unchanged, as it does not influence the creation of face elements.
4. Click find faces.
HyperMesh creates shell elements on the free faces of the solid elements (faces that are not shared
with any other element), and places them into the ^faces component collector.
3. In the Model browser, turn off display of the elements by clicking the element icon next to the tetras
component.

Faces (shell) elements
Step 2: Obtain surfaces from elements.
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Use the surfaces panel and from FE sub-panel on the tria (faces) elements to obtain surfaces and
understand the behavior of the panel. Start by creating a component collector for the new surfaces using the
collectors panel.
1. On the toolbar, click the Components icon ( ) to go to the Components panel and create a
component collector with the name surfaces. Select any color, and do not assign any card image or
material to the component.
2. Run the FE surf functionality on elements in the ^faces component as shown in the following image.

1. From the Geom page, click surfaces, and select the from FE sub-panel.
2. With the upper elems selector active, select displayed.
3. Toggle to auto defect features and mesh based auto tolerance.
Auto detect features will automatically create 1-D plot elements at feature lines. Features are
created where the normals of adjacent elements vary more than the feature angle specified in
the options panel. Once the feature lines are created, it also combines open ended features to
form closed loops. These features are used as delineations for the new surfaces being created.
4. Mesh based autotolerance option allows the tool to determine the tolerance as a factor of the
average element size. The new surfaces created are allowed to deviate from the existing mesh
no more than the specified/calculated tolerance value.
5. Set surface complexity: to 5 using the slider bar.
6. Click create. It may take up to 40 seconds to create surfaces.
3. Turn off the display of all elements to review the surfaces that were created.
Notice how only two surfaces (from over 70) were created. Take some time to review the surface by
rotating and zooming in and out the model. The delineation of the surfaces may or may not correspond to
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what you may expect or wish to obtain. For example, you may want to have three separate surfaces in
some areas of the model and fewer surfaces in other areas.
On the toolbar, click User Views ( ) to restore previously saved views 1 through 5 where delineation
lines are not intended.
4. Delete the surfaces that were generated by going to the Tool page and selecting the delete panel.
5. Turn on the display of the elements in the ^faces component.
In this section, you have learned how to use the FE surf panel to generate some surfaces that can later be
meshed.
You have also seen that when the surface generation engine is asked to create surface delineation
automatically, the surfaces obtained may not necessarily have the specific delineation you wish to obtain.
In order to obtain specific delineation, plot elements can be used to define the boundaries of the various
surfaces, and can be supplied to the engine.
Step 3: Capture features with plot elements.
Delineating the surfaces to be created is an essential step in obtaining the desired surfaces. This level of
control is achieved by supplying the surface generator with some plot elements, which will indicate what the
boundaries of the various surfaces should be. This function works well only when the selected plot elements
form closed loops.
The new surfaces should have boundaries that respect the features of the tria mesh as the tria mesh
captures, to some extent, the features of the initial geometry.
Generate plot elements that correspond to the features of the mesh. You can use the edges, features, and
edit element panels to create plot elements. Using the features panel is one of the most automated ways of
generating plot elements, although it does not always create the features as desired. Some manual
methods will be used to modify the results of automatic feature creation.
1. Use the features panel to automatically generate plot elements capturing the features of the tria mesh (
^faces component). Use a break angle of 30 degrees.
1. From the surfaces panel, FE sub-panel, click the features button to access the features panel.
This is a shortcut to this panel. You can also find features panel in the Tool page by selecting the
features sub-panel.
2. Set the entity selector to elems.
3. Click elems and select displayed.
4. Enter 30 in the feature angle =field.
5. Select the advanced analysis check box.
6. This option performs further analysis on the features created based on the angle and combines and
extends them to create closed loops.
7. Click features.
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Plot elements representing features
This generates plot elements representing the features of the mesh (see previous image). These
plots elements are automatically created in a component collector named ^feature. For detailed
information, view additional details on the feature panel.
8. On the toolbar, click User Views ( ) to restore previously saved views 1 through 5 where the
features are not as intended.
2. Click view to restore view1.
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Notice how too many plot elements are created to define the boundary in that area. You will try to
remove some to reduce the clutter.
3. From the features panel, select the edit sub-panel.
1. Click elem for the element features to remove and pick the plot elements as shown in the following
image. As you pick these plot elements, the entire row of elements to the next intersection is
selected.
2. Click remove.
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Features to be removed
4. Now you will add a new delineation feature.
1. Remain in the features panel, edit sub-panel.
2. Click the nodelist for nodes to add features.
3. Click the nodelist and choose by path.
4. Select the nodes as shown in following image.
5. All the nodes in the path between these two nodes are selected.
6. Click add.
A new feature line is created.
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Nodes to create a new feature
5. Click User Views ( ) to restore view2.
Notice that the features created here are of zigzag pattern. You will delete those and create new smooth
features:
1. From the features panel, select the edit sub-panel.
2. Click elem for the element features to remove and pick the plot elements as shown in the
following image. As you pick these plot elements, the entire row of elements to the next
intersection is selected.
3. Click remove.
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Features to be removed
6. Follow procedure in sub-step 3.4 and add two new feature lines (see following image).
New features added
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7. Repeat the previous cleanup operations to create features to your needs. The following image shows an
example of the final features. Notice that too many features in the cylindrical holes have been removed.

Model with corrected features
You created plot elements that will be used in the surfaces panel to indicate the boundaries of the
surfaces to generate. These plot elements were generated in an attempt to capture the features of the
tria mesh. The number and location of plot elements generated using this approach is directly dependent
on the value that is chosen for the feature angle.
In most situations, a lower feature angle will generate more plot elements while a higher one will yield
fewer plot elements.
It is often useful to experiment with different values for the feature angle as one value may bring you
much closer to the desired set of plot elements than another, significantly limiting the amount of
subsequent editing required.
In this section, you learned how to create and edit plot elements using the features panel. The creation
process was straightforward, but required some editing in order to obtain a set of plot elements forming
closed loops only. Various tools are available to make the editing process as easy as possible and you
used the ones that would allow you to get to your goal the most effectively.
Now that both the shell elements and the plot elements delineating the surfaces are available, you will
generate surfaces on the entire model.
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8. In the Model browser, right-click the surfaces component and click Make Current.
9. Generate the surfaces using the surfaces panel, from FE sub-panel.
1. Click the upper-most elems selector, and select by collector from the extended entity selection
dialog.
2. Select the ^faces component and click select to return to the panel.
3. Click the toggle next to auto detect features to be set to feature edges selector.
4. Click feature edges selector, and select by collector.
5. Select the ^feature component and click select.
6. Leave all other options unchanged.
7. Click create.
10. Turn off the display of all elements to review the surfaces that were generated (see following image).

Surfaces generated
The surfaces generated could now be exported or used for any surface editing or meshing operation.
This concludes this tutorial. You may discard this model or save it to your working directory for your own
reference.
As this tutorial showed, this is a powerful tool in generating surface data where none is available, but needed.
It also provides you with a great deal of control over the surfaces that are generated through the use of plot
elements. Automated and semi-automated ways let you create and edit plot elements quickly and easily.
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Creating and Editing Solid Geometry - HM-2060
In this tutorial, you will learn:
What solid geometry is
What topology is
What 3-D topology looks like
Solids are geometric entities that define a three-dimensional volume. Geometric entities are defined as
follows:
Point: 0 dimensional; has only x, y, and z coordinates
Line: one-dimensional; has length, can be curved through three-dimensional space
Surface: two-dimensional; has an area
Solid: three-dimensional, has a volume
The use of solid geometry is helpful when dividing a part into multiple volumes. For example, divide a part into
simple, mappable regions to hex mesh the part.
Exercise: Creating and editing solid geometry
This exercise uses the model file, solid_geom.hm.

Step 1: Retrieve model file, solid_geom.hm.
Access the Files panel in one of the following ways:
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From the File menu, select Open
On the toolbar, click the files icon,
Step 2: Create solid geometry from the bounding surfaces.
1. From the Geom page, enter the solids panel.
2. Verify that you are in the bounding surfs sub-panel.
3. Verify that the auto select solid surfaces option is checked.
4. Select one surface on the part.
5. All of the surfaces should automatically be selected.
6. Click create to create the solid.
7. The status bar indicates that a solid has been created. The solids are identified by thicker lines than
surfaces.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 3: Create a solid geometry cylinder using primitives.
1. Go to the primitives panel in one of the following ways:
From the Geometry menu, point to Create, and click Primitives
From the Geom page, go to primitives
2. Go to the cylinder/cone sub-panel.
3. Toggle full cone to full cylinder.
4. Click bottom center, and select one of the temporary nodes (see following image).
5. The cursor automatically advances to the normal vector button.
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6. Select the remaining temporary node shown in the image.
7. For base radius=enter 1.5.
8. For height= enter 25.
9. Click create solid.
A solid cylinder is created in the middle of the first solid that was created.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 4: Subtract the cylinders volume from the rest of the part.
1. Enter the solid edit panel in one of the following ways:
From the Geometry menu, point to Edit, and click Solids
From the Geom page, go to solid edit
2. Go to the boolean sub-panel.
3. Verify that operation type: is set to simple (combine all).
4. Set operation: to A-B (remove B from A).
5. With the solids entity selector for A: active, select the original solid.
Verify that the cursor advances to solids next to B:.
6. Select the solid cylinder created in step 3.
7. Click calculate.
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8. To confirm the material has been removed, click shaded, , and rotate the model to inspect the part.

Step 5: Split the solid geometry using bounding lines.
You should still be in the solid edit panel.
1. Go to the trim with lines sub-panel.
2. Under with bounding lines:, activate the solids entity selector, and click anywhere on the model to
select it.
3. Activate the lines entity selector and, in the graphics area, select the lines shown in the following image.
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4. Click trim to trim the model.
A plane was trimmed. Note that two solids now intersect.

Step 6: Split the solid geometry using a cut line.
You should still be in the solid edit panel, trim with lines sub-panel.
1. Under with cut line:, activate the solids entity selector, and select the small, tetrahedral shaped solid
created in step 5.
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2. On the toolbar, click User Views ( ).
3. From the pop-up window, click restore1.
4. Click drag a cut line.
5. Pick two locations on screen such that they define the endpoints of a line that roughly divides the
tetrahedral solid in half, as shown, following.

6. Click the middle-mouse button to split the solid.
7. Select the half of the original tetrahedral solid as shown in the following image.
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8. Use with cut line: to split the solid as shown in the following image.

9. Select the solid shown in the following image.
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10. Click User Views ( ) and select restore2.
11. Use with cut line: to split the solid as shown in the following image.

Step 7: Merge solids together.
You should still be in the solid edit panel.
1. Go to the merge sub-panel.
2. With the solids entity selector under to be merged: active, select the three solids shown in the following
image.
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3. Click merge to merge the solids.
The resulting solids in the tetrahedral area should look like the following image. There should be two solid
entities, with one of them being hexahedral in shape in the corner.

Step 8: Split the solid geometry with a user-defined plane.
You should still be in the solid edit panel.
1. Go to the trim with plane/surf sub-panel.
2. Click User Views ( ) and click restore3.
3. With the solids entity selector under with plane: active, select the large solid representing the majority
of the part.
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4. Set the plane selector to N1, N2, N3.
5. With N1 active, press and hold the left mouse button, and move the mouse cursor over one of the two
edges shown in the following image.
The edge should highlight.

6. Release the mouse button, and left-click in the middle of the edge.
A green temp node appears at the location to indicate the selection for N1.The plane selector is
advanced to the N2 selection.
7. In the same manner, highlight the other line shown in the image and select two nodes along its length.
Your selection should look similar to the following image.
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8. Click trim to trim the solid.

Step 9: Split the solid geometry with a swept line.
You should still be in the solid edit panel.
1. Go to the trim with lines sub-panel.
2. With the solids entity selector under with sweep lines: active, select the solid with the cylinder
removed.
3. Activate the line list entity selector and select the edges used in step 8 to define N1, N2, and N3.
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4. Under sweep to:, switch the plane selector from N1, N2, N3 to x-axis.
5. Verify that the panel is set to sweep all below the plane selector.
6. Click trim to trim the solid.
Step 10: Split the solid geometry with a principal plane.
You should still be in the solid edit panel.
1. Go to the trim with plane/surf sub-panel.
2. With the solids entity selector under with plane: active, select the solid with the cylinder removed.
3. Switch the plane selector from N1, N2, N3 to z-axis.
4. Press and hold the left mouse button, and move the mouse cursor over the edge shown in the following
image.
The edge should highlight.
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5. Release the mouse button, and left-click anywhere along the edge.
6. A purple temp node appears at the location to indicate the selection for the base node.
7. Click trim to trim the solid.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 11: Split the solid geometry by creating surfaces inside the solids.
1. Enter the surfaces panel in one of the following ways:
From the Geometry menu, point to Create, and click Surfaces
From the Geom page, go to surfaces
2. Go to the spline/filler sub-panel.
3. Deactivate auto create(free edge only) and keep tangency options.
4. Select the five lines shown in the following image:
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5. Click create to create the surface.
6. Click return to return to the main menu.
7. From the Geom page, enter the solid edit panel.
8. Go to the trim with plane/surf sub-panel.
9. Under with surfs:, with the solid entity selector active, select the solid in the graphics area.
10. Under with surfs:, with the surfs entity selector active, select the surface in the graphics area that was
just created.
11. Click trim.
12. Click return.
13. From the Geom page, go to the surfaces panel.
14. Go to the spline/filler sub-panel.
15. Select the four lines shown in the following image.
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16. Click create.
17. Click return.
18. Go to the solid edit panel in one of the following ways:
From the Geometry menu, point to Edit, and then click Solids
From the Geom page, go to solid edit
19. Select the trim with plane/surf sub-panel.
20. Under with surfs: activate solids and click the solid in the graphics area.
21. Under with surfs:, with the surfs entity selector active, select the surface in the graphics area that was
just created.
22. Uncheck the Extend Trimmer box.
23. Click trim.
24. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 12: Suppress extraneous edges on the part.
1. Enter the edge edit panel.
2. Go to the (un)suppress sub-panel.
3. Select lines >>by geoms.
4. With the solids entity selector active, select the four solids shown in the following image.
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5. Click add to selection.
6. Set breakangle =to 45.
7. Click suppress to suppress the edges.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
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Geometry and Mesh Editing Using the Quick Edit Panel - HM-2070
This tutorial will explore the geometry and mesh editing functions available in the qucik edit panel.
The quick edit panel provides easy access to a number of geometry editing mesh editing tools. More than a
dozen functions are presented in this single panel. Many of the functions can be found in other HyperMesh
panels. These tools may be used before creating the surface mesh to simplify geometry, correct geometry
errors, or add additional geometric features to control the mesh generation. Additionally, if a mesh already
exists on the geometry, you have the option of automatically remeshing the geometry as you modify it.
This tutorial uses the model called base_bracket.hm.
Step 1: Load the model and create a baseline mesh.
1. Open the model base_bracket.hm.
2. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then select Create, then 2D Automesh
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then select automesh
3. Verify that the size and bias sub-panel is selected.
4. Set element size =to 0.1.
5. Set mesh type: to mixed.
6. Verify that elements to surf comp is selected.
7. Click surfs >>displayed to select the displayed surfaces.
8. Click mesh.
9. Click return twice to exit the panel.
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Next, you will start refining the geometry and improving the mesh quality. HyperMesh has the ability to
automatically remesh a surface if any topology changes are made to the geometry. This is controlled by a
setting in the Prefrences / Meshing Options panel under topology revision. The default option is to remesh
the surface; however, one can opt to keep or delete the mesh instead.
For the base component, your focus will be to improve the mesh quality around the large holes in the side
surface and the mounting holes on the flanges. The oblong holes will be removed. On the top surface, the
mesh quality around the five small holes will be improved by trimming in a "washer" surface around the holes.
Step 2: Simplify the geometry by removing unnecessary holes.
1. From the main menu, select the Geom page, and click quick edit.
2. For unsplit surf:, activate line(s).
3. Pick each of the six oblong holes (under the large circular holes) to remove them and re-generate the
mesh.
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Model after removing 6 oblong holes.
Step 3: Modify geometry around remaining small holes.
1. Adjust your view to zoom in to the notched area of the top surface.
2. For the split surf-line function, activate node.
3. Pick the node and line as indicated in the image to trim the surface.
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4. Repeat this step to create four more trim lines in the locations depicted in the following image. The end
result is that each of the four small holes is isolated in its own rectangular surface patch.

Surface trim lines isolating small holes onto individual surfaces. Note that element display has been turned off for clarity.
Step 4: Trim a washer layer into the surface around each of the four holes.
1. In the offset value field next to washer split, enter 0.05.
2. For the washer split function, activate the line(s) selector.
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3. Pick each of the free surface edges around the four small holes.
4. For the adjust/set density function, activate the left line(s) selector.
This activates the adjust edge density option.
5. Click the surface edge segment to adjust the densities as shown in the image:
6. Activate the right line(s) selector.
This activates the set edge density option.
7. Left-click one of the adjusted outer washer edges (one where the density has been changed from 7 to 8
in the last step).
8. Right-click the remaining outer washer edges to set the element densities to 8 elements.
9. Use either the adjust or set edge density functions to make the remaining mesh adjustments, as
indicated in the following image.
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10. Use a similar process to trim a washer around the remaining hole in the top surface. Once the washer is
trimmed, adjust the element density to match nodes on the inner and outer washer edges.
Step 5: Adjust the mesh around the large holes on the side surfaces.
The approach used around the large holes is to trim the surfaces into individual patches to which a mapped
meshing algorithm can be applied. Use the split surf-line function to make the following surface trims. Note
that only one side is shown and the element display has been turned off for clarity.

The mapped meshing algorithms apply a mesh pattern template to a surface, and then map that pattern to
the specific surface size and shape. For this method to be applied certain criteria must be met, including
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element type (quads only mesh) surface shape (three, four or five edges) and specific mesh density settings.
In step 5, the surfaces around the large holes were trimmed into faces that can be meshed with the map as
pentagon algorithm, provided the mesh type and density settings are correct.
Step 6: Remesh the newly trimmed surfaces.
1. Access the automesh panel.
2. Select the 12 surface patches around the three holes on one side of the model.
3. Verify that you are working in the size and bias sub-panel.
4. Verify that the meshing mode is set to interactive.
5. Set mesh type: to quads.
6. Click mesh to enter the interactive meshing module.
7. On the density sub-panel, adjust the density on the six edges across the center of the holes from 1 to 2
.

8. On the mesh style sub-panel, set the mesh method to map as pentagon, then click set all.
9. Click mesh to regenerate the mesh.
10. Click return to accept the mesh and go back to the automesh panel.
11. Click return to exit the automesh panel.
12. Select the Geom page.
13. Click quick edit.
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Step 7: Adjust the mesh on the mounting flange.
The mesh shown in the following image can be achieved by trimming the surface across the center of each
hole in the x-direction (using the split surf-line function), then adjusting the element density between the
hole and the outside edge from 1 to 2 elements (using the adjust density function).
This completes this tutorial. For more practice using these methods, use the other components in the
model.
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Meshing
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1-D Elements
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Creating 1-D Elements - HM-3000
In this tutorial, you will learn how to build 1-D elements.
Exercise: Creating 1-D Elements
This exercise uses the model file, 1d_elements.hm.

Step 1: Retrieve the model file.
1. Open the HyperMesh file, 1d_elements.hm.
2. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles....
3. Select Default (HyperMesh).
4. Click OK to load the user profile.
Step 2: Create 1-D bar elements.
1. Access the bars panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 1D Elements, then Bars
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select bars
2. Go to the bar2 sub-panel.
3. Click ax =and enter the value 0.
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4. Click ay =and enter the value 0.
5. Click az =and enter the value 0.
These are the values for the bar offset.
6. Click property =and select property1.
A property is now assigned to the element.
7. Click pins a =and enter the value 0.
8. Click pins b =and enter the value 0.
These are the values for the degrees of freedom.
9. Click the switch below update and select components from the pop-up menu.
10. After x comp =, enter the value 1.
11. After y comp =, enter the value 1.
12. After z comp =, enter the value 1.
The local y-axis is now specified.
13. Click node A and select the lower node in the graphics area.
14. Click node B and select the upper node in the graphics area.
The two-noded bar element is created.
15. Click return to access the main menu.

Bar 2 element created
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Step 3: Create 1-D elements along a line.
1. Go to the line mesh panel.
2. Verify that the entity selector is set to lines..
3. Select a line on the model.
4. Verify that the segment is whole line option is set.
5. Set element config: to rigid.
6. Click mesh.
The element density panel now appears.
7. Click set segment to make it the active selector.
8. In the elem density =field, enter 20.
9. Click set all.
10. Click return twice to access the main menu.

Rigids created in the line mesh panel
Step 4: Create 1-D elements from the feature in the model.
1. Use the Model browser to turn off all of the geometry in the model.
2. Use Model brower to turn on only the elements in the feature_elements component.
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3. Access the features panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Components, then Features
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select features
4. Click the Comps button and pick the feature_elements component.
5. Click select to complete the selection.
6. In the feature angle =field, enter 30.
7. Select the ignore normals check box.
8. Verify that create: is set to plot elements.
9. Click features.
The plot elements are created.

10. Click return to exit to the main menu.
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2-D Elements
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AutoMeshing - HM-3100
In this tutorial, you will:
Learn how to mesh all the surfaces at once specifying different element sizes and element types
Practice changing the element density along surface edges
Practice checking element quality and changing the mesh pattern by changing the mesh algorithm
Learn how to preview the mesh on all the unmeshed surfaces
Practice changing the element type and node spacing (biasing) along surface edges
Learn how to remesh surfaces
The optimal starting point for creating a shell mesh for a part is to have geometry surfaces defining the part.
The most efficient method for creating a mesh representing the part includes using the automesh panel and
creating a mesh directly on the parts surfaces.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, channel.hm.
Step 1: Open and view the model file, channel.hm.
Take a few moments to observe the model using the different visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
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Step 2: Mesh all the parts surfaces at once using an element size of 5 and the
mixed element type (quads and trias).
1. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
On the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, and then click 2D AutoMesh
From the main menu, select the 2D page, and then select automesh
2. Go to the size and bias sub-panel.
3. Select surfs >>displayed.
4. For element size=, specify 5.
5. Set the mesh type: to mixed.
6. On the panels bottom-left corner, set interactive as the active mesh mode (it may currently be on
automatic).
7. Check the status bar at the bottom and verify that the current component collector is Middle Surface.
8. Ensure that the elements to surf comp/elements to current comp toggle is set to elems to current
comp.
9. Click mesh to enter the meshing module.
Notice that you are in the density sub-panel of the meshing module. There is node seeding and a
number on each surface edge. The number is the number of elements that were created along the edge.
10. Click return to accept the mesh as the final mesh.
At this point, you could be done using the automesh panel to mesh the part. The mesh quality is very
good. However, you will remain in the meshing module to perform the next steps, which demonstrate
how to use various sub-panels to interactively control the creation of the mesh.
Step 3: Delete the mesh.
1. Access the delete panel in one of the following ways:
On the Collectors toolbar, select Delete ( )
Press F2 on the keyboard
2. Switch the entity selector to elems.
3. Select elems >>all.
4. Click delete entity.
5. Click return to go back to the automesh panel.
Step 4: Mesh the surface having three fixed points interior to its surface.
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You should still be in the automesh panel, size and bias sub-panel.
1. Leave all options in the menu panel as they are.
2. Select the surface that has three fixed points interior to its surface.
3. Click mesh to enter the meshing module.
4. Preview the mesh generated.
Step 5: Fit only the surface being meshed to the graphics area.
Fit the surface to the graphics area in one of the following ways.
On the density sub-panel, click f.
Click local view and pick fill.
Step 6: From the graphics area, specify a new element density along surface
edges.
1. From the density sub-panel, click the selector, adjust : edge to make it active.
2. From the graphics area, left-click an edges element density number to increase it by one.
3. Right-click an edges number to decrease it by one.
4. Click and hold the mouse pointer on an edges number and drag the mouse up or down to increase or
decrease the number.
5. Click mesh to update the preview mesh based on the change.
Step 7: From the menu panel, specify a new element density along surface edges.
You should still be in the density sub-panel.
1. For elem density=, enter 10.
2. Activate the selector set : edge .
3. Click an edges number to change its value to 10.
4. Update the mesh by clicking mesh to preview the change.
5. Change all edge densities to 10 by clicking set all to.
6. Click mesh to preview the change.
Step 8: From the menu panel, specify a new element size to adjust element
densities along surface edges.
You should still be in the density sub-panel.
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1. For elem size=, enter 7.
2. Click calculate: edge to make it the active selector.
3. Click an edges number to calculate it based on an element size of 7.
The new number is calculated to create elements as close to a size of 7 as possible.
4. Click mesh to preview the change.
5. Click recalc all to base all edge densities on an element size of 7.
6. Click mesh to preview the change.
Step 9: Change all edge element densities to reflect the initial element size of 5.
1. For elem size=, specify 5.
2. Click recalc all.
3. Click mesh to preview the change.
4. Return to accept the mesh and go back to the size and bias sub-panel.
Step 10: Preview a mesh of the channels rib.
You should still be in the automesh panel, size and bias sub-panel.
1. With the surfs selector active, select the rib surface in the middle of the part.
2. Leave all options in the menu panel set they are.
3. Click mesh to enter the meshing module.
4. Preview the mesh generated.
5. Click local view and pick the rear view to display the ribs surface in this position, filled to the graphics
area.
Step 11: Check the quality of the ribs preview mesh.
1. Go to the checks sub-panel.
2. Click aspect to identify all elements having an aspect ratio greater than 5.
3. Notice that no elements fail this check. In the status bar, the highest aspect ratio value reported is 1.67.
4. For jacobian specify 0.8.
5. Click jacobian to identify all elements having a jacobian less than 0.8.
6. Notice that several elements fail this check and are outlined red. The status bar reports the smallest
jacobian value to be 0.71.
7. Change the jacobian check value back to 0.7.
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8. Verify that no elements have a jacobian less than 0.7. (Click jacobian.)
9. Check for quad elements having a min angle less than 45.
10. Smallest angle is _____.
11. Check for quad elements having a max angle greater than 135.
12. Largest angle is _____.
Step 12: Change the ribs mesh pattern by changing the mesh method used for its
surface.
1. Go to the mesh style sub-panel.
2. Notice that the edges element density numbers disappear. Interior to the ribs surface is a white icon. It
indicates the free (unmapped) mesh method is currently being used to mesh the surface.
Mesh on rib using the free (unmapped) mesh algorithm
3. Under mesh method: set the option to map as rectangle (autodecide is default).
4. Click set all found under mesh method.
5. Notice that the icon changes to reflect the new mesh method.
6. Click mesh to preview the change.
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Mesh on rib using the map as rectangle mesh algorithm
Step 13: Check the quality of the ribs preview mesh again.
1. Go the checks sub-panel.
2. Check for elements having an aspect ratio greater than 5.
Highest value reported is _____.
3. Check for elements having a jacobian less than 0.7.
Lowest value reported is _____.
4. Check for quad elements having a min angle less than 45.
Smallest value reported is _____.
5. Check for quad elements having a max angle greater than 135.
Highest value reported is _____.
6. Notice that in this case, the free (unmapped) mesh has better jacobian than the map as rectangle
mesh.
Step 14: Change the ribs mesh method back to free (unmapped).
1. Go to the mesh style sub-panel.
2. Under mesh method: set the option to free (unmapped).
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3. Click set all found under mesh method.
4. Click mesh to preview the change.
5. Click return to accept the mesh as final and go back to the automesh panel.
Step 15: Preview a mesh of all displayed, unmeshed surfaces.
You should still be in the automesh panel, size and bias sub-panel.
1. Press V on the keyboard, and then select iso 1.
2. Move your mouse off the pop-up menu to return to the automesh panel.
3. Accept all the default values.
4. On the menu panels bottom-right side, click failed surfs.
The status bar displays the following message: "There are no surfaces with meshing errors". This is
correct; all surfaces you selected to mesh so far have a mesh on them.
5. Click unmeshed surfs to identify and select all displayed unmeshed surfaces.
6. Click mesh to enter the meshing module.
7. Preview the mesh generated.
Step 16: Change the element type for some surfaces to trias.
1. Go to the mesh style sub-panel.
2. Click toggle surf found under elem type.
Notice that interior to each surface is a blue icon. It indicates the mixed element type (quads and trias)
is currently being used to mesh the surface.
3. Under element type: select the menu trias.
4. Under element type: activate the selector set surf. (Click set surf.)
5. Left-click the blue icon twice in each of the channels bottom two surfaces to set their element type to
trias.
6. Click mesh to preview the change.
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Preview of mesh with trias element type for the bottom two surfaces
Step 17: Adjust the node spacing on surface edge (biasing).
1. Go to the biasing sub-panel.
2. Notice the bias intensity number (default 0.000) on each surface edge.
3. Leave the bias style set to linear.
This style corresponds to the positive slope of a straight line over the interval [0,1] of the real line. For a
positive bias intensity, smaller elements are at the start of the edge.
4. Verify that the selector adjust: edge is active.
5. Left- or right-click the edge biasing intensity number as indicated in the following image to increase or
decrease its value by 0.1.
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Preview mesh in the biasing sub-panel
6. Click and hold the mouse pointer on the same edge biasing intensity number and drag the mouse up to
increase its value to 3.0.
7. Click mesh to preview the change.
8. For intensity=enter 10.
9. Activate the selector, calculate: edge.
10. Click the same edges bias intensity value to change it to 10.
11. Click mesh to preview the change.
12. Switch bias style: to bellcurve.
This style distributes nodes along the edge in a pattern that is symmetric across the midpoint of the
edge. For a positive biasing intensity, the smaller elements are at the start and end of the edge.
13. Activate the selector set: edge, to make it active.
14. Click the same edges blue icon to change it from linear bias style to the bellcurve bias style.
15. Click mesh to preview the change.
16. Click return to accept the final mesh and go back to the automesh panel.
Step 18: Remesh the channels bottom two surfaces.
You should still be in the automesh panel, size and bias sub-panel.
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1. On the panels bottom-left side, switch the mesh mode from interactive to automatic.
This mode is not interactive; it does not take you to the meshing module. Rather, it meshes surfaces
using only the basic parameters of the automesh panel. Interactive mode can be used to remesh the
surfaces if you require the different options to control the created mesh.
2. With the surfs selector active, select the channels bottom two surfaces (having the tria mesh).
3. Set element size =to 10.
4. Click mesh to delete the existing mesh on the surfaces and create a new mesh.
5. Observe the resulting quad mesh on the remeshed surfaces.
Note that connectivity was maintained with the surrounding, smaller mesh. This is because the break
connectivity option was not used.
6. Click return to go to the main menu.
Remeshed surfaces with element edge densities
Step 19 (Optional): Save your work.
Meshing of the channel part is complete. Now is a good time to save the model.
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Meshing without Surfaces - HM-3110
In this tutorial, you will learn the basic concepts of surfaceless meshing and how to mesh a bracket.
Surfaceless meshing is defined as the creation of mesh using points, lines, and nodes rather than surfaces.
Some parts may have missing surfaces and some parts may not have any surfaces at all and are instead
defined by line data. Either way, a mesh still must be created. HyperMesh has a number of panels that
allow you to create a mesh based on geometry other than surfaces.
Exercise: Meshing a Bracket
This exercise uses the model file, bracket.hm. The model consists of only line data; no surfaces are
present.

Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
Take a few moments to observe the model using the different visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
Step 2: Create a concentric circle around a hole on the top face using the scale
panel.
There are three circles on the upper region of the bracket representing three holes in the bracket. Two of the
holes have concentric circles around them. This configuration allows you to create a radial mesh pattern
around the holes. The following steps will show you how a concentric circle can be created around the third
hole.
1. To go to the scale panel, do one of the following:
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From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Scale, and then Lines
On the main menu, select the Tool page and go to the scale panel
2. Click uniform and enter 2.0 for the scale factor.
3. Press F4 to go to the distance panel.
4. Go to the three nodes sub-panel.
5. Verify that the node selector N1 is active.
6. Move the mouse pointer to the graphics area. While keeping the left mouse button pressed, drag the
mouse pointer over the circle representing the hole. When the mouse pointer changes to a square and
the circle is highlighted, release the mouse button. The circle remains highlighted. Left-click the
highlighted circle to create a node for N1. Click twice more at different locations on the line to create
nodes N2 and N3.
7. Click circle center.
A node is created at the circles center. This node will be selected as the origin node when the circle is
duplicated and scaled.
8. Click return to go back to the scale panel.
9. Switch the entity type to lines.
10. In the graphics area, select the circle.
11. Click lines >>duplicate >>original comp.
12. Click the origin: node selector to make it active.
13. Select the temporary node you created at the circles center.
14. Click scale +.
A new circle is created, which is concentric with the original.
15. Click return.
Step 3: Create a radial mesh between each of the concentric circles using the
spline panel.
1. To go to the spline panel, do one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D Elements, and then click Spline
On the main menu, select the 2D page and go to the spline panel.
2. With the entity type set to lines, select all six circular lines.
3. Switch from mesh, keep surf to mesh, dele surf.
This option creates surfaces based on the selected entities, uses the surfaces to create a mesh, and
then deletes the surfaces.
4. Make sure the keep tangency checkbox is unselected.
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5. Click create.
The meshing module appears. Element edge density numbers appear on the selected lines. The
numbers on a pair of concentric circular lines must be identical in order to achieve a radial mesh.
6. In the density sub-panel, specify 8 for elem density.
7. Click set all to.
All of the circular lines now have an element edge density of 8.
8. Click mesh.
9. Click return.
10. Remain in the spline panel.

Preview of mesh between pairs concentric circular lines
Step 4: Mesh the rest of the top face using the spline panel.
1. With the entity type set to lines, select the four lines defining the perimeter of the top face and the three
circular lines defining the outside perimeter of the three radial meshes.
2. Click create.
The meshing module appears.
3. In the density sub-panel, click mesh to preview the mesh.
4. Click return to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.

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Final mesh on the top face of the bracket
Step 5: Mesh the back face of the bracket using the line drag panel.
1. To go to the line drag panel, do one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D Elements, and then click Line Drag
On the main menu, select the 2D page and enter the line drag panel
2. Go to the drag geoms sub-panel.
3. Switch the drag: entity type from node list to line list.
4. Select the line that is on the perimeter of the existing mesh and adjacent to the brackets back face.
5. Click the along: line list selector to make it active.
6. Select one of the two lines defining the back face and perpendicular to the selected line to drag.
7. Leave the toggle set to use default vector.
8. Leave the creation method set to mesh, w/o surf.
9. Click drag.
The meshing module appears.
10. In the density sub-panel, click mesh to preview the mesh.
11. Click return twice to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.

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Mesh of top and back faces
Step 6: Mesh the bottom face of the bracket using the ruled panel.
1. To go to the ruled panel, do one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D Elements, and then click Ruled
On the main menu, select the 2D page and enter the ruled panel
2. Make sure the upper entity type is set to node list.
3. Click node list and select by path.
The entity selector changes to node path.
4. Select the end nodes located on back face edge that borders the bottom face, as indicated in the
following image.
All the nodes between the two selected nodes are automatically selected.
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5. Click node path and select show node order.
The nodes are highlighted and numbered to show the order in which they have been selected.
6. Switch the lower entity type to line list.
7. Select the line defining the opposite edge of the bottom face.
8. Switch the creation method from mesh, keep surf to mesh, w/o surf.
9. Select the auto reverse check box.
When elements are generated, the edges used to create them can be ordered in different directions. The
order of the edges is determined by the order in which the nodes are selected or the direction of the
selected line(s). If the direction is different for each selection, then a mesh that crosses itself, similar to a
bow tie, will be created. To prevent this, the auto reverse option ensures elements are generated with a
similar order on each side of the mesh.
10. Click create.
The meshing module appears.
11. Click mesh to preview the mesh.
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12. Click return twice to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.

Mesh of top, back, and bottom faces of bracket
Step 7: Mesh the rib using the skin panel.
1. To go to the skin panel, do one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D Elements, and then click Skin
On the main menu, select the 2D page and enter the skin panel
2. With the line list selector active, select any two of the three lines defining the rib.
3. Switch the creation method from mesh, keep surf to mesh, dele surf.
4. Leave the toggle set to auto reverse.
5. Click create.
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The meshing module appears.
6. Click mesh to preview the mesh.
7. Click return to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.

Mesh of rib
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2-D Mesh in Curved - HM-3120
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create a mesh based only on element size
Mesh a set of surfaces using the maximum deviation parameter
Reduce the maximum angle perimeter
Increase the maximum element size parameter
Chordal deviation is a meshing algorithm that allows HyperMesh to automatically vary node densities and
biasing along curved surface edges to gain a more accurate representation of the surface being meshed.
Exercise: Controlling the 2-D Mesh Concentration in Curved Areas
This exercise uses the model file, chordal_dev.hm.
Step 1: Open the model file, chordal_dev.hm.

In this section, create a mesh using only element size, not the chordal deviation meshing parameters.
Step 2: Set the mesh parameters and create the mesh.
1. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then select 2D AutoMesh
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On the main menu, select the 2D page, then select automesh
2. Set the mesh mode to automatic (it may be currently set to interactive).
3. In min elem size =field, type 15.000.
4. Set mesh type: to quads.
5. Toggle to elems to surf comp.
6. Select surfs >>by collector >>use size from the extended entity selection menu.
7. Click select.
8. Click mesh to create the mesh.
9. Click return.
The Maximum Deviation Parameter
In this section, mesh a set of surfaces using the maximum deviation parameter to control the element
densities and biasing.
Step 3: Set the chordal deviation parameters.
1. Access the automesh panel.
2. Access the edge deviation sub-panel.
3. Click min elem size =and type 1.000.
Cycle through the parameter settings by pressing the TAB key after typing in a value.
4. Set max elem size =to 15.000.
5. Set max deviation =to 0.500.
6. Set max angle =to 90.000 for the maximum angle parameter to be neglected.
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7. Set the mesh type: to quads.
Step 4: Create the mesh.
1. Select surfs >>by collector >>deviation ctrl from the extended entity selection menu.
2. Click select.
3. Click mesh to create the mesh.
View of the completed mesh for this exercise.
The Maximum Angle Parameter
In this section, use the same chordal deviation settings from the previous section, but reduce the maximum
angle parameter to compare the effects.
Step 5: Set the chordal deviation parameters and create the mesh.
1. Set max angle =to 20.000.
2. Select surfs >>by collector >>angle ctrl.
3. Click select.
4. Click mesh to create the mesh on the surfaces.
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View of the completed mesh for this exercise.
The Maximum Element Size Parameter
In this section, use the same chordal deviation parameters from the previous section except for the maximum
element size parameter. The maximum element size parameter is increased to allow the algorithm to create
larger and fewer elements along planer and less curved surface edges.
Step 6: Set the chordal deviation parameters and create the mesh.
1. Set max elem size =to 30.000.
2. Select surfs >>by collector >>max size ctrl.
3. Click select.
4. Click mesh to create the mesh.
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View of the completed mesh for this exercise.
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QI Mesh Creation - HM-3130
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create and optimize a 2-D mesh based on user-defined quality criteria.
HyperMesh has a new set of features designed to help you achieve good element quality more efficiently.
These features use settings from the qualityindex panel to generate or modify a mesh. This allows
HyperMesh to give results that account for your preferences for which element quality checks are more or
less important than others. The new quality index (Q.I.) optimization features are found in the automesh,
smooth, and qualityindex panels. These functionalities can be used separately or in unison.
Exercise 1: Creating and Optimizing a 2-D Mesh Based on User-Defined Quality
Criteria
This exercise uses the model file, planar.hm.

Step 1: Open the model file, planar.hm.
Step 2: Working with node and element quality optimization.
Within the qualityindex panel, there are functions that allow the user to select individual nodes or elements,
and then alter the position or shape of the node/element to optimize the element quality for the surrounding
elements. The element qualities are optimized according to the settings in the qualityindex panel. These
features are very useful for improving element qualities in local areas of the mesh.
1. Access the qualityindex panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, then Quality Index
On the main menu, select the 2D page, then select qualityindex
On the right-hand side of the panel, note the value for comp. Q.I.=. Currently, it should read 71.09.
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Keep this number in mind so that you can judge how much progress you make in improving the element
quality.
2. Experiment with the node optimize function.
The button labeled node optimize should already be highlighted. Selecting a node while this button
is highlighted optimizes the location of the node to improve the quality of the surrounding elements.
Try selecting some of the nodes on the mesh. In particular, select nodes of elements that are
highlighted red, since these have the worst quality. You should see each node move as it is
selected, improving the surrounding mesh quality.
Notice what happens to the value of the comp. Q.I. It should improve as you select more nodes.
3. Experiment with the element optimize function.
Click the button labeled element optimize. Selecting an element while this button is highlighted
optimizes the location of the elements nodes to improve the quality of the element. It also
considers the quality of the surrounding elements.
Try selecting some of the elements on the mesh. In particular, select elements that are highlighted
red, since these have the worst quality. You should usually see the shape of the element change as
it is selected, improving the surrounding mesh quality.
Notice what happens to the value of the comp. Q.I. It should improve as you select more elements.
4. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 3: Resetting the part by remeshing.
At this point, you need to regenerate the original mesh so you can try fixing the element quality using a
different method. The new method is to use the smooth panel. Regenerating the original mesh allows you
to compare the smooth functionality to the node and element optimization used in the previous section.
1. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then 2D AutoMesh
On the main menu, select the 2D page, then automesh
2. Go to the size and bias sub-panel.
3. Select the surface in the graphics area.
4. Make sure the panel has the following settings:
The check-box for previous settings is activated.
The meshing mode is set to automatic.
5. Click the mesh button.
The mesh should be regenerated.
6. Click return to exit from the automesh panel.
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Step 4: Using QI optimization smoothing.
The smooth panel also has quality index optimization features. Using this allows you to adjust the element
quality according to the settings in the qualityindex panel for an entire group of selected elements.
1. Access the smooth panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Cleanup Elements, then Smooth
On the main menu, select 2D page, then select smooth
2. Go to the plates sub-panel.
3. Select elems >>displayed.
4. Switch the algorithm to QI optimization. (By default, the button should be set to autodecide.)
5. There are several optional controls you should understand, but are not needed for this tutorial:
Controls Function
target quality index
The value you would like the quality index to be after the smoothing
operation. This value is not guaranteed from smoothing. The smooth
operation will attempt to hit this target.
time limit
The check box for can be activated or not. If working with a large models,
activate this box to ensure the smoothing routine does not take more time
than you want to allow.
feature angle
The smooth panel evaluates the angle between the normals of two adjacent
elements. If this angle is equal to or greater than the value specified in this
field, it will not allow the nodes shared by the elements to move.
use current criteria
Allows you to select and use a criteria file for your Q.I. settings. If a criteria
file is specified, leave this option blank.
recursive optimization
procedure
The other toggle option is single optimization step. Using the recursive
optimization procedure allows the automesher to take more than one
pass in generating the best quality mesh it can. However, this can take
longer than single optimization step, so you might want to use single
optimization step for larger models.
6. Click smooth.
Before HyperMesh has run the routine, you should see a message asking to recompute using a new QI
mesh size value.
7. Click continue.
Note that the status bar displays a message that the approximate quality index=0.10. Compare this
value to 71.09, which is the quality index value you had after creating the original mesh. In this case you
should see that it is significantly lower, which indicates that the element quality is much better.
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8. Click return.
Step 5: Using the QI settings in the automesh panel.
The automesh panel is capable of using quality index settings to automatically decide what pattern of mesh
it should generate.
1. Access the automesh panel.
2. Go to the QI Optimize sub-panel.
3. Select the surface in the graphics area.
4. Make sure the panel has the following settings:
The elem size=field has a value of 18.
The mesh type: is set to quads.
Like the smooth panel, the QI optimized meshing mode of the automesh panel has some controls of
which you should be aware. They are, however, not needed in this tutorial.
Controls Function
use current criteria in QI
panel
Allows you to select and use a criteria file for your Q.I. settings. If a
criteria file is specified, leave this option blank.
Smooth across common
edges
Determines whether nodes generated on a surface edge can be
moved off the surface edge when the algorithm smoothes the mesh
feature angle
The smooth panel evaluates the angle between the normals of two
adjacent elements. If this angle is equal to or greater than the value
specified in this field, it will not allow the nodes shared by the
elements to move.
Break connectivity
Allows Mesher to mesh without affecting surrounding mesh.
5. Click mesh.
The mesh should be regenerated.
6. Click return.
7. Use the qualityindex panel to check the quality index of the mesh to compare it to the previous mesh:
1. Go to the qualityindex panel.
2. Look at the value for the comp. Q.I.=field. It should be 0.10, which is much lower that the 71.09
value of the mesh you originally generated.
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Batch Meshing - HM-3140
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Define a configuration for the batch mesh
Edit the criteria and parameter files
Setup a simple user procedure for a post-batch mesh run
Batch Mesher is a tool that can perform geometry cleanup and automeshing (in batch mode) for given CAD
files. Batch Mesher performs a variety of geometry cleanup operations to improve the quality of the mesh
created for the selected element size and type. Cleanup operations include: equivalencing of "red" free
edges, fixing small surfaces (relative to the element size), and detecting features.
Batch Mesher also performs specified surface editing/defeaturing operations such as: removal of pinholes
(less than specified size), removal of edge fillets, and addition of a layer of washer elements around holes.
All user-defined criteria determine the quality index (QI) of a model. The QI value is used to assess the
potential of each geometry cleanup and meshing tool, and apply them accordingly. QI optimized meshing
and node placement optimization are performed to obtain the best quality meshing. Final results are stored
in a HyperMesh database file.
Tools
To start Batch Mesher on Windows:
On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Altair HyperWorks 10.0, and click Batch Mesher.
Or
Type hw_batchmesh with the full path (~altairhome\hm\batchmesh\hw_batchmesh).
To start Batch Mesher on UNIX:
Type the hw_batchmesh command to invoke the user interface or hw_batchmesh -nogui to
perform the batch mesh without a user interface.
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Exercise
Step 1: Open Batch Mesher.
1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Altair HyperWorks 10.0, and click Batch Mesher.
2. In the Input Model Directory field, click folder ( ) to browse to the appropriate directory.
(In this exercise, you will use files located in the <installation_directory>\tutorials\hm
directory.)
3. In the Output Directory, click folder ( ) to browse to the appropriate directory if different from the input
model directory. If desired, you may request the .hm files be returned to the input model directory.
4. Click select files, .
5. For Type of Geometry, select the appropriate CAD data type. For this exercise, you will use geometry
already loaded into HyperMesh, so pick HyperMesh.
A filter will help select applicable models for batch meshing to HyperMesh.
6. Locate and select the following model files, (use the CTRL key to select multiple files): part1.hm,
part2.hm and bm_housing.hm.
7. Click Select.
Step 2: Define a configuration for the batch mesh run.
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1. Click the Configurations tab. (Note there are several common configurations already available)
2. Click Add Entry, .
3. In the Mesh Type field, type a name for the mesh type.
4. Select the Criteria File field, and click Find Criteria Param File, .
5. Select the file bm_housing.criteria. (If necessary, browse to and locate the file in the
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm directory.)
6. Select the Parameter File field, and click Find Criteria Param File, .
7. Select the file bm_housing.param. (If necessary, browse to and locate the file in the
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm directory.)
A new mesh type is now available for selection on the Run Setup tab.
Step 3: On the User Procedures tab, set up a simple script to perform a tetramesh
on the housing.
1. Click Add Entry,
2. Select the TCL File field, and click Find TCL File, .
3. Select the file bm_housing.tcl. (If necessary, browse to and locate the file in the
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm directory.)
4. In the TCL Procedure field, select the procedure tet_all.
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5. In the Name field, give the procedure a name (for example, tetmesh).
A new post-batch meshing script is now available for selection on the Run Setup tab.
Step 4: On the Run Setup tab, begin defining a configuration for the batch mesh
run.
1. In the Mesh Type field, select a predefined mesh type for each of the parts as follows:
bm_housing.hm: use the mesh type you defined in Step 2.
part1.hm: use 8mm auto.
part2.hm: use 8mm auto.
2. From the Post-Mesh drop-down list for bm_housing.hm, select the procedure created in Step 3 (
tetmesh).
This will run the tetramesher on all available shell elements after batch meshing.
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3. Click Submit to initiate the run.
or
Click Submit At to submit the job at a specified time.
The application automatically switches to the Run Status tab. As the parts run, the status changes
from Working to Pending to Done.
4. Once the part is at the Working state, select the part and select Details.
A detailed summary appears with the status of the model through its Batch Mesher steps, the overall
failed elements, and quality index.
5. Once the part is at the Done state, click Load Mesh to load the mesh into HyperMesh for model
interrogation.
6. Once all parts have been meshed, select Run Details to obtain an overall run status.
Any file can be paused or canceled. If the file is paused, it can be resumed immediately or at a specific
time.
Once the Batch Mesher session has been setup with file directories and mesh types, it can be saved as
a config file that can be loaded at a future time.
It is also possible to load an entire set of models that has already been batch meshed in order to take
advantage of the Load Mesh option in the Run Status tab.
If you choose to make modifications to your criteria or parameter files, the run can be submitted again.
The new files will be placed in a separate sub-directory.
Step 5 (Optional): Edit the criteria and parameter files.
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1. Go to the Configurations tab.
2. Click an entity in the Mesh Type column.
3. Click Edit File.
The Criteria and Parameter Editor window appears.
On the Criteria tab, you can set the target element size, element criteria, and the method that is used to
calculate the values. An advanced criteria option can be enabled to give more control over the
intermediate QI values, but is usually not necessary in order to obtain a good quality mesh.
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A timestep calculator is also available for explicit solver models. If this option is selected, the overall
minimum element size will be set by this option and will gray out at the top of the element checks.
The Parameters tab sets all of the meshing control over various geometric features.
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Meshing a Model Using Shrink Wrap - HM-3150
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Mesh a component using the loose shell shrink wrap.
Mesh a component using the tight shell shrink wrap.
Mesh a component using the tight solid shrink wrap.
The Shrink Wrap tool can be used to generate an enclosed volume or solid mesh, and is typically used to
approximate and simplify an existing model.
Exercise: Meshing a Model Using Shrink Wrap
You can shrink wrap elements, components, surfaces, or solids.
The shrink wrap allows for wrapping of multiple components if they are selected.
The selection provides the option to wrap all elements, components, surfaces or solids, or only a
certain portion of the model if desired. The input to the shrink wrap (that is, the model parts that you
wish to wrap) can consist of 2-D or 3-D elements along with surfaces or solids.
The shrink wrap is able to stitch over very bad geometry to generate an enclosed volume mesh for tetra-
meshing. The shrink wrap tool can work from elements (whether 2-D or 3-D) or geometry. Thus, in the case
of an "unclean" geometry model with many released (free) edges, you can either generate any arbitrary mesh
on the unclean geometry using the automesh functionality beforehand and then create shrink wrap or you
can simply select the surface or solid without meshing the geometry first; either of these steps will yield
good output mesh. (The key in such cases is to ensure that the element size used for the shrink wrap is
large enough to stitch over the unclean surface edge splits so that an enclosed volume can be created.)
The element size affects the ability of the shrink wrap to follow the geometry of the model. The larger the
element size, the more simplified the model will appear. With a smaller element size the shrink wrap will
more closely follow the model. The jacobian value for the solid mesh follows the same type of pattern. As
the jacobian value gets smaller the shrink wrap more closely follows the profile of the model. Note that the
smaller the jacobian value, the longer it takes to generate the mesh.
Shrink wrap mesh can be generated as a surface mesh, or as a full-volume hex mesh, by use of the shrink
wrap panel. The distinction between surface or volume mesh is an option labeled generate solid mesh.
This tutorial uses the model called shrinkwrap.hm in the
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm folder.
Step 1: Open the model shrinkwrap.hm.
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Step 2: Create a loose shell shrink wrap mesh in the loose_gap component.
1. Click Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges if the model is not shaded already.
2. Review the surface geometry on the screen. Notice the gap in the geometry.

3. Click Mesh, then Create, then Shrink Wrap Mesh.
4. Make sure the loose sub-panel is active.
5. Select the component in the graphics area.
6. For element size, enter 4.
7. Click mesh to create the shrink wrap.
8. Expand the Component folder in the Model browser.
9. Hide the surfaces component in the Model browser.
10. Click return to exit the panel.

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Step 3: Review the solid geometry.
1. Show the block component in the Model browser.
2. Review the model to see the features.
3. Hide the block component in the Model browser.
Step 4: Create a loose shell shrink wrap mesh in the loose component.
1. Hide the loose_gap component in the Model browser.
2. Right-click the loose component and click Make Current.
3. From the Mesh menu, click Create, then Shrink Wrap Mesh.
4. Activate the loose sub-panel if not already done.
5. Click comps and select block from the component list.
6. For the element size, enter 10.
7. Click mesh to create the mesh.

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8. Click reject to reject the mesh.
9. Change the element size to 5.
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10. Click reject to reject the mesh.
11. Change the element size to 3.
12. Click mesh to create the mesh.

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The shrink wrap mesh with the geometry hidden
13. Click reject to reject the mesh.
Step 5: Create a tight shell shrink wrap in the tight_shell component.
1. Hide the loose component using the Model browser.
2. Right-click tight_shell and click Make Current.
3. Activate the tight sub-panel in the Shrink Wrap panel.
4. Click comps and select the block component.
5. Make sure the element size is set to 3.
6. Click mesh to create the mesh.
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Step 6: Create a tight solid shrink wrap in the tight_solid component
1. Hide the tight_shell component in the Model browser.
2. Right-click the tight_solid component in the Model browser and click Make Current.
3. Activate the generate solid mesh option.
4. Click comps and select the block component.
5. Change the minimum jacobian to 1.
6. Click mesh to create the mesh.
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7. Click reject to reject the mesh.
8. Change the minimum jacobian to 0.7.
9. Click mesh to create the shrinkwrap.
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10. Click to open the Mask panel.
11. If not already set, set the panel collector to elems.
12. Use SHIFT + left mouse button to select a group of elements.
13. Click mask to mask the elements.
14. Click return to exit the panel.
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Step 7 (Optional): Change the minimum jacobian to 0.3 for optimized mesh.
1. Delete the elements on the displayed in the graphics area.
2. Click comps and select the block component form the list.
3. For the minimum jacobian, enter 0.3.
4. Click mesh to generate the mesh.
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3-D Elements
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Tetrameshing - HM-3200
In this tutorial, you will learn about:
Volume tetra mesher
Standard tetra mesher
Checking tetra element quality
Remeshing tetra elements
HyperMesh provides two methods of generating a tetrahedral element mesh. The volume tetra mesher works
directly with surface or solid geometry to automatically generate a tetrahedral mesh without further
interaction from the user. Even with complex geometry, this method can often generate a high quality tetra
mesh quickly and easily.
The standard tetra mesher requires a surface mesh of tria or quad elements as input, then provides you with
a number of options to control the resulting tetrahedral mesh. This offers a great deal of control over the
tetrahedral mesh, and provides the means to generate a tetrahedral mesh for even the most complex models.
The tetramesh panel allows you to fill an enclosed volume with first or second order tetrahedral elements. A
region is considered enclosed if it is entirely bounded by a shell mesh (tria or quad elements) where each
element has material on one side and open space on the other.
Exercise
Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
The model for this exercise is housing.hm. Take a few moments to observe the model using the different
visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation, zooming, etc.).
Only the geometry in the component cover is currently displayed. The file contains two parts defined by a
volume of surfaces. The geometry has been cleaned such that surface connectivity is proper and surface
edges that would cause sliver elements are suppressed.
Step 2: Use the volume tetra mesher and equilateral triangles to create a tetra
mesh for the cover.
1. Access the tetramesh feature in one of the following ways:
From the Mesh menu, point to Create, and click Tetra Mesh
On the 3D page, click the tetramesh sub-panel
2. Go to the volume tetra sub-panel.
3. Set the entity selector to surfs and select one of the surfaces in the model.
The connected surfaces are selected automatically.
4. Verify that 2D: is set to trias and 3D: is set to tetras.
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These control the type of element that will be created for the surface mesh and solid mesh of the part.
5. Verify that the use curvature and use proximity options are not active .
6. For element size=specify 10.
7. Click mesh to create the tetra mesh.
8. From the toolbar, click shaded elements ( ).
9. Take a moment to inspect the mesh pattern that the volume tetra mesher created.

Tetra mesh from the volume tetra sub-panel and equilateral triangles (2D: trias)
10. Click reject to reject the mesh.
The mesh is deleted.
Step 3: Use the volume tetra mesher and right triangles to create a tetra mesh for
the cover.
You should still be in the tetramesh / volume tetra sub-panel.
1. Select one of the surfaces in the model.
2. Switch 2D: to R-trias.
3. Click mesh to create the tetra mesh.
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4. Inspect the mesh pattern that the volume tetra mesher created.
5. Compare it to the first mesh you created and note the differences. The 2D: R-trias setting tends to create
tetra elements with triangular faces that are right triangles (90-45-45 angles) while the 2D: trias setting
tends to create equilateral triangles (60-60-60 angles).

Tetra mesh from the volume tetra sub-panel and right triangles (2D: R-trias)
6. Click reject to reject the mesh.
Step 4: Use the volume tetra mesher to create a tetra mesh with more elements
along curved surfaces.
You should still be in the volume tetra sub-panel.
1. Select one of the surfaces in the model.
2. Activate the option, use curvature.
Additional parameters appear. The option, use curvature, causes more elements to be created along
areas of high surface curvature. Thus, curved areas such as fillets will have more and smaller elements,
which capture those features with higher resolution.
3. Verify that elem feature ang = is set to 30.
4. For min element size =specify 1.0.
5. Click mesh to create the tetra mesh.
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6. Shade the tetrahedral elements.
7. Inspect the mesh pattern that the volume tetra mesher created.
8. Compare it to the previous meshes you created and note the differences. More elements are created
around the fillets.

Tetra mesh from the volume tetra sub-panel and the option use curvature active
9. Click reject to reject the mesh.
Step 5: Use the volume tetra mesher to create a tetra mesh with more elements
around small features.
You should still be in the volume tetra sub-panel.
1. Select one of the surfaces in the model.
2. Activate the use proximity option.
The use proximity option causes the mesh to be refined in areas where surfaces are smaller. The
result is a nice transition from small elements on small surfaces to larger elements on larger, adjacent
surfaces.
3. Click mesh to create the tetra mesh.
4. Shade the elements.
5. Inspect the mesh pattern that the volume tetra mesher created. Compare it to the previous meshes you
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created and note the differences. More elements were created around surfaces with small angles as
indicated in the following image.

Tetra mesh from the volume tetra sub-panel with options use curvature and use proximity
6. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 6: Prepare the display to tetra mesh the hub component using the standard
tetra mesher.
1. Use the Model browser to turn off the display for all components for geometry.
2. Turn on the display of the geometry for the hub component.
3. Use the Model browser to turn off the display for all components for elements.
4. Turn on the display for the hub and tetras components for elements.
There are tria shell elements in the hub component. Currently, there are no elements in the tetras
component.
5. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 7 (Optional): Review the connectivity and quality of the tria mesh to validate
its integrity for the standard tetra mesher.
Use the edges and check elems panels to make sure that there are no free edges or very small angles in
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the tria shell mesh.
1. Access the edges panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Components, then Edges
From the main menu, select the Tool page and the edges panel.
2. With the comps selector active, pick any tria element on the hub component.
3. Click find edges.
A message in the status bar should state, "No edges found. Selected elements may enclose a volume."
This is desired as the tetra mesher requires a closed volume of shell elements.
4. Click return to exit to the main menu.
5. Access the check elements panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, then Check Elements
From the main menu, select the Tool page and the check elems panel.
6. Verify that you are in the 2-d sub-panel.
7. Identify elements having an aspect ratio greater than 5.
Aspect ratio is the ratio of the longest edge of an element to its shortest edge. This check helps you to
identify sliver elements.
All of the hubs shell elements pass the check; all of the elements have an aspect ratio less than 5.
8. Identify tria elements having an angle less than 20. (trias: min angle)
This check also helps you to identify sliver elements.
All the hubs shell elements pass the check; all the elements have angles greater than 20.
The surface mesh is suitable for creating a tetra mesh.
9. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 8: Create a tetra mesh for the hub using the standard tetra mesher.
1. Use the Model browser to set the current component to tetras.
2. On the 3D page, go to the tetramesh panel.
3. Access the tetra mesh sub-panel.
4. With the comps selector active under select trias/quads to tetramesh, select one of the hub shell
elements from the graphics area.
By default, HyperMesh will swap the diagonal for any pair of surface triads that will result in a better tetra
mesh quality. If you would rather keep the diagonal, see sub-step 5.
5. (Optional) To keep the diagonal as is, switch no fixed trias/quads to fixed trias/quads and select
comps.
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6. Click mesh to generate the tetrahedral elements.

Cut-away view of tetrahedral elements
Step 9: Check the quality of the hubs tetra elements.
1. Use the Model browser to display only the elements in the tetras component.
2. Access the check elems panel.
3. Go to the 3-d sub-panel.
4. Identify the smallest element length among the displayed elements.
If the minimum length is acceptable for a target element size of 5.0, then no further action is necessary.
5. Identify the smallest angle (tria faces: min angle) among the displayed elements.
If the minimum tria face angle is no less than 10, then the mesh quality should be acceptable.
6. Identify elements having a tet collapse smaller than 0.3.
The tet collapse criteria is a normalized volume check for tetrahedral elements. A value of 1 indicates a
perfectly formed element with maximum possible volume. A value of 0 indicates a completely collapsed
element with no volume.
The status bar indicates that three elements have a tetra collapse smaller than 0.3.
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Step 10: Isolate the element with the tetra collapse smaller than 0.3 and find the
elements surrounding it.
You should still be in the check elements panel.
1. With 0.3 still specified for tet collapse, click tet collapse again.
2. Click save failed.
The element that failed the tetra collapse check is saved in the user mark, and can be retrieved in any
panel using the extended selection menu.
3. Click return to exit to the main menu.
4. Access the mask panel in one of the following ways:
From the display toolbar, select Mask ( ).
Press F5 on your keyboard.
5. Set the entity selector to elems and select elems >>retrieve.
The element that was saved in the check elems panel is retrieved.
6. Select elems >>reverse.
7. Click mask to mask the elements.
Only the one tetra element that failed the tetra collapse check should be displayed.
8. Click return to exit to the main menu.
9. On the display toolbar, click unmask adjacent ( ).
The layer of elements that is attached to the one displayed element is identified and displayed.
10. Click unmask adjacent ( ) two more times.
The layer of elements that is attached to the displayed elements is identified and displayed. The
functionality of unmask adjacent can be duplicated using the find panel, find attached sub-panel on
the Tool page.
Step 11: Remesh the hubs displayed tetra elements to improve their tetra
collapse.
1. Access the tetramesh panel.
2. Go to the tetra remesh sub-panel.
3. Select elems >>displayed.
4. Click remesh to regenerate this area of the mesh.
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Note that the re-meshing operation works on only one group of elements (one volume) at a time.
5. Click return to exit to the main menu.
6. Access the check elems panel.
7. Click tet collapse to find out if the tetra collapse has improved for the displayed elements.
The message in the status bar should indicate that the minimum tetra collapse is larger than the value
reported before the tetra elements were remeshed.
8. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 12 (Optional): Save your work.
Now that the tetra mesh is complete, it is a good time to save the model.
Summary
A tetra mesh has been created for both parts in the file. Different procedures for tetra meshing were used.
Either method can be used to mesh parts, depending on the needs of the analysis. Also, the tetra remesh
function was used to show how to quickly fix the quality of tetra elements.

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Creating a Hex-Penta Mesh using Surfaces - HM-3210
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create solids using different functions
Check and fix improper model connectivity
For some analyses, it is desirable to use a mesh of hexahedral and pentahedral elements. This is especially
true for parts, which have a large thickness compared to the element size being used, or for parts that have
many features and/or changes in thickness. Castings or forgings are good examples.
Exercise: Creating a Hex-Penta Mesh using Surfaces
This exercise uses the model file, arm_bracket.hm. This exercise introduces you to a number of
HyperMesh functions that are used to create hexa-penta meshes. The model is organized into four IGES
layers, consisting of 1) the base, 2) the first section of the arm, with a constant cross section and curvature,
3) the second section of the arm, with a tapered cross section, and 4) the boss.
Step 1: Retrieve and review model file.
Open the arm_bracket.hm file.
Step 2: Mesh the top surface of the base, including the L-shaped surface.
1. Set the active component collector to base in one of the following ways:
In the status bar click the middle box which is the comp: selection and set the current component in
the popup.
In the Model browser right-click base and select Make Current
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2. In the Model browser, hide all components except the base component.
3. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways
From the Mesh menu click Create, then 2D Automesh
From the 2D page enter the automesh panel.
4. Select the surfaces on the top of the base, including the L-shaped surface at the intersection of the base
and the arm.
For this part of the exercise it might be easier to view the geometry in a shaded mode by clicking
Shaded Geometry and Surface Edges ( ).
5. Select the size and bias sub-panel.
6. Set the meshing mode to automatic.
7. For element size =specify 10.
8. For element type specify quads.
9. Click mesh to mesh the surfaces.
Resulting quad mesh on base surfaces
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
You can now change back to an unshaded view for the geometry.
Step 3: Create layers of hex elements for the base.
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1. Go to the elem offset panel.
2. Select the solid layers sub-panel.
3. With the elems selector active, select the elements on the base.
4. For number of layers =specify 5.
5. For total thickness =specify 25.
6. Click offset+.
The hexa mesh is created.
Hex mesh on base
Step 4: Prepare the display for meshing the arms curved segment.
1. Show the arm_curve component in the Model browser.
2. Press the F5 key to go to the mask panel.
3. Select elements >>by config, and select the hex8 configuration.
4. Click select entities.
All of the elements with a configuration of hex8 in the model are selected.
5. Select elements >>by config, and select the penta6 configuration.
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6. Click select entities.
All of the elements with a configuration of penta6 in the model are selected.
7. Click mask to mask the elements.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 5: Create a node at the center of the arm radius.
The first segment of the arm can be meshed using the spin panel. This requires a node to be selected as
the center point of rotation. The node you create in this step will be used as that center point. To create the
center node, you will use the distance / 3 nodes sub-panel.
1. Press the F4 key to enter the distance panel.
2. Go to the three nodes sub-panel.
3. With the N1 selector active, create the temporary nodes on one of the curved lines of the arm as
described following.
4. Press and hold the left mouse button. Move the cursor over a curved line. Once over the line, the cursor
will change to a square with a dot in the center, , and the line will be hightlighed. Release your
mouse button.
5. Click three locations along the selected line. The active selector advances from N1 to N2 to N3, and the
locations will be selected as though there was a node there.
6. Click circle center to create the node at the center.
Three nodes to create a center node
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
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Step 6: Create hexa elements in the curved portion of the arm using spin.
1. Set arm_curve as the current component using the Model browser.
2. Go to the spin panel.
3. Select the spin elems sub-panel.
4. Using elems >>by window, select the plate elements within the L-shaped cross section of the arm.
5. Click select entities.
Elements to select for spin function
6. For angle =specify 90 degrees.
7. For the direction, select the x-axis (Y-Z plane).
8. For the base node (B), click the center node created above.
9. For on spin =specify 24.
24 layers of hex elements will be created when the plate elements are spun.
10. Click spin -.
11. Click return to return to the main menu.
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spin panel results
Step 7: Create faces on the hex elements.
1. Go to the faces panel.
2. With the entity selector set to comps, select the arm_curve component.
3. Click find faces.
2-D shell elements are created on the free faces of every 3-D solid element in the component. They are
placed in a new component named ^faces.
The ^faces component is created with its visualization set to wireframe, so you will not be able to see
the new elements right away if the arm_curve component is displayed and in shaded mode.
4. On the toolbar click Shaded Elements & Mesh Lines to shade the elements.
You will now see the elements in the ^faces component.
Step 8: Prepare the display for meshing the second arm segment.
1. Turn on the display for the arm_straight and ^faces components.
Step 9: Mesh the L-shaped set of surfaces between the arm_straight and boss
components.
1. Set the current component collector to arm_straight.
2. Go to the automesh panel.
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3. Select the three surfaces lying on the intersection between the arm_straight and boss components.
These surfaces are in the arm_straight component.
4. Set the meshing mode to interactive.
5. Click mesh to go to the meshing module.
6. From the density sub-panel, adjust the densities to obtain a mesh that matches the following image.
This mesh pattern matches the mesh pattern at the intersection of the two arm segments. This is
necessary for the next step.
Densities to correspond to the mesh on the end face
7. Click mesh to update the mesh density.
8. Click return to create the elements and go back to the automesh panel.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 10: Use linear solid to build the mesh between the two sets of shell elements.
1. Access the linear solid panel in one of the following ways:
From the Mesh menu, point to Create, choose 3D Elements, and click Linear 3D
From the 3D page, go to linear solid
2. With the from: elems selector active, select the ^faces elements lying on the intersection between the
first and second arm segments.
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You can select one of the elements and then select elems >>by face to select the rest of the
necessary elements.
3. Click the to: elems selector to make it active. Then select the shell elements between the arm and
boss, which you created using the automesh panel in the last step.
4. Click the from: alignment: N1 selector to make it active. Then select three nodes on one of the "from
elements" you selected in sub-step 10.2.
5. Click the to: alignment: N1 selector to make it active. Then select three nodes on the "to element"
corresponding to the "from element" with the three "from nodes" you selected in sub-step 10.4. Refer to
the following image.
Example selection for alignment nodes
6. For density =specify 12.
7. Click solids to create the mesh.
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Linear solid mesh
8. Click return to the main menu.
Step 11: Prepare the display for meshing the boss.
1. Show the boss component using the Model browser.
Step 12: Create a shell mesh on the bottom of the boss.
1. Set the current component collector to boss.
2. Go to the automesh panel.
3. Select the five surfaces on the bottom face of the boss.
4. Click mesh to go to the meshing module.
5. Adjust the densities to match the following image:
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Mesh densities on the bottom of the boss
6. Click mesh to update the mesh density.
7. Click return twice to return to the main menu.
Step 13: Project a node to the bottom face of the boss.
1. Go to the project: panel.
2. Select the to line sub-panel.
3. Select the node on the rightmost top vertex, as per the following image.
4. Click nodes >>duplicate.
5. For the to line select the line on the boss top face. Refer to the following image.
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Projecting a node to a line
6. Select along vector: x- axis.
7. Click project to project the node to the line.
8. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 14: Generate hexas for the boss using the solid map panel.
1. Access the solid map panel in one of the following ways:
From the Mesh menu, point to Create, and click Solid Map Mesh
From the 3D page, go to solid map
2. Go to the general sub-panel.
3. Select source geom: (none).
4. Select along geom: mixed.
5. Under along geom: mixed, click lines to make it the active selector.
6. Select the line indicated in the following image.
7. Click node path to make it the active selector.
8. Select nodes to define the exact location of the solid element layers, as indicated in the following image.
A total of 13 nodes should be selected, starting at the boss mesh, and then using all of the nodes along
the edge of the arm_straight component, ending with the node projected to the top of the boss.
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Along nodes for solid map
9. For elems to drag:, select elems >>by collector and select the boss component.
10. Select destination geom: surf and select the top surface of the boss.
11. Click mesh.
The elements are created and the mesh on this part is completed.
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Completed mesh of the arm bracket
12. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 15 (optional): Check the connectivity of the model.
1. Go to the faces panel.
2. Click comps to go to a list of components.
3. Select every component from the list, or select comps >>all.
4. Select the components to complete the selection and go back to the faces panel.
5. Click find faces.
6. Turn off the geometry display of all components via the Model browser.
7. Turn off the element display of all components except ^faces.
8. Click return to exit the the panel.
9. On the Post page go to the hidden line panel. (F1 on the keyboard.)
10. Go to the cutting sub-panel.
11. Activate the xz plane and trim plane options.
12. Click fill plot.
The faces are now displayed with a plane cutting the model in half. This is so that the interior of the
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model can be viewed.
13. Click near the cutting plane. Holding the left mouse button down, move the mouse back and forth.
The cutting plane moves through the model, allowing you to see if any face elements exist on the interior
of the model.
You should see that there are face elements interior to the model, between the boss and arm. You need
to perform some corrections on the connectivity.
Hidden line view of faces
14. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 16 (Optional): Correct the connectivity of the model.
1. Display elements for all components except for the ^faces component.
2. Display the elements of the solidmap component as transparent.
3. Go to the faces panel.
4. Select elems >>displayed.
5. Click preview equiv.
Coincident nodes on the intersection between the arm and the boss are highlighted.
6. Specify a slightly larger value for tolerance =, and click preview equiv to identify more coincident nodes
on the intersection.
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7. Repeat 16.6 until all 60 coincident nodes have been found.
8. Click equivalence.
The nodes are replaced to the location of the lowest node ID.
9. Switch all the components to the shaded visual mode.
Step 17 (Optional): Recheck the connectivity of the model.
Repeat Step 16 to make sure the model is now equivalenced. If you find errors, repeat Step 16.
Step 18 (Optional): Save your work.
The 3-D solid mesh has now been completed. Save the model if desired.
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Creating a Hexahedral Mesh using the Solid Map Function -
HM-3220
In this tutorial, you will learn:
What solid geometry is
What topology is
What 3-D topology looks like
Solids are geometric entities that define a three-dimensional volume. The use of solid geometry is helpful
when dividing a part into multiple volumes. For example, divide a part into simple, maple regions to hex mesh
the part.
Exercise: Hex-meshing Solid Geometry
This exercise uses the model file, solid_map.hm.
Step 1: Retrieve model file, solid_map.hm.
Step 2: Mesh the 1/8th sphere-shaped region.
1. On the toolbar, click Shaded Geometry and Surfaces ( ).
2. Enter the solid map panel n one of the following ways.
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From the Mesh menu, point to Create, and click Solid Map Mesh
From the 3D page, go to solid map
3. Go to the one volume sub-panel.
4. Under along parameters:, set elem size=to 1.
5. With the solid entity selector under volume to mesh active, select the small cube-shaped solid, as
shown in the following image.
6. Click mesh.
7. On the toolbar, click Shaded Elements and Meshlines ( ).
8. Select the solid indicated in the following image.
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9. Click mesh.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 3: Create a shell mesh with the automesh panel to control a mesh pattern.
1. Enter the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the Mesh menu, select Create, and click 2-D AutoMesh
Press F12
2. Select the surface indicated in the following image.
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3. Verify that the meshing method is set to size and bias and interactive.
4. Verify that element size =is set to 1.000.
5. Verify that mesh type: is set to mixed.
6. Click mesh.
7. In the elem density =field, enter 4.
8. Click set all to.
All the densities are set to 4.
9. Click mesh.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 4: Mesh the solid volume on which the surface mesh was created in Step 3.
1. Enter the solid map panel by clicking Mesh, then Create, then Solid Map Mesh.
2. Go to the one volume sub-panel.
3. Select the volume shown in the following image.
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4. Under along parameters:, toggle elem size=to density=and enter 10.
5. Click mesh.
6. Rotate the part and note how the mesh pattern created with the automesh panel has been used for the
solid elements.
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Step 5: Mesh the remaining solid volumes.
You should still be in the solid map panel.
1. Select one of the remaining unmeshed solid volumes.
Make sure to select a solid adjacent to one that has already been meshed so that connectivity is
maintained.
2. Switch source type: to mixed.
3. Under along parameters:, toggle density=to elem size=and enter 1.5.
4. Click mesh.
5. Repeat until all solid volumes are meshed.
6. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 6 (Optional): Save your work.
With this section of the exercise completed, you can save the model if desired.
Automated Solid Map Meshing
The capability to automate the solid map meshing process is now available. Using the Mappable
visualization mode in conjunction with the multi-solids feature will inform you that the solid(s) are ready for
solid meshing. Using the multi-solids feature will allow for all solids within the model to be meshed in one
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step provided that they are mappable.
In this section of the tutorial we will delete all the elements from the previous section. Use the Mappable
visualization mode and solid mesh the part using multi-solids.
Step 7: Delete the elements within the model.
1. Press F2 to access the delete panel.
2. Select all the elements.
3. Click delete entity.
4. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 8: Use the mappable visualization mode.
1. On the toolbar, click Shaded Geometry and Surfaces ( ).
2. From the geometry visualization pull-down, select Mappable ( ).
You will notice that each solid is color coded, the color of the solid represents its mappable state. The
goal is to ensure that each solid is either 1-directional or 3-directional mappable.
The color of the mappable state can be found (and adjusted if necessary) within the Preferences >Color
panel.
By mappable display control (solids)
ignored map Default visualization for solids that require partitioning to become
mappable.
not mappable Visualization for solids that have been edited, but still require further
partitioning to create mappable solids.
1 dir. map Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3-D meshing) in one
direction.
3 dir. map Visualization for solids that can be mapped (for 3-D meshing) in three
directions.
Once in the mappable visualization mode it is clear that there is one 3-directional mappable solid, the rest
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are 1-directional mappable.
Step 9: Use the multi-solid feature to mesh the part.
1. From the Menu Bar, click Mesh, then Create, and Solid Map Mesh to open the solid map panel.
2. Select all the all solids.
3. Under source shell type, select mixed and set elem size=to 1.
4. Click Mesh.
The solids will be sequentially solid meshed. Once complete inspect the model and note that all the mesh
within the solids is correctly equivalenced.
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Step 10 (Optional): Save your work.
With this exercise completed, you can save the model if desired.
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CFD Mesh - HM-3230
In this tutorial, you will learn to:
Generate meshes for CFD applications (for example Fluent, StarCD) using the CFD mesh sub-panel
Generate boundary layer type meshes with an arbitrary number of layers and thickness distribution
Specify / identify boundary regions for CFD simulations
Export a mesh with boundary regions for FLUENT
Import the model into FLUENT
Exercise
Step 1: Open the exercise file.
1. From the toolbar, click open .hm ( ).
2. Select the manifold_surf_mesh.hm file from the tutorial directory.
3. Click Open to load this .hm file containing the surface mesh.
Step 2: Load the CFD user profile.
1. From the top Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles.
2. Select the radio button CFD.
3. Click OK.
4. Inspect the surface elements that will be used to generate the volume mesh.
The boundary mesh can have any combination of tria/quad elements. You will generate boundary layers
on all the surface elements contained in collector, wall.
Step 3: Check that all the elements in collectors wall, inlet, and outlets define a
closed volume.
1. From the Tool page, click edges, then select collectors wall, inlet and outlets.
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2. Click find edges.
A message indicating that no edges were found will appear on the status bar.
3. Toggle the free edges to T-connections.
4. Click find edges.
The status bar will display: "No T-connected edges were found."
Step 4: Create the CFD Mesh.
1. From the Mesh menu, click Create, then tetramesh to open the Tetramesh panel.
2. Click the CFD mesh sub-panel.
3. Leave the default smooth BL option unchanged.
This option is strongly recommended for most cases because it produces boundary layers with more
uniform thickness and better element quality.
4. Select the options to specify the boundary layer and tetrahedral core:
number of layers = 5
first layer thickness =0.5
growth rate=1.1 (This non-dimensional factor controls the change in layer thickness from one
layer to the next).
simple transition: ratio=0.8 (This is a non-dimensional scaling factor that controls the relative
height of the pyramids generated on top of the last quad face of all hexahedral BL elements).
The last two options control the tetrahedral core mesh. Optimize mesh quality is the tetrahedral mesh
generation algorithm, and the growth rate specified is interpolate (this interpolates the tetrahedral element
size from the size on the surface mesh (boundary of the tetrahedral core volume)).
The default simple transition uses one pyramid element to transition from a BL hexahedrals quad face to
the tetrahedral core mesh. The ratio is the relative thickness of the transition layer as compared with the
average size of the elements. The larger this ratio the thicker is the transition layer. In general a value in
the range 0.3-0.8 works well.
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5. Select the type of tetrameshing algorithm.
There are four options available; the first three options are described in the tetramesh panel
documentation.
tetra mesh normally
optimize mesh speed
optimize mesh quality
boundary layer only
The last option boundary layer only, is available to generate the boundary layer alone and stop before
generating the tetrahedral core. This option modifies adjacent surface meshes to reflect changes
introduced by the boundary layer thickness, and creates a collector named ^CFD_trias_for_tetramesh,
that is used to generate the inner core tetrahedral mesh using the tetra mesh sub-panel.
Collectors CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_tetramesh_core are automatically created if they do not
exist. However, if these collectors exist they should be empty collectors. For most cases it is best to
select the optimize mesh quality option.
6. Select the tetrahedral core growth rate, interpolate.
This avoids the problem of generating tetrahedral elements that are too large at the center of the core
mesh.
7. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you need to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done in the float / fixed with boundary layer selector.
8. Click comps and select collector, wall.
9. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you want to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done with the float w/o boundary layer selector.
10. Click comps.
11. Select collectors: inlet and outlets.
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12. Verify that the switch below the float w/o boundary layer selector is set to remesh.
This means that the meshes in the zones defined by collectors inlet and outlets will be remeshed after
being deformed by the boundary layer growth from adjacent surface areas.
13. Click mesh to create the CFD mesh.
When this task is finished, two collectors are automatically created: CFD_boundary_layer and
CFD_Tetramesh_core.
.
Step 5: Mask some of the mesh to view the interior elements and boundary layers.
1. You can mask the mesh by using the shortcut key F5, and select elements to be masked.
Following is a snapshot. Observe the excellent mesh quality produced.
Step 6: Generate boundary regions to specify boundary conditions.
In this section, define mesh surface regions used to specify boundary conditions in any CFD code ( FLUENT,
StarCD, CFX, etc). For example, assume that you are going to export the mesh for FLUENT. You need to
create three collectors to place the boundaries: inflow, outflow, wall. You have selected two new names
that are not already in your HyperMesh database and at the same time are compatible with the prefixes
required by FLUENT to recognize boundary types according to their names.
You are going to reuse the surface mesh contained in collector wall because this mesh remained unchanged
by the CFD mesh process as this component was specified as fixed with boundary layer. However, the
surface areas associated with the original collectors inlet and outlets have been completely regenerated and
you need to create new components that will be named inflow and outflow, respectively.
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Step 7: Organize the volume elements into a collector named fluid.
1. Rename collector CFD_Tetramesh_core as fluid.
This collector will hold all the 3-D volume elements.
2. Access the Tool page, organize panel to move all the elements from collector CFD_boundary_layer to
collector fluid.
Step 8: Create face elements for the collector fluid.
Access the Tool page, faces panel to automatically generate collector ^faces containing all the external
faces of the elements in collector fluid. The same panel can be accessed from the Mesh menu by selecting
Check, then Components, then Faces.
Step 9: Create two new collectors named inflow and outflow.
Create two new components named inflow and outflow.
There is no need to specify a card image or material name.
Step 10: Organize the faces into the inflow and outflow collectors.
Now you are going to move some of the elements from collector ^faces to collectors inflow and outflow.
1. In the Model browser, isolate the ^faces component.
2. Access the Tool page, organize panel and click one element on the inlet/inflow plane (the element will
become highlighted).
3. Select elements by face.
All the elements from collector ^faces on the inlet/inflow plane will be selected.
4. Select destination collector inflow, and click move. Similarly, move the elements from ^faces
associated with the four outlets to collector outflow.
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5. Show the inflow and outflow components in the Model browser.
When done, you will have all the exterior surfaces colored according to the collectors where they have
been placed as shown in the following image.
Step 11: Delete the collectors ^faces and CFD_boundary_layer.
1. The remaining elements in collector ^faces are the same as in wall and you can discard them.
2. Delete both collector ^faces and collector CFD_boundary_layer, which is now empty.
Step 12: Export surface and volume mesh and import this mesh into FLUENT.
1. Display only the components containing elements that have to be exported for FLUENT, the components
are: fluid, inflow, outflow, and wall. All other components should not be visible.
2. Using the CFD profile Utility menu, CFD I/O, click Fluent CAS/MSH files: Write.
3. Click Yes when asked if you want to continue exporting a .cas file for FLUENT.
4. Specify the .cas filename prefix as manifold and click Save.
5. A pop-up dialog will ask if you want to reuse another .cas file to extract model and boundary conditions
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information. Click No.
Because you are not reusing model / boundary conditions information from an existing .cas file, the file
is actually very much like a .msh file.
6. A message box window will pop up indicating that file manifold.cas was saved.
7. Click OK.
Step 13: Create a FLUENT simulation case.
If you have access to FLUENT, you can import manifold.cas to create a new FLUENT simulation case as
follows
1. Start FLUENT 3d or 3ddp.
2. From the File menu, select Read, then Case....
3. Select manifold.cas.
4. Click OK.
After importing this file, you will observe that FLUENT has recognized the boundary zones outflow,
i nfl ow, and wall by name, and the 3-D volume zone fluid. Zone interior-* is automatically created by
FLUENT containing all the interior faces shared by two 3-D cells.
5. Select Define, then select Boundary Conditions.
6. Select zone inflow, and set the appropriate boundary condition such as mass-flow-inlet and velocity
inlet.
7. Change the boundary condition type for the remaining surface zones, outflow and wall.
HyperMesh allowed you to perform the most time consuming tasks of generating the volume mesh and
identifying the boundary zones. Now inside FLUENT the rest of the simulation tasks can be executed easily.
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Appendix: Boundary Layer Mesh with Distributed Thickness Ratio
The boundary layer type mesh generated in this tutorial was generated with uniform thickness. This is OK for
a model like this manifold as long as the total boundary layer thickness does not lead to collision or
interference that can occur when the sum of the BL thickness is close to or larger than the distance
separating boundary layer walls. When such collision or interference occurs you have the following options:
A. Decrease the global boundary layer thickness (throughout / for all the BL surfaces)
B. Use distributed boundary layer thickness ratios on nodes or collectors/components. This is a
capability in HyperMesh that allows you to specify a local value of boundary layer thickness by
specifying the ratio of the local value to the global value. For example, if the ratio specified on certain
nodes or all the nodes belonging to a collector is equal to 0.1, then the boundary layer thickness
generated around those nodes will be only 10% of the global boundary layer thickness.
C. The CFD User Profile has a tool (Utility, Generate Mesh: Generate BL Thickness) to generate
automatically distributed boundary layer thickness ratios at each node of the surface mesh so that
boundary layer collision is avoided when using the global or nominal boundary layer thickness. The
usage of this tool is explained in Tutorial HM-3240.
In this appendix you are going to use option B to manually change the BL thickness ratio.
Step A: Prepare data to generate a CFD mesh (boundary layer and core mesh)
using a distributed boundary layer thickness.
1. Create a new component named wall_thinner_bl, and move elements from wall to this new collector as
shown in the following image.
2. From the Tool page, select the edges panel, then select collectors wall, wall_thinner_bl, inlet and
outlets.
3. Click Find Edges. A message indicating that no edges were found will appear on the status bar.
4. From the Utility Menu, under Generate Mesh, click Volume to access the CFD mesh sub-panel.
5. Leave the default smooth BL option unchanged.
This option is strongly recommended for most cases because it produces boundary layers with more
uniform thickness and better element quality.
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6. Select the options to specify the boundary layer and tetrahedral core:
number of layers =5
first layer thickness =0.5
growth rate=1.1 (This non-dimensional factor controls the change in layer thickness from one
layer to the next).
simple transition: ratio=0.8 (This is a non-dimensional scaling factor that controls the relative
height of the pyramids generated on top of the last quad face of all hexahedral BL elements).
7. The default simple transition uses one pyramid element to transition from a BL hexahedrals quad face to
the tetrahedral core mesh. The ratio is the relative thickness of the transition layer as compared with the
average size of the elements. The larger this ratio the thicker is the transition layer. In general a value in
the range 0.3-0.8 works well.
8. Now you will select the type of tetrameshing algorithm.
There are four options available; the first three options are described in the tetramesh panel
documentation.
tetra mesh normally
optimize mesh speed
optimize mesh quality
boundary layer only
The last option, boundary layer only, is available to generate the boundary layer alone and stop before
generating the tetrahedral core. This option modifies adjacent surface meshes to reflect changes
introduced by the boundary layer thickness, and creates a collector named ^CFD_trias_for_tetramesh,
that is used to generate the inner core tetrahedral mesh using the tetramesh sub-panel.
Collectors CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_tetramesh_core are automatically created if they do not
exist. However, if these collectors exist they should be empty collectors. For most cases it is best to
select the optimize mesh quality option.
9. Select the tetrahedral core growth rate, interpolate.
This avoids the problem of generating tetrahedral elements that are too large at the center of the core
mesh.
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Step B: Define a distributed boundary layer thickness on certain components.
1. Change the switch to distributed thickness as shown in the following image.
2. Click the green button, distributed thickness. A pop-up window appears. This window enables you to
specify distributed thickness ratios for groups of nodes or whole components. You can choose either
Nodes or Components by selecting the associated radio button.
3. Set the radio button to Components.
4. Click the yellow button, Select Components, and select component wall_thinner_bl.
5. Specify a thickness ratio of value 0.3 and click Assign.
Notice that the summary message now indicates the number of BL thickness ratio loads on
components:
When the models are more complex it is useful to display surface contours of BL thickness ratio values.
6. Click Contours of BL Thickness Ratio, and the contour panel will be automatically displayed.
7. Press contour to inspect the distribution of BL Thickness Ratio on the surface of your domain. At any
time you can go back to the CFD mesh panel by clicking on Back to CFD mesh panel.
8. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you need to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done with the float / fixed with boundary layer selector.
9. Click comps and select collectors, wall and wall_thinner_bl.
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10. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you do not want to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done with the float w/o boundary layer selector.
11. Click comps and select collectors, inlet and outlets.
The switch below float w/o boundary layer selector is set to remesh. This means that the meshes in
the zones defined by collectors inlet and outlets will be remeshed after being deformed by the boundary
layer growth from adjacent surface areas.
12. Click mesh to create the CFD mesh.
When this task is finished, note the two collectors automatically created: CFD_boundary_layer and
CFD_Tetramesh_core
13. Inspect the relative size of the boundary layer thickness by masking some of the elements as shown in
the following image. This image shows that the BL thickness on component wall_thinner_bl is only
30% of the global BL thickness.
The manual approach followed previously is useful when you need to reduce the BL thickness throughout
a component, or at a clearly identified group of nodes.
When you have a very complicated geometry and BL collision is likely to occur, the best approach is to
use a tool available in the CFD User Profile (Utility, Generate Mesh: Generate BL Thickness) to
generate automatically distributed boundary layer thickness ratios at each node of the surface mesh.
This tool performs a collision study and assigns a BL thickness ratio to each node of the surface mesh
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that requires a reduction of the baseline BL thickness to avoid collision. Usage of this tool is explained
in Tutorial HM-3240.
The previous steps illustrate simple and effective steps to reduce the BL thickness on surface components.
This approach is very easy to use and effective when you know how much you want to increase or decrease
the BL thickness all over a component. A similar approach is followed to increase/decrease BL thickenss on
groups of nodes.
See also:
CFD Mesh - HM - 3240
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CFD Mesh - HM-3240
In this tutorial, you will learn to:
Generate meshes for Moldflows Flow3D and most CFD codes (e.g. Acusolve, CFD++, CFX, Fluent,
StarCD) using the CFD mesh sub-panel.
Generate boundary layer type meshes with an arbitrary number of layers and thickness distribution.
Generate automatically a distributed thickness distribution to prevent boundary layer interference /
collision in zones where the distance between opposing walls is too small to accommodate the
baseline or nominal boundary layer thickness.
Exercise
Step 1: Load the CFD user profile.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles.
2. Select the radio button CFD.
3. Click OK.
Step 2: Open the exercise file.
1. From the toolbar, click Open .hm File ( ).
2. Select the molding1.hm file from directory tutorials\hm.
3. Click Open to load this HM file containing the surface mesh.
4. Inspect the surface elements that will be used to generate the volume mesh.
The boundary mesh can have any combination of tria/quad elements. You will want to generate boundary
layers on all the surface elements contained in collector wall.
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Step 3: Check that all the elements in collector wall define a closed volume.
1. From the Tool page, select edges.
2. Select collector wall.
3. Click find edges.
A message indicating that no edges were found will appear on the status bar.
3. Toggle free edges to T-connections.
4. Click find edges.
The status bar will display, No T-connected edges were found.
Step 4: Generate a BL distributed thickness loading to prevent boundary layer
interference.
1. From the CFD Utility tab, CFD mesh section, under Generate Mesh, click Generate BL Thickness.
2. In the Generate Boundary Layer distributed thickness values pop-up window; click Add collectors
with surface elements.
The components selection sub-panel opens.
3. Select collector wall, and then click proceed.
4. Specify Boundary Layer options as shown in the following image.
1. Specify that you want to generate 3 layers with a first layer thickness value 0.5 and a growth rate
value 1.0. All layers will have the same thickness (except for mesh smoothing operations such as
hyperbolic smoothing at corners).
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2. Specify a Minimum Tetrahedral Core / Boundary Layer thickness ratio value 0.5.
This means that in areas where there is not enough room to grow the nominal BL (3 layers of 0.5
each), the boundary layers thickness will be reduced so that the tetrahedral core thickness is at
least 0.5 times the total boundary layer thickness, except for mesh smoothing operations such as
hyperbolic smoothing at corners, and convex/concave areas.
3. The last option, Bound Layer thickness at corners, is a coefficient that controls the hyperbolic
growth where walls make an angle. The smaller this value is, the thinner the total BL thickness in
such areas is.
5. Now you are ready to generate the Distributed BL Thickness loading. Make sure that none of the
elements specified in the boundary collectors are masked. If they are masked an error message will
indicate that there is a discrepancy between the total number of elements in the components and the
tria3/quad4 elements found. If you have masked elements, you can access mask (F5), and press
unmask all.
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1. Click Generate Distributed BL Thickness Ratio.
If the model already contains boundary layer thickness ratios, then a pop-up message box will ask
you if you want to keep such loading or if you want to delete them. Most of the time you will want to
clear the existing boundary layer thickness ratios; press Yes. In some special cases you may want
to keep them, if more than one loading value is specified at a node, the minimum value is used when
generating the mesh.
6. After a few seconds you will see a pop-up message indicating the number of distributed boundary layer
thickness values included in collector ^CFD_BL_Thickness.
Note: This is the collector name automatically used by the CFD mesh sub-panel when you enable
(button becomes green) distributed thickness in the CFD mesh sub-panel as shown, following:
7. Click Close in the Generate Boundary Layer distributed thickness values window.
Step 5: Generate the boundary layer and tetrahedral core mesh.
1. From the Utility Menu under Generate Mesh, click Volume to access the CFD mesh sub-panel.
2. Leave the default smooth BL option unchanged.
3. Select the same boundary layer options used before when generating the distributed BL thickness ratio:
number of layers =3
first layer thickness =0.5
growth rate=1.0 (This non-dimensional factor controls the change in layer thickness from one
layer to the next).
BL quad transition=all prisms (prism to all layers) This means that if there are any quad
elements in the surface mesh, those will be split into two trias each so that there is no need to
transition from quad faces to tria faces when transitioning from the last boundary layer to the
tetrahedral core. This option is very important when there are quad elements on areas with (low)
distributed BL thickness atio, because in such areas the thickness of the transition elements (e.g.,
simple pyramid) was not taken into account when doing the interference study to assign distributed
BL thickness ratio to those elements.
The last two options control the tetrahedral core mesh. Optimize mesh quality is the tetrahedral
mesh generation algorithm, and interpolate is the grow rate, which means to interpolate the
tetrahedral element size from the size on the surface mesh (boundary of the tetrahedral core
volume).
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4. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you need to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done in the float / fixed with boundary layer selector.
Note: whenever possible set the switch to float with boundary layer instead of fixed with boundary
layer, as using float will allow diagonal swapping which leads to enhanced volume element quality.
5. Click comps and select collector: wall.
6. Click select.
7. Switch to distributed thickness, and click mesh to generate the mesh. If collectors
CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_Tetramesh_core are present, you will be asked if you want to delete
the elements in those collectors. Almost always you will select Yes.
When this task is finished two collectors are created: CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_Tetramesh_core
.
8. When the meshing is complete, click return to exit the panel.
.
Step 6: Mask elements to inspect the boundary layers thickness on thinner areas.
1. Access the mask sub-panel by using the shortcut key F5.
2. Select elements to be masked.
3. Click mask.
The following images illustrate how BL interference has been avoided by reducing the BL thickness.
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Step 7: Generate a pure tetrahedral mesh for moldflow.
You need to generate a mesh consisting of tetrahedral elements only, therefore you need to split all the
penta / wedge elements into tetras.
1. From the main menu, select the 3D page, then select the split panel.
2. Select the solid elements sub-panel.
3. Set the switch to split into tetras.
4. Select elems >>by collector.
5. Select CFD_boundary_layer.
6. Click select.
7. Click split.
Now you have a mesh consisting of tetrahedral elements only.
The objective of this tutorial is to illustrate how you can generate very thin boundary layers without
interference. However, such thin boundary layers can lead to element with a high aspect ratio if the size of
the surface mesh is not small enough. If you need to limit the tetrahedral elements aspect ratio (e.g., < 5),
then you need to use a fine enough mesh on the wall component so that thin boundary layers do not
produce high aspect ratio elements. For example, in this case, the minimum value of tetra collapse of all
tetrahedral core elements was 0.2, but after you split the BL penta / wedge elements into tetras, the
minimum value of tetra collapse of all tetrahedral elements becomes 0.04. This occurs because the BL penta
elements are thin compared to their triangular face area size.
Summary
HyperMesh allowed you to generate high-quality boundary layer meshes on parts with very thin walls. To
accomplish this you first need to use the CFD utility Generate Distributed BL Thickness Ratio to generate
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load collector ^CFD_BL_Thickness. This load collector is then used by the CFD mesh sub-panel when you
enable distributed thickness. As shown in the cross-sectional images, the mesh is very smooth and is of
excellent quality.
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CFD Mesh - HM-3250
Mesh generation in domains bounded by surfaces that are very close to one another in some
areas.
In this tutorial, you will learn to:
Generate meshes for most CFD codes (e.g. Acusolve, CFD++, CFX, Fluent, StarCD, SC/Tetra)
using the CFD mesh sub-panel.
Generate boundary layer type meshes with arbitrary number of layers and thickness distribution in
domains defined by surfaces that are very close to one another in some areas. More specifically, in
some areas the clearance or separation of bounding surfaces is not enough to accommodate the
user specified nominal boundary layer thickness.
Generate a distributed thickness loading that prevents boundary layer interference / collision in
zones where the distance between opposing walls is too small to accommodate the baseline or
nominal boundary layer thickness.
Exercise
Step 1: Load the CFD user profile.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles.
2. Select the radio button, CFD.
3. Click OK.
Step 2: Open the exercise file.
1. From the toolbar, click Open .hm File ( ).
2. Select the manifold_inner_cylinder.hm file from directory tutorials\hm.
3. Click Open to load this HyperMesh file containing the surface mesh.
4. Inspect the surface elements that will be used to generate the volume mesh.
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You would like to generate boundary layers on all the surface elements contained in components wall
and wall_cyl. However, there is an area close to the end of wall_cyl where the clearance between wall
and wall_cyl is very small. This can be easily observed in this case by changing the visibility of
component wall as shown, following.
In more complex models it is not possible to visually identify all the zones where there is not enough
space to growth the baseline or nominal boundary layer as specified in terms of the number of layers,
first layer thickness and growth rate. This is not a problem because the automatic distributed
thickness loading computation takes into account all possible interference cases. This is demonstrated
in this tutorial.
Step 3: Check that the surface elements define a closed volume.
1. From the Tool page, select edges.
2. In the edges sub-panel select all collectors that define the domains surface, namely inlet, outlets, wall
and wall_cyl.
3. Click find edges.
A message indicating that no edges were found will appear on the status bar at the bottom of the HM
window.
4. Toggle switch free edges to T-connections.
5. Click find edges.
The status bar will display, No T-connected edges were found.
Step 4: Generate a BL distributed thickness loading to prevent boundary layer
interference.
1. From the CFD Utility Menu, CFD mesh section, under Generate Mesh, click Generate BL Thickness.
2. In the Generate Boundary Layer distributed thickness values pop-up window; click Add collectors
with surface elements.
The components selection sub-panel opens.
3. Select all the collectors that define the volume surface, namely inlet, outlets, wall and wall_cyl, and
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then click proceed.
The Generate BL Thickness window will show the components selected as shown, following:
4. Set the correct Bound Type for each one of the selected components. You want to generate a boundary
layer from components wall and wall_cyl, therefore, you will leave wall as their Bound Type, but you
need to change the Bound Type of components inlet, outlets to in/outlet as shown, following:

Note:
A component with Bound Type: wall indicates that you are going to generate a boundary layer
mesh on the component later on when you generate the mesh with the CFD mesh sub-panel.
Therefore, in the CFD mesh sub-panel the same component should be consistently specified in
the comps selector fixed or float with boundary layer.
A component with a Bound Type: slip, symmetry, in/outlet, or farfield indicates that you are
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NOT going to generate a boundary layer mesh on the component. Therefore later on when you
generate the mesh with CFD mesh sub-panel this component should be consistently specified
in the comps selector fixed or float w/o boundary layer.
5. Specify Boundary Layer options as shown in the following image.
1. Specify that you want to generate 5 layers with a first layer thickness value 0.5 and a growth rate
value 1.2. All layers will have the same thickness except in areas affected by the distributed
thickness loading and also mesh smoothing operations such as hyperbolic smoothing at corners.
2. Specify a Minimum Tetrahedral Core / Boundary Layer thickness ratio value 2.0.
This means that in areas where there is not enough room to grow the nominal BL (5 layers starting
with a thickness of 0.5 and increasing with a grow rate of 1.2), the boundary layers thickness will be
reduced so that the tetrahedral core thickness is approximately at least 2.0 times the total boundary
layer thickness, except for mesh smoothing operations such as hyperbolic smoothing at corners and
convex/concave areas.
3. The last option, Bound Layer thickness at corners, is a coefficient that controls the hyperbolic
growth where walls make an angle. The smaller this value is, the thinner the total BL thickness is in
such areas; values less than 1 produce thinner layers and values greater than 1 produce thicker
layers.
Now you are ready to generate the Distributed BL Thickness loading. Make sure that none of the
elements specified in the boundary collectors are masked. If they are masked an error message will
indicate that there is a discrepancy between the total number of elements in the components that you
specified and the number of tria3/quad4 elements found (displayed). If you have masked elements, you
can use mask (F5), and press unmask all.
6. Click Generate Distributed BL Thickness Ratio.
If the model already contains boundary layer thickness ratios, then a pop-up message box will ask you if
you want to keep such loads or if you want to clear/discard them. Most of the time you will want to clear
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the existing boundary layer thickness ratios; press Yes. In some special cases you may want to keep
them, if more than one loading value is specified for a node, the minimum value is used when generating
the mesh.
7. After a few seconds you will see a pop-up message indicating the number of Distributed Boundary Layer
Thickness Values included in collector ^CFD_BL_Thickness.
Note: This is the collector name automatically used by the CFD mesh sub-panel when you enable
(button becomes green) distributed thickness in the CFD mesh sub-panel as shown in the following
image:
8. Click Close in the Generate Boundary Layer distributed thickness values window.
Step 5: Generate the boundary layer and tetrahedral core mesh.
1. From the Utility tab (CFD user profile) under Generate Mesh, click Volume to access the CFD mesh
sub-panel.
2. Leave the default smooth BL option unchanged.
3. Select the same boundary layer options used before when generating the distributed BL thickness ratio:
number of layers =5
first layer thickness =0.5
growth rate=1.2 (This non-dimensional factor controls the change in layer thickness from one
layer to the next).
BL quad transition=all prisms (prism to all layers). This means that if there are any quad
elements in the surface mesh, those will be split into two trias each so that there is no need to
transition from quad faces to tria faces when transitioning from the last boundary layer to the
tetrahedral core. This option is very important when there are quad elements on areas with (low)
distributed BL thickness ratio, because in such areas the thickness of the transition elements (e.g.,
simple pyramid) was not taken into account when doing the interference study to assign distributed
BL thickness ratio to those elements.
The last two options control the tetrahedral core mesh. Optimize mesh quality is the tetrahedral
mesh generation algorithm, and interpolate the tetrahedral grow rate, (this interpolates the
tetrahedral element size from the size on the surface mesh (boundary of the tetrahedral core
volume)).
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4. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you need to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done in the float / fixed with boundary layer selector. Click comps
and select collectors: wall and wall_cyl, and then click select.
Note: Whenever possible set the switch to float with boundary layer instead of fixed with boundary
layer, as using float will allow diagonal swapping which leads to enhanced volume element quality.
5. Switch to distributed thickness, (button in previous image becomes green).
6. Select all the elements/components that define the surface area on which you do NOT want to generate
boundary layers. This selection is done in the float / fixed w/o boundary layer selector. Click comps
and select collectors: inlet and outlets, and then click select. As before, whenever possible set the
switch to float with boundary layer instead of fixed with boundary layer.
7. Note the switch set to remesh below the float / fixed w/o boundary layer selector. This means that the
surface meshes associated with those components will be remeshed or rebuilt after shrinking due to
boundary layer growth from adjacent boundary layer components.
8. Click mesh to generate the mesh. If collectors CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_Tetramesh_core are
present, you will be asked if you want to delete the elements in those collectors. Almost always you
select Yes.
When this task is finished two collectors are created: CFD_boundary_layer and CFD_Tetramesh_core
.
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Step 6: Mask elements to inspect the boundary layers thickness on thinner areas.
1. Select xz Left Plane View ( ).
2. Access the mask sub-panel by using the shortcut key F5.
3. Select elements to be masked by pressing SHIFT and the left mouse button, then move the cursor so
that the rubber band covers the upper half of the model.
4. Click mask.
5. Click xy Top Plane View.
6. Zoom in into the area where the bounding surfaces come close together. The following image illustrates
how BL interference has been avoided by reducing the BL thickness.
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Step 7: Arrange volume and surface components before exporting the mesh for
CFD solvers.
First you need to put in the same component all the elements that represent a single fluid and/or solid
domain. In this case you have a single fluid domain, therefore you proceed as follows:
1. Rename the CFD_Tetramesh_core component. Typically, select a name fluid*, for example, fluid
. In the Model browser tab, select CFD_Tetramesh_core, right-click, select Rename, and then type
the new name, fluid.
2. Move all the elements from component CFD_boundary_layer to component fluid.
1. Access the Organize sub-panel using the CFD User Profile,
,
or equivalently, from the Tool page, select organize.
2. Select elems >>by collector.
3. Select CFD_boundary_layer .
4. Click select.
5. Click dest collecctor =and select fluid.

6. Click move.
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3. Now you have all the volume elements in component fluid. The surface mesh of this component is
typically different from the surface mesh that was used to define the boundary of the domain. For this
reason, and to have consistent surface zones to impose boundary conditions in most CFD solvers, you
are going to create new boundary components that will be used when exporting the mesh for the CFD
solver of your choice. To accomplish this you first extract the surface mesh of component fluid. You do
this by generating the surface elements with the CFD user profile.
Select component fluid, and click find faces.
All boundary faces are placed in component ^faces.
4. Create new components (empty) to place the elements from ^faces so that when these components are
later exported, they can be used to set a boundary condition in your CFD solver.
1. In the Model browser, right-click Component, and then select Create.
2. Enter name, wall_exterior.
3. Leave Card image as None.
4. Click Create.
5. Repeat this process to create empty components with names wall_cylinder, inlet_annulus, and
outlets3.
5. Move the elements from component ^faces into the newly created components. This is done for clarity;
however, most of the time you create one fewer component and you rename ^faces which retains the
remaining elements after you move elements to the newly created surface components. Access the
Organize sub-panel using the CFD User Profile.
6. Set dest=to wall_exterior as shown in the following image, then pick one element on the exterior wall
surface.
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7. Right-click the elems switch and select by face.
This will recursively select all the elements attached to the picked element as long as the adjacent
elements are within a break angle less or equal to the value specified in the feature angle field (
Preferences menu, Geometry Options option, mesh sub-panel).

The surface mesh in ^faces is such that the zones that you want to organize/move make an angle close
to 90 degrees and their boundaries, therefore this is a very easy job to do with a default feature angle of
20 or 30 degrees.
8. Having selected all the elements that should go to component wall_exterior, press button move.
9. Select dest=outlets3 and pick at least one element on each one of the three separate outlets as shown
in the following image.
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10. Click the elems switch and select by face.
11. Having the elements on the three outlets selected press move and those elements are moved to
component outlets3.
12. Set dest=to inlet_annulus and pick one element as shown in the following image.
13. Right-click the elems switch and select by face.
14. Having all the elements on the inlet annulus selected, press move and those elements are moved to
component inlet_annulus.
Now that all the remaining elements in component ^faces are the elements that you want to move to
component wall_cylinder.
15. Set dest=to wall_cylinder.
16. Right-click the elems switch and select by component.
17. Activate component ^faces.
18. Click select.
19. Click move.
The elements are moved to component wall_cylinder as shown in the following image.
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As mentioned previously, more often than not it is easier to rename/recolor component ^faces.
20. Verify that only the components that you want to export are displayed. All other components should NOT
be displayed, as illustrated in the following image of the Model browser.
21. Now you can access the CFD I/O section of the CFD User Profile. Select the CFD file format of your
choice (such as Acusolve, CFD++, CFX, CGNS, Fluent, or StarCD) to export the grid or mesh.
Note: solvers like Acusolve and FLUENT have certain requirements when the domain contains different
fluids and/or solids. This is described in other sections of the HyperMesh Help system.
Summary
HyperMesh allowed you to generate high-quality boundary layer meshes on parts where the clearance or
separation of the bounding surfaces is not enough to accommodate the user specified nominal boundary
layer thickness. To accomplish this you first used the CFD utility Generate Distributed BL Thickness Ratio
to generate load collector ^CFD_BL_Thickness. This load collector is then used by the CFD mesh sub-
panel when you enable distributed thickness. As shown in the cross-sectional images, the mesh is very
smooth, free of collisions, and is of excellent quality.
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CFD Mesh Plane 2-D Meshing with Boundary Layers - HM-3260
2-D Boundary Layer Mesh generation in domains bounded by edges
In this tutorial, you will learn to:
Generate 2-D boundary layer type meshes with an arbitrary number of layers and thickness
distribution in domains defined by edges.
Generate 2-D boundary layer type meshes in areas where the clearance or separation of bounding
edges is not enough to accommodate the user specified nominal boundary layer thickness / number
or layers.
Exercise
Step 1: Open the exercise file.
1. From the Menu Bar, click File, then Open.
2. Navigate to the directory <installation_directory>\tutorials\hm and select the
manifold_inner_cylinder_2d.hm file.
3. Click Open to load this HM file containing the edges.
4. Inspect the edges elements that will be used to generate the volume mesh.
The boundary mesh should only consist of PLOTEL (elem type) elements. You want to generate
boundary layers on all the edges contained in the collectors called wall and inner wall.

Step 2: Load the CFD user profile.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles.
2. Select the radio button CFD.
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3. Click OK.
Step 3: Check that all the elements in collectors wall, inner wall, inlet, and outlets
define a closed loop. (This step is for information only; it is optional for this tutorial).
Usually, this step is not necessary because the collectors containing edge elements (PLOTEL) are extracted
from 2-D surface meshes that naturally have free edges forming closed loops. However, there is a possibility
that there may be duplicate nodes, and for this reason it is advisable to perform the following test:
1. From the Tool page, select edges.
2. Click comps.
3. Select collectors wall, inner wall, Inlet, and Outlet.
4. Click select.
5. Ensure that the tolerance value is smaller than the minimum element length.
To find the minimum element length:
1. From the Mesh menu, click Check, then Elements, then Check Elements.
2. Select the radio button 1-d.
3. Click length.
A message indicates the minimum element length is 3.09, therefore you can safely use a tolerance
of 3.
6. Click Preview Equiv. A message indicating that 0 nodes were found will appear on the status bar.
Step 4: Generate a 2-D BL Mesh.
1. Click Utility in the Tab area.
2. Ensure that CFD Mesh is selected.
3. Under Generate Mesh, click Plane 2D mesh fom edges. A pop-up window labeled Generate 2D
Boundary Layer Mesh appears:
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4. Set the default values to be assigned when adding collectors:
1st Layer Thickness = 0.5
Growth Rate = 1.1 (This non-dimensional factor controls the change in layer thickness from one
layer to the next)
Bound Type = Wall (Will generate a boundary layer mesh)
Number of boundary layers = 6 ( value must be >= 0, as a zero value leads to no boundary layers
even when Wall type is specified)

5. Click Add collector.
6. In the edges panel, click comps.
7. Select all four components.
8. Click select.
9. Click proceed.
In the Generae 2D Boundary Layer Mesh window, all the selected components will be displayed in the
Component list as shown following:
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Default values of boundary layer mesh (1st Layer Thickness, Growth Rate, and Bound Type) will be
assigned to each component. To remove one or more components from the group, select those
components from the list and press Remove.
10. In the Generate 2D Boundary Layer Mesh window, set Bound Type value for components Inlet and
Outlet as In/Outlet.
The objective is to not generate boundary layers along the Inlet and Outlet components.
Note: those elements may be remeshed based on the adjacent elements size.


11. Click Generate 2D BL Mesh to generate mesh.
When this task is finished, two collectors are automatically created: 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh, as
shown in the following image. Note that the quality of the mesh may not be very good, as described,
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following. In the next steps you will change some default parameters to allow boundary node insertion
and movement.

As indicated previously, components with Bound type In/Outlet will be remeshed based on the adjacent
elements size. The two following figures illustrate the case where an inlet/outlet is defined with a single
large element, after meshing the element size in this area has been reduced to obtain a smooth element
size transition, leading to and excellent mesh quality.

Step 6: Changing Mesh Quality
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Often it may happen that boundary layer elements will have bad quality due to high aspect ratio. Such
elements are created because of the large boundary edge length as shown in the following image.

This problem can be resolved by limiting the maximum perimeter elements aspect ratio. The maximum
boundary elements aspect ratio can be achieved using two approaches:
By addition of new nodes on the boundary / perimeter.
By node movement on the boundary / perimeter.
1. Activate the Allow boundary node insertion checkbox.
Refine the boundary edges by insertion of nodes on boundary edges. New node insertion is controlled by
the specified maximum perimeter element aspect ratio.
Or
Activate the Allow boundary node movement checkbox.
This option is used to move boundary nodes along the original boundary. Boundary node movement is
controlled by the specified maximum perimeter element aspect ratio.
Enter the maximum perimeter element aspect ratio as shown in the following image:

2. Click Generate 2D BL Mesh to generate the mesh.
If the model already contains collectors 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh, then a pop-up message will ask
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you if you want to delete components 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh before mesh creation or if you want
to add newly created elements to the same collectors. Most of the time you will want to clear the
existing mesh: click Yes. In some special cases you may want to keep them.

When this task is finished, two collectors 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh are updated with new elements
as shown in the following image:

3. You can check the elements aspect ratio by using the shortcut key F10 and selecting the 2D page.


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When the perimeter has sharp angles as shown in the following image, triangular elements are added to
the boundary mesh to achieve a smoother transition of element sizes, and mesh smoothing also
contributes to increase the mesh quality.
Also note that the automatic mesh generator performs a collision detection and avoids boundary layer
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interference by reducing the boundary layer thickness, as shown in the following inset:

Step 7: Use a distributed boundary layer thickness to generate a boundary layer
and core.
The boundary layer type mesh generated in this tutorial was generated with uniform thickness. This is OK for
a model like this manifold as long as the total boundary layer thickness does not lead to collision or
interference that can occur when the sum of the BL thickness is close to or larger than the distance
separating opposite walls. When such collision or interference occurs you have the following options:
Decrease the global boundary layer thickness (throughout / for all the BL edges).
Decrease locally the boundary layer thickness (BL edges around critical zones only).
Decrease locally the boundary layer thickness.
1. In the Generate 2D Boundary Layer Mesh window, click Reject to remove the created mesh.
Collectors 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh will be deleted.
2. Click Close to close the pop-up window.
Create new components (empty) to place the PLOTEL elements at critical zone (area where
boundary layer elements may lead to collision).
3. Click the Model browser tab.
4. Right-click Component and select Create.
5. Enter name wall_critical.
6. Leave Card image set to none.
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7. Click Create.

8. From the Tool page, go to the organize panel.
9. Select the boundary edges (PLOTEL) around the area where boundary layer elements may lead to
collision. Refer to the following image for element selection.
10. Set the dest group/dest component switch to dest componenet =and select the destination collector
as wall_critical.

11. Click move to move the selected PLOTEL elements to the destination collector.
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12. Click Utility in the Tab area.
13. Ensure that CFD Mesh is selected.
14. Under Generate Mesh, click Plane 2D mesh from edges.
A pop-up window named Generate 2D Boundary Layer Mesh appears.
15. Click Add collector.
16. In the edges panel, click comps.
17. Select all five components.
18. Click select.
19. Click proceed.
The component wall_critical has been added to the component list.
20. Set 1st First Layer Thickness of component wall_critical to 0.4.

21. Click Generate 2D BL Mesh to generate the mesh.
When this task is finished, two collectors are automatically created: 2DBLMesh and 2DCoreMesh.
22. Now you can zoom in around component wall_critical and notice how boundary layer interference has
been avoided by reducing the total boundary layer thickness as shown in the following image:
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Summary
In this tutorial you generated 2-D meshes with boundary layers on a complex cross section. You obtained a
high quality mesh by allowing boundary node insertion and movement. HyperMesh automatically cuts back
the number of layers when boundary layer collision occurs, thus producing a consistent mesh even in narrow
areas. In narrow passages you can also reduce the total boundary layer thickness by starting with a smaller
first layer thickness and/or a smaller growth rate.
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Using the TetraMesh Process Manager - HM-3270
In this tutorial, you will learn about using the TetraMesh Process Manager to:
Import geometry or an HM File
Clean up the geometry
Organize the model (holes and features)
Establish mesh size and pattern for the organized geometry
2-D Mesh
Clean up the 2-D mesh
TetraMesh
The Process Manager is a step-by-step tool providing a checklist of procedures to allow the user to quickly
organize and tetmesh a geometric model. Each step is provided in a hierarchal list providing the order in
which the process needs to be performed and providing specialized tools at each step to simplify the
process. These steps, while they can be done manually, can be performed in the TetraMesh Process
Manager template in a much reduced timeframe.
Exercise
Step 1: Initiate the Process Manager.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, then TetraMesh Process, then Create New to access
the Process Manager.
2. Enter a session name or leave it as my_session.
Note: Creating a session name and saving the session allows the user to stop the process before
completion and then load it again at a later time, picking up the process at the point it was left off.
3. Select a working folder.
4. Click Create.
Step 2: Import geometry.
At this point the TetraMesh Process tab will open in the Tab area and will automatically assemble the
TetraMesh Process Flow. The first step, Geometry Import, is highlighted and the panel area has been
configured with specific panels for aiding the Tetramesh Process Manager template. You can switch back to
the normal HyperMesh panel area using the Process Manager Task icon ( ). Right-click it and select
the HyperMesh Panel icon. You can go back to the Process Manager panels again by instead selecting
the Process Manager icon.
1. In the panel area, change the Import Type to HM Model.
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2. On the toolbar, click Open .hm File ( ) and select the file tetmesh_pm.hm from
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm\.
3. Click Import.
The model will import and a green check will appear next to Geometry Import in the Process Manager
indicating that step is now complete.
Step 3: Clean up the geometry.
1. From the Geometry Color Mode selector ( ) pick By Topo and click Shaded
Geometry ( ).
2. In the panel area, select the Edge Tools tab.
3. Click Isolate.
This will isolate the surfaces with free edges on them.

Isolated Surfaces with free edges.
4. Select the Free Edges tab and click Equivalence.
This will fix all the free edges. If this did not correct all of the free edges, the Tolerance value could be
increased until all free edges are equivalenced.
5. Select the Edge Tools tab and click Isolate again.
A window should appear with the message, No edges found This confirms all edges have been fixed.
6. Click Display All.
7. Click ACCEPT.
The Geometry Cleanup step has been completed and should have a green checkmark by it.
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Step 4: Organize and Clean up holes.
This step will allow you to organize the surfaces that form holes in the model. The TetraMesh Process
Manager can automatically sort and organize holes into separate component collectors based upon their
diameter. This will allow you to specify mesh type, circumference element count, and longitudinal element
size for different hole groups.
1. In the panel area, click the +( ) button.
This will add a third line to the table.
2. On the first line, enter 3.3 into the D<field.
This will organize all holes with a diameter between 0 and 3.3 units, as indicated by the Range field, into
a collector.
3. Enter 5 into the second row and 10 into the third.
This will allow HyperMesh to organize the holes into three collectors that will include holes ranging from
0 - 3.3 units, 3.3 - 5 units and 5 - 10 units collectively.
4. Click Auto Organize.
All of the holes in the model less than 10 units will now be organized into three component collectors,
each with a different color.
5. Click the Model tab and expand the selection.
You will see three new component collectors with the name solidholes followed by the numerical
average of the diameter range of the holes organized.
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Transparent view of model showing all holes and bores organized
6. Return to the TetraMesh Process tab
7. In the Num Circumference Elems field enter 12 for each row.
8. In the Longitudinal Elem Size field enter 1 for each row.
The Num Circumference Elems field governs the number of elements that will be meshed around the
hole while the Longitudinal Elem Size field dictates the unit size of the elements through the length of
the hole.
9. Click ACCEPT.
The Organize & Cleanup Holes step is now complete should now have a green checkmark next to it.
Step 5: Mesh holes.
1. In the panel area you will notice that each hole diameter row has a Mesh Type field with a pull-down
providing the options of R-tria regular and R-tria union jack. Verify that all are set for R-tria regular
and click Mesh All. (The R-tria union jack mesh pattern will be discussed in a later step.)
You will notice this process provides a perfectly straight tria mesh down the length of the hole with no
twisting.
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2. Click ACCEPT.
The checkmark in the Mesh Holes step will now turn green.
Step 6: Organize and clean up features.
This step allows you to highlight and organize features that require specific mesh controls beyond the overall
mesh pattern that will be applied to the remainder of the part in a later step. This organizational tool will
place the required surfaces into their own collector or collectors and allow you to set mesh size and pattern
requirements for each.
1. In the panel area, click the +( ) button.

2. In the Define New window that opens, type Faces and click OK.
3. Select all five of the flat faces around the circumference of the part as shown in the following image.
4. Click proceed.
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Faces that need to be picked
The panel will switch to the Organize panel with your surfaces pre-selected to move into a new
component called grp_Faces.
5. Click move, then return.
6. Click the +( ) button again.
7. In the Define New window that opens, type TopHole and click OK.
8. Rotate the model so you are looking at it from underneath into the center, and select the surfaces shown
in the following image.
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Note: With this tool you need only select one of the two surfaces that make up a cylinder; when you
click proceed HyperMesh will automatically select the other surfaces.
9. Click proceed.
10. In the Organize panel, click move, then return.
Your model should then look similar to the following image, with the faces in one collector and the top
hole in another. Your colors may vary slightly.

11. Click ACCEPT.
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Step 7: Organize and clean up filets.
Often a better mesh can be achieved if your fillets are split down the center. The step will allow you to
automatically split your fillets based on minimum and maximum radius criteria.
1. Click Components.
2. Select the part in an area that has not been organized into a new component so that the large purple part
is selected.
3. Click proceed.
4. Leave the Min Radius at 0 and the Max Radius at 5 and make sure the Suppress Fillet Tangent
Edges option is active.
5. Click Cleanup.
You will notice that many of the fillets now have an edge running down the center and the original edges
are suppressed.
6. Click ACCEPT.
Step 8: Mesh features.
In this step you will mesh the features that you organized in Step 6. The panel area will show a table with
your organized features in it and will give you the option of selecting a mesh type and size for each feature.
1. For the Faces feature, click the pull-down under Mesh Type and pick trias.
2. In the field under Elem Size, enter 0.5.
3. For the TopHole feature, select R-tria union jack for the Mesh Type.
4. For Elem Size, enter 0.5.
5. Click Mesh All.
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6. Note the distinctive Union Jack mesh pattern ( ) in the top hole area and the connectivity of
the mesh to the previously meshed holes.
7. Click ACCEPT.
Step 9: Organize and clean up.
This step allows the user to organize and clean up the remaining portion of the model that will then fall under
the global meshing parameters. As the remaining surfaces are already in the component you wish them to
be in, there is no need for further organization.
1. Click ACCEPT.
Step 10: Mesh/remesh.
This step is where the remaining model will be globally meshed. Element size and type can be set for all
remaining components that remain unmeshed.
1. In the Element Size field, enter 1.
2. Set Mesh Type to trias.
3. Click Mesh.
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4. Click ACCEPT.
Step 11: Clean up elements.
At this point the model should be entirely surface meshed. Proper adherence to the previous steps ensures
a surface mesh that is properly connected and controlled by the previously entered values. This step will
now allow the user to verify a proper mesh and clean up any issues that are found.
1. In the panel area, click Components.
2. Select all of the components and click proceed.
3. Leave all of the values at their default (Min Size 0.25, Max FeatureAngle 60.0, Normals Angle
150.0) and click AutoCleanup.
The following message should appear.

This indicates that all failed elements have been fixed and there are no further errors in the model.
4. (Optional) The Manual tab allows the user to manually check the model for free edges and t-junctions
and fix any that are found. There is also the option to display normals. Use these options to find and fix
any errors.
5. Click ACCEPT.
Note: The Tetramesh Process Manager will automatically place any elements that fail this AutoCleanup
procedure in the user mark. This will allow for easy retrieval of problem elements and the user can
employ the tools from the standard HyperMesh panels to fix these remaining elements.
Step 12: Tetra mesh.
This is the final step in the TetraMesh Process Manager Template and will be the point where the model is
Tetra meshed. The Process Manager will automatically open the TetraMesh panel and pre-select all of the
float and fixed elements.
1. Click elems under select trias/quads to tetra mesh.
The surface elements will be selected under the general mesh selection option. This will define them as
floatable elements, meaning that the diagonals of the underlying tetra elements can be flipped from the
generated shell elements if HyperMesh determines a better element quality will result.
2. Click elems under fixed trias/quads.
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The elements that represent the interior of holes and bores will be selected under this option. The will be
defined as fixed elements meaning HyperMesh will always adhere to the shell mesh pattern with
generating the tetra elements.
3. Click mesh.
4. Click the Model tab in the Tab area.
5. Expand the Components list if necessary.
6. Right-click the tetmesh component.
7. Select Isolate Only.
The tetra mesh will be displayed.
8. Click Mask ( ).
9. Hold the SHIFT key down and while holding the left mouse button down, drag a box to include roughly
half of the model.
10. Click mask.
Your tetra mesh should look similar to the following image.

Step 13 (Optional): Save your work.
1. You can now save your model if you wish.
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Quality
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Checking and Editing Mesh - HM-3300
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Identify shell element connectivity problems
Correct shell element connectivity problems
Review the models shell elements to ensure connectivity problems were corrected
Remesh the elements along the rib
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, cover.hm.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the HyperMesh model file.
Open the file cover.hm located in the <installation folder>\tutorials\hm directory.
Step 2: Review the models free edges to identify shell element connectivity
problems.
1. Access the edges panel in the following ways:
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From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then select Check, then Components, then Edges
From the main menu, select the Tool page, and then click edges
Press the SHIFT+F3 keys
2. With the comps selector active, click any element in the graphics area.
The component containing the element is selected.
3. Click find edges.
Red, 1-D elements are displayed. They are organized into the new component named ^edges. A red 1-
D element is created along each shell element edge that is free; one or more of the element edges
nodes is not shared by the adjacent elements.
Note: For a component name whose first character is ^, the component and its contents is not written
to the input file when the model is exported.
4. Click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).
5. Observe the red, 1-D elements (free edges).
6. Try to identify gaps in the continuity of the mesh.
Hint: Look closely at free edges interior to the model.
7. In the Model browser, turn the display on and off for the component shells to continue to identify which
red, free edges do not belong.

8. Turn on the display for the component, shells.
Step 3: Correct the shell element connectivity problems using the edges panel.
1. In the tolerance=field, type 0.01.
2. Select an element in the graphics area to select the component.
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3. Click preview equiv.
The status bar displays the following message: "81 nodes were found."
A sphere, , is created on nodes having a distance between each other equal to or less than the
specified tolerance.
4. Notice that for this exercises model, a sphere is not created on every node along all of the red, free
edges, which do not belong. A larger tolerance must be specified to identify the rest of the nodes.
5. For tolerance =, increase its value until all 96 nodes are identified as shown in the following image.
Be careful not to increase the tolerance value to too much. Although the 96 nodes will be identified, an
excessively large tolerance value may collapse elements when the identified nodes are equivalenced. To
find out the maximum value that can be safely used for tolerance without collapsing the elements, press
the F10 key to go to the check elems panel, go to 2-d sub-panel and click length. The status bar will
display The min length is 1.49. A tolerance value < 1.49 can safely be used, without causing any
elements to collapse when identified nodes are equivalenced. Click return to go back to edges panel.
The nodes identified with preview equivalence
6. Click equivalence.
The 96 coincident nodes are equivalenced.
7. Rotate and observe the model to see that the mesh still looks as it should and no elements are
collapsed.
8. Click delete edges.
The red, free edges and their component, ^edges, are deleted.
Note: Remain in the edges panel.
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Step 4: Review the models free edges again to confirm that all of the shell element
connectivity problems have been corrected.
1. Click find edges.
Observe the red, 1-D elements (free edges).
Are there any red, free edges that should not belong if the mesh was continuous or if all of the elements
were connected?
Hint: Only red, free edges should exist on the perimeter of the part and on periphery of internal holes.
2. Use the Model browser to turn the display off and on for the component, shells, to observe that all of
the free, red edges belong.
3. After verifying that the model has correct red, free edges, click delete edges.
Red, free edges that belong
Step 5: Display the element normals and adjust them to point in the same
direction.
1. Go to the normals panel. The normals panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, and then Normals
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then click normals
Press the SHIFT+F10 keys
2. Choose the elements sub-panel and set toggle to vector display normals.
3. With the comps selector active, select one element from the graphics area to select the component.
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4. Click display normals.
Arrows (vectors) are drawn from the element centroids and show the direction of the element normals.
Notice the arrows do not all point from the same side of the part. For some analyses, the element
normals should point from the same side.
5. Click size =and enter the size which the normal should be in model units and select display normals
again.
When size =is set to 0, the vector will be 10% of the screen.
6. Toggle vector display normals to color display normals.
7. Click display normals.
The element normals are displayed using colors. The red side of the elements is the positive normal
direction, while the blue side is the negative normal direction.
8. Notice each side of the part shows red and blue.
9. Click the orientation: elem selector to make it active.
10. Select an element from the graphics area.
11. Click adjust normals.
All elements on either side of the part are the same color, red or blue.
The status bar displays the following message: "[X] elements have been adjusted."
If after adjusting the normals, there are still elements on one side of the part which are of different color,
change to elems from comps for the entity selector, choose these elements and click reverse normals.

12. Click return.
Step 6: Review the quality of the elements using the check elems panel.
1. Access the check elems panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Elements, and then Check Elements
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then click check elems
Press the F10 key
2. Go to the 2-d sub-panel.
3. Verify that jacobian <field is set to 0.7.
4. Click jacobian to determine if any elements have a jacobian of less than 0.7.
Elements having a jacobian of less than 0.7 are highlighted.
5. Notice that several elements on the triangular rib and around the smaller of the two holes have a jacobian
of less than 0.7.
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The status bar displays a message indicating how many elements failed this check.
6. In the graphics area, click an element.
A window appears that lists each quality check result for the element.
7. Click the right or left mouse button to close the pop-up window.
8. On the right side of the panel menu, switch from standard to assign plot.
9. Click jacobian to review again.
A legend for jacobian values appears and each element is colored accordingly. The red elements have a
jacobian less than the threshold, 0.7.
10. Verify that quads: min angle <is set to 45.
11. Click min angle to determine if any quad elements have an angle of less than 45.
12. Notice that a couple of elements on the rib have an angle of less than 45.
13. Verify that the max angle >field is set to 135.
14. Click max angle to determine if any quad elements have an angle greater than 135.
15. Notice that several elements on the rib have an angle greater than 135.
16. Click return.
Step 7: Remesh the elements on the rib using the automesh panel.
1. Access the automesh panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Create, and then 2D AutoMesh
From the main menu, select the 2D page, then click automesh
Press the F12 key
2. Verify that you are in the size and bias sub-panel.
3. Switch the entity selector to elems.
4. Toggle to interactive.
5. For element size=, type 3.5.
6. Select one rib element from the graphics area.
7. Select one element on the plane of elements perpendicular to the rib and in the same plane as the ribs
shortest edge as shown in the following image.
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Example of elements to select
8. Select elems >>by face to complete the selection of elements as shown in the following image.
Elements selected using by face
9. Click mesh.
The meshing module appears.
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10. In the density sub-panel, change the element density on the ribs hypotenuse edge to 9.
11. Change the element density on the ribs shortest edge to 5.
12. Keep all other element edge densities the same.

Adjusting element edge densities
13. Access the mesh style sub-panel.
14. Under mesh method, set the last option to free (unmapped).
15. Under mesh method, select set all.
16. Click mesh to preview the mesh.
17. Go to the checks sub-panel, and check the jacobian, quads: min angle, and quads: max angle.
18. Notice that no elements fail the minimum and maximum angle checks.
Only a couple of elements have a jacobian of less than 0.7. The smallest jacobian is 0.68, which can still
be considered good quality.
19. Click return to accept the mesh and go back to the main menu.
Step 8: Use the smooth panel to adjust the node placement on the rectangular
plane of remeshed elements.
1. Click Mesh, then Cleanup Elements, then Smooth to open the Smooth panel.
2. Go to the plates sub-panel.
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3. With the smooth: elems selector active, select an element on the rectangular plane of re-meshed
elements.
4. Select elems >>by face.
5. For iterations =specify 10.
6. Switch the smoothing algorithm from autodecide to shape corrected.
7. Click smooth.
8. Click return.
Step 9: Remove tria elements from another area of the model using the edit
element panel, split and combine sub-panels.
1. On the 2D page, enter the edit element panel.
2. Go to the split sub-panel.
3. With the splitting line: points selector active, click four screen points as shown the following image.
Temporary line segments are drawn to connect the points.
4. You can right-click to undo the last line segment drawn or you can click delete line to start over with
selecting points.
5. Click split.
Elements that have the line pass through them are split. The resulting mesh should look like the mesh in
the following image. There are two pairs of adjacent tria elements.
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6. Go to the combine sub-panel and set the toggle to combine to quad.
7. Select two adjacent tria elements as indicated in the following image.
8. Click combine.
9. Repeat 11.7 and 11.8 for the other two adjacent tria elements.
10. Remain in the edit element sub-panel.
Trias to select Combining trias into quads
Step 10: Dynamically move nodes on the mesh area modified in the previous step
to improve element quality.
1. Go to the cleanup sub-panel and ensure it is set to displayed elems.
2. Click cleanup.
The element cleanup menu appears. It allows you to select various combinations of quality checks,
specify a warning/unacceptable range for each check, and dynamically move nodes around to place
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them where you desire.
Elements are colored as follows:
No color, appearing blank: element passes quality checks
Yellow: one or more quality check results falls into warning/unacceptable range
Red: one or more quality check results are beyond unacceptable
Among the group of elements you modified in the last step, Step 11, two quad elements are red and one
quad element is yellow.
3. Clear the warpage and jacobian check boxes, so that just the max angle is checked.
4. The model has three elements that are colored red.
5. With the node selector active, click an interior node of a red element and drag the node around until the
element is no longer red.
6. Repeat 12.4 for the other red elements.
7. Click return.
Step 11: For the same area of elements you focused on in the previous step,
optimize element quality by clicking nodes and elements.
1. On the 2D page, go to the qualityindex panel.
2. With the node optimize selector active, click a few nodes of the mesh area you modified.
When a node is clicked, it is repositioned so that the elements attached to it have the best possible
quality based on the criteria specified in the qualityindex panel.
3. Click the selector element optimize to make it active.
4. Click yellow and red elements in the same mesh area.
When an element is clicked, it is adjusted to have the best quality possible based on the criteria
specified in the qualityindex panel.
When you click a red element, it may become yellow or the background color (no color assigned). When
you click a yellow element, it may become the background color (no color assigned).
5. Click return.
Step 12: Add a ring of radial elements around the smaller of the two holes.
1. Click the Utility tab. If the Utility Menu is not displayed in the HyperMesh session, go to View menu
and check Utility Menu.
2. On the Geom/Mesh page, click Add Washer.
3. With the nodes selector active, select one node on the edge of the smaller hole as indicated in the
following image.
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Example node to select
4. Click proceed.
A pop-up window for Add Washer along a Circular Hole utility appears.
5. Toggle to Width, and for Value specify 3.0.
6. Select the Minimum number of nodes around the hole check box.
7. In the Density: field, enter 12.
Add Washer along a Circular Hole dialog
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8. Click Add.
9. Click Close.
The mesh around the hole should look like the mesh in the following image.
Resulting mesh around the smaller hole
Step 13 (Optional): Save your work.
With this exercise completed, you can save the model if desired.
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Penetration - HM-3320
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Run the penetration check
Review the intersection results
Fix the intersection results
Interrogate the penetration results
Fix the penetration results
Tools
The penetration feature can be accessed in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Components, then Penetration
From the Tool page, go to the penetration panel
The penetration panel allows you to check the integrity of your model, visualize problem areas, and fix the
problem areas. The three entities that can be checked are elements, components and groups. Typically,
the group check would be for checking contact definitions (for example, Abaqus/LS-DYNA).
This panel allows you to check components for element penetration and intersection. More importantly, you
can correct your model. Penetration and intersection can be used individually or collectively. Penetration is
defined as the overlap of the material thickness of shell elements, while intersection is defined as elements
passing completely through one another.
Example of penetration
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Example of intersection
Strategy
Use the following guidelines for conducting checks on models:
Checks can be run on both 2-D and 3-D elements, 2-D elements only, or 3-D elements only.
The include self interference option includes components that bend and pass through themselves.
This occurs rarely and is expensive when running the check. By default, this option is off.
By default the check is set to all interfaces, meaning both intersection and penetration. The
intersections only option and the penetrations only option are available.
The allowable interference depth option allows certain penetrations and intersections to be
ignored if less than the value specified.
An additional option, uniform thickness, allows you to assign a global thickness to all
components.
An additional option, thickness multiplier, allows you to multiply the existing thicknesses in the
model.
When the penetration check is invoked, a new penetration tab is invoked in the browser area.
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The results are displayed in a tree format for ease of display and are split into intersections and penetrations
with the number of components that are clashing in brackets. In the example above, two components are
intersecting and eleven components have material penetration. Expanding each tree will provide more detail
as to which components have failed. The columns (ID, Elems, Depth, Comps) provide valuable information
on which components' IDs are involved, the number of failed elements, the depth of penetration (not
applicable for intersections), and number of components affected in the penetration/intersection. Each of the
columns can be sorted by clicking the column header. At the bottom of the tab area there is a message bar
which will detail the status of the check, the number of failed elements, and any warnings and errors as the
checks are invoked.
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You can also click the right mouse button to access all of the options and tools within the penetration and
intersection check. The context menu will invoke and will provide the option to fix either penetrations or
intersections, depending on whether the penetration parent/child folder or intersection folder has been
highlighted.
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The options button allows for the configuration of the display, automatic fixing (intersections and
penetrations), and depenetration vector and configuration of the tree display.
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The fixing of penetrations and intersections falls into two categories: automatic and manual. These
capabilities will be discussed in more detail in the tutorial.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, penetration_check.hm.
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Step 1: Retrieve the model file, penetration_check.hm.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File, then click click Open....
2. Browse to the file, penetration_check.hm and click Open.
3. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then click User Profiles.
4. Select LsDyna.
This model is an LS-DYNA model, therefore, it is important to chose the appropriate user profile so that
HyperMesh can access the actual thickness values of the shell components. The thickness values are
required for material penetration check.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).
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Step 2: Run the penetration check.
1. Go to the penetration panel.
2. To invoke the penetration check, select all the components by clicking comps.
3. Click comps on the right-hand side of the panel, click all, and click select.
4. Click check.
Once the check has completed, the Penetration tab populates. In this example, there are two
intersections and 11 penetrations. Expanding the tree the results will display the following:
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The tree is populated by a parent/child or master/slave relationship. As an example looking at the
intersections, the top line shows the component, Rocker Fwd Top Panel RH (parent), and then below is
component, Rocker Inner Panel RH (child). It is important to understand that there is always a
reciprocal relationship; the second entry is Rocker Inner Panel RH (parent) and then the component,
Rocker Fwd Top Panel RH (child). In this case there is a one-to-one relationship. It is especially
important to understand this when there is a one-to-many relationship (for example, Rocker Inner Panel
RH under penetrations). Clickingthe parent component will always show that component plus all the
components below (children). Clicking a child component will show that component with the parent
component only.
Step 3: Review the intersection results.
1. In the Penetration tab, click the Intersections heading to view all the intersections.
Based on which mode is chosen, certain components are displayed on the screen.
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Mode Description
Fit View to Failed Elements
Display All Elements
Display Components with Failed Elements
Display Only Failed Elements
2. Ensure that Display Components with Failed Elements and Fit View to Failed Elements are
selected.
3. Under Intersections, click the component Rocker Inner Panel RH. The screen will automatically fit to
the failed intersecting elements.
4. Click Review Failed Elements ( ) to review the other visualization modes. The contour and vector
displays are only applicable to intersections. The intersecting elements display as follows:
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Step 4: Fix the intersection results.
HyperMesh includes two methods of fixing penetrations: manual and automatic. To fix intersections
manually:
1. Under Intersections, click the component, Rocker Fwd Top Panel RH.
2. Click Manual Fix Tools ( ) to ensure that the intersecting entities can be fixed.
Additional buttons populate for intersection fixing.
3. Ensure Elements from Tree Selection is selected you will not pick any additional elements.
4. Ensure Move in Normal Direction is selected for the direction of movement.
5. For distance value, enter 2.
6. Click the left arrow button twice and notice the selected elements moving in the chosen direction.
After the elements have been moved by a value of 4, they no longer intersect.
7. Click Recheck ( ) and notice there are no intersections. Only 11 penetrations remain.
Important
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A dialog box displays that states: "Current results will be lost by rechecking the model. Would you like to
continue?" Click Yes. The penetration tab needs to be refreshed.
Alternatively, you can use the automatic fixing tools:
1. Load the file, penetration_check.hm, again.
2. Go to the penetration panel.
3. To invoke the penetration check, select all the components by clicking comps.
4. Click comps on the right-hand side of the panel, click all, and click select.
5. Run the check on all components
6. Highlight the Intersections directory in the Penetration browser.
Notice that there are currently two intersections.
7. Right-click to invoke the context-sensitive menu. Choose Automatic Recursive Intersection Fix
the wrenches will turn green indicating that the fix was successful. The Automatic Recursive
Intersection Fix will run through all passes automatically, the Automatic Intersection Fix will run
through one pass at a time (most fixes will require multiple passes).
8. Run the Recheck the intersections have been fixed.
Step 5: Interrogate the penetration results.
1. Expand the penetration tree.
2. Click component, C-Pillar Bot Inner Panel RH.
The penetration results will look as follows:
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3. Click the visualization options, , to view the different types of results display for the
penetration.
Remember that the columns can be sorted. For example, if you were only interested in the worst
offending penetrations then sorting by the depth column will reorganize the tree structure (while still
retaining the parent/child relationship).
In this particular example, for component C-Pillar Bot Inner Panel RH, there are 18 elements that have
failed (parent and child), the maximum penetration depth is 0.159, and there is only one component
penetrating.
Step 6: Fix the penetration results.
Within the checking tool there is an automatic penetration fix that will remove the penetrations within the
model. This works by physically moving the failed nodes to new locations to remove the material penetration.
There are two options: automatic penetration fix and automatic recursive penetration fix. Both will do
the same thing, but the automatic option often requires you to use it several times successively to eliminate
all penetrations, while the automatic recursive completes the fix in one click. However, the iterative option
will take longer to complete, because it is essentially automatically repeating the automatic fix until it
reaches a point at which no further improvements can be made. You also have the option to either fix
individual penetrations by clicking on a single parent branch of the tree, or fix all penetrations at once by
clicking and highlighting the complete Penetrations tree.
In some circumstances, there may be the need to lock or freeze a component that cannot be adjusted or
moved by the fixing tool. This can be achieved by right-clicking and selecting Lock Component. Once a
component is locked, a symbol will appear by the folder indicating that the component is locked.
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In the previous example, component C-Pillar Bot Inner Panel RH was locked, notice how the lock symbol
appears multiple times to correspond with the multiple references to the same component. To unlock, right-
click again and select Unlock Component. For the purpose of this tutorial you will not be using the lock
functionality.
To fix the penetrations in the model we will use the Iterative Fix:
1. Click Penetrations at the top of the tree. See the following image.
2. Right-click to bring up the menu and then click Automatic Recursive Penetration Fix.
Important:
A dialog box states, "Model changes to specific tree items are not possible once process is
initiated. The Penetration tab will appear and disappear repeatedly during the process. Would you
like to continue?" Click Yes.
After the process has finished, note that the majority of the penetrations have been fixed. Three
penetrations remain which require manual editing to fix.
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Assembly
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Creating Connectors - HM-3400
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Weld the two front trusses to each other by creating connectors at pre-defined weld points
Weld the two front trusses to the reinforcement plate by creating connectors between shell elements
Weld the right rails to each other and to the front trusses by creating connectors from a master
connectors file
Update weld type of NASTRAN/OPTISTRUCT ACM (area contact method) welds, which already
connect the rear trusses to each other, by first creating connectors from these welds and then
realizing the connectors into two-noded weld elements.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, frame_assembly.hm. Weld the two front trusses by creating
connectors between geometry surfaces at pre-defined weld points.
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Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
1. Open the model file, frame_assembly.hm.
2. Take a few moments to observe the model using various visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
3. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then User Profiles....
4. Select RADIOSS, then Bulk Data.
5. Click OK to load the user profile.
Step 2: Display only the assembly assem_1 for elements and geometry.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. Select Model view ( ) in the Model browser and expand the Assembly Hierarchy tree.
3. Right-click entity selection ( ) and select Elements and Geometry ( ).
This turns on/off both elements and geometry when performing right-click operations in the Model
browser.
4. Right-click assem_1 and select Isolate.
This will only display the components that are in the assem_1 assembly.
Step 3: Load the Connector browser.
1. Go to the View menu and select Connector Browser.
2. Review the layout of the Connector browser.
The Connector browser allows users to view and manage the connectors in their model. The top
portion of the browser is called the component window and it contains a listing of the components being
connected with the connectors. The lower portion is called the connector window and it contains a list of
the connectors in the model. The connectors will be grouped based on the type of connection.
Currently there are no components or connectors listed because there are no connectors in the model.

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Step 4: Create welds between the geometry for the two front trusses at the pre-
defined weld points.
There are two methods for creating connectors: automatic and manual. The automatic approach creates and
realizes connectors automatically. The manual approach allows you to create the connector manually, and
then realize the connector manually. Realization is the process in which the connector creates the weld
entity.
To create connectors automatically, access the spot, bolt, seam, and area panels within the connectors
module. To create connectors manually, go to the create and realize sub-panels.
1. Access the spot panel in one of the following ways:
Right-click in the Connector browser in the Connector window and select Create >>Spot
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select the connectors module, and then select spot
At the bottom of the Connector browser click spot ( )
2. Access the spot sub-panel.
3. Verify that the current component is Con_Frt_Truss.
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4. Switch the location: entity selector to points.
5. Select the six pre-defined weld points by selecting points >>by collector and selecting the component
Con_Frt_Truss.
6. Click select.
7. For connect what:, click comps and select the components Front_Truss_1 and Front_Truss_2.
8. Click select.
9. For connect what:, toggle elems to geom.
10. For tolerance =specify 5. The connector will connect any selected entities within this distance of itself.
11. For type=, select weld.
12. Click create.
13. Click return.

The six connectors are automatically created and realized (notice the message in the status bar). The green
connectors indicate that the creation of the weld entity was successful. The connectors are organized as
geometry (not elements) in the current component collector, Con_Frt_Truss.

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There are three states of connectors: realized (green ), unrealized (yellow ), and failed (red ). The
color of the connectors change from yellow to green (if created manually), indicating they are realized into
weld elements. As mentioned before, if created automatically they will be green immediately as there is no
interim unrealized (yellow) state.
Fixed points were added to the surfaces at the ends of the weld elements to guarantee connectivity between
the weld elements and the shell mesh that will be created on the surfaces.

Weld element with fixed points created on the surfaces
Step 5: Review the Connector browser.
1. In the Connector window in the Connector browser, click the +next to RBAR.
This contains a listing of the six connectors just created. They are all grouped under RBAR because
that is the type of connector created. Notice the ID of the connector under Entities, the Links of the
connector, and the State of the connector. You may need to increase the size of the tab area to the
right to see the State column.
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2. In the Component window in the Connector browser, right-click Front_Truss_1 and select Find.
This isolates this component in the graphics area. It also highlights the six connectors in the Connector
window to indicate that these connectors have Front_Truss_1 as a link.

3. Right-click Front_Truss_1 again, and this time select Find Attached.
This will find the components that are attached to Front_Truss_1 through connectors. Notice that
Front_Truss_1 and Front_Truss_2 are now both highlighted in the component window to indicate that
they have been displayed in the graphics area.
Step 6: Create a shell mesh on the two front truss components.
1. Press F12 to go to the automesh panel.
2. Access the size and bias sub-panel.
3. Select the mesh mode automatic. (It currently may be interactive.)
4. Select surfs >>displayed.
5. For elem size =, specify 10.
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6. For mesh type, select mixed.
7. Verify that the toggle is set to elems to surf comp. (It currently may be elems to current comp.)
8. Click mesh to mesh the surfaces.
9. Zoom into the area with a connector and see how the fixed point created from the weld has ensured the
mesh seeding passes through the weld.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 7: Display only the assembly assem_2 for elements and geometry.
Weld the two front trusses to the reinforcement plate by creating connectors between shell elements at pre-
defined weld points.

Weld the two front trusses to the reinforcement plate.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. At the top of the browser window, verify that Elements and Geometry ( ) is the current selection
type.
3. Right-click assem_2 and select Isolate.
Step 8: Create connectors between the shell mesh for the front trusses and the
reinforcement plate at pre-defined points.
Perform the following steps to create and realize the connectors manually.
1. On the status bar, click Set Current Component and set the current collector to Con_Truss_Plate.
2. Go to the Connector tab in the tab area.
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3. Right-click in the connector window and select Create >>Spot.
4. Access the create sub-panel.
5. For location:, select points.
6. Select points >>by collector and select the component Con_Truss_Plate.
7. Click select.
8. For connect what:, select the following components:
Front_Truss_1
Front_Truss_2
Reinf_Plate
9. Click select.
10. For connect what:, toggle geom to elems.
11. Verify that num layers is set to total 2.
12. Verify that connect when: is set to now.
13. Click create to create connectors at the selected weld points.
Notice that the status bar says "8 spot connectors created with comps and links." The connectors are
organized into the current component collector, Con_Truss_Plate.

14. Notice in the Connector browser's connector window that these eight connectors are currently grouped
as undefined and that the color of the connectors is yellow to indicate they are unrealized.
15. Click the +next to undefined and notice the status of the eight connectors is unrealized. In the next
step, you will realize the connectors and assign a connector type.
Step 9: Realize the connectors in the component Con_Truss_Plate into weld
elements.
1. Go to the realize sub-panel.
2. Select connectors >>displayed.
3. For type=, select weld.
4. For tolerance =, enter 5.
5. Verify the selection is set to mesh dependent from mesh independent.
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When the option mesh dependent is active, if the realized finite element of the connector is coincident
to a node of the shell mesh it is being connected to, the nodes are equivalenced. If there are no suitable
nodes present, this option will partition the mesh accordingly to ensure the mesh seeding passes
through the weld point.
6. Click realize to realize the selected connectors into weld elements.

7. Review the Connector browser. Notice the following:
Reinf_Plate is now a component listed in the component window.
The eight connectors that were just realized are now grouped under RBAR in the connector
window instead of undefined as we just assigned the connector type.
8. Zoom into the eight connectors that were just realized. Notice how the mesh was partitioned to ensure
the mesh seeding passed through the weld points.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
The two front trusses welded to the reinforcement plate with weld elements at the connectors
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Weld the two right rails to each other and to the two front trusses by creating connectors from a master connectors file.
Step 10: Display only the assembly assem_3 for elements and geometry.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. At the top of the browser window, verify that Elements and Geometry ( ) is the current selection
type.
3. Right-click assem_3 and select Isolate.
Step 11: Create connectors to connect the right rails to each other and to the front
trusses by importing a master connectors file.
1. Access the Import tab in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select File, then select Import....
In the standard toolbar, select Import ( ).
2. At the top of the browser window, select the Import connectors icon.
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3. For File type, select Connectors.
4. Click file ( ) and import the file, rails_frt_truss.mwf.
5. Click Import.
It will take a few seconds for the connectors to be imported. The connectors are automatically created
and are organized into the new component, CE_Locations.
6. Click close to close the Import tab.
Step 12: Realize the connectors in the component CE_Locations into weld
elements.
1. In the status bar, click set current component and set the current component collector to
CE_Locations.
2. Click the Connector Tab.
3. Right-click in the connector window and select Create >>Spot.
4. Access the realize sub-panel.
5. Select connectors >>displayed.
6. Verify type=is set to weld.
7. Verify tolerance =is set to 5.
8. Verify mesh dependant is selected.
9. Click realize to realize the selected connectors into weld elements.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.

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Right rails welded to each other and to the front trusses with weld elements at the connectors

Weld to the two front trusses by duplicating and reflecting selected connectors created from the master connectors file
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Step 13: Display only the assembly assem_4 for elements and geometry.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. At the top of the browser window, verify that Elements and Geometry ( ) is the current selection
type.
3. Right-click assem_4 and select Isolate.
Step 14: Create a new component collector to hold new connectors.
1. Enter the component collectors panel by one of the following ways:
From the collectors toolbar, click Components ( )
From the Menu Bar, select Collectors, then select Create and then select Components
2. Verify you are in the create sub-panel.
3. For name =specify CE_Locations_Dup.
4. Select a color for the component.
5. Toggle property=to no property.
6. Click create to create the component.
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 15: Duplicate the connectors created from the master connectors file and
reflect them.
1. Enter the reflect panel by one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Connectors, then select Reflect and then select Connectors
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select reflect
2. Verify the entity selector is set to connectors.
3. Using the Model browser, turn on and display the component, CE_Locations.
4. Select connectors >>by collector and select CE_Locations.
5. Click connectors >>duplicate >>current comp.
The displayed connectors are duplicated and the duplicates are organized into the current component,
CE_Locations_Dup.
6. Set the plane selector to x-axis.
This is the axis normal to the plane of interest.
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7. Click B twice to specify a base node to reflect about.
8. Click x=.
The fields for x=, y=, and z=are activated. By default, their value is 0.000, which is the base point you
want to reflect about.
9. Click return to return to the reflect panel.
10. Click reflect to reflect the connectors.
11. Click return to return to the main menu.
Notice the connectors are unrealized (yellow).
Step 16: Update the connectors for the left rails to link them to the left rail
components.
1. Enter the Connector browser.
2. Expand the folder for RBAR in the connector window.
3. Click State to sort the connectors by their state.
You may need to increase the size of the tab area to the right to see the State column. Notice how all
the realized connectors are now at the top of the list.
4. Click State again so that all the unrealized connectors are at the top of the list.
5. Left-click the first connector in the list under the Entities column. Scroll down to the last unrealized
connector in the list. While holding the SHIFT button, left-click the last unrealized connector in the list.
This will select all the unrealized connectors in the list. Verify that this is the case.
6. Right-click under Entities and select Update Link. This brings up the update window under the
connector window in the Connector browser.
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7. Review the entries in the Link1 and Link2 columns.
8. Notice that the connectors have the links comp Right_Rail_1 and comp Right_Rail_2. This data is from
the master connectors file that you imported. These links need to be updated to reflect the two left rails.
9. Set Link Type to comps under Search in the update window.
10. Click in Link Select under Search. This brings up a component selector in the panel area.
11. Click component and select the component, Right_Rail_1.
12. Click proceed. This updates the Connector browser so now the Link Select is set to Right_Rail_1
under Search.
13. Set Link Type to comps under Replace.
14. Click in Link Select under Replace. This brings up a component selector in the panel area.
15. Click component and select the component, Left_Rail_1.
16. Click proceed. This updates the Connector browser so now the Link Select is set to Left_Rail_1
under Replace.
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17. Click Update to update the connectors' links.
18. Repeat 16.9 through 16.19, except search for the Right_Rail_2 component and replace it with the
Left_Rail_2 component.
19. Scroll through the list of unrealized connectors to make sure that no connector is linked to the right rail
components.
20. Click the X next to Update to close the Update window.
Step 17: Realize the connectors in the component CE_Locations_Dup into weld
elements.
1. Go to the spot: realize sub-panel.
2. Select connectors >>by collector and select the component, CE_Locations_Dup.
3. Verify type=is set to weld.
4. Verify tolerance =is set to 5.
5. Click mesh dependent option is active.
6. Click realize to realize the selected connectors into weld elements.
Step 18: Verify that all connectors are realized and identify the pairs of adjacent
connectors.
1. In the connector window of the Connector browser, verify that the RBAR folder is expanded.
2. Scroll through all the connectors. Note that the State column indicates that all of the connectors are
realized.
3. Zoom into one of the two areas where the front trusses are connected to the rail components.
Note that at these two areas, there are pairs of adjacent connectors.
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4. Click Visualization Options ( ) from the visualization toolbar.
5. On the Connectors page, select Layer for the Color by: option.
6. While still in the Visualization tab, notice under Layers that 2t (two thickness) is purple.
The connectors are now colored purple. This means each of these connectors link two components.
Because the pairs of connectors create a series of two weld elements, you can combine each pair into a
single connector, which links the three components together.
7. Click close to close the Visualization tab.
Step 19: Isolate the pairs of adjacent 2t connectors identified in the previous step.
1. From the Model browser, turn off the display for all geometry components.
2. Enter the find panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Edit, then Find
From the main menu, select the Tool page, then select find
3. Select the between sub-panel.
4. Switch the entity type to find to connectors.
5. Switch the entity selector to comps.
6. Select the components Front_Truss_1 and Front_Truss_2.
7. Click select.
8. Click find to find the six connectors between these components.
9. Next to the comps selector, click to reset the selection.
10. Select the components, Front_Truss_1 and Right_Rail_1.
11. Click find to find the three connectors between these components.
12. Click .
13. Select the components Front_Truss_1 and Left_Rail_1.
14. Click find to find the three connectors between these components.
15. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 20: Unrealize the displayed connectors.
1. Access the unrealize panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Connectors, then Unrealize
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From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select connectors, then select unrealize
2. Select connectors >>displayed.
Notice the status bar displays "9 connectors added by 'displayed'. Total selected 9."
3. Click unrealize to unrealize the connectors.
The weld elements associated to these connectors are deleted.
4. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 21: Combine the pairs of adjacent 2t connectors into 3t connectors.
1. Enter the connector quality panel by doing one of the following:
From the Menu Bar, select Connectors, then select Check, then Connector Quality
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select connectors, then quality
2. In the connectors (unrealized) sub-panel, select connectors >>displayed.
3. For tolerance =specify 5.
4. Click preview combine.
The status bar displays the message, "6 connector(s) found that need to be combined."
5. Click combine to combine the connectors.
The status bar displays the message, "3 connectors deleted." Also notice that the connectors have now
turned a dark blue color to indicate that they have 3 layers.
6. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 22: Realize the 3t connectors in the component Con_Frt_Truss into weld
elements.
1. Set the current component to Con_Frt_Truss.
2. Enter the spot: realize sub-panel.
3. Select connectors >>displayed.
4. Verify element config: is set to weld.
5. Verify tolerance =is set to 5.
6. Toggle mesh dependent option to be active.
7. Click realize to realize the connectors.
8. Click in the Connector browser. Scroll down through the list in the connector window to see that there
are now three links for the six connectors we just updated.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
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10. Click Visualization Options ( ) from the visualization toolbar.
11. On the Connectors page, select State for the Color by: option.
Step 23: Display only the assembly assem_5 for elements and geometry.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. At the top of the browser window, verify that Elements and Geometry ( ) is the current selection
type.
3. Right-click assem_5 and select Isolate.
Step 24: Create connectors from existing ACM welds.
Use the fe absorb panel to obtain connectors from the existing ACM welds (elements) in the component,
Con_Rear_Truss.
1. Enter the Automated Connector Creation and FE Absorption dialog in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Connectors, then select FE Absorb
At the bottom of the Connector browser click FE Absorb GUI ( )
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2. Set FE Configs: to custom.
3. Set FE Type: to optistruct 69-71 acm.
4. Toggle Elem filter: from All to Select.
5. Click the Elem filter: Elements selector twice.
A HyperMesh panel menu with an elems selector appears.
6. Select elems >>by collector and select the component, Con_Rear_Truss.
7. Click proceed to return to the dialog.
8. Activate the Move connectors to FE component option.
9. Click Absorb to absorb the elements into connectors.
Connectors are generated at the locations of the ACM welds. They are realized and are 2t connectors.
Also, the connectors are organized into the Con_Rear_Truss, the same component to which the ACMs
belong.
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10. Click Close to close the dialog.
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Creating Area Connectors - HM-3410
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Apply an adhesive connection to the left rails.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, frame_assembly_1.hm. Area connectors must be meshed in order to
work properly. When the connectors location is existing FE mesh elems, the connector automatically gets
meshed to match the elements chosen. However, after creating an area connector on surfs, lines, or along
nodes, you must then use the automesh options (which display when you select one of these locations
types) to create a mesh on the connector area.
area Create and realize bolt connectors in a single process.
create Create, but do not realize, area connectors.
realize Create FE representations of previously-created area connectors.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
1. Open the model file, frame_assembly_1.hm.
2. Take a few moments to observe the model using various visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
3. Go to the Preferences menu, click User Profiles....
4. Select RADIOSS, then Bulk Data.
5. Click OK to load the user profile.
Step 2: Load the Connector browser.
1. Go to the View menu and click Connector browser.
2. Review the layout of the Connector browser.
The Connector browser allows users to view and manage the connectors in their model. The top
portion of the browser is called the Component window and it contains a listing of the components
being connected with the connectors. The lower portion is called the Connector window and it contains
a list of the connectors in the model. The connectors will be grouped based on the type of connection.
Currently there are no components or connectors listed because there are no connectors in your model.
Step 3: Create an adhesive connection between component Left_Rail_1 and
Left_Rail_2 on the top flange.
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1. From the Model browser, display only the elements for components, Left_Rail_1 and Left_Rail_2.
2. Zoom into an area displaying the two flanges and inspect the elements to be joined.
3. Create a new component by right-clicking in the Model browser and select Create >>Component.
4. Name the new component Left_Rail_Adhesive.
Ensure the new component is the current component.
5. Access the area panel in one of the following ways:
Right-click in the Connector browser in the connector window and select Create >>Area.
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select the connectors module, then select area.
At the bottom of the Connector browser click area ( ). Access the area sub-panel.
6. Verify that location: is set to elems.
7. Pick one element on the top flange of Left_Rail_1.
The element should be highlighted.
8. Click elems and select the by face option the whole flange should be highlighted.
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9. For connect what:, select comps and pick Left_Rail_1 and Left_Rail_2.
10. Click select.
11. Set tolerance=10. The connector will connect any selected entities within this distance of itself.
12. Click type=and select adhesives.
13. Verify that the adhesive type is set to shell gap this option projects directly to the shell component
and takes no account of the thickness of the shell components.
14. Click create.
15. Inspect the new adhesive, note that an area connector has been created, and then click return.
16. Access the unrealize panel from the main menu, select the 1D page, select the connectors module,
then select unrealize.
17 Select the previously created connector.
18 Click unrealize.
19 Click return.
20. Access the area panel again in one of the following ways:
Right-click in the Connector browser in the Connector window and select Create >>Area.
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select the connectors module, then select area.
At the bottom of the Connector browser click area ( ). Access the realize sub-panel.
21 Click connectors and select the unrealized, yellow connector.
22. Verify that the adhesive type is set to (T1+T2)/2 (instead of shell gap) and increase the density=3.
This type takes into account the thickness of each shell part and increases the number of hexas through
thickness from 1 to 3.
23. Click realize.
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For the other set of flanges you will manually create an area connector and mesh it accordingly.
Step 4: Create an adhesive connection between component Left_Rail_1 and
Left_Rail_2 on the bottom flange.
1. Verify that you are still in the area panel.
2. Access the area sub-panel.
3. Select nodes for the location.
4. Click node list and select by path.
5. Select the row of nodes on the outer flange on part, Left_Rail_1 by first selecting the left most node on
the bottom flange of Left_Rail_1 and then selecting the right-most node on the bottom flange.
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5. Define width =10.
6. Define offset =3.
7. Select comps Left_Rail_1 and Left_Rail_2.
8. Click select.
9. Click create.
The default mesh size for these mesh independent area connectors (when choosing by nodes/lines/
surfs) is 10. However, you can specify a different elem size if needed.
10. Go to the edit sub-panel.
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11. Select the newly created area connector.
12. Select the element size= 3.
13. Click mesh.
Note the connector unrealizes if there is a pre-exising mesh.
14. Access the realize sub-panel.
15. Select the connector.
16. Change the type from (T1+T2)/2 to const_thickness and enter 0.3.
17. Click realize.
Inspect the new adhesive created. Note when creating area connectors from elements it will automatically
mesh the area connector using the current mesh. If the area connector is created from nodes, lines, or
surfaces then a manual mesh can be applied if the default is unsuitable from the area sub-panel.
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18. Return to the main menu.
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Creating Bolt Connectors - HM-3420
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Apply a bolted connection to the two rear trusses.
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, frame_assembly_2.hm. The bolt panel creates connectors based on
holes within the connected components, using spiders or washers at each end of an RBE connector. When
the bolt panel is active, only bolt-type connectors display in the graphics area; graphics for other connector
types are suppressed until you exit the panel. The bolt panel contains three sub-panels:
bolt Create and realize bolt connectors in a single process.
create Create, but do not realize, bolt connectors.
realize Create FE representations of previously-created bolt connectors.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
1. Retrieve the model file, frame_assembly_2.hm.
2. Take a few moments to observe the model using various visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
3. Go to the Preferences menu, click User Profiles....
4. Select RADIOSS, then BulkData.
5. Click OK to load the user profile.
Create a bolted connection between the two rear truss parts.
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Step 2: Display only the assembly assem_5 for elements and geometry.
1. Click the Model tab in the tab area. Or, go to the View menu and click Model browser.
2. Select Model View ( ) in the Model browser and expand the Assembly Hierarchy tree.
3. Right-click entity selection ( ) and select Elements and Geometry ( ).
This turns on/off both elements and geometry when performing right-click operations in the Model
browser.
4. Right-click assem_5 and select Isolate.
This will only display the components that are in the assem_5 assembly.
5. Set Con_Rear_Truss to be the current component by right-clicking it in the Model browser and
selecting Make Current.
Step 3: Load the Connector browser.
1. Go to the View menu and click Connector browser.
2. Review the layout of the Connector browser.
The Connector browser allows users to view and manage the connectors in their model. The top
portion of the browser is called the Component window and it contains a listing of the components
being connected with the connectors. The lower portion is called the Connector window and it contains
a list of the connectors in the model. The connectors will be grouped based on the type of connection.
Currently there are no components or connectors listed because there are no connectors in your model.
Step 4: Create a bolt connector.
1. Access the bolt panel in one of the following ways:
Right-click in the Connector browser in the connector window and select Create >>Bolt
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then select the connectors module, and then select bolt
At the bottom of the Connector browser click bolt ( )
2. Verify that location is set to nodes and select the node on the edge of the hole in the component,
Rear_Truss_1.
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3. Click connect what: comps and select Rear_Truss_1 and Rear_Truss_2.
4. Click select.
5. In the tolerance=field, type 50.
The connector will connect any selected entities within this distance of itself.
6. Set type=to bolt (general).
Re-realizing the connector will allow you to see the different bolt types.
7. In the hole diameter: max=field, type to 60 to ensure that the diameter of the picked hole will be
captured.
8. Click create. Ensure the display of the current component is turned on.
9. Click return to access the main menu.
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Bolted connection
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Part Replacement Through Connectors - HM-3430
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Replace the rear truss component, Rear_Truss_1, with a new, similar part and then update the
affected connectors.
Export the connector information
Export the FE deck and view the connector information in the deck
After the modeling of the assembly is complete, a design change might be made to any one of the parts.
When this occurs, you must replace the current part(s) in the model with the new, similar one(s) and update
the affected connections (welds).
Exercise
This exercise uses the model file, frame_assembly_3.hm. A new part is needed in the assembly. This
exercise will illustrate how to delete the original component, import the new part, and update the
connections. You will also export the connector information to a single file. Then you will also export the
entire FE input deck and observe how the connector information is preserved.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
1. Open the model file, frame_assembly_3.hm.
2. Take a few moments to observe the model using various visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation,
zooming, etc.).
3. From the Menu Bar, select Preferences, then select User Profiles.
4. Select RADIOSS, then BulkData.
5. Click OK to set the user profile.
Step 2: Load the Connector browser.
1. Go to the View menu and click Connector browser.
2. Review the layout of the Connector browser.
The Connector browser allows users to view and manage the connectors in their model. The top
portion of the browser is called the Component window and it contains a listing of the components
being connected with the connectors. The lower portion is called the Connector window and it contains
a list of the connectors in the model. The connectors will be grouped based on the type of connection.
Step 3: Import rear_truss_1_new.hm to set up the link update.
1. From the Model browser, isolate the component Rear_Truss_1.
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2. Access the Import tab in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select File, then select Import...
From the Standard Toolbar, select Import ( )
3. At the top of the browser window, select Import HM model.
4. Click file ( ), and import the file, rear_truss_1_new.hm.
5. Click Import.
The rear_truss_1_new is on top of the rear_truss_1.
Step 4: Using the Connector browser, update the connector links to the new
component.
1. In the Component window of the Connector browser, right-click Rear_Truss_1 and then click Find
Attached.
2. Right-click any of the highlighted connector names in the Connector browser and click Update Link.
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3. Click the field in the Search column for Link Select.
4. Click component and select Rear_Truss_1.
5. Click proceed to select the component.
6. Click the field in the Replace column for Link Select.
7. Click component and select Rear_Truss_1.1.
8. Click proceed to select the component.
9. Click Update to update the connector links.
Step 5: Realize the connectors in the component Con_Rear_Truss.
1. Set the current component to Con_Rear_Truss.
2. Enter theSpot panel by clicking spot ( ) at the bottom of the Connector browser.
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3. Access the realize sub-panel.
4. Select connectors >>displayed.
5. Verify that type=: is set to weld.
6. Verify that tolerance =is set to 5.
7. Toggle the mesh dependent option.
8. Click realize to realize the connectors.
9. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 6: Save the connector information to an XML file.
1. At the bottom of the Connector browser, click Export connectors (XML) ( ).
2. A dialog will open. Select the location where you would like to save the XML file and click Save.
3. Open the XML file in a text editor. Inspect the file and observe how the connector information has been
saved. In the future, you can use the XML file to import connectors.
Step 7: Export the finite element deck and observe how the connector information
is preserved.
1. Access the Export tab in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select File, then Export...
From the standard toolbar select Export,
2. At the top of the browser window, select Export FE model.
3. Set File type to RADIOSS.
4. For Template, select Bulk Data standard format.
5. Click file ( ) next to File and select a name and location for the file to be saved to. Be sure to use
the .fem extension.
6. Click next to Export Options to view the additional export options.
7. Make sure the option for Include connectors is checked.
8. Click Export.
9. Open the .fem file you just saved in a text editor. Scroll to the very bottom. This is where all the
connector information has been saved. The information has been saved as comment cards so that when
you run the analysis, the connector information is not read. But when the input deck is importing back
into HyperMesh, the connector information is read.
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Morphing
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Freehand Morphing - HM-3510
Exercise: Translating Nodes to Increase the Length of a Propeller Blade
In this tutorial, you will increase the length of a propeller blade by 100 units, using freehand morphing.
Figure 1: Original blade
Figure 2: Blade after morphing
Step 1: Load the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, propeller.hm.
Step 2: Morph the blade.
1. Go to the move nodes sub-panel in one of the following ways:
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From the Morphing menu, select Free Hand, then select the move nodes sub-panel.
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then freehand, then move nodes.
2. Verify that the morphing method is set to translate.
3. For the translate value, key in z=-100.
4. On the toolbar, left-click User Views ( ).
5. Click restore1.
6. For moving nodes and fixed nodes select the nodes as displayed in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Node and element selections.
7. For affected elements select the elements that lie between fixed nodes and moving nodes.
8. For mv bias and fx bias keep the default value (1.00).
9. Click morph to morph the blade of the propeller.
Summary
The length of the propeller blade has increased by 100. The fixed nodes do not move. The affected elements
were stretched evenly to maintain element quality. The stretching of the elements takes place between the
moving nodes and the fixed nodes.
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Sculpting - HM-3520
Exercise: Conforming a Seat to a Dummy Profile
The objective of this exercise is to take a dummy pelvis profile and imprint it onto a seat.
Figure 1: Seat before and after sculpting
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, dummy_position_solid.hm.
Step 2: Morph the seat.
1. Access the sculpting sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Free Hand, then select the sculpting sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then freehand, then sculpting
2. Change the sculpting tool to mesh.
3. For the sculpting tool:, chose the elements in the collector dummy (Figure 2).
4. For affected elements: chose the elements in the collector seat (Figure 2).
5. For the base point as well as the node list, chose a node on the dummy (Figure 2).
6. Define a sculpt direction for your seat using N1 N2 (Figure 2).
7. Set your taper angle to 85 (degrees).
8. Verify that mesh compression is set to compress by factor.
9. Set mesh compr=(factor) to 0.5.
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Figure 2: Setting up the model for morphing
10. Click push to complete the morphing operation.
Figure 3: Seat after sculpting
11. Review the obtained mesh quality.
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Summary
Using just a few steps you have been able to take a fairly complicated profile and impose it on to another
mesh.
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Changing a Curvature Using Map to Geometry - HM-3530
Exercise: Changing the Curvature of a Bumper to a Curved Line
In this exercise, you will use the line difference approach to morph a bumper to conform to a new section
line.
Figure 1: Bumper before and after morphing
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, bumper_morphing.hm.
Step 2: Morph the bumper.
1. Access the map to geom panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu select Map to Geometry
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then map to geom
2. Change the geometry selector to line difference.
3. Select the from line and the to line as shown in figure 2.
4. Toggle the morphing entity (2
nd
column) from map domains to map nodes.
5. Select nodes >>displayed.
6. Use no fixed nodes (2
nd
column, 2
nd
row).
7. Use map by line axis morphing with a 1.0 mvbias and fxbias (column 3).
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Figure 2: The from line and the to line
8. Click map.
Summary
The profile of the bumper is changed to follow the new section line.
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Changing a Profile Using Map to Sections - HM-3540
Exercise: Changing the Profile of the Roof of a Car
In this tutorial, you will use map to sections to change the profile of the car roof.
Figure 1: Car model.
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, car_section.hm.
Step 2: Morph the roof.
1. Access the map to geom panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu select Map to Geometry
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then map to geom
2. Change the mapping section type to map to sections.
3. Under map to sections, toggle lines to line list.
4. Switch map domains to map elements (2
nd
column).
5. Toggle no fixed nodes to fixed nodes (2
nd
column).
6. Keep blend all option selected.
7. Keep rotate nodes active.
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8. Keep the 3
rd
column selector set to map by line normal.
9. Click first line list button and select Line A and Line B on the model.
10. Under to click the second line list button and select Line A and Line B on the model.
Lines should be selected in the same order.
11. Under map to elements click the elems button and select elements by collector.
12. Pick collector Roof.
13. Click select.
14. From the toolbar click User Views ( ). A pop-up window will appear. Select the right view.
15. Under fixed nodes click nodes >>by window and select all the nodes as shown in figure 2.
16. Click select entities.
17. Click map.
Figure 2: Selection for fixed nodes
Summary
The roof of the car has been morphed while the mesh quality has been maintained.
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Morph Volume - HM-3550
Exercise: Changing the Shape of the B-pillar with the Help of Morph Volume
This exercise shows how to smoothly change the shape of a B-pillar via morph volumes.
Figure 1: B-Pillar before and after morphing
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, body_side.hm.
Step 2: Create morph volumes.
1. Access the morph volumes >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to create and select Morph Volumes
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes
2. Switch the creation method to pick on screen.
3. For handle placement, select corners only.
4. Keep the auto-tangent check box selected.
5. Draw a window by clicking at the four places shown in Figure 2.
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Figure 2: Points for creating the morph volume
Note: A morph volume is created, enclosing the area.
Step 3: Split the morph volumes.
1. Access the Morph volumes >split/combine sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to create and select Morph Volumes, then select split/combine
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select split/combine
2. Verify the split toggle is set to split mvols : by edges
3. Select an edge of the morph volume close to location 1 (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Locations to split the morph volume
The green colored cross moves to the location of the black dot.
4. Click split.
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The morph volume is split into two. Follow the same steps to create another split at location2.
Step 4: Change the profile of the b-pillar.
1. Access the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu point to Morph and select move handles
On the Tool page, go to HyperMorph, then select morph, then select move handles
2. Set the morphing method to translate.
3. For direction use along X, Y, Z.
4. Key in the following values:
X =0
Y =100.00
Z =0
5. Select the eight handles by window as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Select handles for morphing
6. Click morph.
Rotate the model to observe that the b-pillar is morphed.
Summary
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The b-pillar is morphed in a smooth fashion with minimum distortion to the elements.
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Basics of Domains and Handles - HM-3560
Exercise: Using Domains and Handles
In this exercise you will create domains and handles, and morph the model.
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open and review the HyperMesh model morphing_1.hm.
Step 2: Auto generate 2-D domains and handles.
1. Access the domains >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu point to Create and select Domains
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains
2. Change the create method to auto functions.
3. Click generate.
Based on the models geometric features, all of the models elements are organized into various domains
and local handles are created and associated with the domains.
Step 3: Move elements into a new 2-D domain.
1. Go to the domains >create sub-panel.
2. Set the selector to 2D domains.
3. Click to clear the elements that were already selected.
4. Using elems >>by window, select the elements indicated in figure 1.
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Figure 1: Elements to select to move into a new domain
5. Verify that partition 2D domains is active.
6. Click create to create the domain.
Local handles are created for the new domain. You should now have two local domains. Elements can
only belong to one domain at a time. Thus, the elements you selected were moved into the new domain.
This functionality makes it very easy to group elements into different domains.
Step 4: Split the edge domain of the radius to have more control when morphing.
1. Go to the domains >edit edges sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu point to Create and select domains, then select edit edges
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains, then select edit edges
2. Verify that the split option is selected.
3. With the domain selector active, select the edge domain of the parts radius as indicated in the Figure
2.
The node selector automatically becomes active once the edge domain is selected. Click the domain
selector to make it active and see that you selected the desired edge domain.
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Figure 2: Edge domain to select
4. Click the node selector to make it active.
5. Select the node on the positive Y-axis end of the radius, as indicated in the image Figure 3.
Figure 3: Node selection to split the edge domain of the radius
6. Click split to split the edge domain at the node.
7. Repeat the above process to further split the edge domain of the radius, this time at the node indicated in
the Figure 4.
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Figure 4: Node selection to further split the edge domain of the radius
8. When complete, click return to exit the panel.
Step 5: Add local handles to the 2-D domain on the parts left side.
1. Go to the handles >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, and click Create, then select Handles
On the Tool page go to HyperMorph, then select handles
2. For name=, enter local.
3. Click the attached to: domain selector to make it active.
4. Select the 2-D domain on the parts left side by selecting its red icon, as indicated in the following
image.
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Figure 5: Adding handles to a 2-D domain
5. Click the by nodes: nodes selector to make it active.
6. Select the two nodes as indicated in the previous image.
7. Click create to create the handles and add them to the 2-D domain.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 6: Perform basic morphing to understand how domains and handles interact
with each other and the mesh.
1. Go to morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Morph, then select move handles
On the Tool page select HyperMorph, then select morph, then select move handles
2. (Optional) With the handles selector active, select the two handles that are on the most positive X-axis
end of the part, as indicated in figure 6.
If you select one or more handle, those handles follow the handle you drag (in Step 6.6, following).
3. Switch from on domains to on plane.
4. Click the N1 selector to make it active.
5. For N1, N2, and N3, select any three nodes on the model to define a plane.
6. Click morph.
7. The message, pick handles and move to new location appears in the status bar.
8. Click on and drag one of the selected handles to morph the part.
9. As you drag the handle, the meshs size and shape is adjusted.
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Notice that the following occurs as the selected local handle is moved:
The handles selected in step 6.2 above follow the handle you are dragging.
All of the elements belonging to the selected local handles 2-D domain are affected by moving that
local handle.
The 2-D domains non-selected local handles act like anchors (they do not move).
The nodes on the edge domains and between any two non-selected local domains do not move.
None of the elements in the other 2-D domain are affected.
10. Release the mouse button to complete the morphing operation.
Figure 6: Example result of morphing the model
11. Click undo.
The HyperMorph module allows for multiple levels of undo and redo for all morphing operations. This
functionality is available for any particular HyperMesh session and its current model as long as the
session and its model remain open.
12. Click to clear the selected handles.
13. (Optional) With the handles selector active, select one or more global handles.
14. Click morph.
15. Click on and drag any global handle to morph the part.
Summary
The following occurs as the selected global handle is moved:
The handles selected in Step 6.2 above follow the handle you are dragging.
The non-selected global handles act like anchors (they do not move).
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All of the elements, local handles and edge domains are affected.
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Altering Cross-Sections Using Domains - HM-3570
Exercise: Increasing the Gauge Thickness of the Spring Wire
In this tutorial, you will use domains and handles to increase the gauge thickness.
Figure 1: Before and after morphing
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, spring.hm.
Step 2: Change the gauge thickness.
1. Access the domains >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then select Domains
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains
2. Switch domain type to 2D domains.
3. Verify elements toggle is set to all elements.
4. Verify that only the partition 2D domains option is active.
5. Click create.
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6. Access the morph >alter dimensions sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Morph, then alter dimensions
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph, then alter dimensions
7. Change the morphing method to radius.
8. Change the center calculation to by normals.
9. Keep all the other settings.
10. For domains (under edge and 2D) select the 2D domain and the two edge domains as shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 2: Domains to select for altering the gauge radius
When the circular edge domain is selected, the radius box populates with the current radius value.
11. In the radius field, type 12.
12. Click morph.
Summary
The gauge thickness of the spring wire is changed from 7.5 to 12.0.
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Morphing About an Axis Using Domains - HM-3580
Exercise: Changing the Radius of the Spring Coil
In this exercise, you will increase the radius of the spring coil.
Figure 1: Before and after morphing
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file, spring.hm.
Step 2: Change the coil radius.
1. Access the domains >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Create, then select Domains
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains
2. Switch domain type to 2D domains.
3. Verify that the elements toggle is set to all elements.
4. Verify that only the partition 2D domains option is active.
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5. Click create.
6. Go to the morph >alter dimensions sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Morph, then the alter dimensions sub-panel.
On the Tool page go to HyperMorph, then select morph, then alter dimensions
7. Change the morphing method to radius.
8. Change the center calculation to by axis.
9. Change the axis to the z-axis.
Figure 2: Domains and base node to select for altering the coil radius
10. For domains (under edge and 2D) select the 2-D domain and the two edge domains.
11. For the base node for the z-axis select the node as shown in Figure 2.
12. Keep the default settings for the remaining options.
13. Activate add to current.
14. In the radius field, type 20.
15. Click morph.
Summary
Twenty units are added to the coil radius.
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Morph Adhesive Layers - HM-3590
Objective
Use morphing to change the thickness of the middle layers of a four-layered solid, while maintaining the
thickness of the outer layers.
Tools
Domains will be created using 3D domains >by component. Thickness will be altered using alter
dimensions.

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Step1: Open the file.
1. Open the file, Morph_Adhesive_Layers.hm.
Step 2: Create domains and handles.
1. From the Morphing menu, pick Create and then pick Domains from the flyout menu.
2. Switch the domain type to 3D domains.
3. Toggle the element selector to all elements.
4. Activate the divide by comps and partition 2D domains options. The panel should appear as in the
following image:
5. Click create to create the domains.
6. Click return to exit the domains panel.
Step 3: Display only the morph faces of interest.
1. Using the Model browser, hide all the components except ^morphface.
2. Mask all ^morphface elements except those on the outer layer and the layer between the Outer comp
and the Adhesive_Outer to leave all the elements shown in the following image.
HINT: Select a couple of elements on the face you want to keep. Select elements >>by face, and then
select elements >>reverse. This will reverse the selection to the elements you do not want and will
allow you to mask those elements with the mask button.
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3. To reduce the number of domains and handles shown on the screen, click the Mask By Config tab.
4. Click the +next to Morphing to expand it.
5. Right-click Local Domains/Handles and pick Morph operates on displayed elements.
6. Click the +in the Show column to display the domains and handles for only the displayed elements.
7. Hide the ^morphface component in the Model browser.
Step 4: Increase the thickness of the outer adhesive layer by 5 units.
1. Click the Morphing menu and pick Morph to open the morph panel.
2. Open the alter dimensions sub-panel.
3. Change the dimension type to radius.
4. Activate the add to current checkbox.
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5. For domains, select the curved edge domains as well as the 2-D domains representing the curved
surfaces as seen in the following image.
6. Set the center calculation to by axis.
7. For the axis, use the z-axis.
8. For B select the temp node that represents the center of the cylinder.
9. In radius=box, change value to 5 units.
10. Click morph.
11. Go to the save shape sub-panel.
12. For name=enter sh1.
13. Switch to as node perturbations.
14. Click save.
15. Click undo all to revert back to the original model configuration.
16. Show all components except the ^morphface component.
17. Go to the apply shapes sub-panel.
18. For shapes select sh1.
19. Click select.
20. Click animate.
This takes you to the Deformed Shape panel.
21. Change the animation scale from model units to scale factor.
22. Set the scale factor to 1.
23. Click linear to start the animation.
24. Once you are done viewing your animation and verifying that it is as intended, you can return to the main
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panel area.
With this step you have successfully completed morphing one of the middle layers of the four-layer model.
Optional: Using the process shown above, increase the thickness of Adhesive_Inner component by 5 units.
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Morph Tube to Different Configurations - HM-3600
Objective
Use morphing to create multiple configurations of a model.
Tools
Domains, morph
Figure 1: Tube to morph
Step 1: Open the file.
1. Open the file, tube.hm.
Step 2: Create domains and handles.
1. From the Menu Bar, click Morphing, then Create, then Domains.
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. Switch the domain type to 3D domains.
4. Toggle the element selector to all elements.
5. Activate the partition 2D domains option.
6. Click create.
Step 3: Partition the outer domain.
1. Make sure you are still in the domains >create sub panel.
2. From the Model browser hide the component solid.
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3. Using the mask panel ( ), display only the outer elements of the component ^morphfaces.
HINT: Select a couple of elements on the face you want to keep. Select elements >>by face, and then
select elements >>reverse. This will reverse the selection to the elements you do not want and will
allow you to mask those elements with the mask button.
4. Click return to return to the domains panel.
5. To reduce the number of domains and handles shown on the screen, click the Mask By Config tab.
6. Click the +next to Morphing to expand it.
7. Right-click Local Domains/Handles and pick Morph operates on displayed elements if not already
selected.
8. Click the +in the Show column to display the domains and handles for only the displayed elements.
9. Change your view to a left view.
10. Change the domain type to 2D domains.
11. Change the elements selector from all elements to elems.
12. Select the elements as displayed in the following picture.
Figure 2: Elements to partition
13. Click create to create the new domain.
14. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 4: Increase the outer diameter of the middle section of the tube.
1. Click Morphing, then Morph to open the morph panel..
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2. Go to the alter dimensions sub-panel.
3. Set the dimension type to radius.
4. Set the center calculation to by edges.
5. Switch the mesh to wireframe.
6. Select the two edge domains and the 2D domain as shown in the following figure.
Figure 3: Select the following Edge and 2D domains.
7. Set the radius=value to 27.
8. Click morph to morph the part.
9. Remain in this panel for the next section.
Figure 4: New profile of the part
Step 5: Offset the inner diameter of the tube.
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1. Using the mask panel ( ), click unmask all to disply all the elements.
2. Use the mask panel to display only the tube inner elements of the component ^morphfaces.
HINT: Select a couple of elements on the face you want to keep. Select elements by face followed by
elements reverse. This will reverse the selection to the elements you do not want and will allow you to
mask out those elements.
3. Click return to return to the domains panel.
4. To reduce the number of domains and handles shown on the screen, click the Mask By Config tab.
5. Click the +next to Morphing to expand it.
6. Right-click Local Domains/Handles and pick Morph operates on displayed elements if not already
selected.
7. Click the +in the Show column to display the domains and handles for only the displayed elements.
8. Select domains >>displayed. This selects the two inner edge domains as well as the 2D domain for
the tube inner.
Figure 6: edge domains on the inner radius
9. Change the center calculation to by axis.
10. For the axis, switch to the y-axis.
11. For base point, select the temp node at the center of the tube arc.
12. For radius=enter 3.
13. Check add to current.
14. Click morph to morph the inner diameter of the tube.
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Figure 7: Tube with offset inner
Summary
Using morphing operations, dimension changes have been successfully performed on a tubular mesh.
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Shaping a Dome Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3610
Exercise: Using Cyclical Symmetry to Assist in the Morphing of a Bottle
In this exercise you will create a dome shape at the bottom of the bottle using morph volumes.
Figure 1: Before and after morphing
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file bottle.hm
Step 2: Create morph volumes.
1. Go to morph volumes >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Morph Volumes
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, and then select the create sub-
panel.
2. Switch create morphvol to create matrix.
3. Set:
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x density = 3
y density = 8
z density = 5
buffer % = 5
4. Toggle global system to local system.
5. Select elems >>displayed.
6. For syst, select the system located at the top of the bottle.
7. Use the default values for the remaining settings.
8. Click create to create the morph volumes.
9. Note that morph volumes are created, encompassing the bottle, with red colored handles created at the
corners of each morph volume.
10. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 3: Create symmetry.
1. Access the symmetry >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Symmetries
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then symmetry, then select the create sub-panel.
2. Under domain, activate morph volumes.
Symmetries can either be linked to domains or to morph volumes. Here you are associating the
symmetries to the morph volumes.
3. Change 1 plane to cyclical.
4. Change 180 degrees to set freq.
5. Set #of cycles, to 8.
6. For syst select the cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
7. Click create.
Note that a cyclical symmetry is created.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 4: Create the dome.
1. Access morph volumes >update edges in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Morph Volumes, then select the update edges
sub-panel
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On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select the update edges sub-
panel
2. Toggle update nodes to update ends.
3. Rotate the bottle such that you are looking at its bottom.
4. Update the tangencies on the inner ring of the bottom from continuous to free (Figure 2).
5. When finished, click return to exit the panel.
Figure 2: Updating tangencies
6. Access the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Morph, then move handles
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph, then move handles
7. Select the handles at the bottom of the bottle, as shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3: Handles to translate
8. Switch the morphing method to translate.
9. Switch to along xyz
10. Set z val =10
11. Click morph.
Since you have symmetries defined, translating a single handle on the inner ring at the bottom, ensures
that a similar behavior is imparted on all the handles symmetrically associated to it.
12. To reduce the number of domains and handles shown on the screen, click the Mask By Config tab.
13. Right-click Morphing and pick Morph operates on all elements, if not already selected.
14. Click the - in the Hide column to turn off the display of all morphing entities.
Summary
Using morph volumes with appropriate tangencies, and by creating symmetries you are able to create a
dome-shaped feature at the bottom of the bottle.
Remarks
There are four different methods to define the continuity between the morph volumes.
Free makes morph volume edges independent of other edges.
Fixed connectivity allows you to prescribe the angle at the end of an edge.
Master-slave maintains tangency between two morph volume edges while keeping the master edge
independent of the slave edge. (When the master edge moves, the slave edge follows, but when the
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slave edge moves, the master edge does not have to follow.)
Continuous maintains tangency between two morph volume edges while allowing both edges to
affect each other.
The default setting in morph volume is always set to tangent which is continuous edge connectivity. This
definition can always be changed in the update edges sub-panel, based upon the morphing needs.
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Shaping a Bead Using Cyclic Symmetry - HM-3620
Exercise: Creating a Circular Bead on the Bottle
Figure 1: Adding beads to the bottle
In this exercise you will first create a bead using the default continuous edge connectivity. You will then
update the edges to free and see how it affects the bead creation.
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file bottle.hm
Step 2: Create morph volumes.
1. Go to morph volumes >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Morph Volumes
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select the create sub-panel
2. Switch create morphvol to create matrix.
3. Set:
x density = 3
y density = 8
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z density = 5
buffer % = 5
4. Toggle global system to local system.
5. Select elems >>displayed.
6. For syst, select the system located at the top of the bottle.
7. Use the default values for the remaining settings.
8. Click create to create the morph volumes.
Note that morph volumes are created encompassing the bottle, with red colored handles created at the
corners of each morph volume.
9. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 3: Create symmetry.
1. Access the symmetry >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Symmetries
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then symmetry, then select the create sub-panel
2. Under domain, activate morph volumes.
Symmetries can either be linked to domains or to morph volumes. In this case, you are associating the
symmetries to the morph volumes.
3. Change 1 plane to cyclical.
4. Change 180 degrees to set freq.
5. Set #of cycles to 8.
6. For syst select the cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
7. Click create.
Note that a cyclical symmetry is created.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 4: Split the morph volumes.
1. On the toolbar, click User Views ( ) and then click left.
2. Access the morph volumes panel, split/combine sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Create, then select Morph Volumes, then select the split/
combine sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select the split/combine sub-
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panel
3. Set the toggles to split mvols >by edges.
4. Set single split to 0.8.
5. Select an edge of Morph Volume 1 (Figure 2).
6. Click split.
7. Set single split to 0.2.
8. Select an edge of Morph Volume 2 (Figure 2).
9. Click split.
10. Click return to exit the panel.
Figure 2: Splitting morph volumes
Step 5: Morph the part.
1. Go to the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Morph, then select the move handles sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph then select the move handles sub-panel
2. Switch the morphing method to translate.
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3. Switch the translate option to along xyz.
4. Set x-val =-5.0.
5. Select cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
6. Select a handle as shown in figure 3.
7. Click morph.
Figure 3: Selecting a handle for morphing
As the bead is created, the upper and lower portions of the bottle deform too (figure 4). This is not the
intension, as you want to create a bead without affecting the other parts of the bottle.
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Figure 4: Morphing using continuous morph volumes
8. Click undo to undo the morphing operation.
Step 6: Update the morph volume edges.
To stop this bulging effect of the upper and the lower portions of the bottle, you will use the free edge
connectivity between these morph volumes.
1. Access the morph volumes >update edges sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Create, then Morph Volumes, then select the update edges sub-
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panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select the update edges sub-
panel
2. Toggle update nodes to update ends.
3. Switch edge tangency to free.
4. Update the edges, working your way around the bottle.
5. Click return to exit the panel.
Figure 5: Selecting edges to update the tangencies
Figure 6: Changing the tangencies from continuous to free
Step 7: Morph the part.
1. Go to the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Morph, then select the move handles sub-panel
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On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph, then select the move handles sub-panel
2. Switch the morphing method to translate.
3. Switch the translate option to along xyz.
4. Set x-val =-5.0.
5. Select cylindrical coordinate system located at the top of the bottle.
6. Select the handle as shown in figure 3.
7. Click morph.
Figure 7: Bead created with free edge connectivity
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Summary
Using morph volumes with appropriate tangencies and symmetries you were able to create a bead on the
given bottle.
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Morph a Symmetric Part onto a New Geometry - HM-3625
Objective
Update the mesh to a new geometry quickly using symmetry.
Tools
3-D domains, symmetry, interactive morphing.
Figure 1: Mesh to morph
Step 1: Load the model.
1. Click Open ( ) and load the file, fe_only.hm.
2. Click Import ( ).
3. On the Import tab, click Import geometry and load new_design.igs.
Step 2: Create domains and handles.
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1. Go to HyperMorph module, domains panel, create sub-panel.
2. Switch the domain type to 3D domains.
3. Toggle the element selector to all elements.
4. Activate the partition 2D domains option.
5. Click create to create the domains.
6. Return to the HyperMorph panel.
Step 3: Create symmetries.
1. Go to the symmetry panel.
2. Switch the symmetry type to cyclical.
3. Switch the symmetry angle from 180 degrees to set freq.
4. Set the #of cycles to 18.
5. Click syst.
6. Select the center point of the gear.
7. Click domains >>all.
8. Click create.
9. Click return.
Step 4: Morph the mesh to the new geometry.
1. Go to the morph panel, move handles sub-panel.
2. Zoom in to one of the cogs of the gear as in the following image:
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Figure 2: Mesh, domains handles and the new geometry
3. Switch the morphing method to move to point.
4. With from: handle active, select the node depicted in the following image.
5. With to: point active, select the point on the geometry you want to move the handle to, as depicted in
the following image:
Figure 3: Morphing handle to point
As the handles are moved, you will see that the mesh starts conforming to the new geometry.
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Figure 4: Mesh mapped onto the new geometry
6. In the same manner, move the following handles:

Figure 5: Handles to map
7. Return to the main menu.
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Figure 6: Updated (morphed) mesh
Summary
Taking advantage of the symmetry in this part, you are able to morph it much quicker.
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Morphing with Shapes - HM-3630
Exercise: Morphing a Yoke via Morph Volumes and Shapes
In this exercise you will increase the diameter of one of the prongs of a yoke using morph volumes. You will
reflect the shape on to the other prong and finally position the combined shapes from one yoke to the other.
Figure 1: Yoke model
Step 1: Load and review the model.
1. Open the HyperMesh file yoke.hm.
2. In the Model browser, right-click components yoke_1 and yoke_2 and select Hide.
Step 2: Convert hexas to morph volume.
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1. Access the morph volumes >convert sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Create, then Morph Volumes, then select the convert sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes, then select the convert sub-panel
2. Select elems >>by collector.
3. Select hexas.
4. Click select.
5. Click convert.
Figure 2: Converting hexas volumes to morph volumes
Note that all the seven hexa elements are converted into morph volumes.
Step 3: Increase the prong diameter.
1. In the Model browser, right-click Tag and select Show to display all the tags.
2. Access the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu select Morph, then select the move handles sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph, then select the move handles sub-panel
3. Set the mode selector to move to node.
4. Click options and make sure mvols: is set to active (toggle if it is set to inactive).
5. Click return.
6. For handle, click Handle 1, and for node, click tag 1.
7. Repeat this process for the other 35 handles.
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Figure 3: Using tags to change the morph volumes
Step 4: Save the morphed shape.
1. Go to the shapes >save as shape sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create , then Shapes, then select the save as shape sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then shapes, then select the save as shape sub-panel
2. Use name=Prong1.
3. Toggle as handle perturbations to as node perturbations.
4. Click save.
5. Click undo all to bring the model to its original position before morphing.
Step 5: Create coordinate system.
You need to reference a coordinate system in order to create symmetry.
1. In the Model browser, right-click and select Hide for Shape and MorphingVolume.
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2. From the Geometry menu, click Create then Systems to open the Systems panel
3. Keep the default create by axis direction sub-panel.
4. Click origin and select the node labeled "origin."
5. For X-axis, select the node labeled "X."
6. For XY plane, select the node labeled "Y."
7. Click create.
8. Click return.
Step 6: Create symmetry.
1. From the Morphing menu, click Create then Symmetries.
2. For name =, enter symm1.
3. Under domains, click the check-box for morph volumes. (make sure it is active).
4. Keep rest of the default settings.
5. Click syst and select the newly created coordinate system.
6. Click create.
7. Click return.
Step 7: Reflect shape.
1. From the Morphing menu, click Create then Shapes.
2. Change the sub-panel to apply shapes.
3. Under shapes, change apply shapes to reflect shapes.
4. Change apply only to apply & create.
5. Keep the default auto-envelope.
6. Click shapes and select the newly created shape from the previous section.
7. Under reflect using: click symmetries and select the newly created symmetry.
8. Click reflect.
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Note that a reflected shape has been created and applied on the other prong.
The name of the shape, created by reflecting, has the same name as the original shape with a suffix
1.
Step 8: Position the shapes onto the other yoke.
In this step, you will position the shapes of the two prongs of the yoke onto the opposite yoke.
1. In the Model browser, right-click Title and select Show.
2. In the Model browser right-click yoke_2 and click Show.
3. In the apply shapes sub-panel, under shapes, change reflect shapes to position shapes.
4. Change the selector from scale to no scale.
5. Click shapes and select the two shapes present in the model.
6. Under from: select three nodes namely from_N1, from_N2 and from_N3 for N1, N2 and N3.
7. Under to: select three nodes namely to_N1, to_N2 and to_N3 for N1, N2 and N3.
8. Click position.
9. Click return.
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Note that the two or more shapes have been created and applied to the other yoke. The name of the first
new shape (on the other yoke) will have a suffix 2 because it is the second copy of the first shape and
the second shape will have a suffix of 11 as it is the first copy of the reflected shape.
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Interpolating Loads Using Shapes - HM-3640
Exercise: Using Shapes to Interpolate Loads
Shapes are one of the most versatile types of the morphing entities. Loads can be converted into shapes and
vice versa. When you position shapes, they act on a volume equivalent to the initial volume, but at the new
location. In this regard, shapes can be used to interpolate loads on a mesh given the loading at the
boundaries of a volume.
In this exercise you are given a temperature distribution at points defined by a cube (hexa element). You will
use shapes to interpolate the temperatures to the tube lying inside the cube.
Figure 1: Model
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Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file s_bend_tube.hm.
Step 2: Convert temperatures to shapes.
1. Access the shapes >convert sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Shapes, then select the convert sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then shapes, then select the convert sub-panel
2. Switch the conversion type to temperature to shapes.
3. For loadcols, select temperature.
4. Click select.
5. Click convert.
Figure 2: The base and the node for translating the shape
Note that the temperature loads have been converted into shape vectors.
The shape vectors are proportional to the temperature loads on the corners of the cube and the distances
from those corners.
The name of the converted shape is the same as the temperature load collector.
Step 3: Translate the shape.
1. Click the apply shapes sub-panel.
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2. Change the operation to translate shapes.
3. Change apply only to create new.
4. For envelope, use auto-envelope.
5. For shapes, select temperature.
6. Click select.
7. For from: base, select the node shown in Figure 2.
8. For to: nodes, select the node shown in Figure 2.
9. Click translate.
The shape has been transferred to the tube. You selected the same base and to node, effectively
selecting a translate distance of 0.
A new shape is created with the suffix 1 (temperature1).
Step 4: Convert shape vectors to temperature loads .
1. Click the convert sub-panel.
2. Switch the conversion type to shapes to temperatures.
3. For shapes, select temperature1.
4. Click select.
5. Click convert.
The shape has been converted into temperature load.
Step 5: Check the result.
1. In the Model browser, right-click and select Hide for Shape.
2. In the Model browser, right-click component cube and select Hide.
3. In the Model browser, right-click LoadCollector and select Hide.
4. From the BCs menu, select BCs Contour.
Make sure you expand the BCs contour panel appropriately to visualize all the buttons.
5. From the list of loads, select temperature1.
6. Click Accept.
This takes you to the contour panel.
7. Select simulation =temperature1.
8. Select data type =temperature.
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9. Click contour.
Figure 3: The contoured temperature results
Summary
Using shapes you have been able to interpolate temperatures from the corners of a volume on to an object
located in that volume.
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Creating Shapes Using Record - HM-3650
Exercise: Recording Shapes
The record panel gives you the flexibility of making changes to the mesh using panels outside the
HyperMorph module and saving them as shapes.
In this exercise you will change a bead using the node edit >align node sub-panel and Record the shape
function. You will then reflect the shape to the other side of the mesh to complete the mesh update.
Figure 1: Location to record the nodal movements on and reflect
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file floor.hm.
Step 2: Start recording nodal movements.
1. Acces the freehand >record sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Free Hand, then select the record sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then freehand, then select the record sub-panel
2. Click start.
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3. Exit from the HyperMorph module.
Step 3: Change the bead profile.
1. Click Geometry, then Edit, then Nodes to open the Node panel.
2. Click the move node sub-panel.
3. Select the nodes.
Figure 2: first set of nodes to align
4. Select the nodes between the selected nodes to align the nodes to the 1
st
end: and 2
nd
end: nodes.
5. Repeat the same process to align the next row of nodes (figure 3).
Figure 3: Second set of nodes to align
Step 4: Stop the recording.
1. Go to the freehand >record sub-panel in one of the following ways:
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From the Morphing menu, select Freehand, then select record
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then select freehand, then select record
2. Click finish.
This stops the record process.
Step 5: Save the morphed shape.
1. Go to the save shape sub-panel.
2. Set name=Morph1.
3. Toggle save option to as node perturbations.
4. Click save.
5. Click undo all to bring the model to its original position before morphing.
Step 6: Create coordinate system.
1. Click Geometry, then Create, then Systems.
2. Go to the create by axis sub-panel.
3. For origin select the node with tag o r i g i n.
For x-axis select node with tag x-axis.
For xy-plane select node with xy-plane.
4. Click create.
5. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 7: Create symmetry.
1. Go to the symmetry >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then select Symmetries
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then symmetry
2. Set name =symm1.
3. For symmetry type use 1 plane.
4. For align with use x-axis.
5. Select the syst created in step 4.
6. Click create.
Note that 1 plane symmetry is created with a square symbol.
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7. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 8: Reflect shape.
1. Go to the shape >apply shapes sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, then Shapes, then select the apply shapes sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then shapes, then select the apply shapes sub-panel
2. Under shape change the option to reflect shapes.
3. Under reflect shapes change the option to apply & create.
4. For shape, select Morph1.
5. For symmetries, select symm1.
6. Click reflect.
Summary
The shape (Morph1) is reflected to the other side. Also, the reflected shape has the same name with the
suffix 1. The changes that you made on one side are thus transferred to the other side.
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Maintaining Area Using Constraints - HM-3660
Exercise: Using Morph Constraints to Keep the Area of a Windshield Constant
while Changing its Shape
In this exercise will change the shape of the windshield while keeping its area constant.
Figure 1: Windshield mesh
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file windshield.hm.
Step 2: Create a shape to define the degree of freedom for the mesh.
1. Access the freehand >move nodes sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Free Hand and select the move nodes sub-panel
On the Tool page, go to HyperMorph, then freehand, then select the move nodes sub-panel
2. Switch the method to translate.
3. Key in
x =0;
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Y =-5 (negative 5);
Z =0
4. Under moving nodes: click nodes >>by sets and select move_node.
5. Click select.
6. Under fixed nodes: click nodes >>by sets and select fix_node.
7. Click select.
8. Under affected elements: click elems >>displayed.
9. Click morph.
10. Go to the freehand >save shape sub-panel.
11. For name =, enter Shape1.
12. Toggle the save option to as node perturbations.
13. Click save.
14. Click undo all to bring the model to its original position before morphing.
This initial shape defines the direction in which the nodes have the freedom to move, as the shape of the
windshield is changing, thus enabling us to keep the area at a constant.
Step 3: Create a constraint.
1. Access the morph constraints >create/update sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, select Create, and then select Morph Constraints
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph , then morph constraints
2. Set name =const1.
3. Change the constraint type to area.
4. For shapes, select Shape1.
5. Select elems >>displayed.
6. Switch the area option to equal to.
7. Click calculate to calculate the area of the mesh:
Note that the value shows in the area box is: 1.085e+06.
This is the actual surface area of the windshield which will be maintained.
8. Click create.
Note that the constraint is created. The symbol for the constraint is a matching-mesh.
9. Right-click Shape and select Hide in the Model browser.
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10. Right-click MorphingConstraint and select Hide in the Model browser.
Step 4: Create morph volume.
1. Access the morph volumes >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Create and select Morph Volumes
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes
2. Switch the method to create morphvol.
3. Toggle entity type to enclose elems.
4. Select elems >>displayed.
5. Toggle coordinate system to global system.
6. Click create.
The morph volume is created.
Step 5: Morph the part.
1. Go to the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Morph and select the move handles sub-panel
On the Tool page, go to HyperMorph, then morph, then select the move nodes sub-panel
2. Change the morph type to move to node.
3. For from: handle, select handle1 (Figure 2).
4. For from: node, select node1 (Figure 2).
5. Repeat the process for the other handles and nodes.
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Figure 2: From handles and from nodes
Step 6: Save the morphed shape.
1. Click save shape radio button.
2. Set name =Shape2.
3. Toggle the save option to as node perturbations.
4. Click save.
Step 7: Check the result.
1. Right-click MorphingVolume in the Model browser and select Hide.
2. On the Tool page, go to the mass calc panel.
3. For comps, select windshield.
4. Click select.
5. Click calculate.
The final area of the windshield is 1.085e+06, which is the same as the initial area. So, even though the
profile of the windshield has changed, its area has not. As the height of the windshield reduced, it
expanded in the direction provided by Shape1.
Summary
Using morph constraints, you able to change the shape of the windshield, while keeping its area constant.
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Positioning a Dummy Using Limiting Constraints - HM-3670
Exercise: Using Limiting Constraints and Freehand Morphing to Position a Dummy
and Morph the Seat
In this exercise, you will learn to position the H-point of the dummy on a seat cushion.
This helps to reduce design and remeshing of the seat based on the pre-stress analysis. To do this exercise
you will be using a limiting constraint and freehand morphing.
Figure 1
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file dummy.hm
Step 2: Create constraints.
1. Access the morph constraints >create/update sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu point to Create and select Morph Constraints
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph constraints
2. Set name=const1.
3. Set type of constraint to on elements.
4. Set the option under nodes to bounded.
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5. Set project along: to normal.
6. Set distance=2.
This will ensure that there is a distance of 2 units between the dummy and the seat after the morphing is
complete.
7. Use nodes >>by collector and select cushion.
8. Click select.
9. Use elems >>by collector and select dummy.
10. Click select.
11. Click create.
Constraints with a diamond shape are created.
Step 3: Morph the part.
1. Right-click MorphingConstraint in the Model browser and select Hide.
2. Go to the freehand >move nodes sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Free Hand and select the move nodes sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then freehand, then select the move nodes sub-panel
3. Switch moving method to translate.
4. For moving nodes, use nodes >>by collector and select cushion.
5. Click select.
6. For fixed nodes, use nodes >>by collector and select dummy.
7. Click select.
8. For affected elements, use elems >>by collector and select cushion.
9. Click select.
10. For the translate magnitude, set
x =0
y = 0
z = 80
11. Click morph.
The top surface of the cushion has conformed to the shape of the dummy.
The distance between the dummy and the seat-cushion is 2 mm.
Summary
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Using limiting constraints, you are able to move a mesh such that it moves an adjoining mesh along with it,
thus preventing penetration between the two of them.
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Preserving a Shape Using Cluster Constraints - HM-3680
Exercise: Using Cluster Constraints to Preserve the Wheel Shape while
Lengthening the Body of a Truck
When circular features are stretched, they become elliptical in shape. In some cases as in the wheels of a
truck, this effect is not desirable. In such cases, using cluster constraints will allow you to translate the
features, along with the morph, while maintaining its circular shape.
In the exercise you will be changing the length of the cab while preserving the shape of the wheel. To
facilitate the morphing process you will be employing constraint and symmetry.
Figure 1: Truck model
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file truck.hm.
Step 2: Create a coordinate system.
1. Go to the HyperMorph module.
2. Go to the systems >create by axis direction sub-panel.
3. For origin select the node with tag o r i g i n.
4. For x-axis, select node with tag x - a x i s.
5. For xy-plane, select node with x y - pl ane.
6. Click create to create the coordinate system.
7. On the toolbar, click User View ( ) and then click right.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
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Step 3: Create and split the morph volume.
1. Access the morph volumes >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, point to Create and select Morph Volumes
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph volumes
2. Switch the creation method to create morphvol.
3. Set entity type to enclose elements.
4. Select elems >>all.
5. Set system to global system.
6. Set buffer % = 5.
The morph volume is created.
7. Click create to create the morph volume.
8. Click the split/combine sub-panel.
9. Toggle the operation to split mvols.
10. Toggle to split the morph volume by edges.
11. Toggle the type of split to single split.
12. Set single split =0.44.
13. Select the morph volume in the graphics window.
14. Click split to split the morph volume.
The original morph volume is now split into two morph volumes.
15. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 4: Create a symmetry.
1. On the toolbar, click view ( ) and click restore1.
2. Access the symmetry >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, point to Create and select Symmetries.
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then symmetries.
3. For name =, enter symm1.
4. Under domain, check the box for morph volumes.
Symmetry can be linked to either domains or morph volumes. In this exercise since you are dealing with
morph volumes you will use the check to link the symmetry to the morph volume.
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5. Switch the symmetry type to 1 plane.
6. For syst, select the coordinate system created in step 4.2.
7. Click create to create the symmetry.
A 1 plane symmetry with a square symbol has been created.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 5: Morph the part.
1. Access the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Morph, then click the move handles sub-panel
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph, then click the move handles sub-panel
2. Switch the morphing mode to translate.
3. Switch the along option to along xyz.
4. Set the following values:
X val = 500
Y val = 0
Z val = 0
5. Select two handles as shown in figure 3.
6. Click morph to morph the front half of the truck.
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Figure 2
The front end is stretched 500 units. Since the front wheels are also the part of the morph volumes they
became elliptical after morphing. This is not desirable. You will undo this morphing, constrain the wheels
and re-do it.
Figure 3
7. Undo all morphs.
Step 6: Create a cluster constraint.
As seen in the previous image, the front wheels, after morphing, become elliptical. To fix this issue, you will
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be employing a particular type of constraint, called a cluster constraint, which helps to keep the original
shape of a portion of the model while morphing.
1. Access the morph constraints >create/update sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu point to Create and select Morph Constraints
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph constraints
2. Set name =const1.
3. Switch the constraint type to cluster.
4. Select nodes >>by collector .
5. Select comps >>by id.
6. Use id =1-8 and then hit enter on the keyboard.
7. Click select to select the components.
8. Click create to create the cluster constraint.
The cluster constraints are created on the nodes of the selected components.
9. Click return to exit the panel.
Figure 4
10. In the Model browser, right-click MorphingConstraint and click Hide to turn off the constraints.
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Step 7: Morph the part.
Repeat the procedure in Step 5 to morph the front of the truck by 500 units.
The front end is stretched 500 mm. The front wheels are moved in the morphing process while
maintaining their circular shape.
Summary
Using cluster constraints and morph volumes you are able to stretch the cab of the pickup without distorting
the wheels.
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Remeshing Domains After Morphing - HM-3690
Exercise: Remeshing Domains After Morphing
Depending on the morphing being performed, there is a possibility that the mesh can get distorted. For such
cases, HyperMorph provides a remeshing capability. The advantage of this remeshing is that the newly
created elements are automatically a part of the original domain. This provides continuity to the morphing
process along with proper element quality.
Figure 1: Model
Step 1: Load and review the model.
Open the HyperMesh file arm2D.hm.
Step 2: Set the morph options.
1. Access the morph options panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, point to Assign and select Morph Options
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then morph options
2. Select the auto qa sub-panel.
3. Switch auto quality check to 2D jacobian.
4. Set limit =to 0.7.
Step 3: Create domains and handles.
1. Access the domains >create sub-panel in one of the following ways:
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From the Morphing menu, point to Create and select Domains
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains
2. Switch the creation type to 2D domains.
3. Switch from all elems to elems.
4. Use elems >>by sets and select s et _1.
5. Click select.
6. Click create to create the domain.
7. Use elems >>by sets and select s et _2.
8. Click select.
9. Click create to create the domain.
Note that two 2D domains are created.
Step 4: Translate the washer.
1. Go to the morph >move handles sub-panel in one of the following ways:
On the Morphing menu, select Morph, then select move handles
On the Tool page, go to HyperMorph, then morph, then move handles
2. Switch the mode to translate.
3. Switch the along option to along vector.
4. Select N1 and N2 as shown in figure 2.
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Figure 2: Selecting N1 and N2 for the translate vector
5. Set dist =0.25.
6. Select the two handles on the washer.
7. Click morph to morph the washer.
The elements outside the washer get compressed as the washer moves. Also, as the elements fail
(jacobian < 0.7) they are highlighted (figure 3).
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Figure 3: Elements after morphing
Step 5: Remesh the domain.
1. Access the domains >update sub-panel in one of the following ways:
From the Morphing menu, point to Create and select Domains
On the Tool page, select HyperMorph, then domains
2. Select the update sub-panel.
3. Switch the update option to remesh 2D.
4. Switch new mesh type: to quads.
5. Select both 2-D domains on the model.
6. Click calc avg to get the average element size.
7. Click remesh to remesh the domain.
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Figure 5: Updated mesh
The mesh is updated.
Summary
Using this technique, you can update the mesh in regions that might have undergone excessive elemental
deformation during morphing. Since the domains and handles are maintained, it allows you to conduct further
morphing if need be.
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Analysis Setup
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Setting up Loading Conditions - HM-4000
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create constraints (RADIOSS SPC) on the channels geometry lines
Create a force (RADIOSS FORCE) on the bracket to simulate a pressing load on it
Define a load step (RADIOSS SUBCASE)
Export the model to a RADIOSS bulk data input file
Submit the RADIOSS bulk data input file to RADIOSS
Review the resulting HTML report file
The purpose for using a finite element (FE) pre-processor is to create a model, which can be run by a solver.
A finite element solver can solve for responses of parts to loading conditions on them. The loads can be in
the form of boundary constraints, forces, pressures, temperatures, etc.
In this exercise, you will gain an understanding of the basic concepts for creating a solver input file by using
a template. More specifically, learn how to define loading conditions on a model, specify solver specific
controls and submit an input file to a solver from HyperMesh.
Exercise: Setting up Loading Conditions
This exercise uses the model file, channel_brkt_assem_loading.hm. It contains the bracket and
channel assembly in the following image.
Step 1: Retrieve and view the HyperMesh model file,
channel_brkt_assem_loading.hm.
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Step 2: Load the RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile.
1. From the Preferences menu, click User Profiles.
2. Select RADIOSS.
3. From the Menu Bar, select BulkData.
4. Click OK to close the dialog.
Step 3: Create two load collectors named pressing_load and constraints.
1. Access the Collectors panel by clicking load collectors ( ) on the collectors toolbar.
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. For loadcol name =, enter pressing_load.
4. Select your desired color.
5. Switch the creation method to no card image.
6. Click create to create the load collector pressing_load.
7. For loadcol name =enter constraints.
8. Select your desired color.
9. Click create to create the load collector constraints.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 4: Apply constraints (RADIOSS SPC) to the channels line geometry.
1. Use the Model browser to display the geom ( ) for the component channel.
2. On the toolbar, click User Views ( ), and pick iso1.
3. Enter the constraints panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select BCs, then Create, then Constraints
On the main menu, select the Analysis page, then select constraints
4. Go to the create sub-panel.
5. Switch the entity selector to lines.
6. Select the six lines on the perimeter of the channels bottom surface as shown in the following image.
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7. Activate degrees of freedom (dof) 1 through 6.
For a RADIOSS linear static analysis, dof 1, 2, and 3 represent translations in the global x-, y-, and z-
directions respectively. Dof 4, 5, and 6 represent rotations about the global x-, y- and z-axis,
respectively.
8. Set Load Types =to SPC.
9. Click create to create the constraints on the lines.
10. For size =enter 5.
The display size of the constraints is reduced.
11. Activate the option, label constraints.
A label is displayed for each constraint. The labels identify what dofs are assigned to the constraints.
12. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 5: Map the constraints (RADIOSS SPC) on the geometry lines to the channel
nodes associated to the lines.
1. Access the load on geom panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select BCs, then Loads on Geometry
On the main menu, select the Analysis page, then select load on geom
2. Select loadcols >>constraints.
3. Click select to complete the selection of load collectors.
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4. Click map loads.
A constraint is at each node associated to the geometry lines.
5. Click return to exit to the main menu.
6. On the Model browser, turn off the display of geometry for all component collectors.
Step 6: Prepare to create forces (RADIOSS FORCE) on the bracket for the pressing
load case.
1. On the toolbar, click User Views ( ) and pick restore1.
2. On the Model browser, right-click on the pressing_load load collector and select Make Current.
The pressing_load load collector is now the current load collector, and any loads created will be placed
in this collector.
Step 7: Create two forces (RADIOSS FORCE) on the bracket for the pressing load
case.
1. Access the forces panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select BCs, then Create, then Forces
On the main menu, select the Analysis page, then select Forces
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. With the nodes selector active, select the two nodes as indicated in the following image.
4. For magnitude =, enter 5.
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5. Switch the direction selector from N1, N2, N3 to y-axis.
6. Set load types =to Force.
7. Click create to create the forces.
8. For magnitude % =specify 200.0.
The display size of the force is increased.
9. Activate the option label loads.
Each force displays the label FORCE =5.00e+00.
The two forces created for the pressing load case
10. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 8: Define the load step for the pressing load case.
1. Access the load step panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Setup, then Create, then Load Steps
On the main menu, select the Analysis page, then select load steps
2. For name =, enter pressing_step.
3. Activate the SPC and LOAD options.
4. Click the =next to SPC.
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5. Switch name to name(id).
This shows the names of the load collectors with their ID numbers in parenthesis.
6. Select the constraints load collector.
Note that the field next to the =now has a value of 2, which is the ID of the constraints load collector.
7. Click the =next to LOAD and select the pressing_load load collector.
8. Set the type: to linear static.
9. Click create to create the load step, pressing_step.
In the status bar appears the message, "The load step has been created." Nothing new is displayed in
the graphics area.
10. Click return to exit to the main menu.
Step 9: Display and mask the load step (the load collectors defined in the load
step).
1. On the Model browser, turn the display of the load step pressing_step off.
Notice the load collectors constraints and pressing_load are no longer displayed.
2. Turn the display of the load step pressing_step back on.
3. Click return to exit to the main menu.
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Formatting Model for Analysis - HM-4010
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create a solver input file by using a template
Review entities in HyperMesh to see how they will appear in the solver input file
Define materials and properties
Select solver element types for HyperMesh element configurations
The purpose for using a finite element (FE) pre-processor is to create a model that can be run by a solver.
HyperMesh interfaces with many FE solvers and all of them have unique input file formats. HyperMesh has a
unique template(s) for each solver it supports. A template contains solver specific formatting instructions,
which HyperMesh uses to create an input file for that solver.
Exercise: RADIOSS Linear Statics Setup for a Shell Assembly
This exercise uses the file, channel_brkt_assem_Analysis.hm. It contains the bracket and channel
assembly in the following image.

Step 1: Retrieve and view the file, channel_brkt_assem_analysis.hm.
Step 2: Load the RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile.
1. From the Preferences menu, click User Profiles
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2. Select RADIOSS.
3. From the Menu Bar, select BulkData.
4. Click OK to close the dialog.
Step 3: Review a bracket element to identify what type of RADIOSS element it is
and to see how it will be formatted in the RADIOSS input file.
1. Access the Card Editor panel by going to the collectors toolbar and selecting card edit ( ).
2. Switch the entity selector to elems.
3. In the graphics area, select an element of the (blue) bracket.
4. Click edit.
The card image for the element appears above the panel menu area. It indicates the element is a
RADIOSS CQUAD4 or CTRIA3, depending on whether you selected a quad or tria element. EID is the
elements ID. PID is the ID of the elements property. G(X) is the grid (node) ID that makes up the
element.
Options specific to the CQUAD4 or CTRIA3 appear in the menu panel area.
5. Click return to return to the card panel.
Step 4: Review and edit the existing steel materials card image by accessing the
card editor from the Model browser.
This material is defined for the channel.
1. In the Model browser, open the Material branch of the browser list to show the material steel.
2. Right-click steel and select Card Edit.
The card image for the material appears. It indicates the material is of RADIOSS Bulk Data type MAT1.
3. Under Poissons Ratio [NU], change the value from 0.3 to 0.28.
4. Click return to accept the change and return to the main menu.
Step 5: Define a material collector named aluminum for the bracket.
1. Right-click in the white space of the browser list.
2. Select Create >>Material.
The Create Material popup dialog appears.
3. For Name: enter aluminum.
4. Set Card image: to MAT1.
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5. Click Create/Edit to create the material and edit it.
The card image for the new material appears.
6. Click [E] and enter 7.0e4 in the field that appears.
This is Youngs Modulus.
7. Click [NU] and enter 0.33 in the field that appears.
This is Poisson's Ratio.
8. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 6: Define a property collector (PSHELL card image) that will be assigned to
the channel component collector.
1. On the collectors toolbar, go to the Properties panel ( ).
2. Go to the create sub-panel.
3. For prop name=, enter channel.
4. Click type=and select 2D.
5. Click card image=and pick PSHELL.
6. Click material=and select the Steel material collector.
7. Click create/edit.
This will open the card editor panel.
8. Click [T] and enter 3.0 into the field that appears.
This will assign a 3.0 unit thickness.
9. Click return twice to return to the main menu.
Step 7: Assign the channel property to the channel component.
1. On the collectors toolbar, go to the Components panel ( ).
2. Go to the assign sub-panel.
3. Select comps >>channel.
4. Click select to complete the selection.
5. For property=, select channel.
6. Click assign.
7. Click return to exit the panel.
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Step 8: Update the bracket property to have a PSHELL card image, a thickness of
2.0, and the aluminum material.
1. Access the Properties panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, click Properties, then Create
From the Collectors toolbar, select properties ( )
2. Go to the update sub-panel.
3. Select props >>bracket. (Click props to select from the component list.)
4. Click select to complete the selection.
5. For card image =, select PSHELL.
6. For material =, select aluminum. (Click the text field to select from the material list.)
7. Click update/edit to load and edit the card image and assign the material.
Notice the material ID MID is 2, which is the ID of the aluminum material you created earlier and
assigned to the bracket component.
8. For the thickness [T] enter 2.0.
9. Click return to return to the Properties panel.
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 9: Calculate the section properties for the bar elements (RADIOSS CBEAM)
by using HyperBeam.
1. On the 1D page, enter the HyperBeam panel.
2. Go to the standard section sub-panel.
3. Switch the standard section type: to solid circle.
4. Click create to invoke the HyperBeam module.
The HyperBeam module appears and the HyperMesh session is not visible. (HyperMesh is visible again
upon exiting HyperBeam.)
The solid, red circle represents the cross section. Under the local coordinate system you should see the
number, 20.0000, which is the circles diameter.
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HyperBeam module with the standard solid circle section
5. Click on the number 20.0000 to activate a number entry field, enter 6, and then press ENTER.
In the section property display area, the values are automatically updated to reflect the circles new
diameter.
6. In the model tree area, click on the sections name, auto_standardsection_1.
After a brief moment, the name becomes an editable text entry field.
7. Rename the section by entering 6mm_Beam_Sect.
8. From the HyperBeam File pull-down menu, select Exit.
9. Answer Yes to the question "save data?".
10. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 10: Create a property collector named bars_prop for the bar elements
(RADIOSS Bulk Data).
1. Create a new property collector in one of the following ways:
Select the Properties panel, create sub-panel
Right-click in the Model browser
2. Enter the name bars_prop.
3. Specify the card image.
For the properties panel, set type=to 1D and switch card image=to PBEAM.
For the Create Properties dialog, set Card Image: to PBEAM.
4. Set the material to steel.
5. Click create/edit to create the property and edit it.
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6. At the top of the card image, select beamsec >>6mm_Beam_Sect.
The parameter fields in the PBEAM card are automatically populated by the data in the beam section
6mm_Beam_Sect.
7. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 11: Update the CBEAM element to use the PBEAM Property.
1. Access the Properties: assign sub-panel.
2. Select elems>>by collector and pick the bolts component collector.
3. Click select.
4. Set type=to 1D.
5. Click property=and select the bars_prop property collector.
6. Click assign.
7. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 12: Define a H3D file to be output from RADIOSS by using the control cards
panel.
1. Access the control cards panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Setup, then Create, then Control Cards
On the main menu, select the Analysis page, then select control cards
2. Select the control card FORMAT.
You may need to click next to get to the second page of cards.
Notice in the card image the one FORMAT line is set to H3D. This specifies RADIOSS to output results
to a Hyper3D (H3D) file, which can be viewed in HyperView Player. Also, an HTML report file will be
output and the H3D file will be embedded in it.
3. For number_of_formats =, specify 2.
A second FORMAT line appears in the card image.
4. Click H3D in the second line of the card image and select HM.
This specifies RADIOSS to output the results to a HyperMesh binary results file, allowing the results to
be post-processed within HyperMesh.
5. Click return to exit to the control cards panel.
Notice the FORMAT button is green. This indicates the card will be exported to the RADIOSS input file.
6. Click return to exit to the main menu.
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Step 13: Export the model to an RADIOSS Bulk Data input file.
1. On the File menu, click Export....
2. In the Export tab, click the Export FE model icon.
3. In the File: field, type channel_brkt_assem_loading.fem.
Note that the extension for an RADIOSS Bulk Data input file is .fem.
4. Click Export to export the model as an RADIOSS .fem input file.
This exports the model as an input file for the solver specified by the current user profile.
Step 14: Review the contents of the file channel_brkt_assem_loading.fem.
1. Using any text editor (Notepad, Wordpad, Vi, etc.), open the file channel_brkt_assem_loading.
fem.
2. Near the top of the file, notice as shown in the following image:
The line FORMAT HM which you specified in HyperMesh
The load step (RADIOSS Bulk Data SUBCASE) named pressing_step which you defined in
HyperMesh
Under the load step, the load collector ids (RADIOSS load and constraint set identification numbers)
3. Search for "FORCE."
Notice the load set identification number for each force (RADIOSS FORCE). It is either 1 or 2 as shown
in the following image. These numbers correspond to the numbers under the load steps in the file.
4. Search for "SPC" (HyperMesh constraint).
Notice the constraint set identification number for each constraint (RADIOSS SPC). It is 2 as shown in
the following image, which lists a few of the constraints. This number corresponds to the number under
the load steps in the file.
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5. Search for the load collector name "pressing_load."
Notice the load collectors, pressing_load and constraints. Also, notice their collector ID and color ID.
When the model is imported into HyperMesh, the loads are organized into these load collectors and have
these IDs and colors.
6. Close the file channel_brkt_assem_loading.fem.
Step 15 (Optional): Save your work.
With the exercise completed, you can save the model as a HyperMesh file, if desired.
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Obtaining and Assigning Beam Cross-Section Properties using
HyperBeam - HM-4020
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
Obtain beam section properties for various types of beam cross-sections using HyperBeam, a
module within HyperMesh
Populate the fields of property collectors with these beam properties
Assign the property collector to a beam element you create
In FEA, beams are typically modeled as 1-D elements. This tutorial is particularly useful for becoming
familiar with the modeling of beam sections for 1-D elements (beam, bar, and rod) in HyperMesh. The focus
is on obtaining and assigning beam-section properties, not on creating beam elements themselves.
Exercise: Obtaining and Assigning Beam Cross-Section Properties using
HyperBeam
This exercise uses the model file, hyperbeam.hm.

Model geometry
The model geometry represents different types of cross-sections used in this tutorial: standard, shell, and
solid. The model consists of a solid cylinder attached to a hollow trapezoidal structure, which is further joined
to an irregularly shaped solid component (see previous image).
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Step 1: Retrieve and view the model file.
1. Retrieve the file hyperbeam.hm from <installation_directory>\tutorials\hm.
2. From the Preferences menu, click User Profiles and select OptiStruct.
3. Click OK.
The model geometry represents different types of cross-sections: standard, shell, and solid. You will create a
standard circular section to represent the cross-section of the cylinder, a shell section created with lines to
represent the cross-section of the hollow trapezoidal feature, and a solid section created with lines to
represent the cross-section of the solid irregular feature.
The model is organized into four collectors: one contains all the surfaces, two contain the lines for the shell-
section and the solid-section, respectively, and the last component stores beam elements.
Step 2: Model a standard circular section using HyperBeam.
In this step, use the standard section sub-panel of the HyperBeam panel to quickly model a solid circular
section.
To define a circular cross-section, HyperBeam requires the diameter of the cross-section as input. Measure
the diameter of the section before invoking HyperBeam using the distance panel from the Geom page.
1. Create three nodes on the circle defining the base of the solid cylinder using the create nodes panel
from the Geom page by doing the following:
- From the Geom page, select the nodes panel.
- Select the on line sub-panel.
- With the lines selector active, select the circular line defining the base of the cylinder.
- Set number of nodes =to 3.
- Click create.
This generates three nodes on the line, two of which are located at the same location (since the circular
line is a line that closes upon itself). With the two independent locations left, you can measure the
diameter.
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Nodes on circle to measure diameter
2. Use the distance panel from the Geom page to measure the distance between the two nodes
diametrically opposed by doing the following:
- From the Geom page, select the distance panel.
- Select the two nodes sub-panel.
- For N1 and N2, pick the two nodes that are diametrically opposed.
The distance between the two nodes, which is the diameter of the circle, is displayed in the distance =
field and reads 110 units.
3. Create a solid circle standard section in the HyperBeam panel by doing the following:
- Select the HyperBeam panel from the 1D page.
- Select the standard section sub-panel.
- Click the switch and select the solid circle option from the pop-up menu.
- Click create.
The HyperBeam window is launched with a solid circle cross-section displayed in the center pane. The
left pane (Section browser) lists the cross-sections defined in the model and the right pane (Results
window) displays the results for the various beam properties computed for the dimensions displayed.
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HyperBeam window (standard section)
Note: For detailed information on HyperBeam, see the HyperBeam section in the HyperMesh
User's Guide / Building Models / Calculating Beam Properties online help.
4. Modify the diameter of the cross-section and assign the value measured earlier by doing the following:
- Click the value shown in the figure to highlight it.
- Type 110 and press ENTER.
The value of the diameter and the quantities computed for the cross-section are updated and displayed in
the Results window. These properties are calculated based on the dimensions that were input. The
formulae for calculating these properties can be found in the Cross-sectional Properties as Calculated by
HyperBeam section in the HyperMesh User's Guide / Building Models / Calculating Beam Properties /
HyperBeam online help.
HyperBeam calculates, for example, the area of this cross-section, its moments of inertia and its
torsional constant.
Note: Alternatively, you could drag the graphical handles that represent the diameter of the cross-section
until the diameter changes to the desired value.
5. Assign the name Solid Circle to this cross-section in the Section browser by doing the following:
- In the Section browser, click the name of the cross-section under the auto1 folder.
- Type Solid Circle and press ENTER.
6. Use the File menu to Exit HyperBeam and return to HyperMesh. Click Yes in the confirmation box to
save the model.
The information that was computed is automatically stored in a beamsect collector with the name you
specified for the section. This beamsect collector is later used to populate the fields of a property card.
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Note: Since geometry information was available, this cross-section could have been defined as a solid
section using the solid section sub-panel. A standard section was used instead because it did not
require selection, although it required a diameter measurement.
You may save your HyperMesh model to your working directory at this point.
In this step, a beam cross-section for standard sections was created using HyperBeam. You also learned
how to specify the dimensions for the standard section, and how to save this section for subsequent use.
Step 3: Model a shell section.
In this step, the shell section sub-panel of the HyperBeam panel is used to model a beam section for the
trapezoidal feature of the geometry.
Use the lines in the pre-defined component shell_section to define the section. Note that these lines are
located at the mid-plane of the trapezoidal geometry. In addition to these lines, HyperBeam also requires the
thickness of the feature as input to calculate the shell section properties.

Shell section lines
You can use various panels, such as the distance panel, to find the thickness of this feature. The thickness
of the feature is equal to 2 units.
1. Create a shell section using the lines in the shell_section component by doing the following:
- From the 1D page, select the HyperBeam panel.
- Select the shell section sub-panel.
- Set the entity selector to lines.
- Click lines and select by collector.
- Select the shell_section collector from the list and click select.
- Set cross section plane: to fit to entities.
- Set plane based node to specify node to make this option active.
- In the graphics area, hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse on top of one of the mid-
plane lines.
- Click specify node >>base.
- Click return.
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- Click anywhere on the highlighted line to define the base node.
- Set part generation: to auto.
- Click create to bring up the HyperBeam window.
Note: The cross section plane: option allows the software to define the plane for calculating beam
cross-sectional properties based on the entity (lines/element) selection. A user-controlled plane
can also be defined by changing the cross-section plane using the toggle.
When using the fit to entities: option you can select a reference node for the plane if you want
properties about a point other than the section centroid. This is done using the plane base
node: option. This node defines the origin of the coordinate system that serves as the reference
when computing the various beam cross-section properties. All the properties are calculated
both about the centroid and about the node you select.

Shell section
The coordinates of the centroid are calculated with respect to the user-defined coordinate system
appearing at the node location specified earlier. The coordinates of the shear center are calculated both
from the centroid and from the origin of the section. Local Ys and Zs are the coordinates of the shear
center with respect to the origin of the section, while principal Vs and Ws are the coordinates of the
shear center from the centroid of the section.
2. Modify the thickness of the cross-section and assign the value of 2 units by doing the following:
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- Click the value shown in the figure to highlight it.
- Type 2 and press ENTER.
The values for the beam properties computed in the Results window are updated.
3. Rename the section, Trapezoidal Section.
4. Exit from HyperBeam panel using the File menu menu and click Yes in the dialog to save the section.
In this step, a beam cross-section representing a shell section was created using HyperBeam, and the
thickness for the shell section was assigned. Note that the shell section is defined with only one thickness
as it is defined as one part. For shell sections comprised of multiple parts, each part is assigned an
independent thickness.
You may save your model to your working directory.
Step 4: Edit a shell section in HyperBeam.
In this step, experiment with some of the HyperBeam editing tools on the shell section. Use the edit section
sub-panel to load the shell section back into HyperBeam and modify its dimensions and geometry.
HyperMesh saves the geometry and property data of a shell section in beamsect collectors. This data is
used to restore the section in HyperBeam and hence modify it.
1. Load the Trapezoidal Section cross-section back into HyperBeam using the edit section sub-panel by
doing the following:
- From the 1D page, select the HyperBeam panel.
- Select the edit section sub-panel.
- Click beamsect and select Trapezoidal Section from the list of beam section collectors.
- Click edit.
HyperBeam is displayed with the selected cross-section. Note that the state of the cross-section is
retained and shows the dimensions used when the section was last saved.
Some of the typical changes to a section involve:
Modifying the thickness of the section
Changing the orientation of the section
Modifying or adding new geometry to the existing section
Moving the origin of the user coordinate system to a new location
The previous section showed how to change the thickness: click the displayed thickness, enter the new
value, and save.
The options in the Tools menu of the HyperBeam window allow you to perform advanced modifications
such as breaking segments, joining segments, creating parts, moving vertices, etc. Detailed information
on these tools can be found in the HyperBeam section of the HyperMesh User's Guide / Building
Models / Calculating Beam Properties online help. You can also click Help on the HyperBeam menu bar
to directly access this information.
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HyperBeam tools for shell sections
These options can be invoked using either the Tools menu or the icons on the right of the toolbar.
Use the Break a Segment option to divide the segment 1-4 (defined by vertices 1 and 4) and use the
Move Vertices option to move the new vertex formed to make the section look like a pentagon.
2. Break segment 1-4 adding a new vertex using the Break a Segment tool by doing the following:
- From the Tools menu select Break a Segment.
The corresponding icon on the toolbar is depressed. The section turns blue indicating that you are
about to break a segment.
- Click anywhere between vertices 1 and 4.
This adds a new vertex with ID 5 indicating that segment 1-4 is broken into two segments, 1-5 and 5-4.

Breaking a segment
Note: Breaking a segment amounts to adding a vertex, which can be useful in changing the geometry
and properties of a cross-section. Since this does not break a part, it will not affect the
thickness that is applied to the current part.
To turn on and off vertices, use the Vertex IDs option from the View menu.
3. Move vertex 5 to form a pentagon using the Move Vertices tool by doing the following:
- From the Tools menu select Move Vertices.
- Move the mouse cursor on top of vertex 5 until it turns blue.
You can now grab the vertex and drag it to a new location.
- Drag the vertex vertically upward so that a pentagon is formed.
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Moving a vertex
This operation moves vertex 5 to a new location and the section now resembles a pentagon. Note how
the centroid and shear center change as well as the beam properties. A new cross-section has been
createda new design for which the properties could be closer or further from intended values. This tool
can be used in the initial stages of design to achieve the functional requirement of a component.
When beams have the same cross-section but are rotated by an angle, it is possible to easily
recalculate the properties of a shell section at a new position. From the Tools menu, use the Reorient
Shell Section option from the Tools menu to:
Move the origin of the cross-section to the desired location.
Specify the new y-axis or to re-orient the section.
4. Move the origin of the cross-section (user-defined system) to the location of the centroid by doing the
following:
- From the Tools menu, select Reorient Shell Section.
A dialog opens.
- Under Specify Origin choose at current centroid.
- Click OK.
The origin of the user-defined coordinate system is now at the centroid of the cross-section, and all
the properties calculated with respect to this system and the centroid system are identical.
The properties calculated with respect to the user-defined system are the ones that can be
automatically passed to property collectors. This allows you to obtain the properties at the centroid
of the cross-section.

Moving the origin to the centroid
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In a similar way, the origin can be moved to a particular vertex, to the current shear center, or it can
be offset from its current location.
5. Specify the y-axis as pointing from the origin to vertex 2 using the Reorient Shell Section dialog
- From the Tools menu, select Reorient Shell Section.
- Under Specify y-axis choose origin to vertex and enter 2 in the field.
- Click OK.
The orientation of the shell section is changed such that the y-axis is now aligned with the origin and
vertex 2. All the properties are updated as well as the definition of the centroid and shear center.

Specifying a new y-axis
6. Exit HyperBeam without saving the changes you made to the shell section.
In this step, you learned how to edit an existing section. You have also learned about some of the advanced
options of HyperBeam used in modifying a shell section such as break a segment, move vertex, and re-orient
shell section.
Step 5: Create a solid section using surfaces.
In this step, model the irregular solid feature of the geometry as a solid section using the solid section sub-
panel of the HyperBeam panel.
The input for a solid section can be 2-D elements, surfaces, or a set of lines that form a closed area. Use the
surfaces in the solid_section collector to define the solid section.
1. Create a solid section using the surfaces in the solid_section component by doing the following:
- Select the solid section sub-panel.
- Set the entity selector to surfs.
- Pick the highlighted surface in the following image.
- Click specify node to make it active.
- Select a node within the area formed by the surfaces by holding the left mouse button down until a
line or the surface highlights, then clicking anywhere on the highlighted entity.
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Defining the solid section
- Set analysis type: to first order.
This option tells HyperBeam to use first order (linear) elements to calculate the properties of the
section.
- Click create to launch HyperBeam.
HyperBeam meshes the area enclosed by the selected curves with quadrilateral elements, and the
properties are calculated using these elements.

Solid section
The properties of sections are stored in beamsect collectors and in the current model database file.
Additionally, they can be exported to a text file using a right mouse click in the Results window. Finally,
when a beam section is to be used in different HyperMesh models, the properties can also be exported
as a beam section file (.bm) using the File menu, Export Selection option. This file can be loaded in
any HyperMesh model using the import sub-panel of the files panel.
2. Export the properties to a text file using the right mouse button in the Results window by doing the
following:
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- Position the mouse cursor in the Results window.
- Click the right mouse button and select Save Results to File.
A Save As file browser displays to allow you to select an output location and name for the text
file.
- Save the file to your working directory using any name.
A file is saved with the information displayed as it appears in the Results Window.
You can open this file with any text editor to review the information it contains.
3. Rename the section "Solid Section" and save your data.
4. Exit HyperBeam and save your data.
In this step, you learned how to model a solid section using HyperBeam. You also experimented with the
export function for the beam properties. Now that the cross-sections are defined, you can assign the
properties to property collectors.
Step 6: Assign beam properties to a property collector and a beam element.
In HyperMesh, you can easily assign the beam properties computed in HyperBeam and stored in a
beamsect collector to your solver beam property card. To achieve this, simply create a property collector with
the solver beam property card of interest, and assign the beamsect collector to the property collector.
When creating an actual beam element, simply assign the property collector to the element itself.
1. Create a property collector with a PBEAM card and assign the Solid Circle beamsect collector to it by
doing the following:
- Create/edit a props collector with name =standard_section, card image =PBEAM, and
material =steel.
- In the card previewer, click beamsec twice and select Solid Circle from the list of beamsect
collectors defined in the model.
The properties calculated using HyperBeam are automatically assigned to the PBEAM card. Observe
that the values of the parameters (A, I1a, I2a, I12a, J, etc.) are extracted from the properties of the
selected section.
2. Create a beam element in the bars panel with a direction vector set to the global x-axis and using the
standard_section property by doing the following:
- From the 1D page, select the bars panel.
- Click property =and select standard_section.
- Click the lower-left switch and select vectors as the option to define the orientation of the beam.
- Set the direction to x-axis.
- Click node A to make it active.
- In the graphics area, hold the left mouse button down and place the cursor on top of the line that
runs though the cylinder until it is highlighted.
- Release the left mouse button and select two nodes at the ends of the line for node A and node B.
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Creating a beam element
The beam element is created and placed into the beam component.
Note: When creating beam elements, the z-axis is defined by the two nodes selected as node A
and node B. The direction of the cross-section (x- or y-axis) is defined either by using
components, vectors, or a direction node. Due to the nature of this solid circle, how you
define the x- or y-axis is unimportant.
Changes made to a beamsect collector (for example, through editing of a cross-section) are also
automatically applied to any property collector referencing this beamsect collector.
Step 7 (Optional): Save your work.
Summary
In this tutorial, you experimented with the tools and techniques for modeling beam cross-section and
obtaining their properties using HyperBeam. You learned how to edit cross-sections and assign their
properties to property collectors, which can then be assigned to 1-D elements.
For more details on how to create 1-D elements, review the tutorial, Creating 1-D Elements. Additional
techniques for creating 1-D elements from connector entities are discussed in the tutorial, Creating
Connectors.
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Defining Composites - HM-4030
In this tutorial, you will learn how to assign element material orientation using the following:
System ID
Vector
Angle
Step 1: Retrieve the model file, composites.hm.
1. Retrieve the file, composites.hm.
2. From the Preferences menu, select User Profiles.
3. In the pop-up window, select the RADIOSS radio button.
4. From the Menu Bar, select BulkData.
5. Click OK.
6. On the Visualization toolbar, click Shaded Element and Mesh Lines ( ).
Step 2: Update all the elements to the correct element types for RADIOSS (Bulk
Data).
1. On the 2D page, select the elem types panel.
2. Click the elems selector and select all.
All element types (1-D, 2-D, and 3-D) are selected.
3. Click update to update the element types.
4. Click return to return to the main menu.
Step 3: Assign element material coordinate direction using system ID.
1. Go to the composites panel.
2. Go to the material orientation sub-panel.
3. Select elems >>all.
4. Under Material orientation method, toggle to by system ID.
5. Select system and select the rectangular system on top of ball (system ID = 1).
6. Click color and choose the display color of the review vectors or lines.
7. Set size =2.0.
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This value specifies, in model units, how large the review vectors are when displayed.
8. Click assign.
9. On the Collectors toolbar, click Card Edit ( ).
10. Set the entity selector to elems.
11. Select any element in the model.
12. Click edit.
13. Review the card.
This function assigns the ID of the coordinate system to the selected elements. This can be verified by
reviewing the MCID field of the CQUAD4 card populated with System ID 1 for the currently loaded
RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile. How each analysis code interprets this information varies. For
RADIOSS (Bulk Data), refer to the CQUAD4 and PCOMP(G) bulk data cards in the Bulk Data Section of
the RADIOSS Reference Manual. For visualization purposes HyperMesh also projects the x-axis of the
selected coordinate system onto the face of the shell elements to define the x-axis of the material
coordinate system. If you later modify the system, the element material coordinate directions change
implicitly.
14. Click return to exit the Card Previewer.
15. Click return to exit the Card Edit panel and return to the composites panel.
Step 4: Assign element material coordinate direction using a system axis.
1. If not already there, go to the composites panel, material orientation sub-panel.
2. Select elems >>all.
3. Under Material orientation method, toggle to by system axis:
4. Select system and select the rectangular system on top of ball (system ID = 1) .
5. Set the switch under system to local 2-axis.
6. Set size =2.0.
This value specifies, in model units, how large the review vectors are when displayed.
7. Click color and select the display color of the review vectors or lines.
8. Click project.
9. On the collectors toolbar, click Card Edit ( ).
10. Set the entity selector to elems.
11. Select any element in the model.
12. Click edit.
13. Review the card.
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This function assigns a material angle to the selected elements, which for RADIOSS (Bulk Data) is
defined as the angle between the vector direction connecting node1 and node2 of the shell element (that
is, the element coordinate system x-axis) and the projection of the selected local axis onto the surface
of the shell element. This can be verified by reviewing the THETA field of the CQUAD4 card populated
with an angle (in degrees) for the currently loaded RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile. Each element in
this case will have a unique THETA value as defined by the projection. How each analysis code
interprets this information varies. For RADIOSS (Bulk Data), refer to the CQUAD4 and PCOMP(G) bulk
data cards in the Bulk Data Section of the RADIOSS Reference Manual. For visualization purposes
HyperMesh also projects the local axis of the selected coordinate system onto the face of the shell
elements to define the x-axis of the material coordinate system.
14. Click return to exit the Card Previewer.
15. Click return to exit the Card Edit panel and return to the composites panel.
Step 5: Assign element material coordinate direction using a vector.
1. If not already there, go to the composites panel, material orientation sub-panel.
2. Select elems >>all.
3. Under Material orientation method, toggle to by vector.
4. Set the switch to vector.
5. Select the radial r vector from the spherical coordinate system on the bottom of the ball; the r-axis will
flash once when you click on it.
6. Click B and select the origin of the local spherical system as the base.
7. Set size = 2.0.
This value specifies, in model units, how large the review vectors are when displayed.
8. Click color and select the display color of the review vectors or lines.
9. Click project.
10. On the collectors toolbar, click Card Edit ( ).
11. Set the entity selector to elems.
12. Select any element in the model.
13. Click edit.
14. Review the card.
This function assigns a material angle to the selected elements, which for RADIOSS (Bulk Data) is
defined as the angle between the vector direction connecting node1 and node2 of the shell element (that
is, the element coordinate system x-axis) and the projection of the selected vector onto the surface of
the shell element. This can be verified by reviewing the THETA field of the CQUAD4 card populated with
an angle (in degrees) for the currently loaded RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile. Each element in this
case will have a unique THETA value as defined by the projection. How each analysis code interprets
this information varies. For RADIOSS (Bulk Data), refer to the CQUAD4 and PCOMP(G) bulk data cards
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in the Bulk Data Section of the RADIOSS Reference Manual. For visualization purposes HyperMesh
also projects the selected vector onto the face of the shell elements to define the x-axis of the material
coordinate system.
15. Click return to exit the Card Previewer.
16. Click return to exit the Card Edit panel and return to the composites panel.
Step 6: Assign element material coordinate direction using an angle.
1. If not already there, go to the composites panel, material orientation sub-panel.
2. Select elems >>all.
3. Under Material orientation method, toggle to by angle.
4. Enter angle =45.00.
5. Set size =2.0.
This value specifies, in model units, how large the review vectors are when displayed.
6. Click color and select the display color of the review vectors or lines.
7. Click set.
8. On the collectors toolbar, click Card Edit ( ).
9. Set the entity selector to elems.
10. Select any element in the model.
11. Click edit.
12. Review the card.
This function assigns a material angle of 45 degrees to the selected elements, which for RADIOSS (Bulk
Data) is defined as the angle 45 degrees from the vector direction connecting node1 and node2 of the
shell element (that is, the element coordinate system x-axis) using right hand rule. In order to use right
hand rule, the normal direction of the element must be known and can be determined from the tools
page, normals panel. This can be verified by reviewing the THETA field of the CQUAD4 card populated
with a 45-degree angle for the currently loaded RADIOSS (Bulk Data) user profile. Each element in this
case will have a THETA of 45 degrees. How each analysis code interprets this information varies. For
RADIOSS (Bulk Data), refer to the CQUAD4 and PCOMP(G) bulk data cards in the Bulk Data Section of
the RADIOSS Reference Manual. For visualization purposes HyperMesh defines a vector using
RADIOSS (Bulk Data) convention on the face of the shell elements to define the x-axis of the material
coordinate system. This option should be used only in situations where great care has been taken to
assure that the node1-node2 direction of the shell elements are initially aligned properly.
13. Click return to exit the Card Previewer.
14. Click return to exit the Card Edit panel and return to the composites panel.
Step 7: Review ply directions.
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1. Go to ply directions sub-panel within the composites panel.
2. Select elems >>by collector.
3. Select the yellow_sample collector.
4. Click select.
5. Set ply =1.
This defines the ply number to review.
The yellow_sample collector has a PCOMP card image assigned to it with the following laminate
definition (45/60/90)s. The PCOMP definition assigned to the yellow_sample collector can be reviewed
through the card editor, as follows:
6. On the collectors toolbar, click Card Edit ( ).
7. Set the entity selector to props.
8. Click props.
9. Select yellow_sample.
10. Click select.
11. Click edit.
12. Review the card.
The first ply defined on the PCOMP card is the most negative z-axis ply as determined from the element
normal. All ply angles on the PCOMP card are relative to the material coordinate direction set in the
above exercises using right hand rule. In order to use right hand rule, the normal direction of the element
must also be known and can be determined from the tools page, normals panel. For RADIOSS (Bulk
Data), refer to the PCOMP(G) bulk data cards in the Bulk Data Section of the RADIOSS Reference
Manual.
13. Click return to exit the Card Previewer.
14. Click return to exit the Card Edit panel and return to the composites panel.
15. Set size =2.0.
This value specifies, in model units, how large the review vectors are when displayed.
16. Click color and select the display color of the review vectors or lines.
17. Click review.
18. Additional ply angles can be reviewed by reselecting elements, entering a ply ID, and clicking review.
Elements that do not have ply angles assigned will not be displayed. Ply directions are set through card
images in solver template; an example is PCOMP card for RADIOSS (Bulk Data).
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Working with Loads on Geometry - HM-4040
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Create loads and boundary conditions on geometry
Map the loads from geometry to elements
Export to a solver deck
Modify the mesh and remap the loads to the new mesh
Exercise: Working with Loads on Geometry
This exercise uses the model file, c-channel0.hm.
C-channel model in shaded mode
Step 1: Retrieve the model file, c-channel0.hm.
In this tutorial, you will experiment with the export of the loads applied to geometry entities. Therefore, you
will need to have a template loaded. In this section, retrieve the c-channel model and load the OptiStruct user
profile. By loading this user profile, the template will be automatically loaded. You will also apply some
constraints, forces and pressure load to your model, and you will need load collectors to organize them.
1. Open the model file c-channel0.hm.
The model geometry is of a C-channel with two reinforcement ribs. The various surfaces are organized
into several component collectors.
2. From the Preferences menu, click User Profiles....
3. Select OptiStruct.
4. Click OK.
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Step 2: Create three load collectors for constraints, forces, and pressure loads.
1. In the Model browser, right-click in the white space of the browser list and click Create, then
LoadCollector.
2. In the Name: field, type constraints.
3. Select a color.
4. For Card image: select none.
5. Click Create.
6. Similarly, create two more load collectors with names pressure and forces, assign colors to them, and
select no card images.
Different boundary conditions can now be created.
Defining loads and boundary conditions on geometry.
You can apply loads to geometric entities in a way similar to the manner in which loads are applied to mesh
by using the following panels from the Analysis page: forces, moments, constraints, pressures, and
temperatures.
In this step, you will apply constraints, pressure, and forces to geometric entities in the model. Constrain the
bottom portion of the c-channel using line data. Then create pressure loads on the top surfaces. Finally, add
forces at the eight corners of the surfaces defining the top of the c-channel (see following image).

Constraints on lines, pressures on surfaces and forces on fixed points
Step 3: Fully constrain the bottom eight lines of the c-channel using the constraints
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panel from the Analysis page.
1. In the Model browser right-click the constraints load collector and pick Make Current.
2. From the BCs menu, click Create, then Constraints to open the Constraints panel.
3. Select the create sub-panel.
4. Set the entity selector to lines.
5. Select the eight lines defining the bottom portion of the c-channel.

Lines to constrain
6. For size=, enter the value 1.
This is the size of the icons that will be used to represent the constraints in the graphics area.
7. Clear the label constraints check box.
8. Constrain dof1, dof2, dof3, dof4, dof5, and dof6 by checking their respective boxes.
Dofs with a check will be constrained, while dofs without a check will be free. Dofs 1, 2, and 3 are x, y,
and z translation degrees of freedom. Dofs 4, 5, and 6 are x, y, and z rotational degrees of freedom.
9. For load types =, select SPC.
10. Click create.
This applies these constraints to the selected lines. They display as a triangular icon. Checking the box
for label constraints displays what degrees of freedom are constrained.
11. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 4: Apply a pressure of 25 units normal to the top three surfaces using the
pressures panel.
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1. Set pressure as your current load collector by right-clicking it in the Model browser and selecting Make
Current.
2. From the BCs menu, click Create then Pressures to open the Pressures panel.
3. Select the create sub-panel.
4. Set the entity selector to surfs and pick the three surfaces defining the top of the c-channel.

Surfaces to apply pressure to
5. Click magnitude =and enter the value 25 for the pressure.
Specifying a negative magnitude ensures that the pressure load is pushing down on the surfaces. By
default the pressure load is created normal to the surfaces.
6. Toggle the display of the pressures from magnitude % =to uniform size =.
An arrow is used for the graphical display of pressure loads. The size of the arrow can be input as a
value or as a percentage of the actual pressure load applied. In this exercise, you will specify its length
as a certain number.
7. Click uniform size =and enter the value 1.
This is the size the arrows will have in the graphics area.
8. Clear the label loads check box.
In this exercise, you will not display the actual value of the pressure load in the graphics area.
9. For load types =, select PLOAD.
10. Click create.
This applies the pressure loads to the selected surfaces. They are represented with an arrow as well as
a label. This label can be template based (PLOAD4 here) or follow the HyperMesh terminology (P) as
specified in the modeling sub-panel of the options panel.
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11. Click return to exit the panel.
Step 5: Create forces at the eight corners of the three top surfaces.
1. In the Model browser, set the current load collector to forces.
2. From the BCs menu, click Create then Forces to open the Forces panel.
3. Select the create sub-panel.
4. Set the entity selector to points and select the eight fixed points defining the corners of the c-channels
top surfaces.

Fixed points to apply forces to
5. Set the coordinate system toggle to global system.
6. Click the vector definition switch and select uniform size =.
7. Click uniform size =and enter the value 1.
8. Clear the label loads check box.
9. Click magnitude =and enter the value 15.
The minus sign is used to specify a direction opposite to the one you will select in the next step.
10. Click the direction definition switch below magnitude =, and select z-axis.
11. For load types =, select FORCE.
12. Click create.
This creates a number of point forces, with the given magnitude in the z-direction, to be applied to the
fixed points selected.
13. Click return to exit the panel.
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Loads on geometry
Note: If you sent some loads into the wrong load collector, use the organize panel on loads to move
them into the right collector.
In this section you created various types of loads on various geometric entities: lines, surfaces and fixed
point. The ultimate goal is to have these loading conditions applied to finite elements. You will now create
these elements.
Step 6: Generate elements on the surfaces.
Use the automesh panel to create a quad dominant (mixed) mesh. The elements generated will be
organized into their surfaces component collectors to avoid the need of setting current component collectors.
1. Press F12 to go to the automesh panel.
2. Set the entity selector to surfs.
3. Click surfs and select displayed.
4. For element size =, enter the value 0.25.
5. Set the mesh type to mixed.
6. Click the toggle to switch from elems to current comp to elems to surf comp.
This ensures that the elements created go into the surfaces component collector.
7. Set the meshing mode to automatic.
In this mode HyperMesh will automatically generate a mesh on the surfaces based on the element size
and the type of elements selected. No further user input is required or can be supplied.
8. Click mesh.
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9. Click return to exit the panel.
10. Click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).

Meshed c-channel
In this step, you quickly created a shell mesh on the surfaces. You can now try to map the loads that were
applied to geometric entities onto these finite elements.
Step 7: Map the loads from geometry to elements.
A load collector, just like component collectors, can store both loads on geometry and loads on finite
elements. These two types of loads are separate and independent, and can therefore be manipulated
independently. At this time, your load collectors contain loads only in their geom side. By mapping these
loads on geometry onto finite elements and using your existing loadcols, you will also populate their elems
side.
In this step, use the load on geom panel to map the loads from the geometric entities (to which the
geometric loads are applied) to the mesh associated with these geometric entities for the constraints and
pressure load collectors.
1. From the Analysis page, select the load on geom panel.
2. Click loadcols and check the box next to constraints from the list of load collectors.
3. Click select.
4. Click map loads.
The constraints previously applied to the lines are now also applied to the nodes of the mesh associated
to these lines. These constraints are placed in the same load collector as the ones applied to the
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geometry, only in the elems portion.

Constraints mapped to the elements
5. Repeat 7.1 - 7.4 to map the pressure loadcol to the mesh.
The pressure loads previously applied to the surfaces are now mapped to the nodes associated with
these surfaces. These pressure loads are placed in the same load collector as the ones applied to the
geometry.
Step 8: Export the model to a solver deck.
When exporting the model using an export template, only the loads on mesh are exported. These loads on
mesh may have been applied directly to the mesh, mapped from geometry to the mesh, or both. The Export
tab allows you to export loads to an ASCII solver-specific file (according to the loaded export template). The
loads are exported as mesh loads.
The Custom template allows you to determine which loads are exported.
If all is selected, all the loads on geometry that have not been mapped (if any), are mapped to loads on mesh
and all the loads on mesh are exported.
If displayed is selected, all the displayed loads on mesh (if any) are exported. All the loads on mesh
associated with the displayed loads on geometry (if any) are exported as well. If any loads on geometry are
displayed and have not been mapped, they will automatically be mapped to loads on mesh and exported as
well.
In this step, use the display panel to ensure that only the already mapped loading conditions are exported.
One load collector stores both loads on geometry and loads on mesh. The mesh (or multiple meshes) is
associated with the geometrical entities to which the loads on geometry have been applied. Each load type
is stored in a dedicated section of the same load collector.
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The display panel allows separate or simultaneous visualization of loads on mesh and loads on geometry.
Turn off the display of loads applied to the geometric entities to display only the loads applied to the mesh.
1. Use the Model browser to turn off the display of the loads applied to geometric entities.
Left-click the geometry display buttons in your Model browser so your component display changes
from this:

to this:
.
2. From the File menu panel select Export....
3. Click the arrows ( ) next to Export options to expand the dialog.
4. Set Export: to Displayed, and export the model to your working directory as an OptiStruct deck.
Since loads applied to geometry were turned off in the display panel previously, only the loads mapped
previously will be exported using the displayed option in the export sub-panel. You may open the
exported deck in any text editor to verify that no RADIOSS FORCE card has been exported in the deck.
5. Specify a file name.
6. Click Export to export the file.
In this section you experimented with the behavior of the export sub-panel when it comes to loads applied to
geometry and elements. You learned that with different combinations of the all/displayed option and loads
displayed in the disp panel, you can control what information gets exported.
Step 9: Modify the mesh and remap the loads to the new mesh.
Besides the convenience they offer, loads applied to geometry give you the flexibility of re-applying them as
many times as you want to different meshes. This feature is particularly useful when remeshing a model
without deleting complicated loads or boundary conditions. After remeshing, loads or boundary conditions
that have been applied to geometrical entities can be easily remapped to the new mesh, while loads applied
to elements are automatically deleted when the elements themselves are deleted.
In this step, remesh the surfaces and remap the loads on geometry to the new mesh.
1. Go to the automesh panel.
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2. Click surfs and select displayed.
3. For element size =, enter the value 0.5.
4. Leave all other options used earlier unchanged.
5. Click mesh.
The automesher deletes the existing elements before creating a completely new set based on the new
element size. As you exit the automesh panel, the loads that were applied to the initial mesh are
removed since the elements are no longer there.

New mesh
Step 10: Map all the loads on geometry to the new mesh using the load on geom
panel.
1. From the Analysis page, select the load on geom panel.
2. Click loadcols and check the boxes next to constraints, pressure, and forces.
3. Click select.
4. Click map loads.
The loading conditions initially defined for the geometric entities are now applied to the new mesh. The
various loading conditions are placed into the same load collector as the corresponding ones applied to
the geometry. Note that you did not have to display these loads to map them.
Note: Deleting geometric entities to which loads are applied will also result in the deletion of these
loads. It will not affect any loads applied to the mesh, though.
In this step, you experimented with the remapping of loads applied to geometry onto a new mesh. Loads
applied on geometric entities can be mapped several times onto the different finite element entities attached
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to these geometric entities. You took advantage of this in a situation where a mesh had to be changed, and it
saved you from having to recreate loads on the elements.
Step 11 (Optional): Save your work.
With all of the exercise complete, you can save the model if desired.
Summary
In this tutorial, you used several boundary condition creation panels to generate constraints and various
loading conditions on geometric entities. You then experimented with the mapping of these loads on
geometry onto finite elements. You also familiarized yourself with the rules that govern the export of loads on
geometric entities.
No consideration to the creation of specific card images that need to accompany the various loading
conditions was given. For more information on how to generate the various loading conditions for different
solvers, refer to the Modeling / Solver Specific section of the HyperMesh tutorials.
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Working with Include Files - HM-4060
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Import include files
Review and manipulate includes
Create includes and reorganize the database
Locate entities in includes
Import new data into includes
Export options
While HyperMesh supports include formulations for several other solvers, LS-DYNA 970 input decks will be
used for the purpose of this tutorial.
Many FEA solvers allow you to organize your input deck into separate files and provide a mechanism to read
all files linked to a single input deck. This capability is commonly known as "includes." HyperMesh provides
several options for importing such models, one of which preserves the include structure upon import. The
Include browser is available to manipulate these includes. The Include browser lets you create, review,
edit, organize, and update the contents of any HyperMesh model into various include files. Every entity in
HyperMesh then belongs to either the master model or one of its include files.
Step 1: Load the LS-DYNA user profile and import the model.
Import ( ) has the following options for importing include files:
Merge: with this option, all the data in the individual includes are merged into the master model and
imported in HyperMesh as a single model. HyperMesh has no knowledge regarding individual
include files with this option.
Skip: with this option, the INCLUDE statements are simply read as control cards and none of the
contents of the include files are processed. The data within the include files is therefore ignored.
Preserve: when you select this option, the INCLUDE statements are preserved and the contents of
the include files are processed. In addition, the contents of the include files are "marked" to
remember which include file they belong to. When the deck is exported from HyperMesh, if desired,
all of the entities that are marked as belonging to include files get written back to that include file.
The entire file structure (the master file and all its include files) are rewritten from the HyperMesh
database.
In this section, load the LS-DYNA user profile, then import the LS-DYNA decks (master file and include files)
defining the model. Preserve the organization of the data into the various include files.
1. From the Preferences menu, click User Profiles....
2. Select LsDyna.
3. Click OK.
Selecting a solver user profile sets the FE input reader to this solver and loads the solvers FE output
template. It also loads a macro menu with numerous tools specific to this interface. The graphical user
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interface is tailored to this solver with panel names and options renamed or removed to match its
terminology as much as possible.
4. Click Import ( ).
5. Click the Import FE model if not already selected.
6. Under Import options, from the Include Files: menu, select Preserve and import the following file:
<installation_directory>\tutorials\hm\master.k.
7. Click Import.
This loads the master.k deck into HyperMesh as well as the include files, wheels.key, frame.key
and engine.key, which are also present in the same directory.

Truck model
In this section, the truck model defined with a master deck and several include files was imported into
HyperMesh while preserving the organization of the data between the various files.
Step 2: Review the model organization using the Include browser.
The Include browser is accessed from the View menu. It allows you to create, review, edit, organize, and
update the contents of a model into various include files. A context sensitive pop-up menu provides many
other Include browser functionalities. For a complete description of the options available, refer to the Include
Browser topic from the online help.
In this section, launch the Include browser, review the structure of the model and its organization into the
various includes, and experiment with some of the display and configuration options available.
1. From the View menu, select Include Browser to launch the Include browser.
This is a tree-like organization of the database structure. The Master Model is at the top level of the
include browser. Data, which does not have any references to an include file, is stored in the master
model. Each include file is represented with an icon ( ) along with its name (file name). Each include
can be expanded to reveal its contents. The contents of each include is organized (grouped) into folders
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containing each type, next to which appears the total number of entities of that type. Each of the folders
can be expanded to review the individual entities in that folder. The browser can be configured to show
only specific entities of interest.
2. Expand the engine.key include to review its content.
This include contains four folders: Component, Material, Card, and Property.
3. Expand the Component directory from the engine include.
This folder contains six component collectors as indicated next to its name.

Components content of the engine.key include
4. Similarly, review the content of the other includes as well as the content of the folders belonging to the
Master Model.
The wheels.key include contains, for example, components, control volumes, groups, materials,
properties, and sets.
Note: While most entities are presented in this tree, elements and nodes are not listed, as this would
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not be practical for larger models.
5. Right-click white space in the browser and select Collapse Include from the context menu to collapse
all the trees that you expanded.
6. Right-click Master Model and experiment with the display options Show, Hide, and Isolate.
7. Use the Isolate option on each one of the includes to visually review the components they contain.

Displaying only the frame.key include
8. Use the display options from the Include browser to turn on the display of the entire model.
In this section, the Include browser was launched and the organization of the model into the various
includes was reviewed. The Include browser was customized and some of the display options were used to
modify the display of the model in the graphics region.
Step 3: Create new includes, reorganize the model, and locate entities in includes.
Whether you import includes or are simply starting from a flat HyperMesh model, you can create new
includes in your database using the Include browser, and organize entities into them using the organize
panel. You can also select entities (using the standard SHIFT and CTRL keys) from the Include browser
and drag them between two includes or between the master model and an include.
To determine which include a specific entity belongs to, you can use the organize panels locate function.
In this section, create a new include for the doors and organize the corresponding collectors into it using the
organize panel. Finally, determine which include a certain material belongs to using the locate function.
1. Right-click Master Model and select New Include File.
This adds a new include under the master model with an editable name.
Note: You can add includes under the master model or under includes themselves.
2. Type in the name doors.key for this new include.
This include is now displayed in bold, signifying that it is the current include.
Note: You can rename or make current an include using the context menu displayed when you right-
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click the include.
3. From the Tool page, select the organize panel.
4. Select the includes sub-panel and set the entity selector to comps.
5. Click dest =and select the doors.key include as the destination for the components.
6. From the graphics area, pick the two doors and their windows, or click comps to access the list of
components and select the components SHELL: DOOR-LEFT, SHELL: DOOR-RIGHT, and SHELL:
DOOR-WINDOWG-LEFT.
7. Click move to place these components into the include.
An expand/collapse icon is added next to the doors.key include, signifying that data has been placed
under it.
8. Review the components that were placed in the doors.key include.
9. Right-click doors.key and select Isolate.
The elements are displayed in the graphics area.

Door and window elements in doors.key.
10. Change the display back to Display All.
11. In the organize panel, includes sub-panel, set the type of entities to mats.
12. Click locate.
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This brings up the list of materials available in this model.
13. Select MATL1_38.
The dest =field is updated to show which include (or master) file this particular material belongs to. In
this case, it belongs to the wheels.key include.
In this section, a new include was created in the Include browser, and some components from the master
model, as well as their corresponding elements, were moved into it. Finally, the locate function was used to
quickly identify which include a material belonged to.
Step 4: Import new data into an include and export the model.
Initially, the Master Model is always the current file (displayed in bold in the Include browser) and any new
entity you create or bring in HyperMesh is automatically placed in it. You can use the Make Current option
from the Include browser context menu to make any include the current include. As you create a new
include, this include automatically becomes the current include.
The Include File Options function from the Include browser context menu lets you define export options
for each individual include file: whether the include file should get exported, when the export function is used,
and where the file should be exported.
Under Export options of Export, , you have two options for exporting models that contain includes:
Merge: in this case, all the data in individual include files is merged into a single master model
during export. The exported file does not contain references to any include files.
Preserve: with this option, all the data in individual include files are exported separately to their
corresponding files. The references to these includes in the master model file are also maintained.
In this section, create a new include in the master model called barrier.dyn and import a barrier model
into it. Review the include file options for each one of the includes in the model and modify them as needed.
Finally, export the model preserving the includes.
1. In the Include browser, right-click Master Model and select New Include File.
2. Name the new include barrier.dyn.
Notice how this new include is displayed in bold, signifying that it is now the current include and any new
data created or brought into HyperMesh will be placed in it.
3. Right-click barrier.dyn and select Import Includes.
This posts Import menu in HyperMesh browser area.
4. Click Select file... ( ) and import the file <install_directory>\tutorials\hm\barrier.dyn
.
The barrier is imported into HyperMesh
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Truck and barrier
5. Review the content of the barrier.dyn include.
Notice how barrier.dyn is displayed as bold and both barrier.dyn and doors.key are non-italicized, while
engine.key, frame.key, and wheels.key are all italicized. This is a visual representation of the export
option that is set for each of these three includes.
6. Right-mouse click engine.key and select Include File Options.
This displays the Include File Options dialog:

The File path: option lets you type in or browse for the directory in which the include is to be exported.
The Do not export option lets you specify whether the include should get exported or not when the
model is exported out of HyperMesh.
This box is automatically checked when you read includes into HyperMesh that have their permission
set to read only, as well as includes that are referenced by the master file using absolute paths.
The three files frame.key, wheels.key and engine.key are referenced by the file master.k that
we imported initially using relative paths (edit the master.k file to verify this), but had their permissions
set to read only. In order to export these includes, the Do not export box should be unchecked.
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7. Uncheck the Do not export box and click Set for the includes engine.key, frame.key and
wheels.key.

Exporting all includes
8. Right-click an include and select Export All Includes.
This displays the Export all includes dialog.
9. Type in a location and name for the master model and click OK. Or, use the open file icon ( ) to
browse for a location, type in the name of the master file and click Save.
10. Go to the directory you selected and verify that all the includes have been exported with the names set in
the Include browser.
Note: Using this option, all the include files are exported as individual files. This is equivalent to using
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the Export menu ( ) with the preserve includes option when writing out the master model.
When you want to export a single flat file, use the export sub-panel and set the export option to merge
includes.
This concludes this tutorial. You may discard this model or save it to your working directory for your
reference.
In this tutorial you used the include browser to manage the use of includes in your truck model. Several
options for import, display, organization, and export were used.
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OptiView - HM-4070
In this tutorial, you will:
Import an optimization model
Create a new set of optimization entities
Organize these into optimization problems
Run both problems
View results
Exercise
Step 1: Launch HyperMesh and set the user profile.
Step 2: Import the c c l i p . f e m file.
1. Click the Import ( ) toolbar button, then select Import Fe Model icon ( ).
2. Select OptiStruct for the file type.
3. Click the in the File line to browse to <installation_directory>\tutorial\hm\ and
select cclip.fem.
Step 3: Create Problem 1 and organize optimization entities.
1. From the Model browser, click Optimization View ( ).
2. Review the Optimization Repository.
The Optimization Repository gives an overview of all optimization related entities in the database. Info
types and children entities help give a clear snapshot without having to review individual entities.
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Figure 1
3. Right-click the Optimization Problems folder and click Create, then Optimization Problem.
4. Name this problem Topology.
5. Drag and drop all the entities from the repository into the newly created problem.
You can drag and drop entities from the repository into problems or problems into problems. Any
combination of selected entities can be dragged and dropped.
Step 4: Define a new set of optimization entities.
1. Right-click in the white space of the optimization view in the Model browser and select Create, Free
Size Desvar.
This will take you into the Free Size Optimization panel where you can define a free size design
variable. Give it a meaningful name so you can easily drag and drop.
2. Create a free size design variable for the shells property.
You can create new response/constraint pairs, or anything else you want to change from problem to
problem. For this simple tutorial, we will just compare Topology to Free Size.
Step 5: Create Problem 2 and organize optimization entities.
1. Create another problem using by right-clicking, choosing Create, then selecting Optimization Problem.
Name this problem Free Size.
2. Drag and drop all the entities defined in the repository to the newly created problem.
Notice that you will have two design variables defined for the Free Size problem.
3. Right-click on the shell design variable and click Remove from Problem.
This will not delete the problem from the repository.
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Figure 2
Step 6: Set problems to export and run.
1. Right-click on the Topology problem and click Set Export.
Once problems are defined, only one can be export at a time. The problem set to export is in bold, and
furthermore, the entity state browser shows these rules.
2. Open the OptiStruct panel.
3. Set the export options to custom.
4. Save the input file as cclip_topology.fem.
5. Click OptiStruct to run the analysis.
The Optimization View allows one .hm for all optimization problems, and it is up to the user to wisely
name each input file.
6. Repeat these steps for the Free Size problem and view the results in HyperView.
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Customization
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Scripts
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Add a Button to the User Page on the Utility Menu - HM-8010
In this tutorial you will:
Create a new button on the User page of the Utility menu
Tools
The User page is available on the Utility menu. It can be accessed in the following way:
From the Menu Bar, select View, then Utility Menu
At the bottom of the Utility menu, click the User button
Users may add command files and Tcl/Tk scripts to the userpage.mac file. When HyperMesh starts, it
first looks for the userpage.mac file in the directory from which it launches and then in the installation
directory. UNIX users also have the option of putting the userpage.mac file in their home directory.
The userpage.mac file controls the display and available operations on the User page of the HyperMesh
Utility menu. To invoke a command file or Tcl/Tk script from the User page, a button must be defined inside
the userpage.mac file. The *createbutton command is used to define the button and its
characteristics. The syntax for this command is:
*createbutton(page, name, row, column, width, COLOR, helpString, macroName [ ,
arg1 ])
page
The page number on which the button is to appear.
For the User page, this value is 5.
name
The text to display on the button, enclosed in quotes:
" ".
row
The row in which to place the button. The number of
visible rows depends on your monitors graphics
resolution. A positive value indicates an absolute row
number. A 0 indicates the next highest available row.
A negative value indicates the number of rows to skip.
Rows begin at the bottom of the menu.
column
The column where the button starts (0-10). Columns
begin to the right of the menu.
width
The width of the button (max = 10).
COLOR
The color of the button. The available button colors
are: RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA,
YELLOW, GRAY, and BUTTON (background). The
color name must appear in capital letters.
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helpString
The string to be displayed in the menu bar when the
middle mouse button is pressed and the button is
clicked, enclosed in quotes: " ".
macroName
The command to run when the button is pressed,
enclosed in quotes: " ".
arg1
A list of optional arguments passed to the script.
Exercise
To create a button on the User page that will launch the lighting.tcl dialog from the HyperMesh
installation:
Step 1: Create the userpage.mac file.
Using a text editor, create a blank userpage.mac file in the appropriate directory.
When HyperMesh starts, it first looks for the userpage.mac file in the directory from which it launches
and then in the installation directory. On Windows, the default launch directory is in the My Documents
folder. UNIX users also have the option of putting the userpage.mac file in their home directory. It is
not recommended to modify the userpage.mac file in the installation directory.
Step 2: Add the command to create the button.
1. Add the following text to the userpage.mac file:
*createbutton(5,"Lighting",10,5,5,YELLOW,"Launch the lighting.tcl
script","EvalTcl","lighting.tcl")
The EvalTcl macro is defined in the globalpage.mac file in the HyperMesh installation. It takes a
Tcl script as its argument and executes the script.
Notice that the full path is not used to reference the lighting.tcl script. A full path can be specified
if the file is not located in one of the predefined paths that HyperMesh searches to find scripts. Users
can add additional search paths using the TCL_INCLUDE environment variable. Relative paths can also
be used from these search paths.
2. Save the modified userpage.mac file.
Step 3: Load the updated userpage.mac file.
1. Restart HyperMesh from the working directory or reload the current macro menu .mac file. This allows
the current session to use the modified userpage.mac file.
To reload the current macro menu .mac file while HyperMesh is open, select the Files menu, select
Load, and choose Macro. Make sure to load the proper .mac file from the hm\scripts\<profile
name> directory based on the current user profile, or load the default hm.mac in the
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hm\bin\<platform> directory if no user profile is loaded.
2. Press the User button on the Utility menu. You will see Lighting, the button defined in Step 2.
Compare this button to its definition. It is yellow in color, begins in column 5 of row 10, and extends half
way across the Utility menu.
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Create a Utility Menu Macro From a Command File - HM-8020
In this tutorial you will:
Determine the commands to save the current HyperMesh model
Create a Utility menu macro to execute the command
Create a new button on the User page of the Utility menu to run the macro
Tools
In order to execute command file commands or Tcl scripts from a button on any of the HyperMesh Utility
menu pages, a Utility menu macro must first be defined. A Utility menu macro contains valid command file
or templex commands that execute the appropriate operations, and is defined using the *beginmacro and
*endmacro commands. Macros may accept data passed to them using the arguments $1, $2, etc. Each
argument specifies where the values should be substituted. These macros are defined within the .mac files,
including the userpage.mac file.
The following skeleton code shows the format of a Utility menu macro:
*beginmacro(macroname)
command statements go here
*endmacro()
Utility menu macros consist of HyperMesh Tcl modify commands.
Exercise
Create a Utility menu macro from a command file that saves the model and add a button on the User page
that will launch the macro:
1. Define the task.
2. Delete the existing command.cmf file. This file is located in either the start-in directory or the current
working directory.
3. Perform the operations in HyperMesh that the script should run.
4. Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
5. Add the commands to the userpage.mac file.
6. Modify as necessary and add macro wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro.
7. Add macro button using *createbutton that calls the new macro defined in Step 6.
8. Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified userpage.mac.
9. Test the macro.
Step 1: Define the task.
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The first step in creating a macro is to define the process you want to automate and recognize the individual
tasks to reach the desired conclusion. Here, you want to create a one-button macro to automate saving the
current HyperMesh model to a file named temp.hm. The actions necessary to complete this task are:
From the Menu Bar, select Files, then Save as.
Use the file browser to locate a directory and enter the name for the filename.
Click Save.
Step 2: Delete the existing command.cmf file.
The current command.cmf file is located in the current working directory. When first opening HyperMesh,
the file is created in the directory HyperMesh is launched from. As soon as you begin working in HyperMesh
all executed commands are written to the command.cmf file. If the file already exists, the commands are
appended to the file. Deleting the file allows HyperMesh to create a new file and allows the user to easily
find the relevant commands.
Step 3: Perform the operations in HyperMesh.
Execute the full process within HyperMesh. Every command issued in HyperMesh appears in the order
executed and is reflected in the command.cmf file.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Files, then Save as.
2. Using the file browser, locate a directory to save the temporary file with the name temp.hm.
Remember this is just a temporary file and will be overwritten each time the macro is executed.
3. Click Save.
Step 4: Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
1. Open the command.cmf file using any text editor.
2. Locate the *writefile command at or near the end of the command.cmf file.
This is the command that writes the model file.
3. Select and copy this line.
Step 5: Add the commands to the userpage.mac file.
1. Open the userpage.mac file using any text editor.
2. Paste the *writefile command copied from the command.cmf file inside the userpage.mac file.
Step 6: Modify as necessary and add Utility menu macro wrapper commands.
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1. Remove the path in the *writefile command so that it looks like:
*writefile("temp.hm",0)
2. Enclose the commands from Step 5 between the wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro.
In the *beginmacro command, name the macro macroSave.
*beginmacro(macroSave)
*writefile("temp.hm",0)
*endmacro()
The macro name macroSave will be used to connect the button with the macro via the macroName field
in the *createbutton command.
3. Add the command *answer(yes) after the *writefile command.
The command *answer(yes) automatically answers yes if prompted to overwrite the file in the event
temp.hm already exists.
4. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 7: Add the macro button.
Create a button on the User page to execute the macro.
1. Create a new button in the userpage.mac file.
*createbutton(5,"Save File",20,0,10,GREEN,"Save file","macroSave")
This creates a button on page 5 (User page), names it, places it in the 20th row, starts it at column 0,
sets the width at 10 columns, applies to it the color green, provides a help string and references the
macro macroSave defined in Step 6.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 8: Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified
userpage.mac.
To reload the current macro menu .mac file while HyperMesh is open, from the Files menu select Load,
then choose Macro. Make sure to load the proper .mac file from the hm\scripts\<profile name>
directory based on the current user profile, or load the default hm.mac in the hm\bin\<platform>
directory if no user profile is loaded.
Step 9: Test the macro.
1. Click the User button on the Utility menu.
The new button labeled Save File should be on the User page.
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2. Click this button to automatically save your file.
The file is saved to the directory specified in the *writefile command. In this case no directory is
specified so HyperMesh saves the file to the start-up or current working directory. It will always save
with the name specified in the macro (in this case, temp.hm).
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Create a Utility Menu Macro to Create Constraints on a Plane -
HM-8030
In this tutorial you will:
Determine the commands to create constraints on a plane
Create a Utility menu macro to execute the commands
Create a new button on the User page of the Utility menu to run the macro
Tools
In order to execute command file commands or Tcl scripts from a button on any of the HyperMesh Utility
menu pages, a Utility menu macro must first be defined. A Utility menu macro contains valid command file
or templex commands that execute the appropriate operations, and is defined using the *beginmacro and
*endmacro commands. Macros may accept data passed to them using the arguments $1, $2, etc. Each
argument specifies where the values should be substituted. These macros are defined within the .mac files,
including the userpage.mac file.
The following skeleton code shows the format of a Utility menu macro:
*beginmacro(macroname)
command statements go here
*endmacro()
Utility menu macros consist of HyperMesh Tcl modify commands.
The load collectors panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Collectors, then Create, then Load Collector
From the load collectors icon on the Collectors toolbar
This toolbar can be accessed from the Menu Bar by selecting View, then Toolbars, then Collectors
The load collectors panel allows you to create and update load collectors.
The constraints panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the Analysis page, go to constraints
From the Menu Bar, choose BCs, then Create, then Constraints
The constraints panel allows you to create and update constraints.
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Exercise
Create a Utility menu macro from a command file that creates constraints on a plane and add a button on
the User page that will launch the macro:
1. Define the task.
2. Delete the existing command.cmf file. This file is located in either the start-in directory or the current
working directory.
3. Perform the operations in HyperMesh that the script should run.
4. Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
5. Add them to the userpage.mac file.
6. Modify as necessary and add macro wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro.
7. Add macro button using *createbutton that calls the new macro defined in Step 6.
8. Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified userpage.mac.
9. Test the macro.
Step 1: Define the task.
The first step in creating a macro is to define the process you want to automate and recognize the individual
tasks to reach the desired conclusion. Here, you want to create a one-button macro to automatically create
constraints on certain nodes. The actions necessary to complete this task are:
Enter the load collectors panel.
Create a load collector for the constraints.
Enter the constraints panel.
Apply constraints to the nodes on the end of the beam lying in the YZ plane.
Step 2: Delete the existing command.cmf file.
The current command.cmf file is located in the current working directory. When first opening HyperMesh,
the file is created in the directory HyperMesh is launched from. As soon as you begin working in HyperMesh
all executed commands are written to the command.cmf file. If the file already exists, the commands are
appended to the file. Deleting the file allows HyperMesh to create a new file and allows the user to easily
find the relevant commands.
Step 3: Perform the operations in HyperMesh.
Execute the full process within HyperMesh. Every command issued in HyperMesh appears in the order
executed and is reflected in the command.cmf file.
1. From the Files menu, choose Open and load the file, c_channel-tcl.hm.
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2. Open the load collectors panel.
3. Activate the create sub-panel.
4. In the name=, field enter the name constraints.
5. Click create.
6. Open the constraints panel.
7. Active the create sub-panel.
8. Click nodes and select the on plane option.
The plane that will be selected is the XY plane. This is accomplished by selecting the x-axis vector,
which is normal to the XY plane. The base node option is then highlighted, allowing a node on one end
of the beam to be selected as the base node for the plane. All nodes on that plane are highlighted when
select is clicked.
9. Click create.
Step 4: Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
1. Open the command.cmf file using any text editor.
2. Select and copy all lines in the file.
Observe the *createmark command and the list of entity ID numbers. A mark is a storage buffer in
HyperMesh. For some actions performed on entities, the entity ID is first entered into the designated
mark.
There are two marks available to the user (1 and 2) for each entity type (elements, nodes, lines,
surfaces, points, etc). At the execution of the command using the mark, the changes apply to all
entities identified in the mark.
Step 5: Add the commands to the userpage.mac file.
1. Open the userpage.mac file using any text editor.
2. Paste the commands copied from the command.cmf file inside the userpage.mac file.
Step 6: Modify as necessary and add Utility menu macro wrapper commands.
1. Enclose the commands in Step 5 between the wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro. In
the *beginmacro command, name the macro macroEdge_Const as shown, following. Remove any
lines copied from the command.cmf file that are not shown, following.
*beginmacro(macroEdge_Const)
*collectorcreate(loadcols,"constraints","",11)
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*createmark(nodes,1) 3358-3360 3296 3297 3142 etc
*loadcreateonentity_curve(nodes,1,3,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0)
*endmacro()
The macro name macroEdge_Const will be used to connect the button with the macro via the
macroName field in the *createbutton command.
2. Change the *createmark(nodes,1) command to *createmark(nodes,1) "on plane" 0 0
0 1 0 0 0.5 1 0
"on plane" is one of many selection methods available. This method allows the selection of only
entities that lie within a tolerance (in this case, 0.5) of the plane defined at the point (0,0,0) with normal
vector (1,0,0). In this exercise, this is the YZ plane. See the Input Collectors online help topic for further
details.
The final macro should look like:
*beginmacro(macroEdge_Const)
*collectorcreate(loadcols,"constraints","",11)
*createmark(nodes,1) "on plane" 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.5 1 0
*loadcreateonentity(nodes,1,3,1,0,0,0,0,0,0)
*endmacro()
3. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 7: Add the macro button.
Create a button on the User page to execute the macro.
1. Create a new button in the userpage.mac file.
*createbutton(5,"Edge Const",18,0,10,GREEN,"Add constraints to outer edge
of elements","macroEdge_Const")
This creates a button on page 5 (User page), names it, places it in the 20th row, starts it at column 0,
makes it 10 columns wide, gives it the color green, provides a help string and references the macro
macroSave defined in Step 6.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
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Step 8: Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified
userpage.mac.
To reload the current macro menu .mac file while HyperMesh is open, from the Files menu, select Load,
then Macro option. Make sure to load the proper .mac file from the hm\scripts\<profile name>
directory based on the current user profile, or load the default hm.mac in hm\bin\<platform> if no user
profile is loaded.
Step 9: Test the macro.
1. Click the User button on the Utility menu.
The new button labeled Edge Const should be on the User page.
2. Click this button to run the macro that automatically creates constraints on the outer row of nodes.
Some commands used in this exercise are very model-specific. For example, creating a load collector
named constraints may cause an error if the collector already exists. Also, selecting nodes using the
by plane option and specifying the YZ plane may not be applicable to a lot of situations.
Several options exist to make the *createmark commands general enough to work with any model.
For example, to select all the currently displayed elements in the model use the command
*createmark(elements,1) "by displayed".
Another option is to replace the *createmark command with *createmarkpanel. When executed,
this command presents the user with a selection panel for the entity specified. For this macro, the
*createmarkpanel command could be used to allow the user to select the appropriate nodes.
Additionally, this Utility menu macro could be converted to a Tcl script that allows for additional logic
and error checking controls. This way, the user could also be prompted to enter a name for the load
collector using hm_getstring. An error check could then be performed to determine if that load
collector already exists, and appropriate action would then be taken.
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Create a Utility Menu Macro from a Tcl Script - HM-8040
In this tutorial you will:
Determine the commands to save the current HyperMesh model
Create a Utility menu macro to execute the commands
Create a new button on the User page of the Utility menu to run the macro
Tools
In order to execute command file commands or Tcl scripts from a button on any of the HyperMesh Utility
menu pages, a Utility menu macro must first be defined. A Utility menu macro contains valid command file
or templex commands that execute the appropriate operations, and is defined using the *beginmacro and
*endmacro commands. Macros may accept data passed to them using the arguments $1, $2, etc. Each
argument specifies where the values should be substituted. These macros are defined within the .mac files,
including the userpage.mac file.
The following skeleton code shows the format of a Utility menu macro:
*beginmacro(macroname)
command statements go here
*endmacro()
Utility menu macros consist of HyperMesh Tcl modify commands.
Exercise
Create a Tcl script from the command file commands, create a Utility menu macro that runs the Tcl script
and add a button on the User page that will launch the macro:
1. Define the task.
2. Delete the existing command.cmf file. This file is located in either the start-in directory or the current
working directory.
3. Perform the operations in HyperMesh that the script should run.
4. Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
5. Create a Tcl script by converting the commands to Tcl format and modifying as necessary.
6. Create a new utility menu macro that runs a Tcl script.
7. Add macro button using *createbutton that calls the macro created in Step 6 with the appropriate
Tcl script filename.
8. Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified userpage.mac.
9. Test the macro.
Step 1: Define the task.
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The first step in creating a macro is to define the process you want to automate and recognize the individual
tasks to reach the desired conclusion. Here, you want to create a one-button macro to automate saving the
current HyperMesh model to a file named temp.hm. The actions necessary to complete this task are:
From the Menu Bar, select Files, then the Save as.
Use the file browser to locate a directory and enter the name for the filename.
Click Save.
Step 2: Delete the existing command.cmf file.
The current command.cmf file is located in the current working directory. When first opening HyperMesh,
the file is created in the directory HyperMesh is launched from. As soon as you begin working in HyperMesh
all executed commands are written to the command.cmf file. If the file already exists, the commands are
appended to the file. Deleting the file allows HyperMesh to create a new file and allows the user to easily
find the relevant commands.
Step 3: Perform the operations in HyperMesh.
Execute the full process within HyperMesh. Every command issued in HyperMesh appears in the order
executed and is reflected in the command.cmf file.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Files, then the Save as.
2. Using the file browser, locate a directory to save the temporary file with the name temp.hm.
Remember this is just a temporary file and will be overwritten each time the macro is executed.
3. Click Save.
Step 4: Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
1. Open the command.cmf file using any text editor.
2. Locate the *writefile command at or near the end of the command.cmf file.
This is the command that writes the model file.
3. Select and copy this line.
Step 5: Create a Tcl script names savefile.tcl, convert the commands to Tcl
format and modify as necessary.
1. Create a new file named savefile.tcl using any text editor.
2. Paste the *writefile command copied from the command.cmf file inside the savefile.tcl file.
3. Remove all () and , and replace them with spaces. Also remove the . The command should look
like:
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*writefile temp.hm 0
4. Add the command *answer yes after the *writefile command.
The command *answer yes automatically answers yes if prompted to overwrite the file in the event
temp.hm already exists. Notice that there are no parentheses.
5. Save the savefile.tcl script in the current working directory.
Step 6: Create a Utility menu macro that runs a Tcl script.
1. Create a new Utility menu macro that calls the *evaltclscript command to run a Tcl script, using
the macro wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro. In the *beginmacro command, name
the macro EvalTcl.
*beginmacro("EvalTcl")
*evaltclscript($1,0)
*endmacro()
The macro name EvalTcl will be used to connect the button with the macro via the macroName field in
the *createbutton command.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 7: Add the macro button.
Create a button on the User page to execute the macro.
1. Create a new button in the userpage.mac file.
*createbutton(5,"SaveFile TCL",15,0,10,GREEN,"Save file using TCL macro",
"EvalTcl","savefile.tcl")
This creates a button on page 5 (User page), names it, places it in the 20th row, starts it at column 0,
sets its width at 10 columns, applies to it the color green, provides a help string and references the
macro EvalTcl defined in Step 6.
Notice that the full path is not used to reference the savefile.tcl script. A full path can be specified
if the file is not located in one of the predefined paths that HyperMesh searches to find scripts. Users
can add additional search paths using the TCL_INCLUDE environment variable. Relative paths can also
be used from these search paths.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 8: Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified
userpage.mac.
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To reload the current macro menu .mac file while HyperMesh is open, from the Files menu, select Load,
then Macro. Make sure to load the proper .mac file from the hm\scripts\<profile name> directory
based on the current user profile, or load the default hm.mac in hm\bin\<platform> if no user profile is
loaded.
Step 9: Test the macro.
1. Click the User button on the Utility menu.
The new button labeled Save File should be on the User page.
2. Click this button to automatically save your file.
The file is saved to the directory specified in the *writefile command. In this case no directory is
specified so HyperMesh saves the file to the start-up or current working directory. It will always save
with the name specified in the macro, in this case temp.hm.
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Create Forces on Nodes and Add a Button on the User Page -
HM-8050
In this tutorial you will:
Determine the commands to create forces on nodes
Create a Utility menu macro to execute the commands
Create a new button on the User page of the Utility menu to run the macro
Tools
In order to execute command file commands or Tcl scripts from a button on any of the HyperMesh Utility
menu pages, a Utility menu macro must first be defined. A Utility menu macro contains valid command file
or templex commands that execute the appropriate operations, and is defined using the *beginmacro and
*endmacro commands. Macros may accept data passed to them using the arguments $1, $2, etc. Each
argument specifies where the values should be substituted. These macros are defined within the .mac files,
including the userpage.mac file.
The following skeleton code shows the format of a Utility menu macro:
*beginmacro(macroname)
command statements go here
*endmacro()
Utility menu macros consist of HyperMesh Tcl modify commands.
The load collectors panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, choose Collectors, then Create, then Load Collector
Click the load collectors icon on the Collectors toolbar
From the Menu Bar, select View Toolbars, then select Collectors
The load collectors panel allows you to create and update load collectors.
The forces panel can be accessed in the following ways:
From the Analysis page, go to forces
From the Menu Bar, select BCs, then Create, then Forces
The forces panel allows you to create and update forces.
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Exercise
Create a Tcl script from the command file commands, create a Utility menu macro that runs the Tcl script
and add a button on the User page that will launch the macro:
1. Define the task.
2. Delete the existing command.cmf file. This file is located in either the start-in directory or the current
working directory.
3. Perform the operations in HyperMesh that the script should run.
4. Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
5. Create a Tcl script by converting the commands to Tcl format and modifying as necessary.
6. Create a Utility menu macro that runs a Tcl script.
7. Add macro button using *createbutton that calls the macro created in Step 6 with the appropriate
Tcl script filename.
8. Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified userpage.mac.
9. Test the macro.
Step 1: Define the task.
The first step in creating a macro is to define the process you want to automate and recognize the individual
tasks to reach the desired conclusion. Here, you want to create a one-button macro to automatically create
forces on certain nodes. The actions necessary to complete this task are:
Enter the load collectors panel
Create a load collector for the forces
Enter the forces panel
Apply forces to the nodes of interest
Step 2: Delete the existing command.cmf file.
The current command.cmf file is located in the current working directory. When first opening HyperMesh,
the file is created in the directory HyperMesh is launched from. As soon as you begin working in HyperMesh
all executed commands are written to the command.cmf file. If the file already exists, the commands are
appended to the file. Deleting the file allows HyperMesh to create a new file and allows the user to easily
find the relevant commands.
Step 3: Perform the operations in HyperMesh.
Execute the full process within HyperMesh. Every command issued in HyperMesh appears in the order
executed and is reflected in the command.cmf file.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File..., then Open, and then load the file, c_channel-tcl.hm.
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2. Open the load collectors panel.
3. Activate the create sub-panel.
4. In the name=, field enter the name forces.
5. Click create.
6. Open the forces panel.
7. Active the create sub-panel.
8. Click nodes and select one node in the model.
a. For the direction of the force choose the z-axis option.
b. For the magnitude=, enter 23.
c. Toggle from magnitude % option to uniform size option for load size and set the value to 15.
9. Click create.
Step 4: Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
1. Open the command.cmf file using any text editor.
2. Select and copy the following three lines in the file:
*loadsize(1,15,0,1)
*createmark(nodes,1) 3237
*loadcreateonentity_curve(nodes,1,1,1,0,0,23,0,0,23,0,0,0,0,0)
Observe the *createmark command and the list of entity id numbers. A mark is a storage buffer in
HyperMesh. For some actions performed on entities, the entity ID is first entered into the designated
mark.
There are two marks available to the user (1 and 2) for each entity type (elements, nodes, lines,
surfaces, points, etc.). At the execution of the command using the mark, the changes apply to all
entities identified in the mark.
Step 5: Create a Tcl script named create_force.tcl, convert the commands to
Tcl format and modify as necessary.
1. Create a new file named create_force.tcl using any text editor.
2. Paste the copied commands from the command.cmf file inside the create_force.tcl file.
3. Remove all () and , and replace them with spaces. The commands should look something like:
*loadsize 1 15 0 1
*createmark nodes 1 3237
*loadcreateonentity_curve nodes 1 1 1 0 0 23 0 0 23 0 0 0 0 0
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Simply running the above commands will work without a problem, but note that the *createmark
command is hard coded to the single node picked when generating the command file. Also notice that
the magnitude is hard coded as well. This is not very useful for a generic utility.
4. Replace the *createmark command with the *createmarkpanel command.
The command *createmarkpanel presents the user with a selection panel for the entity specified.
The commands should now look like this:
*loadsize 1 15 0 1
*createmarkpanel nodes 1 "Select nodes for load creation"
*loadcreateonentity_curve nodes 1 1 1 0 0 23 0 0 23 0 0 0 0 0
5. If you want to let the user specify the magnitude, prompt the user for a value using hm_getfloat. Then
replace the hard coded magnitude in the *loadcreateonentity_curve command with the user
defined value. The commands should now look like this:
*loadsize 1 15 0 1
*createmarkpanel nodes 1 "Select nodes for load creation"
set mag_val [hm_getfloat "Magnitude=" "Enter force magnitude:"]
*loadcreateonentity_curve nodes 1 1 1 0 0 $mag_val 0 0 $mag_val 0 0 0 0
0
6. Save the create_force.tcl script.
Step 6: Create a Utility menu macro that runs a Tcl script.
1. Create a new Utility menu macro that calls the *evaltclscript command to run a Tcl script, using
the macro wrapper commands *beginmacro and *endmacro. In the *beginmacro command, name
the macro EvalTcl.
*beginmacro("EvalTcl")
*evaltclscript($1,0)
*endmacro()
The macro name EvalTcl will be used to connect the button with the macro via the macroName field in
the *createbutton command.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 7: Add the macro button.
Create a button on the User page to execute the macro.
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1. Create a new button in the userpage.mac file.
*createbutton(5,"Create Force",16,0,10,GREEN,"Create z-direction force on
selected nodes","EvalTcl","create_force.tcl")
This creates a button on page 5 (User page), names it, places it in the 16th row, places its start at
column 0, gives it a width of 10 columns, applies to it the color green, provides a help string and
references the macro create_force.tcl defined in Step 6.
Notice that the full path is not used to reference the create_force.tcl script. A full path can be
specified if the file is not located in one of the predefined paths that HyperMesh searches to find scripts.
Users can add additional search paths using the TCL_INCLUDE environment variable. Relative paths
can also be used from these search paths.
2. Save the userpage.mac file.
Step 8: Reload the current .mac file into HyperMesh to load the modified
userpage.mac.
To reload the current macro menu .mac file while HyperMesh is open, from the Files menu select Load,
then Macro. Make sure to load the proper .mac file from the hm\scripts\<profile name> directory
based on the current user profile, or load the default hm.mac in hm\bin\<platform> if no user profile is
loaded.
Step 9: Test the macro.
1. Click the User button on the Utility menu.
The new button labeled Create Force should be on the User page.
2. Click this button to run the Tcl script that automatically creates forces in the z-direction of the selected
nodes.
The new forces are created on the specified nodes with the given magnitude and placed in the current
load collector If no load collector exists, the forces are placed in a load collector called auto1.
It is often necessary to debug Tcl scripts using the command window. This allows you to run the Tcl
script and easily review error messages, as well as print out debug information. Additional details can be
found in the Creating Tcl Scripts and Running Tcl Scripts sections.
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Calculate the Resultant Sum of Forces - HM-8060
In this tutorial you will create a Tcl script that:
Determines the components of a given set of force vectors
Calculates a vector resultant sum of the forces
Reports the resultant sum
Tools
The Tcl commands if, foreach and expr will be used to add logic and mathematical functions to the
script. The command hm_getentityvalue is used to extract information from HyperMesh entities, based
on data names.
Data names are generic references to the information that physically define an entity in the HyperMesh
environment. An example of this is the x, y, and z coordinates that define a node location in three-
dimensional space. The available data names for each entity can be found in the HyperMesh Reference
Guide > Scripts > Introduction > Data Names topic.
Data names are accessed using the hm_getentityvalue command. This command uses the data
names available for an entity to return the particular value of interest. The command will return a value that is
either a string or a numeric value, depending on the command syntax and the value stored in that particular
data name field. The basic syntax of the command is:
hm_getentityvalue entity_type id data_name flag
where entity_type is the requested entity type (elements, loads, nodes, etc.), id is the entity ID, the
data_name is the data field name of interest, and flag is either 0 or 1 depending on whether the command
should return a numeric value (0) or a string (1).
To retrieve the x-component of a force with ID 12, the following command can be used:
set force_x [hm_getentityvalue loads 12 "comp1" 0]
Note that to assign the value from the command to a variable, the command is placed within square
brackets.
Exercise
Create a Tcl script to compute the resultant sum of a given selection of forces. This requires that the script
read data from the force entities and manipulate the data to calculate the resultant. To calculate the
resultant of the forces, retrieve the x, y, and z components of the forces and compute a vector sum.
1. Define the process.
2. Determine the data names to use to extract the force components.
3. Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
4. Test the script.
Step 1: Define the process.
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The script should automate the following process:
Prompt the user to select a number of forces to calculate the resultant.
Make sure the user has selected one or more loads.
Extract the components of each force.
Sum the components.
Report the result to the user.
Step 2: Determine the data names to use to extract the force components.
The following table lists several relevant data names for force loads:
comp1 x component of the vector
comp2 y component of the vector
comp3 z component of the vector
config The number "1" for forces
The number "2" for moments
The number "8" for velocities
The number "9" for accelerations
entitytype the type of entity to which this load is applied
(1=node, 3=component, 10=set)
node when a load is applied to a node, this serves as a
pointer to the node
inputsystemid reference system ID
Step 3: Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
A Tcl script to perform this function might be similar to the following:
*createmarkpanel loads 1 "Select forces to compute resultant";
set loads_list [hm_getmark loads 1];
set x_comp_sum "0";
set y_comp_sum "0";
set z_comp_sum "0";
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if {$loads_list != ""} {
foreach load_id $loads_list {
set x_comp_sum [expr $x_comp_sum + [hm_getentityvalue
loads $load_id "comp1" 0]];
set y_comp_sum [expr $y_comp_sum + [hm_getentityvalue
loads $load_id "comp2" 0]];
set z_comp_sum [expr $z_comp_sum + [hm_getentityvalue
loads $load_id "comp3" 0]];
}
hm_usermessage "Resultant force: $x_comp_sum, $y_comp_sum
$z_comp_sum ";
} else {
hm_errormessage "No loads selected";
}
Step 4: Test the script.
1. From the Menu Bar, select View, then Command Window Configuration to choose whether the
Command window should be located on the top or the bottom of the screen.
2. Click and drag to open the Command window from the top or bottom edge of the screen.
3. Use the source command to execute the script. For example:
source filename.tcl
It is often necessary to debug Tcl scripts using the Command window. This allows you to run the Tcl
script and easily review error messages, as well as print out debug information. Additional details can be
found in the Creating Tcl Scripts and Running Tcl Scripts sections.
There are several important assumptions used when creating this script.
The user will always select force loads, as opposed to moments, pressures, etc.
The forces are applied to nodes, as opposed to comps or sets, and are valid to sum.
All of the forces are applied in the same coordinate system so that it is valid to sum the component
values directly.
If any of these assumptions are not true, the values returned by the script may be invalid. Additional
conditional logic can be programmed to check for each of these situations and an error message can be
returned or they can be handled appropriately.
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4. The result of the macro is shown in the status bar. Either a message with the resultant force is shown or
else there is a note saying that no loads were selected.
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Create Spline Surfaces on Tria Elements - HM-8070
In this tutorial you will create a Tcl script that creates spline surfaces from the nodes of selected tria
elements.
Tools
The Tcl commands if, foreach, and incr will be used to add logic to the script. The command
hm_getentityvalue is used to extract information from HyperMesh entities, based on data names.
Data names are generic references to the information that physically define an entity in the HyperMesh
environment. An example of this is the x-, y-, and z-coordinates that define a node location in three-
dimensional space. The available data names for each can be found in the HyperMesh Reference Guide >
Scripts > Introduction > Data Names topic.
Data names are accessed using the hm_getentityvalue command. This command uses the data
names available for an entity to return the particular value of interest. The command will return a value that is
either a string or a numeric value, depending on the command syntax and the value stored in that particular
data name field. The basic syntax of the command is:
hm_getentityvalue entity_type id data_name flag
where entity_type is the requested entity type (elements, loads, nodes, etc), id is the entity ID, the
data_name is the data field name of interest, and flag is either 0 or 1 depending on whether the command
should return a numeric value (0) or a string (1).
To retrieve the x-component of a force with ID 12, the following command can be used:
set force_x [hm_getentityvalue loads 12 "comp1" 0]
Note that to assign the value from the command to a variable, the command is placed within square
brackets.
Exercise
Create a Tcl script that creates spline surfaces from the nodes of selected tria elements. This requires that
the script read data from the element entities. To create the spline surfaces, retrieve the 3-node IDs of the
tria elements.
1. Define the process.
2. Determine the data names to use to extract the element type and node IDs.
3. Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
4. Test the script.
Step 1: Define the process.
The script should automate the following process:
Prompt the user to select a number of tria elements to create spline surfaces from.
Make sure the user has selected one or more elements.
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If a selected element is not a tria, skip that element.
Extract the node IDs of each element.
Create the spline surface from the nodes.
Report on the number of spline surfaces created.
Step 2: Determine the data names to use to extract the element type and node IDs.
The following table lists several relevant data names for tria elements:
config
The number, 103
node1
first node (node pointer)
node2
second node (node pointer)
node3
third node (node pointer)
Step 3: Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
A Tcl script to perform this function might be similar to the following:
*createmarkpanel elems 1 "Select tria elements to create surfaces";
set elems_list [hm_getmark elems 1];
if {$elems_list != ""} {
hm_commandfilestate 0;
*entityhighlighting 0;
set success_count 0;
foreach elem_id $elems_list {
set config [hm_getentityvalue elems $elem_id "config" 0];
if {$config != 103} {
continue;
}
set node1 [hm_getentityvalue elems $elem_id "node1.id" 0];
set node2 [hm_getentityvalue elems $elem_id "node2.id" 0];
set node3 [hm_getentityvalue elems $elem_id "node3.id" 0];
*surfacemode 4;
*createmark nodes 1 $node1 $node2 $node3;
*splinesurface nodes 1 0 1 1;
incr success_count;
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}
*clearmark nodes 1;
*clearmark elems 1;
hm_usermessage "$success_count splines created."
} else {
hm_errormessage "No elements selected";
}
*entityhighlighting 1;
hm_commandfilestate 1;
Step 4: Test the script.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Files, then Open, and then load the file, spline-tcl.hm.
2. From the Menu Bar, select View, then Command Window Configuration to choose whether the
Command window should be located on the top or the bottom of the screen.
3. Click and drag to open the Command window from the top or bottom edge of the screen.
4. Use the source command to execute the script. For example:
source filename.tcl
It is often necessary to debug Tcl scripts using the Command window. This allows you to run the Tcl
script and easily review error messages, as well as print out debug information. Additional details can be
found in the Creating Tcl Scripts and Running Tcl Scripts sections.
5. Select a few of the tria elements and observe the spline surfaces that are created.
There are several important things to notice.
Only first order tria elements are considered. It is possible to add if/elseif logic to support other
element configurations.
The data names for the nodes associated with an element are pointers. A pointer is used to directly
access another data name. This means they point to the data names available for nodes. In order
to retrieve any data from a pointer, the data name requested for the particular pointer must also be
supplied. The additional data names are separated by a period or dot (.).
The *entityhighlighting and hm_commandfilestate commands are used to speed up the
execution of the script. The *entityhighlighting command disables highlighting entities when
the *createmark command is used. The hm_commandfilestate command controls if
commands are written out to the command file. It is always important to reset these commands
after a script is complete or before exiting due to an error.
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Calculate the Radius of an Arc - HM-8080
In this tutorial you will create a Tcl script that determines the radius of an arc.
Tools
The Tcl commands if and expr will be used to add logic and mathematical functions to the script. The
command hm_getentityvalue is used to extract information from HyperMesh entities, based on data
names.
Data names are generic references to the information that physically define an entity in the HyperMesh
environment. An example of this is the x, y, and z coordinates that define a node location in three-
dimensional space. The available data names for each entity can be found in the HyperMesh Reference
Guide > Scripts > Introduction > Data Names topic.
Data names are accessed using the hm_getentityvalue command. This command uses the data
names available for an entity to return the particular value of interest. The command will return a value that is
either a string or a numeric value, depending on the command syntax and the value stored in that particular
data name field. The basic syntax of the command is:
hm_getentityvalue entity_type id data_name flag
where entity_type is the requested entity type (elements, loads, nodes, etc), id is the entity ID, the
data_name is the data field name of interest, and flag is either 0 or 1 depending on whether the command
should return a numeric value (0) or a string (1).
To retrieve the x-component of a force with ID 12, the following command can be used:
set force_x [hm_getentityvalue loads 12 "comp1" 0]
Note that to assign the value from the command to a variable, the command is placed within square
brackets.
Exercise
Create a Tcl script that determines the radius of a user selected arc. One point on the line and the center of
the arc will need to be calculated.
1. Define the process.
2. Determine the data names to use to extract the node coordinates.
3. Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
4. Test the script.
Step 1: Define the process.
The script should automate the following process:
Prompt the user to select a line.
Make sure the user has selected only one line.
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Determine the center of the arc by creating temporary nodes.
Calculate the distance between one end of the arc and the center node using node coordinate data
names.
Step 2: Determine the data names to use to extract the node coordinates.
The following table lists several relevant data names for nodes:
globalx x coordinate in the global system
globaly y coordinate in the global system
globalz z coordinate in the global system
Step 3: Create the Tcl script and add logic as necessary.
A Tcl script to perform this function might be similar to the following:
*createmarkpanel lines 1 "Select line to find radius";
set line_list [hm_getmark lines 1];
if {$line_list == ""} {
hm_errormessage "No lines selected";
} elseif {[llength $line_list] != 1} {
hm_errormessage "Only one line may be selected";
} else {
hm_commandfilestate 0;
*entityhighlighting 0;
*nodecreateonlines lines 1 3 0 0;
*createcenternode -1 -2 -3;
*createmark nodes 1 -1 -2 -3 -4;
set node_list [hm_getmark nodes 1];
set id [lindex $node_list 0];
set x1 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "x" 0];
set y1 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "y" 0];
set z1 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "z" 0];
set id [lindex $node_list 3 ];
set x2 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "x" 0];
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set y2 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "y" 0];
set z2 [hm_getentityvalue nodes $id "z" 0];
set dx [expr $x1 - $x2];
set dy [expr $y1 - $y2];
set dz [expr $z1 - $z2];
set radius [expr sqrt(($dx*$dx) + ($dy*$dy) + ($dz*$dz))];
*nodecleartempmark;
hm_usermessage "Radius = $radius";
*entityhighlighting 1;
hm_commandfilestate 1;
}
hm_markclear lines 1;
hm_markclear nodes 1;
Step 4: Test the script.
1. From the Files menu, load the file, radius-tcl.hm and then select Open.
2. From the Menu Bar, select View, then Command Window Configuration to choose whether the
Command window should be located on the top or the bottom of the screen.
3. Click and drag to open the Command window from the top or bottom edge of the screen.
4. Use the source command to execute the script. For example:
source filename.tcl
It is often necessary to debug Tcl scripts using the Command window. This allows you to run the Tcl
script and easily review error messages, as well as print out debug information. Additional details can be
found in the Creating Tcl Scripts and Running Tcl Scripts sections.
5. Select different lines to review the calculated radius.
There are several important things to notice.
The *entityhighlighting and hm_commandfilestate commands are used to speed up the
execution of the script. The *entityhighlighting command disables highlighting entities when
the *createmark command is used. The hm_commandfilestate command controls if
commands are written out to the command file. It is always important to reset these commands
after a script is complete or before exiting due to an error.
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Create an OptiStruct PSHELL property - HM-8090
In this tutorial you will create a Tcl script that:
Prompts the user for a property name and thickness
Creates the property collector
Assigns the OptiStruct PSHELL card image to the property collector
Assigns the thickness value to the property
Tools
The Tcl command if will be used to add logic to the script. The commands *dictionaryload and
*attributeupdatedouble are used to assign information to the property collector.
Solver-specific data created from the HyperMesh template system is stored in card images. Each piece of
data that defines a card image has a text string (data name) and a numeric attribute ID. An example is the
Youngs Modulus for a material.
Templates exist for each solver supported by HyperMesh and are located in sub-folders under the
<altair_home>\templates\feoutput directory. These templates define every solver-specific attribute
including data names, attribute IDs, card image formats, and the format of the data upon export. The
*defineattribute command is used to define attribute data names and IDs in a template file.
In order to determine the commands required to create template-specific data, it is best to run through the
process in HyperMesh and to review the commands that are written to the command.cmf file.
The property collectors panel can be accessed in any of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Properties, then Create
On the Collectors toolbar, click the property collectors icon
To access this toolbar, from the Menu Bar, select View, then Toolbars, then Collectors
The property collectors panel allows you to create, update, and assign property collectors.
Exercise
Create a Tcl script to create a property collector and assign a thickness. This requires that the script prompt
the user for a name and a thickness value.
1. Define the process.
2. Delete the existing command.cmf file. This file is located in either the start-in directory or the current
working directory.
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3. Perform the operations in HyperMesh that the script should run.
4. Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
5. Create a Tcl script by converting the commands to Tcl format and modifying as necessary.
6. Test the script.
Step 1: Define the process.
The script should automate the following process:
Prompt the user to enter a name and a thickness value.
Make sure a property collector with the supplied name does not already exist.
Create the new property collector.
Assign the PSHELL card image to the property.
Assign the thickness to the PSHELL card.
Step 2: Delete the existing command.cmf file.
The current command.cmf file is located in the current working directory. When first opening HyperMesh,
the file is created in the directory HyperMesh is launched from. As soon as you begin working in
HyperMesh, all executed commands are written to the command.cmf file. If the file already exists, the
commands are appended to the file. Deleting the file allows HyperMesh to create a new file and allows the
user to easily find the relevant commands.
Step 3: Perform the operations in HyperMesh.
Execute the full process within HyperMesh. Every command issued in HyperMesh appears in the order
executed and is reflected in the command.cmf file.
1. If the OptiStruct user profile is not currently loaded, please load it at this time.
2. Open the property collectors panel.
3. Activate the create sub-panel.
4. In the name=field, enter a name for the property.
5. For card image=, select PSHELL.
6. Leave the material=field blank.
If a material exists, you can choose to select a material. Additional steps will then need to be taken in
the Tcl code to handle the assigning of a material.
It is also possible to update the material assigned to a property once it is created.
7. Click create/edit.
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8. Activate the T field and enter a thickness value.
9. Click return.
Step 4: Extract the commands from the command.cmf file.
1. Open the command.cmf file using any text editor.
2. Select and copy all lines in the file.
Step 5: Create a Tcl script by converting the commands to Tcl format and modify it
as necessary.
1. Create a new Tcl file using any text editor.
2. Paste the copied commands from the command.cmf file inside the Tcl file.
3. Remove all () and , and replace them with spaces. Also place semi-colons (;) at the end of each line.
The commands should look something like:
*collectorcreateonly properties "my_prop" "" 11;
*createmark properties 2 "my_prop";
*dictionaryload properties 2 "C:/Altair/hw10.0/templates/feoutput/
optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdateint properties 1 3240 1 2 0 1;
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 95 1 0 0 1;
*attributeupdateint properties 1 884 1 2 0 0;
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 114 1 0 0 1;
*attributeupdateint properties 1 885 1 2 0 0;
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 116 1 0 0 0.833333;
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 96 1 2 0 0;
*attributeupdateint properties 1 118 1 2 0 0;
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 95 1 1 0 0.25;
These commands can now be run to duplicate the creation of the PSHELL property. However, simply
running these commands as-is is not very flexible. The property ID, name and values are all hard coded.
The template file location in the *dictionaryload command is also hard coded. Finally, there are a lot of
extra commands that set unnecessary attributes.
4. Remove unnecessary *attributeupdate commands. Since you are only interested in applying the
thickness value, you can remove the other commands, leaving only the following commands:
*collectorcreateonly properties "my_prop" "" 11;
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*createmark properties 2 "my_prop";
*dictionaryload properties 2 "C:/Altair/hw9.0/templates/feoutput/
optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdatedouble properties 1 95 1 1 0 0.25;
5. In the *attributeupdatedouble command, the ID of the property is hard coded. In order to make
this flexible, you need to replace the hard coded ID with the ID of the new property collector: (Changes
to the above commands are shown below in bold print).
*collectorcreateonly properties "my_prop" "" 11;
*createmark properties 2 -1
set prop_id [hm_getmark props 2];
*dictionaryload properties 2 "C:/Altair/hw9.0/templates/feoutput/
optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdatedouble properties $prop_id 95 1 1 0 0.25;
Supplying an ID of -1 to the *createmark command can be used to select the most recently created
entity.
6. The template file path is also hard coded. You can make this flexible using the hm_info command:
*collectorcreateonly properties "my_prop" "" 11;
*createmark properties 2 "my_prop";
set prop_id [hm_getmark props 2];
*dictionaryload properties 2 "[hm_info -appinfo SPECIFIEDPATH
TEMPLATES_DIR]/feoutput/optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdatedouble properties $prop_id 95 1 1 0 0.25;
The user also needs to be prompted to enter a property name and thickness value. You can then
substitute those variables in the relevant commands:
set prop_name [hm_getstring "Name="];
set prop_thick [hm_getfloat "Thickness="];
*collectorcreateonly properties "$prop_name" "" 11;
*createmark properties 2 "$prop_name";
set prop_id [hm_getmark props 2];
*dictionaryload properties 2 "[hm_info -appinfo SPECIFIEDPATH
TEMPLATES_DIR]/feoutput/optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdatedouble properties $prop_id 95 1 1 0 $prop_thick;
7. Finally, You need to add logic to test in order to make sure that the property name and thickness values
are valid:
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set prop_name [hm_getstring "Name="];
if {$prop_name == ""} {
hm_errormessage "No name specified.";
return;
} elseif {[hm_entityinfo exist properties $prop_name byname] == 1} {
hm_errormessage "Property already exists.";
return;
}
set prop_thick [hm_getfloat "Thickness="];
if {$prop_thick == "" || $prop_thick <= 0.0} {
hm_errormessage "Invalid thickness value specified.";
return;
}
*collectorcreateonly properties "$prop_name" "" 11;
*createmark properties 2 "$prop_name";
set prop_id [hm_getmark props 2];
*dictionaryload properties 2 "[hm_info -appinfo SPECIFIEDPATH
TEMPLATES_DIR]/feoutput/optistruct/optistruct" "PSHELL";
*attributeupdatedouble properties $prop_id 95 1 1 0 $prop_thick;
Step 6: Test the script.
1. From the Menu Bar, select View, then Command Window Configuration to choose whether the
Command window should be located on the top or the bottom of the screen.
2. Click and drag to open the Command window from the top or bottom edge of the screen.
3. Use the source command to execute the script. For example:
source filename.tcl
It is often necessary to debug Tcl scripts using the Command window. This allows you to run the Tcl script
and easily review error messages, as well as print out debug information. Additional details can be found in
the Creating Tcl Scripts and Running Tcl Scripts sections.
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Post-Processing
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Exporting Data for Fatigue Analysis - HM-9000
This tutorial demonstrates how to write an input file for a given fatigue solver using the options available on
the fatigue panel.
Step 1: Retrieve the model file.
For this tutorial, retrieve the file, keyhole.hm. This file contains a finite element (FE) modelfor which an
analysis has already been conductedto obtain the stress/strain information for durability loads of interest.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Open....
2. Retrieve the keyhole.hm file.
Step 2: Load the results file.
1. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Load, and then Results File.
2. Browse for the keyhole.res file.
Step 3: Export data and write a fatigue solver input deck.
1. From the Post page, enter the fatigue panel.
2. Toggle FE Analysis Type: to static/modal.
Results contained in keyhole.res were obtained from linear statics analysis.
Note: Select the transient dynamic option if a dynamic finite element analysis was used to obtain
the stress/strain results for the model.
3. Toggle Output File Format: to ascii.
Note: Select the binary option if the fatigue solver allows a binary input file.
For more information on fatigue solvers and acceptable input file formats, please see the
fatigue panel in the Panels online Help.
4. Click browse and locate the file folder you want store the file in, then enter a name for the output file.
This output file is the input file for the fatigue solver.
5. Click data group =and select any of the data groups that you want to write to the output file.
The data groups are organized based on whether nodal or elemental results are available in the results
file.
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Note: For more information on how HyperMesh organizes the analysis results available in the results
file, please see the fatigue panel in the Panels online help.
6. Set select simulation: to all.
This specifies the data in the results file that is written to the output file. In this case, selecting all writes
the stress/strain data for the selected nodes or elements for all loadcases represented in keyhole.res
.
Note: You can write out stress/strain information for all of the time steps, or you can choose a range
from a starting time step to an ending time step, or you can choose a selection of time steps
manually from the available list.
For more information, see the fatigue panel in the Panels online help.
The next sub-step is to select the entities for which the finite element analysis results file is written.
Note: The type of entity you select is based upon the data group you selected. Select nodes if the
data group you selected refers to nodal results. Similarly, select elements if the data group
you selected refers to elemental results. Select sets to choose a predefined entity set
comprised of nodes or elements corresponding to a data group with nodal/elemental results,
respectively. If the data group results and the entity type are not the same, HyperMesh
displays the error message, "Results file doesnt contain nodal values."
7. Set the selector to elems.
8. Click elems >>by window.
9. Draw the window as shown in the following image.

10. Click interior.
11. Click select entities.
12. Click write.
An ASCII file is written to the selected directory.
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You can read this file into the appropriate fatigue solver to complete the fatigue analysis.
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Free Body Diagram - HM-9010
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
Understand applications for and be able to extract resultant forces and moments from HyperMesh
free body diagram (FBD) capabilities, including defining cross-sections for which resultant forces and
moments are calculated
Perform free body diagrams within HyperMesh to understand load paths and export free body loads
to detailed models of interest as boundary conditions (BCs) within a submodeling scheme. This
process is graphically shown for reference, following.
Global loads model of a generic wing.
Spar2 element set from the global loads model (middle Spar) with free body loads extracted.
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Detailed model of Spar2 with free body loads applied as BCs from global loads model.
Exercises
This tutorial contains the following exercises:
Exercise 1: Creating Shear Moment Diagrams and Potato Plots from Global Loads Model using Resultant
Force and Moment Functionality
Exercise 2: Extracting Free Body Loads from Global Loads Model and Transfering to Detailed Model as
Boundary Conditions - Submodeling Techniques
Exercise 1: Creating of Shear Moment Diagrams and Potato Plots from Global
Loads Model using Resultant Force and Moment Functionality
This exercise uses the model file, icw_ex1.hm.
Step 1: Create a coordinate system for spar2.
1. Open HyperMesh and load the model file, icw_ex1.hm.
2. Load the RADIOSS (BulkData) user profile:
1. On the Standard toolbar, click Load User Profile ( ) tool.
2. Toggle to RADIOSS and select BulkData from the pull-down menu.
3. Click OK.
3. From the Menu Bar, select Tools, then select Set Browser.
Since you will be working with Spar2 you will need to display the elements which represent Spar2 in the
graphics area. Element sets, in addition to components and assemblies, can be used as a model
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grouping and visualization tool. Elements sets can be created, deleted, made visible, and hidden using
Set Browser.
4. On the Sets tab, expand the Elements folder.
5. Right-click Spar2 element set, and select Isolate.
Elements that represent Spar2 are now displayed in the graphics area. To turn on element shading, from
the visualization toolbar, click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).
6. To create nodes on the left end of Spar2, from the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, then Nodes
to go to the Create Nodes panel.
7. Toggle to the between sub-panel.
8. Select the nodes on the top and bottom of the left side, and click create.
9. Repeat step 1.8 for the right side of Spar2.
10. Click return to exit the Create Nodes panel.
11. Go to the Systems panel in one of the following ways:
From the Menu Bar, select Geometry, then Create, then Systems
From the main menu, select the 1D page, then click the systems panel
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12. To create a system with origin at the left end and x-axis along the length of the spar, go to the create by
axis direction sub-panel.
13. Click origin and select left-middle node (from step 1.8).
14. Select right-middle node (from step 1.9) for x-axis node.
15. Select left-top node for the xy-plane node.
16. Toggle to rectangular, and click create.
17. Click return to exit the Systems panel.
Step 2: Create cross-section definitions for Spar2.
1. On the Menu Bar, select Post, then Free Body, then Cross-Section to open the FBD Cross-section
Manager tab.
Cross-section definitions are determined by the following criteria:
An element set that contains the nodes that define the cross-section and determines which "side"
the resultant force and moment vectors are to be calculated. Only elements connected to the nodes
that define the cross-section, on one side or the other, need to be included in the element set.
However, additional elements can be included for visualization purposes with no effect on the
calculations.
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A node set that defines the cross-section geometry.
A summation node that can be any node in the model or that can be automatically set to the
calculated centroid of the defined cross-section. Centroidal calculations are performed using nodal
coordinates that make up the cross-section only, hence element thicknesses associated with the
elements attached to the section are not considered. As such, there could be slight differences in
the calculated centroid and the "true" centroid of the section if thicknesses vary throughout the
section or the section is overly idealized.
(Optional) A result system that defines the coordinate system for which the resultant force and
moment vectors are transformed into and output for the selected cross-section(s).
2. On the FDB Cross-section Manager panel, click the arrow for Advanced options to display the Auto
create cross-section form.
You will use this form to create cross-sections along the length of Spar2.
Resultant force and moment extractions will be performed on these cross-sections to obtain the
necessary data to generate shear moment diagrams and potato plots. There are two options to define
cross-sections: a manual method and an advanced method. The advanced method automates the
creation of "continuous" cross-sections. The advanced method will be used in this tutorial. See the online
help for details about the manual method.
3. Click Elements twice, and then select all elements that make up Spar2.
4. Click proceed.
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5. Click Nodes twice, select the left-top and left-bottom nodes which define the first cross-section for
Spar2.
6. Click proceed.
7. In the Element set prefix field, enter Spar2_E and in the Node set prefix, enter Spar2_N.
Since the cross-section manager utility creates the necessary element and node sets, you must define
a prefix string for both element and node sets. This string will be appended by an incremental number to
give each created set a unique name. Optional input includes numbering offset which defines an initial
number for which the appended set numbers will begin.
8. Verify that the Sets accumulate box is selected.
9. Click Accept.
The spreadsheet populates with the definitions of the cross-sections generated by the Auto create
cross-sections utility.
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10. Click Advanced options to close the Auto create cross-sections form.
11. Select the Display sections check box and then select any section in the spreadsheet to review the
selected cross-section.
The graphics area will be updated with the element set, node set, sum node, and result system that
define the selected cross-section. Optionally, if you select the Show model check box, the entire
model will be visible in the graphics area with the selected cross-section highlighted in red and the
remainder of the model transparent.
12. Select the first cross-section in the spreadsheet (Spar2_E1; Spar2_N1), hold SHIFT, and select the last
cross-section (Spar2_E8; Spar2_N9) to select the cross-sections for updating their result system.
To update any single or multiple cross-sections, select the cross-sections from the spreadsheet using
CTRL/SHIFT and then select Summation Node or Result System to update these definitions for all
selected cross-sections.
13. Click Result System twice.
14. Select the system located at the left-middle end of Spar2 (system 102 created in Step 1), and click
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proceed.
Note: You may have to display the Longeron2 system collector from the Model browser (Model tab)
to display system 102.
All cross-sections update to result system 102. Note that system 102 has the x-axis along the length of
the spar, y-axis located at the neutral axis of the beam in the plane of the web, and z-axis perpendicular
to the web of the beam. Also note that the sum node is set to the default centroid, which automatically
calculates the centroid of each cross-section and at which the resulting resultant force and moment
calculations will be performed. The result system is the system for which all resultant force and moment
result vectors will be transformed into and output.
15. Click Close to exit the FBD Cross-Section Manager utility.
Step 3: Extract resultant force and moment data for all cross-sections of Spar2 for
all load cases.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Post, then Free Body, then Resultant Force and Moment to open the
Resultant Force and Moment tab.
2. From the .op2 file browser, select icw.op2.
The selected .op2 file loads into the HyperMesh database for use with all FBD utilities until another .
op2 file is selected. It also populates the Subcases list box with all subcases in the selected .op2 file
that contain Grid Point Force (GPFORCE) data. See the FBD documentation in the HyperMesh User's
guide for more details.
3. In the Loadsteps list, select all the loadsteps using the filter buttons on the top of the list box or with
CTRL/SHIFT.
4. In the Cross-sections list, select all Spar2 cross-sections previously defined using the filter buttons on
the top of the list box or with CTRL/SHIFT.
5. Review the following table for a description of the Output options for the resultant force and moment
utility.
Function Description
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Coordinate System Defines the coordinate system used for output of
node locations (x,y,z) only. The coordinate
system does not affect the transformation of the
resultant force and moment vector results, which
is defined by the result system on each cross-
section definition.
Zero tolerance Defines any number less than this number is set
to zero for numerical issues.
Create load collectors Creates load collectors containing the results of
the resultant force and moment calculations so
that the results can be visualized in the graphics
area as force and moment vectors.
Show summary table Brings up a window with formatted results similar
to the .csv (comma separated) file. Use this
output for quick checks of the data without having
to open an alternative spreadsheet or text editor
program.
Create .csv file Creates a .csv file with the results of the
resultant force and moment calculations, which
can be opened directly within standard
spreadsheet applications.
Create .fbd file Creates an .fbd file with the results of the
resultant force and moment calculations, which
can be directly read into HyperGraph to create
shear moment diagrams and potato plots.
6. Click Coordinate system twice.
7. Select coordinate system 102 which is located at left-middle end of Spar2, and then click proceed.
Note: You may have to display the Longeron2 system collector from the Model browser (Model tab)
to display system 102.
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8. Set Zero tolerance to 0.01.
9. Activate the Create load collectors check box and optionally select a default color for the created load
collectors.
10. Activate the Show summary table check box.
11. Activate the Create .csv file check box, and click select from list. ( ) to select an existing .csv file
(append data) or enter a new file name; in this case, enter icw_res_force_moment.csv.
12. Activate the Create .fbd file check box, and click select from list. ( ) to select an existing .fbd file
(append data) or enter a new file name; in this case, enter icw_res_force_moment.fbd.
By default, files are put into the HyperMesh start directory unless you specify another directory or enter
a file name.
13. Click Accept to execute the resultant force and moment calculations on all selected cross-sections for
all selected subcases.
The Resultant Force and Moment Output Summary window displays the resultant force and moment
calculations (see the following image). For each cross-section, there is a separate data block grouped by
loadstep. The data block contains cross-section nodal forces, moments, and the sum of those nodal
forces and moments about the defined sum node, in this case the calculated centroid of the cross-
section. Note that the sum of the moment components (Mx, My, Mz) for each node is not the direct
sum, as the (rXF) terms for the force resultant vector about the sum node must also be added to each
moment component appropriately. The sum of the forces components (Fx, Fy, Fz) for each node is,
however, the simple sum.
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14. (Optional) Open the .csv (comma separated) file directly with Microsoft Excel by using Windows
Explorer and double-clicking the file, icw_res_force_moment.csv.
This file contains the same results as the summary table in the previous image, but is available for import
into standard spreadsheet or text editor programs.
15. (Optional) Open the .fbd file, icw_res_force_moment.fbd, in any standard text editor program.
By default, files are put into the HyperMesh start directory unless you specify another directory or enter
a file name.
This file contains the same results as the summary table in the previous image, but in a compact format
for use with HyperGraph in generating shear moment diagrams and potato plots of resultant force and
moment data for various cross-sections.
16. Click Close to exit the Resultant Force and Moment utility.
Vector review of the Resultant Force and Moment results in the graphics area is covered in the next
step.
Step 4: Use FBD Results Manager to review resultant force and moment vectors in
graphics area.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Post, then Free Body Results Manager to open the FBD Results Manager
tab.
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2. Click Element Set twice.
3. Click set, and select Spar2_E2.
4. Click proceed.
5. In the FDB Results Manager window, activate the Show model check box to display the entire model
with the selected element set highlighted in red and all other elements transparent. This feature will help
you easily locate the element set within the model.
6. For Results type, select Resultant Force and Moment.
This operation scans the database for available loadsteps with resultant force and moment results and
populates the Loadsteps: list box.
7. For Loadsteps, select SUBCASE1.
This operation scans the database for available node sets with resultant force and moment results and
populates the Node sets: list box.
8. For Node sets, select Spar2_N3.
This operation will scan the database for available force and moment vector results and will enable the
check boxes for those force and moment vectors which are available.
9. For Display options, select Fy (shearthe results coordinate system had y-axis in the plane of the
web) and Mz (principal bending momentthe results coordinate system had z-axis perpendicular to the
plane of the web).
To determine the result coordinate system applied to a given cross-section of interest, use the FBD
Cross-Section Manager to review the defined cross-section. This operation will show the element set,
node set, results system, and sum node defined for the selected cross-section. Optionally, select other
force components to review their magnitude and direction in the graphics area. Single or multiple force
and moment vector results can be displayed in the graphics area to facilitate data mining and reporting.
10. (Optional) Select Update load collector color and select color to change the color of the selected load
vectors.
The new color setting applies only to the load components selected and is saved in the database.
Therefore, this option can be used to recolor any single or multiple load vectors for any FBD result.
11. Click Accept to visualize the resultant force and moment vectors in the graphics area.
12. (Optional) Continue to review resultant force and moment vectors following Steps 4.2-4.14 for additional
cross-sections.
13. Click Reset to clear the display and reset the form.
14. Click Close to exit FBD Results Manager.
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Step 5: Generate potato plots for Spar2 for selected cross-sections.
1. To start HyperView, from the Menu Bar, select Applications, then HyperView.
2. On the HyperView toolbar, use the pull-down menu to switch to the HyperGraph client.
3. From the Menu Bar, select Utilities, then Free Body Diagrams, then Potato Plot to open the Potato
Plot dialog.
4. Click Select from list. ( ) to load the file, icw_res_force_moment.fbd.
The available cross-sections and loadstpes within the .fbd file are loaded into the form.
5. From the Sections list, select cross-section Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1 as the cross-section for which to
generate potato plots.
Potato plots generate a single plot for each selected cross-section which contains data points for all
selected loadsteps Potato plots effectively "take a slice" through shear moment diagrams at a given
cross-section for all selected loadsteps. Since Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1 is the wing root section for Spar2, it
will be the largest loaded section and hence can be utilized to determine the critical loadsteps for Spar2.
Potato plots can facilitate critical loadstep determination by identifying maximum and minimum loads on
given cross-section. In this case, you are going to be interested in identifying maximum and minimum
shear and moment forces, Fy and Mz respectively. There are other methods for determining critical
loadsteps and standard practices and methods should be examined and utilized.
6. From the Loadsteps list, select all loadsteps using filter buttons next to the list box or using CTRL/
SHIFT.
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7. On the Potato Plots tab, for X component select Fy (shear).
8. For Y Component, select Mz (principal bending moment).
9. Click Add plot.
Note: you can add additional potato plots by selecting alternative X and Y components and clicking Add
Plot. You can also delete defined plots by selecting the plots from the spreadsheet area and
clicking Delete Plots.
10. (Optional) On the Plot Titles tab, enter a Title and Subtitle.
11. On the Plot Options tab, for Reverse sign select cross-section Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1 in the top drop-
down list.
12. Select Reverse selected section in the bottom drop-down list.
The explanation for the reverse cross-section options is discussed in Step 6.11.
13. Activate the Label points: Loadstep check box.
14. Click Apply to generate the requested potato plots.
Since one cross-section was selected, one plot will be generated (one for each cross-section). Potato
plots are typically used to determine the loadsteps from which maximum/minimum behavior occurs.
From the resulting potato plot of cross-section Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1 it can be determined that maximum/
minimum loadsteps for shear and moment are SUBCASES 9, 11, 14, and 16. These critical loadsteps
will be considered in future submodeling procedures as a subset of all the loadsteps used to design the
spar. FBD forces will be extracted from these loadsteps in Exercise #2 and applied to a detailed model
of Spar2 so that FBD analysis and design of the spar can be performed.
Step 6: Generate shear moment diagrams for Spar2 for selected subcases.
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1. If HyperView is not already open, start HyperView.
2. On the HyperView toolbar, use the pull-down menu to switch to the HyperGraph client.
3. From the Menu Bar, select Utilities, then Free Body Diagram, then Shear Moment Plot to open the
Shear Moment Plot dialog.
4. Click Select from list. ( ) to load the file, icw_res_force_moment.fbd.
The available cross-sections and loadsteps within the .fbd file are loaded into the form.
5. From the Sections list, select all sections related to Spar2 (Spar2_E1_Spar_N1 through
Spar2_E8_Spar2_N9) using filter buttons next to the list box or using CTRL/SHIFT.
6. From the Loadsteps list, select SUBCASE 9, SUBCASE 11, SUBCASE 14, and SUBCASE 16 the
critical loadsteps determined in Step 6.5.
7. On the VMT Plots tab, for X component select X. The (X) X component is selected because the
resultant force and moment extraction coordinate system was performed with coordinate system 102
which has the x-axis along the length of the Spar.
Options for X component include X, Y, or Z coordinates as defined from the coordinate system selected
to perform the resultant force and moment extraction (Step 3, part 6).
8. On the VMT Plots tab, for Y component select Fy and Mz to plot the shear and principal bending
moment for Spar2.
To determine the result coordinate system applied to a given cross-section of interest, use FBD Cross-
Section Manager to review the defined cross-section. This operation will show the element set, node
set, results system, and sum node defined for the selected cross-section and can help in identifying
which components of force or moment are required for the desired plot.
9. (Optional) On the Plot Titles tab, type a Title and Subtitle.
10. On the Plot Options tab, for Reverse sign select cross-section Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1 in the top drop-
down list.
11. Select Reverse selected section in the bottom drop-down list.
The option allows for methods to reverse the sign of the results from any single or multiple cross-
sections. The option is useful since, for this particular plot, all cross-sections were defined coming from
the right. However the first section [Spar2_E1_Spar2_N1], since it has no elements to the left of this
cross-section, can only be defined from the left. Cross-sections, defined by the nodes and elements
within their respective sets, can be defined coming from the left or right depending on the elements
chosen for any given nodal cross-section definition. Therefore any given cross-section can be defined
from the left or from the right. The only difference in the results defined either way is that the results will
be opposite in sign but equal in magnitude. Either way, for a shear moment diagram, it is important that
all selected cross-sections be defined coming from the same direction so that the resulting plot is valid.
12. Verify that the Envelop results check box is deactivated.
If you only want the maximum/minimum selected Y components to be plotted from all selected
loadsteps for each cross-section, activate the envelop check box. For this tutorial, do not activate this
check box.
13. For Layout, select the layout of plots desired.
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This option affects the number of resulting plots that will be generated. The options are: One plot per
loadstep, One plot per Y Component, and One curve per plot. The total number of curves that are
generated is always (Curves = number or loadsteps * number of Y components). In this example, since
you selected four loadsteps and two Y components, there are a total of eight curves that will be
extracted. The number of plots that these eight curves will be displayed on depends on the layout
selection. With the option, One Plot per loadstep, there are four plots since there are four loadsteps;
each plot with both selected Y components, or in this case shear and moment on a single plot for each
loadstep. The results of this layout option are shown in first picture, following. With the option, One Plot
per Y component, there are two plots since there are two Y components, each plot with all four
selected loadsteps, or in this case shear on one plot and moment on another plot for all four selected
loadsteps. The results of this layout option are shown in the third picture, following. Try both options.
14. Click Apply to generate the shear moment plots.
These plots can be used with traditional mechanics of materials calculations such as S = My/I and T =
VQ/IT to calculate stresses for various cross-sections. The plots provide the M (bending or Mz) and V
(shear or Fy) values to these equations which when coupled with cross-section properties which can be
calculated using HyperBeam (from the main menu, select the1D page, then select HyperBeam), allows
for the calculation of the cross-section stresses.
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Exercise 2: Extracting Free Body Diagrams from Global Loads Model and
Transfering to Detailed Model as Boundary Conditions Submodeling Techniques
This exercise uses the model file, icw_ex2.hm.
Step 1: Extract free body diagrams for Spar2 using FBD Forces utility.
1. If continuing from Exercise 1, proceed; otherwise open HyperMesh and load the model file, icw_ex2.hm
.
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2. From the menu bar select Post, then Free Body, then Force to open the FBD Forces tab.
3. If the icw.op2 file is currently loaded, proceed; otherwise, from the .op2 file: browser, select icw.op2.
The selected .op2 file loads into the HyperMesh database for use with all FBD utilities until another .
op2 file is selected. It also populates the Subcases list box with all subcases in the selected .op2 file
that contain Grid Point Force (GPFORCE) data.See the FBD documentation in the HyperMesh User's
guide for more details.
4. In the Loadsteps list, select SUBCASE 9, SUBCASE 11, SUBCASE 14, and SUBCASE 16, the critical
subcases determined in Exercise 1, Step 5.
5. In the Entity selection area, click Element Set twice.
6. Click set, then select the Spar2 element set.
7. Click proceed.
Elements that represent Spar2 are now displayed in the graphics area. To turn on element shading,
click Shaded Elements and Mesh Lines ( ).
8. Click Result System twice.
The graphic area is updated with all systems in the model.
9. Select the system located at the left-middle end of Spar2 (system 102 created in Exercise 1, Step 1),
and click proceed.
Note: You may have to display the Longeron2 system collector from the Model browser (Model tab)
to display system 102.
The result system is the system for which all free body force and moment result vectors will be
transformed into and output.
10. Click Summation Node twice, select the left-bottom node, and then click proceed.
This summation node is the node for which all free body force and moment vector results will be summed
about to generate a single equivalent resultant force and moment vector. Note that for a free body (all
loads), the summation about any point must be zero. Therefore, this feature is typically used to verify
that the extraction produced a free body with zero summation. However, if a free body other than (all
loads) is performed, the selection of the summation node can be used to determine the equivalent
resultant force and moment vector for the extracted free body (applied load only or reaction loads only)
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which in general will not be zero and can be of interest.
Review the following table for a description of the Output options for the FBD Forces utility.
Output Function Description
FBD type Defines the types of grid point forces (GPFORCE)
to consider in the free body extraction.
GPFORCE data available at any given node
includes, element, applied, SPC, and MPC
forces. FBD types include; All loads (which
considers all GPFORCE data), Applied loads
only (which only considers applied forces only),
and Reaction loads only (which considers SPC
and MPC forces only).
Zero tolerance Defines any number less than this number is set
to zero for numerical issues.
Create load collectors Creates load collectors containing the results of
the FBD force calculations so that the results can
be visualized in the graphics area as force and
moment vectors.
Show summary table This option brings up a window with formatted
results similar to the .csv (comma separated)
file. Use this output for quick checks of the data
without having to open an alternative spreadsheet
or text editor program.
Create .csv file Creates a .csv file with the results of the
resultant force and moment calculations, which
can be opened directly within any standard
spreadsheet applications.
11. For FBD type, select All Loads.
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12. For Zero tolerance, type 0.01.
13. Activate Create load collectors and optionally select a default color for the created load collectors.
14. Activate Show summary table.
15. Activate Create .csv file, browse to the desired location, and type icw_fbd_force.csv.
16. Click Accept to execute the FBD forces calculations for all selected subcases.
The FBD Forces Output Summary window displays the FBD forces calculations (see following image).
There is a separate data block grouped by loadstep. The data block contains free body nodal forces,
moments, and the sum of those nodal forces and moments about the defined sum node. Note that the
sum of the moment components (Mx, My, Mz) for each node is not the direct sum as the (rXF) terms for
the force resultant vector about the sum node must also be added to each moment component
appropriately. The sum of the forces components (Fx, Fy, Fz) for each node is, however, the simple
sum. In addition, the sum for a Free Body All Loads result should be, and is, zero about any sum
node selected. You can verify this with the SUM line at the bottom of each data block. For other FBD
types, however, the sum about the sum node may or may not be zero, depending on the selections.
17. (Optional) Open the icw_fbd_forces.csv file directly with Microsoft Excel by double-clicking the file
in Windows Explorer. This file contains the same results as the summary table in the previous image,
but is available for import into standard spreadsheet or text editor programs.
18. Click Close to exit FBD Forces utility.
Vector review of the FBD forces results in the graphics area is covered in the next step.
Step 2: Use FBD Results Manager to review FBD force vectors in graphics area.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Post, then Free Body Results Manager to open the FBD Results Manager
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tab.
2. Click Element Set twice.
3. Click set, then check Spar2.
4. Click select.
5. Click proceed.
6. (Optional) Activate the Show model check box to display the entire model with the selected element set
highlighted in red and all other elements transparent. This feature will help you easily locate the element
set within the model.
7. For Results type, select FBD Forces All Loads.
This operation scans the database for available loadsteps with FBD Forces All Loads results and
populates the Loadsteps list box.
8. For Loadsteps, select SUBCASE 9.
This operation will scan the database for available force and moment vector results and will enable the
check boxes for those force and moment vectors that are available.
9. For Display options, select Fy (shearthe results coordinate system had y-axis in the plane of the
web).
To determine the result coordinate system applied to a given cross-section of interest, use FBD Cross-
Section Manager to review the defined cross-section. This operation will show the element set, node
set, results system, and sum node defined for the selected cross-section. Optionally, select other force
components to review their magnitude and direction in the graphics area. Single or multiple force and
moment vector results can be displayed in the graphics area to facilitate data mining and reporting.
10. (Optional) Select Update load collector color and select color to change the color of the selected load
vectors.
The new color setting applies only to the load components selected and are saved in the database.
Therefore, this option can be used to recolor any single or multiple load vectors for any FBD result.
11. Click Accept to make visible the FBD force vectors in the graphics area.
12. (Optional) Continue to review FBD Forces All Load vector results following steps 2.6 2.13 for
additional loadsteps and force/moment components.
13. Click Reset to clear the display and reset the form.
14. Click Close to exit the FBD Results Manager utility.
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Step 3: Use FBD Export Manager to export FBD Forces to .fem file.
1. From the Menu Bar, select Post, then Free Body Export Manager to open the FBD Export Manger
tab.
2. Click Element Set twice.
3. Click set, then select Spar2.
4. Click proceed.
5. For Results type, select FBD Forces All Loads.
This operation scans the database for available loadsteps with FBD Forces All Loads results and
populates the Loadsteps list box.
6. For Loadsteps, Select SUBCASE 9, SUBCASE 11, SUBCASE 14, SUBCASE 16.
7. Check the options for Create appropriate loadsteps, and for Output file, browse to the desired location
and enter spar2_fbd_forces.fem.
8. Click Add to Export.
This operation turns on the display of all load collectors associated with the currently selected FBD
result type for all selected loadsteps. Additional loadsteps can be selected and accepted, which will
append to the current display on each click of accept. In addition, a new element set or FBD result type
can be selected and appended to the current display on each click of accept. To clear the display click
Reset.
9. Click Export.
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This operation will export the currently displayed loads and all other associated/required cards to the
output file selected. This file can subsequently be imported into another HyperMesh database (typically
called the detailed model) and the loads contained therein can be "attached" to the structure of the
detailed model as boundary conditions with the addition of a rigid body constraint. This process will be
carried out in the next step.
10. Click Reset.
This operation clears the current display.
11. Click Close to exit the FBD Export Manager utility.
12. (Optional) On the File menu, click Save as, and save the HyperMesh database as icw_final.hm.
13. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Exit to exit HyperMesh.
Step 4: Import FBD forces from .fem file into detailed model and solve.
1. Open HyperMesh and load the model file, spar2_ex2.hm.
2. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Import... to open the Import tab.
3. Select Import type: FE Model, File type: RADIOSS (Bulk Data), and browse for file:
spar2_fbd_forces.fem.
4. Click Import.
This operation imports the free body loads from the global model into the detailed model of Spar2. The
next process is to "attach" the free body loads to the detailed model, perform some clean-up operations,
define new loadsteps with the free body loads and a rigid body constraint, and solve the detailed model.
This process will be accomplished in the remainder of this step.
5. From the Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Check, then Nodes, then Equivalence to go to the Edges
panel.
The nodes of the imported loads are equivalenced with those of the detailed model which are overlaying
each other as a consequence of importing the free body loads.
6. Toggle selector from comps to elems.
7. Click elems >>displayed.
8. Click preview equiv.
Eighteen nodes should be found, one at each load.
9. Click equivalence to combine nodes that were imported and attached to the loads with those that are a
part of the detailed mesh of Spar2.
Note that when the detailed Spar2 mesh was constructed, attention to where these interface nodes were
located was taken into account by placing fixed points on the surfaces at these locations. The fixed
points maintain a node at that location from the automesher and thus guarantee that a node will exist
where a load is located. This method is only one of several potential methods. Other options could
include importing the loads which do not line up with any other nodes in the detailed mesh and then
connecting the loads to the detailed mesh with R-type elements (RBE2 or RBE3). Several other
possibilities could also exist and best methods and practices should be considered depending on the
problem type.
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10. Click return to exit the Edges panel.
11. From the Menu Bar, select Collectors, then Delete, then Components to go to the Delete panel.
12. Click comps.
13. Select TempMass.
14. Click select.
15. Click delete entity to delete the TempMass component entity.
16. Click return to exit the Delete panel.
17. On the Model tab, select the LoadCollector folder, right-click to bring up the context sensitive menu,
and select Hide to remove all loads from the graphics area.
18. To define a rigid body constraint perform the following:
1. Create a load collector for the rigid body constraint definition. From the Menu Bar, select Collectors
, then Create, then Load Collectors to go to the loadcols panel.
2. In the create sub-panel, for loadcol name =, enter Const.
3. Select color red.
4. Toggle to no card image.
5. Click create.
Note: this operation sets the current load collector to the newly created Const load collector. The
current load collector is the collector which any newly created load (constrains in this case) are
placed into.
6. Assign an analysis system to the nodes for which the rigid body constraint will be applied. From the
Menu Bar, select Mesh, then Assign, then Node Analysis System to go to the Systems >Assign
sub-panel.
7. Select the three nodes highlighted in the following image.
8. Click system.
9. Select system 102 on left-middle end (x-axis along length, y-axis along web, z-axis normal to web).
Note: You may have to display the Longeron2 system collector from the Model browser (Model
tab) to display system 102.
10. Click set displacement.
11. Click return to exit the Systems panel.
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12. Assign a constraint to left-bottom node. From the Menu Bar, select BCs, then Create, then
Constraints to go to the Constrains panel.
13. Select the left-bottom node.
14. Select dof1, dof2, and dof3.
Make sure all other dofs are unselected.
15. Click create.
16. Select the left-top node.
17. Select dof1 and dof3.
Make sure all other dofs are unselected.
18. Click create.
19. Select the right-bottom node.
20. Select dof3.
Make sure all other dofs are unselected.
21. Click create.
22. Click return to exit the constraints panel.
19. To update the loadsteps for all four free body load cases, perform the following:
1. From the Menu Bar, select Setup, then Edit, then LoadSteps to go to the loadsteps panel.
2. Click name =and select SUBCASE 9.
3. Toggle type to linear static.
4. Select SPC, click =, and select Const load collector.
6. Click update.
7. Repeat steps for SUBCASE 11, SUBCASE 14, and SUBCASE 16.
20. From the Menu Bar, select Setup, then Create, then Control Cards to go to the Control Cards panel.
21. Click FORMAT.
22. For number_of_formats enter 2, and then hit ENTER on the keyboard.
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There are now two FORMAT buttons.
23. Click each FORMAT button and set them to HM and OUTPUT2, respectively.
24. Click return to specify output file formats for HyperMesh .res (HM) and .op2 which can be used in
HyperView to post-process the results.
25. Click DISPLACEMENTS.
26. Click return to request displacement output for both output formats.
27. Click STRESS.
28. Click return to request stress output for both output formats.
29. Click return to exit the control cards panel.
30. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Save As, and save the model as spar2_ex2_analysis.hm.
31. From the Menu Bar, select Applications, then RADIOSS to go to the RADIOSS >bulk sub-panel to
run the model.
32. For run options, toggle to analysis.
33. For export options, toggle to all.
34. Click Radioss to export the solver deck and run the analysis in RADIOSS using the bulk data format. If
optiskip appears in the options field clear the field before clicking Radioss.
35. Once RADIOSS finishes, click return to exit the RADIOSS panel.
36. In the Post menu, click Deformed panel and review the results of the analysis.
37. Click Simulation =and select SUB9 PosShear PosMoment PosT.
38. Click data type =and select Displacements.
39. Click deform to produce the deformed shape of Spar2 in the graphics area for the selected simulation.
40. Click return to exit the deformed panel.
41. On the Post page, click contour to go to the contour panel and review the results of analysis.
42. Click Simulation =and select SUB9 PosShear PosMoment PosT.
43. Click data type =and select Von Mises Stress.
44. Select the legend sub-panel.
45. Toggle find maximum to maximum =and enter 100000.
46. Click contour to produce the contour plot in the graphics area.
47. (Optional) Continue to use the contour panel to review additional results.
48. Click return to exit the contour panel.
49. (Optional) From the Menu Bar, select File, then Save.
This operation saves the current HyperMesh database, spar2_ex2_analysis.hm.
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50. From the Menu Bar, select File, then Exit to exit HyperMesh.