Penetration Panel
Use the Penetration panel to check for penetrations and/or intersections of elements. After running the check, you can use additional tools to check the penetration depth and move nodes in order to fix the problem areas; both penetrations and intersections can be fixed.
- A solver interface that supports thickness for 2D shell elements must be loaded.
- Changing the check settings after the check is run requires that you run a new check by clicking check again. This is necessary because changing the criteria will not update the results in the Penetration tab unless you run the check again.
Panel Options
| Option | Action |
|---|---|
| entity switch | Select entities to be
checked for penetration or intersection. Regardless of the type of entity selected, the penetrating elements will be found; for example, picking two components locates elements from each component that penetrate elements of the other. After the check runs, the results display in the Penetration browser grouped by component, regardless of the entity type used to select penetration candidates. |
| all interferences /intersections only / penetrations only | Select the type of
interferences to check for. Note: Solid entities only register
penetrations in conjunction with shell elements. With other
solids, they only register intersections.
|
| 2D and 3D elements /2D only elements / 3D only elements | Select the type of
elements to check. If you choose 2D only or 3D only, Engineering Solutions only checks elements of the specified type for penetration. Elements in the selected entities which are not of that dimensional type will be ignored, even if they penetrate or intersect another entity. |
| allowable interference depth | Optional: Specify a
tolerance for penetration checking. For example, if you check a model of a part measured in millimeters, and are not concerned about penetrations of less than a tenth of a millimeter, you could set this field to a value of 0.1. The penetration tool would then ignore any elements that penetrated each other by 1/10 of a millimeter or less, but still locate and highlight elements with a penetration depth greater than 1/10 mm. In addition, some solvers will not permit direct, adjacent contact between elements. For example, a penetration depth of exactly zero, with no space between elements. For such solvers, you should set this field to any negative value (such as -0.1). This allows the penetration tool to locate and display elements that are exactly adjacent to one another as if they were penetrating each other, so that you can use the penetration fixing tools to add some space between them. |
| component thickness /thickness multiplier / uniform thickness | Optional: Select a
thickness adjustment.
Note: Not available when you run the check on groups,
because a group's thickness is defined by its control
card.
|
| include self interference | Check for components
that intersect or penetrate themselves (for instance, due to
high curvature in the component). Tip: This option
is computationally intensive, therefore it is not
recommended that you use it when checking large numbers of
elements for penetration.
|
Command Buttons
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| check | Check the selected
components, elements, or groups for penetration and/or
intersection. A message in the status bar displays the percentage progress of each step in the check. To abort a check, right-click in the modeling window and hold the button down. The exact length of time that you must hold the button depends on the size and complexity of the check you are running; the check will cancel once its completion percentage increments. When the check aborts, the status bar turns red and displays a message stating that the check was canceled. Once completed, the results are displayed in the Penetration tab. |
| return | Exit the panel. |