Stiffened Panel Mesh

Create a quad dominant mapped mesh from orthogonal lines for global FE model creation. Bar/beam mesh will be created around the edges. This is mainly used for the fuselage section.

Note: It is desired to have orthogonal lines.

Restriction: Only available in Nastran and OptiStruct solvers.

From the menu bar, click Aerospace > Panel > Stiffened Panel Mesh.

Use this tool to:

Create mapped quad mesh using orthogonal lines
Create quad surface regions automatically using line boundary
Create structured mesh on those regions with user-specified element density
Offset the nodes and element IDs
Use existing manifold surfaces, if present, to trim those lines

Review Description

Option	Description	Result
Curve List A	Select a set of lines that are parallel.	Selected lines will be highlighted.
Curve List B	Select a set of lines that are perpendicular to curve list A.	Selected lines will be highlighted.
Boundary Curve U	Select a single line from curve list A which represents the U direction for the meshing region. The lowest element/node numbers will lie on this line.	Selected line will be highlighted.
Boundary Curve V	Select a single line from curve list B which represents the V direction for the meshing region. The lowest element/node numbers will lie on this line and the intersection of boundary curve U.	Element and node numbering will start at the intersection of boundary curve U and V.
Manifold Surface	Select the surfaces on which curve list A and B could be projected within the given tolerance.	The nodes will be created on the surface.
Respect the Manifold surface	Select this toggle	The nodes will be placed on this surface.
Delete the Auxiliary geometry	Select this toggle	The sub region (surface) created between the intersecting lines will be deleted after the meshing operations.
Global Model Tolerance	Provide a suitable tolerance within which all the curves will intersect.	Lines will be intersected to create a rectangular meshing region.
Destination Component Name	Provide the name of the component where the resulting mesh will reside.	A new component will be created, and the mesh will be moved to that component, if the new component toggle is selected.
Starting element ID	Provide an ID that is greater than the max element ID in the model.	Element ID will start from the ID given at the corner of the boundary curve (UV) intersection. It will increase in the U direction first.
Starting Node ID	Provide an ID that is greater than the max node ID in the model.	Node ID will start from the ID given at the corner of the boundary curve (UV) intersection. It will increase in the U direction first.
Elements in U	Number of elements in each bay in the U direction.	In each bay in the U direction elements will be created with the number specified.
Elements in V	Number of elements in each bay in the V direction.	In each bay in the V direction elements will be created with the number specified.

Expected Results

In this example, quad dominant mesh will be created. Matching 1D (beam) elements will also be created around the bay boundary along the original lines. Element and node IDs will start from the offset IDs provided.