Perform automatic checks on CAD models, and identify potential issues with geometry that may slow down the meshing
process using the Verification and Comparison tools.
1D mesh that allows accurate testing of connectors, such as bolts, and similar rod-like or bar-like objects that can
be modeled as a simple line for FEA purposes.
Volume mesh or "solid meshing" uses three-dimensional elements to represent fully 3D objects, such as solid parts
or sheets of material that have enough thickness and surface variety that solid meshing makes more sense than 2D shell
meshing.
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality and create, edit, and apply
shapes for subsequent design optimization studies.
Morph volume entities are highly deformable six-sided prisms which surround a portion of the FE mesh, and can be used
to manipulate a mesh by manipulating the shape of the morph volume.
Many essential utility tools using HyperWorks-Tcl have been developed over the years to support Aerospace customers. A few tools have been collected and upgraded to
be compatible with this release.
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality and create, edit, and apply
shapes for subsequent design optimization studies.
Use the Free Morph tool to morph mesh by moving nodes,
faces, and edges or by mapping to geometry.
From the Mesh ribbon, click the Free Morph tool.
Optional: On the guide bar, click to define morphing options.
Select the node(s), face(s), or edge(s) to move.
By default, the Free Morph tool automatically
determines and selects anchor nodes and morph area elements based on the shape
of the model connected to the moving nodes. Both are fully recalculated after
each moving entity is either appended or deselected to allow for faster
consecutive morphs with less manual selection, and more intuitive local
morphing. This feature is enabled by default and can be turned off by
deselecting the Automatic checkbox.
Morph the mesh.
Move entities freely using the Move tool.
The
position of the Move tool is set at the center
of the selected entities. Selecting new entities updates the position of
the Move tool.
Activate the Targets
selector and select target geometry or mesh to map to, then use the microdialog to execute the morph and adjust available
mapping options.
Deselect targets to move nodes freely
again.
Optional: Manually select anchor nodes and elements that make up the morph area by
activating the corresponding selector on the guide bar
then making your selection.
Free Morph Tool
An overview of the Free Morph tool.
Use the Free Morph tool to morph mesh by moving nodes,
faces, and edges or by mapping to geometry.
Access
Go to Mesh > Free Morph.
Guide Bar Options
Automatic
Automatically select anchor nodes and morph area elements.
Remorph changes
Re-applies previous morph with new options and entities.
Automatic anchors
Enables automatic selection of anchor nodes.
Calculate by
Select fixed nodes.
Value
Set distance or multiplier.
Morph method
Select method to morph mesh.
Free edges
Create a general domain for the affected elements for the
purpose of applying the morphing. The movement of nodes
along the boundaries of the affected elements is
unregulated.
Domain edges
If you have already created domains via a panel or loaded a
model with domains, those domains will be used to determine
the way the morphing is applied to the model. Any morph area
elements which aren't in existing domains are placed in a
general domain. Thus, if you use this option with no domains
in the model, it's the same as using free edges where a
general domain is created for the entire morph area.
Inferred edges
Create local domains for the affected elements for the
purpose of applying the morphing.
Create edge domains along the boundaries of the affected
elements which will regulate morphing.
Morph all nodes
Using a proximity based algorithm, potentially morph every
node in the model relative to the distances between the
nearest moving node and the nearest anchor node.
Partitioned edges
Partition all of the affected elements before applying
morphing.
Krig all nodes
Using the kriging algorithm, potentially morph every node in
the model except for the anchor nodes.
Note: A practical
upper limit on the number of moving nodes you can have
is 3000. Computers with above average memory and CPU
available may be able to support larger number of moving
nodes comfortably.
Morph within envelope
Using a proximity based algorithm, potentially morph every
node in the model relative to the distances between the
nearest moving node and to either the edge of the envelope
or the nearest anchor node (if selected). The envelope can
either be defined as a discrete distance using the Distance
option, or as a multiple of the magnitude of the
perturbation applied to the nearest moving node using the
Perturbation multiple option. If the Distance option is
selected, this method will act identically to Morph all
nodes.
For options Morph all nodes, Krig all nodes, and Morph within envelope,
the influence of the moving nodes extends beyond the mesh to which they
are attached, thus you will need to anchor or exclude any nodes that you
do not want to have morphed. If you wish to exclude the nodes which are
not displayed, set the Undisplayed nodes option to Exclude. Excluded
nodes will neither be morphed nor will they affect the morphing. If you
wish the nodes which are not displayed to act like anchor nodes, set the
Undisplayed nodes option to Anchor. Anchor nodes will influence the
morphing by reducing the amount of morphing of any nearby nodes. If the
option is set to Morph, HyperWorks will morph any
undisplayed nodes which are not anchored.
Figure 4 shows how the different methods affect the mesh morphing. For the
partitioned option, the inner edge closest to the moved nodes is
unaffected since an edge domain is internally created for it. For the
inferred edges option, no inner edges were created and thus the inner
edge ends up curved as its nodes follow the moving nodes. For the free
edges option, no outer edges were created either and thus the outer
edges end up curved as well as the inner ones. For the morph all nodes
and krig all nodes options, note the differences in the methods,
especially the smoothness of the kriging algorithm. For the morph within
envelope option, note how the mesh inside the envelope is linearly
perturbed relative to the distance from the moving node and that no
fixed nodes are required.
Undisplayed nodes
Select option for undisplayed nodes.
Moving nodes
Set bias for moving nodes.
Anchors
Set bias for anchors.
Translate increment
Enables discrete movement of manipulator in translation.
Rotate increment
Enables discrete movement of manipulator in rotation.
Step size
Increment for translating/rotating multiplier
Real time
Morph mesh while moving manipulator.
Active
Allow manipulator to morph mesh.
Mapping Options
Use the following microdialog options when selecting target
geometry.
- Use
manipulator
Move entities interactively with the Move
tool.
- Projection
direction
Along vector
Project along a user-defined direction using the Vector tool.
After a direction is defined, press ESC to close the tool.
Normal to target
Project normal to target.
Normal to source
Project normal to nodes' mesh.
Smoothed normals
Calculate the average normal direction for all elements and then
smooth them so that transitions near corners are not
abrupt.
CFD normals
Use a sophisticated algorithm to smooth the normals for all the
elements such that the elements will not get folded when their
nodes are morphed.
For cases where your mesh contains sharp corners, the CFD
corners option will produce the smoothest projections. However,
it can be time consuming, and for meshes without such sharp
corners, the smoothed normals option will work quickly while
giving good results.
Fit to line
Fit along line through target.
- Toggle extended
surface edges
Extend the edges of the surfaces or mesh in a direction perpendicular to the
normal at the closest point on the surfaces or mesh. If this option is
selected, the moving nodes will be projected on to an extended
representation of the surfaces or mesh, enabling you to project nodes beyond
the edge of the surfaces or mesh as well as within any holes. If this option
is not selected, the moving nodes will be projected on to the interior or
edges of the surfaces or mesh, which may end up distorting the morphed
mesh.
In Figure 5, three surfaces are floating above an angled mesh. All of the nodes of
the mesh are selected as moving nodes and they are projected to the surfaces
in the normal to geom direction. With extend surface edges selected, the
moving nodes are moved either to the surfaces or to virtual surfaces which
extend perpendicular to the normal direction at the edge of the surface.
Note how the nodes end up placed inside the hole in the center of the
largest surface. Without extend surface edges selected, the moving nodes are
moved to the nearest point of the surfaces. Note how several layers of
moving nodes end up compressed at the edge of the surfaces and around the
edge of the hole.
Note: Available when elements are the target entity.
- Offset
Apply an offset value to be maintained between the moving nodes and the
selected targets. This value represents an absolute distance, regardless of
the direction in which the nodes are moved.
A positive value for the
offset will place the nodes short of the target, a negative value for
the offset will place the nodes beyond the target, and an offset of zero
will place the nodes on the target.
When mapping to target
elements, the direction of the offset will be calculated using the
element normals.
- Offset in all
directions
Measure the offset from each node to the closest point on the target,
regardless of projection direction.
When turned off, the offset is
measured along the direction of projection of each node.
- Autofix target normals
When mapping to target elements, this option will ensure all mapped nodes
remain on the same side of the target mesh by automatically adjusting any
flipped normals in the target mesh.