Tutorial

FROM SOLID TO SHELL

MIDDLE SKIN EXTRACTION
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................2
1.1. Prerequisites..........................................................................................................................2
1.2. Problem description ...............................................................................................................2
1.3. Data files................................................................................................................................3
2. Reading the CAD file......................................................................................................................4
3. Automated extraction of the Middle-Skin MIDDLE > MULTI function.........................................5
4. Shell meshing...............................................................................................................................12
5. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................17

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FROM SOLID TO SHELL Middle Skin Extraction

1. Introduction
This tutorial presents the Middle-Multi functionality that can be used in order to extract a middle skin
description from a solid part. In this tutorial it will be presented how this functionality can be used in
order to overcome some problematic regions.
The main processes that are featured are the following:
the automatic middle-skin extraction with some manual user interaction, where needed
the shell-meshing of the extracted middle-skin and its refinement
The steps described in this tutorial include:
11.
12.
13.
14.

Read the STEP file and check topology.

Examine the main features of the geometry and plan a working approach.
Extract the middle skin description using the Middle>[Multi] functionality.
Create a draft surface mesh and examine it.

1.1. Prerequisites
It is highly recommenced to have performed Tutorials 1 and 2, or to already have a basic ANSA
background. Not all steps are described to the last detail.
1.2. Problem description
The geometry of the solid part is shown below.
It is the half part of a bumper.

Inner ribs

Inner big ribs

Main body

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1.3. Data files
The files of this tutorial are located in the directory tutorial_files/middle_multi. One ANSA
file named bumper.ansa contains the geometry. The resulting ANSA database can be found for
reference in the file bumper_result.ansa .

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2. Reading the CAD file
Start ANSA. Set middle Tolerance
settings in Windows > Options >
Settings> Tolerances.
In RESOLUTION, set 1mm and 4mm
for Curves and CONS resolution
respectively.
FILE
OPEN

Now read in the file

bumper.ansa.

Select the CAD file in the File Manager

and press OK.
The CAD file is read and topology is
applied. The geometry should be clean
with no gaps.
De-activate DOUBLE CONS visibility
flag temporarily to check that no free
red CONS are visible.

Activate back DOUBLE CONS visibility

and SHADOW display mode.
Press FACEs>ORIENT
to assign a uniform
orientation to all the visible Faces.
ORIENT

Press FACEs>INVERT if required to flip

the orientation.
Notice: orientation will be automatically
applied when using the Middle>Multi
functionality.

Save the ANSA database locally from FILE>SAVE AS.

The fact that only yellow double CONS are visible everywhere means that this is a closed volume
description of a solid part. In the following steps you will extract the middle skin surface in order to
mesh it with shell elements of equivalent thickness.
First we will extract the middle skin surface from the inner ribs of the model and then we will extract
the middle skin surface from the outer entities.

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3. Automated extraction of the Middle-Skin MIDDLE > MULTI function
From the TOPO>FACEs group activate
the MIDDLE>Multi function.
The basic MIDDLE window appears,
which consists, primarily, of three parts.
All parts are fully user-interactive and
enable the most accurate result,
according to the user's needs.
In that Middle-Multi window that
appears assign a Thickness value, so
that the algorithm can start searching
for entities that have a thickness equal
or less than the specified value.
It is recommended to start from a small
value and increase it after each step.
In the field 'Thick. step' the user can
define the thickness range. After that a
new property will be applied on the
extracted faces.
In the specific example, a new PID will
be applied every 0.25mm.
The 'Mean thick.' indicates the mean
thickness found in the highlighted
region.
The 'PID thick.' indicates the thickness
that will be applied in the new Property
for
thelowest
extracted
face. window
In the
partmiddle
of the 'Middle'
the options to put the new created
entities in a new Part are displayed.
Furthermore, the user can keep the new
entities invisible, by activating the option
'Hide middle faces'.
When the option 'Focus current pair' is
active, the Middle-Skin tool will
translate towards the next region that
will be found.
Notice: The order in which the regions
are found, through this algorithm, is not
always the same. This means that there
might be a case, when going through
this tutorial, that the user will not get the
following cases in the same order. But
this should not cause the least trouble
or misunderstanding to the user.
In order to get better results it is
recommended to extract the middle face
first from the ribs and then from the
other entities. This means that, the user
has the ability to select (by pressing the
'Next' button) a specific pair of faces to
start with the middle-skin extraction.

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By pressing the 'Auto' button, the first
region is detected. (case 1)
The algorithm marks the two opposite
sides (faces for middle-skin extraction)
with red and green and the thickness
with blue.
Since the selected pair is not one of the
rib-parts, as recommended previously,
press the 'Next' button to get to the next
region.

Notice-1: The 'Next' button is active only

when more then one pairs are found.
The number of pairs found is displayed
in the window. In the specific case, 2
pairs are found.
Notice-2: In order to extract the middle
face from a region, the opposite sites
should be alike and the blue should be
the thickness.
If this is not the case, the user has to
manipulate/edit the selections manually,
with the use of the 'Manual' button.
Continuing with the procedure, the next
region is selected (case 2). The
selection seems to have no problems,
so press the OK button in the 'MIDDLE'
window.
After the middle face of this region is
extracted, the region of case 1 is
highlighted. It is not time to fix this
region yet, according to the basic
recommendations. In order to continue,
type a new thickness value (3mm) so
that new pairs are found.

Again the case 1 is as first highlighted.

Press 'Next' to get to the next region.
The next region is a rib. (case 3). Press
'OK' to extract the middle face of it.
Continuing with the procedure, next a
fillet is highlighted (case 4). Due to the
fact that the inner ribs are not fixed yet,
it is preferable not to proceed with fixing
the outer entities. Therefore, press the
'Next' button to get to the next pair.
Specifically, press the 'Next' button until
the next inner rib is detected.

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When this rib is highlighted (case 5)
press OK to extract the middle skin
surface. After that go to the next inner
rib and press OK again.

Now that the inner ribs (cases 3 & 5)

are fixed, the middle skin surface from
the fillets can be extracted (case 6). In
order to ensure that the red, green and
blue faces are correctly defined,
activate the CROSSHATCHES.
After extracting the middle skin surface
from this fillet, move to the fillet of case
4. In a closer view, it is obvious that the
definition of the highlighted region
should be manually manipulated.

As we can see the blue path (thickness)

has not the same length as the green
and red paths. In order to fix it, press
the 'EDIT' button in the 'MIDDLE'
window.

The upper part of the 'MIDDLE' window

is activated. Select the 'Blue' faces from
the 'Group Selection' and select from
screen with the left mouse button the
faces that should be added to the blue
path.

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After editing the blue path the region is
correctly defined and the user can
proceed with the extraction of the
middle skin surface by clicking the 'OK'
button.

Continue to the next inner rib (case 8).

The definition has the same problem.
Edit the blue path in order to correct the
definition and press the 'OK' button to
extract the middle skin surface.
In the next steps, extract the middle skin
surfaces from the rest of the ribs.

After extracting the middle surface of all

the inner ribs of the model, the result is
the one features in the picture. In the
model there are only the 2 big ribs
remaining.
(case 9)
In order to achieve a better quality in the
result, these 2 ribs will be treated in two
steps.

In the first step, the middle surface of

the entities that have curvature will be
extracted.
In the 'MIDDLE' window, press the
'EDIT' button. Select to manipulate the
red entities and with the right mouse
button de-select all the needless
entities.
Do the same for the Green and the Blue
entities.
By pressing 'OK', the middle surface will
be extracted.

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In the second step, the middle surface
of the rest of the rib will be extracted.
By pressing 'Next' in the 'MIDDLE'
window, the user will end up with the
rest of the rib.
Pressing 'OK' once again for the
extraction.
Proceeding in the same way, the middle
surface of the second big rib will be
extracted (in 2 steps again).

While working in the other big rib (case

10) the user will face the situation
displayed in the picture.
The blue path is longer then the red and
green paths. In order to get the same
length in the rib with the curvature,
press the 'Edit' button and then select
the option 'Trim Manual'.
Cut the blue path in the Hot Points so
that it gets the same length as the red
and green paths.
Notice: The same result will be reached
if selecting the 'Trim Auto' option,
instead of trimming it manually.
After cutting the blue path confirm with
middle mouse button and de-select the
blue path that is not needed. Then
press the 'OK' button to extract the
middle surface.
Pressing the 'Next' button, get the rest
of the rib. Press OK to extract the
middle surface of the rest of the rib.

By pressing the 'Next' button, the last

region (case 11) is displayed.
In order to improve the results, the
middle surface won't be extracted from
the highlighted region but from the
neighbor region.

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In order to achieve this, select the
Option 'Manual' from the 'MIDDLE'
window.
In this way, the user intervenes
manually to the region and does not let
the algorithm work automatically.

In the upper part of the window activate

the red option in order to select the red
path. Accordingly, do the same for the
green and the blue path.

Select the region from which the middle

surface extraction is demanded (case
12). After selecting all the paths, press
the 'OK' button in the MIDDLE' window.

Press the 'Auto' button to get the last 2

pairs.
Press next (if necessary) to highlight the
side entities (case 13). Edit the blue
path in order to correct it. Press the 'OK'
button to extract the middle surface.
Automatically the last pair will be
highlighted, the main body of the model.
Extract the middle surface from this pair
by pressing the 'OK' button in the
'MIDDLE' window.

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At this point, the middle surface extraction has been completed. The final model is displayed in the
following picture.

As a next step, the shell-meshing of the model can take place.

Up to this point, the tutorial is completed.
Save the file and quit.

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4. Shell meshing
Switch to MESH menu.
Activate the MACROs>LENGTH
LENGTH
function and select all the
Macros. Specify an element length of 4 in the
Input window that appears and press Enter.
Keep the MIXED in the SHELL MESH>MIXED..
switch button.

Activate the SHELL MESH>FREE [Visible]

function to mesh all the visible Macros with the
FREE algorithm and TRIA elements.
The part is meshed.
(If a message x Macros remain umeshed
appears in the Text Window, press the
UNMESHED [MACROs] function to isolate them
and check for problems in their topology).
Next step is a basic quality check and
improvement. Keep only the SKEW flag active
in the quality criteria buttons at the bottom.

HIDDEN

Activate the HIDDEN view

mode.

The skewed elements are viewed in green.

(The bad elements identified here are according
to the ANSA default skewness check. Press
F11 to access the Presentation Parameters
window and select the desired quality settings).

Activate the SHELL MESH>RECONS [Visible]

function.
ANSA reconstructs the current mesh.
The reported number of the visible skewed
elements is lowered in the text legend on the
left.

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Press the EXTREME function of
the Focus group to isolate the
Macros that have skewed elements.
EXTREME

Zoom in to the area shown.

These skewed elements are a result of the short

CONS, and correspondingly here Perimeters,
that the Extension of the Faces left over.

Activate the MACROs>JOIN>Erasing Mesh

function and select them with the left mouse
button. It is preferable to use this option and
proceed in reconstructing at a next step.
Joining these Perimeters results in the deletion
of the mesh locally.
Before remeshing activate the
SHELL MESH>RECON flag,
so that Reconstruction takes
place in the background to get the optimum
mesh.
RECON

RE-MESH
Visible

Activate the SHELL

MESH>RE-MESH [Visible]
function.

The erased Macros Area is re-meshed with the

same meshing algorithm, in this case the FREE,
and reconstruction is applied automatically.

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The other two other similar parts have the same
kind of problem at both sides and they should
be corrected in the same way.

DELETE
In addition the Hot Points at that parts should be
deleted with HOT POINTs>DELETE.

Note that in order to avoid

having to use the SHELL
MESH> REMESH function after Perimeter
modifications the user can activate the SHELL
MESH>AMESH flag button.
A.MESH

Apart from the aforementioned parts, there are

also some other narrow Macro Areas with
skewed elements.
JOIN

Use the function MACROs>JOIN

and delete the left over Hot

Points.
(Note that in SETTINGS>GENERAL SETTINGS
there is an option to delete automatically any
unused Hot Points after a JOIN operation).
Make any other necessary similar modifications.
By switching to EL.THICK display mode, the
user can view the shell elements colored by the
PID thickness according to a color bar.

SHADOW mode facilitates viewing.

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Additionally, with the QGRAPH display mode,

the user can select can visualize the criterion,
according to which, the model will be drawn.

The following pictures offer a view of the EL.

THICK and QGRAPH display mode,
accordingly.

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Finally, pressing F11 access the Presentation
Parameters window where you can activate the
flag Shell as Solid.
This allows the visualization of shell elements
as solid according to their PID thickness, that
have been automatically created during the
middle-skin extraction.

The tutorial is fully meshed and completed.

Save the file and quit.

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5. Conclusion
In this tutorial all the basic steps have been followed in order to extract the middle surface
description of a solid part, by using the MIDDLE>Multi functionality, and mesh it with shell
elements. Not all capabilities were fully demonstrated. Additionally, please, refer to ANSA v13.x
Users Guide and to the On-Line Help for the ANSA_v13.x functionality and detailed description of
functions and procedures.

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