ME 498CM Fall 2016

Meshing

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 ABAQUS Meshing
Meshing Workflow
Assign mesh
attributes and set OBJECTIVE—balance results accuracy
mesh controls against rate of convergence

CREATION—seeding, element type,

Generate mesh
remeshing techniques

Refine mesh VERIFICATION—element quality, shape

factor, aspect ratio, element
Verify mesh degeneracy

REMESHING/REFINEMENT—based on
Optimize mesh results of analysis incl. large
deformations or gradients

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 ABAQUS Meshing
Dependent v. Independent
■Dependent No customization allowed:
cannot modify geometry,
Instance is a pointer to the meshed original part
■ Independent
partition, virtual topology

An independent part instance is a copy of the geometry of the original

part

How to Switch:
1. In the context bar, change the Object
2. In the model tree, right click the instance
name

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 ABAQUS Meshing
Mesh Attributes

 Element
shape
control
 Seed
assignment
and bias

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 ABAQUS Meshing
Mesh Attributes: Curvature Control
 Seed distribution based on edge curvature
and target element size
 Accounts for deviation factor and minimum
size factor

L
deviation factor =
h/L
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 ABAQUS Meshing
Meshing techniques
■Top-down meshing
■Structured meshing
■Swept meshing (source-
target along path)
■Free meshing
■Unmeshable part
■Bottom-up meshing

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ABAQUS Meshing
Swept Meshing

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ABAQUS Meshing
Free Meshing

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ABAQUS Meshing
Bottom-Up Meshing

Example 17.11.10
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 ABAQUS Meshing
Refinement by Partitioning (structured)
Example 1

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 ABAQUS Meshing
Refinement by Partitioning
Example 1

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 ABAQUS meshing
Refinement by Partition
Example 1

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ABAQUS meshing
Refinement by virtual topology

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 ABAQUS meshing
Mesh Verification

Aspect Ratio:
Ratio between longest and shortest edge
Shape Factor: of a element.
triangular and tetrahedral elements

Selection criterion Quadrilateral Triangle Hexahedra Tetrahedra Wedge

Shape factor N/A 0.01 N/A 0.0001 N/A
Smaller face 10 5 10 5 10
corner angle
Larger face 160 170 160 170 160
corner angle
Aspect ratio 10 10 10 10 10

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ABAQUS Elements
Element Library

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ABAQUS Elements
Element Naming Convention

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ABAQUS Elements
Element Selection & Properties
Topologically,
CPE4 = CAX4R = S4R = DC2D4 = AC2D4
No checking of DOFs in CAE

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ABAQUS Elements
Reduced Integration

× ×
×
× ×

linear quadratic
(CPS4R (CPS8R
etc.) etc.)
C3D20R -> 27 ->8

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ABAQUS Elements
Hourglassing

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ABAQUS Elements
Shear Locking

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 ABAQUS Elements
Formulation methods

• Lagrangian - Mesh moves with material

• Eulerian – Mesh stays stationary

• ALE - Mesh moves independent of material

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 ABAQUS Elements
SPH/CEL (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics/Coupled Lagrangian Eulerian)
Mesh free methods

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