How to partition and use the Abaqus meshing module

Description

Abaqus meshing module

In the Abaqus Mesh module, there are various capabilities to mesh a part. Most of the time especially in industrial projects, we are faced with complex solid geometries that must be meshed and then analyzed. One of the main steps in meshing a model in Abaqus is to choose the shape of the element and the technique of creating the mesh.

If you went to the Mesh controls option in the Abaqus Mesh module, you must have noticed the technique tools on the left side of the menu.

But four important types are:

1. Structured
2. Sweep
3. Free
4. Bottom-Up

Structured Abacus Meshing

All three of these methods perform networking automatically, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. If you are looking for the best technique, we suggest you use the Structured mode because you have the most control over the elements in this method. Structured meshing applies pre-established mesh patterns to particular model typologies. Complex models must generally be partitioned into simpler regions to use this technique. About the rest of them, we will talk later. Before talking about the video we are going to explain a few details:

Aspect Ratio Tool

Abaqus/CAE shows you any bad elements in the mesh by highlighting them after completing the mesh. Abaqus/CAE also lets you verify the quality of your mesh. You can gather information about the nodes and elements in the mesh with a set of tools in mesh modules. You can use these tools to isolate regions where the mesh quality is poor. It also notifies you if you need to refine your mesh. From the main menu bar select MeshVerify, then choose the Object from the context bar to verify the quality of the mesh. Then you can select the part, part instances, geometric regions, or elements to verify.

You also can decide to verify the elements individually or from a region with single or multiple factors, such as checking for elements with a large aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is must be less than 10 or at least 20 for an acceptable rate of accuracy in calculations. If there is a highlighted element, it means the aspect ratio is larger than the selected value and you need to fix it.

Edit mesh tool

To edit the elements you can use the drag tool on a meshed part instance an orphan mesh. It helps improve the element quality simply by clicking. When you activate the node dragging function, Abaqus/CAE automatically activates the solver element quality and checks and highlights the elements based on the error. The highlighting is updated as you drag a node into a new position; therefore, you can immediately see whether you are improving the element quality. You cannot use the Edit Mesh toolset to modify the mesh of a dependent part instance; but, you can drag the nodes of a dependent part instance. To use the tool you can do the following steps:

1. In the Category field, select Node.
2. From the Method list, select Drag.

Abaqus/CAE displays the existing nodes.

Just in case you would like to know more about Abaqus

Abaqus is an FEA software for multiple engineering purposes. It has been widely used by many researchers, companies, and students to simulate simple and complex models. Compared to other software, Abaqus is a flexible tool to analyze a process. While it has a user-friendly environment, it is not easy to learn as the licensing is extremely expensive. Therefore, tutorial videos are not easy to find or too expensive. Before explaining the Abaqus tutorial details, we should learn what Abaqus covers and what exactly it is. The following explanation was extracted from Abaqus 6.14 documentation.

Abaqus/CAE  is a Complete Abaqus Environment that provides a simple, consistent interface for creating, submitting, monitoring, and evaluating results from Abaqus simulations. Abaqus/CAE is divided into modules, where each module defines a logical aspect of the modelling process; for example, defining the geometry, defining material properties, generating a mesh, submitting analysis jobs, and interpreting results.

The tutorial video

This video is an Abaqus meshing tutorial for beginners. This tutorial shows you how to mesh the 3d part using the Hexahedral element and how to do partitioning using different tools. Here, one case was considered and analyzed under structural loading conditions by applying force on a molar tooth. In this simulation, an explicit step is used. At the end of this video, you can see the exact location of von Mises stress in the mandibular plate. The recorded video is about 10 minutes and helps you learn how to use Abaqus for this purpose.

You can download the Abaqus CAE file which includes the parts, the assembly and the mesh. 

This video is made by Saman Hoseini. For more information, please send him an Email:

samanhoseini@hyperlyceum.com