1. Section 6 Meshing in SimLab

2. Meshing Process Import CAD model Open Meshing Application
Surface mesh the CAD model
Check surface mesh
Water tight check
Element overlap check
Element quality check
Fix errors in surface mesh
Manual cleanup
Automated cleanup
Volume mesh
Verify element quality

3. Step 1: Import the CAD model
When importing the model, the user will be prompted for the units used to create the model.
There are options to import solid bodies, sheet bodies and
wire bodies.
The Parasolid model can be imported as facets.
The overlapping faces of the Parasolid parts can be
imprinted during import.

5. Step 2: Open Meshing Toolbar
To open meshing tool bar select Applications – Meshing from the Menu Bar.
Meshing Toolbar

6. Step 3: Surface Mesh
Select “Surface/Curve Mesh” in the Meshing Tool Bar to open the Surface Mesh dialog box.
Select Entities ( Body or Face).
Enter the desired mesh parameters and select OK.

7. Step 3: Surface Mesh The Body is surface meshed.
A new model is created with the mesh body inside.

8. Step 4: Surface Mesh Check
Water Tight Check:
There should be no cracks in the surface mesh.
Use “Free Edge” function in Meshing tool bar to find the free edges.
Element Intersection Check:
The surface mesh should not intersect / overlap
Use “Elem Intersection” function in Meshing tool bar.
Tri-Quality check:
As a default, the surface mesher will generate a tri mesh that has an aspect ratio of 10. This can be modified to suit the quality criteria.
Use “Quality Check” and “Q Check” functions in the Meshing tool bar to check the quality of the Tri elements.

9. Step 5: Surface Mesh Cleanup
If any of the check fails, use cleanup tool to clean up the mesh. Clean up can be done using Automated tools and Manual tools.
Automated Cleanup
Fill Crack – Used to fill the cracks in the body.
Fille Holes – Used to fill holes in the body.
AutoTriClean – Used to clean up the Tri mesh based on Aspect ratio.
AutoQuadClean – Used to clean up the Quad mesh.

10. Step 5: Surface Mesh Cleanup
Manual Cleanup
Create Element
Split
Swap
Collapse
Equivalence
Combine 2Tris to Quad
Split Quad to Tris
Delete Element
Update Layers

11. Step 6: Volume Mesh
Select “Volume Mesh” from the Meshing tool bar to open the volume mesh dialog box.
Specify the desired element type, average element size and element quality.
Select OK to generate the volume mesh.

12. Step 6: Volume Mesh

13. Step 6: Volume Mesh
Right click the Volume mesh body in the tree view and select Properties to show details of the mesh body.

14. Step 7: Check Quality
Use Quality Check and Q Check tools in Mesh toolbar to verify element quality. The elements that fails a particular quality criteria can be found, displayed and cleaned automatically.