Creating a FEM With the User-Driven Automated FEM Method

You can select the user-driven Automated FEM method to create a mesh by selecting a procedure and inputs for each part and generating the meshes for them.

Before you begin:
  • A product must be open in Model Assembly Design.
  • If you use surface (triangle or quad) mesh procedures, publications containing the surface meshes are required. Publications are optional for other predefined procedures. However, if you do not use publications, the main PartBody must contain the part geometry required to generate a mesh.
See Also
About Automated FEM Methods
Correcting Finite Element Model Problems
  1. From the Automated FEM section of the action bar, click Automated FEM , and then select User Driven.
    The Automated FEM: User Driven dialog box appears and displays the structure of the selected product. If no product is selected, the root product is selected and expanded by default in the dialog box.
  2. For each product, select the 3D shape to mesh by right-clicking a cell in the 3D Shape column and selecting ReplaceBy > Shape-name.

    If the product contains only one 3D shape, that shape is selected by default. Some products exist only as containers of other products and do not have a 3D shape.

  3. In the context menu for the cells in the Procedures column, choose the action to be performed when you run the Automated FEM method.

    Tip: The context menu lists a subset of the available procedures. To access all procedure types, select Other Procedure from the context menu.
    For more information on the context menu choices, see Procedure Options.

    The selected action appears in the cell. If you choose to ignore a product, the 3D shape, procedure, and inputs for that product are hidden in the table view.
  4. To edit the inputs for a procedure, click the icon in a cell in the Inputs column.

    Tip: You can also access the inputs by using the context menu.

    The Inputs dialog box appears.
  5. Enter the required values.

    The input varies according to the mesh procedure. For example, the inputs for a predefined procedure might include selecting a publication as the mesh support, modifying the geometry, and selecting the mesh parameters. For more information, see About Midsurface Meshes.

    Note: You can only select publications created in subproducts and linked to the 3D shape as mesh supports.

    To learn more about meshing rules, see the various meshing procedures in the Mesh Creation Guide.

    For surface triangle and surface quad meshes, you can choose from the following options to indicate which geometry is meshed:

    OptionDescription
    Main body Creates the FEM for the primary 3D geometry in each 3D shape (the part body, a solid body, or one volume in an ordered geometric set).
    All geometries Creates the FEM for all 3D geometry in the assembly, including part bodies, bodies, and ordered geometric sets.
    Visible geometries Creates the FEM for visible geometry only.
  6. Click Options to view or change the options for running the user-driven Automated FEM.

    The following options are available:

    The Execution Options dialog box appears.
  7. Select the execution options, and click OK.
    The Execution Options dialog box closes.
  8. Click one of the following:
    • OK to save the current settings and to close the dialog box. FEM representations and meshes are created, but meshes are not updated.
    • Run to run all the selected procedures (which updates all required information) and to close the dialog box.
    • Close to close the dialog box without applying the modifications.
    When you choose OK or Run, the Automated FEM displays a progress dialog box while it runs the procedures. The progress dialog box also provides options to refresh the display or to interrupt the process. A status message is displayed on completion, and you can choose whether to refresh the session. If you refresh the session, the Automated FEM: User Driven dialog box is updated with the results of the run so you can review and edit entries.
  9. Optional: Click the report icon for a row in the Automated FEM table to open a report describing the mesh quality or other output data from the run.

    The color of the report icon indicates the status of the generated FEM representation:

    • : Meshed
    • : Meshed with bad elements
    • : Geometric or mesh failure
    • : No report available
    Note: The "No report" icon identifies all products before you run the automated modeling procedures. It is also used for any product that you ignore, and if you reuse an existing finite element model.

    The report is displayed. The report for a mesh with bad elements ( ) also includes the number of failed elements.

    Tip: The "+" in the rightmost column of the report opens a Criteria Objectives dialog box that displays the criteria used to determine whether the elements are good, poor, or bad.