Orphan Meshes

An orphan mesh does not include any geometric information. The mesh is either created independent of a geometric model or it has been disassociated (orphaned) from the geometry on which it was based.

To create a simulation model based on an orphan mesh, you must first import the mesh. Once the mesh is imported, you must create groups to use as supports for the simulation features. The groups contain mesh items that represent the geometry that you would have used as supports in a geometry-based model. You can use the Manual Group action to create groups of nodes, element edges, element faces, or elements. If groups were imported along with the orphan mesh, you can use those groups as supports.

The contents of a group must match the type of support required by the simulation feature. For example, to add a point inertia, you must have a group that contains only nodes.

Most simulation features can be created using orphan mesh groups as supports, with the following exceptions:

• For flow simulations, you can use an orphan mesh as the computational domain for the flow analysis, but you cannot use an orphan mesh that represents the structure to define the boundary of an unmeshed volume to be used as the fluid domain.

  For more information about fluid flow simulations, see Defining a Fluid Domain in the Fluid Model Creation Guide.

• Orphan mesh groups cannot be used to create virtual bolt connections.