Flipping the Element Normal Direction

You can flip the normal direction of elements to obtain consistent normal directions in a model.

Before you begin: Create a surface mesh in the finite element model representation.
Note: Any mesh editing operation that modifies the mesh topology (deletes or adds nodes or elements) will result in a loss of the association between the mesh and the geometry.
See Also
Editing Meshes
  1. From the Operate section of the action bar, click Meshing Editor , and select a surface mesh from the finite element model representation.
    The Mesh Editing app opens.
  2. From the Edit section of the action bar, click Flip Elements .
    The Flip Elements dialog box appears, and the element faces are colored to indicate their normal direction.
  3. To flip element normals, do one of the following:
    • Click Flip All to reverse the normal direction of all elements.
    • Click an element face to reverse the normal direction of that element and all elements connected to it.
      Note: Elements faces must be joined along at least one edge; faces joined by a single node are not considered connected.
    The normals for the selected elements are reversed.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Click OK to save your changes and to end the procedure.
    • Click Cancel to return the element normals to their previous orientations and to end the procedure.