Customer Training Material

Workshop 4.1

Meshing Control

Introduction to ANSYS
Mechanical

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Goals Customer Training Material

• Use the various ANSYS Mechanical mesh controls to enhance the

mesh for the model below.
• Problem statement:
– The model consists of a CAD file representing a solenoid.
– Our goal is to mesh the model using all defaults and inspect the result.
Next we will add mesh controls to modify the mesh in various regions of
the model.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Assumptions Customer Training Material

• Since this is a meshing exercise we will not be applying loads or

solving the model. Instead we will assume a linear static structural
analysis is to follow the meshing operation.

• Note, due to a certain randomness in the nature of meshing, the

actual number of elements generated during the workshop may vary
from machine to machine. This is normal.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Units Customer Training Material

• Open the Project page.

• From the “Units” menu verify:
– Project units are set to “US Customary (lbm, in, s, F, A, lbf, V).
– “Display Values in Project Units” is checked (on).

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Project Schematic Customer Training Material

1. In the Toolbox, double click

“Static Structural” to create a
new analysis system.

1.

2.
2. RMB on the “Geometry” cell and
“Import Geometry”. Browse to
“Solenoid_Body.stp”.

3. Double click the “Model” cell to

3.
start the Mechanical application.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Basic Meshing Customer Training Material

• Start by meshing the model using all

defaults. This will establish a “base
line” from which we can compare
changes.

4. Highlight the mesh branch, “RMB > 4.

Generate Mesh”.

When mesh generation

completes we can view the
mesh and inspect the
statistics in the details for the
mesh branch.
Note: node/element count
may vary slightly across
machines/platforms.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Mesh Size Control Customer Training Material

• Based on our inspection we may decide a

more refined mesh is necessary for our
analysis.
5. In the mesh branch details expand the
“sizing” section and set the “Relevance 5.
Center” to “Medium.
6. RMB the mesh branch and Generate Mesh.

6.
The finer mesh is visually
obvious. The details show an
increase in the number of
elements as expected.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Mesh Shape Control Customer Training Material

• A closer look at the mesh shows some anomalies where certain

faces meet.
• By zooming to the area in question we can see several small
“sliver” surfaces are forcing a fine mesh locally.
• We’ll attempt to clean this up using virtual topology.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Virtual Topology Customer Training Material

7. Insert the virtual topology branch

(highlight the Model branch):
a. RMB > Insert > Virtual Topology.
a.

• Since it appears that the sliver area is

closer to being tangent to the sides, we
will combine these into virtual cells.

Sliver

Side In order to preserve the basic

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topology we will join pairs of
surfaces into virtual cells
rather than trying to combine
all surfaces together. The
result will be 3 cells per side, 6
in total.
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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

. . . Virtual Topology Customer Training Material

8. Create Virtual Cells: b. a.

a. Select one of the sliver surfaces.
b. Hold the CTRL key and select
the adjacent surface (as shown
at right).
c. RMB > Insert > Virtual Cell. c.

• The resulting virtual cell is

displayed in red. Although
underlying surfaces still exist,
this is the surface the mesher
will use.

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. . . Virtual Topology Customer Training Material

• Continue by creating the remaining 5

virtual cells (select in pairs as before).
When complete you will have a total
of 6 virtual faces and 4 virtual edges.

9. Remesh the model (highlight the

mesh branch):
a. RMB > Generate Mesh.
a.

The resulting mesh shows

a much more uniform
mesh with a significant
reduction in element
count.

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Introduction to ANSYS Mechanical

Mapped Face Meshing Customer Training Material

10. Map mesh several faces (highlight

Mesh branch):
a. Select the 3 planar faces shown here.
b. RMB > Insert > Mapped Face Meshing.
c. RMB > Generate Mesh.
a.

As shown map
meshing results is
elements on the
b.
selected faces which
share very regular
shapes.

c.

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