Printing - Meshing A Part With Hexahedral Elements - HM-3220

Meshing a Part with Hexahedral Elements - HM-3220
For this tutorial, it is recommended that you complete the introductory tutorial Getting Started with
HyperMesh - HM-1000, as well as Creating 2-D Elements from Surfaces using the Automesh Function -
HM-3100.
In this tutorial you will learn how to model a bracket using solid hexahedral elements, and how to
approach a volume by breaking it down into individual portions that can meshed more easily.
Although HyperMesh provides an automatic volume mesher with tetrahedral elements, some
applications and analyses call for hexahedral (brick) elements, which are typically considered more
accurate finite elements than tetrahedral elements. The standard technique of creating first 2-D
elements in preparation for the generation of the 3-D hexahedral elements will be applied.
For this example, the following 3-D element creation panels will be used: elem offset, spin, and linear
solid. For more information regarding these panels, please refer to the Panels section of the
HyperMesh on-line help, or click the HyperMesh help button while in the panel to activate its context
sensitive help.
This tutorial will be particularly useful if you are trying to become familiar with some of the panels and
techniques used for creating solid hexahedral elements, as well as if you want to identify general
approaches to the modeling a part using this type of element.
This tutorial requires about one hour to complete and uses a file located in the
<install_directory>/tutorials/hm/ directory. For detailed instructions on how to locate the
installation directory <install_directory> at your site, see Finding the Installation Directory
<install_directory>.
The model geometry is a bracket designed to support a rail. It is organized into four sections, each of
which lends itself to a different hexahedral meshing technique. Each of these will be explored as the
mesh is generated. The finished part is presented here.
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Hexahedral model of the bracket
To import and organize the model:
1. From the files panel, select the import sub-panel to retrieve the file
<install_directory>/tutorials/hm/bracket_hex.iges .
The model is organized into four IGES layers consisting of:
- the base

- the first section of the arm, with a constant cross section and curvature
- the second section of the arm, with a tapered cross section
- the collar
Upon import, the geometry is automatically organized into four component collectors.
2. From the Geom page, select the color panel.

3. Click auto color to automatically assign a color to each of the four gray components
To mesh the base:
Simplify the geometry of the base by removing the through holes using the defeature panel. Removing
these features will allow for more regular 2D and, in turn, 3D elements.
To generate the hexahedral elements, create first shell elements using the automesh panel, and then
"offset" these elements into layers of solid elements using the elem offset panel. The rectangular shape
of the base makes this the most logical approach and simplifies the task.
1. From the permanent menu use the disp panel to turn off the geometry of every component except
the base, lvl1.
Observe how the upper side of the base is divided into two surfaces, one of which is L-shaped and
represents the cross-section of the first portion of the arm to be modeled next. This helps determine
on which surfaces the 2D elements should be created, as this is where the solid elements from the
base and the first portion of the arm will have to match up.
2. From the permanent menu use the global panel to set the current component to lvl1.
We chose to send the elements we create into the same components as their corresponding
geometry data. To remove the through holes from the geometry of the base, start by deleting the
surfaces defining them.
3. Use the delete panel to remove the surfaces representing the inside bore of the four holes.

- From the Tool page, select the delete panel.
- Set the entity selector to surfs.
- Select all eight surfaces defining the sides of the holes and click delete entity.
Surfaces to delete

4. Once the inside bore surfaces are deleted, the pinholes sub-panel from the defeature panel can be
used to eliminate the holes in the top and bottom surfaces.
- From the Geom page, select the defeature pane.
- Select the pinholes sub-panel.
- Click surfs and select displayed.
- Enter 20 for the diameter < field.
- Cick find.
- Click delete.
This removes the holes in the surfaces and places a fixed point at what was previously their
centers, should these locations be needed for subsequent modeling purposes.

Base with holes removed
5. Use the automesh panel to mesh the top surface, along with the L-shaped surface representing the
cross section of the arm. Use an element size of 10. Adjust the mesh densities as necessary to
achieve a mesh of all quad elements, as shown in the figure below.
- From the 2D page, select the automesh panel.

- Select the create mesh sub-panel.
- Set the entity selector to surfs, and select the two surfaces defining the top area of the base.
- Check the box for reset meshing parameters to:, enter 10 for elem size =, and use the left
most switch to set the element type to quads.
- Check that the lower left toggle is set to elements to current comp.
- Set the mode to interactive using the upper most switch.
- Click mesh to enter the automeshing secondary panel, and select the density sub-panel.
- Set the element densities according to the image below.
- Click mesh to preview the mesh, and click return to accept it.

Quad mesh on base surface
Note It is very important to ensure that only quad elements are created. In the subsequent
steps we will add a dimension to the shell elements to obtain the hexahedral elements.
With this approach, any tria shell elements would produce penta elements. If the
densities mentioned above do not produce only quad elements, modify them to obtain
only quads.

6. Use the elem offset panel to offset the shell elements 25 units down, creating four layers of
hexahedral elements.
− From the 3D page, select the elem offset panel.
− Select the solid layers sub-panel.
− Click elems and select displayed.
− Set number of layers = to 4, and set total thickness = to 25.
− Click offset +.
For additional information on this panel, click help on the permanent menu.

Hexahedral mesh for the base
This completes the creation of hexahedral elements to model the base. In our approach, the 2D and
subsequent 3D elements were created in such a way that they would respect the boundaries of the area
that will be common to the base and the first portion of the arm.
By creating the quad elements into and around the L-shaped surface, we have ensured that elements
from both portions will line up easily at their boundary. All that will be required is that the same 2D
elements, which were placed in the L-shaped surface, are also used to generate the hexahedral
elements that will model the first portion of the arm.
To mesh the first segment of the arm:
The first segment of the arm has a constant cross-section and the curvature of a 1/4 circle arc. Various
hexahedral element creation panels could be used to model this portion of the bracket (i.e. line drag,
solid map). In this case, use the spin panel to take advantage of the circular nature of this portion of
the model.
1. Turn on the display of the geometry in the lvl2 component.

2. Mask all the hex8 elements, leaving only the original shell elements.
- From the Tool page, select the mask panel.
- Select the mask sub-panel.
- Set the entity selector to elems.
- Click elems and select by config.
- Click config = and select hex8.
- Click select entities.

- Click mask.
3. Use the global panel to set lvl2 as the current component.

The shell elements created on the L-shaped surface for the first section of the arm can be spun
around the center of the arm radius to form hexahedral elements.
4. Find the center of the arm radius using the three nodes sub-panel of the distance panel.
- From the Geom page, select the distance panel.
- Select the three nodes sub-panel.
- Hold the left mouse button down and place the mouse cursor on top of one of the circular lines
defining the arm. The line is highlighted and the mouse cursor changes to a box and a dot.
Release the left mouse button.
- With the line highlighted, click the line at three different locations. With each click, a temporary
node for N1, N2, and N3 is created.
- Click circle center. This generates the center of the circle of which the line is an arc.

Three nodes to create center
5. From the spin panel, select the plate elements within the L-shaped cross section of the arm, and
spin them 90º about the X-axis (Y-Z plane). Generate 24 layers of hexahedral elements as you spin

the plate elements.
- From the 3D page, select the spin panel.
- Select the spin elems sub-panel.
- Click elems and select by surface.
HyperMesh temporarily displays a surface selector.
- Select the L-shaped surface and click select. The elements are highlighted and HyperMesh
takes you back to the spin panel.
- Set the direction selector to the x-axis, and with the base selector active, select the circle center
that was created in the previous step.
- Type in 90 for angle =, and 24 for on spin =.
- Click spin-.
This spins the shell elements in the negative x direction (defined by the right hand rule), and
generates the hexahedral elements.

Spin panel results
This completes the creation of the elements for the first portion of the arm. In our approach, we decided
to take advantage of the characteristics of the geometry and used the spin panel.

Other panels like line drag or solid map could also be used to model this portion of the arm. Should
you want to experiment with these other panels on this portion of the model, simply save the model at
this stage, delete the elements that were just created and re-create them using a different panel.
To mesh the second arm segment:
The remaining arm segment presents some unique problems in that:
• The cross section is tapered (not constant).
• The end face is curved to match the collar.
For example, the linear solid panel can effectively mesh this segment. However, two corresponding
plate meshes are required, one on the end of the existing arm mesh, and one on the corresponding
curved surfaces of the collar. Furthermore, these two meshes must be similar in that they must contain
the same number of elements, and for each element of one set, an element of the same type must exist
in the other set.
The panel will then map each element to its counterpart, creating solid elements in between. Using this
approach, we can easily capture the features of the end of the arm with the 2D mesh, and then simply
create solid elements in between the shells.
1. Use the disp panel to turn off all the geometry except the lvl3 component.
2. Use the global panel to set the current component collector to lvl3.
The plate elements for the end shared with the first arm segment can be obtained by creating faces
on the hexahedral elements in the lvl2 component.
3. Use the faces panel to obtain the free faces.
- From the Tool page, select the faces panel.
- With the entity selector set to comps, select any one element from the first portion of the arm.
The element is temporarily highlighted, signifying that the component has been selected.

- Click find faces.
4. Use the disp panel to turn off the display of the elements in the lvl2 component and review the
elements that were created in the ^faces component. Set the graphics engine to performance
graphics to shade the elements as needed.
Note A free face is a face of an element that is not shared with any other element. The faces
panel finds the free faces of solid elements The tolerance = field does not apply to the free
face creation process, and therefore was not needed in the previous steps. For more
information about this panel, click help.
5. The surfaces shared with the collar are in the lvl3 component. Select these surfaces from that
component and mesh them, adjusting the densities to obtain a mesh that closely resembles the one
on the end face of the first arm segment.
- Pick the three surfaces to mesh and leave all other settings that were used to mesh the base
unchanged. Click mesh.
- Use the density sub-panel of the automeshing secondary panel to set the densities of the
various edges to values that match the number of elements at the end of the first portion of the
arm (see figure below).
Warning The two sets of elements must be "similar" meshes. For the mapping function to
work, both sets must have the same number and type of elements (i.e. one quad
can only be mapped to one quad).
- Click mesh to preview the mesh and click return to accept it.

Mesh to correspond to the mesh on the end face
6. Use the linear solid panel to build the hexahedral elements between the two groups of shell
elements. Build 12 layers of solid elements.
- From the 3D page, select the linear solid panel.
- With the upper elems selector active, pick one face element representing the end of the first
portion of the arm. This element is now highlighted.

- Click elems and select by face. This highlights the remaining elements defining the set of
elements the linear solid function will start from to build the layers of solid elements.
Note Although more free face elements than needed were created earlier, using the
extended entity selection tools allows you to quickly and easily limit your selection to the
desired entities. In this case, we take advantage of the fact that all the elements of
interest do belong to the same side of the arm or face.
- Click the lower elems selector to make it active.
- Pick one shell element previously created and representing the end of the second portion of the
arm, click elems again, and select by attached. This highlights all the elements to which the
function will map the first set.
- Select nodes as alignment: nodes to define which element in the from: group will be mapped to
which element in the to: group.
- Click the upper N1 selector to make it active and select up to three nodes to define uniquely one
shell element from the from: set.
Hint Depending on which element you try to define uniquely, the number of nodes you will
need may be different. For this example, if you select a corner element, the node
located at the "free" corner is not shared with any other element from the selection, and
it alone defines the element. Therefore, in this case, one alignment node is sufficient.
- Click the lower N1 selector to make it active and select the corresponding nodes from the
corresponding element as alignment nodes.
Note If you have difficulties with this selection, click help and review the first How do I of the
panel help for an example.
- Set the toggle to distribute layers, and enter 12 for density = field.

This is the number of layers of solid elements that will be created between the two sets of shell
elements. Do not add any biasing as the layers should all have the same thickness.
- Click solids to generate the hexahedral elements.

Linear solid mesh
This concludes the creation of the second portion of the arm. In order to capture the slightly more
complex geometry, we built more 2D elements to gain additional control over how the 3D elements
would fill this volume.
To mesh the collar:
The geometry of the collar is again fairly simple. The difficulty lies this time in ensuring that the elements
filling this volume line up properly with the elements that were just created for the second portion of the
arm.
The main characteristic of the end of the arm is that the thickness of the various layers of elements is
not constant. Mesh the collar using the linear solid panel, but this time, specify the location of each
layer when building the solid layers.
Start by meshing the bottom side surfaces, then offsetting a copy of those plate elements to the top so
that two sets of elements are available to use in the linear solid panel.
1. Turn off the display of all geometry and elements except component lvl4.
2. Set the current component collector to lvl4.
3. Select and mesh the four surfaces comprising the bottom face of the collar.
Adjust the densities such that four elements are generated across the two smaller surfaces. These
must match the number of elements already created on the arm. Make sure the number of elements
on the inside and outside circular edges match. This will result in a regular, orthogonal mesh.
- Select the four surfaces defining the bottom face of the collar, and, leaving all other settings
unchanged, click mesh.

- Using the density sub-panel, adjust the densities according to the image below.
- Click mesh to preview the mesh, and click return to accept it.
Densities on the collar end surfaces

4. Select, duplicate and then translate the plate elements to the top surface to have the two sets of
elements needed for the linear solid panel.
The elements need to be translated in the X direction a distance equal to the total height of the collar.
Use the distance panel to measure the distance. Once it is identified, highlight the value, and use
CTRL+C to copy the value to the clipboard. In the translate panel, CTRL+V can be used to retrieve
this value.
- From the Tool page, select the translate panel.
- Click elems and select by collector.
- Select lvl4 from the list of components and click select.
- Click elems, click duplicate, and select original comp as the component in which the
duplicated elements need to be stored.
- Set the translation direction to the x-axis.
- Use the F4 function key on your keyboard to go to the distance panel and select the two points
sub-panel.
- Pick two fixed points defining the height of the collar. The distance = field displays the distance
between them.
- Click the field next to distance = to highlight it, press CTRL+C on your keyboard to copy the
value to the clipboard.
- Click return to go back to the translate panel.
- Click the field next to magnitude = to highlight it, and use CTRL+V to paste the value of the
distance.

- Click translate + to translate (in the positive x direction) the duplicated elements to the other side
of the collar.
Shell meshes on each end of the collar
5. Use the linear solids panel to generate the solid elements: toggle distribute layers to specify
layers. This allows the exact thickness of each layer to be defined using the existing elements on the

end of the arm.
- Turn on the display of the elements in the lvl3 component.
- From the 3D page, select the linear solid panel.
- Select the two groups of elements and their corresponding alignment nodes.
- Toggle from distribute layers to specify layers.
- With the node list selector active, select nodes to define the exact location of the solid element
layers, as indicated in the figure below.
- A total of 12 nodes should be selected, starting at the collar mesh, then using all of the nodes
along the edge of the lvl3 component, ending with a node on the collar.

Specifying element layer location
- Click solids to generate the solid elements.

Completed mesh
This completes the mesh on this part where the approach was dictated by the state of the solid mesh
representing the second portion of the arm. Next, delete all of the plate elements, and equivalence any
coincident nodes to ensure continuity of the solid mesh.
To clean up the model and check continuity of the mesh:
All that remains is to delete the shell elements that were created for the sole purpose of generating the
hexahedral elements.
Since the various groups of solid elements were created individually and using different tools, these
groups may not be attached to one another to form a continuous mesh. To identify and fix any
discontinuity in the mesh, use the faces panel once all the shell elements have been deleted.
1. Turn on all the geometry and elements.

2. From the Tool page select the delete panel to delete all lines, surfs, and quad4 elements
Hint Select elements by config.
3. Use the vis panel in performance graphics mode to set the display of all elements to transparent.
4. Use the faces panel to identify and eliminate any coincident nodes.
- From the Tool page, select the faces panel.

- Click elems and select all.
- Set tolerance = to 1.0 and click preview equiv.
Hint Always stay within 10%-20% of your target element size for the tolerance and make
sure to preview before equivalencing nodes.
- Review the nodes that are highlighted and click equivalence to equivalence them.
Note The number of nodes found is directly dependent on the value that was used for the
tolerance (the maximum distance between two nodes for them to be considered
coincident). After equivalencing coincident nodes, the hidden line panel can be used to
review the remaining free faces in the model and check that all the nodes that needed
to be equivalenced were indeed found and equivalenced.
- Click find faces.
5. Turn off the display of all elements except the ones in the ^faces component.
6. Use the hidden line panel to verify that the mesh is continuous by looking at the free faces of the
solid mesh. A free face is not shared between elements and can indicate a discontinuity in a mesh.
- From the Post page, select the hidden line panel.
- Click fill plot.
- Select the cutting function and select both the yz plane and trim plane options.
- Click on the cutting plane and drag it through the model to verify that no face elements exist
inside of the outer boundaries of the model.
Note A free face existing within the boundaries of the model would indicate that this face is
not shared between two elements, resulting in a discontinuity in the mesh. Verifying that

the only free faces are the faces defining the outside boundaries of a volume and that
they form a unique enclosed volume, guarantees that the mesh is continuous.
Cutting plane
The completed mesh on this model should look like this:

Completed mesh
This concludes this tutorial. You may discard this model, or save it to your working directory for your
own reference.
In this tutorial, some basic hexahedral meshing techniques were introduced. For some situations, these
alone may not be sufficient. One of the common challenges with hexahedral meshing comes from the
ability to conform the generated mesh to the geometry. The use of the morphing capabilities
(HyperMorph) available in HyperMesh, along with the solid meshing tools, will provide, in many cases,
answers to these problems. You can familiarize yourself with morphing and HyperMorph by reviewing

the corresponding section from the HyperMesh User's Guide, or by reviewing the tutorial, Getting
Started with HyperMorph - HM-3500.
Another common challenge is the complexity of the geometry that may make it virtually impossible to
manually generate hexahedral elements. Reverting back to tetrahedral elements is sometimes the only
solution and for this type of situation, HyperMesh provides an automatic volume tetramesher. For
tetrahedral meshing techniques, refer to the on-line help and the tutorials, Generating 3-D Tetrahedral
Elements - HM-3210, Tetrameshing a Volume in a Single Step - HM-3230, and Creating a Tria Mesh for
Tetrameshing - HM-3190.
See HyperMesh Tutorials for a complete list of tutorials.

Printing - Meshing A Part With Hexahedral Elements - HM-3220

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Meshing a Part with Hexahedral Elements - HM-3220

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To import and organize the model:

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- the second section of the arm, with a tapered cross section

2. From the Geom page, select the color panel.

To mesh the base:

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- Set the entity selector to surfs.

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- Select the pinholes sub-panel.

- Click surfs and select displayed.

- Enter 20 for the diameter < field.

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- Set the mode to interactive using the upper most switch.

- Set the element densities according to the image below.

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− Select the solid layers sub-panel.

− Click elems and select displayed.

− Set number of layers = to 4, and set total thickness = to 25.

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To mesh the first segment of the arm:

1. Turn on the display of the geometry in the lvl2 component.

- Select the mask sub-panel.

- Set the entity selector to elems.

- Click elems and select by config.

- Click config = and select hex8.

- Click select entities.

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3. Use the global panel to set lvl2 as the current component.

- Select the three nodes sub-panel.

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- Select the spin elems sub-panel.

- Click elems and select by surface.

HyperMesh temporarily displays a surface selector.

- Type in 90 for angle =, and 24 for on spin =.

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To mesh the second arm segment:

The remaining arm segment presents some unique problems in that:

• The cross section is tapered (not constant).

• The end face is curved to match the collar.

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- Select the create mesh sub-panel.

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- Click the lower elems selector to make it active.

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- Click solids to generate the hexahedral elements.

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To mesh the collar:

- From the 2D page, select the automesh panel.

- Select the create mesh sub-panel.

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Densities on the collar end surfaces

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- From the Tool page, select the translate panel.

- Set the entity selector to elems.

- Click elems and select by collector.