Advanced Geometry Techniques With

MSC Patran
CAE Solid Modeling & More

James Fillon
Terence Smith

MSC Software Confidential

Enhanced Geometry Techniques

CAE Solid Modeling
Geometric primitives creation
Geometric boolean operations
Mid-Surface extractions
Surface trimming
Edge blending (chamfer, constant radius etc)
Create thin walled solids
Feature recognition/deletion/editing
Convert sgm geometry to parasolid
Auto update of cae data after solid editing
Requires parasolid modeling licenses

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Enhanced Geometry Techniques

Enhanced Surface Modeling Techniques
Offsetting surfaces and curves
Advanced trimmed surface editing
Adding fillets / removing fillets
Surface subtractions

Enhanced surface extension techniques

Parametric surfaces

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CAE Solid Modeling

Geometric Primitives

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CAE Solid Modeling

Geometric Primitives

Cylinder and cone primitives can

be given an optional thickness
dimension to create tubes

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CAE Solid Modeling

On The Fly Booleans With Primitives

Automatic CAE update (mesh and

lbcs) is on by default. The setting
can be controlled through
Preferences/Geometry.
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CAE Solid Modeling

Automatic Mesh/LBC Update Control

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CAE Solid Modeling

Geometric Booleans

Automatic CAE update

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CAE Solid Modeling

Create/Solid/Revolve

Tet-meshable
or
Iso-meshable
Solid Types

Previous versions of patran only

allowed Create/Solid/Revolve
for simple 3 and 4 sided (green)
surfaces (iso-meshable solids)
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CAE Solid Modeling

Create/Solid/Extrude
Tet-meshable
or
Iso-meshable
Solid Types

Previous versions of patran only

allowed Create/Solid/Extrude for
simple 3 and 4 sided (green)
surfaces (iso-meshable solids)
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CAE Solid Modeling

Edit/Solid/Shell
Solid 1.1

Carves out material up to the

defined wall thickness starting
from the face selected.
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CAE Solid Modeling

Edit/Solid/Edge Blend
Constant Radius
or
Chamfer

Select edges, all edges

associated to a surface
or all edges.

Constant Radius
Chamfer

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CAE Solid Modeling

Edit/Solid/Imprint
Solid 1

Solid 2

Solid 1.7

Solid 1.1

Automatic mesh and

lbc update
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CAE Solid Modeling

Expedite high quality meshing with solid

imprinting
Match parasolid faces to insure mesh congruency

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CAE Solid Modeling

Mid-Surface Extractions
Create/Surface/Midsurface
Max t = 0.1

Allows for both automatic

and manual creation of
mid-surfaces

The max thickness should be slightly larger than

the max thickness of the solid.

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Mid-surface Extraction: Automatic

In the automatic mode, the choice

of the maximum thickness is
important. This value is used to
create specific mid-surfaces at/or
under a specific thickness.
Too large a thickness can produce
very skewed surfaces. The midsurfaces may not be in the wall of the
solid selected or not look as expected.
Too small a thickness may miss some
contours or features created by
varying wall thickness.

The mid-surfaces created by this

option are not always congruent.
Additional surface editing may be
required to ensure a congruent
mesh (Edit/Surface/Sew).
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Mid-surface Extraction: Manual

The manual mode allows more control

over the mid-surfaces one wishes to
create.
Manual mid-surface extraction works
by selecting the two solid faces
between which you want the midsurface.

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Mid-surface Extraction: Trimming

Mid-surface trimming allows the modification of
common mid-surface protrusions or unwanted
surface area

Imported solid
model with gusset

Automatic mid-surface
of the gusset

Gusset mid-surface
after trimming
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Mid-surface Extraction: Trimming

Remove this
extra sliver off
of the gusset

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Mid-surface Extraction
During automatic mid-surface
extraction, MSC Patran
automatically converts (refits)
non-Parasolid geometry to
Parasolid geometry prior to
creating the mid-surfaces.
During manual mid-surface
extraction, MSC Patran does not
automatically convert (refit)
non-Parasolid geometry to
Parasolid geometry. The user
needs to convert non-Parasolid
geometry to Parasolid geometry
via Edit/Solid/Refit prior to
creating the mid-surfaces.
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Direct Mid-Surface Meshing

Mid-Surface Mesher
Single step creation
of a mid-surface
mesh on a solid part
Intended for bent
sheetbody
Does not work for
tee type junctions
Examples of parts
that can be midsurfaced meshed

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Mid-Surface Mesher (pre-release)

geometry

mid-surface mesh

Tools/Pre-Release/Midplane Mesh

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CAE Solid Modeling

Feature Recognition

Recognize geometric entities

such as holes, chamfers and
blends as features for easy
editing and deleting
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CAE Solid Modeling

Automatic Feature Recognition
Automatically recognize
holes chamfers and edge
blends

Features are highlighted

and stored in the db

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CAE Solid Modeling

Interactive Feature Recognition

Select solid faces or

edges

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CAE Solid Modeling

Deleting Recognized Features
Select features to be
deleted

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CAE Solid Modeling

Editing Features

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CAE Solid Modeling

Show Feature Attributes
Select features to show

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Advanced Surface
Modeling Techniques
With MSC Patran

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Enhanced Surface/Curve Modeling

Create/Curve/Offset

Constant Offset

Offset Direction Vector

Offset direction can be reversed

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Enhanced Surface/Curve Modeling

Create/Curve/Offset
The offset direction for a straight
curve is ambiguous. Therefore
the specification of a direction
vector is necessary

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Enhanced Surface/Curve Modeling

Create/Curve/Offset
= 1.0

= 0.0

Variable offset based

on parametric curve
locations. (default =
0 and 1)

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Enhanced Surface/Curve Modeling

Create/Curve/Offset
= 1.0

= 0.5

Variable offset based

on parametric curve
locations

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Enhanced Surface/Curve Modeling

Create/Surface Offset

Option for selecting a guiding

surface for surface normals
when offsetting multiple
surfaces.

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit/Surface/Add Fillet

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit/Surface/Edge: Remove Edge

Option for specifying specific

edges to remove or all edges
shorter than the supplied
minimum edge length

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit/Surface/Edge: Add Edge

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit/Surface/Edge: Replace Edge

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit/Surface/Remove Vertex
Remove a vertex from a trimmed
surface
Allows for user control for modifying all
associated surfaces or selected
surfaces

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Enhanced Trimmed Surface Editing

Edit Surface Subtract
Surface 2

Surface 1

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend

Intersection of two surfaces

Extend one surface to another
Intersection of surface and curve
Intersection of surface and plane
Intersection of surface and point
Percentage of u and v
Fixed length
Option to edit all
associated surfaces or
selected surfaces
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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Intersection of two
surfaces
Surface 1.3
Surface 4.3

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: One surface to another
Surface 1

Surface 4
Surface 5

Surface 3.4
Option to break the intersecting
surface at the line of intersection

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Intersection of surface
and curve
Surface 2.2

Surface 1.3

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Intersection of Surface
and plane

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Intersection of surface
and a point
Point does not have lie
in the plane of the surface

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Percantage of u and v

100% extension from u=1

50% reduction from v=1

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Enhanced Surface Editing: Extension

Edit/Surface/Extend: Fixed Length

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Parametric Surfaces (P-Shapes)

Parameterized Shapes:
Create & edit based on common
geometric dimensions (diameter,
radius, height, start angle, etc.)
Mesh + apply LBCs same as other
MSC.Patran surfaces
Parameterized shape parameter
definitions are stored in the
MSC.Patran database for parametric
design & rapid editing
FEM updated automatically when
geometric parameters are modified

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Parametric Surfaces (P-Shapes)

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Thank You!!

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