Challenge

Project 1 - 2D meshing on the instrumental Panel

2D MESHING ON INSTRUMENT PANEL

AIM

To generate the mid surface of the given model and generate a mesh according to the required quality criteria.

PROCEDURE

Measure the thickness of each part and store the measurements.
Check geometry for errors like unchecked faces,etc.
For mid surface generation, manual mid surfacing was followed.The offset command was used with the feature area selection option for entity selection.
Certain areas had very small thickness which would fail for element quality criteria,refer figure 2.The join and cut command under the topo module was used to eliminate such areas which will otherwise fail during meshing.

Figure 2

Figure 3

For features like the rib, we use offset/middle and then use extend command to fit it to the parent geometry.

Figure 4
The triple cons at the base are unavoidable but the ones on the top of the surface can be released.
For the doghouse component, we generate the midsurface with the help of curves , formed by middle curve option , and depict the component in a Cross pattern.

Figure 5

Figure 6

The feature shown below was defeatured using dach and then offset to capture.

Figure7

Figure 8
This feature exceeds the maximum thickness limit,so we offset it by 0.5 mm and then extend it, after enabling shell thickness the feature will be captured properly.
Figure9

Figure 10

MESHING

First, we set the meshing criteria according to our requirements.
The criteria are given in table 1

We set the criteria accordingly in the mesh parameters tab and quality criteria tab and also enable elements % and set the details to max.

Figure 11

Figure 12
Now we move on to to meshing, we use the best mesh option under mesh generation for this.
we try to capture the features of the model approximately if proper capture is not possible.
After mesh generation, we enable shadow mode to check for elements that fail the quality criteria.
These failed elements can be modified by various commands such as reconstruction,smooth,split,join,num+-(modifies the number of edges on the surface)
Rotating quads and Opposite trias present in the model should be eliminated for better mesh result. Trias near to free edge or holes or on the fillets should be eliminated.
This can be done via reconstructing,smooth,split,join,swap commands.
The failed elements near the triple cons are considered unsolvable and are hence left as is.
In the case of the dog house which is represented in a cross T patter, we assign it to the same PID the connecting rib is associated with.

Figure 13

Figure 14

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17

After final mesh editing is done,Enable draw shell as solid option in the presentation parameters in quality criteria.
The final meshed part is show in figure 18-22.

Figure 18

Figure 19

Figure 20

Figure 21

Figure 22

Learning Outcomes

The following skills were learnt and practised during this challenge.

Model Geometry Clean up
Mid surface Generation (Manual)
Mid Surface topology clean up
Mid surface Defeaturing
Representing features with thickness>5mm in mid surface.
Representing hollow doghouse component in mid surface.
Setting up Mesh quality criteria
Generating Mesh with best mesh criteria option
Modifying Generated mesh to fix elements that fail the criteria along with opposite trias and rotating quads.
Drawing the generated mesh as a shell.

Conclusion

The meshing of the given model was performed following strict standards which were passed outside of triple con regions.

Ship work like this
in your own course.