Tool Test 1

Objective:

For the given Component and Switch Panel, check for the geometrical errors and mesh with the given element Quality criteria. After meshing the component, the thickness must be assigned.

Procedure:

The given Component was 2mm thick:

Component:

• A new PID was created for the mid-surface.
• To extract the midsurface, geometry clean-up of the parent was performed.
• Used to Topo command to remove all Single (red) lines and convert them to Double (yellow) lines.
• The method used to extract midsurface was Manual Midsurfacing as Auto midsurface did not give satisfactory results.
• The manual midsurfacing was carried out using ‘Feature Line’ selection with angle as 40deg.
• Target size was 4mm.
• After the midsurface was obtained, geometry clean-up was performed in preparation for meshing.
• The mesh parameters were set.
• The quality criteria were set.
• Length of Macros was set to 4.
• Best option was used to generate initial mesh.
• Improve and Reconstruct options were used to obtain mesh flow.
• Finally, mesh was checked for quality.
• Thickness was assigned.

Switch panel:

• The body was divided into 3 PIDs: Main Body, Plug and Ribs
• To extract the midsurface, geometry clean-up of the parent was performed.
• Used to Topo command to remove all Single (red) lines and convert them to Double (yellow) lines.
• The method used to extract midsurface was Manual Midsurfacing as well as Auto midsurface.
• Auto midsurface was carried out for Main Body, using Casting option.
• So, the manual midsurfacing was carried out using various commands such as Offset, New, Middle, Cut, Topo, Project Cut, Paste, Intersect, Extend, Release etc.
• Target size was 4mm.
• After the midsurface was obtained, geometry clean-up was performed in preparation for meshing.
• The mesh parameters were set.
• The quality criteria were set.
• Length of Macros was set to 4.
• Best option was used to generate initial mesh.
• Improve and Reconstruct options were used to obtain mesh flow.
• Finally, mesh was checked for quality.
• Thicknesses were assigned to each PID, respectively.

Learning Outcome:

This challenge has helped me understand how to perform manual midsurfacing. I learned the uses of many new commands in this challenge.

Conclusion:

The given Component and Switch Panel was meshed as per the specified quality criteria and thickness was assigned. The time taken for

- Component - 4.5hrs

- Switch Panel - 3hrs