Week 3 - 2D meshing for Sheet metal

 Aim: To mesh the Car Hood geometry and assign thickness.

Given model:

 

Objective:

   1.    Geometrically clean the model and making sure no deformities of surface are            present.

   2.    Extracting the mid-surface of the model and clean it to avoid any errors.

   3.    Generating mesh on mid-surface using mixed element criteria.   

   4.    Carry out the quality check of the generated elements.

   5.    Provide thickness to mesh as per part.

   A.    Procedure for Meshing of Car Hood:

   1.    First of all geometric clean the model after we import it, since there might be some distortion or error in the model.

   2.    Next step is to extract mid-surface of the component. But first we need to check for the uniform thickness of the model to decide whether to proceed with sheet metal model method or plastic model method. As the thickness is uniform, we can extract mid-surface using skin method. Now check for any deformation in mid-surface and do through geometric cleanup of the mid surface.

   3.    As we can see the component is symmetrical, so we will only work on one side. Hence, hiding the other half of the component as shown below:

   4.    Now set the quality criteria for the meshing process as provided in the question, using Quality Criteria setting in Utilities Tab.

 

    5.    As our target element size is 5 mm, it is best practice to divide the edges of the part into small segments of 5 mm by using Length command in Tab as shown below:

   6.    Now mesh the mid-surface using Best-mesh command in Mesh Generation Tab. For a better mesh flow try to mesh the mid-surface step by step instead of in one go. After meshing the component should look somewhat like this:

 

   7.    Now using Copy Command from Utilities Tab, generate the mirror of generated mesh as shown below:

   8.    After generating complete mesh we need to join the elements using Paste Command from Grids Tab.

 

   9.    It is cleared that the component has cleared all the quality criteria, next is to provide thickness to it. To do that we need to create new property in the Property Tab and enter the thickness value 0.75 mm as per question and rename the property to Thk. — 0.75 mm as shown below:

 

Conclusion:  This project helps me to understand the methodology behind meshing of any large assembly component. How I should start with separating the component into small areas followed by geometric cleanup of the parts then generating mid-surface and provide 2d mesh to it, carry out Quality criteria and to generate final result by adding property to the component.