Meshing of the sheet metal component 'Hood' in Hypermesh

Mesh the given component with the following quality criteria

1. First we are going to import the model. The profile we are going to use is OptiStruct.

2. When we change the geometry color mode to be in Topo mode the model color change to green. So from that, we can say that the model is solid.

3. So we are going to delete the solid from the model. For that, we go to the delete option and we are going to delete the solid.

4. We are going to give the criteria file setting.

There are 5 components in the model. one inner panel, one outer panel, one latch, and two hinges.

5. The thickness of the components is less than 6 mm. So when the thickness of the component is less than 6 mm we can extract the mid surface and we can mesh on that. It is easy to do the 2-D meshing as compare to the 3-D mesh. That is why we convert the 3-D model into the 2-D model and after meshing we give the thickness to the elements.

6. Now we are going to check if the components have a uniform thickness or not. For auto mid-surface extraction, the thickness of the model should be uniform.

7. So we found out that the thickness is uniform so we are going to do the auto mid-surface. We are going to do the mid-surface extraction and meshing separately for every component. First, we are going to extract the mid-surface of the latch.

8. After mid-surface extraction we are going to do the geometry cleanup. We check the areas where if we mesh it fails for the quality criteria and according to that we are going to do the changes in the geometry.

9. After the geometry clean up we are going to start the meshing.

For meshing, we have to go 2D--> automesh

So we are going to do the meshing with the mixed type elements. So that we will not get the rotating quads.

10. During meshing we got some element failure. They were failing for warpage, skew, min and max length etc. So we have to resolve these problems.

Before:-

After:-

11. So after resolving all the issues we will get the mesh component like this:-

12. So by following the same procedure we are going to do the meshing in all components.

13. There are two hinges in the model That are symmetrical to each other. So we are going to mesh only one hinge and after that, we are going to reflect the elements (duplicate) to another hinge.

14. Outer panel of the hood is also symmetrical so we are going to delete half the surface of the outer panel and after that, we are going to mesh the half part. After meshing that part we are going to reflect the surface and elements.

15. After reflecting we have to join the surface and the elements properly. We need to check the connectivity. It should be proper.

16. Same thing we will do with the inner panel. Apart from the latch portion of the inner panel, the component is symmetric. So we again cut the component in half mesh that and reflect that.

17. After the meshing is done we are going to do the element checks. In which we are going to check the free edges, normal of the elements, duplicates etc.

18. So we have to resolve all the errors from the model.

Things to keep in mind while meshing

1. Feature capturing should be proper in the mesh.

2. Mesh Flow should be good.

3. Element should not be failing for any quality criteria.

4. There should be connectivity properly in the elements.

5. There should not be any free edges between the elements.

6. Normals should be in the same direction on the surfaces.

7. Make sure that there should not be no duplicate elements.

Learning Outcome

1. Learn how to do the mesh.

2. Learn the rules to follow when doing meshing a component.

3. Learn how to do the element check.

4. Learn about the different quality criteria.