Chapter Three

General Preprocessing
 General Preprocessing Procedure
Chapter Overview Training Manual

• In this chapter, performing analyses without the use of the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

Wizards will be covered:
– Geometry
– Contact
– Meshing
– Named Selections
– Coordinate Systems

• The capabilities described in this section are generally

applicable to the ANSYS DesignSpace Entra licenses and
above and are noted in the lower-left hand tables.

ANSYS License Availability

DesignSpace Entra x
DesignSpace x March 29, 2005
Professional x Inventory #002215
Structural x
Mechanical/Multiphysics x 3-2
 General Preprocessing Procedure
Introduction Training Manual

• In the previous chapter, the Simulation GUI was introduced

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

by the use of the Simulation Wizards
• In this chapter, navigating through the GUI without the
Wizards will be covered.

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Model shown is from a sample Mechanical Desktop assembly. 3-3
General Preprocessing Procedure
… Introduction Training Manual

• The Outline Tree is the main way of setting up the analysis

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– The Context Toolbar, Details View, and Graphics Window
update, depending on which Outline Tree branch is selected
– Use of the Outline Tree will be emphasized in this chapter

Use of the Outline Tree is

the means by which
users navigate through
the Simulation GUI.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
A. Geometry Branch Training Manual

• After importing a model either (a) directly

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

from a supported CAD system or (b) from
the Context Toolbar in a blank database, the
Geometry branch lists available parts.
• In Simulation, there are three types of bodies
which can be analyzed.
– Solid bodies are general 3D or 2D
volumes/areas/parts.
– Surface bodies are only areas.
– Line bodies are only curves.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Types of Bodies Training Manual

• Solid bodies are geometrically and spatially 3D or 2D:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– 3D solids are meshed with higher-order tetrahedral or
hexahedral solid elements with quadratic shape functions
– 2D solids are meshed with higher order triangle or
quadrilateral solid elements with quadratic shape functions
• Currently 2D geometry can be obtained from:
• DesignModeler, ProEngineer, Solid Edge, SolidWorks and
Unigraphics
– Each node has three translational degrees of freedom (DOF)
for structural or one temperature DOF for thermal
– Good for general representation of CAD models

Geometry Interface Availability

DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER x
Unigraphics x
SolidWorks x
Inventor x
Solid Edge x
Mechanical Desktop x
CATIA V4 x
CATIA V5 x March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) x Inventory #002215
Parasolid x
IGES x 3-6
General Preprocessing Procedure
… Types of Bodies Training Manual

• Considerations for 2D Geometry:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Geometry must consist of surface models lying on the XY
plane
– The “2D” switch must be set on the Project page prior to
import
– Geometry type cannot be changed from 2D to 3D (or vice
versa) after import
– Plane stress, plane strain and axisymmetric behaviors are
supported
– Certain load types are unavailable with 2D geometry
– Be sure to consult the Simulation documentation for all details
regarding 2D analysis

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Types of Bodies Training Manual

• Surface bodies are geometrically 2D but spatially 3D:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Surface bodies are meant to represent structures which are
thin in one dimension (through-thickness), so that thickness is
not explicitly modeled but supplied as an input value. For
example, mid-surfaces extracted in the CAD software could be
used, but the “sheet metal” or “shelled” parts are still 3D and
are not considered surface bodies. Consequently, if a “sheet
metal” or “shelled” part is to be analyzed as a surface body,
the midsurface needs to be extracted first in the CAD system.
– Surface bodies are meshed with linear shell elements
– Each node has three translational and three rotational DOF for
structural applications but one temperature DOF for thermal
– Efficient for representation of thin sheet-like parts
Geometry Interface Availability
DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER x
Unigraphics x
SolidWorks x
Inventor
Solid Edge x
Mechanical Desktop
CATIA V4 x
CATIA V5 x March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) x Inventory #002215
Parasolid x
IGES x 3-8
 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Types of Bodies Training Manual

• Line bodies are geometrically 1D but spatially 3D:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Line bodies are meant to represent structures which are thin in
two dimensions compared to the length, so the cross-section
is not explicitly modeled.
– Currently, only DesignModeler supports creation of line bodies
since it can define cross-sections and orientations of lines.
– Line bodies are modeled with linear beam elements
– Each node has three translational and three rotational DOF for
structural analysis and one temperature DOF for thermal
– Good for representation of beam-like structures

Geometry Interface Availability

DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER
Unigraphics
SolidWorks
Inventor
Solid Edge
Mechanical Desktop
CATIA V4
CATIA V5 March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) Inventory #002215
Parasolid
IGES 3-9
 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Multibody Parts Training Manual

• For many applications, bodies and parts are the same. In

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

DesignModeler, however, multibody parts are possible.
– In some CAD systems, multiple bodies in a single part is
supported for import. However, these do not import as a
single multibody part. The difference is that each body will be
independently meshed.
• Support of mixed surface and solid bodies in the same part is not
supported for most CAD systems. An assembly may contain
surfaces and solids, but a single part cannot.
– In DesignModeler, multiple bodies can be joined together to
form a multibody part. This means that if the parts share
common boundaries, the nodes are shared at that interface.
• No contact is needed in these situations if the nodes are shared.
Geometry Interface Availability
– For surface bodies, “Surface Extension” and “Joint”
DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER operations are also available in DesignModeler to ensure
Unigraphics
SolidWorks
Inventor
congruent mesh at intersecting surfaces.
Solid Edge
Mechanical Desktop
CATIA V4
CATIA V5 March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) Inventory #002215
Parasolid
IGES 3-10
 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Multibody Parts Training Manual

• Multibody parts allows the user to define more complex

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

bodies with common nodes, as shown below:

Multibody parts made of

surface and line bodies
share nodes at common
boundaries.
This allows modeling of
shells with stiffeners.

Multibody parts made of

solid bodies share nodes
at common boundaries.
Material properties can be
different for each body.
Geometry Interface Availability
DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER
Unigraphics
SolidWorks
Inventor
Solid Edge
Mechanical Desktop
CATIA V4
CATIA V5 March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) Inventory #002215
Parasolid
IGES 3-11
 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Material Properties Training Manual

• To assign material properties to a body,

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

select that body from the tree and select a
“Material” from the pull-down menu
– Materials can be selected from external XML
files
– New material data can be added or imported
in the “Engineering Data” application. The
new material will then be available from the
pull-down menu.
– For surface bodies, as noted earlier, a
thickness needs to be supplied as well
• Thicknesses will import directly
from DesignModeler, if defined.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Geometry Worksheet Training Manual

• A summary of bodies and assigned materials is available

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Select “Geometry” branch and then the “Worksheet” tab

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
B. Contact Training Manual

• When multiple parts are present, a means of defining the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

relationship between parts is needed.
– Contact regions define how solid and/or shell parts interact
with each other.
– Spot welds provide a means of defining shell assemblies.

• Without contact or spot welds, parts will not interact with

each other
– In structural analyses, contact and spot welds prevent parts
from penetrating through each other and provide a means of
load transfer between parts.
– In thermal analyses, contact and spot welds allow for heat
transfer across parts.

• Contact will be introduced first, then spot welds.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• When an assembly is imported, contact surfaces are

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

automatically detected and created
– The mating relationships are not used from the CAD software.
Proximity of surfaces is used instead to define contact.
– Tolerance for contact detection is available under the
“Contact” branch as a slider bar in “Tolerance Slider”

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DesignSpace Entra
DesignSpace x March 29, 2005
Professional x Inventory #002215
Structural x
Mechanical/Multiphysics x
Model shown is from a sample SolidWorks assembly. 3-15
 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• Proven ANSYS Contact Technology allows the user to

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

model without shared nodes between parts
– Contact elements, which act as a ‘skin’ on the surface of the
contacting regions, provides the relationship between parts.
– This means that one small part will not drive mesh density of
the entire assembly. The user can make parts of interest have
a finer mesh than other parts

Note the non-matching mesh at the

interface between parts.
Mix of hexahedral elements
contacting tetrahedral elements is
possible.

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Structural x
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• When a contact region is highlighted in the “Contact”

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

branch, parts are made translucent for easier viewing
– Selecting a contact pair makes the other bodies not involved
in that contact region translucent
– Amount of translucency is controlled via “Tools > Options… >
Simulation: Contact: Transparency”. Transparency can be
turned off in the Details view of the “Contact” branch

The contacting bodies are partially

transparent.
Bodies not in the contact region are
more fully transparent.
The contacting surfaces which are
oriented with surface normals
pointing towards the view are opaque
for easier viewing.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• If a geometric entity is highlighted, use right-mouse button

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

in the Graphics window to quickly select associated contact
– The right-mouse pop-up menu allows the user to select the
corresponding body in the “Geometry” branch or highlight all
associated contact regions under the “Contact” branch

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• Defining a contact pair involves selecting “contact” and

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

“target” surfaces.
– In ANSYS DesignSpace, the distinction between “contact” and
“target” is unimportant. Select surfaces for one body as
“contact” and choose the surfaces for the other as “target”.
– Using “Contact” from the Context Toolbar allows manual
definition of contact regions

Selection of contact and target

surfaces is performed in the
“Details” view.
The contact bodies associated
with selected surfaces will be
listed below. Ensure that unique
bodies are for each “Contact” and
“Target” body.
The “Contact” surfaces will be
shown in red while “Target”
surfaces will be displayed in blue.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Selection Planes Training Manual

• Selection planes allow for users to easily select surfaces

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

which are hidden from view by other surfaces.
– User selects a plane; if more planes lie directly underneath the
cursor, selection planes appear. Selection planes are color-
coded with the same color as its parent part and are ordered
by depth from the cursor.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Selection Planes Training Manual

• Through the use of selection planes, users can define

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

contact regions more easily
– Example below shows two surfaces selected from two parts.
A contact region can be defined manually with these surfaces

When moving the cursor over

selection planes, those surfaces will
get highlighted.
Use of wireframe mode may make
visualization easier.
One can select a particular surface
or even use Ctrl-select to select
multiple surfaces.
In this example, two surfaces
highlighted on the screen are
selected to define a contact pair
manually. Without selection planes,
the selection of the specific surfaces
would be tedious.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Renaming Contact Regions Training Manual

• Select the “Contact” branch and right-click and select

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

“Rename Based on Geometry” to rename all contact pairs,
based on their constituent parts, for easier readability.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Verifying Contact Regions Training Manual

• Although Simulation automatically detects contact, one

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

should review each contact pair to ensure that contact is
properly defined.

In this example, because of the tolerance used by

automatic contact detection, some fillets shown here are
included in the contact definition. The user may wish to
remove the fillets from the contact region definition,
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especially in the case of bonded contact, in order to
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Advanced Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• For ANSYS Professional licenses and above,

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

advanced contact options are available.
– Auto detection of contact surfaces supports
entering value rather than just using a slider
– Specification of asymmetric contact possible
– Postprocessing contact results possible
– For each contact region, changing contact
formulations, etc. possible, including entering
& visualizing pinball radius (discussed next).

ANSYS License Availability

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Structural x
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Advanced Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• Example of the use of the pinball region:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– The pinball radius may be entered to ensure that bonded
contact is established for a large clearance or gap
– In the example below, the visualization of the pinball region
enables the user to verify that the pinball region covers the
gap between the hole and shaft.

The pinball region enables

the user to verify that
contact is detected for a
large gap.
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General Preprocessing Procedure
. . . 2D Solid Body Contact Training Manual

• Surface contact for solids composed of 2D plane geometry

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

is defined on edges rather than faces

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Surface Body Contact Training Manual

• For ANSYS Professional licenses and above, mixed

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

assemblies of shells and solids are also supported
– Allows for more complex modeling of assemblies, taking
advantage of the benefits of shells, when applicable
– More contact options are exposed to the user
– Contact postprocessing is also available

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Surface Body Contact Training Manual

• Shell contact includes edge-to-face or edge-to-edge contact

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Shell contact is not turned on by default.
However, default behavior can be changed
under “Tools menu > Options … > Simulation:
Contact: Auto Detection”
– Activate automatic shell contact detection
under the “Contact” branch
– Tolerance controls include ability to input
absolute search distance to detect contact,
very important for shell assemblies with gaps.
– User can turn on detection of face-to-edge
or edge-to-edge contact
– Priority can be set to prevent multiple contact
regions from being formed in a given region
by setting priority.
ANSYS License Availability
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Structural x
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Surface Body Contact Training Manual

• Another example of the use of the pinball region is below:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Surfaces represent midplanes of thin structure. At the “T”
intersection of two shells, a gap is present
– If the pinball region is large enough, bonded contact can be
established between the shells despite the gap. Too large of a
value makes the solution inefficient, however.
– If “Pinball Region: Radius” is input under the Details view, the
pinball region is shown graphically as a sphere. For bonded
regions, the radius should be large enough to fill any ‘gap.’
– Pinball region, by default, is based on the size of the
underlying mesh (solid body) or thickness (surface body).

If needed, use the “Label” button on the

Graphical Toolbar to move the “Contact
Region” label & pinball sphere to a
location which may be more convenient.
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Spot Weld Training Manual

• Spot welds provide a means of connecting shell assemblies

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

at discrete points
– For ANSYS DesignSpace licenses, shell contact is not
supported, so spotwelds are the only way to define a shell
assembly.
– Spotweld definition is done in the CAD software. Currently,
only DesignModeler and Unigraphics define spotwelds in a
manner that Simulation supports.
– Spotwelds can also be created in
Simulation manually, but only at
discrete vertices.
ANSYS License Availability
DesignSpace Entra
DesignSpace x
Professional x
Structural x
Mechanical/Multiphysics x
DesignModeler x
Pro/ENGINEER
Unigraphics x
SolidWorks
Inventor
Solid Edge
Mechanical Desktop
CATIA V4
CATIA V5 March 29, 2005
ACIS (SAT) Inventory #002215
Parasolid
IGES 3-30
General Preprocessing Procedure
… Contact Options Training Manual

• The different contact options will be covered in detail in

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

later chapters:
– In structural analysis, contact elements allow for various
interactions between parts
– In thermal analysis, contact elements allow for heat transfer
and thermal contact resistance between parts

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Contact Worksheet Training Manual

• The “Worksheet” tab of the “Contact” branch provides a

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

summary of various contact and spot weld definitions:

Right-click on the spreadsheet to

hide/show specific columns.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
C. Meshing Training Manual

• The nodes and elements of the mesh participate in the finite

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

element solution
– The solid model geometry is meshed, and the resulting mesh
is solved in the matrix equation.
– A “default” mesh is automatically generated during initiation
of the solution
– The user can “preview” the mesh to check whether it is
adequate or not for his/her needs.

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Structural x
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Model shown is from a sample Inventor assembly. 3-33
General Preprocessing Procedure
… Meshing Training Manual

• The user needs to balance the computational cost with the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

numerical accuracy of the mesh
– A finer mesh produces more precise answers but also
increases CPU time and memory requirements
– Ideally, having a solution not dependent on the mesh density
is what users want (i.e., answers do not change appreciably as
mesh is refined)
• Convergence controls (discussed later) aid in this
– A finer mesh does not compensate for incorrect assumptions
and inputs, however!

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Global Meshing Controls Training Manual

• Basic meshing controls are available under the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

“Mesh” branch
– With “Global Controls” as “Basic” (default), user
has control with a single slider bar
• “Relevance” setting between –100 and +100
• Default Relevance is set to 0 but can be changed in
“Tools > Control Panel > Meshing: Relevance”

Relevance = -100 Relevance = 0 Relevance = +100

Nodes: 9968 Nodes: 19040 Nodes: 40764
Elements: 5808 Elements: 10909 Elements: 24687

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Global Meshing Controls Training Manual

• User can change to “Advanced” global controls

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

• Five options are available to user:
– “Element Size” defines average element edge size
• One way to determine this is to use the “edge” selection filter and
select a representative edge (like thickness of a rib) to use
– “Curv/Proximity” tells Simulation to put more elements near
curvature or proximity of edges to each other
• Set slider bar from –100 to +100. If “Element Size” left to “Default”,
“Curv/Proximity” behaves the same as “Relevance”
• The “Proximity” of lines to each other is accounted for sweepable
bodies or if “Part Proximity” branches are added (discussed later)
– “Shape Checking” defines element shape quality tests used
• For linear analysis, “Standard” is suitable. For nonlinear analysis
or field analyses, stricter tests may be needed (“Aggressive”)

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Global Meshing Controls Training Manual

• Five options are available to user (cont’d):

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– “Solid Element Order” allows users to toggle
between lower- or higher-order solid elements.
• Higher-order solid elements are default
• Lower-order tetrahedral elements should not be used for structural
analyses, as these result in constant strain tets (stiff behavior).
Lower-order solid elements should not be requested with Hex-
Dominant meshing (discussed later) for structural and thermal
analyses since lower-order pyramids are not supported.
• This option not supported for Shape Optimization analyses
– “Initial Size Seed” controls what the mesh seeding is based on
Assembly-Based Mesh Seeding Part-Based Mesh Seeding
Nodes: 13,001 Nodes: 52,484
Elements: 5,666 Elements: 19,816
(Mesh seeding is more uniform (Mesh seeding is based
between parts) on parts, so less uniform
between parts)

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

• Part Relevance allows controlling mesh by parts

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– “Part Relevance” is similar to the “Basic” global
mesh control except it is for selected parts
– Control is given with a slider (-100 to +100)

Part Relevance=+100

Part Relevance=-100

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

• Sizing allows for local element size specification

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– An average element size, sphere of influence, or
number of divisions per edge can be specified

– “Element Size” produces elements with specified average edge length

– “Number of Divisions” puts specified number of elements on edge(s)
– “Sphere of Influence” allows specification of a ‘sphere,’ where
elements lying in sphere have a given average element size

• Sizing enables users to specify local mesh densities which are

finer or coarser than global average element size
– Available options above depend on which entities are scoped:
Entity Element Size # of Elem. Division Sphere of Influence
Bodies x x
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

In the adjacent example, a
“Sphere of Influence”
(shown in red) has been
defined. Elements lying in
that sphere for that scoped
entity will have a given
average element size.
A surface (purple) has the
sizing, so elements on the
surface in the sphere of
influence will have the
average element size.

For the example on right, the

left side has initial “Element
Size” whereas the right size is
left with default mesh settings.
Note that the left side with
sizing controls has a relatively
uniform mesh density of the
specified edge length.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

• Contact Sizing provides a way of generating

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

similar-sized elements on contact faces
– Because contact regions define the interaction
between parts, it may be preferred to have similar
mesh densities between contact region surfaces
– An “Element Size” or “Relevance” can be specified for a given
contact region

In this example, the contact

region between the two parts
has a Contact Sizing specified
(by Element Size). Note that
the mesh is now consistent at
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

• Element refinement divides existing mesh

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Although transparent to the user, an ‘initial’ mesh
is created with global and local size controls first,
then element refinement is performed on the
specified vertices, edges, or surfaces.
– Refinement level of “1” is recommended. This breaks up the
edges of the elements in the ‘initial’ mesh in half.
• Refinement is an easy way to get a finer mesh in areas of interest
after generating a coarse mesh.
For example shown, the left side has
refinement level of 1 whereas the right
side is left untouched with default
mesh settings.
Note that the refined mesh is not
uniform since the original mesh is not
uniform. The refined mesh breaks
element edges in half.

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General Preprocessing Procedure
… Local Mesh Controls Training Manual

• There is considerable difference between using sizing and

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

refinement
– Sizing puts constraints on the mesh on the average element
edge length prior to meshing. Generally speaking, this
produces a uniform mesh on specified geometric entities, and
the mesh transition is smoother.
– Refinement breaks elements after an ‘initial’ mesh. If the
original mesh is non-uniform, the refined mesh will be non-
uniform, also. Refinement also leads to less smooth
transitions, although a smoothing algorithm is used.
– Sizing and refinement controls can be specified on the same
surface. Sizing will occur first during the ‘initial’ mesh, then it
will be refined in the second pass during meshing (all
transparent to the user).

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Mapped Face Meshing Training Manual

• Mapped Face Meshing allows for the generation

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

of structured meshes on surfaces:
– In example below, mapped face meshing on the
internal cylindrical face provides a more uniform
mesh pattern. This may be useful to provide better
resolution

– If surface cannot be mapped mesh for any reason, meshing

will continue and this will be shown in Outline Tree with icon:
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Mapped Face Meshing Training Manual

• Mapped quad or tri mesh also available for surface bodies

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– A surface can be mapped meshed with quadrilateral or
triangular elements. (It is not recommended to use triangular
shell elements whenever possible due to accuracy reasons.)

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Element Shape Training Manual

• By default, Simulation determines how to mesh solid

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

bodies:
– Sweep-meshable volumes will have hex (and
possible wedge) elements. Other volumes will
be meshed with tet elements.
– Sweep-meshing is done in cases where a volume has the
same topology in one direction.
– Right-click on “Mesh” branch gives user ability to see what
volumes may be ‘swept’ with “Preview Sweep”. Sweepable
solid bodies will be selected.

For model shown on right, the solid body

in middle is swept-meshed with
hexahedral (and pentahedral) elements,
whereas other volumes are meshed with
tetrahedral elements.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Solid Element Shape Training Manual

• The “Element Shape” branch provide the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

user with control over how selected solid
bodies are meshed:
– “Auto Sweep if Possible” lets Simulation
mesh sweepable volumes with hexahedra
(and possibly also pentahedra)
– “All Tetrahedrons” lets Simulation
mesh all volumes with tetrahedras
– “Hex Dominant” only appears with ANSYS
Structural licenses and above

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General Preprocessing Procedure
. . . Match Face Meshing Training Manual

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

Matches mesh pattern on symmetry faces to facilitate
cyclic symmetry analyses typical of rotating machinery
• Because cyclic symmetry employs constraint equations
linking each cut boundary the nodal locations on each
face must be identical except for the offset (see below)

Cut Boundaries
Matched Faces

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General Preprocessing Procedure
. . . Match Face Meshing Training Manual

• Procedure:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Insert “Match Face Meshing” control under Mesh branch
– Identify faces of symmetry boundary
– Identify the coordinate system (Z axis is rotation axis)

Rotation CS
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Hex-Dominant Meshing Training Manual

• Advanced Structural Meshing introduction:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– The hex-dominant meshing algorithm creates a quad-dominant
surface mesh first, then extrudes those bricks/wedges inward.
Pyramid and tetrahedral elements are then filled in. This
generally results in hexahedral elements on the outside and
tetrahedral elements on the inside, which is preferred
• As noted in the previous slide, the “Hex Dominant” option for the
“Element Shape” branch is only available with the ANSYS
Structural license and above
• “Control Messages” will appear to warn user if volume may not be
suitable for hex-dominant meshing

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Hex-Dominant Meshing Training Manual

• Example of hex-dominant mesh shown below:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– 10,918 brick (39%)
– 6,289 tetra (23%)
– 907 wedges (3%)
– 9,631 pyramids (35%)

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Hex-Dominant Meshing Training Manual

• In some cases, such as for hex-dominant meshing, it may

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

be useful to use FE Modeler to determine the number of
degenerate elements which may be present

Select the top-most

“[Project]” tab. Open
an Environment in FE
Modeler

Selecting “Element Types” on the left

menu provides a listing of the number
of tetra, penta, hexa, and wedge
elements present in the model.
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Part Proximity Training Manual

• Part Proximity specifies that the proximity of

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

small lines to each other will affect mesh density
– Useful for thin parts or for parts where features of
interest are close to each other
– Sweepable volumes always have proximity on
– Degree controlled by global “Relevance” or “Curv/Proximity”
Default Mesh Default Mesh w/ Part Proximity

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Meshing Failures Training Manual

• If the mesher is not able to generate well-shaped elements,

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

an error message will be returned:

– The problematic geometry will be highlighted on the screen,

and a named selection group “Problematic Geometry” will be
created, so the user may review the model.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Meshing Failures Training Manual

• In the “ Tools menu > Options … > Simulation: Meshing,”

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

some default options can be set
– Changing “Unmeshable Areas” to “Show All Failed” allows
users to change the meshing behavior such that, if
problematic geometry exists (previous slide), the mesher will
continue to find all problematic geometry that failed to mesh
instead of stopping after the first problematic geometry it may
encounter.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Meshing Failures Training Manual

• Meshing failures can be caused by a number of things:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Inconsistent sizing controls specified on surfaces, which
would result in the creation of poorly-shaped elements
– Difficult CAD geometry, such as small slivers or twisted
surfaces
– Stricter shape checking (“Aggressive” setting in Mesh branch)

• Some ways to avoid meshing failures:

– Specify more reasonable sizing controls on geometry
– Specify smaller sizing controls to allow the mesher to create
better-shaped elements
– In the CAD system, use hidden line removal plots to see sliver
or unwanted geometry and remove them
– Use virtual cells to combine sliver or very small surfaces
– This option will be discussed next
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Training Manual

• Virtual Topology allows users to combine surfaces for the

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

purposes of meshing
– “Virtual Topology” branch not added by default. Can add the
branch from Context Toolbar under “Model” branch
– A “Virtual Cell” is a surface defined by multiple adjacent
surfaces. Select surfaces first, then add “Virtual Cell”
– Virtual cells enable users to combine sliver surfaces to larger
surfaces for the purposes of meshing. Small sliver surfaces
will not drive mesh density or possibly cause meshing failures
– Interior lines of original surfaces belonging to a virtual cell will
no longer be honored by meshing process. Because of this,
topology of mesh may differ slightly from original geometry.
– For other operations (such as applying Loads and Supports),
individual surfaces are no longer recognized, and virtual cell is
referenced instead.
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Training Manual

• When creating virtual cells, select surfaces first, then add a

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

virtual cell:
– One cannot add a blank “Virtual Cell” branch because the
surfaces to be joined need to be evaluated beforehand.
• Only after Simulation determines that surfaces can be joined will a
new Virtual Cell branch be created.
– When a virtual cell is added, the entities cannot be changed
• Details View will show the “Geometry”
field as grey (unmodifiable)
• Since surfaces need to be evaluated
before the virtual cell is defined, the
surfaces cannot be changed afterwards
• If a virtual cell needs to be changed, delete the existing branch,
select the new surfaces, then add a new Virtual Cell branch.
• A “Model” branch containing a “Virtual Topology” branch cannot
be duplicated or copied
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Example Training Manual

• Consider the example below:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

Original model contains a The small chamfer
small cylindrical surface, causes a finer
which forms the chamfer elements near
cylindrical area.

Virtual cell (red) of two Resulting mesh is

surfaces (top surface not driven by
and chamfer surface) small features
created anymore.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Example Training Manual

• Keep in mind that topology changes slightly, however!

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Because chamfer is added to top surface in virtual cell, the
interior lines are not recognized anymore.
– Because of this, the position of the mesh is slightly lower than
originally expected, and the topology changes slightly.

On the right, the higher-order

element’s edge is shown as a solid
yellow line. The contour of the
original chamfer and top surface is
shown as a dotted blue line.
The midside node of the element is
projected onto the top surface, but
the chamfer representation is no
longer present because no nodes
lie on the boundary between the
chamfer and top surface.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Training Manual

• Typical error messages which may be encountered:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Surface normals differ
significantly, preventing
creation of virtual cell:
– More than one surface needs to be selected:

– Adjacent surfaces need to be selected:

– Virtual cells containing other virtual cells

cannot be created:

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Virtual Topology Training Manual

• Virtual cells provide the user with another set of tools to aid

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

in controlling the mesh
• Use of virtual cells is useful in the following cases:
– Reducing mesh density in certain areas by eliminating small
features
– Avoiding mesh failure problems by eliminating problematic
geometry such as slivers or very tiny surfaces

• However, care should be taken when using virtual cells

since virtual cells change the original topology:
– Internal features cannot be referenced anymore for such items
as loads, supports, or results scoping
– Some problems may be encountered with meshing because of
the new topology

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
D. Named Selections Training Manual

• The Named Selection Toolbar provides functionality for

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

grouping together geometric entities:

Create Defined Names Manipulate Show/Hide Supress/Unsuppress

– Named Selections allow users to group together vertices,

edges, surfaces, or bodies together
– Named Selections can be used to select items for certain
branches that require geometry selection in Details view:
• Defining mesh controls
• Applying loads and supports
– Use of Named Selections makes it easy for the user to reselect
groups that are referenced often for other tasks as well
• Defining contact regions
• Scoping results
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Defining Named Selections Training Manual

• To create Named Selections:

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

– Simply select the vertices, edges, surfaces, or bodies of
interest, then click on the “Create Selection Group” icon.
– A dialog box will appear, and a name can be
given to the newly created Named Selection.
– The newly created Named Selection will appear
in the Named Selection Toolbar as well as in
the Outline Tree

• Please note the following:

– Only one type of entity can be in a particular
Named Selection. For example, vertices and
edges cannot exist in the same Named Selection.
– Named Selection groups can be imported from
some CAD systems (see Chapter 10)
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Using Named Selections (1) Training Manual

• Specifically for mesh controls and loads/supports, Named

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

Selections can be referenced directly:
– First, make sure the applicable types of bodies are created in a
Named Selection
– In the Details view, change “Method” from “Geometry
Selection” to “Named Selection”
– Select the “Named Selection” from the pull-down menu
• Simulation will filter non-applicable types of Named Selections.
For example, if the mesh control or load/support can only be
applied on surfaces, only Named Selections containing surfaces
will appear in the pull-down menu.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Using Named Selections (2) Training Manual

• Named Selections can also be used in other situations

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

where geometry must be picked in the Details view:
– Select “Geometry” from the Details view to enter picking mode
– Toggle the Named Selection to select from the Toolbar
– From the “Selection” icon, select the applicable choice
• “Select Items in Group” selects the current Named Selection
• “Add to Current Selection” adds the current Named Selection to
any entities already selected
• “Remove from Current Selection” removes any currently selected
entity which belongs to the referenced Named Selection
– Then, click on “Apply” in the Details view
2
1

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Named Selections and Bodies Training Manual

• The associated bodies of a Named Selection group can be

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

hidden or suppressed:
– This functionality makes it easier to hide or show certain
groups of bodies rather than needing to select the bodies from
the Geometry branch to change their visibility status
– If surface Named Selections are hidden, the associated bodies
will be hidden graphically. Show/hide and
Suppress/Unsuppress functionality work on bodies, not
individual lines or surfaces.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
E. Coordinate Systems Training Manual

• The Coordinate Systems branch is usually not displayed by

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

default, but it can be added from the Model tree

– Coordinate systems are currently used for “Sphere of

Influence” mesh controls, “Point Mass” (discussed later),
direction loads, and results postprocessing.
– Coordinate systems allow users
to specify directions or origins
other than global Cartesian.
• After adding Coordinate Systems
branch, the “Global Coordinate
System” will be added, based on
the origin of the CAD model.
• Coordinate Systems can be
imported from some CAD systems
(see Chapter 10)
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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Coordinate Systems Training Manual

• New Coordinate Systems can be defined

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

by selecting “Coordinate System” icon
from the Context toolbar
– By changing “Type” in the Details view, a
coordinate system can be cartesian or
cylindrical.
– Local coordinate systems can be defined by
selecting a vertex for the origin or by
selecting a cylinder.
– The orientation can then be changed by
selecting “X/Y/Z Direction” and selecting an
appropriate surface to define the direction
• Recall that flipping the direction can be done
in the Graphics window after selecting a
surface.

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 General Preprocessing Procedure
… Coordinate Systems Training Manual

• If the Coordinate Systems branch is present, the defined

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

coordinate systems will be available from the applicable
pull-down menu in the Details view
Sizing w/ Sphere of Point Mass
Influence Option

Force Load Directional Results

(Directional Load)

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General Preprocessing Procedure
F. Workshop 3 Training Manual

• Workshop 3 – Mesh Control

ANSYS Workbench – Simulation

• Goal:
– Use the various DS mesh controls to
enhance the mesh for the crankshaft
model.

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