For flat meshing, Creo Simulate assumes your design goal is a one-level, unified mesh for your model. This means that the session model should include no individual component meshes. The easiest way to assure this is to work with transient meshes. However, if you configured your session to use retained meshes instead, you can still create a flat mesh by erasing component meshes on your screen before you create your top-level assembly mesh.

How realistically you define your model determines the nature of your mesh and, consequently, your solution quality. For example, if you do not establish which components of an assembly transmit a load, your solution will not mirror the behavior of the assembly. Therefore, you should be sure your assembly includes connections for any load paths occurring between components that do not have mated surfaces or overlapping edges.

When you mesh your model, the mesh generator approaches your model as a single unit, creating coincident meshes across mated surfaces and overlapping edges. The mesh includes any nodes established by hard points, loads, boundary conditions, idealizations, connections, or mesh controls. The mesh generator also observes the mesh type you select.

After you create a flat mesh, you can perform analyses using any supported solver. You can run the analysis online or offline. You can also view the results of your analysis within Creo Simulate.