Hierarchical Meshing Workflow
There are several ways to approach working with hierarchical meshes, some more efficient than others. The workflow you develop depends on the design process used by your company, the nature of the assembly, and other factors beyond the scope of this discussion.
However, to give you a general idea of one method, here is a sample workflow appropriate for large assemblies. As you review this, bear in mind that you do not necessarily need to perform the steps in this order. You can get the same results using a different sequence, and some steps may not be required for all situations.
For example, in this workflow, the designers complete all work on the individual components before the system integrator starts working on the top-level assembly. However, you could easily use a workflow where the system integrator sets up all connections for the top-level assembly before the designers work on the component meshes. The latter workflow is especially efficient for complex component-level meshes because the hard point locations are identified very early in the process.
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Prepare the individual components
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• Determine which components in the top-level assembly will be pre-meshed at the part or subassembly level.
• At the part or subassembly level, place hard points on these components so you can create load-transmitting connections in the top-level assembly.
• Use the Mesh Numbering mesh controls to allocate node, element, and local mesh ID ranges to each component so you can avoid potential conflicts when you later bring the components into the top-level assembly.
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Mesh the individual components
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• At the part or subassembly level, create meshes for any component that will appear as pre-meshed in the top-level assembly.
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Prepare the top-level assembly
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• Add connections to the top-level assembly:
• Connect pre-meshed components to the rest of the assembly using beams, springs, contacts, rigid links, or weighted links.
• Where necessary, connect unmeshed top-level assembly components with beams, springs, or connections.
• Turn off any component-level mesh controls that you do not want the mesh generator to use.
• Add assembly-level mesh controls where needed. Use the Mesh Numbering and Mesh ID Offset mesh controls to resolve any ID conflicts in the top-level assembly.
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Mesh the top-level assembly
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• Generate the assembly mesh. The resulting mesh includes both the top-level mesh and the individual meshes of any pre-meshed components.
• If the mesh generator notifies you of any problems, correct them and remesh the assembly.
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Return to Hierarchical Meshing or FEM Mode Workflow.