Displaying element thickness values

You can use the Thickness Information command in the Simulation Navigator to create a display of the 2D element thickness values in your model. This lets you verify the thickness values the software will apply when you either export or solve your model. Pre/Post provides you with a variety of ways to define the thickness of 2D elements, such as derived from the thickness of a midsurface or assigned through Element Associated Data or a physical property table. Because of the multitude of methods for specifying element thickness, you need a way to verify that those thickness values are defined correctly prior to solving your model.

Thickness Information creates a color-coded line display that shows the general statistical distribution of the thickness values across your 2D mesh. The following example shows a turbine blade model (A) from which we created and meshed a midsurface (B). (C) shows the thickness display created from the 2D elements on that midsurface.

You can use a thickness display to quickly identify:

• Any sudden changes in color that may indicate incorrectly assigned thickness values.

• Elements that do not have an assigned thickness.

Interpreting an element thickness display

In an element thickness display:

• The lines represent the actual thickness values of the elements. The software draws those lines along each element's normal at its center of gravity. You can use the Line Scale option in the Thickness Information dialog box to control the overall length of the lines.

• The colors represent the range of thickness values across the model. These colors let you visually verify that the thickness values are properly distributed across the mesh. You can use options in the Thickness Information dialog box to control the colors the software assigns to each thickness range. The colors are assigned based an element's thickness relative to the mean thickness value for the mesh. For example, Mid Range Thickness elements have a thickness that is within one standard deviation (σ) either above or below the mean thickness value for the mesh, while Min Range Thickness elements have a thickness that is less than one standard deviation below the mean thickness value for the mesh. The thickness display also uses a unique color to indicate elements that do not have an assigned thickness value (Zero Thickness).

Interactively querying thickness values

You can also use options in the Thickness Information dialog box to query (probe) the thickness values of either individual elements or the thicknesses defined at selected nodes.

Creating a field from an element thickness display

In the Thickness Information dialog box, you can use the Create Field option to create a spatial field of thickness values of the 2D elements in your model. With this option, the software generates a new field and places it in the Fields node in the Simulation Navigator.

Creating a thickness field can be helpful if you are working with a model in which the thickness of mesh is being derived from a midsurface. On a large model, the derivation of thickness data from a midsurface can be time and resource intensive since the software must recalculate the thickness each time you use Thickness Information to generate a display. If you are iterating through the meshing process with different element sizes, you can use the new Create Field option to generate a field from that midsurface data the first time you use Thickness Information to generate a display. You can then edit the Mesh Associated Data for that mesh and change the specified Thickness Source from Midsurface to Field. You can then select the newly created thickness field.

The ability to create a thickness field from a display of your 2D element thicknesses also allows you to edit or copy that thickness data. You can then reuse that modified data either in the same model or another model. For example, you can import a Nastran bulk data file that contains a coarse mesh in which the element thickness values are defined directly on the CQUAD4 elements. You can then use the new Create Thickness Field capability to generate a thickness field from that data. If you then remesh the model with a finer mesh, you can use that thickness field to map the original thickness values to the new mesh

Where do I find it?

With a FEM file active that contains a 2D mesh, in the Simulation Navigator, right-click a 2D mesh collector or 2D mesh node and select Thickness Information.

How do I

Generate a contour plot of element thickness

Edit the attributes for multiple selected entities

Learn more

Persistently displaying element thickness

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

Bulk Entry Descriptions

Simcenter 3D tutorials

Browse Simcenter 3D help by product area

Displaying element thickness values, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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