Extruding elements

Use Element Extrude to extrude element edges or faces in any direction in 3D space to create new elements. For example, you can extrude the face of a quadrilateral element into a brick element. You can use options in the Element Extrude dialog box to extrude:

• A 1D element (A) into one or more 2D elements (B).

• An edge of a 2D element into another 2D element. Here, the edges of an existing 2D mesh (A) were extruded for a total of 10 copies with an extrusion distance of 15mm for each copy (B). This created 10 additional rows of elements each with an element length of 15mm, which was identical to the element length of the original mesh.

• The face of a triangular 2D element into a 3D wedge element.

• The face of a quadrilateral 2D element (A) into a 3D brick element (B):

• A beam or shell element along a path. Here, we created a mesh of 2D elements on one end of a model of a bar (A). We then extruded these elements along a path defined by a series of center lines (B) to create a mesh of solid elements that runs through the entire part (C).

See Selecting an element extrusion method for more information on the different methods for extruding elements.

Controlling the size of the extruded elements

When you extrude Element Faces and use either the Along Vector or Element Normal option from the Direction list, the Distance options combined with the specified Number of Copies control the size of the resulting 3D elements.

• If you select Per Copy, the Distance value you specify sets the element length for the 3D element. For example, if you specify a value of 15mm in the Distance box, the software extrudes the 2D elements so that the 3D elements have a length of 15mm each.

• If you select Total, the software divides the Distance value by the specified Number of Copies to calculate the element length. For example, if you specify a Distance value of 60 and a value of 10 in the Number of Copies box, each 3D element will have a length of 6mm.

The following graphic shows the difference between the Per Copy and Total options for Distance. For both (A) and (B), the specified Number of Copies was 5. (A) shows elements that were extruded using the Per Copy option with a Distance value of 2 in. Notice how each element has a length of 2 inches. (B) shows elements that were extruded using the Total option with a value of 2 in. Notice how each element has a length of 0.4 inches.

Selecting the type of extruded elements

In the Element Extrude dialog box, you can use the Type list in the Element Properties group to specify the type of element the software creates during the extrude process. The available types depend upon:

• Whether you are extruding element edges or element faces.

• The type of element you are extruding.

The Type options only list the primary types of elements that can be created by the extrude process. It does not explicitly list the types of transition (degenerate) elements that may be created. For example:

• If you extrude quadrilateral elements, the software creates hexahedral elements. You can use the Type list to control whether the software creates linear or parabolic hexahedral elements.

• If you extrude triangular elements, the software creates pentahedral (wedge) elements. Because pentahedral elements are only a transition element type, the Type list still only hexahedral element types. However, the type of hexahedral element you select (linear or parabolic) corresponds to the type of pentahedral element the software creates during the extrude process.

Where do I find it?

Application	Pre/Post
Prerequisite	An active FEM file
Command Finder	Element Extrude
Menu	Insert→Element→Extrude

How do I

Extrude elements

Learn more

Selecting an element extrusion method

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

Bulk Entry Descriptions

Simcenter 3D tutorials

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Extruding elements, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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