Manually creating elements

Use Element Create to manually create elements in your model by selecting existing nodes or points. For example, you could use Element Create to create a few individual 1D elements to join two different sheet or solid bodies. You could also use Element Create to create all the necessary elements for a particular finite element model.

Understanding element types

The software categorizes elements into types based on their topology. You can create four basic types of elements:

• 0D elements (such as a concentrated mass element)

• 1D elements (beam and pipe elements)

• 2D elements (shell elements)

• 3D elements (solid elements)

Note:

You can only create 0D elements on geometry. Therefore, the 0D option is only available in the Type list in the Element Create dialog box if you have an idealized part loaded.

The specific types of elements you can create depend upon the type of solver and analysis you specify when you create a FEM file.

Assigning a mesh collector and designating a destination mesh

When you manually create elements, you must assign them to a mesh collector. The software uses mesh collectors to store and manage mesh properties, such as materials and physical properties. See Mesh collectors for more information.

If you have already meshed portions of your model, when you use the Element Create command to create new elements, you must also choose whether you want to add the new elements into an existing mesh node or whether to add them into a new node.

Manually created elements are not associated to the geometry

The elements that you create with the Element Create command are not associated to the underlying geometry. If the geometry updates, the software does not update the manually created elements.

Where do I find it?

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

How do I

Create elements

Quick links

Command reference

Pre/Post video examples

Bulk Entry Descriptions

Simcenter 3D tutorials

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Manually creating elements, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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