Mesh collectors

A mesh collector:

• Contains meshes that share the same properties, such as materials, physical properties, and display properties.

• Contains only meshes of the same element family. For example, a 3D mesh collector contains only 3D type elements.

• Allows you to assign the same properties to all meshes within that collector.

Every mesh is assigned to a collector. You first assign a mesh to a collector when you create the mesh. The collector you assign the new mesh to is called the destination collector. After you create a mesh and assign it to a destination, you can later reassign that mesh to another collector.

Managing mesh properties with mesh collectors

You edit mesh properties at the collector. Changes to the mesh collector properties are inherited by all meshes contained in the collector. Collectors facilitate the management of overrides and the re-use of FE models for multiple analyses.

You can define mesh display properties for collectors, such as element color, shrink percentage, and so on. All meshes contained in the collector inherit the display properties of the collector. When you reassign a mesh from one collector to another, the mesh's display automatically updates to show the new display properties.

Creating and managing mesh collectors

There are four ways to create a mesh collector:

• You can create empty mesh collectors and assign properties to them. When you create a mesh with those properties, select the appropriate collector as the destination collector.

• You can create a mesh collector at the time you create the mesh. The completed mesh is assigned to the new collector.

• For simple models with few meshes, an automatic creation option assigns a collector to each mesh for you. Automatic mesh collectors use the default physical properties and inherit the material properties of the solid model. You can later edit the automatic mesh collector to assign specific physical and material properties.

• You can clone an existing mesh collector, then edit the properties.

You can view and manage mesh collectors using the Simulation Navigator. Collectors are grouped by element type (0D, 1D, 2D, or 3D). Click the visibility check box to control mesh visibility by mesh, by mesh collector, or by mesh collector group.

Overriding mesh collector properties

In the Simulation file, you can override the properties defined for the mesh collector in the FEM file. This is useful, for example, when you are working with multiple Simulations based on a single FEM file. In this way, you can define unique properties for each Simulation.

Where do I find it?

• Choose Home tab→Properties group→Mesh Collector .

• Insert→Mesh Collector.

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Mesh collectors, Simcenter 3D 2021.1 Series

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