Lecture5 VirtualTopology

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IntroductiontoANSYS MechanicalPart2
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ChapterOverview
VirtualtopologywasintroducedintheMechanicalIntroductionPart1course. Inthischapterweextendthecoverageofthattopic: A. VirtualTopology B. DefiningVirtualTopology C. VirtualSplitEntities D. VirtualHardVertices E. EditingVirtualTopology F. MeshingImplications

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A.VirtualTopology
Virtualtopologyisafeaturethatcanaidyouinreducingthenumberofelements inthemodel,simplifyingsmallfeaturesoutofthemodel,andsimplifyingload abstraction.
FormeshingcertainCADmodelsyoumaywanttogroupfacesand/oredgestogether allowingyoutoformvirtualcellsinordertoreduceorimprovetheelements. Youcansplitafacetocreatetwovirtualfaces,orsplitanedgetocreatetwovirtual edgesforimprovedmeshing. AvirtualcellinMechanicalmodifiesthetopologyofthelocalcopyinMechanical. YouroriginalCADmodelremainsunchanged. Severalexamplesfollowtoillustratevirtualtopology...

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...VirtualTopology
This example shows 3 surfaces selected and combined into a virtual cell.

Here 3 edges are selected to form a virtual edge.

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...VirtualTopology
In this example one edge of this multibody part has a size control assigned which causes irregularities in the overall mesh.
VirtualSplitEdges

InitialMesh

SizeControl

Shown in the upper right, 3 edges are virtually split to accommodate improved elements shapes.
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FinalMesh
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...VirtualTopology
Consider the example below:

Virtual Cell

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B.DefiningVirtualTopology
VirtualTopologybranchisaddedbelowtheModel branch:

Individualvirtualentitiesdonotappearinthetree.
Instead,astatisticssectioninthedetailslistsvirtual entities. Anautomaticvirtualtopologyfunctionwillattemptto createvirtualcellsbasedonthedetailssettings.

AutomaticVirtualTopology:
Low,Medium,High:Indicateshowaggressively virtualtopologywillbesearchedfor. EdgesOnly:Searchesforadjacentedgestobe combined.
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...DefiningVirtualTopology
VirtualCellscanbecreatedmanually:

Selecttheentities(facesshownhere)tobeincludedinthevirtualcell. ChooseMergeCellsinthecontextmenu(orRMB>Insert>VirtualCell).

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C.VirtualSplitEntities
Insomeinstancesitmaybedesirabletosplitafacetoallowaspecificmeshing operation.
With the Virtual Topology branch highlighted, select 2 vertices as the desired split point. Choose Split Face at Vertices to complete the operation. Vertex selection may be comprised of existing vertices or virtual hard vertices can be created (see following slides). Note, selected vertices must both be associated with the face to be split.

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...VirtualSplitEntities
Virtualsplitfacescanbeaccomplishedbycreatingvirtualsplitedges(notethesplit facesutilizetheverticesgeneratedwhentheedgesaresplit).

Virtual Split Edge at +: splits at the selection point along the edge. Virtual Split Edge: requires a fractional entry indicating the position along the edge where the split will be located (e.g. 0.5 results in the line split in half).

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D.VirtualHardVertices
AVirtualHardVertexfeatureallowsthecreationofhardpointswhichcanbe usedtosplitfaceswherenonaturalvertexexists.
With the Virtual Topology branch highlighted select the face where the hard vertex is to be located. Note, a + sign will appear at the cursor location. Choose Hard Vertex at + (or RMB > Insert > Virtual Hard Vertex at +).

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E.EditingVirtualTopology
Virtualentitiescanbereviewed,editedordeleted fromthecontexttoolbar(highlightVirtualTopology branch):

Usethearrowkeystocyclethroughnext/previous
virtualentities.

Thevirtualentityishighlightedgraphicallyandthe
statusbar(bottomofgraphicswindow)indicatesthe currentselection.

TheEditiconallowsaccesstoaneditorwindow
wheremodificationstothevirtualentitydefinition canbemade.

UseDeletetoremoveunwantedvirtualentities.

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F.MeshingImplications
Keepinmindthatthetopologycanchange!

Example:achamferisaddedtothetopsurfaceinthisvirtualcell.Theinteriorlinesare
notrecognizedanymore.
Elements edge is shown as a solid line and the original chamfer and top surface is shown as a dotted blue line. The chamfer representation is no longer present.

Original mesh

Mesh using virtual topology

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