May 03
May 03
May 03
This document contains tips/tricks for using HyperMesh, MotionView, HyperView, HyperGraph
and OptiStruct. Below is a list of the tips/tricks. For your convenience, click on the blue,
underlined tip/trick titles or use the bookmarks in this PDF file to navigate to each tip/trick.
Tip/Trick 332
Filter a curve with one of the mirror filter tools in HyperGraph, HyperView, or MotionView to get a
filtered curve whose start and end data points are close in proximity to the original curve's
corresponding points.
Applications: HyperGraph, HyperView, MotionView
Tip/Trick 389
A checklist for reviewing a tria mesh before tetra meshing it and tips for tetra meshing.
Application: HyperMesh
Tip/Trick 393
Attain OptiStruct results that are close to, if not the same as MSC Nastran results for a model
containing shell elements.
Application: OptiStruct
Tip/Trick 501
Time synchronization in MotionView, HyperView and HyperGraph for animation, XY plot and
video windows.
Applications: HyperGraph, HyperView, MotionView
May 2003
Application version:
5.1 and greater
Computer hardware:
All supported
Categories: Subcategories
Post-processing:
XY Plot
Topic:
Filter a curve with one of the mirror filter tools in HyperGraph, HyperView, or MotionView to get a filtered
curve whose start and end data points are close in proximity to the original curve's corresponding points.
Topic details:
Frequently, a filtered data curve's start and end data points might not match well with the original curve's
corresponding points. However, HyperGraph (HG), HyperView (HV) and MotionView (MV) have mirror
filter tools found in the Vehicle Safety Tools to correct this situation.
How to load the Vehicle Safety Tools in HG, HV and MV:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click Open.
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Go to the Filter pull down menu to access the following mirror tools:
1.
Batch Mirror
2.
3.
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Figure 2 - Filtering without a mirror tool resulting in filtered curve's end not matching well with original curve's end
Figure 3 below shows the results of filtering the curve in Figure 2 using the SAE General > SAE(hg) >
SAE Mirror tool. Notice how well the filtered curve's end points match the corresponding points in the
original curve.
Figure 3 - With a mirror filter tool, the filtered curve's end is in close proximity to the original curve's end
From this example you can see the advantage of applying a mirror filtering tool to your curves.
Author:
Altair HyperWorks Technical Support Group (mkz)
Keywords:
filter, vst, mirror, sae, HyperGraph, MotionView, HyperView, curve, vehicle safety tools, reflect, end,
match
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Application version:
5.1 and greater
Computer hardware:
All supported
Categories: Subcategories
Meshing:
Create elements, Check and edit mesh quality
Topic:
A checklist for reviewing a tria mesh before tetra meshing it and tips for tetra meshing.
Topic details:
You can use the following checklist to review the tria elements prior to creating a tetra mesh with them.
Doing so can help you avoid troubleshooting why HyperMesh (HM) cannot tetra mesh the volume(s). If
you are unsure how to perform each check, see the annotated checklist at the end of this tip/trick.
nd
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o Check for and remove free element edges within the volume of tria elements. The volume has to be
closed; it cannot contain "holes".
o Check for and remove "T" or discontinuous connections (edges connected to two or more elements)
in the group of tria elements.
Internal partitions in the volume of tria elements. If these are required, split the model into separate
volumes and tetra mesh separately.
2.
Duplicate meshes on a surface. If these meshes are different from each other, then they cannot be
detected by using the duplicate elements check. However, the T-connections check may outline the
boundary since the definition of a T-connection is any element edge connected to two or more
elements.
When selecting the tria elements in the tetramesh panel, make sure to select only those elements
that make up the closed volume. To view the volume's interior, use the hidden line panel on the Post
page while in performance graphics mode. (Press F1 to go to this panel.) Use the fill plot and
cutting functionality. The cut plane can be dragged in the graphics area.
2.
When the tetra mesher fails to mesh a part, the elements it was working on when it failed are
automatically saved to the HM user mark. Go to the mask panel to display the elements on the mark
and turn off the display for all other elements. In the mask panel, click elems and then click retrieve.
Click elems one more time and then click reverse. Finally, click mask . Only the elements saved to
the user mark are now displayed in the graphics area. Usually, the elements causing the mesher to
fail are attached to the elements on the user mark. Use the find panel on the Tool page or the Find
Attached macro on the QA macro menu page to identify the elements that are attached to the
displayed ones. Examine these elements and use the above checklist to determine why the mesher
failed.
3.
If the tetra mesher still fails to generate a tetra mesh, check for element penetration using the
penetration panel on the Tool page.
nd
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Go to the mask panel. Mask all of the tria elements using by config to select them. If there are any
quad elements displayed split them into tria elements. Go to the split panel on the 2D page. Use the
plate elements sub-panel to divide the quad elements into tria elements.
o Check for and correct tria elements with very small angles.
In the check elems / 2-d sub-panel, use the min angle functionality to identify tria elements with very
small angles. The recommended minimum angle is 10. Save any failed elements and retrieve them
in other panels to modify them.
o Check for and correct tria elements with small edge lengths.
In the check elems panel, in the 2-d sub-panel, use the length functionality to identify elements with
edge lengths much smaller than the average element length in the model. Save any failed elements
and retrieve them in other panels to modify them.
o Check for and remove free element edges within the volume of tria elements.
The volume has to be closed; it cannot contain "holes". When no free edges exist, the volume is
closed. Use the edges panel on the Tool page to check for and remove free element edges.
o Check for and remove "T" or discontinuous connections (edges connected to two or more elements)
in the group of tria elements.
Use the edges panel on the Tool page to do this. Click the toggle after find: to switch from free
edges to T-connections.
Author:
Altair HyperWorks Technical Support Group (ps,wst)
Keywords:
HyperMesh, tetra mesh, tria, tetramesh. tetras, check
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Application version:
5.1 and greater
Computer hardware:
All supported
Categories: Subcategories
Optimization:
Setup and Theory
Analysis:
Setup and Theory
Performance:
Benchmark
Topic:
Attain OptiStruct results that are close to, if not the same as MSC Nastran results for a model containing
shell elements
Topic details:
The primary difference between the default OptiStruct (OS) shell elements and MSC's Nastran shell
elements is the absence of in-plane rotational stiffness (so-called drilling stiffness). Nastran quad4 and
tria3 elements by default, do not have this stiffness unless K6ROT is activated.
By setting the OS PARAM SHALTER value to YES, an alternate version of OS quad4 and tria3 shell
elements is activated giving OS results very close to, if not the same, as Nastran results for a model
containing shell elements. The default value for this parameter is NO. This PARAM card can be used for
both optimization and basic FEA problems. For a model containing shell elements, this is the only means
of achieving OS results that are close to Nastran results.
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Also, note that for the PARAM SHALTER, some stabilization terms and other adjustments are added for
reliable performance. The resulting elements are generally more flexible than the default OS shell
elements, especially on curved geometry.
Author:
Altair HyperWorks Technical Support Group (rc)
Keywords:
OptiStruct; HyperMesh; optimization; Nastran, shell, tria, quad; result; close; same; shalter
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Application version:
5.1 and greater
Computer hardware:
All supported
Categories: Subcategories
Post-processing:
Contour or animate results, XY Plot, Video
Topic:
Time synchronization in MotionView, HyperView and HyperGraph for animation, XY plot and video
windows
Topic details:
Time synchronization of FE or MBD results animation, XY plot data and video data helps engineers
compare computer-simulated data to real test data.
In MotionView (MV), HyperView (HV) and HyperGraph (HG), animations in the animation, XY plot and
video windows can be time synchronized. To set this up, in the Animation Controls panel click Time
Scales to obtain the Time Scales dialog. This dialog is pictured in Figure 1 below.
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The Time Scales dialog contains a Scale and Delay field for each window on a page. Sixteen windows
are listed in the dialog since sixteen windows can exist on one page. The Scale field multiplies the total
run time of the windows animation by the specified amount. The animation is then scaled to run within
the new time boundaries. For example, an animation that runs from 0 to 10 seconds scaled by a factor of
2 runs from 0 to 20 seconds.
When synchronizing windows, specify the appropriate Scale values for all windows on the page first.
Then specify the Delay values. How to determine the appropriate values for each is described below.
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milliseconds to animate, then specify 25 (2.5 milliseconds * 10 pre-event frames) in the Delay field for the
other windows. When the page reaches the value specified in the Delay field, animation starts in the
delayed windows.
Upon setting the Scale and Delay values, the animations in the windows on the page should be
synchronized.
On a related note, AVI files do not contain time information. An AVI file can be read into MV, HV and HG
and the Time Scales dialog can be used to synchronize its animation with other windows. MV, HV and
HG automatically assigns a rate of one frame per second to AVI animations. Another option for specifying
time information for an AVI animation is to use the HyperWorks AMF Builder. You specify a frame time
interval and during the AMF Builder conversion process it is added to the outputted Altair Movie Format
(AMF) file. Upon reading an AMF file into MV, HV or HG, it is automatically scaled with the other windows
on the page. For more information on AMF Builder, refer to HyperWorks on-line help.
Author:
Altair HyperWorks Technical Support Group (mkz)
Keywords:
HyperView, HyperGraph, MotionView, synchronize, animation, video, plot, scale, delay, time
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