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Meshing and Elements
Explore the different types of mesh you can create in HyperMesh and create and edit 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D elements.
2D
Explore the different types of 2D mesh you can create in HyperMesh.
Edit 2D Mesh
Explore the tools used to edit 2D mesh.
Edit 2D Surface Mesh Elements
Use the Edit Elements tools to manually improve the quality of surface mesh elements and nodes.
Smooth Elements
Use the Edit Elements: Smooth tool to optimize the quality of selected elements.

Welcome
What's New
View new features for Altair HyperWorks 2024.1.
Get Started
Learn the basics and discover the workspace.
Tutorials
Learn more about the Altair HyperWorks suite of products with interactive tutorials.
Startup Procedures and Customizations
Start and configure the applications.
Tool Finder
View a list of deprecated panels and their newer, equivalent workflows.
Manage Files and Data
Create, open, import, and save models.
Sessions and Report Templates
Set up sessions and create report templates.
Interface with External Products
Solver interfaces supported in HyperMesh.
Entities and Solver Interfaces
A solver interface is made up of a template and a FE-input reader.
Browsers
Browsers provide a structured view of model data, which you can use to review, modify, create, and manage the contents of a model. In addition to visualization, browsers offer features like search, filtering, and sorting, which enhance your ability to navigate and interact with the model data.
Sketching
Create and edit 2D parametric sketch geometry.
Topology
Create, edit, and cleanup geometry.
FE Geometry
FE geometry is topology on top of mesh, meaning CAD and mesh exist as a single entity. The purpose of FE geometry is to add vertices, edges, surfaces, and solids on FE models which have no CAD geometry.
Meshing and Elements
Explore the different types of mesh you can create in HyperMesh and create and edit 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D elements.
- Meshing Preferences
  Define meshing preferences.
- Element Configurations
  Each element has an associated element configuration. An element configuration tells HyperMesh how to draw, store, and work with the element.
- Supported Solver Cards
  Solver cards supported for elements.
- Review Element Quality
  Use the Element Quality view to review element quality while simultaneously editing your model.
- 1D
  Explore the different types of 1D mesh you can create in HyperMesh.
- 2D
  Explore the different types of 2D mesh you can create in HyperMesh.
  - 2D Elements
    Supported 2D elements.
  - Create 2D Mesh
    Explore the tools used to create 2D mesh.
  - Surface Mesh
    Explore the tools used to create surface mesh.
  - Edit 2D Mesh
    Explore the tools used to edit 2D mesh.
    - Automatically Fix 2D Element Quality
      Use the Auto Quality tool to automatically correct element quality.
    - Edit 2D Surface Mesh Elements
      Use the Edit Elements tools to manually improve the quality of surface mesh elements and nodes.
      - Smooth Elements
        Use the Edit Elements: Smooth tool to optimize the quality of selected elements.
      - Move Elements
        Use the Edit Elements: Move tool to move nodes, drag tria elements, modify holes and washers, and automatically optimize nodes and elements.
      - Split, Swap, Combine Elements
        Use the Edit Elements: Split tool to split quad elements and edges, combine tria elements, and swap element edges. Second order 2D and 3D elements are also supported.
      - Replace Nodes
        Use the Edit Elements: Replace tool to relocate and replace the positions of nodes.
      - Edit Edge Density and Element Size
        Use the Edit Elements: Density tool to edit element density and size along surface edges.
      - Create and Delete Elements
        Use the Edit Elements: Create tool to create new 1D/2D/3D elements and delete elements.
      - Relocate Nodes/Elements to their Initial Locations
        Use the Edit Elements: Origin tool to relocate moved nodes and elements to associated geometry.
      - Associate Nodes to Geometry
        Use the Edit Elements: Associate tool to find non-associated nodes, review them, and associate to target geometry.
    - Adjust Normals
      Use the Normals tool to reverse the normals of shell elements or surfaces. The orientation of unassociated shell elements or FE geometry can also be adjusted. The normal of an element is determined by following the order of nodes of the element using the right-hand rule.
    - Review Orientation
      Use the Orientation Review tool to display/review and modify frequently used coordinate systems used in CAE analysis.
    - Refine Elements
      Locally refine 2D elements and attached 1D elements using either the Auto Quads tool, the Box tool, or the Manual tool. These are most useful for aerospace and marine applications, where specific transition patterns are required from the refined mesh to the existing mesh.
    - Imprint
      Use the Imprint tool to imprint geometry or mesh onto target surface/lines or elements creating new edges/fixed points or a mesh patch respectively.
    - Fuse 2D Shell Meshes
      Use the Fuse tool to connect close proximity, overlapping, and intersecting parts.
    - Fill Holes, Gaps, Patches
      Use the Hole/Gap Fill tool to fill holes, gaps, and patches in first order and second order elements.
    - Cut Holes
      Use the Cut Hole tool to generate holes in surfaces/2D mesh/FE geometry using various kind of shapes.
    - Repair Surfaces
      Use the Surface Repair tools to find, review, and fix any geometric errors in the model's surfaces.
    - Split Plate, Solid, and Hexa Elements
      Use the Split tool to split plates or solid elements. In addition, hexa elements can also be split using a technique that moves progressively through a row of elements in the model
- 3D
  Explore the different types of 3D mesh you can create in HyperMesh.
Model Build and Assembly
Create, organize and manage parts and subsystems.
Composites
HyperMesh composites modeling.
Connectors
Create connections between parts of your model.
Morph
Rapidly change the shape of the FE mesh without severely sacrificing the mesh quality.
Skeleton Modeling
Create a reduced ordered model to facilitate optimization at the concept phase.
Design Space
Workflow to support topology optimization model build and setup.
Optimization
Setup an Optimization in HyperMesh.
Design Explorer
Multi-disciplinary design exploration and optimization tools.
Validate
Validate the model built before running solver analysis.
Analyze
Models require loads and boundary conditions in order to represent the various physics and/or physical equivalents to bench and in-use testing.
Axisymmetry
Reduce a full 3D model with axisymmetric surfaces while accounting for imperfections.
Concept Modeling
Tools and workflows that are dedicated to rapidly creating new parts for specific use cases, or amending existing parts. The current capabilities are focused on stiffening parts.
Crash and Safety
Tools used for crash and safety analysis.
Airbag
Use airbag folder utilities and export a resulting airbag in a Radioss deck.
Aerospace
Essential utility tools developed using HyperMesh-Tcl.
Aeroelasticity
Import an aeroelastic finite element model with Nastran Bulk Data format.
Certification
Framework to plug certification methods to assess margin of safety from the model and result information.
PhysicsAI
Use PhysicsAI to build fast predictive models from CAE data. PhysicsAI can be trained on data with any physics or remeshing and without design variables.
Results Data
Results data can be post-processed using both HyperMesh and HyperView.
Developer
The Developer ribbon contains tools for automation and customization.
Plot Data
HyperGraph is a data analysis and plotting tool with interfaces to many file formats.
Multibody Modeling
MotionView is a general pre-processor for Multibody Dynamics.
Media Files
MediaView plays video files, displays static images, tracks objects, and measures distances.
Tabulate Results
Use TableView to create an Excel-like spreadsheet.
Text Files
TextView math scripts reference vector data from HyperGraph windows to automate data processing and data summary.
Publishing and Reporting
Create, define, and export reports.

View All Altair HyperWorks Help

Smooth Elements

Use the Edit Elements: Smooth tool to optimize the quality of selected elements.

A node of a shell element is free, and therefore can be moved, if none of the following statements are true:

It is used by an element that was not selected.
It is selected as an anchor node.
It is attached to an edge, vertex, or meshing fixed point of a surface.
It is used by a 1D element (whether or not that element is selected).
It is not attached to a surface, but is on a feature line of the mesh of the selected plate or shell elements.

From the 2D ribbon, click the Edit Elements > Smooth tool.

Figure 1.

Elements are colored according to how well they adhere to the pre-set quality requirements defined in the criteria file.
Optional: On the guide bar, click to to define the options used to edit elements.
Select the element(s) to smooth.
Optional: Select anchor nodes in the following ways:
- Hold Ctrl while left-clicking.
- Activate the Anchors selector on the guide bar then make your selection.
In the microdialog, select a smoothing method then click Smooth.

Auto

Calculates the lengths of all of the elements’ edges to finds the extreme values. If the ratio of smallest to largest is below a certain threshold, than the Fix Shape method will be used. If the ratio of smallest to largest is above a certain threshold, than the Fix Size method will be used.

Fix Size

Moderates variations in element edge size through the mesh using a modified Laplacian over-relaxation that correctly handles a mixture of quad and tria elements.

Fix Shape

Moderates variations in element aspect ratio through the mesh using a modified isoparametric-centroidal over-relaxation that correctly handles a mixtures of quad and tria elements.

Fix Angle

Globally minimizes the average deviation of element angles from their ideal values.
Figure 2.

Q.I. Warm, Q.I. Good, Q.I. Ideal

Sets the quality of the optimization target to the corresponding value on the quality index.

Note: Always set up proper Parameters and Criteria before performing smoothing operations. This helps to achieve better element quality results.