BatchMesher Mesh Controls

Model and local mesh controls for BatchMesh meshing.

Note: In order to run a meshing job, at least one model mesh control must be defined.
When defining model and local mesh controls, select a parameter mode to determine how criteria and parameters are generated. BatchMesher mesh controls are run using a single CPU.

When generating the mesh, local controls are applied first, starting from the smallest target element size, up to the largest. The model control is then applied.

Normal Parameter Mode

The Normal parameter mode generates criteria and parameters using an existing set of files.
Table 1. Parameters
Parameter Description
Criteria File Specify a criteria file that will be used to automatically generate criteria.
Parameters File Specify a parameters file that will be used to automatically generate criteria.
Mesh Connectivity Determines how newly created elements and any adjacent existing elements are connected.
Keep
Use existing nodes on any shared boundary edges.
Break
Ignore existing adjacent elements and generates mesh according to the element size and type you specified.

Scaled Parameter Mode

The Scaled parameter model generates criteria and parameters on-the-fly by scaling an existing set of files. This parameter mode is useful when you want to evaluate mesh size changes using minimal effort.
Table 2. Parameters
Parameter Description
Element Size Element size used when scaling criteria and parameters.
Criteria File Specify a criteria file that will be used to automatically generate criteria.

The "min size" and "max size" thresholds are created by simple proportional scaling of the base thresholds to the requested element size. All other criteria is not changed.
Parameters File Specify a parameters file that will be used to automatically generate criteria.

All dimensionless parameters and options are not changed.

All parameters having a length dimension are proportionally scaled using the scale factor target size/original size.
  • Element size
  • Max thin solid thickness (for midsurface extraction)
  • Surface holes table: radii ranges and washers widths, target radii if given directly ( not as a radius fraction )
  • Solid holes table: radii ranges
  • Surface fillet table: radii and widths ranges, maximal chordal deviation
  • Flanges recognition: max and min flanges width, maximal width for narrow surface width allowed to be deleted
  • Duplicated surfaces search tolerance – scaled if 0.5 < scale_factor < 2
  • Edges equivalencing tolerance – scaled if 0.5 < scale_factor < 2
  • Narrow fillets merging width threshold
  • Beads to be removed maximal height
  • Flanged holes to be removed maximal height
  • Edge fillets defilleting - max radius
  • Logos to be removed : maximal height and depth
  • Threads to be removed max depth
  • Trias reduction maximal and minimal elements size
  • Elements warpage fix – maximal offset normally to surfaces
Mesh Connectivity Determines how newly created elements and any adjacent existing elements are connected.
Keep
Use existing nodes on any shared boundary edges.
Break
Ignore existing adjacent elements and generates mesh according to the element size and type you specified.

Auto Generate Parameter Mode

The Auto Generate parameter mode generates criteria and parameters on-the-fly using very basic and limited input parameters. This parameter mode is useful for basic and simple use cases, where existing parameter and criteria files do not exist and you do not have strict mesh requirements.

Mesh control input parameters are automatically populated within specific Criteria file fields. The Min Size - Good/Warn/Worst and Max Size - Good/Warn/Worst are internally calculated. All other Criteria file settings are hard-coded.
Table 3. Criteria
Mesh Control Input Parameter Criteria File Field
Element Size
  • Target element size
  • Min Size - Ideal
  • Max Size - Ideal
Minimum Element Size Min Size - Fail
Maximum Element Size Max Size - Fail
Mesh control input parameters are automatically populated within specific Parameter file fields. All other parameters and behaviors are kept as default.
Table 4. Parameters
Mesh Control Field Parameter File Field
Element Size Target element size
Element Type Create mesh with element type, with “align” and “size” checkboxes enabled.
Element Order Element order
Element Feature Angle Feature angle during element cleanup
Geometry Cleanup Enables or disables, in its entirety, the Geometry cleanup section
When Geometry Cleanup is enabled, two threshold radii are defined as:
  • min_rad = max(0.4*Element Size, 0.8*Minimum Element Size)
  • mid_rad = max(0.6*Element Size, min_rad)
    • max_rad = 3.0*Element Size
Enabling the Geometry Cleanup parameters listed below, facilitates the following behaviors.
Remove Small Holes
Removes small surface and solid holes with a radii range of 0 – min_rad.
Create Washers
Create one layer of washers with a minimum of 6 elements and an auto-defined width for surface holes in the min_rad – max_rad range.
Seed Holes
Enable hole seeding for surface and solid holes, per the rules below. If Create Washers is enabled, this is ignored for surface holes.
  • min_rad – mid_rad = 4 elements minimum
  • mid_rad – max_rad = 6 elements minimum
Allow Movement Across Edges
Enable major post-mesh element cleanup operations to improve the final element quality at the expense of edge capturing and performance.
Advanced Feature Capture
Enable improved feature capturing at the expense of element quality and performance.
In the Parameters file, the following parameters are automatically defined. All other parameters are kept as default.
  • Extract midsurfaces is enabled with the Method set to skin offset.
  • Geometry Cleanup
    • Surface fillet recognition
      The following thresholds are defined:
      • min_rad = 0.7*max(0.4*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
      • min_wid = 0.49*Pi*min_rad
      • mid_rad = 1.307*max(0.5*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
      • mid_wid = 0.5*Pi*mid_rad
      • max_rad = 1.5*Element Size
      • max_wid = 0.51*Pi*max_rad
      The following number of elements rows are enforced:
      • min_rad – mid_rad and min_wid – mid_wid = 1 element across
      • mid_rad – max_rad and mid_wid – max_wid = 2 elements across
    • Flange recognition is enabled with:
      • Elements across flange width = 2
      • Maximum width of flange = 3.5*Element Size
      • Minimum width of flange = max(0.5*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
      • Delete flange narrow surfaces with width < = auto
    • Other options
      • Suppress beads with height < = min( 0.2*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
      • Suppress flanged holes with height < = min(0.15*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
      • Remove edge fillets with radius < = 0.9*Element Size
      • Remove logo with size < = 3.0*Element Size, and height < = min(0.15*Element Size, Minimum Element Size)
    • Element Cleanup
      • Apply tria reduction with min elem size > = 0.5*Element Size and max size < 1.5*Element Size
      • Move across free edges, max dist < = 0.0025 * element size