Datasheet
MeshBuilder®

Modeling Environment Capabilities

  • Intuitive graphical interface with direct access of CAD geometry
  • Complete integration with analysis third-party solvers
  • Automatic/Interactive Feature Recognition
  • Robust automatic surface and solid mesh generation
  • Advanced mesh-on-mesh capability
  • Comprehensive results post-processing
  • Results standardization through results templates
  • Open Architecture for customization

Benefits

  • Increase productivity of your design and development process
  • Reduce development costs through increased use of simulation technologies
  • Enable better collaboration through MeshBuilder’s®  tight integration with CAD packages and analysis solvers

Overview

MeshBuilder® is an open-architecture, general purpose, 3-D mechanical computer aided-engineering (MCAE). It is 3D real time, easy to use and cost effective Finite Element Modeling pré-processor, interfaced with most of mainly Finite Element Analysis Programs

 
Features

Import/Export CAD Geometry

Enables import geometry from leading CAD systems for creating finite elements models. Access of IGES files from any CAD system: geometric entity types can be points, curves and surfaces. Finite elements entity types can be accessed including nodes, elements and transformation matrix. Export IGES files includes geometry and finite elements entities.

Display 3D Model

  • Mouse control in 3D real time thanks to OpenGL graphics card accelerator
  • Full OpenGL
  • Display 3D model, in wireframe, shading, smooth shading, and textured shading.
  • Display 3D FEM (Finite element model) in different mode such as:  wireframe, element shading, shrink element shading, distortion, warping, sizing elements shading
  • Hide and show 3D parts on screen with fast processing

General Meshing Features

  • Extensive element library that includes Linear, Quadratic and Cubic order elements, Bar, Triangle, Quadrilateral, Tetrahedral, Wedge, Hexahedral elements
  • Specific element library that includes rigid element, Mass, Damper, Spring, Degree of Fredom, multipoint constraints, Gap
  • Intuitive library of commands to create and manipulate nodes and coordinates systems: cartesian, cylindrical or spherical
  • Creating node(s) by coordinates, on point, on curve, on surface, between points or nodes, curves ends, curves parameters, circle center in different coordinates systems.
  • Creating elements by nodes selecting or by lower order elements
  • Translate, rotate, sweep, edges 1D elements to create 2D elements.
  • Translate, rotate, sweep, 2D elements to create 3D elements
  • Manipulate or create elements by copy translation, copy rotation, copy mirror
  • Modifying element, such as quadrilateral to triangles and invert, reverse normal, extend edges elements, cut and paste elements, color, level, etc.

 

 

Graphical User Interface

Console keyboard-based and mouse-driven menu system for the operation of all tasks. It is designed to be intuitive, easy to learn and use. Based on Qt Trolltech®   framework GUI is compliant with OSF Motif standard on Unix platforms, Microsoft Windows and MAC OS platforms. GUI allows user input from the mouse or keyboard. Thanks to powerful graphics selection engine various selection modes are available like as both "drag-box" and "polygon" picking. Identification of entities by labels or by cursor picking with highlighting. For geometries, selection can be done by single or multiple screen entity, color, level, type and boolean operations on different attributes. For FE selection can be done by single or multiple screen entity, free faces, free edges, properties, boundaries conditions, coordinates systems. and boolean operations on different FE attributes.
Commands interrupt capability.

Automatic Mapped Meshing

  • Quadrilateral and Triangle element  meshing
  • Create and manipulate Mapped Mesh Areas
  • Modifying element, such as quadrilateral to triangles and invert, reverse normal, extend edges elements, cut and paste elements, color, level, etc.
  • Defining elements size or number of elements on edges, with biais or not
  • Automatic edges selection for creating Mesh Areas
  • Generate Quadrilateral or Triangle elements
  • Automatic brick element meshing on general mapped volumes

2D Automatic Free Meshing for surfaces provides

  • Quadrilateral and Triangle element meshing
  • Generate full quadrilateral or full triangle or mixed free mesh area. (Voronoï or front side methods)
  • Create and Manipulate Free mesh area defined on independent patches 3D trimmed surfaces with islands
  • Arbitrary, geometry source independent of meshing
  • Extensive user-defined and automatic mesh density controls including curvature check

Loads sets

  • Allow user to create and manage many loads sets
  • Mechanical or Thermal loads sets can be defined (heat, Temperature, Nodal force, pressure, acceleration, etc.)
 

 

Geometry Creation & Editing

Contains an advanced set of geometry creation tools in addition to import CAD capabilities for generating finite elements model geometry by GUI or command line. This feature includes:

  • Creating coordinates systems, points, lines, arcs, circles, conics, 3D Bezier and Nurbs curves and surfaces
  • Geometry based on different levels (layers), groups and colors
  • Creating and modifying 3D Bezier or Nurbs curves by polygon, interpolation, extrapolation, convert graphics entity to 3D Bezier or Nurbs, intersection of surfaces, blend with tangent or curvature on edges or ends curves,
  • Project curve on surface
  • Modifying curves by points polygon control, change degree and knots vector.
  • Divide curve on point or parameters, merge curve, move ends, blend ends
3D Automatic Free Meshing for Solid
  • Tetrahedral element meshing
  • Automatic tetrahedral element meshing on general solid defined by surfaces (Boundary representation)
  • Extensive user-defined and automatic mesh density controls including curvature checks to rapidly create optimum mesh models

Communication and Interfaces with others CAD
and FEM systems

Thanks to powerful interfaces, MeshBuilder create Nastran, Ansys, I-Deas or Cosmos/M output files ready to use for running on solvers without any modification.

  • Input and output IGES files (including Nurbs curves and surfaces)
  • Output Nastran files
  • Output Ansys files
  • Input and Output I-Deas files
  • Input and Output Cosmos/M files
  • Input and Output Meshbuilder Neutral Files (Dataset ASCII files)
  • Input and Output Meshbuilder Files (Binary files)
  • Input and Output SDIF files

 

 

 
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