Exercise: Ansys Hybrid Meshing

Step 1: Open/Import the model.

1. To open a HyperMesh model, select File, Open from the drop down menu.
2. Open the file Ansys Hybrid Meshing.hm.
3. Under the Preferences menu, select User Profiles.
4. Choose Ansys as the application and click ok.

Step 2: Set the appropriate Element Types for Ansys.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Assign
Element Type.
2. Select the 2D & 3D subpanel.
3. For penta6 and hex8 select SOLID45.
4. For pyramid13 and tetra10 select SOLID95.

Step 3: Create two new collectors called First, and Second.

1. Under the Collectors menu, select Create
Components.
2. Next to name = enter First, choose your favorite color and click create.
3. Repeat the previous step to create the component Second.

Step 4: Solid map mesh part of the solid.

1. Make the component, First, the current component by right clicking the name in the
model browser and selecting Make Current.
The First component should now be bold indicating that it is the current component.
2. Under the Mesh menu, select Create
Solid Map Mesh.
3. Choose the multi solids subpanel.
4. Select the solid sections indicated in the picture below.

5. Set the element size to 0.08, toggle elems to current component and click mesh.

Step 5: Tetra mesh the remaining solid.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Create
Tetra Mesh.
2. Choose the volume tetra subpanel.
3. Select the unmeshed solid.
4. Ensure the match existing mesh box is checked.
5. For 2D: select trias and 3D: select mixed.
6. Uncheck use curvature and proximity.
7. Set the element size to 0.08.
8. In the model browser right click the Second component and choose make current.
9. Click mesh.

Step 6: Convert the tetra elements to 2nd order.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Assign
Element Order.
2. Choose the change to 2nd subpanel.

3. Click the elems button to bring up the extended selection menu. Choose by
collector.
4. Select the component Second then click select.
5. Choose midside nodes at exact midpoint.
6. Click change order.

Step 7: Setup the ET Types for Ansys.

1. Under the Tools menu, select EtTypes Table.
2. Choose New and select SOLID45 as the Element Type.
3. Click Create and choose SOLID95 as the other Element Type.
4. Click create and then close. Click close again to exit the ET Types Table.

Step 8: Setup the Real Sets for Ansys.

5. Under the Tools menu, select RealSets Table.
6. Choose New and select SOLID45 as the Element Type.
7. Click Create and choose SOLID95 as the other Element Type.
8. Click create and then close. Click close again to exit the RealSets Table.

Step 9: Setup a steel material using the Ansys material table.

1. Under the Tools menu, select Material Table.
2. Choose New.
3. Enter steel as the material name and MP as the material type.
4. Click Create/Edit.
5. In the card Image, activate the EX_FLAG and NUXY_FLAG checkboxes.
EX_FLAG indicate the Youngs Modulus and NUXY_FLAG indicated the Poissons
ratio.
6. In the MP, EX field enter 2.1E5.
7. In the MP, NUXY field enter 0.3.
8. Click return. Click close to exit the create material dialog and click close again to
exit the material table.

Step 10: Delete the 2D elements in the First component.

1. Under the View menu select Mask By Config Broweser. (If there is a checkbox
next to it then do not click it.)
2. In the Mask By Config browser click the 1 next to 2D (You may need to expand the
browser size.) This will isolate all of the 2D elements.

3. Under the Mesh menu, select Delete
Elements.

4. Hold down shift and left click to draw a box around the elements shown on the
screen.
5. Click delete entity.
6. Click the + next to 3D in the Mask By Config browser to show the 3D elements.

Step 11: Associate the components with their ET Type using the
components table.
1. Under the Tools menu, select Component Table.
2. From the Table menu, select Editable.
3. Next to Assign Values: select ET Ref. No., 1-SOLID45.
4. Click the component First in the table then click Set.
5. Click Yes to confirm the change.
6. Change the element type to 2-SOLID95.
7. Click the component Second in the table then click Set.
8. Click Yes to confirm the change.

Step 12: Associate the components with their Real Set Type using the
components table.
9. Next to Assign Values: select Real Set No., 1-SOLID45.
10. Click the component First in the table then click Set.
11. Click Yes to confirm the change.
12. Change the element type to 2-SOLID95.
13. Click the component Second in the table then click Set.
14. Click Yes to confirm the change.

Step 13: Associate the components with their Material using the
components table.
1. Next to Assign Values: select Mat Set No., 1-steel.
2. Hold Shift and select the components First and Second then click Set.
3. Click Yes to confirm the change.
4. Under the Table menu, select Quit.

Step 14: View the card of one of the pyramid elements.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Card Edit
Elements.
2. Change the entity type to elems.

3. From the model browser click the

icon next to First to hide the elements.

4. Select the pyramid element at the interface at the lower right hand corner. Click edit.
5.

Note the element ID and the number of node IDs. (This is a 2nd order pyramid
element so it will have 13 node IDs.) An example is shown below:
Element ID:_________

6. Click return twice.

Step 15: Run the Convert to Special 2nd Order Elements Macro.
1. In the Utility browser select the Ansys Tools button.
2. Choose the Convert to Spl. 2nd Order Macro.
3. Select First as the 1st order component and Second and the 2nd order component.
4. Click Apply.
The macro will modify the 2nd order elements to not have midside nodes at the
interface with the 1st order hex elements. These elements will be modified during
export to Ansys and the changes will be reflected in the deck at that time.
5. Click ok once the macro completes and close the macro window.

Step 15 (Optional): Export the deck to Ansys *.cdb format and check the
same element in the exported deck.
1. Under the File menu select Export .
2. Select FE Model as the export type.
3. The File type: is Ansys.
4. If you are in the Ansys profile then the default Ansys template will automatically
loaded.
5. Click the folder next to file to select the location and name of your file.
6. Enter the filename Hybrid_Mesh.cdb.
7. Click Save.
8. Under Export options ensure you are exporting All.
9. Click Apply.
10. Open the cdb file in a text editor.
11. Search for the same element as you noted in step 12.

EN, 260444, 47898, 47899, 47901, 47900, 99338, 99338, 99338, 99338
EMORE,

0,

0,

0,

0, 99338, 99338, 99338, 99338

EMORE, 105294, 105302, 105311, 105307

Note: The midside nodes at the interface now all have an ID of 0. HM does not
support a node ID of 0 so the changes are not reflected while in HM.

Analysis Setup for Ansys

Step 1 (Optional): Open a new model.
1. To open a HyperMesh model, select File, Open from the drop down menu.
2. Open the file Ansys Hybrid Meshing Part2.hm
Note: You could also use your current model.

Step 2: Create a Pressure and Constraints load collector.

1. Under the Collectors menu, select Create
Load Collectors.
2. Next to loadcol name = enter pressure.
3. Assign any desired color.
4. For Card image: choose no card image.
5. Click create.
6. In the same panel change the name to constraints.
7. Change the color if desired and click create.

Step 3: Apply the constraints to the model.

1. In the Mask By Config browser click the + next to Geometry to show the
geometry.
2. Under the BCs menu, select Create
Constraints.
3. Change the entity selector to surfs.
4. Enter the size as 0.1.
5. Ensure all six DOFs are checked.
6. Select the surface shown below and then click create.

Step 4: Map the constraints to the geometry.

1. Under the BCs menu, select Loads on Geometry.
2. Select the constraints load collector and click map loads.
This will apply the constraint to all the nodes on that surface.

Step 5: Set the appropriate Element Types for Ansys.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Assign
Element Type.
2. Select the 2D & 3D subpanel.
3. For tria3 and quad4 select MESH200.

Step 6: Find the faces of the elements in the First component.

1. To find the faces click the
icon in the checks toolbar. If you do not have this
toolbar you can turn it on under the View menu, select Toolbars
Checks.
2. Change the entity selector to comps and select the First component.

3. Click find faces.

Step 7: Create new components called Quad200 & Tria200.

1. Under the Collectors menu, select Create
Component.
2. Next to name = enter Quad200.
3. Choose no card image and click create.
4. Repeat this step to create a Tria200 component.

Step 8: Move some of the elements into the Tria200 component.

1. Under the Mesh menu, select Organize
Elements
To Component.
2. Select an element on the vertical and horizontal sections as shown below.

3. Click the elems button to bring up the extended selection menu and choose by face.
4. Ensure the dest = is Tria200 and click move.

Step 9: Delete the ^faces component.

1. In the model browser right click on the ^faces component and select delete.
2. Click Yes to confirm.

Step 10: Move the 2D quad elements to the Quad200 component.

3. Under the Mesh menu, select Organize
Elements
To Component.
4. In the Mask By Config browser, expand the 2D Elements folder and then click the
1 next to Quad4.
5. Hold shift and drag a box around the elements to select them all.
6. Ensure the dest = is set to Quad200 and click move.

Step 11: Setup the ET Types for Ansys.

1. Under the Tools menu, select EtTypes Table.
2. Choose New and select SHELLS
MESH200 as the Element Type.
3. Click create/edit.
4. Check the box next to kopt1 and in the kopt1 field enter 6.
5. Click return.
6. Create another EtType of MESH200 with a kopt1 of 4.
7. Click return then close.
8. Click close again to exit the ET Types Table.

Step 12: Associate the new components with their ET Type using the
component table.
1. Under the Tools menu, select Component Table.
2. From the Table menu, select Editable.
3. Next to Assign Values: select ET Ref. No., 3-MESH200.
4. Click the component Quad200 in the table then click Set.
5. Click Yes to confirm the change.
6. Change the Et Ref. No. to 4-MESH200.
7. Click the component Tria200 in the table then click Set.
8. Click Yes to confirm the change.
9. Under the Table menu, select Quit.

Step 12: Apply a pressure to the elements in the 2D Mesh component.

1. In the model browser, under Load Collector right click the pressure collector and
select Make Current.
2. Under the BCs menu, select Create
Pressures.
3. Change the entity selector to elems then click on the elems button and select by
collector.
4. Check the box next to the 2D Mesh collector and click select.
5. Enter the magnitude as 5.0.
6. Set the magnitude % to 10.0 and select create.

Step 13: Create a Load Step.

1. Under the Setup menu, select Create
Load Step.

2. Enter load step name as Step1.
3. Click on loadcols and select Pressure and Constraints load collectors. Click select
then create.

Step 14: Add /SOLU & LSSOLVE in control cards.

1. Under the Setup menu, select Create
Control Cards.
2. Click on /SOLU control card to exit the PREP7 preprocessor and enter SOLU
preprocessor.
3. Click return to exit the card image panel.
4. Click on LSSOLVE control card.
5. Set Load step minimum LSMIN = 1, Maximum number of load steps LSMAX = 1,
and Load step increment LSINC = 1.
6. Click return to exit the card image panel.
7. Click return to exit the control cards panel.

Step 15: Export the deck to Ansys *.cdb format.

1. Select File and Export from the main menu to open the export browser.
2. Select FE Model as the export type.
3. The File type: is Ansys.
4. If you are in the Ansys profile then the default Ansys template will automatically
loaded.
5. Click the folder next to file to select the location and name of your file.
6. Enter the filename Hybrid_Mesh.cdb.
7. Click Save.
8. Under Export options ensure you are exporting All.
9. Click Apply.