Engineering Solutions

Elem Cleanup panel

Elem Cleanup panel

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Elem Cleanup panel

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Use the Element Cleanup panel to perform automatic cleanup of 2D elements based on the element quality criteria from the Quality Index panel or a separate criteria file.

By default, all associated geometry will be utilized as part of the cleanup process (if any exists). If this is not desired, you must disassociate the FE from the geometry.

 

Panel Usage

The cleanup process is automated, but the panel includes many options to affect how it behaves and the types of problems it will attempt to clean up.

elem_cleanup_panel

To begin the element cleanup process:

1.Use the elems selector to select elements to considering during the clean-up process.
2.Optional: Use the feature edges and anchor nodes selectors to select feature edges (node paths) and anchor nodes to preserve during the cleanup process.
3.Define clean-up settings in the panel, Criteria File Editor, and Parameters File Editor.
4.Click review to isolate the elements that adhere to the settings defined.

element_cleanup_review

5.Click cleanup to perform the cleanup on the selected elements, using the currently specified settings.

 

Subpanels and Inputs

There are no subpanels on the Element Cleanup panel. All inputs and command buttons are located on the main panel.

 

Panel Inputs

Input

Action

elems

Select elements to perform clean-up.

feature edges

Select feature edges (node paths) to preserve during the clean-up process.

anchor nodes

Select anchor nodes to preserve during the clean-up process.

consider only affected elems

Use only failed elements during the clean-up process.

use adjacent elem layers

Define the number of adjacent layers to include for failed elements.

Only available when consider only affected elems is enabled.

keep connectivity with 1D/3D

When active, 2D elements that are shared with 1D/3D elements before cleanup should be preserved during cleanup.

elems failing QI check

When active, this option limits other options by examining whether or not the resulting elements would fail your QI criteria.  For example, using tria reduction with this option activated might result in fewer trias being removed, but better overall mesh quality.

reduce tria elems

When active, this option attempts to combine trias into quads.  If you also enable elems failing QI check, the tria reduction will be tempered by the constraints on the resulting quads.

 

Command Buttons

The following action buttons appear:

Button

Action

edit criteria

Open the Criteria File Editor, from which you can define the quality index (QI) mesh criteria.

edit parameters

Open the Parameters File Editor, from which you can define the parameters that determine how far nodes can move away from edges or normal to the surface.

The following parameters are explicitly considered:

•Move across shared edges, max dist
•Move across free edges, max dist
•Offset nodes from surfs, max dist
•Divide quads into trias
•Feature angle during element cleanup
•Folding angle
Note:Associativity is not maintained after nodes are moved away from the geometry, therefore performing element clean-up consecutively may return different results.

cleanup

Perform the cleanup on the selected elements, using the currently specified settings.

reject

Reverts the most recent cleanup operation, provided that you have not left the panel in the meantime.

review

Isolate the elements that adhere to the settings defined in the panel, Criteria File Editor, and Parameters File Editor.

return

Exit the panel.

 

See Also:

Alphabetical List of Panels