Smooth Panel

Location: 2D and 3D pages

The Plates subpanel adjusts the positions of the free nodes of the selected plate or shell elements to smooth out variations in element quality and size.

A node of a plate or shell element is free if none of these statements is true:

It is used by an element that wasn't 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.

The Solids subpanel adjusts the positions of the free nodes of the selected solid elements to smooth out variations in element quality and size. A node is free if it is not associated to a surface, all of the elements to which it belongs are selected, and the entire volume around it is occupied by selected elements.

Plates Subpanel

Use the Plates subpanel to optimize mesh consisting of 2D shell elements.

For any elements that are not associated to surfaces, Engineering Solutions infers an approximation to the shape of the surface that most likely produced these elements. A message appears in the status bar indicating the largest change in node location encountered during the final iteration.

Option	Action
smooth: elements	Select the elements you want to smooth.
anchor: nodes	Select the node(s) to be anchored. For example, an anchor node might be used at a weld site.
iterations =	Specify the number of passes you wish the smoothing algorithm to run. The default number of iterations is 1. Note: Each pass will progressively improve overall mesh quality, but each pass takes time, therefore very large models may take substantial time to smooth if the number of iterations is high.
mesh algorithm options	Select the behavior of the smooth function. autodecide Calculate the lengths of all of the elements' edges to find the extreme values. If the ratio of smallest to largest is below a certain threshold, it uses the shape correcting algorithm; otherwise, it uses the size correcting algorithm. size correcting Moderate variations in element edge size through the mesh using a modified Laplacian over-relaxation that correctly handles mixtures of quad and tria elements. shape correcting Moderate variations in element aspect ratio through the mesh using a modified isoparametric-centroidal over-relaxation that correctly handles mixtures of quad and tria elements. angle correcting Globally minimize the average deviation of element angles from their ideal values. QI Optimization Adjust the nodes to the target quality index value that you define in order to reduce the quality index of the selected elements. Selecting QI optimization enables sub-options. time limit Specify an optional time limit that the optimization loop can use to optimize large models. keep nodes on geometry edges Smooth nodes on shared edges by moving them along the edge, and not across. Figure 1. Before Optimized Smoothing Figure 2. Optimized Smoothing, Keep Nodes on Geometry Edges Disabled Figure 3. Optimized Smoothing, Keep Nodes on Geometry Edges Enabled feature angle Specify the feature angle to determine the feature lines of the selected elements that the smoothing algorithm honors. use current criteria / criteria file Choose whether to use the current element criteria file (use current criteria), or use a different file (criteria file), which can by selected by clicking load. recursive optimization procedure / single optimization procedure Choose whether to run a single smoothing step (single optimization step), or multiple smoothing steps (recursive optimization procedure) until an internal convergence is reached.

Solids Subpanel

Use the Solids subpanel to optimize mesh consisting of 3D elements.

Option	Action
elems	Select the 3D elements to smooth.
iterations	Specify the number of passes you wish the smoothing algorithm to run. The default number of iterations is 1. Note: Each pass will progressively improve overall mesh quality, but each pass takes time, therefore very large models may take substantial time to smooth if the number of iterations is high.

Command Buttons

Button	Action
smooth	Perform the specified number of smoothing passes.
reject	Revert the most recent smoothing command.
return	Exit the panel.