Hex Meshing

Use the Hex tool to create a mesh of solid elements.

While the Solid Map tool can automatically create 3D mesh directly on solids as long as the solids you select are already mappable, hex meshing depends on an existing 2D mesh, which is then extrapolated into a 3D mesh based on the parameters you input.



Figure 1.
  • Two opposing faces are called "Source" and "Target" faces.
  • One or more faces that directly connect and enclose the volume between the source and target are called "Guide" faces.
  • The drag direction is the vector from the source face to the destination face.

Create Hex Mesh

  1. From the Mesh ribbon, click the Hex tool.


    Figure 2.
  2. Click on the guide bar to set parameters for meshing.
    Set the element size or density to be defined in the along direction. This determines the number of elements along the depth of the mapping.
    The biasing style works in conjunction with biasing intensity. If intensity is "0", biasing is not applied.


    Figure 3. No biasing


    Figure 4. Linear


    Figure 5. Bell Curve


    Figure 6. Exponential
    The following advanced options are available.
    Apply orthogonally along extrusion
    Keep the solid elements generated more perpendicular to the surface faces in the along direction
    Optimize hex elements
    Optimization is performed to improve Jacobian and warpage quality. Avoids negative Jaobian elements.
  3. Select source geometry that defines the source face of the 3D volume.
    These can be surfaces, elements, or 2D/3D topological faces.
  4. Create hex mesh in one of the following ways:
    Option Description
    Along vector
    1. In the microdialog, set a density value or an element size if not already defined in the options menu.
    2. Enter a thickness value or drag the manipulator to create hex mesh along the element normal.
      Tip:
      • Click to pick the global X/Y/Z, screen normal, screen parallel, and/or a user-defined direction instead.
      • Click to flip the normal direction.


    Figure 7.


    Figure 8. . 1D elements converted to 2D elements along a vector.
    With Guides/Targets (Optional)
    1. Click the Guides selector.
    2. Select the geometry that defines the face of the 3D volume along which you wish to map the mesh.

      When elements are used, the mapped mesh maintains the nodal positions with selected elements. They can be equivalenced to have common nodes. While selecting nodes, each selection should represent an edge that connects the source and destination.

    3. Click the Target selector.
    4. If desired, select geometry that you wish the 3D mesh to match up with.


      Figure 9.
    5. In the microdialog, set a density value or an element size if not already defined in the options menu.
    Figure 10. . Mesh created with source elements and a midline as a guide.
    Figure 11. . Mesh created with source elements and surfaces/lines as guides.
    Figure 12. . Mesh created with source elements and multiple faces and elements as guides. Topo(2D/3D) element faces are supported.
    Figure 13. . Mesh created with source elements and multiple node paths as guides.
  5. Optional: On the guide bar, Equivalence all of the elements in the solidmap component and create the faces (^faces component) for that component.
    This function is optional and does not directly impact the solidmap functionality. It allows you to perform faster and easier solid modeling. The solidmap component is equivalenced with an initial tolerance of 1% of element size. When this function is performed, a message is displayed informing you of the number of nodes equivalenced along with the tolerance value used. Any subsequent use of this function without performing additional solid mapping increases the tolerance (to a maximum of 10% element size) before equivalencing again.

HyperWorks displays the progress of the solid map meshing process in the status bar. Upon completion, HyperWorks displays a report of the mesh quality. The element quality value reported is the worst scaled Jacobian in the mesh. The scaled Jacobian's value may range from 0.0 to 1.0(best). An elem's scaled Jacobian is a ratio of the elem Jacobian over the Jacobian of an ideal elem of the same configuration.