Merging elements

Select MeshEdit from the main menu bar to merge adjacent orphan mesh elements. The merged elements have the same element type and basic shape as the originals. You can merge elements in the mesh only if the element domain contains only linear elements.

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What can I do with the Edit Mesh toolset?

  1. Enter the Mesh module. Select Part from the Object field in the context bar, and select a part that contains orphan mesh elements from the list.

  2. From the main menu bar, select MeshEdit.

    Abaqus/CAE displays the Edit Mesh dialog box.

    Tip: You can also display the Edit Mesh dialog box using the tool, located at the bottom of the Mesh module toolbox.

  3. From the Category field, choose Mesh.

  4. From the Method list, select Merge layers.

  5. Select the elements that you want to merge. You can use any of the following methods:

    • Select elements from the viewport. You can select elements individually, by angle, by feature edge, or by topology (for more information, see Selecting objects within the current viewport). Click mouse button 2 when you have finished making selections.

    • Select one or more existing element sets. Click Sets on the right side of the prompt area to display the Region Selection dialog box containing a list of available sets. Select one or more sets from the list, and click Continue.

    Elements being merged must be adjacent to each other.

    Note:

    The default selection method is based on the selection method you most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click Select in Viewport or Sets on the right side of the prompt area.

  6. Select an element edge to indicate the merge direction.

    Abaqus/CAE attempts to merge the elements. If merging the elements will create incompatibilities in the mesh, Abaqus/CAE highlights the nodes at which the incompatibilities will occur and asks if you want to continue. Click Yes to merge the elements or No to clear your selections and return to Step 4.

    Tip: If you make a mistake while merging elements in a mesh, click Undo in the Edit Mesh dialog box to undo the change. Abaqus/CAE restores the original mesh.

After editing an orphan mesh, you should always verify node-, element-, and surface-based features such as section assignments, loads, and interactions to ensure that they are correctly applied to the modified mesh.