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what's new-Exploring
Moldflow Plastics Insight 3.0 Finite-Element Meshing Capabilities
By Dean Piepiora, Moldflow Corporation
The enhanced user interface available in Moldflow Plastic Insight (MPI)
version 3.0 now provides significantly improved finite-element mesh creation,
diagnostic, and editing tools that allow organizations to speed products
to market faster at more economic costs. It's now easier than ever to
create the right mesh for the analysis you want to perform, whether you
start from scratch or with a CAD solid model. You'll also find new wizards
to streamline cavity duplication, runner creation, and cooling circuit
creation in the MPI environment.
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Midplane mesh
The midplane mesh, or thin-shell mesh, is the basic model format
required for traditional MPI analyses of thermoplastic and thermoset
molding processes. A midplane mesh represents a solid model of a
thin-wall part with triangular elements that are formed by three
co-planar nodes and have thickness values assigned to add the third
dimension. In MPI 3.0, you can create a midplane mesh by creating
the surfaces and regions manually. Moldflow also offers the optional
Midplane Generator, which automatically classifies and matches the
corresponding elements and collapses them to a midplane mesh, complete
with the appropriate thickness assigned.
MPI/Fusion mesh
The MPI/Fusion mesh is based on Moldflow's patented dual-domain
technology and represents a solid model of a thin-wall part with
midplane mesh elements and surface (double-skin) shell elements.
An MPI/Fusion mesh more closely matches the exact shape of the 3D
model and is much faster and easier to create than a midplane mesh.
An MPI/Fusion mesh is created automatically when you mesh a solid
model in MPI 3.0. New in this release is the ability to visualize
and modify the thickness of an MPI/Fusion mesh. Mesh editing has
been extended to better support local refinement, and tools are
provided to re-match meshes between top and bottom surfaces. An
MPI/Fusion mesh can be used for MPI/Flow, Cool, Warp, Shrink, Fiber,
and Optim analyses, and new in MPI 3.0, for Reactive Molding and
Microchip Encapsulation analyses as well.
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More Analysis Options for Mesh Types |
3D TET mesh
For thick and chunky parts, true 3D analysis is required to simulate
the molding process accurately. A 3D TET mesh represents a solid model
with tetrahedral, solid volume elements. The 3D TET mesh provides the
most accurate representation of the actual part geometry. A 3D TET mesh
is required for MPI/Flow3D and Cool3D analyses, and new in MPI 3.0, the
Reactive Molding module also accepts a 3D TET mesh. Also new in MPI 3.0
is an automatic tetrahedral mesh generator used to create 3D TET meshes
automatically from your CAD solid model.
Mesh diagnostics and editing tools
No matter which type of mesh you use, depending on the complexity of
the initial geometry, you may have to edit the mesh to clean it up before
it is ready for analysis. Use the comprehensive Mesh Statistics report
to assess mesh quality. The Mesh Statistics report tells you the number
of nodes and elements, as well as the types of elements, included in your
model. It also identifies mesh quality problems, such as elements that
overlap, have high aspect ratio, or are not oriented correctly.
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Your next step is to use the Mesh Diagnostics tools to highlight
specific areas where you need to focus your mesh editing tasks.
MPI 3.0 provides a number of powerful mesh editing tools for performing
operations such as merging, inserting, and moving nodes automatically
or manually. MPI 3.0 also provides enhanced remeshing capabilities
that function on a local or global level, allowing you to control
the density of the mesh generated on your model. This is particularly
important in areas of your model where you need a much finer mesh
for improved simulation accuracy, such as on a living hinge.
Many of the mesh diagnostics results can be presented either as
a Text Output, which opens a new window with a description or list,
or as a Display, which is highlighted directly on your mesh model
as a shaded plot. As you edit your mesh, the diagnostics display
will update actively, so you can see when you have corrected each
problem area. You can choose to place the diagnostic display in
a diagnostics layer, which will allow you to turn off the rest of
your mesh and make it much easier to edit the elements that need
to be addressed.
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Enhanced remeshing capabilities let you control
the mesh density on a local or
global level -you can improve simulation accuracy by specifying
a finer mesh to
better capture informationin critical areas of your model.
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New wizards streamline modeling tasks
Use the Cavity Duplication Wizard to create a multi-cavity layout
and position the cavities before you create a runner system. You
can position the cavities automatically so that the gates are in
line, then use the Runner Wizard to connect all the cavities, or
model the runner system manually.
Use the Runner Wizard to create and lay out a runner system automatically,
complete with sprue, runners, and gates. You can specify the sprue
position and choose hot or cold runners; specify the dimensions
of the sprue and runners, as well as of the drops if you chose hot
runners; and specify the dimensions of the gates.
Use the Circuit Wizard to create and lay out a simple mold cooling
system automatically. Use these cooling circuits to run a cooling
analysis immediately, or as the basis for a more complex cooling
system that you add manually.
To get detailed information about the new modeling and meshing
capabilities in MPI 3.0 and all of Moldflow's design optimization
solutions and services, visit www.moldflow.com.
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Use the new mesh diagnostics and editing tools to change
the
thickness of a MPI/Fusion model directly in the MPI 3.0 environment.
The diagnostic display is updated automatically to give you a
visual
cue that the change has been made.
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