Hi,
I am trying to enable a 3D large deformation finite element simulation with the help of re-zoning method. After each small incremental displacement FE step (in ABAQUS), I need to rezone the mesh in order to eliminate any created element distortions. Currently, the simplest concept I can think of is to keep the element node fixed while changing the connectivity information to form a better mesh.
I understand hypermesh has this pointcloud meshing function (reverse engineering feature) in which surfaces are first constructed basing on the point information. Later, after a solid is built from the created surfaces, the model can be meshed.
However, for my case, I would like to skip this geometry forming process and to automatically generate a mesh directly from the node location I provide. Would it be possible?
The general methodology should be:
(1) Import deformed node position and connectivity matrix from ABAQUS results
(2) Identify boundary nodes basing on the connectivity matrix (or maybe just simply record the boundary nodes in ABAQUS)
(3) Mesh the model with provided node location and element quality criteria -> forming new connectivity matrix with better element quality
(4) Export back to ABAQUS for next increment
Another question would be how to import meshes from ABAQUS (step (1) described above). I know it is possible to do the other way around - hence step (4) with Hypermesh.
Any suggestion and advices? Ideally Hexahedral elements are desired but I guess tetrahedral elements are also fine with hourglass control applied.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Wensong
