Dragging nodes

You can drag nodes on a meshed part, a meshed part instance in the assembly, or an orphan mesh. Dragging provides a quick way to reposition nodes and to improve element quality. When you activate the node dragging function, Abaqus/CAE automatically activates the solver element quality checks, highlighting elements with warnings in yellow and highlighting elements with errors in magenta. You can also include tests for shape metrics or size metrics among the tests that Abaqus/CAE automatically performs on elements as you drag nodes. The highlighting is updated as you drag a node into a new position; therefore, you can immediately see whether you are improving the element quality. In general, you cannot use the Edit Mesh toolset to modify the mesh of a dependent part instance; however, you can drag the nodes of a dependent part instance. Abaqus/CAE modifies the nodes of the original mesh, and your modifications appear on all dependent instances of the part.

Related Topics
What can I do with the Edit Mesh toolset?
Verifying element quality

Context:

Dragging nodes does not change their association. Nodes that are associated with a geometric feature prior to dragging will remain associated with that feature; unassociated nodes will remain unassociated after you drag them onto geometry.

  1. Enter the Mesh module, and do one of the following:

    • From the Object field in the context bar, select Assembly.

    • From the Object field in the context bar, select Part, and select a part 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. In the dialog box, do the following:

    1. In the Category field, select Node.
    2. From the Method list, select Drag.

      Abaqus/CAE displays the existing nodes.

  4. If desired, click Element failure criteria from the prompt area to include shape metrics or size metrics among the tests that Abaqus/CAE automatically performs as you drag nodes.

  5. From the prompt area, toggle Project to geometry to control the drag behavior of exterior nodes.

    • If you toggle on Project to geometry, Abaqus/CAE constrains dragged exterior nodes to their associated geometry. You can drag a node on a mesh face as long as it remains within the underlying geometric face. Likewise, you can drag an edge node only along the polyline that created the edge, and you cannot drag a node associated with a vertex. In orphan mesh regions, you can drag any node; but you cannot drag a node beyond the outer edges of the mesh.

    • If you toggle off Project to geometry, Abaqus/CAE constrains dragged nodes to a plane parallel to the computer screen and passing through the original position of the node. Therefore, you can change the available drag locations by using the view manipulation tools before dragging a node. This is also the behavior if you drag interior nodes since they are not constrained to a geometric feature.

  6. Position the cursor over the node you want to move, and click and hold mouse button 1 while dragging the node to a new location.

    When you release mouse button 1, Abaqus/CAE displays the node number and new coordinates in the message area.

  7. Repeat the previous steps as often as necessary to drag additional nodes.