Using the geometry diagnostic tools

This section describes how you can use the geometry diagnostic tools to locate the following in a part or part instance in the current viewport:

Geometry

  • Invalid entities: Abaqus/CAE highlights the regions of the part or part instance that have invalid geometry.

    Toggle on Update validity to update the status of the selected part or part instance. If an invalid part has become valid, it is marked as valid in the Model Tree. If a valid part has become invalid, Abaqus/CAE displays a warning message that allows you to ignore the invalid status and continue using the part.

  • Imprecise entities: Abaqus/CAE highlights the regions of the part that have imprecise geometry.

For more information on invalid geometry, see What is a valid and precise part?, and Working with invalid parts.

Topology

  • Free edges: Abaqus/CAE highlights the free edges of the part or part instance, including shell and wire edges. A solid part should not contain any free edges.

  • Solid cells: Abaqus/CAE highlights the solid cells of the part or part instance.

  • Shell faces: Abaqus/CAE highlights the shell faces of the part or part instance.

  • Wire edges: Abaqus/CAE highlights the wire edges of the part or part instance. Wire edges are wires, as opposed to edges of a solid or shell feature.

Small geometry

Small entities such as short edges, small faces, and faces with small face corner angles can affect the mesh quality. You can use the following tools to locate these regions:

  • Edges shorter than: Abaqus/CAE highlights edges shorter than the specified length. The specified length must be 1×10−6 or greater.

  • Faces smaller than: Abaqus/CAE highlights faces smaller than the specified area. The specified area must be 1×10−12 or greater.

  • Face corner angles less than: Abaqus/CAE highlights faces where two edges meet at an angle less than the specified angle. The specified angle must be less than 90°. Abaqus/CAE meshes faces with small corner angles with elements that have a high aspect ratio that affect the mesh quality.

Related Topics
Importing and exporting geometry data and models
Editing techniques
The Set and Surface toolsets

  1. From the main menu bar, select ToolsQuery, or click the tool in the Query toolbar to start the Query toolset.

  2. From the Query dialog box, select Geometry diagnostics. If the viewport contains multiple part instances, select the one that you want to query.

    Abaqus/CAE displays the Geometry Diagnostics dialog box.

  3. Toggle on the desired geometry diagnostic options and specify a new value, if desired.

  4. Click Highlight.

    • Abaqus/CAE highlights any regions with the corresponding invalid, imprecise, or small geometry you selected. If the part size is relatively large, short edges and small faces, even though highlighted, may not be visible. To help you find these short edges and small faces, Abaqus/CAE displays markers around the highlighted regions.

    • If you selected Update validity, Abaqus/CAE also checks and updates the validity status of the part or assembly. The validity checks can be computationally expensive for complex geometry.

    • If no regions are found for a particular diagnostic tool, Abaqus/CAE displays a message in the message area.

  5. If desired, click Create Set in the prompt area to create a geometry set containing the highlighted regions. In the dialog box that appears, enter a name for the set and click Continue.

    The Geometry Edit toolset provides tools to repair regions that are invalid or imprecise. The Geometry Edit toolset allows you to specify a set when you select a region to repair.

    Note:

    You can view geometry diagnostics for the reference representation by toggling on Apply to reference representation. However, items from the reference representation will be excluded from created geometry sets because the reference representation cannot be repaired. For more information, see Understanding the reference representation.