Clean Tools: Mesh

Description

Detects and addresses common modelling issues such as unused nodes, duplicate elements, bad element connectivity and unconnected elements.

This tool is not applicable to geometry faces (see Clean Tools: Geometry).

Settings tab

ACTIONS

Zip nodes

If set, nodes within the specified zip distance are merged and the corresponding elements are reconnected.

Remove duplicate elements

If set, multiple instances of elements with identical node connectivity are removed, leaving only one instance. The result of this action also depends on the relevant setting on the Options tab.

Fix element connectivity

If set, the following situations are addressed:

Quad4 elements with two nodes within the zip distance are converted to Tri3 elements.
Tri3 elements with three collinear nodes are deleted.
Brick elements with negative Jacobian are renumbered to give positive Jacobian.

Delete free nodes

If set, nodes not connected to any entity are removed.

Delete invalid elements

If set, elements with all zero connections are removed.

Pack string group IDs

If set, unused string group IDs are removed and subsequent string group IDs are packed to form a compact list of contiguous string IDs.

SELECTION

Beams / Plates / Bricks / Links

If set, selected entity types are considered in the cleaning operation.

Act on...

Scope of cleaning operation.

Whole model

Considers the entire model, including unselected and hidden entities.
Selected and visible only

Considers only selected and visible entities.

TOLERANCE

Zip distance

Minimum distance between nodes, below which they are zipped together.

Absolute

Zip distance is defined in the length units of the model.
Relative

Zip distance is defined as a fraction of the nominal size of the model.

Nominal size refers to the largest dimension of a View: Bounding Box that fully encloses the model. The bounding box is parallel to the global Cartesian axes.

Options tab

Node Attributes

Specifies how node attributes are combined if multiple nodes are merged.

Keep lower node

Attributes on the lowest numbered node are transferred to the merged node. Attributes on the other merged nodes are deleted.
Keep higher node

Attributes on the highest numbered node are transferred to the merged node. Attributes on the other merged nodes are deleted.
Accumulate

Attributes from all nodes merged together are transferred to the merged node.

Multiple attributes of the same type are accumulated.

Node Coordinates

Specifies the position of the merged node.

Average

The merged node is located at the Cartesian average of all nodes involved in the merge.
Lower node

The merged node is located at the position of the lowest numbered node.
Higher node

The merged node is located at the position of the highest numbered node.
Selected node

The merged node is located at the Cartesian average of all the selected nodes involved in the merge. If no node is selected within a merged set of nodes, the Average option is used.

Allow duplicates of different property

If set, duplicate elements with identical node connectivity but with different properties (Global: Properties) are not deleted.

Allow duplicates of different group

If set, duplicate elements with identical node connectivity but with different groups (Global: Groups) are not deleted.

Allow zero length beams

If set, beams of zero length are not deleted.

Allow zero length links

If set, links of zero length are not deleted.

Allow duplicate beams with different offsets

If set, duplicate beam elements with identical node connectivity but with different offset attributes (Beam Attributes: Offset) are not deleted.

Allow duplicate plates with different offsets

If set, duplicate plate elements with identical node connectivity but with different offset attributes (Plate Attributes: Offset) are not deleted.

Messages tab

A summary of the cleaning process, outcome and actions taken.

Information includes zip distance, number of zippable nodes, duplicate and collapsed entities, warning messages, etc.