CAD to CAE

Accelerating the CAD to CAE process

CAE analysts must ensure that geometric data is ideally suited for specialist applications. CAE users constantly face CAD model issues that cause meshing failures and have a significant negative impact on analysis lead times including:

• Overly complex, badly defined and corrupt geometry
• CAD model features such as fillets, small holes, short edges, small faces and other modeling artifacts that are valid in CAD but negatively impact and constrain meshability

Analysts can customize ITI’s out-of-the-box solutions for different CAD sources and CAE packages. Customization of various functions includes:

• Collapsing of short edges and sliver faces
• Hole and protrusion removal
• Joining of edges, faces and solids 
• Fillet and round removal
• Feature detection and removal
• Topology imprinting for mesh consistency
• Surface and solid splitting tools
• Surface and solids meshing

Master model-driven FEA, CFD, EM solutions

With ever-shortening product design cycles, simulation tools that provide timely results are more important than ever. The pressure for these tools dictates FEA, CFD and EM analysis be driven off the master model CAD data. While CAD provides the geometry, a great deal of time is still spent to prepare it for analysis.

Some possible reasons for lack of interoperability between CAD and CAE include:

• Un-stitched solids
• Invalid geometry representation or mathematical forms
• Surface normal inconsistency
• Complex unwanted features
• Sliver faces, tiny edges, small diameter holes

These are possible causes for delay in establishing a suitable mesh, applying boundary conditions and getting results. CADfix is uniquely positioned in the CAD-to-CAE data flow with its ability to read and write multiple geometric formats, repair poor quality geometry, and de-feature and simplify complex geometric definitions. In the end, CAE analysts are starting with much more robust geometric definitions for their analytical needs.

Start using CADfix for CAD to CAE

CADfix

CADfix solves data exchange and re-use problems between different engineering systems and applications. CADfix translation and repair tools allow users to import CAD data and then repair and manipulate it to suit the downstream application, with the main objective to eliminate expensive CAD model repair and rework. The result of more than two decades of ongoing research and development, CADfix offers true interoperability between a comprehensive selection of CAD, CAM and CAE systems through an unrivaled series of automatic and manual geometry manipulation tools.

To learn more, visit the CADfix Product Page.

CAE Pre- and post- processing

CAE modeling technology package

The CADfix CAE modeling solution (CADfix CAE) provides the tools necessary to prepare models for finite element, boundary element, and finite difference analysis. The interactive graphics environment simplifies geometry creation and manipulation. Models can be imported from CAD data and CADfix CAE used to clean them and prepare them for meshing. Boundary conditions, loadings, material and physical properties can be defined and assigned to the model. Advanced capabilities include allowing users to define multi-point constraints and interpolating analysis results onto a new mesh as a loading.

These images show a CAD model that has been imported, de-featured to varying levels, and meshed using a selection of the different mesh styles available within CADfix CAE.

Meshing

CADfix CAE meshing provides mesh generation to create volume, surface and beam element meshes. These can be quad or triangular meshes for surfaces, or tetrahedral or hexahedral for volumes. The finite difference mesher produces Cartesian grids for wires, surfaces and volumes. Meshing tools enable the set-up of controls for meshing, whether element size, meshing algorithm or the lattice grading for finite difference meshes. A range of mesh quality checking facilities is provided to ensure mesh integrity.

Results presentation

CADfix CAE also gives users powerful visualization facilities for analysis results. These include:

• Contour plots
• Animation graphing
• Model probe line plots
• Sections
• Polar plotting – 3D and 2D graphs

This image shows a CADfix CAE model of the Eurofighter 2000 aircraft. British Aerospace created this model based on importing data from CATIA. The geometry was meshed and analyzed for lightning strike behavior. The results shown in the image are from this analysis, taken at sections cut through the aircraft and the surrounding airspace.

Medial object technology

ITI's Geometric Reasoning technology is currently in development for selective deployment within controlled and limited customer applications. Geometric Reasoning is accomplished based on the Medial Object of a solid, which is a skeletal representation providing a comprehensive source of information for a variety of applications. Many engineering scenarios require more extensive geometric information than typical CAD or Product Data Interoperability software products can provide. This is the goal of Geometric Reasoning technology.

The Medial Object is constructed by rolling a disc around inside a face, or a sphere inside a volume. The locus of the center of the maximal diameter disc/sphere forms the Medial Object. The Medial Object also carries radius information, and is thus a complete representation of the original object.

Typical applications of CADfix Geometric Reasoning using embedded Medial Object Technology include:

• Mid-surface computation
• Geometry subdivision for finite element meshing
• CFD domain partitioning
• Machine tool cutter path definition
• Feature recognition
• Automatic model de-featuring
• Shelling of a volume model
• New applications still to be determined with customers

For more information, visit the Medial Object Technology Page.