Abstract
During the last decade, virtual product modelling and CAE simulation have
gained their respected position in Automotive Industry. Within the framework of successfully
established processes, continuous improvement is pursued in order to meet the universal
requirements for more simulation scenarios, in less time, with higher reliability and reduced
cost.
Such improvement is being sought in all stages of CAE simulation, including pre-processing,
solving and post-processing. Much attention is focused on the automation of the overall
process but also on the automation of distinct process steps. A primary target is the
acceleration of the generation of high quality and error free simulation models by liberating
users from error prone tedious tasks. One of the distinct pre-processing steps which can be
significantly automated and lead to a noticeable quality improvement and time reduction is
the meshing of BiW models.
This paper presents how the ANSA Batch Meshing Manager, a fully GUI driven tool
integrated into ANSA pre-processing software, proved to be a powerful tool for the versatile
and controllable meshing of BiW panels by meeting Automotive Industry´s requirements.
This special tool was developed by analyzing these requirements, from around the world, in a
technologically multicultural environment. This tool handles the meshing specifications, both
feature wise and quality wise and produces functional meshed models in fractions of time
than the manual operation used to.
The key features that contribute to reaching the meshing targets are being presented through
indicative modelling cases. The merits of the application of the ANSA Batch Meshing
Manager are also being stressed, supported by comparisons of the results from alternative
meshing approaches.
The presented ANSA Batch Meshing Manager has already been successfully deployed and
integrated within automotive OEMs and engineering services providers´ processes and this
presentation is anticipated to trigger discussions on Industry´s requirements for further
development in the field of BiW FE models pre-processing.
Keywords: meshing, batch meshing, ANSA, process automation