Components collect and organize points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements and connectors. Components are intended to be organizational containers for the geometry and FE idealization of a physical part which makes up a product. Components are created, edited, and deleted from the Model browser and are shown under the Component folder. Components also have a component view within the Model browser which lists only components and has advanced options for component creation and editing.

Points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors can be organized into a component using the Organize panel. Every point, line, surface, solid, element, and connector must be organized into one, and only one, component and therefore are mutually exclusive to a component. Newly created points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors are automatically organized into the current component.

The current component is shown in the status bar and is also bold in the Model browser. The current component can be set using the Model browser context sensitive menu on a selected component within the component folder. Components can also be card edited using the Model browser context sensitive menu on selected components.

Components have a display state, on or off, which control the display of all points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors organized within the component in the graphics area. The display state of a component can be controlled using the icons next to the component in the Model browser. Geometry and element display states can be controlled separately for components.

Components also have an active and export state. The active state of a component controls the display state of the component and the listing of the component in the Model browser and any of its views. If a component is active, then its display state is available to be turned on or off and it is listed in the Model browser and any of its views. If a component is inactive, then its display state is turned off permanently and it is not listed in the Model browser or any of its views.  If a find operation "finds" an inactive component, that component will automatically be set to active.

The export state of a component controls whether or not that component and all points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors organized within the component are exported when the custom export option is utilized. The all export option is not affected by the export state of a component. The active and export states of components can be controlled using the Entity State browser.

Components can also be assigned properties and materials. Component property and material assignments are user profile (solver interface) dependent, and are described in the section Element Property and Material Assignment Rules. In general, when a component is assigned a property or material, that property or material assignment is applied to all elements organized within that component. The method of assigning properties and materials at the component level is therefore referred to as indirect property and material assignment. Direct property and material assignment is performed directly on the elements themselves. Direct property and material assignments always take precedence over indirect property and material assignments.

Operations performed on a component affect all points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors within the component. For example, if you delete a component, the points, lines, surfaces, solids, elements, and connectors within the component are also deleted.

The data names associated with components can be found in the data names section of the HyperMesh Reference Guide.

 

Solver Card Support for Components

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See Also:

Browsers

Entities & Solver Interfaces

Include Files

Assemblies