Input

Action

(Entity switch)

Use this switch to choose between elems, comps, or groups.

This determines which type of entity you will select to be checked for penetration or intersection.  In any case, the penetrating elements will be found; for example, picking two components locates elements from each component that penetrate elements of the other.

all interferences /
intersections only /
penetrations only

Use this switch to choose which type of interferences to check for.

Remember, solid entities only register penetrations in conjunction with shell elements. With other solids, they only register intersections.

2D and 3D elements /
2D only elements /
3D only elements

Use this switch to choose which type of elements to check.

If you choose 2D only or 3D only, HyperMesh only checks elements of the specified type for penetration.  Elements in the selected entities which are not of that dimensional type will be ignored, even if they penetrate or intersect another entity.

allowable interference depth

Optional: This enables a tolerance for penetration checking; for example, if you check a model of a part measured in millimeters, and are not concerned about penetrations of less than a tenth of a millimeter, you could set this field to a value of 0.1.  The penetration tool would then ignore any elements that penetrated each other by 1/10 of a millimeter or less, but still locate and highlight elements with a penetration depth greater than 1/10 mm.

In addition, some solvers will not permit direct, adjacent contact between elements (for example a penetration depth of exactly zero, with no space between elements.)  For such solvers, you should set this field to any negative value (such as -0.1).  This allows the penetration tool to locate and display elements that are exactly adjacent to one another as if they were penetrating each other, so that you can use the penetration fixing tools to add some space between them.

component thickness /
thickness multiplier /
uniform thickness

Optional: use the third switch to specify a thickness adjustment. This switch does not display when you run the check on groups, because a group’s thickness is defined by its control card.

You can also use this option to determine the proximity between non-penetrating parts by specifying a thickness greater than the minimum distance between the selected elements.

include self interference

If you wish to check for components that intersect or penetrate themselves (for instance, due to high curvature in the component), activate the include self interference checkbox.

This option is computationally intensive, so Altair does not recommend using it when checking large numbers of elements for penetration.

Button

Action

check

The selected components, elements, or groups are checked for penetration and/or intersection.  A message in the status bar displays the percentage progress of each step in the check.

If for some reason you wish to abort a check, you can do so by right-clicking in the graphics area and holding the button down.  The exact length of time that you must hold the button depends on the size and complexity of the check you are running; the check will cancel once its completion percentage increments.  When the check aborts, the status bar turns red and displays a message stating that the check was canceled.

Once completed, the results are displayed in the Penetration tab.

return

Exit the panel.