Using Abaqus Element Quality Checks

The Abaqus element quality checks are part of the Quality Analysis tool available in the Advanced Meshing Tools workbench. You can use the Quality Analysis tool to verify the overall quality of a mesh in CATIA V5. The tool is available for all CATIA V5 users who have a license for FMS, FMD, or ACP. The Quality Analysis tool includes many checks that are unrelated to Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Thermal Analysis. See Analyzing Element Quality in the CATIA V5 Advanced Meshing Tools User's Guide for more information on checking meshes in CATIA.

The following quality checks within the Quality Analysis tool correspond directly to Abaqus element quality warnings and errors:

  • Min. Tetra Angle (deg)

  • Max. Tetra Angle (deg)

  • Modified Tetra Jacobian

  • Skewness

  • Nodes Jacobian

The first three checks were created specifically to support element checking for Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Thermal Analysis. Their default settings correspond to Abaqus element quality warnings and errors. The Skewness and Nodes Jacobian checks are existing CATIA element checks; you must modify the default settings to use these checks with Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Thermal Analysis. Table 8–1 contains the desired settings for each of the Abaqus element quality checks in the Quality Analysis tool.

Table 8–1 Element check warnings and errors.

Quality Check Element Families Error or Warning Settings
C3D4 C3D10 C3D10M
Min. Tetra Angle (deg)     X Error 0.1 (default “bad”)
X X X Warning 10 (default “poor”)
Max. Tetra Angle (deg)     X Error 179.9 (default “bad”)
X X X Warning 160 (default “poor”)
Modified Tetra Jacobian     X Error 0 (default “bad”)
Skewness X   X Error 1 (non-default “bad”)
X   X Warning 0.98 (non-default “poor”)
Nodes Jacobian   X   Error 0 (default “bad”)
  X   Warning 0.2 (default “poor”)

This task shows you how to activate the predefined Abaqus element quality checks included with the CATIA V5 installation.

  1. Click the Quality Analysis icon in the Advanced Meshing Tools workbench.

  2. Click the Import Criteria icon .

    The Import Criteria List dialog box appears.

  3. Select Abaqus_Tetra_Checks, and click OK.

    The Abaqus criteria are loaded in place of the default CATIA V5 mesh criteria.

  4. Click OK in the Quality Analysis dialog box.

    CATIA displays a warning dialog indicating that the quality criteria have been changed.

  5. Click Yes to save your changes in the model.

Alternatively, you can manually set the Abaqus quality analysis criteria to the values in Table 8–1. Toggle on the desired criteria, and click the ellipsis (...) button to the right of a selection to view or edit the settings.