Parts imported into Mechanical are a grouping or a collection of bodies as defined by the CAD application you use to define the parts.
Multibody Parts
Imported parts are a grouping or a collection of bodies. Parts can include multiple bodies and are referred to as multibody parts. Parts may consist of:
One or more solid bodies.
One or more surface bodies.
One or more line bodies.
Combinations of line and surface bodies.
Combinations of solid and shell bodies (for models imported from DesignModeler, SpaceClaim, or External Model).
All other combinations are not practically supported.
Note: Body objects in the tree that represent a multibody part do not report centroids or moments of inertia in their respective Details view.
Meshing Multibody Parts
The mesh for multibody parts created in SpaceClaim or DesignModeler share nodes where the bodies touch one another. This facilitates the multiple parts having common nodes at the part interfaces.
Collapsing Line Bodies in SpaceClaim
For line body models in SpaceClaim, by default, the application imports one line body for every edge present in the body in SpaceClaim. This may create an undesirable number of bodies in Mechanical. To facilitate a more manageable model, SpaceClaim enables you to “collapse” all of the line bodies that have the same cross section, material, and that touch one another, into one body by setting the Share Topology property to either or . See the Shared topology in Ansys section in the SpaceClaim Online Help for additional information about the Share Topology property.
Working with Parts
There are several useful and important manipulations that can be performed with parts in an assembly.
The part can include solid and shell geometries.
Each part may be assigned a different material.
Parts can be hidden for easier visibility.
Parts can be suppressed, which effectively eliminates the parts from treatment.
The contact detection tolerance and the contact type between parts can be controlled.
When a model contains a Coordinate Systems object, by default, the part and the associated bodies use the Global Coordinate System to align the elements. If desired, you can apply a local coordinate system to the part or body. When a local coordinate system is assigned to a Part, by default, the bodies also assume this coordinate system but you may modify the system on the bodies individually as desired.
When you click Freeze Mesh on All Parts, the generated mesh on all parts of the model is frozen. To access Freeze Mesh on All Parts, right-click Geometry in the Tree outline and click Freeze Mesh on All Parts to freeze the mesh. If you try to modify the mesh on the body on which the freeze mesh is applied, a warning message is displayed to unfreeze the mesh. To unfreeze the mesh, right-click Geometry in the Tree outline and click Unfreeze Mesh on All Parts.
When you click Freeze Mesh, only mesh on the selected part is frozen. To access Freeze Mesh, right-click the part on which you want to freeze the mesh in the Tree outline and click Freeze Mesh. The mesh on the selected part will be frozen while the mesh for other parts can be cleared and generated. When you try to modify mesh on the part on which Freeze Mesh is applied, a warning message is generated to unfreeze the mesh on the part. To unfreeze the mesh on the part, right-click the part and click Unfreeze Mesh in the Tree outline.
Note:Freeze Mesh can be applied only if all bodies of the part are meshed.
Mesh Edit, Generate Mesh and Clear Generated Data are disabled on frozen mesh parts. When you perform Mesh Connection, Node merge, Contact Match, Node Move, Morph, Fracture, Generate Mesh, Clear Generated Data on a frozen mesh part, a warning message stating "The mesh on the part is frozen. Please unfreeze the mesh and then mesh edit generate/clear should be allowed." is displayed.
Working with Bodies
There are several useful and important manipulations that can be performed with bodies in a part.
Bodies grouped into a part result in connected geometry and shared nodes in a mesh.
Each body may be assigned a different material.
Bodies can be hidden for easier visibility.
Bodies in a part group can be individually suppressed, which effectively eliminates these bodies from treatment. A suppressed body is not included in the statistics of the owning part or in the overall statistics of the model.
Bodies can be assigned or integration schemes, as described above for parts.
When bodies in part groups touch they will share nodes where they touch. This will connect the bodies. If a body in a part group does not touch another body in that part group, it will not share any nodes. It will be free standing. Automatic contact detection is not performed between bodies in a part group. Automatic contact detection is performed only between part groups.
Bodies that are not in a part group can be declared as rigid bodies.
When a model contains a Coordinate Systems object, by default, bodies use the Global Coordinate System. If desired, you can apply a local coordinate system.
Note: Freeze Mesh cannot be applied on individual bodies.