Model Analysis

For some models it may be beneficial to remove unnecessary small entities and to fix object misalignments to avoid potential mesh issues. Maxwell includes Model Analysis functions to help you evaluate models you have imported or created. Select Modeler > Model Analysis to see the menu options. Depending on the design and the current selection, some features may not be enabled. The menu includes the following commands.

Note: Before running model analysis, you must remove all command history for the selected object by using the Purge History command. If you need to save the object history, save a separate copy.

After import, you typically perform validation check. This lets you focus on objects and object pairs that have errors and or warnings. The objects that fail should be analyzed by using the Modeler > Model Analysis > Analyze Objects menu item.

Select the objects and invoke Modeler > Model Analysis > Analyze Objects; or, on the Model ribbon, click Heal.

This displays the Analysis Options dialog to allow you to specify settings for entity check level, and small feature detection.

When you OK this dialog box, the initial analysis executes and the Model Analysis dialog is displayed.

Choose the objects that have "Invalid Entities Found" and Perform > Heal Objects.

In most cases, the objects will be healed and the errors fixed.

If errors still persist, choose the edges and faces and click on Delete.
This will replace the selected face/edge object by a tolerant edge/vertex respectively. In some cases the replacement of the face/edge by tolerant edge/vertex will fail.

When models pass the initial validity checks, mesh generation could still fail. The following errors can be present in models: (Refer to Detecting Errors.)

Non-manifold topology. These are non-manifold edges and vertices that are present in the model.

Note: One of the requirements for valid mesh generation is that the surface mesh must be manifold, that is, a plot of all the surface triangles of a 3D solid object should not have any “holes.” Such a mesh is often referred to as a watertight mesh. If there is a hole and you were to fill the object with water, the water would leak out of that hole – the mesh would not be watertight. Zero-area holes (often called cracks) will also “leak.” Having multiple triangles cover the same patch also results in a mesh that is not manifold. Refer to Healing Models, and the list of Related Topics below for information on detecting and correcting such errors.

Object pair intersection. This detects whether pairs of objects intersect.
Small feature detection – small edge length, small face area and sliver face detection.
Misaligned entities detection – detects pairs of faces from objects that can be aligned to remove object intersections. This improves the probability of mesh success.
Mesh failure error display. This is available for single object, object pairs and last simulation run (all objects in a model). Errors reported by the meshing module are reported to the user.

Small feature and misaligned entity errors should be resolved before you invoke the meshing for the model.

By default, the Heal command is automatically applied to imported objects.