Physics Preference

Physics Preference option allows you to establish how Workbench performs meshing based on the physics of the analysis type that you specify. The available options are:

  • Mechanical

  • Nonlinear Mechanical

  • Electromagnetics

  • CFD

  • Explicit

  • Hydrodynamics

The value of the Physics Preference option sets the default for various meshing controls, as detailed in the following table.

Note:

  • The solver options for the Mechanical physics preference appear within the Mechanical application only, and only under certain circumstances. See Solver Preference for more information.

  • When Physics Preference is Hydrodynamics, the only properties you can set are Element Size and Defeature Size. The meshing controls that appear in the table below are not applicable to the Hydrodynamics physics preference. Therefore, Hydrodynamics is not included in the table. Refer to Overview of the Meshing Process for Hydrodynamics Analysis for related information.

  • When the Physics Preference is Explicit, the quality based meshing considers Aspect Ratio (Height) for Patch Conforming Tetrahedron Method. Also, in the Mesh Details view under Advanced options, the Triangle Surface Mesher is set to Advancing Front by default. This provides more uniform triangle meshing. If the Multizone Mesh Method is selected, the Use Split Angle in Advanced option is enabled to give automatically more orthogonal meshing for many cases.

  • Refer to the Meshing Overview section for further details about physics based meshing.

Meshing ControlPhysics Preference
MechanicalNonlinear MechanicalElectromagneticsCFDExplicit
Mechanical APDL Solver Ansys Rigid Dynamics Solver CFX-Solver Fluent Solver Polyflow Classic Solver
Element Order Program Controlled Linear (Read-only) Program Controlled Quadratic N/A N/A N/A Linear
Straight Sided Elements No N/A No Yes N/A N/A N/A N/A
Element Size Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor 0.5 * Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor 0.5 * Assembly Diagonal * Bounding Box Factor
Sizing Options Capture Curvature set to No for sheet bodies; otherwise Use Adaptive Sizing set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes for shell models; otherwise Use Adaptive Sizing set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes Use Adaptive Sizing set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes Capture Curvature set to Yes for solid bodies and No for sheet bodies
Transition / Growth Rate Fast / 1.85 for solid bodies and 1.2 for sheet bodies Fast / 1.85 for solid bodies and 1.2 for sheet bodies N/A/ 1.5 Fast /1.85 for solid bodies and 1.2 for sheet bodies Slow/ 1.2 Slow / 1.2 Slow / 1.2 Slow / 1.5
Span Angle Center / Curvature Normal Angle Coarse / 70.395° Coarse / 70.395° N/A / 60° Coarse / 70.395° Fine / 18° Fine / 18° Fine / 18° Coarse / 72°
Error Limits Aggressive Mechanical Aggressive Mechanical Nonlinear Mechanical Electromagnetics CFD CFD CFD Explicit
Smoothing Medium Medium N/A Medium Medium Medium Medium High
Inflation Algorithm Pre Pre Pre Pre Pre Pre Pre Pre
Collision Avoidance Stair Stepping Stair Stepping Stair Stepping Stair Stepping Stair Stepping Layer Compression Stair Stepping Stair Stepping
Transition Ratio 0.272 0.272 0.272 0.272 0.77 0.272 0.272 0.272
Rigid Body Behavior Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Dimensionally Reduced Full Mesh
Mesh Quality Workflow TargetsElement QualityElement QualitySkewness, Jacobian Ratio (Corner Nodes)Jacobian Ratio (Corner Nodes)Element QualitySkewnessSkewnessElement Quality, Aspect Ratio (Height), Characteristic Length (LS-Dyna)
Defeature Size0.0050.0050.0050.0050.0050.0050.0050.1*Element Size