Cubit 15.2 User Documentation
The Cubit Geometry and Meshing Toolkit team at Sandia has taken on the ambitious task of reducing the time for simulation by specifically addressing the bottlenecks in the mesh generation process. It is not unusual for the meshing process to take upwards of three-quarters of the entire simulation time. With its many tools developed for a wide range of application areas, it takes time to gain enough proficiency in Cubit to quickly generate a mesh from a complex geometry. As a result, the Immersive Topology Environment for Meshing (ITEM) was developed. ITEM is a user-interactive meshing tool that guides the user through a typical mesh generation process.
With the ultimate goal of reducing the time to generate a mesh for simulation, ITEM has been developed within the Cubit Geometry and Meshing Toolkit to take advantage of its extensive tool suite. Built on top of these tools it attempts to improve the user experience by accomplishing three main tasks:
In software of any complexity where usage may be occasional or infrequent, the overhead of learning the new tool to a point of proficiency may be daunting. Given a solid model that may have been designed for manufacturing purposes, the analysts may be faced with generating a mesh. They may not be working with Cubit on a daily basis, but would like to take advantage of the powerful tools provided by the software.
To address this, ITEM provides a wizard-like environment that steps the user through the geometry and meshing process. For someone unfamiliar with the software, it provides an interactive, step-by-step set of tools for accomplishing the major tasks in the process. For those more familiar with the tools, it serves as a reminder of the major tasks, but is flexible enough to accommodate a more iterative approach, allowing them to jump between major tasks easily. Currently restricting the workflow to models requiring three-dimensional, solid elements, ITEM uses the following steps:
Solid models used for analysis may have a huge variety of different characteristics that may prevent them from being easily meshed. Questions such as, What are the problems associated with my model? What are the current roadblocks to generating a mesh on this model? and What should I do to resolve the problems, are constantly being asked by the analysts. Without an extensive knowledge of the tools and algorithms, it may be difficult to answer these questions effectively.
ITEM addresses this issue by providing smart options to the user. Based on the current state of the model, it will automatically run diagnostics and determine potential solutions that the user may consider. For example, where unwanted small features may exist in the model, ITEM will direct the user to these features and provide a range of geometric solutions to the problem. Scrolling through the solutions provides a preview of the expected result. The user can then select the solution that seems most appropriate and execute the solution to change or simplify the geometry. This diagnostic-solution approach is the basis for the ITEM design and is the common mode of user interaction while in this environment. This contrasts with the more traditional hunt-and-guess approach of providing the user with an array of buttons and icons that they may choose from and guessing what may result. ITEM, on the other hand, serves in effect, as an expert providing guidance to the user as they proceed through the geometry and meshing process.
With all of the advanced research and development that has gone into the meshing and geometry problem, a push-button solution for any arbitrary solid model may seem like the ideal objective of any meshing tool. Although for many cases, this would be the best solution, for others it may not even be desirable. A push-button solution assumes a certain amount of trust in the geometric reasoning the software chooses to provide. This may be more trust than an occasional user who is tasked with a high consequence simulation may be willing to give. Even if the user is willing to accept full automation, in many cases, the geometric complexity of the model may be beyond the capability of current algorithms to adequately resolve.
On the other hand, once the user is familiar with the characteristics of the solutions that the software provides, they may not be concerned with examining and intervening on every detail of the model creation process. Instead, in the interest of increasing efficiency, they may want the fastest solution possible. Providing the option for the user to automate as much of the geometry and meshing process as possible is another important aspect of ITEM.
For various characteristic geometric problems that are encountered in a solid model, ITEM can determine from the potential geometric solutions, which of them may be most applicable and apply that solution without any user intervention. For many configurations of geometry, a completely automated solution may be available. For others, only a portion of the process may be able to be automated. Where an adequate solution cannot be determined automatically, the smart options described above are available to help guide the user. As new advances in geometric reasoning and advanced meshing algorithms are developed, ITEM will incorporate these into the solutions for automation.
It should be clear that ITEM is not intended to be a fully automated system for meshing solid models. Instead it is intended to be a flexible environment that will guide the user through the model generation process by offering solution alternatives and providing automation should the user choose. The remainder of this document is organized according to the basic workflow used in ITEM. The objective is to describe the general problems that may be encountered in developing an analysis model and how ITEM and Cubit may be used to address the problems. In developing this environment, many new innovative tools were invented and developed to help support this new approach to mesh and model generation.