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In this module we will learn about:

Pre-processing Workflow using ANSYS WB tools
What is SpaceClaim Direct Modeler (SCDM)?
Launching SCDM
Interface
File Operations
Working with Assemblies
Shared Topology
Working with Layers
Display and managing views
SpaceClaim Main Tools

Overview

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Core Skills

Creating
Geometry
Repairing Geometry

CFD Modeling

Overall Process

Module 2

Module 3

Module 1

Module 4

Module 5

Module 6

FEA Modeling

SCDM to Workbench

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Industry leading direct modeling tool for rapid concept design and geometry manipulation

Analysis-focused tools to repair, prepare, and optimize models

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) – like approach to create new models OR Import CAD models without CAD connection

Dead model parameterization

No need of native CAD data for parameterization

Freedom to explore solutions without relying on CAD team

More flexibility to make unplanned and local changes

No features + No constraints = No regeneration failures

Short learning curve for engineers without CAD background

Sketching

Modeling

CAD Import & Clean-up

What is SpaceClaim Direct Modeler?

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ANSYS SCDM is launched within Workbench
Right click on “Geometry” and select “New SpaceClaim Geometry”

From Geometry cell of any System

Standalone Session

ANSYS SpaceClaim Direct Modeler is supported only on the ‘Windows’ platform

Launching SpaceClaim Direct Modeler

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Ribbon Toolbar

Structure Panel

Options Panel

Properties Panel

Status Bar

Graphics Window

Quick Access Toolbar

SpaceClaim Interface

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Open, Save, Undo, Redo options available by default on the QAT
Undo (CTRL-Z) can be used to undo your last action. Redo (CTRL-Y) can be used to repeat it.
Frequently used tools can be added to the QAT

Select the down arrow to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
Choose “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” from the drop down list

Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

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Familiar ribbon UI design
Tools categorized in a series of Tabs

File handling
Designing
Displaying
Repairing
Etc.

Each Tab displays relevant tools in organized sections

Display Tab

Repair Tab

Prepare Tab

Ribbon Toolbar

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SpaceClaim Direct Modeler is not a feature-based modeler

Operations are not stored under Structure Tree

This is characteristic of history-based or feature-based modelers

Structure Tree shows the objects/entities

Bodies (solid, surface)
Curves (sketch curves, 3D curves)
Assembly constraints
Origin
Plane

Structure Panel

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Options Panel

Displays options for modifying functions of active SpaceClaim tool

E.g., Pull tool contains option for add material, subtract material, create fillet, chamfer, etc.

Properties Panel

Displays properties of selected entity in Graphics window or Structure panel
Modify property values

Color

Options Panel and Properties Panel

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Mini Toolbar

Contains frequently used options of active tool

Tool Guide

Contains different options to change behavior of active tool

E.g., Tool guide of “Pull” tool contains option for Revolve, Sweep, Scale, etc.

Mini Toolbar

Tool Guide

Tool Guide and Mini Toolbar

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Status Message: Displays message and progress information about current tool

Quick Measurement: Displays simple measurement of selected entities (distance, angle)

Error/Warning Message: Displays error and warning messages

Selection List: Displays list of currently selected objects to the right and being hovered over at the left

Selection Options: Hosts various options for selection

View Controls: Controls for spin, pan, zoom, and switch to previous or next views

Status Message

Quick Measurement

Error/Warning Message

Selection List

Selection options

View controls

Status Bar

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You can select vertices (including centers of circles and ellipses, midpoints of lines, and points on splines), edges, planes, axes, faces, surfaces, rounds, solids, and components.
Most commonly used selection methods are:

Click to select an object.
Double-click to select an edge loop. (Double-click again to cycle through alternate loops.)
Triple-click to select a solid.
Drag to create a selection Box (can also use Lasso, Polygon, and Paint). If you draw the box from left to right, all objects fully enclosed within the box will be selected. If you draw the box from right to left, all objects touching the box will be selected.
Press CTRL+A to select all similar objects, such as faces, edges, or points on the same solid or surface part.
Hold CTRL and select to add or remove items from the selection. Ctrl with box-selection toggles the selection; Shift with box-selection adds to the selection.

Selection options

Selection List

Selection

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Selecting entities

Select vertices (including centers of circles and ellipses, midpoints of lines, and points on splines), edges, planes, axes, faces, surfaces, rounds, solids, and components.

Selection

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Selection Panel: Use the Selection panel to select objects in the same part that are similar or related to the object currently selected. The results list is based on the geometry you select for the search.
The relations available are displayed in the Selection window as per the item selected and items

Power Selection

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Category	Description	Example	Selection types
Coaxial Faces	Objects with the same axis		Coaxial Hole, Protrusion, Cylinder Coaxial protrusion Coaxial cylinder Coaxial surfaces
Edges	Edges that are like the currently selected edge		Edges with same length Edges with same length and same orientation Edges with same length in same face Surface edge loop Hard sheet metal edges
Features	Groups of faces that form protrusions, depressions, inner faces, or that enclose other faces		Protrusion Depression Inner faces Enclosed by
Offset faces	Faces that have an offset relationship defined		All offset baseline faces All offset faces Faces with same offset All coincident faces

Power Selection

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Category	Description	Example	Selection types
Patterns	Pattern members, entire patterns, or recognized patterns		Pattern member Recognized pattern All pattern members
Rounds	Rounds and chamfers		Equal radius rounds Equal or smaller radius rounds Equal or smaller-sized chamfers Variable radius round Faces and chains of faces even if they are composed of a mix of constant and variable faces
Same curve type	Curves of the same color, type, and length		Faces with the same color as the originally selected face
Beams	Beams based on the profile of the currently selected beam	This category is useful when the display is set to Wire Beams, or when you have several profiles that are only slightly different	Beams

Power Selection

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Category	Description	Example	Selection types
Same color	Faces of the same color		Faces
Same hole dimensions	Standard Holes with the same Hole Dimensions		Standard holes
Sheet metal	Sheet metal objects		Miter corners Same Junction type and parameters Beads and forms with the same parameters
Same size	Faces that have the same radius or area		Equal radius cylinder Equal radius hole Equal radius protrusion Faces with the same area Holes equal to or smaller than
Midsurface Face Thickness	Midsurface faces with the same thickness (including zero)	Finding zero thickness faces and surface bodies allows you to verify that thickness has been assigned to all faces and surface bodies in the model.	Faces and Bodies

Power Selection

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Easy-to-use Mouse and View controls to speed up operations and manipulate graphics
Controls listed in “Quick Reference Card”
“Quick Reference Card” can be accessed during SCDM launch

Notice: The controls shown here are true after doing a ‘Reset All’ in File/SpaceClaim Options/Navigation. They can be changed to match those of your CAD Software by changing the Theme or can be customized.

Mouse and View Controls

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Supports import from major CAD packages (CATIA, Pro/E, NX, Solid Works, etc.)

- Separate license not required except for CATIA V5 and V6, JT, and PDF3D

Neutral file formats like STEP and Parasolid are also supported

Additional options for controlling import/export of file formats available in SpaceClaim Options panel

File Formats

SpaceClaim Options

File Handling

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Components are shown on the structure tree and are created automatically

Components can be created manually by:

Right-click any component and select New Component
Right-click an object and select Move to New Component, it will create a component within the Active Component
Ctrl+click multiple objects, then right-click and select Move Each to New Components to create a new component for each object

Activating a component (right-click Activate Component) allows to work with the objects within that component

Components can be copied, cut, pasted, mirrored, renamed and deleted

Working with Assemblies (1)

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Components

Reorder bodies/components using drag and drop

Active Component

Allows to work with objects within that component
Other components get greyed out
To activate, right click on the component and select “Activate Component”

Working with Assemblies (2)

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Open Component

Ability to work on a specific component by opening it in a new session

Right click and select “Open Component”

Changes made to the component objects get reflected in the original model

Component opened in new session

Changes made to component (added fillet)

Changes reflected in original model

Working with Assemblies (3)

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Replace Component

Replace an existing component with another saved component

Reuse existing models

Working with Assemblies (4)

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Shared Topology

SpaceClaim can share topology (face, edge, and vertex connections) between bodies and surfaces in contact that are transferred to Workbench
Shared topology is the only way to achieve a conformal mesh where bodies meet
Shared topology also applies to volume and surface bodies that are enclosed within other volume or surface bodies. This situation is common in analyses involving fluid flow
Shared Topology is passed from SpaceClaim to Workbench when the shared topology property for the parent Component is set to ‘Share’
Solids or Surfaces under the same component will be treated as a multi-body part and will share topology when the property is set

Shared Topology (1)

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Shared Topology Settings

None (default): does nothing to geometry during transfer to ANSYS/Workbench
Merge is used for Baffles:

It merges surfaces with solids and trims away any parts of the surfaces outside of the solid
Faces do not need to intersect
Surfaces that are completely inside a solid are merged with that body

Share: imprints and merges all bodies in the components the result to ANSYS as multi-body part
Group: groups all bodies in the components into a multi-body part but does not merge or share faces and edges of the bodies with each other

Shared Topology (2)

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Shared Topology Examples

Mesher meshes two blocks with shared topology. The blue block will gain a new imprinted face which will be shared between the green and blue blocks.
Mesher creates separate meshes for two parts because they are in different components and the root part has Shared Topology set to None.
The mesh for shared topology is not the same as merged geometry. Here the boxes are merged, and you can see that the mesh is different than it is for two bodies with shared topology.
Note: If a solid body is taken out of parent component which is set to shared topology, it will have no imprints and no shared faces/edges with the previous parent part

Shared Topology (3)

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Beams can share topology with surfaces when:

The end point of the beam lies on the surface:

The path of the beam lies in the surface
The beam intersects a surface at a point
The beams and surfaces must be in the same component which must be set to share

Beams and Shared Topology

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Show contact

This tool in the CAE group on the Prepare tab displays a preview of topology sharing. ‘Show Contact’ lets you see – before sending to Workbench – exactly what topology would be shared.
Allows you to modify/correct the geometry so that it is transferred to Workbench as intended

Show Contact

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Show Contact - Options

Show Contact settings in the Options Panel	Display color	Description
Edge Options		Edge options control the display of connected and disconnected paths (i.e. edges, sketch curves, Beam paths.
Show Edge Junctions	Blue	Shared edges of solids or surfaces and Beams
Show Laminar Edges	Red	Edges of surface bodies that are not connected to anything
Show Free Beams	Orange	Beams that are not entirely connected (i.e. coincident to an edge or embedded within a face.
Vertex Options		Vertex options control the display of connected endpoints (Beam endpoints and intersections).
Show Beam Junctions	Blue	Shared points on Beams (i.e. shared endpoints or interior intersections).
Show Beam Ends	Red	Non-shared endpoints of Beams.

Show Contact

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Layers

Useful for grouping objects based on visual characteristics

Visibility

Click bulb icon to change visibility

Objects are hidden

Objects are visible

Color
Linestyle, not for 3D objects

Right click in Layers panel and select “New” to create a new layer

Set appropriate layer color
All new objects created in this layer will have the same layer color

To add selected objects to a layer, right click on the desired layer and select “Assign To Layer”

Working with Layers

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Views

Change shortcuts for standard views
Create custom views to save object orientation and visibility
Control visibility behavior for custom views

Leave Unchanged: New objects retain their visibility
Visible: New objects become visible
Hidden: New Objects get hidden

Create View Panel

Managing Views

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Display tab

Hosts several features for managing display of geometry

Cut, Copy, Paste objects
Standard and custom view
Change object color
Manage layers
Change graphics mode

Wireframe, shaded etc.

Rendering options
Change transparency
Arrange graphics windows
Etc.

Change Transparency

Opaque

Transparent

Display (1)

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Display tab

Change face color

Select face
Right click and open Color panel
Select “Face” target
Select desired color

Display (2)

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Enables you to create a clip volume around an object so that you can selectively isolate a specific region of a design:

Right click on the area you want to view and click Clip with Volume > Set using selection then release the mouse
Right click and select Clip with Volume > Select. In the Properties panel, you can choose between a sphere and a cube and change the center and the radius.
Right click and select Clip with Volume > Resize to change the dimensions

Display: Clip with volume

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There are 4 main Tools in SpaceClaim that must be known by all the users:

Pull Tool

Move Tool

Fill Tool

Combine Tool

Notice: In this Module we will just give a brief description of these tools

For more information, please consult the Module 2: Creating Geometry

SpaceClaim Main Tools

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Used to convert sketches to 3D

Pulling a line creates a surface
Pulling a surface creates a solid

Distort or deform existing geometry

Drag the selected object in a chosen direction when Pull tool is active

Multi-functional tool

Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, Offset and Draft faces
Create Rounds (Fillets), Chamfers or Extrude edges
Pull a point to create Line

Several tool guides available to alter its behaviour

Pull Tool

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Multi functional tool

Translate
Rotate
Pattern

Move handle guides the direction of movement

Translational movement along 3 “linear” axes
Rotational movement along 3 “curved” axis

Drag the selected object along the Move handle axis (linear, curved) to facilitate Move
Distort or deform existing geometry
Several tool guides available to alter tool behaviour

Move Handle

Translation movement

Rotational movement

Move Tool

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Fill selected region with surrounding surface or solid

Acts as a “healing” tool to remove:

Fillets
Chamfers
Holes
Protrusions
Depressions

Fill Tool

Notice: Sometimes a simple delete after

selecting the entities can replace the Fill Tool

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Perform Boolean operations

Add
Subtract

By default, second selected object acts as a cutter to perform subtract operation

Cutter tool guide gets activated once a body is selected

Select multiple objects using “Ctrl” key to add them

“Merge” tool guide gets activated automatically

Option to delete or retain left over region after subtract operation

“Regions to Remove” tool guide automatically gets activated after subtract operation

Merge multiple objects

Select cylinder as cutter

Select region to remove

Combine Tool

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What have we learnt in this session?

What is the normal Pre-processing Workflow within ANSYS WB tools?
What is SpaceClaim Direct Modeler (SCDM)?
Launching SCDM
SpaceClaim Interface
File Operations
Working with Assemblies
Shared Topology options
How to work with layers?
How to manage views?
SpaceClaim Main Tools: pull, move, fill and combine

Summary

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Workshop 1.1 Basics

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Workshop 1.2 Sketching in SpaceClaim

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Demo of Basic UI (10:38)

Module1_Basic_UI.mp4

Demo of Selection (10:38)

Module1_Basic_Select.mp4

Videos available (look for separate directory)

Demo of Partitioning (07:52)

Module1_Partitioning.mp4

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