The Edit Mesh toolset provides the following tools that allow you to manipulate the mesh:

• Create layers of solid elements that are offset normal to selected element faces of an existing mesh, as shown in Figure 61–8. This tool is useful for meshing shell-like parts with solid elements. You can specify the total thickness of all the layers and the number of layers to create. The first layer of elements can be merged with the existing elements, or it can be offset by a specified distance. The selected element faces can be from either shell or solid elements, but not from both. If you selected shell element faces, you can choose whether to delete the shell elements after Abaqus/CAE generates the layers of solid elements.

  Figure 61–8 Creating layers of solid elements.

  

  You should use this tool to generate continuum shell and cohesive elements, because the solid elements that Abaqus/CAE generates are stacked normal to the surface from which they were offset.

• Create layers of shell elements that are offset normal to selected element faces from an existing mesh, as shown in Figure 61–9.

  Figure 61–9 Creating layers of shell elements.

  

  This tool is similar to the previous tool; however, instead of specifying the total thickness of the layers, you specify the distance between the layers. You should use this tool to create an offset copy of an existing shell mesh and to create multi-layered composite models or reinforcements.

• Wrap a mesh. You can wrap a planar orphan mesh part about the global Z-axis at a specified radius. The wrapping procedure will relocate a node at point (, ) on the planar mesh to (), where is the specified radius, = , and =.

• Collapse edges. You can specify the maximum length of the edges of elements that should be cleaned from the mesh, and Abaqus/CAE will merge the end nodes of element edges that are shorter than the specified length. However, Abaqus/CAE will not merge nodes along a free edge. You can clean the mesh only if the mesh contains only linear triangular elements.

• Convert triangular elements to tetrahedral elements. You can convert a closed three-dimensional shell of triangular elements into a solid mesh of tetrahedral elements. The triangular shell elements must completely enclose a volume that can be filled with solid elements.

• Convert a solid orphan mesh to a shell orphan mesh. This tool creates triangular or quadrilateral shell elements on the free faces of the part. For mesh parts with unmerged nodes that create crack features or mesh parts that have joined faces with incompatible meshes, Abaqus/CAE creates shell elements on both sides of the interface.

For detailed instructions about manipulating the mesh, see “Editing the entire mesh,” Section 61.7.