프레젠테이션 개요

• Mesh glue applications

• Mesh glue의 사용 가능 범위
• Mesh glue의 이론
• Mesh glue의 기능
• Mesh glue의 모델링 방법
• Mesh glue에서 발생하는 제로 피벗 처리.
• Mesh glue vs. tied contact
• 이 슬라이드는 ADINA 9.2에서 적용되었음

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 1

 Mesh glue applications

Brick elements

Mesh glue

Tetra elements

8-node bricks

Mesh glue

27-node 20-node bricks

bricks

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 2

 Mesh glue의 사용 가능 범위

• Line-to-line gluing in 2D analysis, or surface-to-

surface gluing in 3D analysis

• Only 2D solid elements in 2D analysis

• Only 3D solid, 3D plane stress (membrane), and

shell elements in 3D analysis

• Gluing of temperatures in ADINA TMC analysis

• Birth-death on glued surfaces

• Large displacement and large strain analysis

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 3

 Mesh glue의 이론
• Segment-to-segment algorithm

• One surface is designated the slave and the

other the master

• For any admissible variation of surface traction,

virtual work done by two glued surfaces is zero

  t  u u  dS  0
S M
S

• Traction interpolation functions same as slave

displacements

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 4

 Mesh glue의 기능
• Line-to-line gluing in 2D analysis, or surface-to-
surface gluing in 3D analysis

• Only 2D solid elements in 2D analysis

• Only 3D solid, 3D plane stress (membrane), and

shell elements in 3D analysis

• Gluing of temperatures in ADINA TMC analysis

• Birth-death on glued surfaces

• Large displacement and large strain analysis

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 5

 Mesh glue의 모델링 방법
• If one glue surface is smaller than the other, it is
recommended that the smaller surface be the slave
surface

• The program allows the two glued surfaces to partially

overlap

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 6

 Mesh glue에서 발생하는 제로 피벗
• To remove the zero pivot, it is recommended to use
stiffness-stabilization. Physically, attaches weak springs
to all degrees of freedom, but in such a way to not affect
solution in nonlinear analysis

• Alternatively, low-speed dynamics or full dynamics can

be used

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 7

 Mesh glue vs. tied contact
Mesh glue should always be used instead of tied contact:

• Mesh glue leads to a smooth transition of displacements

and stresses
• Mesh glue can be used in large displacement analysis
• Mesh glue by itself does not make the analysis nonlinear

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 8

 Mesh Glueing in ADINA

Daniel Jose Payen, Ph.D.

March 9, 2016

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 9

 Presentation Overview
• Mesh glue applications
• Capabilities supported by mesh glue
• Mesh glue theory
• Limitations of mesh glue
• Modelling recommendations for mesh glue
• Dealing with zero pivots arising from mesh glue
• Mesh glue vs. tied contact
• These slides are applicable to ADINA 9.2

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 10

Mesh Glue Applications
Mesh glue allows dissimilar meshes to be joined
such as:
• Structured to unstructured meshes
• First-order to second-order meshes
• Coarse to fine meshes

Using mesh glue to transition from coarse to fine

meshes, typically:
• Reduces the meshing time
• Results in faster solution times (no transition elements)
• Leads to better quality meshes

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 11

 Example of Mesh Glue Application

Brick elements

Mesh glue

Tetra elements

8-node bricks

Mesh glue

27-node 20-node bricks

bricks

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 12

 Example of Mesh Glue Application

Mesh glue

Surface
crack

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 13

 Example of Mesh Glue Application

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 14

Mesh Glue Supports
• Line-to-line gluing in 2D analysis, or surface-to-
surface gluing in 3D analysis

• Only 2D solid elements in 2D analysis

• Only 3D solid, 3D plane stress (membrane), and

shell elements in 3D analysis

• Gluing of temperatures in ADINA TMC analysis

• Birth-death on glued surfaces

• Large displacement and large strain analysis

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 15

 When Mesh Glueing Shell Elements
• Only translational DOF are glued (rotational
DOF are not glued)
• Only surface-to-surface glueing is allowed;
edge-to-surface glueing is not allowed

Allowed Not Allowed

• Shell elements can be mesh glued to 3D solid

elements, e.g. for welds and solid-to-shell lap
joints

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 16

When Mesh Glueing 3D Plane Stress
(Membrane) Elements
• 3D plane stress (membrane) elements can be mesh
glued to 3D solid elements, e.g. for improved rolling
contact response

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 17

Mesh Glue Does Not Support
• Point-to-edge, point-to-surface, edge-to-surface
gluing

• Glueing of truss, beam, and pipe elements

• Glueing of rotational DOF for shell elements

• Explicit dynamic analysis

• Dependent DOF on the glued surfaces, e.g. the

slave nodes of rigid links

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 18

 Mesh Glue Theory
• Segment-to-segment algorithm

• One surface is designated the slave and the

other the master

• For any admissible variation of surface traction,

virtual work done by two glued surfaces is zero

  t  u u  dS  0
S M
S

• Traction interpolation functions same as slave

displacements

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 19

 Mesh Glue Theory
• A glueing general constraint equation is created
for every slave DOF, provided that:

 Slave node is sufficiently close to the master

segment

 No fixity is applied to the slave DOF

 No other mesh glue slave segments are applied

to that slave DOF

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 20

 Mesh Glue Theory
• The difficulties in developing a mesh glue feature
is ensuring that the mesh glue:

 Leads to a smooth transition of displacements

and stresses between the glued surfaces

 Satisfies the patch test (required for convergence)

 Admits rigid body translations and rotations

(required for force and moment equilibrium)

 Can be used in large displacement and large

strain analysis

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 21

 ADINA mesh glue leads to a smooth transition of
displacements and stresses between the glued
surfaces

Mesh glue

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 22

 If the two glued surfaces exactly coincide --
that is, if the two glued surfaces are flat and
there is no gap -- the ADINA mesh glue:

• Passes the patch test, provided cross-over

points are used at sharp corners

• Admits both rigid body translations and

rotations

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 23

Cross-over points
• Any point shared by two (or more) glue meshes are
termed a “cross-over” point
• Cross-over points are needed to pass the patch test
when glueing sharp corners

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 24

Cross-over points
• If cross-over points are not used when mesh glueing
sharp corners, the error remains localized at the
sharp corner, but does not refine out
• The error is typically small, less than 1%

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 25

 If the two glued surfaces do not exactly
coincide, the ADINA mesh glue:
• Does not pass the patch test
• Always admits rigid body translations (such that
that force equilibrium is always satisfied)
• *** Does NOT admit rigid body rotations ***

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 26

 Since, if the glued surfaces do not exactly
coincide, rigid body rotations are not
admitted, then:

• Moment equilibrium is not satisfied between

the glued surfaces

• Spurious stresses and strains are generated

when the model rotates

• Rotational motions are resisted, just as if the

glued surfaces are attached to a grounded
spring

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 27

 The effect of not admitting rigid body
rotations is severe

Steel cylinder rigidly rotated by prescribing rotation on outer radius

Other than prescribed rotation, cylinder is completely free
Stresses are in MPa

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 28

 Modelling Considerations
• For meshes to be glued, the projection distance from the
slave nodes to the master surface must be smaller than
the largest element length on the glued surfaces

• Gaps between the glued surfaces are not recommended,

especially if the surface undergo rotations

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 29

 Modelling Considerations
• A node on the slave surface cannot be a node on the
master surface in the same mesh glue set

• Two mesh glue sets can share nodes along a boundary

line. Shared nodes are designated cross-over points

• Nodes on glued surfaces cannot have dependent DOF,

e.g. from rigid links or basic constraints
© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 30
 Modelling Considerations
• In 2D analysis, the master segments must be connected,
but the slave segments can be unconnected

• In 3D analysis, both the master and slave segments can

be unconnected

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 31

 Modelling Considerations
• If one glue surface is smaller than the other, it is
recommended that the smaller surface be the slave
surface

• The program allows the two glued surfaces to partially

overlap

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 32

 Modelling Considerations
• If the two surfaces have different mesh densities, it is
recommended that the finer meshed surface be the slave

• Using the finer meshed surface as the slave will

generate more glueing constraints which results in more
accurate glueing -- that is, the surfaces will be more
“tightly” glued

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 33

 Cantilever Example

Deformed Plot (Deformations Magnified x100)

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 34

 Modelling Considerations
• Ideally, the two glued surfaces should exactly coincide

• If there are sharp corners, it is recommended to use

separate mesh glue sets for each smooth surface,
otherwise poor stresses can result at the sharp corner

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 35

 Dealing with Zero Pivots from Mesh Glue
• In static analysis, if independent parts of the model have
rigid body motions (not considering the effect of
glueing), the equation solver might encounter a zero
pivot

• Physically, this occurs when the equation solver “sees”

the rigid body motion before it “sees” the mesh glue

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 36

 Rigid body modes might be present
when mesh glueing is used

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 37

 Zero pivots encountered with mesh glue

mesh glue

body 1 body 2

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 38

 Zero pivots encountered with mesh glue

K Body 1 solver stops

with a zero
K pivot error
K Body 2

K Glue

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 39

 Dealing with Zero Pivots from Mesh Glue
• When a zero pivot is encountered, ADINA warns the user
by printing the below message to the output (.out) file.
Model may be unstable, ratio of diagonals 1E11

• The zero pivot ill-conditions the tangent stiffness matrix

such that solution of linearized equations is very
sensitive to round-off error.

• Hence, in --

• Linear static analysis, the zero pivot results in

inaccurate glueing

• Nonlinear static analysis, the zero pivot prevents the

solution from converging

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 40

 Dealing with Zero Pivots from Mesh Glue
• To remove the zero pivot, it is recommended to use
stiffness-stabilization. Physically, attaches weak springs
to all degrees of freedom, but in such a way to not affect
solution in nonlinear analysis

• Alternatively, low-speed dynamics or full dynamics can

be used

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 41

Mesh Glue Vs. Tied Contact
Mesh glue should always be used instead of tied contact:

• Mesh glue leads to a smooth transition of displacements

and stresses
• Mesh glue can be used in large displacement analysis
• Mesh glue by itself does not make the analysis nonlinear

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 42

 Mesh Glue Vs. Face Linking
• Face linking creates compatible
meshes between two faces of
adjacent bodies

• Mesh glue joins dissimilar

(incompatible) meshes
Face Link
• Face linking always passes the
patch test and always admits
rigid body motions

• Mesh glue only passes the patch

test and only admits rigid body
rotations when the two glued
surfaces exactly coincide
Mesh Glue

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 43