To simplify the work, we recommend to change the following settings.
If NX or Simcenter is installed newly, the user-interface shows only the essentials and hides many features. For the simulation applications, it is better to set the role to ’Advanced’ to show all necessary buttons. Thus, proceed as follows:
In the resource bar (left side), click ’Roles’,
open the folder ’Content’ and click on the role ’Advanced’.
For easier finding material properties, we recommend to put a reference to the magnetic material libraries. This must be done in the customer defaults (find it here: File, Utilities, Customer Defaults, Gateway, Materials/Mass, Locations). Set the folders as follows (see picture below):
’Site and User Material Library Format’: ’Directory of MatML Files’
At ’Site MatML Library’, ’Directory Name’, ’Windows’, key in or
browse to the following folder with the magnetic material xml
files:
’.../NX\(<version>\)/SIMULATION/magnet/materials/’
For 3D simulations, there exists a useful feature named ’Non
Manifold’. With the use of this, Mesh Mating Conditions (MMC) become
obsolete. The system will automatically find all adjacent faces of the
solid bodies and match them. More technical spoken: if there are two
adjacent faces found, the system will remove one of them and use the
remaining face for both solids. Like the MMCs, such matched faces will
give a conformal mesh, e.g. the nodes will be identically as we normally
need for electromagnetic solutions. For checking, there will be a group
named ’non-manifold face’ that can be selected to see all the faces that
are matched (see picture below). In case of complex geometry, with many
small and large faces mixed up, this non-manifold strategy leads to more
stable meshing. Thus, we recommend this for all electromagnetic
simulations. Also for thermal-flow simulations and in some cases Nastran
structurals, this will also be a good choice.
In the different NX/Simcenter versions, this feature must be activated in different ways (unfortunately), as we describe in the following.
In version 2312, it is activated by two steps:
First, we enable an early access feature that we find here: File,
Utilities, Early Access Feature. Search for the feature ’Enable the
non-manifold body workflow ...’ and set this to the state ’On’. Then,
when creating a new Fem file, there will be the ’Strategy to Use’ option
that we set to ’Non Manifold’.
Alternatively, it can be activated in the same way as in versions 2212
and 2306 (see below).
In versions 2212 and 2306, it
is activated as follows:
Use the button ’New FEM and Sim (Non-Manifold)’ from the Magnetics
toolbar.
A dialogue will appear that looks similar to the conventional one, but
it contains the option ’Strategy to Use’ that is set to ’Non Manifold’
by default. When clicking OK the system will create a Fem and Sim file
with activated non-manifold feature. Additionally, the files are created
using the MAGNETICS template files if the option ’use Template with
basic Materials’ is active. Thus, there will be some basic materials
available in the FEM part. When Teamcenter is used, this way is not
possible and the following alternative must be used.
Alternatively, in versions 2212, 2306: when creating the FEM file, set the solver first to ’Simcenter MAGNET’ and create the FEM file. Later, edit the FEM file and set the solver to ’MAGNETICS’. The non-manifold feature is active then. This way also works with Teamcenter.
In the versions 2007 (2022.1) and 2206
(2022.2), this feature is named ’Create Non-manifold Polygon
Bodies’ and it is found in the customer defaults. (find it here, see
picture below: File, Utilities, Customer Defaults, Simulation, Pre/Post,
General, FE Model Create, Create Non-manifold Polygon Bodies,
Allow)
If a FEM file is created, it will have this feature active.
In version 1953 (2021.1): find it here, see
picture below: File, Utilities, Early Access Feature), named ’Allow
updates related to Electro Magnetics’. Set this ’On’.
If now a FEM file is created, it will have the feature active.
If the NX/Simcenter version is 1899 (2020.1) or higher, we recommend
to enable the following setting in the customer defaults (find it here:
File, Utilities, Customer Defaults. Then: Simulation, Pre-Post, Meshing,
General) named ’Use polygon body names for 3D meshes’.
When this setting is active, the names of the polygon bodies will be
transferred to meshes, mesh collectors and physical property tables.
This simplifies the work and therefore, we recommend this setting.
We recommend to set the standard resolution of polygon bodies to
’High’ because this often simplifies meshing of complex geometries.(find
it here: File, Utilities, Customer Defaults. Then: Simulation, Pre-Post,
General, FE Model Create)