FreeCAD and Elmer would seem to be a match made in heaven: an open source feature-rich CAD program, with an open source feature-rich FEA program. But I have two problems.
First, I can't get an exported IGES file to mesh. If I make a single cylinder in FreeCAD, export the attached iges file, and import it in ElmerGUI, the attached .iges.txt file is the error which results. Using .step format sometimes works (did in this case), but sometimes crashes ElmerGUI; I'll see if I can make a test case which crashes ElmerGUI to demonstrate this. BREP works reliably, so there's a good workaround. But it's odd because you'd think FreeCAD uses OpenCASCADE to export, and ElmerGUI uses it to import, so they should work well together.
Second, if I have a CAD file from FreeCAD in BREP format with multiple bodies, like the CubeCyl.brep file attached, it confuses ElmerGUI and netgen and the program exits. How can one create/import a multi-body file for Elmer?
FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
- Attachments
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- CubeCyl.brep
- (4.05 KiB) Downloaded 508 times
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- Cyl.iges.txt
- Error messages generated when ElmerGUI tries to import the attached .iges file
- (16.89 KiB) Downloaded 483 times
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- Cyl.iges
- Simple cylinder .iges file which does not mesh in ElmerGUI
- (7.91 KiB) Downloaded 494 times
Re: FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
Hi hazelsct!
The same dream, the same problem!
How do you convert your STEP-File into a BREP-File?
Did you already get a solution for your multibody-import problem?
greets
tincho (a elmer-greenhorn).
The same dream, the same problem!
How do you convert your STEP-File into a BREP-File?
Did you already get a solution for your multibody-import problem?
greets
tincho (a elmer-greenhorn).
Machine 1: Lenovo ThinkStation S20, 8x 2.66GHz W3520 Xeon 8MB L2 1066MHz FSB, 12GB RAM, WinXP64, Virtual Machine: VMware 7.0.0 workstation, Ubuntu 10.04
Machine 2: HP xw8200 workstation, 2x DualCore 3.6GHz Xeon 2x 2MB L2 800MHz FSB, 16GB RAM, Ubuntu 10.04
Machine 2: HP xw8200 workstation, 2x DualCore 3.6GHz Xeon 2x 2MB L2 800MHz FSB, 16GB RAM, Ubuntu 10.04
Re: FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
I'm having the same problems. Has anyone been able to shed some light on this issue? Frankly im not sure whether or not the fault is with ElmerGUI or FreeCAD.
Re: FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
Hi, found a solution. If FreeCAD exports a geometry in STEP format, Netgen (standalone) can read and mesh it with a decent set of parameters, and export the mesh in Elmer format (directory with mesh.* files), which works well.
I think Salomé will also work well, and I've had better control over local mesh parameters with that and the NETGENPLUGIN than straight Netgen. For example, with Salomé I've been able to control local mesh density along lines better than with Netgen. Unfortunately Salomé NETGENPLUGIN doesn't work with the new nglib API...
I think Salomé will also work well, and I've had better control over local mesh parameters with that and the NETGENPLUGIN than straight Netgen. For example, with Salomé I've been able to control local mesh density along lines better than with Netgen. Unfortunately Salomé NETGENPLUGIN doesn't work with the new nglib API...
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Franz Pichler
- Posts: 196
- Joined: 29 Sep 2011, 12:25
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Re: FreeCAD and ElmerGUI
Hi there,
i am just trying out FreeCAD and can't really figure out how i define Bodies in there.
Could someone give me a tip on that?
i am just trying out FreeCAD and can't really figure out how i define Bodies in there.
Could someone give me a tip on that?