Accelerating Structural Analysis: Pre-Processing Shell and Solid IGA Models with ANSA
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Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) offers a seamless link between CAD geometry and numerical simulation, enabling higher accuracy and efficiency in structural analysis. ANSA provides advanced pre-processing capabilities tailored for IGA workflows, supporting both shell and solid models. Its tools make it easy to keep patches connected, represent geometry accurately, and set up complex models quickly, cutting down on manual work and speeding up preparation. IGA offers significant benefits for solid structure analysis by providing geometry representations adapted for analysis with near-exact accuracy, while removing the need for traditional meshing. This eliminates time-consuming defeaturing and prevents the creation of excessively large models when tight tolerances are required to approximate the original geometry. ANSA offers dedicated pre-processing tools for solid structures, enabling robust conversion to analysis-suitable models either by using an existing finite element (FE) mesh or by generating a new FE mesh that serves as an interpolation layer for the immersed IGA method. Additionally, the software supports direct conversion from 3D boundary representations in the physical domain to the parametric domain, preserving geometric fidelity and ensuring smooth basis function continuity. These capabilities allow engineers to prepare analysis-ready solid models quickly and accurately, facilitating reliable IGA-based simulations for demanding industrial applications.
