Publication | 7.25.2014
Automesher for LS-DYNA Vehicle Modelling
The PEC technical presentation entitled AutoMesher for LS-DYNA Vehicle Modelling was presented by Matt Barsotti at the LS-DYNA Users Conference in Dearborn, Michigan.
Software has been developed to automatically mesh CAD files in support of expedient modeling of armored vehicles and similar structures. The AutoMesher software is written in Python as well as LSTC’s Script Command Language (SCL). The SCL syntax is similar to C programming but runs as a script within LSTC’s LS-PrePost® (LSPP) software application. A Python module is used as the interface and a wrapper for LSPP. By leveraging the functions in LSPP through the SCL, nine different algorithms were written to mesh I beams, T beams, angles, rods, plates, tubes, and surface-meshed formed shapes. Logic is used in these algorithms to identify the shape characteristics needed to define an equivalent FEA mesh of the CAD geometry. These algorithms are the heart of the AutoMesher and can be used to generate more intelligent meshing solutions. The algorithms and software are described in this paper.
The AutoMesher software was developed by Protection Engineering Consultants (PEC) in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) program, under subcontract to Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). AVM is an ambitious program to reduce the time required for the design, development, and production of complex defense cyber-mechanical systems, such as military ground vehicles, by a factor of five.
Read the PEC Publication by Ryan Alberson, Dr. David Stevens, P.E., James D. Walker and Tom Moore