Replace Panel

Use the Replace panel to relocate one node to the position of another or manually equivalence two nodes.

Location: 1D, 2D, 3D pages

In Figure 1, the dark gray node is replaced by the node highlighted by the green circle. The tria above the two selected nodes is destroyed, and the quad below them converts to a tria.


Figure 1.
In Figure 2, the replace node function is used to close a discontinuity in the mesh. The gap shown in the left image is closed by replacing a node of the yellow element with a node of the blue element. The equivalence option will redefine the yellow element to use the same node ID as the blue element so element connectivity is ensured.


Figure 2.

Replacements occur immediately upon selecting the nodes; there is no command button to trigger the replacement, only to reject (undo) it. The replacement is made permanent when you leave the panel or combine another node pair, therefore you cannot reject it after leaving the panel and returning.

When a node replacement is going to destroy an element, a will receive a warning message. Proceed according to your needs.
Yes
Replace the node and destroy the element.
No
Abort the replacement.
yes to All
Automatically accept the current replacement and all subsequent replacements, suppressing the warning message until you exit and re-enter the panel.
no to All
Automatically abort the current replacement and any subsequent replacements that would result in a destroyed element, suppressing the warning message until you exit and re-enter the panel.

Panel Options

Option Action
replace: node Select a node to relocate to location of the second node.
with: node Select a node to retain. Depending on the settings, it may or may not remain in its original location.
equivalence Redefine any entities referencing the first node, to replace that reference with the node ID of the second node.


Figure 3.
Clear the equivalence checkbox to relocate the replaced node to the location of the retained node. Both nodes will remain as distinct, coincident entities. In Figure 3, this would cause the tria element to become a sliver.
at mid-point Combine the two nodes at the midpoint between their original locations. Affected elements may be destroyed or changed.


Figure 4.
total = The total distance between the original replace node and with node. This is a read-only field (you cannot change the values) that populates when the replacement occurs.
x dist = The global X component between the original replace node and with node. This is a read-only field (you cannot change the values) that populates when the replacement occurs.
y dist = The global Y component between the original replace node and with node. This is a read-only field (you cannot change the values) that populates when the replacement occurs.
z dist = The global Z component between the original replace node and with node. This is a read-only field (you cannot change the values) that populates when the replacement occurs.

Command Buttons

Button Action
replace Perform the node replacement.
return Exit the panel.