Exercise 4: Swap Welded Part

In this exercise, you will become familiar with swapping welded parts and updating their affected connections (welds).

In this exercise, you will replace the component Rear_Truss_1 with a new, similar part and update its affected connections (welds). To do this you will update the connectors to use the "use name" rule, delete the old part, import the new part, and then realize the corresponding connectors into LS-DYNA 100 Mat100 (beam) welds.


Figure 1.

Retrieve and View the Model File

In this step, you will retrieve and view the model file in HyperMesh.

  1. Start HyperMesh Desktop.
  2. In the User Profile dialog, set the user profile to LsDyna.
  3. Open a model file by completing one of the following options:
    • Click File > Open > Model from the menu bar.
    • Click on the Standard toolbar.
  4. In the Open Model dialog, open the frame_assembly_4.hm file.
  5. Observe the model using various visual options available in HyperMesh (rotation, zooming, and so on).

Import the Model and Update the Connectors

In this step, you will import the new model and update the connectors to use the "use name" rule when reconnecting parts.

  1. Open the Connector Browser by clicking View > Browsers > HyperMesh > Connector from the menu bar.
  2. In the Connector Entity Browser, right-click and select Configure Browser from the context menu.
  3. In the Browser Configuration dialog, click the Options tab.
  4. Under Local connector options, select the Extended information checkbox.
    Note: This option allows you to edit connector attributes.
  5. Click OK.
  6. From the menu bar, click File > Import > Model.
  7. In the Import tab, click .
  8. In the Open dialog, navigate to your working directory and open the rear_truss_1_new.hm file.
  9. Click Import.
  10. In the Link Entity Browser, right-click on Rear_Truss_1 and select Find from the context menu.
    HyperMesh isolates the component Rear_Truss_1 and the connectors attached to it in the graphics area. Also, HyperMesh highlights the corresponding connectors in the Connector Entity browser.
  11. In the Connector Entity Browser, right-click on the selected connectors and select Update Link from the context menu.


    Figure 2.
  12. In the Update window, Search column, click the Link Select field.
  13. In the panel area, click component.
  14. Select the Rear_Truss_1 component.
  15. Click proceed.
    The Link Select field displays Rear_Truss_1.
  16. In the Search column, set Link Rule to none.


    Figure 3.
  17. In the Replace column, click the Link Select field.
  18. In the panel area, click component.
  19. Select the Rear_Truss_1.1 component.
  20. Click proceed.
    The Link Select field displays Rear_Truss_1.1.
  21. In the Replace column, set Link Rule to use-name.


    Figure 4.
  22. Click Update.
    HyperMesh updates the connector links.
  23. Close the Update window by clicking X next to Update.

Delete the Rear_Truss_1 Component

In this step, you will delete the Rear_Truss_1 component.

  1. Open the Delete panel by pressing F2.
  2. Set the entity selector to comps.
  3. Click comps.
  4. Select the Rear_Truss_1 component.
  5. Click select.
  6. Click delete entity.
    The display color of the connectors associated to the deleted component changes from green (realized state) to yellow (unrealized state), because the deleted component was one of the connectors’ links. Also, HyperMesh deletes the existing finite element welds.


    Figure 5.
  7. Click return.

Realize the Unrealized Connectors

In this step, you will realize the unrealized connectors.

  1. Open the connector Spot panel by clicking Connectors > Realize > Spots from the menu bar.
  2. Click location: connectors > displayed.
  3. Click type= and select mat100.
  4. In the tolerance =, enter 5.
  5. Click realize.
    HyperMesh realizes the connectors.
  6. Click return.

Save Your Work

In this step, you will save your work in HyperMesh.

This exercise is complete.
Save your work as a HyperMesh file.