A new PrePoMax version v2.4.0 has been released

[OpenSourceFEA]

Hi Matej,

Is it possible to bring back a feature that was present until 2.3.0? When you split a part and select surfaces and merge the split parts back, the selected surfaces which is now inside the part, vanishes. If you select FE based surface, it stays but when you apply pre-tension load on that surface, there it faces issues.

In one of my previous projects,

@OpenSourceFEA

I have a tubular structure where I apply the bolt pretension at a cross section just above the threads. Since it is a complex part, I use second order tet mesh with a boundary layer on both sides of the cross section.

Pre 2.3.0 I was able to select the surface and merge the part back into one and was able to run the simulation successfully. But the newer versions, I can only select the FE based surface like you suggested here. I set the pretension direction “auto-compute”.

Geometry based surface selection I get the pretension direction calculated by calculix

*INFO: pre-tension normal for surface BOLTLOAD-1
-4.5946230207038368E-018 1.6354628026558331E-016 -1.0000000000000000

which is purely in z-direction (x and y values are very small and negligible for my calculation)

FE based surface selection I get the pretension direction calculated by calculix

*INFO: pre-tension normal for surface BOLTLOAD-1
0.54178583594546259 -0.84051657209651520 0.0000000000000000

I am completely getting pretension in some other undesired direction.

So I did two things

1. Either set the pretension direction manually in z direction for FE surface selection
2. Or leave the split parts unmerged for geometry based surface selection

I am still getting some convergence issues while trying the workarounds which was not present in the older versions. The older version was more convenient, is it possible to bring it back?

In the end I had to keep the split parts separate, al though this is not a huge issue, but when I have many parts in the simulation, it is hard to keep track.

So can you have a look into it?

Thank you