I have quite complicated workflow which allows me to generate STL files with a custom Python code. My part consists of several different subparts, I would like to fuse/merge them to one piece before meshin and treat them as one compound geometry. I tried using Compound Part option which failed (I know this should work on STEP but not on STL), and Merge part option in the “FE Model” tab. The latter did create the merged part succesfully, however when running FEM simulation it is still treated as two separated geometries. Is this a bug, or i am missing something here?
Thank you. If i understand it correctly, does this mean I cannot merge them unless the mesh at the interface of the parts is not matching? My meshes were generated by Prepomax, and they are not matching at the interface. Is there a way to enforce this?
in these cases, Tie constraint or Contact type tied is required to connet the part. Each method and approach have advantages and disadvantages, constraint is mesh dependent of master/slave selection, try using swap feature in PrePoMax to justify. It seems can be general solution, working in static and frequency analysis also. Contact is more accurate and not have mesh dependency but it can not be used in frequency analysis, probably needed perturbation to be activated. Another advantages of contact type tied is the capability to remove or released in tangential movement.
however, above condition is related to accuracy and capability. Some crucial steps in merge parts are in distance tolerances, it will not work as expected when improperly defined. Make sure the tolerance is large enough, probably the value 1/100 of largest dimension in the part can be used.
I think some other tool might be used to merge the .stl files, like Blender, and Meshmixer. And then you could work on only one volume body. PrePoMax can only merge CAD parts.
