Explore a mesh#
MAPDL LSDYNA Fluent CFX
This tutorial explains how to access a mesh data and metadata so it can be manipulated.
Download tutorial as Python script
Download tutorial as Jupyter notebook
Define the mesh#
The mesh object in DPF is a MeshedRegion. You can obtain a MeshedRegion by creating your
own from scratch or by getting it from a result file. For more information check the
Create a mesh from scratch and Get a mesh from a result file tutorials.
For this tutorial, we get a MeshedRegion from a result file. You can use one available in the Examples module.
For more information see the Get a mesh from a result file tutorial.
# Import the ``ansys.dpf.core`` module
from ansys.dpf import core as dpf
# Import the examples module
from ansys.dpf.core import examples
# Import the operators module
from ansys.dpf.core import operators as ops
# Define the result file path
result_file_path_1 = examples.find_static_rst()
# Create the model
model_1 = dpf.Model(data_sources=result_file_path_1)
# Get the mesh
meshed_region_1 = model_1.metadata.meshed_region
# Import the ``ansys.dpf.core`` module
from ansys.dpf import core as dpf
# Import the examples module
from ansys.dpf.core import examples
# Import the operators module
from ansys.dpf.core import operators as ops
# Define the result file path
result_file_path_2 = examples.download_d3plot_beam()
# Create the DataSources object
ds_2 = dpf.DataSources()
ds_2.set_result_file_path(filepath=result_file_path_2[0], key="d3plot")
ds_2.add_file_path(filepath=result_file_path_2[3], key="actunits")
# Create the model
model_2 = dpf.Model(data_sources=ds_2)
# Get the mesh
meshed_region_2 = model_2.metadata.meshed_region
# Import the ``ansys.dpf.core`` module
from ansys.dpf import core as dpf
# Import the examples module
from ansys.dpf.core import examples
# Import the operators module
from ansys.dpf.core import operators as ops
# Define the result file path
result_file_path_3 = examples.download_fluent_axial_comp()["flprj"]
# Create the model
model_3 = dpf.Model(data_sources=result_file_path_3)
# Get the mesh
meshed_region_3 = model_3.metadata.meshed_region
# Import the ``ansys.dpf.core`` module
from ansys.dpf import core as dpf
# Import the examples module
from ansys.dpf.core import examples
# Import the operators module
from ansys.dpf.core import operators as ops
# Define the result file path
result_file_path_4 = examples.download_cfx_mixing_elbow()
# Create the model
model_4 = dpf.Model(data_sources=result_file_path_4)
# Get the mesh
meshed_region_4 = model_4.metadata.meshed_region
Explore the mesh data#
You can access the mesh data by manipulating the MeshedRegion object methods.
The mesh data includes :
Unit
Nodes, elements and faces
Named selections
The :method:`MeshedRegion.nodes <ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.MeshedRegion.nodes>`, :method:`MeshedRegion.elements <ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.MeshedRegion.elements>`, :method:`MeshedRegion.faces <ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.MeshedRegion.faces>` and :method:`MeshedRegion.named_selections <ansys.dpf.core.meshed_region.MeshedRegion.named_selections>` properties give corresponding DPF objects:
Nodes, Elements, Faces and Scoping.
For more information of other types of data you can get from a mesh, see the API reference of the MeshedRegion class.
In this tutorial, we explore the data about the mesh nodes.
# Get the mesh nodes
nodes_1 = meshed_region_1.nodes
# Print the object type
print("Object type: ",type(nodes_1),'\n')
# Print the nodes
print("Nodes: ", nodes_1)
Object type: <class 'ansys.dpf.core.nodes.Nodes'>
Nodes: DPF Node collection with 81 nodes
# Get the mesh nodes
nodes_2 = meshed_region_2.nodes
# Print the object type
print("Object type: ",type(nodes_2),'\n')
# Print the nodes
print("Nodes: ", nodes_2)
Object type: <class 'ansys.dpf.core.nodes.Nodes'>
Nodes: DPF Node collection with 1940 nodes
# Get the mesh nodes
nodes_3 = meshed_region_3.nodes
# Print the object type
print("Object type: ",type(nodes_3),'\n')
# Print the nodes
print("Nodes: ", nodes_3)
Object type: <class 'ansys.dpf.core.nodes.Nodes'>
Nodes: DPF Node collection with 16660 nodes
# Get the mesh nodes
nodes_4 = meshed_region_4.nodes
# Print the object type
print("Object type: ",type(nodes_4),'\n')
# Print the nodes
print("Nodes: ", nodes_4)
Object type: <class 'ansys.dpf.core.nodes.Nodes'>
Nodes: DPF Node collection with 6219 nodes
Explore the mesh metadata#
You can access the mesh metadata by manipulating the MeshedRegion object properties.
The mesh metadata information describes the mesh composition.
You can access which metadata information is available for a given result file.
# Get the available properties
available_props_1 = meshed_region_1.available_property_fields
# Print the available properties
print("Available properties: ", available_props_1)
Available properties: ['connectivity', 'elprops', 'eltype', 'apdl_element_type', 'section', 'mat']
# Get the available properties
available_props_2 = meshed_region_2.available_property_fields
# Print the available properties
print("Available properties: ", available_props_2)
Available properties: ['connectivity', 'eltype', 'mat']
# Get the available properties
available_props_3 = meshed_region_3.available_property_fields
# Print the available properties
print("Available properties: ", available_props_3)
Available properties: ['connectivity', 'eltype', 'faces_type', 'faces_nodes_connectivity', 'elements_faces_connectivity', 'elements_faces_reversed']
# Get the available properties
available_props_4 = meshed_region_4.available_property_fields
# Print the available properties
print("Available properties: ", available_props_4)
Available properties: ['connectivity', 'eltype']
You can also chose which property you want to extract.
When extracting the properties you get a PropertyField with that information. Their data is mapped to
the entity they are defined at.
Here, we extract the element types for the mesh elements.
The element type is given as a number. See the list of available element types in a DPF mesh to find the
corresponding element name.
# Get the element types on the mesh
el_types_1 = meshed_region_1.elements.element_types_field
# Print the element types by element
print(el_types_1)
DPF Property Field
8 entities
Data: 1 components and 8 elementary data
Elemental
IDs data
------------ ----------
5 1
6 1
1 1
...
# Get the element types on the mesh
el_types_2 = meshed_region_2.property_field(property_name="eltype")
# Print the element types by element
print(el_types_2)
DPF Property Field
2056 entities
Data: 1 components and 2056 elementary data
Elemental
IDs data
------------ ----------
257 11
258 11
259 11
...
# Get the element types on the mesh
el_types_3 = meshed_region_3.property_field(property_name="eltype")
# Print the element types by element
print(el_types_3)
DPF Property Field
13856 entities
Data: 1 components and 13856 elementary data
Elemental
IDs data
------------ ----------
1 11
2 11
3 11
...
# Get the element types on the mesh
el_types_4 = meshed_region_4.property_field(property_name="eltype")
# Print the element types by element
print(el_types_4)
DPF Property Field
15695 entities
Data: 1 components and 15695 elementary data
Elemental
IDs data
------------ ----------
1 10
2 10
3 10
...
For more information about how to explore a mesh metadata before extracting it from a result file, see the Explore a mesh metadata tutorial.