Reduce Slot Surface

The Reduce Slot Surface is used to decompose slot surfaces in Electromagnetic (EM) modeling for easier application of boundary conditions.

Figure 1. Example of a slot surface

Syntax:

 Reduce Surface <id> Slot [hardware volume <ids>] [radius <value>] [group <string>] [group_edges <string>][group_inner_edges <string>] [group_outer_edges <string>] [name <string>][name_edges <string>] [name_inner_edges <string>][name_outer_edges <string>] [make_free_curves] [preview]

Discussion:

The reduce surface slot command can use either the Hardware radius method or the Thin Regions method for decomposition. The Hardware radius method requires the user to provide the volume IDs of the fasteners and an effective hardware radius, while the Thin Regions method identifies regions on the surface that have constant thickness and cuts wherever the width of the surface changes.

Options:

surface id: ID of the slot surface to be decomposed. The slot surface must be planar and identified as a slot surface using the slot surfaces ML diagnostics in the geometry power tool.

hardware volume ids: IDs of the fastener volumes that penetrate the slot surface. The centroid of the fastener on the slot surface is used to determine the cut locations.

radius value: Distance from the fastener centers on the slot surface where the surface will be cut. The decomposition will attempt to avoid sliver geometry, but caution should be taken to avoid cuts that result in small curves or surfaces.

group: Used to create and name a group containing all resulting decomposed surfaces. The options "group_edges", "group_inner_edges", and "group_outer_edges" are used to create and name groups of cutting curves, inner curves, and outer curves, respectively.

name: Similar to the group option, but individual names are assigned to the decomposed surfaces and curves. The names of decomposed surfaces, side curves, inner curves, and outer curves can be defined using the respective options. If not specified, a default naming convention will be used.

make_free_curves: A specialized option to generate free curves at the boundaries of the decomposed slot surfaces. Grouping and naming options also apply to the free curves.

preview: Displays a blue preview of the cut locations and paths without performing the actual cutting operations.