On this page:
6.2.1 Building U-spline surfaces
6.2.2 Building U-spline volumes
6.2.2.1  Map
6.2.2.2  Sub  Map
6.2.2.3  Sweep
6.2.2.3.1 Source surfaces must be contiguous in many-to-one swept meshes
6.2.2.3.2 Entities cannot be creased using build crease group
6.2.2.4  Sphere
6.2.2.5  Polyhedron
6.2.2.6  Tet  Primitive
6.2.3 Commands
6.2.3.1 set uspline
6.2.3.2 build uspline
6.2.3.3 fit uspline
6.2.3.4 quality uspline
6.2.3.5 draw uspline
6.2.3.6 draw uspline projection_  error
6.2.3.7 remove uspline
8.5

6.2 Basic CAD to U-spline workflow

This section presents general-purpose, basic workflows for building surface and volumetric U-spline models of CAD BREP geometry in Coreform Cubit™ . Users may also benefit from reviewing the more in-depth, application-specific guidance provided in Building U-spline meshes for ANSYS LS-DYNA analyses.

6.2.1 Building U-spline surfaces

U-splines can be constructed from CAD surface geometry that has been imported into Coreform Cubit or created using Cubit’s native geometry creation capabilities.

To create a U-spline surface, a quadrilateral finite element mesh must first be generated over the CAD source geometry.

As always, generating a quality mesh may require defeaturing, geometry cleanup, and/or compositing to address small features or extraneous topological entites. We do not address these issues in this section, but illustrative cases and solutions are discussed in more detail in Cleanup model geometry (Optional) and Modify BREP topology for quality meshing (Optional).

Once geometry is prepared to satisfaction, an all-quadrilateral surface mesh should be generated over the CAD surface(s). This is generally best accomplished using Cubit’s pave or map meshing schemes. (See also the discussion in Mesh model geometry for additional, potentially useful pave command sizing and cleanup options.)

After mesh generation and prior to U-spline construction, it may be desirable to create Cubit block and sideset entities. Depending on solver support, these may be utilized for boundary condition or material property assignment.

When the mesh layout is complete, U-spline construction can begin. A critical initial task is to identify all Bézier interfaces that should be assigned continuity, or creased. Creasing may be required when:

U-spline construction is currently accomplished via commands in the Cubit command window; no GUI components have yet been implemented for this functionality.

To designate Bézier interfaces for creasing, we (1) select the curves that contain the Bézier element interfaces that need to be creased and (2) assign them to a crease group, which the U-spline algorithm in Coreform Cubit automatically consumes as input.

We create the group by executing build uspline crease group in the Cubit command line. This command creates a group called cf_crease_and_project_entities and searches for candidate curves (and vertices) to include in this group.

Alternatively, the user can do this manually, creating the group cf_crease_and_project_entities via the command create group and then manually adding (or removing) entities to the group by selecting them in the model-viewer, as we demonstrate in figure 581.

After creasing is specified to satisfaction, the set uspline command is used to specify the desired degree, continuity, and creasing parameters, with syntax as follows:

set uspline {([volume <ids>]) ([surface <ids>]) ([curve <ids>])|default} [degree <degree>] [continuity <default continuity>] [creasing {full|minimal}]

Finally, the U-spline is constructed using the command syntax:

[build] uspline ([volume <ids>]) ([surface <ids>]) ([curve <ids>]) [optimized for timestep] [as <id>]

fit uspline <uspline id> [tessellation tol <tessellation multiplier>]

For an example that includes both crease group creation and construction of a quadratic surface U-spline with maximal continuity, see Constructing the U-spline.

6.2.2 Building U-spline volumes

Coreform Cubit supports constructing U-splines over volume(s) meshed with any combination of the following mesh schemes:
  • Map

  • SubMap

  • Sweep

  • Sphere

  • Polyhedron

  • TetPrimitive

The following hex meshing schemes are not supported:
  • Sculpt

  • HTet

When building a U-spline over multiple Cubit volumes, the basis functions are creased according to the following constraints:
  • The interfaces between adjacent volumes are creased to C0.

  • Continuity transitions are dissallowed across the interfaces between two volumes.

When building the U-spline basis functions on a given volume, the choice of meshing scheme will effect how the U-spline basis functions on the volume are creased. The following subsections detail the U-spline basis construction behavior for each of the supported mesh schemes.

6.2.2.1  Map

Constructing a U-spline volume on Map-meshed volume results in a single NURBS volume.

Example Cubit journal commands to create a Map meshed U-spline volume.reset create Cylinder height 1 radius 5 bri x 6 y 8 z 1 webcut body 1 with plane from surface 9 webcut body 1 with plane from surface 7 delete Volume 3 4 unite body 1 2 vol 1 scheme map vol 1 interval 2 mesh vol 1 set uspline vol 1 degree 2 build uspline vol 1 fit uspline 1 draw uspline on

Listing 1:

Figure 463: Building a U-spline on a Map-meshed volume. From left to right: (a) The original Cubit volume. (b) The Map-meshed volume. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which is equivalent to a NURBS volume.

6.2.2.2  SubMap

Constructing a U-spline volume on a SubMap meshed volume results in a multi-patch NURBS volume.

Example Cubit journal commands to create a SubMap meshed U-spline volume.reset bri x 4 y 2 z 2 bri x 2 y 2 z 4 move vol 2 x -1 y 2 z 1 unite body 1 2 vol 1 size 1 mesh vol 1 set uspline vol 1 degree 2 build uspline vol 1 fit uspline 1 draw uspline on

Listing 2:

Figure 464: Building a U-spline on a SubMap-meshed volume. From left to right: (a) The original Cubit volume. (b) The meshed volume. Each colored block corresponds to a different patch in the resulting U-spline. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which is equivalent to a multi-patch NURBS volume.

6.2.2.3  Sweep

Coreform Cubit constructs U-spline basis functions on sweep-meshed volumes as the tensor product of bivariate and univariate U-spline basis functions. The U-spline algorithm only that geometry under the the following constraints:

  1. The mesh must by an all-hex mesh, composed of high-quality hexahedra.

  2. For many-to-one swept meshes, source surfaces must be contiguous.

  3. Entities cannot be creased using the build crease group command

6.2.2.3.1 Source surfaces must be contiguous in many-to-one swept meshes

As an example, consider the two cylinders created using the following commands:

create cylinder height 2 radius 2

create cylinder height 2 radius 1

move vol 1 z 1

move vol 2 z 3

imprint vol all

merge vol all

vol all size 1

surf 2 5 6 scheme circle

surf 7 scheme hole

vol all scheme sweep

mesh vol all

uspline vol all

fit uspline 1

draw uspline on

This sequence of commands results in the U-spline volume shown in the third image of figure 465 (top right, in grayscale).

By contrast, U-spline construction fails if the two cylinders are joined into a single volume before meshing, as shown in the fourth image (bottom left) of figure 465. Cubit can generate a swept mesh in this case also, as seen in the fifth image, but only via a many-to-one sweep involving non-contiguous source surfaces. Attempting to build a U-spline on the resulting mesh will fail with the error

ERROR: Cannot build volumetric splines over Volume 1 which is a many to one sweep with non-contiguous source surfaces.

Figure 465: This figure shows the restrictions on building U-spline volumes over many-to-one swept meshes. (a) A CAD geometry decomposed into two volumes. (b) The mesh of the two volume CAD geometry. Each volume is meshed as a one-to-one sweep. (c) The resulting U-spline volume. (d) The same CAD geometry represented as a single volume. (e) The mesh of the single volume CAD geometry. The volume is meshed using a many-to-one sweep. Because the two source surfaces are not contiguous, a U-spline volume cannot be built on this mesh.

6.2.2.3.2 Entities cannot be creased using build crease group

Instead the geometry must be decomposed into separate swept meshes. The faces on interfaces between swept meshes are automatically creased to continuity.

create Cylinder height 2 radius 2

move vol 1 z 1

create frustum height 2 radius 2 top 0

webcut volume 2 with plane zplane offset 0

delete Volume 2

compress all

move vol 2 z 3

unite body 1 2

webcut volume 1 with cylinder radius 1 axis z

compress all

imprint vol all

merge vol all

surf 2 size .5

vol 1 size 1.5

surf 2 scheme circle

volume 2 scheme Sweep source surface 2 target surface 7 sweep transform translate propagate bias

volume 1 scheme Sweep source surface 3 target surface 5 sweep transform least squares

mesh vol 2

mesh vol 1

uspline vol all

The geometry, mesh, and resulting U-spline volume generate by the commands are shown in the first three images of figure 466. If we instead build a U-spline over the single volume shown in fourth image (lower left), the algorithm succeeds, but issues the warning

WARNING: Some edges which are at surface kinks in the CAD are not creased in the spline.

As the last image of figure 466 shows, the resulting U-spline volume fails to accurately capture a key feature of the original geometry.

Figure 466: This figure shows the workflow for ensuring sharp features are preserved in a U-spline volume fitted to a CAD geometry. (a) A CAD geometry decomposed into two volumes, separated by a sharp feature in the geometry. (b) The mesh of the two-volume CAD geometry. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which accurately captures the sharp edge between the two volumes. (d) The same CAD geometry represented as a single volume. (e) The mesh of the single volume CAD geometry. (f) The resulting U-spline volume. Note that the sharp corner is not preserved in this U-spline volume.

Finally, automatic creasing of the U-spline mesh is performed to ensure a valid U-spline basis is constructed. This automatic creasing algorithm serves to ensure the following criteria are met:

  1. The bivariate U-spline mesh on the source surface(s) of each swept mesh. must satisfy the admissiblity criteria for bivariate U-splines.

  2. All faces on interfaces between swept meshes must be creased to continuity.

  3. The continuity cannot change across interfaces between swept meshes.

While the user does not have control over this automatic creasing, they should be aware that it may have an effect on the resulting U-spline basis and corresponding geometry.

6.2.2.4  Sphere

Constructing a U-spline volume on a Sphere meshed volume results in a multi-patch NURBS volume.

Example Cubit journal commands to create a Sphere meshed U-spline volume.reset create sphere radius 1 volume 1 scheme sphere graded_interval 2 az_interval 2 bias 0.849129 fraction 0.5 max_smooth_iterations 0 mesh vol 1 set uspline vol 1 degree 2 build uspline vol 1 fit uspline 1 draw uspline on

Listing 3:

Figure 467: Building a U-spline on a Sphere-meshed volume. From left to right: (a) The original Cubit volume. (b) The meshed volume. Each colored block corresponds to a different patch in the resulting U-spline. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which is equivalent to a multi-patch NURBS volume.

6.2.2.5  Polyhedron

Constructing a U-spline volume on a Polyhedron meshed volume results in a multi-patch NURBS volume.

Example Cubit journal commands to create a Polyhedron meshed U-spline volume.reset bri x 1 create vertex on curve 12 2 1 midpoint webcut volume 1 with plane vertex 9 vertex 11 vertex 10 delete vol 2 delete vert all curve in vol 1 interval 4 volume 1 scheme polyhedron mesh volume 1 set uspline vol 1 degree 2 build uspline vol 1 fit uspline 1 draw uspline on

Listing 4:

Figure 468: Building a U-spline on a Polyhedron-meshed volume. From left to right: (a) The original Cubit volume. (b) The meshed volume. Each colored block corresponds to a different patch in the resulting U-spline. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which is equivalent to a multi-patch NURBS volume.

6.2.2.6  TetPrimitive

Constructing a U-spline volume on a TetPrimitive meshed volume results in a multi-patch NURBS volume consisting four NURBS patches.

Example Cubit journal commands to create a TetPrimitive meshed U-spline volume.reset create sphere radius 1 webcut volume 1 with plane zplane rotate 180 about y webcut volume 1 with plane yplane rotate 180 about x webcut volume 1 with plane xplane rotate 180 about y delete vol 2 to 4 vol 1 interval 4 vol 1 scheme tetprimitive mesh vol 1 set uspline vol 1 degree 2 build uspline vol 1 fit uspline 1 draw uspline on

Listing 5:

Figure 469: Building a U-spline on a TetPrimitive-meshed volume. From left to right: (a) The original Cubit volume. (b) The meshed volume. Each colored block corresponds to a different patch in the resulting U-spline. (c) The resulting U-spline volume, which is equivalent to a multi-patch NURBS volume.

6.2.3 Commands
6.2.3.1 set uspline

Summary: The set uspline command sets the basis degree and continuity on Cubit geometric entities for building a U-spline.

set uspline <enum>entity [degree <integer>deg] [continuity <integer>cont] [creasing <enum>creasing_type]

6.2.3.2 build uspline

Summary: The build uspline command runs the pipeline to create a U-spline from a Cubit mesh.

[build] uspline {volume <ids>|surface <ids>|curve <ids>} [optimized for timestep] [as <id>]

6.2.3.3 fit uspline

Summary: The fit uspline command fits U-splines to the CAD entities that they mesh.

fit uspline {<integer>us_id} [tessellation tol <real>tol]

  • The set of us_id specifies the U-spline IDs to be fitted to the source CAD geometry. The keyword all may be substituted for the list of integers to fit all U-splines that have been constructed.

  • The tessellation tol keyword specifies how far to refine the visualization tessellation. The value provided, times the largest axis-aligned bounding box dimension of the U-spline, equals the desired maximum difference between the actual spline and the tessellated approximation.

6.2.3.4 quality uspline

Summary: The quality uspline command calculates the scaled Jacobian metric on each U-spline element and compares it to a threshold. Any element with scaled jacobian below the threshold is printed to the command line, and the total number of bad elements is printed to the command line as well. This is an in-development experimental command.

quality uspline {<integer>us_id} scaled jacobian [threshold <real>thresh]

6.2.3.5 draw uspline

Summary: Toggles the U-spline display window.

draw uspline <enum>toggle

  • The toggle takes a value of either off or on.

6.2.3.6 draw uspline projection_error

Summary: Draws the error in the fit of the U-spline geometry to the reference geometry.

draw uspline id {<integer>us_id} <enum>field

6.2.3.7 remove uspline

Summary: The remove uspline command removes U-splines from the session.

remove uspline {<integer>us_id}