How to resolve meshing issues in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023

Products and versions covered

Issue:

A model is not meshed properly/at all in Nastran In-CAD (version 2019.2 or older) or Inventor Nastran (version 2020.0 or newer).

In some cases, even after changing mesh settings (tolerance, element order, etc) mesh cannot be created.

Solution:

If parts fail to mesh:

Try changing the tolerance or rebuilding the model. See Meshing Failed when solid meshing with Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
If the model will mesh as triangular shell elements, split the face. See Mesh fails at small element size in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
If some parts do not mesh but no message is given, see Parts do not mesh in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran due to missing idealization.
If the problem started after updating the CAD model with new parts, see Parts do not mesh in Inventor Nastran due to missing parts (duplicate name).
If one of the volumes touches or intersects itself, see Meshing Failed when solid meshing in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran (self-contacting part) or Overlapping geometry causes meshing to fail in Nastran.
If the model meshes at a large size but not a smaller mesh size (and possibly causes a crash), see Mesh fails at small element size in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
If the model meshes at a small mesh size but not a larger mesh size (and possibly causes a crash), see Application crashes when trying to generate a mesh in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
If the model includes a Mesh Control that uses "Vertex Data", see Mesh fails with mesh control point on surface of model in Inventor Nastran. (That is, the Mesh Control is placed on the model by selecting a point.)
To isolate where the problem occurs, cut away parts of the model. See "Meshing failed" in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
For additional general tips, see How to troubleshoot meshing issues in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
Export the model to STEP. format and open it in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.

Mesh is successful, but other symptoms indicate a problem with the mesh:

If running the analysis gives a message that the mesh is not created, see Error: "Could not find a valid FE Mesh. Please generate FE mesh!" in Nastran In-CAD.
If running the analysis gives a message that the mesh does not contain any nodes or elements, see Nastran In-CAD: How to resolve "Mesh does not contain any nodes or elements" errors.
If the mesh does not conform to the surface, see Mesh does not follow the surface of the model in Nastran In-CAD or Inventor Nastran.
If the mesh is not visible on some of the parts, the "Visibility" checkbox under the "Mesh > Table" dialog may be unchecked. The mesh is hidden if the "Visibility" is unchecked, so confirm that all parts are visible.

The mesh is not displayed for the part Passivation_1.4um:1 because the Visibility is unchecked.

Products:

Inventor Nastran;

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