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Additive Manufacturing model - requesting feedback

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Hello fellow Comsol users,

I am currently working on a layer-by-layer thermal simulation for additive manufacturing and by now, my results are not bad, though still far from perfect. In order to further improve the current model, I'd love to hear your feedback and maybe a few tips.

The meshing is a topic I'm most uncertain about right now, since I feel there's the highest potential for optimization.

Feel free to take a look. Also attached is experimental data as well as a version of my current simulation model. I solved a problem earlier where the first layers temperature spike was much too high. As you can see, I still have a slight problem with high temperatures. Any ideas why?



1 Reply Last Post 2019年11月20日 GMT-5 08:47
Colas Joannin COMSOL Employee

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Posted: 4 years ago 2019年11月20日 GMT-5 08:47
Updated: 4 years ago 2019年11月20日 GMT-5 09:44

Dear Maximilian,

I am glad to hear that you are getting interesting results. After taking a look at your modeI, I agree that the mesh could slighlty be improved, even though the sequence used to create Mesh 3 already seems pretty sound. If you inspect the quality of the mesh (right-click on Mesh 3 > Plot), you will see that for some quality measures - such as Condition number - the structured mesh (swept part) still suffers from an excessive aspect ratio for all elements. To fix it, you can simply refine the boundary mesh used as a source face of the swept operation, by first creating a Free quad or a Free triangular mesh on the top surface and controlling the size of the elements using a dedicated Size subnode. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest using an aspect ratio no larger than 5 for the elements.

If you do not feel very comfortable with the meshing sequence and wish to learn more about it, I would recommend the following video of our online Learning Center :

You will also find more information about best meshing practices on the following blog posts :

Last but not least, I would like to point out that the Activation feature available in the Structural Mechanics Module may prove useful when you wish to add deformation and stress analysis to your model. You can get a sneak peek of this feature at : https://www.comsol.fr/blogs/how-to-activate-material-in-simulations-of-manufacturing-processes/

I hope these few tips and resources will help you carry on with you modeling project. Feel free to contact COMSOL Technical Support (https://www.comsol.fr/support/cases/) for further guidance and resources.

Best regards,

Colas

Dear Maximilian, I am glad to hear that you are getting interesting results. After taking a look at your modeI, I agree that the mesh could slighlty be improved, even though the sequence used to create Mesh 3 already seems pretty sound. If you inspect the quality of the mesh (right-click on Mesh 3 > Plot), you will see that for some quality measures - such as Condition number - the structured mesh (swept part) still suffers from an excessive aspect ratio for all elements. To fix it, you can simply refine the boundary mesh used as a source face of the swept operation, by first creating a Free quad or a Free triangular mesh on the top surface and controlling the size of the elements using a dedicated Size subnode. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest using an aspect ratio no larger than 5 for the elements. If you do not feel very comfortable with the meshing sequence and wish to learn more about it, I would recommend the following video of our online Learning Center : * [https://www.comsol.fr/learning-center/building-the-mesh-for-a-model-geometry-in-comsol-multiphysics](http://) You will also find more information about best meshing practices on the following blog posts : * [https://www.comsol.fr/blogs/best-practices-for-meshing-domains-with-different-size-settings/](http://) * [https://www.comsol.fr/blogs/improving-your-meshing-with-swept-meshes/](http://) Last but not least, I would like to point out that the Activation feature available in the Structural Mechanics Module may prove useful when you wish to add deformation and stress analysis to your model. You can get a sneak peek of this feature at : [https://www.comsol.fr/blogs/how-to-activate-material-in-simulations-of-manufacturing-processes/](http://) I hope these few tips and resources will help you carry on with you modeling project. Feel free to contact COMSOL Technical Support (https://www.comsol.fr/support/cases/) for further guidance and resources. Best regards, Colas

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