Association builder

CAD Import, Association builder The Association builder allows you to perform primitive association either automatically or from a multi-selection of bodies. This feature is accessible from the 1D modeling menu or through the icon in the toolbar:

Figure 136: Association builder icon

The first step is to select all the bodies you want to associate with a primitive. To do so, you can select them from the 3D scene or from the Object tree.

Note

Primitives will be converted during the sketch generation step into Simcenter Amesim components.

Figure 137: Selection of the bodies

Detect association

The Association builder dialog proposes a detection algorithm for some specific primitives (mainly piping primitives). To do so, click the Detect association button.

Figure 138: Detect association dialog

You can select the domain you want to work with and then the type of primitives you want to identify. Note that you can keep all types of primitives selected without any trouble.

Note

In the Fluid domain for example, there are three kinds of pipes that can be detected: Pipe, Pipe with rotation motion and Pipe with thermal port. You need to select witch type of pipe you want to detect: only a single type of pipe can be selected.

To launch the automatic detection, press the Detect button. The Detect association dialog will close and the associations detected are set to the bodies selected in the Association builder dialog.

Figure 139: Association detected

Manual associations

When automatic detection is not usable for the primitive type you require, manual association can be done. To do so, proceed as follows:

Note

Manual association can be done on a multi-selection of bodies.

Procedure

1. Select the Domain and the Type you want to associate using the combo boxes.

Figure 140: Domain and Type selection

2. Select the bodies with which you want to associate the type of primitive selected previously in the combo boxes.

You can make a multi-selection in the Primitive association list, from the 3D scene, or in the Object tree using the ctrl or shift buttons on your keyboard.

3. Click Associate.

All selected bodies are associated with the chosen primitive type. Figure 141: Primitive associations made

4. Another way is to use the Click to associate mode. When this mode is activated, as soon as you select a body in the 3D View or in the Object tree, the association is performed based on the domain and the type selected in the Association builder dialog.

Figure 142: Click to associate mode

In this mode, the mouse cursor changes to a pointing hand. If needed, you can change the type of domain and primitive without deactivating this mode.

Once you have made your primitive associations, you can perform the following actions:

• Click the button to open a Primitive association window in which you can edit the options of that primitive. See Primitive parameter edition for more information.

• Click the button to remove the primitive association.

• Click the trashcan icon to remove the body from the list.Note If a primitive is associated with the body you are removing from the Association Builder, you will be prompted to choose whether to keep or remove that association.

Note

In case the association is not complete (missing port, impossible to compute a parameter, …), this association appears in red in the Object list.