Gmsh import tracking as Shell (M3) instead of 3D Solid in Mecway

marcosprojetos

Hello everyone,

I am having an issue when importing a 3D solid skid model from Gmsh into Mecway. Even though my model is a solid, Mecway treats the mesh as a shell/membrane and keeps asking for a thickness.

As shown in my screenshots:
1. In Gmsh, I open my STEP file, generate the mesh (1D, 2D, and 3D), and then save it normally using "Save Mesh" (Ctrl + Shift + S).
2. When I open this mesh file in Mecway, all 174,278 elements go into a single "Default" component.
3. Mecway flags it with a "What's wrong?" error because the geometric property is set to "Shell / membrane" instead of "Solid".

If I check the element properties in Mecway, the shape is listed as "M3" (triangles). This means it is only reading the surface/skin as shells, instead of actual 3D solid volume elements (like tetrahedra).

What am I missing in Gmsh during the mesh generation or setup so that the mesh is saved as a true 3D solid volume that Mecway can recognize right away without asking for thickness?

Thank you!

Victor

Can you identify if there are solid elements in the mesh file or not? That would indicate if it's a Gmsh issue or a Mecway issue.

Or perhaps use Gmsh through Mecway's Meshing parameters where it has default settings to import a solid mesh.

Sergio

Can you upload the step model maybe? I have tried with a similar assembly imported in step format to Gmsh, mesh with default settings (only size adjusting) just pressing the Mesh 3D button and saving the mesh, and was imported in Mecway as tets (separated by components, not a conformal mesh). I don´t recomend that kind of mesh for such kind of parts, in order to have two elements in thickness the element size must be very small and the number of elements is too big.