area of elements is too small,zero or negative

[fanch35000]

Hi guys,

I have a problem on indentation simulation. I work on .INP file and i've generated 1750 elements by meshing part.
When the analysis start, monitor tells me that

The area of 1750 elements is too small, zero or negative.

What does it mean? Does it come from boundary conditions?

Thanks

Best regards.

Fanch

 

[mrgoldthorpe]

It looks like the topology (node numbering) of the elements is wrong. Check against the numbering rules in the manual.

 

[rtmpxr]

I believe you have a large strain problem where your elements submit large deformations. Redo the mesh accordingly with the state problem or try to do a rezoning to keep area elements at a reasonable shape.

 

[johnsmith2]

Do you define any contact surface pairs? Adjust the slave nodes set? If yes, the automated slave nodes adjustment will change the element shape in great distortion.

 

[corus]

You can also get this when you use contact and opt for moving the slave nodes to the master surface. This can alter your mesh before the analysis starts.

corus

 

[BlazejSleboda]

- check out elements in your mesh (this error comes often with bad element definition)
- check out adjusting at start of analysis (it can deform elements which have adjusted nodes). Try to control it by specifed tolerance value, using nsets rather than specifed tolerance

 

[fanch35000]

Thank you everybody for your answers.

I'll try to make my model better.

Regards.

Fanch