Shared topology not behaving as expected

[Clarkt]

Greetings,

I am modelling a 2D gear meshing process. In order to get uniform mesh for all the teeth, I created the geometry for a single tooth and then copied it using circular pattern in Spaceclaim. Each gear is now consisted of as many identical 2D surfaces as its number of teeth. The common edges between the 2D surfaces have shared topology, which is also displayed in Mechanical (see picture below). The mesh also seems to respect the share topology constraint. 

However, when running the simulation, the teeth seem to be separating from each other (see picture below). Of course, this is absurd and should not had happened since shared topology is active. 

Any ideas on how to tackle this?

Thank you in advance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Erik Kostson]

Hi

See if the mesh is really connected (might look so, but we need to check as shown below - first post in that link):

https://discuss.ansys.com/discussion/2651/check-for-mesh-connectivity-between-two-bodies

All the best

Erik

[Clarkt]

Hi Erik, indeed the mesh connectivity is not as it should be: 

Is there an example on how to deal with this?

Thanks

[Erik Kostson]

Hi

It is only the 3 lower teeth on the top gear that are not.

One can look at node merge or mesh connections:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7UVzKSXjWM

Or even better just create one part out all of the teeth instead.

All the best

Erik