Partition Faces
The Partition Faces node () provides an operation that partitions selected faces at specified locations. You can specify the positions using curve segments between vertices, extended edges, or a work plane. A Partition Faces node can occur at any position in the geometry sequence; it works with output geometries before the Form Union/Assembly node, assembly geometries, and virtual geometries. To add it to a 3D geometry, in the Geometry toolbar, from the Boolean and Partitions () menu, select Partition Faces. You can also right-click the Geometry node to add this from the Boolean and Partitions submenu. Then enter the properties of the partitioning operation using the following sections:
Partition Faces
First select the faces to partition in the geometry. The faces appear in the list under Faces to partition.
From the Partition with list, choose one of the following methods for defining the curves for partitioning the faces:
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Choose Curve segments between vertices (the default) to select vertices adjacent to the faces to partition. Add the vertices to use for partitioning to the Vertices defining curve segments list. The faces to partition is then partitioned along the curves (lines) connecting the selected vertices.
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Choose Work plane to partition the faces using a work plane that you choose from the Work plane list. Click the Go to Source button () to move to the Work Plane node for the selected work plane.
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Choose Extended edges to partition the selected faces with extensions of adjacent edges by adding the edges to the Planar edges list.
Planar faces can only be partitioned by planar edges that are straight or circular while nonplanar faces can be partitioned by any type of planar edge.
You can change the settings for the Repair tolerance list if you experience problems with the partition operation. Geometric entities that have a distance less than the repair tolerance are merged.
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The default value in the Repair tolerance list is Automatic, which for 3D objects represented using the CAD kernel determines the repair tolerance internally. For 3D objects represented using the COMSOL kernel, and for 2D and 1D objects, Automatic means a relative repair tolerance of 10−6.
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Choose Relative to enter a value for the Relative repair tolerance field (the default is determined by the main Geometry node’s setting). This value is relative to the largest absolute value of the coordinates of all input objects.
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Choose Absolute to enter a value for the Absolute repair tolerance field (the default is determined by the main Geometry node’s setting; SI unit: m). This value uses the same unit as the geometry sequence’s length unit.
When you build this feature, the relative and absolute repair tolerances are set to the values that are used (with a precision of two digits), which can be useful when you have set Repair tolerance to Automatic.
Selections of Resulting Entities
Select the Resulting objects selection check box to create predefined selections (for all levels — objects, domains, boundaries, edges, and points — that are applicable) in subsequent nodes in the geometry sequence. To also make all or one of the types of resulting entities (domains, boundaries, edges, and points) that the resulting objects consist of available as selections in all applicable selection lists (in physics and materials settings, for example), choose an option from the Show in physics (Show in instances if in a geometry part) list: All levels, Domain selection, Boundary selection, Edge selection, or Point selection. The default is Domain selection, which is suitable for use with materials and physics defined in domains. For use with a boundary condition, for example, choose Boundary selection. These selections do not appear as separate selection nodes in the model tree. Select Off to not make any selection available outside of the geometry sequence. From the Color list, choose a color for highlighting the resulting objects selection. See Selection Colors.
Cumulative Selection
If you want to make the resulting entities contribute to a cumulative selection, select a cumulative selection from the Contribute to list (the default, None, gives no contribution), or click the New button to create a new cumulative selection (see Cumulative Selections).