The Delete action provides the capability to remove finite element entities from the model database. Submenus are provided to selectively delete any combination of finite element entities or specifically Node, Element, Mesh Seed definitions, Mesh on Curve⁄Surface⁄Solid, or MPC entities. By default, Auto Execute is selected which means Patran will automatically delete after the entities are selected.

If there are many finite element entities to be deleted, a percent complete form will show the status of the delete process for each entity type. When deletion is complete, a report appears in the command line indicating the number and IDs of the entities deleted, and the number and IDs of the entities not found and therefore not deleted.

The association of the deleted entity with other related entities is broken during deletion. Nodes, element properties, loads and boundary conditions, results and groups may become unreferenced due to deletion. Toggles are provided to delete unreferenced nodes and empty groups due to the delete function. The current group will not be deleted even if it becomes empty.

The Abort key may be selected at any time to halt the delete process, and the Undo button may be used to restore the deleted entities.