Hexahedral mesh generation for geometry with multi-featured constraints

Abstract

The accuracy and efficiency of finite element analysis is closely related to mesh quality. There is a lack of universal automatic meshing method currently. Existing hexahedral meshing methods suffer from poor meshing compatibility between different geometric constraints and poor meshing quality, especially for complex models with varieties of geometric features. To solve this problem, a novel hexahedral meshing method based on the mapping algorithm for multi-featured geometry is proposed. In this method, the model boundary is extracted and converted into regular shape, subdomain constraints generated by different geometric feature are projected to one face for centralization, the dividing number of boundary edges are comprehensive computed to make mapping mesh compatible between subdomains, and then dividing lines are generated by linking appropriate nodes on the subdomain boundary and the nodes on the face boundary with consideration about dividing result. Finally, high quality structured mesh is filled in the divided patches and then mapped back to the original model to finish hexahedral mesh generation. Examples demonstrate that the proposed method is reliable and robust, and can handle the hexahedral mesh generation of complex geometries with multi-features. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.