A selective approach to conformal refinement of unstructured hexahedral finite element meshes

Abstract

Hexahedral refinement increases the density of an all-hexahedral mesh in a specified region, improving numerical accuracy. Previous research using solely sheet refinement theory made the implementation computationally expensive and unable to effectively handle concave refinement regions and self-intersecting hex sheets. The Selective Approach method is a new procedure that combines two diverse methodologies to create an efficient and robust algorithm able to handle the above stated problems. These two refinement methods are: 1) element by element refinement and 2) directional refinement. In element by element refinement, the three inherent directions of a Hex are refined in one step using one of seven templates. Because of its computational superiority over directional refinement, but its inability to handle concavities, element by element refinement is used in all areas of the specified region except regions local to concavities. The directional refinement scheme refines the three inherent directions of a hexahedron separately on a hex by hex basis. This differs from sheet refinement which refines hexahedra using hex sheets. Directional refinement is able to correctly handle concave refinement regions. A ranking system and propagation scheme allow directional refinement to work within the confines of the Selective Approach Algorithm.