Automated quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus usable to generate mesh in a finite element analysis system
First Claim
1. An automated system for quadrilateral surface discretization of a geometric region, comprising:
- means for inputting a permanent boundary on the exterior of the geometric region; and
processing means for iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements inward from said permanent boundary to the interior of the geometric region to form a mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region;
wherein said processing means defines a plurality of fixed nodes along said permanent boundary, generates a paving row including the layered rows of quadrilateral elements around the inside of said boundary, smooths said paving row of said boundary, seams said paving row of said boundary, detects when said paving row intersects itself or when said paving row intersects an existing portion of said mesh and connects the intersection portions, determines whether said paving row includes contracting or expanding quadrilateral elements and adjusts said paving row by inserting wedges or forming tucks, determines when six or less nodes remain in said paving row and completes said paving row by forming a seam or adding additional quadrilateral elements when six or less nodes remain, and inserts or deletes elements to improve local aspect ratios, reduce the number of irregular nodes and eliminate elements having interior angles less than a predetermined value to complete said paving row.
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Abstract
An automatic quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus is provided for automatically discretizing a geometric region without decomposing the region. The automated quadrilateral surface discretization method and apparatus automatically generates a mesh of all quadrilateral elements which is particularly useful in finite element analysis. The generated mesh of all quadrilateral elements is boundary sensitive, orientation insensitive and has few irregular nodes on the boundary. A permanent boundary of the geometric region is input and rows are iteratively layered toward the interior of the geometric region. Also, an exterior permanent boundary and an interior permanent boundary for a geometric region may be input and the rows are iteratively layered inward from the exterior boundary in a first counter clockwise direction while the rows are iteratively layered from the interior permanent boundary toward the exterior of the region in a second clockwise direction. As a result, a high quality mesh for an arbitrary geometry may be generated with a technique that is robust and fast for complex geometric regions and extreme mesh gradations.
84 Citations
62 Claims
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1. An automated system for quadrilateral surface discretization of a geometric region, comprising:
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means for inputting a permanent boundary on the exterior of the geometric region; and processing means for iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements inward from said permanent boundary to the interior of the geometric region to form a mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region; wherein said processing means defines a plurality of fixed nodes along said permanent boundary, generates a paving row including the layered rows of quadrilateral elements around the inside of said boundary, smooths said paving row of said boundary, seams said paving row of said boundary, detects when said paving row intersects itself or when said paving row intersects an existing portion of said mesh and connects the intersection portions, determines whether said paving row includes contracting or expanding quadrilateral elements and adjusts said paving row by inserting wedges or forming tucks, determines when six or less nodes remain in said paving row and completes said paving row by forming a seam or adding additional quadrilateral elements when six or less nodes remain, and inserts or deletes elements to improve local aspect ratios, reduce the number of irregular nodes and eliminate elements having interior angles less than a predetermined value to complete said paving row. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An automated system for quadrilateral surface discretization of a geometric region having interior and exterior boundaries defining a geometric region interior, comprising:
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means for inputting the permanent boundaries of the geometric region including an interior permanent boundary and an exterior permanent boundary; and processing means for iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements outward from said interior permanent boundary to the geometric region exterior and inward from said exterior permanent boundary to the geometric region interior to form a mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region, said processing means alternatively layering rows outward from said interior boundary and inward from said exterior boundary until the entirety of the geometric region interior is discretized, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. In a finite element analysis method comprising generating a mesh of quadrilateral elements defining a geometric region to be analyzed, introducing a stimulus responsive to an input by an operator to which the response of the geometric region is to be modeled, performing finite element analysis on the geometric region in response to the stimulus to produce analysis data, and using the resulting analysis data, a method of automatically generating a mesh of quadrilateral elements comprising the steps of:
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inputting a permanent boundary on the exterior of the geometric region; and iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements inward from said permanent boundary to the interior of the geometric region to form the mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region, said step of iteratively layering including the steps of, defining a plurality of fixed nodes along said permanent boundary, generating a paving row including the layered rows of quadrilateral elements around the inside of said boundary, smoothing said paving row of said boundary, seaming said paving row of said boundary, detecting when said paving row intersects itself or when said paving row intersects an existing portion of said mesh and connecting the intersecting portions, determining whether said paving row includes contracting or expanding quadrilateral elements and adjusting said paving row by inserting wedges or forming tucks, determining when six or less nodes remain in said paving row and completing said paving row by forming a seam or adding additional quadrilateral elements when six or less nodes remain, and inserting or deleting elements to improve local aspect ratios, reduce the number of irregular nodes and eliminate elements having interior angles less than a predetermined value to complete said paving row. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. In a finite element analysis method comprising generating a mesh of quadrilateral elements defining a geometric region to be analyzed having interior and exterior boundaries, introducing a stimulus responsive to an input by an operator to which the response of the geometric region is to be modeled, performing finite element analysis on the geometric region in response to the stimulus to produce analysis data, and using the resulting analysis data, a method of automatically generating a mesh of quadrilateral elements comprising the steps of:
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inputting the permanent boundaries of the geometric region including an interior permanent boundary and an exterior permanent boundary; and iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements outward from said interior permanent boundary to the geometric region exterior and inward from said exterior permanent boundary to the geometric region interior to form the mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region, said rows being alternatively layered outward from said interior boundary and inward from said exterior boundary until the entirety of the geometric region interior is discretized, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of automatically surface discretizing a geometric region into a plurality of quadrilateral elements, comprising the steps of:
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(a) inputting a permanent boundary on the exterior of the geometric region; and (b) iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements inward from said permanent boundary to the interior of the geometric region to form a mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region, said step (b) including the steps of, (b)(1) defining a plurality of fixed nodes along said permanent boundary, (b)(2) generating a paving row including the layered rows of quadrilateral elements around the inside of said boundary, (b)(3) smoothing said paving row of said boundary, (b)(4) seaming said paving row of said boundary, (b)(5) detecting when said paving row intersects itself or when said paving row intersects an existing portion of said mesh and connecting the intersecting portions, (b)(6) determining whether said paving row includes contracting or expanding quadrilateral elements and adjusting said paving row by inserting wedges or forming tucks, (b)(7) determining when six or less nodes remain in said paving row and completing said paving row by forming a seam or adding additional quadrilateral elements when six or less nodes, and (b)(8) inserting or deleting elements to improve local aspect ratios, reduce the number of irregular nodes and eliminate elements having interior angles less than a predetermined value to complete said paving row. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A method of automatically surface discretizing a geometric region having interior and exterior boundaries defining a geometric region interior into a plurality of quadrilateral elements, comprising the steps of:
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inputting the permanent boundaries of the geometric region including an interior permanent boundary and an exterior permanent boundary; and iteratively layering rows of quadrilateral elements inward from said exterior permanent boundary to the geometric region interior and outward from said interior permanent boundary to the geometric region exterior to form a mesh of the quadrilateral elements defining the geometric region, said rows being alternatively layered outward from said interior boundary and inward from said exterior boundary until the entirety of the geometric region interior is discretized, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62)
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Specification