auto meshing in finite element method

[kooka]

does anyone knows some algorithm that can make automeshing in finite element method. ie, i have a slab with a hole and i want to auto mesh in squares an triangles. I will thank some references.

[andibrains]

Quoting - kooka

does anyone knows some algorithm that can make automeshing in finite element method. ie, i have a slab with a hole and i want to auto mesh in squares an triangles. I will thank some references.

is it necessary that you perform this meshing in fortran? A software package such as ANSYS 9.0 has powerful auto meshing capability. I believe, although i could be wrong,that the source code for the ansys software is fortran based?

[rase]

I use the Triangle program created by Jonathan Shewchuk (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~quake/triangle.html) to generate triangulations, or quality meshes. Triangle is written in C, it can be used either as a standalone program, or by calling a function. Files are used to transfer the data to and from the the standalone program. The function call uses data structures, so an intermediate C program callable by a Fortran program is required to convert Fortran variables and arrays to C compatible data structures.
Another source of Fortran programs for triangulation is the collection of John Burkard
(http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~burkardt/).

[Greg_T_]

Hello,

FEA meshing can be a big topic depending on the type of 2D or 3D meshing you would like to do. Do you plan to do a planar 2D or perhaps a 3D mesh for the plate with a hole model?

In addition to ANSYS, other commercial mesh generation software includes Femap, Abaqus/CAE, Patran, and others. Or if your current model is fairly small, even using a spreadsheet to compute node coordinates and set the element connectivity can be a useful approach.

One source of mesh related algorithms and routines (in Fortran) is the NIST Guide to Available Mathematical Softare (GAMS) site: gams.nist.gov
There is a search tool at that site to find particular algorithms of interest. I've found the "TRANSFINITE" GAMS package, which contains the TFINXACT routine, very useful for creating quadrillateral and brick element meshes using Fortran routines.

Another possibility is to do a web search for "delaunay triangulation". You should get many references for this method, which will fill a region with triangular shaped elements.

The NAFEMS website might provide some FEA and meshing resources: www.nafems.org

Regards,
Greg

[yanpu_z_]

Hello, a simple 2-D mesh generation program is named Easymesh, http://www-dinma.univ.trieste.it/nirftc/research/easymesh/

where the source code is provided companioned with several examples of the input data format of the geometry to be triangulated.

Regards!