A geometrical approach to mesh smoothing

We study the problem of smoothing finite element meshes of triangles and tetrahedra, where vertices are recursively moved to improve the overall quality of the elements with respect to a given shape quality metric. We propose a geometric approach to solving the local optimization problem. Level sets of the given metric are used to characterize the set of optimal point(s). We also introduce a new mesh quality metric for tetrahedra.     

Automatic mesh generation and transformation for topology optimization methods

This paper presents automatic tools aimed at the generation and adaptation of unstructured tetrahedral meshes in the context of composite or heterogeneous geometry. These tools are primarily intended for applications in the domain of topology optimization methods but the approach introduced presents great potential in a wider context. Indeed, various fields of application can be foreseen for which meshing heterogeneous geometry is required, such as finite element simulations (in the case of heterogeneous materials and assemblies, for example), animation and visualization (medical imaging, for example). Using B-Rep concepts as well as specific adaptations of advancing front mesh generation algorithms, the mesh generation approach presented guarantees, in a simple and natural way, mesh continuity and conformity across interior boundaries when trying to mesh a composite domain. When applied in the context of topology optimization methods, this approach guarantees that design and non-design sub-domains are meshed so that finite elements are tagged as design and non-design elements and so that continuity and conformity are guaranteed at the interface between design and non-design sub-domains. The paper also presents how mesh transformation and mesh smoothing tools can be successfully used when trying to derive a functional shape from raw topology optimization results.     

A dual element based geometric element transformation method for all-hexahedral mesh smoothing

Due to their increased complexity hexahedral elements are more challenging with respect to mesh generation and mesh improvement techniques than tetrahedral elements. In particular, there is a lack of geometry-based all-hexahedral smoothing methods for mesh quality improvement being easy to implement, practicable, and efficient. The recently introduced geometric element transformation method represents a new promising element oriented smoothing concept to resolve this deficiency. By giving a dual octahedron based regularizing transformation this new approach is adapted in order to smooth all-hexahedral meshes. First numerical tests indicate that the resulting smoothing method yields high quality results at least comparable to those of a state of the art global optimization-based approach while being significantly faster.     

支持裂纹扩展的三维有限元网格生成算法

描述了任意形状三维区域的非结构四面体网格生成算法,该算法对不含裂纹的区域、含单裂纹或多裂纹的区域都适用。算法首先使用八叉树来确定网格单元大小,然后采用前沿推进技术来生成网格。在前沿推进过程中,采用基于几何形状和基于拓扑结构的两个步骤来保证前沿向前移动过程中发生问题时仍能进行正确执行,并且使用了一种局部网格优化方法来提高网格划分的质量。最后,将算法运用到带有裂纹的复杂实体模型,实验结果表明该算法具有较强的适用性和较高的性能。     

Constrained mesh optimization on boundary

This paper presents a new mesh optimization approach aiming to improve the mesh quality on the boundary. The existing mesh untangling and smoothing algorithms (Vachal et al. in J Comput Phys 196: 627–644, 2004; Knupp in J Numer Methods Eng 48: 1165–1185, 2002), which have been proved to work well to interior mesh optimization, are enhanced by adding constrains of surface and curve shape functions that approximate the boundary geometry from the finite element mesh. The enhanced constrained optimization guarantees that the boundary nodes to be optimized always move on the approximated boundary. A dual-grid hexahedral meshing method is used to generate sample meshes for testing the proposed mesh optimization approach. As complementary treatments to the mesh optimization, appropriate mesh topology modifications, including buffering element insertion and local mesh refinement, are performed in order to eliminate concave and distorted elements on the boundary. Finally, the optimization results of some examples are given to demonstrate the effectivity of the proposed approach.     

An Algorithm for Three-Dimensional Mesh Generation for Arbitrary Regions with Cracks

An algorithm for generating unstructured tetrahedral meshes of arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional regions is described. The algorithm works for regions without cracks, as well as for regions with one or multiple cracks. The algorithm incorporates aspects of well known meshing procedures, but includes some original steps. It uses an advancing front technique, along with an octree to develop local guidelines for the size of generated elements. The advancing front technique is based on a standard procedure found in the literature, with two additional steps to ensure valid volume mesh generation for virtually any domain. The first additional step is related to the generation of elements only considering the topology of the current front, and the second additional step is a back-tracking procedure with face deletion, to ensure that a mesh can be generated even when problems happen during the advance of the front. To improve mesh quality (as far as element shape is concerned), an a posteriori local mesh improvement procedure is used. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated by application to a number of realistically complex, cracked geometries.     

Quality encoding for tetrahedral mesh optimization

We define quality differential coordinates (QDC) for per-vertex encoding of the quality of a tetrahedral mesh. QDC measures the deviation of a mesh vertex from a position which maximizes the combined quality of the set of tetrahedra incident at that vertex. Our formulation allows the incorporation of different choices of element quality metrics into QDC construction to penalize badly shaped and inverted tetrahedra. We develop an algorithm for tetrahedral mesh optimization through energy minimization driven by QDC. The variational problem is solved efficiently and robustly using gradient flow based on a stable semi-implicit integration scheme. To ensure quality boundary of the resulting tetrahedral mesh, we propose a harmonic-guided optimization scheme which leads to consistent handling of both the interior and boundary tetrahedra.     

Eulerian shape design sensitivity analysis and optimization with a fixed grid

Conventional shape optimization based on the finite element method uses Lagrangian representation in which the finite element mesh moves according to shape change, while modern topology optimization uses Eulerian representation. In this paper, an approach to shape optimization using Eulerian representation such that the mesh distortion problem in the conventional approach can be resolved is proposed. A continuum geometric model is defined on the fixed grid of finite elements. An active set of finite elements that defines the discrete domain is determined using a procedure similar to topology optimization, in which each element has a unique shape density. The shape design parameter that is defined on the geometric model is transformed into the corresponding shape density variation of the boundary elements. Using this transformation, it has been shown that the shape design problem can be treated as a parameter design problem, which is a much easier method than the former. A detailed derivation of how the shape design velocity field can be converted into the shape density variation is presented along with sensitivity calculation. Very efficient sensitivity coefficients are calculated by integrating only those elements that belong to the structural boundary. The accuracy of the sensitivity information is compared with that derived by the finite difference method with excellent agreement. Two design optimization problems are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed design approach.     

Second-order shape design sensitivity using P-version finite element analysis

Thep-version finite element analysis (FEA) approach is attractive for design sensitivity analysis (DSA) and optimization due to its high accuracy of analysis results, even with coarse mesh; insensitivity to finite element mesh distortion and aspect ratio; and tolerance for large shape design changes during design iterations. A continuum second-order shape DSA formulation is derived and implemented usingp-version FEA. The second-order shape design sensitivity can be used for reliability based analysis and design optimization by incorporating it with the second-order reliability analysis method (SORM). Both the second-order shape DSA formulations with respect to the single and mixed shape design parameters are derived for elastic solids using the material derivative concept. Both the direct differentiation and hybrid methods are presented in this paper. A shape DSA is implemented by using an establishedp-version FEA code, STRESS CHECK. Two numerical examples, a connecting rod and bracket, are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed seond-order shape DSA approach.     

基于特征保持的三维模型四面体化及优化

三维模型四面体化是一种重要的有限元网格生成技术.介绍了一种特征保持的四面体网格生成及优化算法.首先使用三维模型主成分分析进行预处理,然后用体心立方构建初始四面体,接着通过拉普拉斯坐标改变模型边界切点的移动方式保持模型的局部特征,最后构造改进的密度能量误差函数优化四面体网格质量.实验结果表明,该方法可行、有效,且能很好地保持模型特征.     

从表面重构的体数据实现三维网格剖分

针对有限元分析中网格最优化问题,本文提出一种改进的生成四面体网格的自组织算法。该算法首先应用几何方法将三角形表面模型重新构造成规定大小的分类体数据,同时由该表面模型建立平衡八叉树,计算用以控制网格尺寸的三维数组;然后将体数据转换成邻域内不同等值面的形态一致的边界指示数组;结合改进的自组织算法和相关三维数据的插值函数,达到生成四面体网格的目的。实验对比表明,该方法能够生成更高比例的优质四面体,同时很好地保证了边界的一致。在对封闭的三维表面网格进行有限元建模时,本文算法为其提供了一种有效、可靠的途径。     

On minimization of stress concentration for three-dimensional models

A solution procedure is described for the minimization of stress concentration in general three-dimensional bodies. The formulation is based on tetrahedral finite element analysis and linear programming optimization. Analytical sensitivity analysis, omitting the use of repeated analyses, is presented.Two examples are described in detail. Firstly, a three-dimensional recalculation of the plane stress/plane strain optimal elliptical shape demonstrates the reliability of the procedure, since extremely good agreement is found. Secondly, the three-dimensional cavity problem is treated. The known solution of an ellipsoid is found to an accuracy governed by the finite element mesh.This example demonstrates the need for a better finite element model, and the paper therefore finally focuses on the problem of model-optimization (best finite element model) of a given design. It is shown that the formulation of this optimal remodelling problem is parallel to that of the optimal redesign problem. A remodelling criterion based on combined global/local accuracy is suggested.     

A cascadic geometric filtering approach to subdivision

A new approach to subdivision based on the evolution of surfaces under curvature motion is presented. Such an evolution can be understood as a natural geometric filter process where time corresponds to the filter width. Thus, subdivision can be interpreted as the application of a geometric filter on an initial surface. The concrete scheme is a model of such a filtering based on a successively improved spatial approximation starting with some initial coarse mesh and leading to a smooth limit surface.

In every subdivision step the underlying grid is refined by some regular refinement rule and a linear finite element problem is either solved exactly or, especially on fine grid levels, one confines to a small number of smoothing steps within the corresponding iterative linear solver. The approach closely connects subdivision to surface fairing concerning the geometric smoothing and to cascadic multigrid methods with respect to the actual numerical procedure. The derived method does not distinguish between different valences of nodes nor between different mesh refinement types. Furthermore, the method comes along with a new approach for the theoretical treatment of subdivision.     

基于LEPP递变的四面体网格自适应剖分算法

为了更合理地进行四面体网格剖分,提出了一种根据待剖分对象形态不同进行网格密度自适应调整的四面体网格剖分方法。该方法首先采用BCC(body-centered cubic)网格初始化网格空间,并根据表面曲率的大小以及距离物体表面的远近,采用LEPP(longest edge propagation path)算法由外至内对初始化后的网格空间进行不同尺度的细分;然后对横跨表面的网格进行调整,以形成对象的表面形态;最后采用以质量函数引导的拉普拉斯平滑与棱边收缩(edge collapse)的方法对网格的质量进行优化来最终得到待剖分对象的四面体网格。结果表明,该方法所生成的网格不仅具有自适应的网格密度,而且网格质量比常用的Advancing Front算法也有所提高。对于基于3维断层图像或表面模型进行有限元建模,该方法不失为一种行之有效的好方法。     

The geometric element transformation method for mixed mesh smoothing

The geometric element transformation method (GETMe) is a geometry-based smoothing method for mixed and non-mixed meshes. It is based on a simple geometric transformation applicable to elements bounded by polygons with an arbitrary number of nodes. The transformation, if applied iteratively, leads to a regularization of the polygons. Global mesh smoothing is accomplished by averaging the new node positions obtained by local element transformations. Thereby, the choice of transformation parameters as well as averaging weights can be based on the element quality which leads to high quality results. In this paper, a concept of an enhanced transformation approach is presented and a proof for the regularizing effect of the transformation based on eigenpolygons is given. Numerical examples confirm that the GETMe approach leads to superior mesh quality if compared to other geometry-based methods. In terms of quality it can even compete with optimization-based techniques, despite being conceptually significantly simpler.     

A local cell quality metric and variational grid smoothing algorithm

A local cell quality metric is introduced and used to construct a variational functional for a grid smoothing algorithm. A maximum principle is proved and the properties of the local quality measure, which combines element shape and size control metrics, are investigated. Level set contours are displayed to indicate the effect of cell distortion. The approach is demonstrated for meshes of triangles and quadrilaterals in 2D and a test case with hexahedral cells in 3D. Issues such as the use of a penalty for folded meshes and the effect of valence change in the mesh patches are considered.     

Improving the Quality of Conforming Triangular Meshes by Topological Clean up and DSI

A new method as a post-processing step is presented to improve the shape quality of triangular meshes, which uses a topological clean up procedure and discrete smoothing interpolate (DSI) algorithm together. This method can improve the angle distribution of mesh element. while keeping the resulting meshes conform to the predefined constraints which are inputted as a PSLG.1 Introduction Triangular mesh is very useful in manyapplications, especially in numerical simulationssuch as finite elem…     

Topological improvement procedures for quadrilateral finite element meshes

This paper presents a set of procedures for improving the topology of unstructured quadrilateral finite element meshes. These procedures are based on the topology of the finite element mesh, and all operations act only on local regions of the mesh. The goal is to optimize the topology such that the smoothing process can produce the best possible element quality. Topological improvement procedures are presented both for elements that are interior to the mesh and for elements connected to the boundary. Also presented is a discussion of efficiency and optimal ordering of the procedures. Several example meshes are included to show the effectiveness of the current approach in improving element qualities in a finite element mesh.     

Velocity fields using NURBS with distortion control for structural shape optimization

The paper presents methods for the calculation of design velocity fields and mesh updating in the context of shape optimization. Velocity fields have a fundamental role in the integration of the main conceptual and software components in shape design optimization. Nonuniform rational B-splines are used to parameterize the domain boundary. A Newton/Raphson procedure is used to calculate the curve and surface internal parameters. A preconditioning iterative conjugate gradient method with low precision is used to improve the solution performance of the auxiliar problem in the calculation of the velocity fields. The velocity fields are also used to perturb the finite element mesh and element distortion measures are introduced. Finally, examples of two- and three-dimensional elastic problems are presented to illustrate the application of the algorithms.