Meshing in the

ADINA User Interface (AUI)

Daniel Jose Payen, Ph.D.

March 7, 2016

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 1

 Topics Presented
• Mapped 와 free-form 방식의 격자 생성의 차이점
• Free-form 방식의 4면체(tetrahedral) 격자 생성
– 삼각분할(Triangulation) 방식

– 고급삼각분할(Advanced tetrahedral) 격자:

 곡률기반 격자(curvature-based meshing)

 이방성 격자(anisotropic meshing )

• Free-form 조합 격자 생성(Free-form mixed meshing)

• 모델 세분화 작업(Subdividing the model)

• 경계층 격자 생성(Boundary layer meshing)

• 노드 일치 확인(Nodal coincidence checking)

• 상기 내용은 ADINA 9.2에서 작성됨

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 2
 Topics Presented
• Mapped versus free-form meshing
• Free-form tetrahedral meshing:
– Triangulation methods
– Advanced tetrahedral meshing: curvature-based
meshing, anisotropic meshing
• Free-form mixed meshing
• Subdividing the model
• Boundary layer meshing
• Nodal coincidence checking
• These slides are applicable to ADINA 9.2

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 3

 Mapped vs. Free-Form Meshing

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 Mapped (Rule-based or Structured) Meshing
• Generates ordered mesh where pattern of elements propagates through
the entire domain (MESHING=MAPPED in GFACE or GBODY)

• Only allowed for AUI (simple) geometry -- i.e., surfaces with 3 or 4

lines, or volumes with 4, 5, 6 surfaces (hexahedral, prismatic,
pyramidal, and tetrahedral) -- or ADINA-M geometry that is
topologically identical to the AUI geometry

• When map meshing volumes or bodies, the subdivisions on opposite

sides can be different

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 Free-Form (Unstructured) Meshing
• Used to mesh a general geometry, but resulting pattern will not
typically propagate through the mesh domain (MESHING=FREE-
FORM in GFACE or GBODY)

• A free-form tetrahedral mesher is available that only generates

tetrahedral elements (NODES=4, 10, 11)

• A free-form mixed (hex-dominant) mesher is available that generates

a mix of hexahedral, tetrahedral, and pyramid elements, where
hexahedral elements occupy most of the mesh (NODES=8, 20, 27)

• Basic free-form meshing algorithms are isotropic meaning that the

free-form mesher attempts to generate uniform elements, but
anisotropic meshing algorithms are available for tetrahedral meshing

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 6

 Mapped vs. Free-Form Meshing
• Free-form mesher attempts to create uniformly sized elements
• Mapped mesher should be used when elongated elements are
desired

2D mapped mesh
3D mapped mesh

2D free mesh

3D free mesh

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 7

 Free-Form Tetrahedral Meshing
• Advancing front, Delaunay, and hybrid triangulation methods are
available in the GBODY command

• The triangulation method can be different for the bounding cells and
the volume (see BOUNDARY-METHOD and METHOD)

• Advanced free-form tetrahedral meshing capabilities are available

such as curvature-based meshing, automatic grading, size functions,
and anisotropic meshing methods

• For the advanced free-form tetrahedral meshing capabilities, ADINA

automatically forces the Delaunay triangulation method to be used

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 8

 Advancing Front Triangulation Method
• First the surfaces are meshed. The method “advances” the segment
front (initially made up of the edge subdivisions) toward the interior
by creating triangular elements until the front is filled. Each time a
triangular element is created, the front is modified, shrinking the
domain remaining to be meshed

• Then the volumes are meshed. The method “advances” the

triangulation front (initially made up of the boundary faces) toward
the interior by creating tetrahedral elements until the front is filled.
Each time a tetrahedral element is created, the front is modified,
shrinking the domain remaining to be meshed

• The advancing front method creates well shaped elements near the
boundaries, but it does not always succeed in closing the front,
especially when volume meshing

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 9

 Delaunay Triangulation Method
• Generates meshes by satisfying the Delaunay criterion that states for a
given set of points (nodes) in two dimensions, a triangular mesh can
be constructed where circles that circumscribe the triangles contain no
nodes in the interior and the minimum angle of the triangles is
maximized

• Same idea generalizes in three dimensions where spheres

circumscribe the tetrahedrals, but here the minimum angle of the
tetrahedrals cannot be maximized

• Delaunay meshes meet element quality demands by inserting

additional nodes

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 10

 Hybrid Triangulation Method
• Uses advancing front method until the domain cannot be closed. At
that point, the Delaunay method is used to mesh the domain that the
advancing front method left unmeshed

• Allows for relatively complex bodies with an advancing front type

method

• Mesh quality at the core, where the Delaunay method was used to
close the domain, can be very poor

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 11

 Selecting the Triangulation Method
• Advancing front method is fast and produces well-shape elements
near the boundary, but may encounter difficulties when closing the
front when volume meshing

• The Delaunay method is robust for volume meshing, and supports the
advanced meshing algorithms such as curvature-based meshing, etc.

• By default, ADINA uses the advancing front method to mesh the

boundaries, and the Delaunay method to mesh the volume

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 12

 Curvature-based Tetrahedral Meshing
• Mesh density is dictated by the body’s boundary (edge and face)
curvatures.

• Maximum allowed geometric discretization error is specified

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 Anisotropic Tetrahedral Meshing
• By default, the free-form meshing algorithms attempt to generate
isotropic meshes, where the element size is uniform and equal to the
largest subdivision on the boundary
• Two anisotropic meshing capabilities are supported:
– Boundary layer meshing
– Multiple elements across thin sections (NLAYER parameter in
the GFACE and GBODY commands)

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 14

 Free-Form Mixed (Hex-Dominant) Meshing
• Generates a mix of hexahedral, tetrahedral, and pyramid elements
with hexahedral elements occupying most of the space
• Based on the advancing front method: first, the all-quad mesher is
used to generate quadrilateral cells on the boundary. Then, the mixed
mesher “advances” the front (initially made up of the all-quad cells)
toward the interior by generating hexahedral elements until the front
cannot be closed with hexahedral elements. At that point, the mesher
fills the rest of the domain using tetrahedral elements
• As a result, the free-form mixed mesher often generates a tetrahedral
core for complex geometries, and the element quality in this
tetrahedral core is typically poor.
• For this reason, it is better to sweep or revolve the mesh whenever
possible (using BODY SWEEP and BODY REVOLVED).

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 15

 Free-Form Mixed (Hex-Dominant) Meshing
• The below are examples of the tetrahedral core needed to close the
front when the free-form mixed mesher is used

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 Free-Form Mixed (Hex-Dominant) Meshing
• If PYRAMIDS=NO, the hexahedrals are directly attached to the
tetrahedral elements. Furthermore, hexahedral elements generated by
the advancing front method are split into hexahedrals if certain
element quality criteria are not satisfied (see DANGMAXB,
DANGMAXC, DANGMAXD)
• In this case, some boundary cells might be triangular, but can always
be combined into quadrilaterals as the all-quad mesher was original
used to generate the bounding cells

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 17

 Mesh Densities (Subdivision Data)

• The number of elements, and their grading, is controlled by

the subdivision data.

• There are many ways to specify the subdivision data:

– number of divisions
– length
– point size
– curvature-based
– size functions
…

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 Mesh Densities – Number of Divisions

Subdivide Bodies icon, Method=Divisions

SUBDIVIDE BODY MODE=DIVISIONS

Specification of subdivision length is similar.

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 Mesh Densities – Point Size

MeshingMesh DensityPoint Size

POINT-SIZE OPTION=INPUT

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 Curvature-Based Subdivisions

MeshingCreate MeshBody
AdvancedGeometric Discretization Error

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 Automatic Grading
Automatically adjusts the subdivisions for entities (e.g., body edges
and/or faces) to ensure a smooth mesh gradation

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 Subdivisions by Size Functions
Size function of type Box, subdivision size specified at corners (only tris and tets)

MeshingMesh DensityMesh-Size Function

SIZE-FUNCTION BOUNDS
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 Boundary Layer (BL) Meshes: 2D Quad BL

Boundary Layer

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 Boundary Layer (BL) Meshes: 3D Prism BL
Boundary Layer

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 Boundary Layer (BL) Meshes: 3D Hex BL
Boundary Layer

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 26

 Nodal Coincidence
• If nodal coincidence is checked at a location, and a node already exists at
the location (within the distance specified by the tolerance), no new node
will be created at that location
• There are several option specifying which nodes are to be checked

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 27

 Nodal Coincidence

• Nodal coincidence turned on (default behavior)

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 Nodal Coincidence

• Nodal coincidence turned off (nodes are duplicated on the interface)

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 29

Joining and Detaching Meshes

MESH-JOIN joins parts of the

model by equivalencing (joining)
coincident nodes

MESH-DETACH separates parts of

the model by splitting nodes on the
shared interface between the parts

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 30

 Splitting Meshes
MESH-SPLIT splits a mesh at an interface after
coincident nodes have been equivalence (e.g.,
fracture problems

Parameter BOUNDARY-SPLIT specifies the

precise nodal location of the initial crack tip/front.

Split nodes in
red; gap shown
for clarity.

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 31

 Checking for Coincidence Meshed 2nd

Obtain the element set

attached to this element

Sometimes, culling front faces cannot help

determine if a mesh is attached to another Attached by a single
coincident node
ELEMENTSET OPTION can be used to
verify that parts of the model have not been Meshed 1st
inadvertently joined or are properly split

ELEMENTSET OPTION = ATTACHED

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 32

 Checking for Coincidence

Visual inspection: render the shaded mesh

with front cases culled

ELEMENTSET OPTION can be used to

verify that parts of the model have not been
inadvertently joined or are properly split

ELEMENTSET OPTION = ADJACENT

The element set adjacent to the

selected elements (in white)
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 Desktop reference with special attention given to common
pitfalls and solutions

Main topics:

• Importing, creating, and manipulating geometry

using the ADINA User Interface (AUI)
• A chapter demonstrating ADINA’s powerful
meshing features
• A chapter on ADINA moving mesh capabilities for
CFD and FSI analysis
• A description of ADINA’s Fast Graphics Mode
Many simple examples, detailed figures, and
illustrations

© ADINA R&D, Inc., 2016 34