OVERVIEW OF ANSYS MESHING PREPROCESSOR CAPABILITIES TO CREATE HIGH QUALITY MESHES

Abstract

The finite element method is one of the most widely used numerical methods for solving problems of solid mechanics, heat transfer, hydrodynamics and electrodynamics. It refers to approximate methods for solving partial differential equations, as well as integral equations that arise in solving applied problems of mechanics. One of the steps of the method’s implementation is discretization: the process of replacing a real physical object with its discrete model, consisting of a set of elements of a certain geometric shape and finite sizes. As a result of this transition, a reduction in the overall dimension of the problem being solved is achieved, which makes it possible to practically implement this method on a computer in the form of a package of applied programs. One of the strategic issues of the method under consideration is the accuracy of the resulting solution, which depends on the degree of discretization of the computational model. Building a finite element mesh is one of the most time-consuming steps and its effectiveness is largely determined by the methods used to build the mesh and, of course, the practical experience of the user with a particular calculation program. The issue of creating a high-quality and economical finite element mesh is a key issue in solving resource-intensive problems of solid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics in conditions of limited computing resources. The quality of the created mesh largely determines the outcome of the computer simulation process and affects the accuracy of the resulting solution, its stability and convergence, as well as the required computing resources and time costs. The article provides an overview of the methods for constructing finite element meshes implemented in the ANSYS Workbench system, describes individual functions that improve the quality of the mesh, as well as reduce the dimension of the finite element model. The capabilities of the Mesh Metric tool used to assess the quality of the mesh are described and practical recommendations for its use are given. A number of practical examples show that the use of methods that make it possible to create finite element meshes containing predominantly hexahedral elements makes it possible to increase individual metric data that determine the quality of the mesh and reduce the model dimension.