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FEM lecture-6

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7 views

FEM lecture-6

Uploaded by

Abhijeet Yadav
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1AEPC401 - FINITE

ELEMENT METHODS
Prepared by
Mr. BASITHRAHMAN A,
Assistant professor, ADCET, Ashta.
UNIT -2 Introduction to Meshing

need of Meshing, Types of Elements, How to Decide Element Type, Meshing


Techniques, Meshing in Critical Areas.
1-D Meshing: Stiffness Matrix Derivation, Stiffness Matrix- Assembly of Two Rod
Elements, Beam Element, Special Features of Beam Elements.
2-D Meshing: When to Use 2D Elements, Family of 2-d Elements, Thin Shell Elements,
Effect of Mesh Density in the Critical Region, Effect of Biasing in the Critical Region,
Symmetric Boundary Conditions, Different Element Type Options for Shell Meshing,
Geometry Associative Mesh, Quality Checks, Other Checks for Meshing.
3-D Meshing: When to Use 3D Elements, DOFs for Solid Elements, Tetra Meshing
Techniques, Quality Checks for Tetra Meshing, Other Checks for Tetra Meshing, Brick
Meshing, Brick Mesh Quality Checks, Other Checks for Brick Meshing
MESHING

● Meshing is one of the most important steps in


performing an accurate simulation using FEA.
● A mesh is made up of elements which contain
nodes (coordinate locations in space that can vary
by element type) that represent the shape of the
geometry.
● An FEA solver cannot easily work with irregular
shapes, but it is much happier with common
shapes like cubes. Meshing is the process of
turning irregular shapes into more recognizable
volumes called “elements.”
Why do we carry out meshing

● Basic theme of FEA is to make


calculations at only limited (finite) number
of points & then interpolate the results for
entire domain (surface or volumes).
● Any continuous object has infinite degree
of freedom & its just not possible to solve
the problem in this format.
● Finite element method reduces degrees of
freedom from infinite to finite with the help
of discretization i.e., meshing (nodes &
elements)
Types of Elements
1. 1-D element - (x >>> y,z)
2. 2-D element - (x,z >>> y)
3. 3-D element - ( x ~y ~ z)

1-D element :

● One of the dimensions is very large in comparison to other dimensions.


● Element shape - line
● Element type - rod, bar, beam, pipe, axisymmetric shell etc.,
● Practical Applications - Long shafts, beams, pin joint, bearing models.
2-D element:

● When two of the dimensions are very large in comparison to third one.
● Element shape - quadrilateral , triangular
● 2-d meshing is carried out on the mid surface of the part. 2-d elements are
just like paper.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES:
● All sheet metal parts, plastic components like instrument panels, etc,. In
general 2-d meshing is used for parts having width to thickness ratio > 20
Why 2-d meshing is carried out on mid surace?
● Mathematically element thickness specified by user is assigned half of an
element top and half of an element bottom side. Here in order to represent
the geometry appropriately it is necessary to extract mid surface & then
mesh on the surface.
Limitations of mid surface & 2-d meshing:

2-d meshing would lead to higher approximation if used for

- Variable part thickness


- Surfaces are not planer and have different features on two sides.
3-D element:

● Used when all three dimensions are


comparable.
● Elements- hexa, tetra, prism, pyramid,
polyhedron.
● 3-d meshing can perform in any three
dimension component.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS:

Transmission casing, clutch housing, engine


block, connecting rod, crank shaft, wing,
fuselage, engine cowling, landing gear, etc.,
HOW TO START MESHING

1. Spend sufficient time in studying geometry.


2. Time estimation
3. Geometry check
4. Symmetry check
5. Selection of type of elements
6. Types of meshing
7. Joint modelling
8. Splitting the job

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