Generating the Mesh

Generate a mesh of tetrahedral elements for the manifold. To improve accuracy of the solution, add mid-side nodes to the tet4 elements to generate quadratic tet10 elements.

  1. Right-click the Geometry > Operations node and select New > Mesh > Automated Mesh.
  2. In the Create Automated Mesh Operation dialog:
    1. Select the following options:
      Parts Manifold (Stress)
      Surface Meshers Surface Remesher
      Core Volume Meshers Tetrahedral Mesher
    2. Click OK.
  3. Rename the Operations > Automated Mesh node to Stress Analysis - Tetrahedral Mesh.
  4. Edit the Stress Analysis - Tetrahedral Mesh > Default Controls node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Setting
    Base Size Value 0.005 m
    Minimum Surface Size Percentage of Base 30
  5. Right-click the Stress Analysis - Tetrahedral Mesh node and select Execute.
By default, mesh operations generate a mesh of linear elements. To add mid-side nodes to the linear tet4 elements:
  1. Select the Regions > Manifold (Stress) > Physics Conditions > Mid-side Vertex Option node and set Mid-side Vertex to Add - Linear Interpolation.
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ adds the mid-side nodes during the solution initialization. In this tutorial, you want to add the mid-side nodes before you run the simulation, so that the mid-side nodes are available on the FE mesh when you map the thermal loads to the mesh vertices. Initialize the solution to generate the mid-side nodes:
  1. Click (Initialize Solution).
To visualize the volume mesh and element type:
  1. Create a scalar scene and rename it to Manifold Mesh (FE).
  2. Edit the Scenes > Manifold Mesh (FE) node and set the following properties:
    Node Property Setting
    Outline 1 Outline Deactivated
    Scalar 1 Display Mesh Activated
    Parts Parts Parts > Manifold (Stress)
    Scalar Field Function Element Type
    Color Bar Color Map indigo-white
    The mesh appear as shown below:

    The number 24 identifies tetrahedral elements with mid-side nodes.