Topological Refinement Procedures for Triangular Finite Element Meshes

Engineering with Computers, Springer-Verlag, Vol 12, pp.243-255, December 1996

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation, CA, USA

Abstract
This paper presents a topological approach to improve the quality of unstructured triangular finite element meshes. Topological improvement procedures are presented both for elements that are interior to the mesh and for elements connected to the boundary. Optimal ordering of the topology improvement operations and their efficient implementation is also discussed. Several example meshes are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in improving element quality in a finite element mesh.