Three-Dimensional Finite Element Meshing by Incremental Node Insertion

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Wiley, Vol 39, pp.3519-3534, 1996

MESHING
RESEARCH
CORNER

Research and Development Center, Toshiba Corporation 1,
Komukai-Toshiba-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki, 210, Japan

Abstract
This paper describes an efficient algorithm for fully automated three- dimensional finite element meshing which is applicable to non-convex geometry and non-manifold topology. This algorithm starts with sparsely placed nodes on the boundaries of a geometric model and a corresponding 3-D Delaunay triangulation. Nodes are then inserted incrementally by checking the tetrahedral mesh geometry and topological compatibility between Delaunay triangulation and the geometric model. Topological compatibility is checked in a robust manner by a method which relies more on a mesh's topology than its geometry. The node placement strategy is tightly coupled to an incremental Delaunay triangulation algorithm, and results in a low growth rate of computational time.