Rebuild Mesh

The Rebuild tool streamlines the process of remeshing existing meshes to generate a new mesh with good quality and flow. The rebuild mesh functionality utilizes the same parameter and criteria files used by BatchMesher to define the quality criteria and relevant mesh parameters. This algorithm saves significant time over the traditional automesh and quality correction approach.

The rebuild algorithm is useful for many different application.
  • Remesh to adjust size, quality, and flow.
    Figure 1. Before
    Figure 2. After
  • Change to a different element type.
    Figure 3. Before
    Figure 4. After
  • Add or remove washer layers around holes, change the nodal density of a hole, adjust a hole diameter, or remove a hole.
    Figure 5. Before
    Figure 6. After
  • Locally correct areas with bad mesh flow.
    Figure 7. Before
    Figure 8. After

Rebuild is currently supported for first-order FE meshes that are not associated with geometry or attached to 3D element faces. 1D features (plot elements) are important for defining the mesh topology. These features are utilized as vertices, edges and faces, in a similar way to geometry, during the rebuild operation. Such features are generated automatically by the Midmesh tool or can be manually created. If 1D features are not defined on the mesh, they will be automatically generated internally.

  1. Update several options from the parameter file to control the resulting rebuild mesh output.
    Option Action
    Element size (Basic tab) Define target element size.
    Element Type (Basic tab) Define target element type.
    Feature angle (Quality Correction tab) Define the feature and vertex angle used for auto generating 1D features, when required.
    Holes 2D Define the 2D hole table for treating circular holes.
    Move across free edges <= (Quality Correction tab) Define the allowable node movement for nodes on free edges to correct minimum size.
    Move across non-manifold edges <= (Quality Correction tab) Define the allowable node movement for nodes on non-manifold edges to correct minimum size.
    Move across shared edges <= (Quality Correction tab) Define the allowable node movement for nodes on shared edges to correct minimum size.
    Surface hole recognition Define the parameters for performing hole treatment for circular holes.
  2. From the 2D ribbon, click the Rebuild tool.
    Figure 9.


  3. Optional: On the guide bar, click to access rebuild options.
  4. Select elements to rebuild.
  5. Optional: On the guide bar, click Flow Guides to provide a meshflow direction. To add a flow guide:
    1. Left-click on the rebuild element selection to select control points to create the flow guide.
      A preview of the line displays along with a microdialog.
    2. Click Add Flow Guides to complete the flow guide.
    3. Repeat Step 5a and Step 5b to add more flow guides.
  6. Click Rebuild on the guide bar or the microdialog.
  7. Optional: Click in the microdialog then click rebuild to get an improved smooth mesh.