Mesh recommendations in crash worthiness and in Implicit Analysis are
covered.
Number of Elements Recommended
It is recommended to set a minimum of five to 10 elements in a structural working length. For
buckling situation, five to 10 elements along one buckle wave length is also
recommended (Figure 1).Figure 1. Number of Elements Along a Buckle Wave
On the other hand, due to the direct relation between the size of the smallest element in the
mesh and the time step, it is valuable to suppress geometry details, if they are
smaller than the average size of elements (Figure 2). A uniform mesh allows you to optimize time step and to ensure the
consistency of the momentum transmission during shock wave propagation to avoid
parasite reflections. A minimum of three elements along the width is required for
better elasto-plastic behavior.Figure 2. Surface Mesh Generation for Part with Holes
Observe the minimum number of elements, taking into account the mechanical behavior. The minimum
number of elements in the width is:
1 for the parts working with quasi-uniform stress distribution as
pressure and shear loading without bending
2 for elastic behavior, including bending
3 for low accuracy elastoplastic behavior
5 for good accuracy elastoplastic behavior
10 for good accuracy elastoplastic behavior, including local
loading or local discontinuities
Figure 3. Minimum Number of Elements
Mesh Transition
It is not recommended to use different kinds of element formulation in a given physical part. Fully-integrated and under-integrated elements do not have the same stiffness matrices; but they do have the same mass matrix. The transition of momentum between these two kinds of elements may be a problem.
To reduce the number of triangles and to improve the consistency of the mesh, the transition
patterns illustrated in Figure 4 can be used.Figure 4. Mesh Transition Examples
Mesh Patterns
With one integration point, there are no element shapes for which the element formulation becomes
completely wrong (elements with angles larger than 180 degrees are still working
with bad accuracy, but without numerical problems). It is recommended to use
elements as regular as possible with an angle typically between 45 and 120 degrees.
The ratio between the largest and smallest edge is not critical for explicit
formulation. A uniform mesh is recommended to distribute mass uniformly over the
structure. It is possible to avoid triangle creation, even for a triangular geometry
or a circle (Figure 5).Figure 5. Mesh Transition Examples
In Radioss what kind of mesh quality given often depends on the
robustness of the elements. Often, an explicit run has different exigencies than an
implicit one, for example, homogeneous mesh is more important for explicit (due to
time step), than implicit and positive Jacobi warpage, skewness and aspect ratio are
more important for implicit (due to convergence), than explicit. Initially, getting
a good mesh quality condition is necessary for a good simulation result.