Automatic Generation of Quadrilateral Shell Elements on Sculptured Surfaces

자유곡면에서 사각형 쉘요소의 자동생성

An algorithm for the automatic generation of quadrilateral shell elements on three-dimensional sculptured surfaces has been developed, which is one of the key issues in the finite element analysis of structures with complex shapes such as automobile structures. Mesh generation on sculptured surfaces is performed in three steps. First a sculptured surface is transformed to a projection plane, on which the loops are subdivided into subloops by using the best split lines, and with the use of 6-node/8-node loop operators and a layer operator, quadrilateral finite elements are constructed on this plane. Finally, the constructed mesh is transformed back to the original sculptured surfaces. The proposed mesh generation scheme is suited for the generation of non-uniform meshes so that it can be effectively used when the desired mesh density is available. Sample meshes are presented to demonstrate the versatility of the algorithm.