Generation of curved high-order hexahedral finite element meshes for thin-walled structures

In this paper we present a mesh generation algorithm which creates unstructured meshes with curved hexahedral elements for the discretization of thin-walled shell-like structures arising in many engineering disciplines. To this end the recursive domain division, which generates triangular and quadrilateral meshes for freeform surfaces is applied and further developed. The creation of the hexahedral elements is based on a projection approach which extrudes the quadrilateral elements generated on the mid-surface of the thin-walled structure. The extension to curved hexahedral solid elements is performed by applying the Babuska-Chen points which describe polynomial shapes and are interpolated on the surfaces of the hexahedral elements. A series of examples concludes this work.     «

In this paper we present a mesh generation algorithm which creates unstructured meshes with curved hexahedral elements for the discretization of thin-walled shell-like structures arising in many engineering disciplines. To this end the recursive domain division, which generates triangular and quadrilateral meshes for freeform surfaces is applied and further developed. The creation of the hexahedral elements is based on a projection approach which extrudes the quadrilateral elements generated on...     »