Map Mesh

Generate quadrilateral element mesh after dividing enclosed domains (Curve or Surface) at even spacing.

Auto-mesh generates mesh of sufficiently adequate quality but Map Mesh is used to attain quadrilateral elements close to squares, which lead to more accurate results.   

Applicable Modules:

From the Main Menu, select Model > Mesh > Map Mesh

From the Command Line, type 'MapMesh' or 'MM'

Select Object

Select the objects to be meshed.

Surface

Select surface(s) to be meshed.

Map Mesh Area

Select domains enclosed by lines to be map meshed.

Select Surface(s)

Select the surfaces to be map meshed (In case object selection is Surface).

Select Curve(s)

Select the curves to be map meshed (In case of domains enclosed by Curves).

Select 4 Corner Points

Select the corners of a Surface in case of Surface selection.

Mesh Size

Element Size

Enter the desired element size.

No. of Divisions

Enter the number of divisions to create elements.

      Equal Spacing

Check this option to create elements with equal Horizontal (H) and Vertical (V) spacing.

Unequal Spacing

Check this option to create elements with unequal Horizontal (H) and Vertical (V) spacing.

Ground Material Property

Select a Ground Material Property to be assigned to the mesh. Click to the right to Add new, Modify or Delete Ground Material Property.

Mesh Set

Enter the name of the Mesh Set.

Create new Mesh Set if same name exists

Check on to create a new Mesh Set if a Mesh Set with the same name exists.

Generate Higher Order Elements

Check on to generate higher order elements with intermittent nodes.

Use the Material assigned to Surface

Generates mesh elements with same Ground Material Property as that of the source Surface.

Register each Mesh Set Independently

When multiple surfaces (Area) and curves (Edge) are selected to be meshed, each mesh is independently registered in the Works Tree.

Click to generate mesh. The dialog box will close automatically.

Press the ESC key or click to close the dialog box.  

  After mesh is generated, work process will switch to the state of Select Surface(s)/Curve(s) upon clicking.

Note:

When generating mapped mesh, the element size information need not be specified to be able to use the mapped mesh as below.  In case the element size is entered (or spacing is entered), mapped mesh can be generated as if the element size information were entered in the four sides composing the surface.  

In the case of the left diagram, mapped mesh can be generated in the surface generally through a size and spacing.  In a complex surface such as the right diagram, mapped mesh can be properly generated by specifying the four outer corner points of the surface.  Corners normally need not be specified in a surface.   

When mapped mesh is generated in an enclosed domain defined by lines such as the case below (a domain defined by 6 edges), the number of nodes to be generated on the edges 1, 2 and 3 and the number of nodes on the edge 5 need to coincide.  The numbers of nodes on the edges 4 and 6 also need to coincide.  That is, the facing sides need to have the same number of nodes to generate uniform mesh; otherwise, an error message will be generated.