IP Library Granted Patent US 10,546,420
Granted Patent B1
US 10,546,420 · App. 13/875,503 · Granted Jan 28, 2020

Mapped meshing method and mapped seeding method

Inventors: Kunaseelan Kanthasamy (Irvine, CA); Hongtao Xu (Irvine, CA)
Assignee: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
G06T17/20
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,546,420
App. No.
13/875,503
Granted
Jan 28, 2020
Kind
B1
Abstract

Systems and methods for mesh generation for a model are disclosed. A mesh generation system may include a processing circuit configured to receive a surface geometry of a model, the surface geometry including more than one boundary node. The processing circuit is further configured to generate a finite element mesh of the model using the one or more boundary nodes of the surface geometry. The generation of the finite element mesh occurs via one of a mapped meshing method and a mapped seeding method. The mapped seeding method may be used when one or more fixed nodes are present in the model.

Claims (78)

1. A mapped meshing method, comprising:

receiving a surface geometry of a model, the surface geometry including more than one boundary node, wherein the model is designed by a user using a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) system or a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system;

determining boundary edges of the surface geometry;

determining curvature information of each boundary edge;

calculating a plurality of node locations on each boundary edge using the curvature information;

determining a mesh adjustment based on the boundary edges to adjust a position of each node location in the surface geometry;

generating a finite element mesh using the node locations; and

performing a CAE finite element analysis using the finite element mesh, wherein the CAE finite element analysis is performed by the CAE system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a failure to generate a finite element mesh based on angles between boundary edges of the surface geometry.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the curvature information for a boundary edge comprises:

comparing distance between edges of a surface convex hull of the boundary edge and distance between boundary nodes of the boundary edge; and

determining that the boundary edge is curved if a difference in distance is greater than a threshold value.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining that a curvature of a boundary edge is less than a given threshold; and

calculating the plurality of node locations on the boundary edge by using the slope of the boundary edge.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

calculating the plurality of node locations on the boundary edges via interpolation techniques.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the mesh adjustment based on the boundary edges comprises:

calculating a direction vector for each node location relative to a boundary of a convex hull of the boundary edges;

adjusting each node location based on the direction vector.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the finite element mesh is displayed to the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the finite element analysis is performed during a design process for the model.

9. A mapped seeding method, comprising:

receiving a surface geometry of a model, the surface geometry including more than one boundary node and at least one fixed node on the surface geometry that is not a boundary node, wherein the model is designed by a user using a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) system or a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system;

determining boundary edges of the surface geometry;

determining a boundary edge pair comprising two boundary edges of the surface geometry;

determining fixed node locations on each boundary edge of the boundary edge pair;

generating a node list for each boundary edge of the boundary edge pair, wherein the node list comprises a list of boundary nodes and fixed nodes on the boundary edge;

mapping the nodes in the node list of a boundary edge of the boundary edge pair to the opposing boundary edge;

adding additional nodes to a boundary edge if a distance between two consecutive nodes in the node list is larger than a threshold value;

generating a finite element mesh using the node location of nodes in the node list; and

performing a CAE finite element analysis using the finite element mesh, wherein the CAE finite element analysis is performed by a CAE system.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein adding additional nodes to a boundary edge comprises:

defining a segment of a boundary edge using two nodes from the node list of the boundary edge;

receiving a pre-defined distance;

determining that a length of the segment is larger than the pre-defined distance; and

adding a new node to the node list such that a segment including the new node and one of the other two nodes has a length equaling the pre-defined distance.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein new nodes are added to the node list until each segment of each boundary edge has a length equal to or less than the pre-defined distance.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the pre-defined distance is a user-defined distance.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the surface geometry comprises more than one boundary edge pair;

wherein the method further includes identifying each boundary edge pair and adding additional nodes for each boundary edge of each boundary edge pair.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein each boundary edge in the boundary edge pair include the same number of nodes in the node list.

15. A mesh generation system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to:

receive a surface geometry of a model, the surface geometry including more than one boundary node, wherein the model is designed by a user using a Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) system or a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system;

generate a finite element mesh of the model using the one or more boundary nodes of the surface geometry; and

perform a CAE finite element analysis using the finite element mesh, wherein the CAE finite element analysis is performed by a CAE system;

wherein the generation of the finite element mesh occurs via one of a mapped meshing method and a mapped seeding method.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the mapped meshing method comprises:

determining boundary edges of the surface geometry;

determining curvature information of each boundary edge;

calculating a plurality of node locations on each boundary edge using the curvature information;

determining a mesh adjustment based on the boundary edges to adjust a position of each node location in the surface geometry; and

generating a finite element mesh using the node locations.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the curvature information for a boundary edge comprises:

comparing the distance between edges of a surface convex hull of the boundary edge and the distance between boundary nodes of the boundary edge; and

determining that the boundary edge is curved if the difference in distance is greater than a threshold value.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the mesh adjustment based on the boundary edges comprises:

calculating a direction vector for each node location relative to the boundary of the convex hull of the boundary edges;

adjusting each node location based on the direction vector.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the surface geometry further comprises at least one fixed node on the surface geometry that is not a boundary node;

wherein the at least one fixed node is used in the mapped seeding method to generate the finite element mesh.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the mapped seeding method comprises:

determining boundary edges of the surface geometry

determining a boundary edge pair comprising two boundary edges of the surface geometry;

determining fixed node locations on each boundary edge of the boundary edge pair;

generating a node list for each boundary edge of the boundary edge pair, wherein the node list comprises a list of boundary nodes and fixed nodes on the boundary edge;

mapping the fixed nodes of a boundary edge of the boundary edge pair to the opposing boundary edge;

adding additional nodes to a boundary edge if a distance between two consecutive nodes in the node list is larger than a threshold value; and

generating a finite element mesh using the node location of nodes in the node list.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein adding additional nodes to a boundary edge comprises:

defining a segment of a boundary edge using two nodes from the node list of the boundary edge;

receiving a pre-defined distance;

determining that a length of the segment is larger than the pre-defined distance; and

adding a new node to the node list such that a segment including the new node and one of the other two nodes has a length equaling the pre-defined distance.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein new nodes are added to the node list until each segment of each boundary edge has a length equal to or less than the pre-defined distance.

Assignments (8)
MERGER AND CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jan 21, 2022
From: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION; HEXAGON MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE, INC.
To: HEXAGON MANUFACTURING INTELLIGENCE, INC.
Reel/Frame 058731/0413 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 25, 2017
From: JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC
To: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 042138/0251 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 25, 2017
From: JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC
To: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 042138/0327 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 17, 2014
From: WELLS FARGO CAPITAL FINANCE, LLC
To: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 033187/0166 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 29, 2014
From: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
To: JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC
Reel/Frame 033056/0363 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 29, 2014
From: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
To: JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC
Reel/Frame 033056/0446 →
AMENDMENT NUMBER FOUR TO PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 6, 2013
From: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
To: WELLS FARGO CAPITAL FINANCE, LLC, FORMERLY KNOWN AS WELLS FARGO FOOTHILL, LLC, AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 030983/0528 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 14, 2013
From: KANTHASAMY, KUNASEELAN; XU, HONGTAO
To: MSC.SOFTWARE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 030415/0475 →