1-D Elements

When one of the dimension is very large in comparison to the other two:

Element shape – Line

Additional data from user - The remaining two dimensions, the cross sectional
area.
Element type – Rod, bar, beam, pipe, axi-symmetric shell etc.
Practical applications - Long shafts, beams, pin joint, connection elements.

Types of 1-D element

HYPERMESH THEORY
2-D Elements

2-D elements are used when two of the dimensions are very large in comparison
to the third dimension.

Element shape: Quad, tria

Additional data from user: Remaining dimension i.e. thickness
Element type: Thin shell, plate, membrane, plane stress, plane strain, axis-
symmetric solid etc.
Practical applications: Sheet metal parts, plastic components like instrument
panel etc.

Family of 2-D elements

HYPERMESH THEORY
How not to mesh
1) Back to back triangles should be avoided. Two tria elements should
not be connected to each other directly.

2) On plane surfaces triangular element should be avoided

3) No mesh transition on constant radius fillets / curvatures, the mesh

transition should be carried out on the planer surfaces.

HYPERMESH THEORY
4) Circular holes should be modelled carefully with a washer (1.5 to 2
times diameter) and a minimum of two layers around the hole.

5) Instead of a zig-zag distribution, a structured or smooth mesh is

recommended (nodes aligned in a straight line)

6) Follow the feature lines (nodes should lie exactly on the edges)

HYPERMESH THEORY
QUALITY CHECKS OF 2-D ELEMENTS

• Warpage

This is the amount by which an element (or in the case of solid elements,
an element face) deviates from being planar. Since three points define a plane,
this check only applies to quads. The quad is divided into two trias along its
diagonal, and the angle between the trias normal is measured. Warpage of up to
five degrees is generally acceptable.

Ideal Value = 0o (Acceptable < 10)

• Aspect Ratio

This is the ratio of the longest edge of an element to either its shortest edge or the
shortest distance from a corner node to the opposing edge.
For 3-D elements, each face of the element is treated as a 2-D element and its
aspect ratio determined. The largest aspect ratio among these faces is returned as
the 3-D element’s aspect ratio.
Aspect ratios should rarely exceed 5:1.
Ideal Value = 1 (Acceptable < 5)

•Skew

Skew of triangular elements is calculated by finding the minimum angle between

the vector from each node to the opposing mid-side, and the vector between the
two adjacent mid-sides at each node of the element. The minimum angle found is
subtracted from ninety degrees and reported as the element’s skew.

HYPERMESH THEORY
 Ideal value = 0 (Acceptable < 45deg)

•Chordal Deviation
Curved surfaces can be approximated by using many short lines instead of a
true curve. Chordal deviation is the perpendicular distance between the actual
curve and the approximating line segments.

•Length (min.)
Minimum element lengths are calculated using one of two methods
•The shortest edge of the element. This method is used for non-tetrahedral 3-D
elements.
•The shortest distance from a corner node to its opposing edge (or face, in the
case of tetra elements); referred to as "minimal normalized height".

HYPERMESH THEORY
•Jacobian
This measures the deviation of an element from its ideal or "perfect" shape, such
as a triangle’s deviation from equilateral. The Jacobian value ranges from 0.0 to
1.0, where 1.0 represents a perfectly shaped element. The determinant of the
Jacobian relates the local stretching of the parametric space which is required to
fit it onto the global coordinate space. Hypermesh evaluates the determinant of
the Jacobian matrix at each of the element’s integration points (also called Gauss
points) or at the element’s corner nodes, and reports the ratio between the smallest
and the largest. In the case of Jacobian evaluation at the Gauss points, values of
0.7 and above are generally acceptable.

•trias: min angle

The minimum allowable interior angle for a tria element. Any element for which
any interior angle falls below the specified value is highlighted and remains
highlighted until you exit the Check Elems panel or you select another check
•trias: max angle
The maximum allowable interior angle for a tria element. Any element for which
any interior angle is greater than the specified value is highlighted and remains
highlighted until you exit the Check Elems panel or you select another check
Tria: Ideal Value = 600 (Acceptable = 200 < θ < 1200)
•quads: min angle
The minimum allowable interior angle for a quad element. Any element for which
any interior angle falls below the specified value is highlighted and remains
highlighted until you exit the Check Elems panel or you select another check

•quads: max angle

The maximum allowable interior angle for a quad element. Any element for
which any interior angle is greater than the specified value is highlighted and
remains highlighted until you exit the Check Elems panel or you select another
check.
Quad: Ideal Value = 900 (Acceptable = 450 < θ < 1350).

HYPERMESH THEORY
3-D elements

3-D elements should be used when all dimensions are comparable.

x~y~z
Element shape – Tetra, Penta, hex, pyramid
Additional data from user – Nothing
Element type – Solid
Practical applications: Gear box, engine block, crankshaft, etc.

3-D Element types

HYPERMESH THEORY
DOFs for solid elements

2-D thin shell and 1-D beam element supports 6 dofs, but all solid elements have
only 3 translational dofs (no rotational dof) i.e. a 10 nodded tetra element has total
of 10 x 3 = 30 dofs.

Solid element have only 3 translational and no rotational dofs (Physical

interpretation)

Quality check for Tetra elements.

•Tetra Collapse:
Ideal Value = 1.0 (Acceptable > 0.1)
Tetra collapse = h * 1.24 / A
(Defined as the distance of a node from the opposite face divided by the area of
the face multiplied by 1.24).

•Volumetric Skew:
Create a sphere passing through the corner nodes of the tetra, fit an ideal
(equilateral) tetra in it. Find the volume of the ideal and actual tetra elements.
Ideal value = 0 (Acceptable < 0.7)
Volumetric Skew = (V ideal – V actual)/V ideal.

HYPERMESH THEORY
•Stretch:
Ideal value = 1.0 (Acceptable > 0.2)
Stretch = R * √24 / Lmax
R = Radius of largest possible sphere inside given
tetra element.

•Distortion:
Ideal value = 1.0 (Acceptable > 0.5)
Distortion = | J | * VolmLCS / VolmGCS
LCS – Local Coordinate System
GCS – Global Coordinate System.

•Jacobian:
Ideal value = 1.0 (Acceptable > 0.5)
In simple terms, the Jacobian is a scale factor arising because of the
transformation of the coordinate system. Elements are transformed from global
coordinates to local coordinates to reduce the solution time.

•Warp angle:
Ideal value = 0 (Acceptable <300)
Warp angle is calculated on faces (quadrilateral) of a hex element. It is the angle
between the planes that form by splitting the quad element.

HYPERMESH THEORY