Surface Meshing

A surface mesh or "shell mesh" represents model parts that are relatively two dimensional, such as sheet metal or a hollow plastic cowl or case. In addition, surface meshes placed on the outer faces of solid objects are used as a baseline mapping point when creating more complex 3D meshes (the quality of a 3D mesh largely depends on the quality of the 2D mesh from which it is generated).

Three-noded trias, four-noded quads, six-noded trias, and eight-noded quads can all be built. These two dimensional elements can be built in any of the following panels:

Builds elements on surfaces according to user specifications.

Builds 2D (optionally 3D) simplified meshes of existing complex models.

Builds elements on conic or cylindrical surfaces.

Builds elements by dragging a line, row of nodes, or group of elements along a vector.

Builds elements by hand.

Builds elements by offsetting a group of elements in the direction of their normals.

Builds elements by dragging a line or group of elements along or about a control line.

Builds elements on square or trimmed planar surfaces.

Builds elements between two rows of nodes, a row of nodes and a line, or two lines.

Builds elements on spherical surfaces.

Builds elements by spinning a line, row of nodes, or group of elements about a vector.

Builds elements that lie on a surface defined by lines.

Builds elements on toroidal surfaces.

Note:

By default, first order linear elements are generated when the functions in these panels are executed, but second order parabolic elements may be generated by changing the element order in the mesh subpanel of the Options panel.