Intelligent finite element mesh generation

Abstract

A knowledge-based and automatic finite element mesh generator (INTELMESH) for two-dimensional linear elasticity problems is presented. Unlike other approaches, the proposed technique incorporates the information about the object geometry as well as the boundary and loading conditions to generate an a priori finite element mesh which is more refined around the critical regions of the problem domain. INTELMESH uses a blackboard architecture expert system and the new concept of substracting to locate the critical regions in the domain and to assign priority and mesh size to them. This involves the decomposition of the original structure into substructures (or primitives) for which an initial and approximate analysis can be performed by using analytical solutions and heuristics. It then uses the concept of wave propagation to generate graded nodes in the whole domain with proper density distribution. INTELMESH is fully automatic and allows the user to define the problem domain with minimum amount of input such as object geometry and boundary and loading conditions. Once nodes have been generated for the entire domain, they are automatically connected to form well-shaped triangular elements ensuring the Delaunay property. Several examples are presented and discussed. When incorporated into and compared with the traditional approach to the adaptive finite element analysis, it is expected that the proposed approach, which starts the process with near optimal initial meshes, will be more accurate and efficient.