Multi-Constrained Quadrilateral Mesh Generation for Ship Assembly

Abstract

The assembly of ship blocks is achieved through welding. To get a high level of closure accuracy, finite element analysis (FEA) is always needed to predict the welding deformation. However, the fast automatic mesh generation technique during the finite element method (FEM) for the ship assembly is not mature enough yet. Due to the complex ship architecture, during FEA, the model must be built up manually in most cases. This process is complicated and the errors are easy to occur. Consequently, the efficiency of FEA during the ship assembly is highly affected. Automatic mesh generation is a key factor restricting the development of FEM, since the quality and speed of the mesh generation directly influence the accuracy of calculation and the efficiency of analysis. In the field of marine engineering and aerospace engineering, the mesh elements are required to be quadrilateral. However, the technique of the quadrilateral mesh generation is still more difficult and less mature than that of the triangular mesh generation. This work proposed a hybrid mesh generation algorithm, borrowing the advantages from both the quad-morphing algorithm and the paving algorithm as well as considering the factor of multi-constraints. An example case is also given to illustrate the result of this proposed algorithm.