In The Meshes

Written by authors at the forefront of modern algorithms research, Delaunay Mesh Generation demonstrates the power and versatility of Delaunay meshers in tackling complex geometric domains ranging from polyhedra with internal boundaries to piecewise smooth surfaces. Covering both volume and surface meshes, the authors fully explain how and why thes

High quality meshes play a key role in many applications based on digital modeling and simulation. The finite element method is a paragon for such an approach and it is well known that quality meshes can significantly improve computational efficiency and solution accuracy of this method. Therefore, a lot of effort has been put in methods for improving mesh quality. These range from simple geometric approaches, like Laplacian smoothing, with a high computational efficiency but possible low resulting mesh quality, to global optimization-based methods, resulting in an excellent mesh quality at the cost of an increased computational and implementational complexity. The geometric element transformation method (GETMe) aims to fill the gap between these two approaches. It is based on geometric mesh element transformations, which iteratively transform polygonal and polyhedral elements into their regular counterparts or into elements with a prescribed shape. GETMe combines a Laplacian smoothing-like computational efficiency with a global optimization-like effectiveness. The method is straightforward to implement and its variants can also be used to improve tangled and anisotropic meshes. This book describes the mathematical theory of geometric element transformations as foundation for mesh smoothing. It gives a thorough introduction to GETMe-based mesh smoothing and its algorithms providing a framework to focus on effectively improving key mesh quality aspects. It addresses the improvement of planar, surface, volumetric, mixed, isotropic, and anisotropic meshes and addresses aspects of combining mesh smoothing with topological mesh modification. The advantages of GETMe-based mesh smoothing are demonstrated by the example of various numerical tests. These include smoothing of real world meshes from engineering applications as well as smoothing of synthetic meshes for demonstrating key aspects of GETMe-based mesh improvement. Results are compared with those of other smoothing methods in terms of runtime behavior, mesh quality, and resulting finite element solution efficiency and accuracy. Features: • Helps to improve finite element mesh quality by applying geometry-driven mesh smoothing approaches. • Supports the reader in understanding and implementing GETMe-based mesh smoothing. • Discusses aspects and properties of GETMe smoothing variants and thus provides guidance for choosing the appropriate mesh improvement algorithm. • Addresses smoothing of various mesh types: planar, surface, volumetric, isotropic, anisotropic, non-mixed, and mixed. • Provides and analyzes geometric element transformations for polygonal and polyhedral elements with regular and non-regular limits. • Includes a broad range of numerical examples and compares results with those of other smoothing methods.

This monograph provides an introduction to the design and analysis of Hybrid High-Order methods for diffusive problems, along with a panel of applications to advanced models in computational mechanics. Hybrid High-Order methods are new-generation numerical methods for partial differential equations with features that set them apart from traditional ones. These include: the support of polytopal meshes, including non-star-shaped elements and hanging nodes; the possibility of having arbitrary approximation orders in any space dimension; an enhanced compliance with the physics; and a reduced computational cost thanks to compact stencil and static condensation. The first part of the monograph lays the foundations of the method, considering linear scalar second-order models, including scalar diffusion – possibly heterogeneous and anisotropic – and diffusion-advection-reaction. The second part addresses applications to more complex models from the engineering sciences: non-linear Leray-Lions problems, elasticity, and incompressible fluid flows. This book is primarily intended for graduate students and researchers in applied mathematics and numerical analysis, who will find here valuable analysis tools of general scope.

This book introduces readers to one of the first methods developed for the numerical treatment of boundary value problems on polygonal and polyhedral meshes, which it subsequently analyzes and applies in various scenarios. The BEM-based finite element approaches employs implicitly defined trial functions, which are treated locally by means of boundary integral equations. A detailed construction of high-order approximation spaces is discussed and applied to uniform, adaptive and anisotropic polytopal meshes. The main benefits of these general discretizations are the flexible handling they offer for meshes, and their natural incorporation of hanging nodes. This can especially be seen in adaptive finite element strategies and when anisotropic meshes are used. Moreover, this approach allows for problem-adapted approximation spaces as presented for convection-dominated diffusion equations. All theoretical results and considerations discussed in the book are verified and illustrated by several numerical examples and experiments. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to mathematicians in the field of boundary value problems, engineers with a (mathematical) background in finite element methods, and advanced graduate students.

Within a few years the surgical approach to abdominal wall hernias has focused on mesh-based treatment options. This dramatic change has set the stage for the third Suvretta meeting. All aspects of the mesh world have been discussed in detail by more than 50 international experts during an intense week resulting in an assessment of success and failures. After posing the question, whether meshes have defeated recurrences in the groin, epidemiological clinical data on recurrences were presented and show that this problem still exists. In particular, novel molecular biology-based research results stress the pathophysiological importance of a defective scarring process in these patients with inherent conclusions for future therapies. Regarding the variety existing meshes, there are already more than 100 different mesh devices, a comprehensive review of their chemical and textile properties was presented, with emphasis on their impact on biological responses. However, more than 90% of the participants articulated the need for improved mesh prosthesis, because their characteristic inflammatory and fibrotic foreign body reaction cause minor and major complications, e.g. pain, infections, adhesions, damage of the spermatic cord. The differentiated use of meshes in various procedures was discussed, including groin, incisional, parastomal, diaphragmal and hiatal hernias as well as their use in extended abdominal wall defects or in paediatric or plastic surgery. In summary this book summarizes the most up-to-date knowledge about meshes and hopefully serve as manual for both practical surgeons and scientists involved in the growing world of mesh.

Highlights the Progression of Meshing Technologies and Their Applications Finite Element Mesh Generation provides a concise and comprehensive guide to the application of finite element mesh generation over 2D domains, curved surfaces, and 3D space. Organised according to the geometry and dimension of the problem domains, it develops from the basic meshing algorithms to the most advanced schemes to deal with problems with specific requirements such as boundary conformity, adaptive and anisotropic elements, shape qualities, and mesh optimization. It sets out the fundamentals of popular techniques, including: Delaunay triangulation Advancing-front (ADF) approach Quadtree/Octree techniques Refinement and optimization-based strategies From the geometrical and the topological aspects and their associated operations and inter-relationships, each approach is vividly described and illustrated with examples. Beyond the algorithms, the book also explores the practice of using metric tensor and surface curvatures for generating anisotropic meshes on parametric space. It presents results from research including 3D anisotropic meshing, mesh generation over unbounded domains, meshing by means of intersection, re-meshing by Delaunay-ADF approach, mesh refinement and optimization, generation of hexahedral meshes, and large scale and parallel meshing, along with innovative unpublished meshing methods. The author provides illustrations of major meshing algorithms, pseudo codes, and programming codes in C++ or FORTRAN. Geared toward research centers, universities, and engineering companies, Finite Element Mesh Generation describes mesh generation methods and fundamental techniques, and also serves as a valuable reference for laymen and experts alike.

Using an elegant mixture of geometry, graph theory and linear analysis, this monograph completely solves a problem lying at the interface of Isogeometric Analysis (IgA) and Finite Element Methods (FEM). The recent explosion of IgA, strongly tying Computer Aided Geometry Design to Analysis, does not easily apply to the rich variety of complex shapes that engineers have to design and analyse. Therefore new developments have studied the extension of IgA to unstructured unions of meshes, similar to those one can find in FEM. The following problem arises: given an unstructured planar quadrilateral mesh, construct a C1-surface, by piecewise Bézier or B-Spline patches defined over this mesh. This problem is solved for C1-surfaces defined over plane bilinear Bézier patches, the corresponding results for B-Splines then being simple consequences. The method can be extended to higher-order quadrilaterals and even to three dimensions, and the most recent developments in this direction are also mentioned here.

This book presents the state of the art in the analyses of three-dimensional flow over rotating wind turbine blades. Systematic studies for wind turbine rotors with different sizes were carried out numerically employing three different simulation approaches, namely the Euler, URANS and DDES methods. The main mechanisms of the lift augmentation in the blade inboard region are described in detail. The physical relations between the inviscid and viscous effects are presented and evaluated, emphasizing the influence of the flow curvature on the resulting pressure distributions. Detailed studies concerning the lift augmentation for large wind turbine rotors are considered as thick inboard airfoils characterized by massive separation are desired to stronger contribute to power production. Special attention is given to the analyses of wind turbine loads and flow field that can be helpful for the interpretation of the occurring physical phenomena. The book is aimed at students, researchers, engineers and physicists dealing with wind engineering problems, but also for a wider audience involved in flow computations.