Filleting sharp edges of multi-partitioned volume finite element meshes

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to set up a new framework to enable direct modifications of volume meshes enriched with semantic information associated to multiple partitions. An instance of filleting operator is prototyped under this framework and presented in the paper. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, a generic mesh modification operator has been designed and a new instance of this operator for filleting finite element (FE) sharp edges of tetrahedral multi-partitioned meshes is also pro-posed. The filleting operator works in two main steps. The outer skin of the tetrahedral mesh is first deformed to round user-specified sharp edges while satisfying constraints relative to the shape of the so-called Virtual Group Boundaries. Then, in the filleting area, the positions of the inner nodes are relaxed to improve the aspect ratio of the mesh elements. Findings – The classical mainstream methodology for product behaviour optimization involves the repetition of four steps: CAD modelling, meshing of CAD models, enrichment of models with FE simulation semantics and FEA. This paper highlights how this methodology could be simplified by two steps: simulation model modification and FEA. The authors set up a new framework to enable direct modifications of volume meshes enriched with semantic information associated to multiple partitions and the corresponding fillet operator is devised. Research limitations/implications – The proposed framework shows only a paradigm of direct modifications of semantic enriched meshes. It could be further more improved by adding or changing the modules inside. The fillet operator does not take into account the exact radius imposed by user. With this proposed fillet operator the mesh element density may not be enough high to obtain wished smoothness. Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified industry need to speed up the product behaviour analysis process by directly modifying the simulation semantic enriched meshes.