Mapped Meshing Overview

There are situations when it is necessary or desirable to create a geometrically regular finite element mesh. This is referred to as "mapped" meshing or "structured" meshing. In RS2, a mapped mesh may be created within triangular (3-sided) or quadrilateral (4-sided) regions of the model, using the Mapped Mesh options in the Mapped Meshing sub-menu of the Mesh menu.

In the following example, material boundaries have been used to divide a dam model into quadrilateral and triangular regions, and a mapped mesh of triangular elements has been generated.

Mapped mesh using triangular elements, dam model

Automatic Mapped Mesh

You can automatically create a mapped mesh in all triangular or quadrilateral regions of the model, with one mouse click, using the Automatic Mapped Mesh option. However, before you can do this you will have to ensure the model is properly discretized. See the Automatic Mapped Mesh topic for details.

Manual Mapped Mesh

You can manually apply a mapped mesh to individual triangular or quadrilateral regions, using the Manual Mapped Mesh option. In general it should not be necessary to use this option, unless you wish to restrict the mapped mesh to certain areas of the model, and leave other areas of the mesh un-mapped. See the Manual Mapped Mesh topic for details.

NOTE: you can mesh triangular or quadrilateral shaped regions using either Triangular or Quadrilateral finite elements. However, if a Quadrilateral mesh is applied to a triangular region, then some of the elements will necessarily be triangles.