Mini Glossary of Mesh Generation (original) (raw)

node

a vertex in the mesh

element

a polygonal or polyhedral piece in the mesh; most often a triangle, quadrilateral, tetrahedron, or hexahedron (brick)

triangulation

given a set of points, connect them into a mesh of triangles

mesh generation

given a (typically 2-D or 3-D) domain, generate nodes and triangulate them to create a mesh

anisotropic

not the same in all directions

anisotropic mesh generation

uses stretched elements; desired edge length is a function of orientation; e.g. doesn't strive for equilateral triangles

graded mesh generation

uses elements that vary in size as a function of position

structured mesh

all elements and nodes have the same topology (i.e. same number of neighbors)

unstructured mesh

elements and nodes can have different topology; e.g. an arbitrary triangular subdivision

adaptive meshing

iteratively regenerate mesh and solve FEM problem, hopefully improving the mesh and the accuracy of the solution on each iteration

Paul Heckbert