Synthesis of a near-optimum finite element mesh

Abstract

A finite element program post-processor is developed to help synthesize a near-optimum mesh. This post-processor displays, interactively, six different energy functions, along with the usual stress functions. The six energy functions are functions of the energy within each element of the mesh. Since it is intended to be an educational package, the post-processor does not automatically generate the new mesh for the user. Instead, guidelines for near-optimum mesh generation are presented. The guidelines are based on the test cases included in the study. These test cases were also used to select the combination of functions that seemed to be more desirable for optimization. A list of possible future work is included.