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Problem Specification
1. Start-up and preliminary set-up
2. Specify element type and constants
3. Specify material properties
4. Specify geometry
5. Mesh geometry
6. Specify boundary conditions
7. Solve!
8. Postprocess the results
9. Validate the results

Step 5: Mesh geometry

Bring up the MeshTool:

Main Menu > Preprocessor > MeshTool

The MeshTool is used to control and generate the mesh.

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The element type and material property set to be used in meshing are automatically selected since we have only one of each. To check this using the MeshTool, make sure Global is selected under Element Attributes and click on Set. You will see that the correct element type and material number are already selected in the Meshing Attributes menu. There is no real constant set required for the SOLID45 element with default options (which we haven't changed). Click Cancel.

Set Mesh Size

Two views of the FE mesh we want to use are shown in the figure below.

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Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Numbering

Turn on Keypoint numbers and Line numbers and click OK.

Utility Menu > List > Lines > OK

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Info
title

If you have trouble selecting the correct line below, hold down the left mouse button until the line is selected and then release the left button. If you want to deselect a line, right-click to go into deselect mode, left-click on the line to be deselected and right-click again to go back into select mode.

In MeshTool, under Size Controls and Lines, click Set. This brings up a pick menu.

Pick lines L1,L3,L6, and L10 and click OK in the pick menu. Enter 1 for No. of element divisions and click Apply. (The Spacing Ratio field can be left blank since the default value is one.)

Pick lines L2,L4,L8, and L12 and click OK in the pick menu. Enter 5 for No. of element divisions and click Apply.

Pick lines L7,L9, and L11 in the Graphics window and click OK in the pick menu. Enter 8 for No. of element divisions, 0.3 for Spacing Ratio and click Apply.

Pick line L5 in the Graphics window and click OK in the pick menu. Enter 8 for No. of element divisions, 1/0.3 for Spacing Ratio and click OK.

Mesh Volume

We'll mesh the volume using hexahedral elements (rather than tetrahedral elements). So choose Hex under Shape in the MeshTool.

Make sure Volumes is selected in the drop-down list next to Mesh in the MeshTool. This means the geometry component to be meshed is a volume. Click on .

Click on Pick All in the pick menu. The volume is meshed.

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