SMS:Paving

Mesh created with paving method

The paving method uses an advancing front technique to fill the polygon with elements. Based on the vertex distribution on the boundaries, equilateral triangles are created on the interior to define a smaller interior polygon. Overlapping regions are removed and the process is repeated until the region is filled. Interior nodal locations are relaxed to create better quality elements.

Both the "Paving" method and the "Scalar Paving Density" can be selected in the 2D Mesh Polygon Properties dialog. The dialog is accessed by right-clicking on the a polygon and selecting the Attributes command.

Scalar Paving Density

Scalar paving density utilizes the same approach as paving with the added component of a size dataset. A size dataset defines the desired spacing of nodes in a spatial fashion. A scattered dataset provides the geometric basis for the size dataset, and a dataset on the scatter set provides the values for the size dataset. SMS redistributes the vertices on the boundaries of the polygon to match the underlying size dataset.

Related Topics

• Patch Meshing Algorithm
• Mesh Generation
• Element Patch Workflow