A simple method for automatic adaption of finite element meshes to changes in the boundary shape

Published in Innovative Tools for Scientific Computation in Aeronautical Engineering, J. Periaux, P. Joly, O. Pironneau and E. Oñate (Eds.), pp. 149-167, CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain, 2001

Abstract

A simple method to automatically update the finite element mesh of the analysis domain is proposed for cases when the shape of the domain in modified. The method considers the mesh as a fictitious elastic body subjected to prescribed displacement at selected boundary points. The mechanical properties of each mesh element are appropriately selected in order to minimize the deformation and the distortion of the mesh elements. Different selection strategies have been used of remeshing in the solution of shape optimization problems and reduces the number of the remeshing step in the solution of coupled fluid-structure interaction problems