Modifying Surface Approximation Settings

Each solver applies surface approximation settings for selected objects when it generates the initial mesh. If you modify a solver's default settings after the initial mesh has been generated, they will not affect the mesh for that design variation. Surface approximation makes sense for curved surfaces, for which the mesh will not exactly reproduce the surface shape. It also can be used to restrict the aspect ratio of triangles on planar surfaces. For a given surface approximation slider setting, the approximation is more refined for IE and SBR+  solvers than for FEM solvers.

1. Select the faces for which you want to modify the surface approximation settings.

Alternatively, select an object if you want to modify the surface approximation settings of every face on the object.

2. Click HFSS > Mesh > Assign Mesh Operation > Surface Approximation or right click on Mesh in the Project Manager and select Assign Mesh Operation > Surface Approximation.

The Surface Approximation dialog box appears.



3. Type a name for the group of settings in the Name text box or accept the default name.
4. Under Curved Surface Meshing, you can select Use Slider or specify Manual Settings.

The slider includes a visual representation of your choice, ranging from a Coarse Resolution (with a Small Mesh Count) through a nine position scale to a Fine Resolution (with a Large Mesh Count). Here, "Mesh Count" refers to the number of elements comprising the mesh.

Coarse Resolution, Small Mesh Count:



Fine Resolution, Large Mesh Count:



5. If you choose Manual Settings, the dialog box changes to show text fields.



Note:

If you selected Use dynamic surface resolution in Initial Mesh Settings, use of Manual Settings is not permitted. You must use slider bar to specify one of three levels of surface representation: coarse (1-3), normal (4-6), and fine (7-9).

6. Select Surface Deviation. Use the drop-down menu to select a unit of measure and then enter the distance between the true surfaces of the selected faces and the meshed faces.
7. Select Normal Deviation. Use the drop-down menu to select a unit of measure and then enter the angular distance between the normal of the true surface and the corresponding mesh surface.
8. Select Aspect Ratio and then type a value in the text box. This value determines the shape of the triangles. The higher the value, the thinner the triangles. Values close to 1 will result in well-formed, wide triangles.
9. Click OK.

The settings are applied to the initial mesh generated on the selected surface. The group of settings is listed in the project tree under Mesh.

You can also specify Initial Mesh Settings to apply to all objects. However, if you apply separate surface approximation mesh operations to specific objects, the object settings take precedence over the general setting.