Curvature Size Function

The curvature size function examines curvature on edges and faces and computes element sizes on these entities such that the size does not violate the maximum size or the curvature normal angle, which are computed either automatically or modified by you.

The following properties define the curvature size function.


Minimum size	The global minimum size to be used in curvature size function mesh calculations. Some element sizes may be smaller than this based on local feature sizes or other geometric anomalies. Specify a value greater than 0 or accept the predefined setting.
Maximum face size	The maximum size to be used for surface meshing. Element faces may be larger than this size based on hard edge sizes or floating point arithmetic. Specify a value greater than 0 or accept the predefined setting.
Maximum size	The maximum size to be used in curvature size function mesh calculations. Specify a value greater than 0 or accept the predefined setting.
Growth rate	Represents the increase in element edge length with each successive layer of elements. For example, a growth rate of 1.2 results in a 20% increase in element edge length with each succeeding layer of elements. Specify a value from 1.0 to 5.0 or accept the predefined setting. The predefined setting is 1.2.
Curvature normal angle	The maximum permitted angle that one element edge may span. Specify a positive value of up to 3.14 radians (180 degrees), or accept the predefined setting. The predefined setting is 0.31416 radians (or 18 degrees).
Maximum boundary layers	Boundary layers improve the mesh to resolve high gradients of velocity or temperature near the wall for fluid flow simulations. For fluid flow and fluid-solid heat transfer simulations, the default maximum boundary layers are 3. You can modify the number of boundary layers, increasing the number of layers improves accuracy and increases the solution time.