Selecting the Element Shape

Go to the Mesh Options panel and click the icon that represents the required Element shape.

Option Description Considerations
Quadrilateral Dominant Generates a mostly quadrilateral mesh on sheet bodies. On solid bodies, this option will be used in the generation of the surface mesh of the free faces of the solid.
  • Preferred default for surface mesh for most structural use cases.
  • When solid meshing, the free faces of swept blocks will use this option.

  • When solid meshing, the free faces of free blocks will use this option. This will force pyramids to be created in the free blocks which may not be recommended for your solver.
All Quadrilateral Generates an all-quadrilateral mesh on sheet bodies. On solid bodies, this option will be used in the generation of the surface mesh of the free faces of the solid.
  • Intended for use in special cases where you want to force an all-quad mesh on select parts or areas.
  • When solid meshing, the free faces of swept blocks will use this option.

  • When solid meshing, the free faces of free blocks will use this option. This will force pyramids to be created in the free blocks which may not be recommended for your solver.
Triangle Generates an all-triangle mesh on sheet bodies. On solid bodies, this option will be used in the generation of the surface mesh of the free faces of the solid.

  • Intended for use in surface meshing for solids when trying to avoid pyramids.

  • For example,

    • If you set Element shape = Triangle & Tetrahedral and Blocking = Free, then you will get an all tetrahedral mesh on a solid body.

    • If you set Element shape = Triangle and Blocking = Standard or Aggressive, and you mesh a sweepable body, then the swept block will be filled with all wedges (prisms).

    • If you have a swept block and a free block with a shared interface, and that face is meshed with Element shape = Triangle, then no pyramids would be generated (only tets and wedges (prisms)).
Tetrahedral Free blocks will be filled with a tetrahedral mesh. The boundaries are controlled by the surface element shape option (Quad Dominant, All Quad, or All Tri). See those options above and Selecting a Blocking Technique.
  • This option is only used for solid, free blocks.
  • Other solid blocks (swept and mapped) will always be meshed with hexahedral elements and wedges (prisms).
  • Set Blocking to free if a tetrahedral volume mesh is required, or convert swept and/or mapped solid blocks to free if you want them to be filled with tetrahedral elements.
Hexahedral Free blocks will be filled with a hexahedral dominant mesh. The boundaries are controlled by the surface element shape option (Quad Dominant, All Quad, or All Tri). See those options above and Selecting a Blocking Technique.
  • This option is only used for solid, free blocks.
  • Other solid blocks (swept and mapped) will always be meshed with hexahedral elements and wedges (prisms).
  • Set Blocking to free if a Hex Dominant mesh is required, or convert swept and/or mapped solid blocks to free if you want them to be filled with a hex dominant free mesh.