Create a 1-Element 3-D Spherical Polar Mesh

Description

  • In this example a 3-D spheroidal mesh is created in spherical polar coordinates using one trilinear Lagrange element.
  • The nodal coordinates and element connectivities are read from tab-delimited spreadsheets.
  • An automated script that runs this tutorial is included in the Continuity installation: examples\mesh12\sphericalPolar.py. To run it, click File→Scripts→Read script→Python or session script. Note that you may not be able to see through the large outer sphere; however, you can temporarily hide that sphere from View→Show Open Mesh→element surfaces4→Properties tab→ click/unclick the Show/Hide button.

Start Continuity

  • Launch the Continuity Client
  • On the About Continuity startup screen

    • leave the mesh checkbox checked under Use Modules:

  • Click OK to bring up the main window

Create coordinates and basis function

  • Mesh→Edit→Coordinates…

    • Select spherical polar in the Global Coordinates: pop-up menu

    • Click OK to submit Coordinate Form

  • Mesh→Edit→Basis…

    • Choose Lagrange Basis Function→3D→Linear-Linear-Linear

    • Click Add Linear-Linear-Linear

    • Verify that the list of basis functions now contains:
      • Linear-Linear-Linear Lagrange 3*3*3
      • Linear-Linear Lagrange 3*3
    • Click OK to submit Basis Form

Read nodes and elements

Calculate and render mesh

  • Mesh→Render→Nodes…

    • View→Show Open Mesh…

      • Click on nodes1 in the list on the left

      • Click on the Properties tab

      • Change the Size field to 0.1 and hit Enter to make the nodes a little bit bigger

  • Mesh→Render→Elements…

    • Click lines radio button

    • Click Render to display mesh wireframe

    • The mesh should now look similar to the first screenshot, you might have to rotate the mesh to get the same view.
  • Mesh→Render→Elements…

    • Click surfaces radio button

    • Click Render to display mesh surfaces

    • The mesh should now look similar to the second screenshot.
  • Mesh→Render→Elements…

    • Click surfaces radio button

    • Enter 1.0 for the Location field

    • Click Render to display mesh surfaces

    • View→Show Open Mesh…

      • Click on element surfaces4 in the list on the left

      • Click on the Properties tab

      • Drag the Opacity scale bar under to 50

    • The mesh should now look similar to the third screenshot.

Pre-built model

This cont6 file contains all data and parameters for this problem: mesh6.cont6

  • Warning: Render Fields does not always work correctly with the DejaVu renderer on laptops. If this is the case, try using the OpenMesh renderer.