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

• Mesh→Edit→Nodes…

  • Click Import/Export/Graph button to open Continuity Table Manager

    • Continuity Table Manager→File→Open…

      • Select tab-delimited nodes file (nodes.xls)

      • Continuity Table Manager→File→Close and update form

  • You should now have nodes numbered 1-4

  • Click OK to submit Node Form

• Mesh→Edit→Elements…

  • Click Import/Export/Graph button to open Continuity Table Manager

    • Continuity Table Manager→File→Open…

      • Select tab-delimited elements file (elems.xls)

      • Continuity Table Manager→File→Close and update form

  • Click OK to submit Element Form

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.