What is the best (scalability and efficiency) algorithms for generating unstructured quad meshes in 2D?
Where can I find a good unstructured quad mesh-generator? (open-source preferred)
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asked Dec 28, 2011 at 9:15
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$\begingroup$ Tsk. A tip: when creating a multi-word tag, please use dashes to separate out the words. $\endgroup$– J. M.Commented Dec 28, 2011 at 23:49
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2 Answers
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The are essentially two approaches to free quad meshing:
Direct methods generate a quad mesh directly, usually by some advancing front method. The Paving paper is a standard reference and is the method used by CUBIT, so you have seen these meshes in many publications.
Indirect methods generate some intermediate decomposition of the domain (e.g. triangles) and then produce an all-quad mesh through recombination and/or further decomposition. Q-Morph is an example that is used by ANSYS.
Note that smoothing is necessary for both approaches, sometimes with alternating topology fix-up and smoothing steps. Some open source tools have built-in smoothing facilities and the LGPL-licensed Mesquite package is designed as a library specifically for mesh quality improvement.
I know of two open source free-quad meshers:
- Gmsh (GPL with linking exception) can generate quad meshes using a recombination algorithm described in this paper.
- The Jaal component of MeshKit (LGPL) is based on recombination similar to Q-Morph above, read the IMR-2011 paper for more details. You can download the source through the link above, but it is not ready for production use yet.
- LBIE generates quad and hex meshes from volumetric data. From what I can tell, it is an interactive environment rather than a library. The site says that the source is available under GPL upon request.
- CUBIT is not open source (and although not expensive compared to commercial software, acquiring a license takes a long time), but produces high quality meshes and can be linked into other applications.
answered Dec 28, 2011 at 19:45
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$\begingroup$ I have learned that Gmsh (geuz.org/gmsh) now also has support for unstructured 2D quad generation by some ”Blossom” recombination algorithm. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 9:59
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$\begingroup$ Is there a similar method for 3D hexahedrons? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 31, 2011 at 22:18
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2$\begingroup$ Hex meshes are usually done by sweeping quad meshes and then smoothing (robust, but have to decompose domains). You can also create hex meshes by recombination using H-Morph (Owen and Saigal, 2000; osti.gov/energycitations/servlets/purl/756062-uQ2PGj/…), a method similar to Q-Morph referenced above, but it is difficult to maintain quality. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 2, 2012 at 0:00
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1$\begingroup$ Yes, gmsh has supported quads for a while now. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 4, 2012 at 4:02
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$\begingroup$ This answer is about two years old now and I believe this is still a very pertinent question. Has there been significant evolution on unstructured quad and especially hex meshing? I was wondering if there were any new software (commercial or open source) which allow for 3D unstructured hex meshing. I know gmsh can do 3D hex by extruding 2D quads, but i'm looking for something more appropriate for complex geometries. $\endgroup$– BlaBCommented Nov 8, 2018 at 16:55
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- It would be great if gmsh would further include mesquite as 3rd party.
- I am from the engineering field, where structured grid is possible and strongly advised.
- CUBIT seems to be the mesquite's professional version, or commercial version.
- mesquite project ended a few year ago, though some other guys seems to continue keep it going. (meshkit?)
- I have a very very good GUI experience with gmsh, it's easy going, light weighted, etc.!
