FLAC3D Meshing

TYPE
TOOL
APPLICATION
MAIN ADVANTAGE
DESCRIPTION

Structured

Command line primitives and FISH

  • Available from the command line
  • Any type of problem
  • Better suited for simple geometries
  • Very time consuming for complex geometries
  • Quality
  • Includes pre-meshed primitive shapes (hex, cylinder, tunnel intersections, ...), and topography conforming functionality (for v. 5.0 and up)
  • FISH language can be used to deform the grid to better fit the geometry to be modeled
  • ZONE SPLIT split command allows automatically dividing all tetrahedral and wedge shaped zones into hexahedrons (v 5.0 and up)
  • Basic unstructured tetrahedral mesh generation on closed volumes (new in v 6.0)

Structured

Primitives Commands & FISH – Octree mesh

  • Available from the command line
  • Any type of numerical problem
  • Better suited for complex geometries
  • Efficiency
  • In addition to primitives, topography (v 5.0 and up) and geometric data (v 5.0 and up) commands, the DENSIFY command automatically builds octree meshes from surfaces and volumes
  • FISH language can also be used to deform the grid to better fit the geometry to be modeled

Structured

Interactive 2D extrusion (v 5.0 and up required)

  • Available from the FLAC3D interface
  • For extruded geometries only
  • Efficiency
  • Quality
  • Allows interactive definition of a 2D section and then extrusion to create zones
  • DXF or bitmap can be imported and used as a background, with snapping available

Structured

Interactive Building Block (NEW in v 6.0)

  • Available from theFLAC3Dinterface
  • Any type of problem
  • Better suited for simple to moderately complex geometries
  • Quality
  • Structured meshing capabilities
  • Option to automatically block geometries for subsequent editing
  • DRAPE command automatically conforms the surface of the model to a supplied topography

Structured

InteractiveBlockRanger

  • Available from the Rhino interface
  • Any type of problem
  • Better suited for simple to moderately complex geometries
  • Quality
  • Complete CAD system environment
  • Itasca interactive mapped mesher
  • Generates all-hex meshes

Unstructured

Interactive Griddle (NEW)

  • Available from the Rhino interface
  • Any type of problem
  • Better suited for complex geometries
  • Efficiency
  • Complete CAD system environment
  • NEW Itasca interactive automesher
  • Generates tetrahedral and hex-dominant meshes

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