fem_mesh_matlab

MATLAB Toolbox for Handling 2D and 3D FEM Meshes

MATLAB Toolbox for Handling 2D and 3D FEM Meshes

This MATLAB toolbox offers numerous functionalities for handling 2d and 3d meshes:

• Parse geometry (edge, surface, and volume) - 'extract_geom.m'
• Plot geometry (edge, surface, volume, normal vector, and tangential vector) - 'plot_geom.m'
• Assign variables to the vertices of the meshes - 'extract_data.m'
• Plot variables (scalar variable and vector field) - 'plot_data.m'
• Integrate variables on the meshes (scalar variable and vector field) - 'integrate_data.m'
• Interpolate variables on the meshes - 'interp_data.m'

The toolbox can be used for the following tasks:

• Processing finite element method (FEM) results (e.g. COMSOL, ANSYS, OpenFOAM)
• Handling geographic information system (GIS) data (e.g. digital elevation model)
• Handling additive manufacturing data (e.g. 3d printing)

Examples

The example run_bridge_example.m handles a complex 3d structural analysis:

The example run_simple_example.m uses a simple 2d and 3d electrostatic simulation. This example is used to systemically test/demonstrates the different functions of the toolbox:

Limitations

The following limitations apply to the toolbox:

• For 2d meshes and 3d surfaces, only triangular meshes are supported (no quadrilateral meshes)
• For 3d volumes, only tetrahedral meshes are supported (no hexahedral meshes)
• The integration and interpolation methods are considering linear schemes (no higher-order)
• Probably not scalable to very large meshes (tested with 3.5 million vertices and 7 million triangles)

Compatibility

The toolbox requires the following software packages:

• Tested with MATLAB R2018b
• No toolboxes are required
• Compatibility with GNU Octave not tested but probably slightly problematic

The following software packages are used for generating the data of the examples:

• COMSOL 5.4 for generating the meshes and the solutions
• Inventor 2019 for the CAD drawings

Author

Thomas Guillod - GitHub Profile

License

This project is licensed under the BSD License, see LICENSE.md.