Adaptive generation and application three-dimensional hexahedral mesh in metal forming process

The quality of the finite element mesh is one of the important factors which determine the precision and accuracy of finite element analysis. The method for the adaptive generation of hexahedral element mesh based on the geometric features of solid model is proposed. At the areas of large surface curvature and small thickness, the elements are refined. Interlude method was proposed to match the boundary of mesh to the boundary of the analyzed model. And it avoids the recursive searching process of characteristic boundary and enhances the efficiency of the hexahedral element mesh generation. The surface of the resulting mesh is accurately matched to the surface of solid model. The resulting meshes of several complicated examples validate the effectiveness and quality of the algorithm.