Troubleshooting Tetrahedral Mesh Generation
This section gives you some suggestions about how to solve problems that you might encounter when creating tetrahedral meshes.
Build a Finer Mesh
As a general rule, it is easier to construct a mesh with smaller elements than a mesh with larger elements. If you get errors or low-quality elements when you try to mesh certain domains, try to decrease the element size using appropriate Size attributes on these domains. See Editing and Resetting a Physics-Controlled Sequence and Controlling the Mesh Size Using Attributes for more information.
Use an Appropriate Minimum Element Size
If your geometry contains details that are very small compared to the total volume of the mesh, you must ensure that the Minimum element size parameter in the corresponding Size attribute is of the same order of magnitude as the smallest detail you want to resolve. If this parameter is too large, you get Information nodes when building the node. For example, the Information message “Edge is much shorter than the specified minimum element size” indicates that there are edges significantly shorter than the specified minimum element size. The resulting mesh gets badly shaped elements.
To locate small details, such as short edges and sliver faces, you can add and build a Free Tetrahedral node with normal size settings. Doing this results in warnings with selections that point you to the corresponding small entities. You can also inspect the mesh visually to locate unexpected small elements. See Information, Warning, and Error Nodes.
Remove Unwanted Geometry Details
Sometimes, the geometry contains small features, like sliver faces and short edges, which you do not want to resolve at all. Use Virtual Geometry Operations in the sequence to remove unwanted details in the geometry. See the section Preparing the Geometry for Meshing Using Remove Details for more information.
If you have a license for the CAD Import Module, you can also use CAD defeaturing operations to simplify the geometry. See Repairing and Defeaturing for more information.
Partition the Geometry into Simple Domains
If the geometry includes complex domains or complex faces that you have trouble meshing, you can try to partition the geometry into less complex entities. On a philosophical level, this method could be classified as a “divide and conquer” strategy. It is often possible to use the Partition Objects geometry feature to partition a complex domain into two domains. You can use a Mesh Control Faces node to make this partitioning visible only when building the mesh (see Controlling the Mesh Size Using Mesh Control Entities).
To split a solid geometry object into parts using an empty Work Plane, place the work plane where you want to cut the domain. Then add a Partition Objects or Partition Domains node from the Boolean Operations submenu, and select Work plane from the Partition with list in the Settings window for Partition.
For a tutorial on how to edit the mesh size parameters, see
Adjusting the Element Size for the Unstructured Mesh Generator:
Application Library path COMSOL_Multiphysics/Meshing_Tutorials/piston_mesh.
In Introduction to the CAD Import Module:
See the tutorial Removing Small Geometric Entities with Remove Details for an example that uses Information nodes to find and remove small details in a geometry.
See the tutorial Removing Small Geometric Entities with the Defeaturing Tools for an example that uses the CAD Defeaturing tools to remove fillets.