AUTOMESH-2D MANUAL

One-Domain Version 1.0

Please download the trial version of AUTOMESH-2D from the following address :
http://www.automesh2d.com
Download the RAR file and uncompress it to any directory. Run the program AutoMesh2d_OneDomain.EXE.
This program can only deal with one domain. If the geometry is made up of multi domains, please use
AutoMesh2D Multi-Domain version.

Fig. 1 The interface of the program

1Define the geometry

The geometry can be defined by external boundary and internal boundaries (holes). Every boundary contains
a set of consecutive points which can be defined by their coordinates X, Y and the fillet radius R. For example, in
Fig. 2, the object has one external boundary and a hole inside. The external boundary can be defined by the
following 5 points:
No

100

100

100

100

The hole is defined by the following 6 points:

No

30

50

30

70

20

70

70

20

70

30

20

30

30

20

30

50

Fig. 2 Defining the geometry of the object

The method of constructing geometry in the program is as following:

Every object has at least one boundary, i.e. the external boundary on which the points are entered in counterclockwise sequence. The object may has one or more internal boundaries (holes) on which the points are entered
in clockwise sequence. Click on the button Add a hole and one internal boundary will be added. Click on the
button Del a hole and the selected internal boundary will be removed. Notice: the external boundary can not be
removed.
First select the boundary which you will edit from the upper list box. Follow the steps below to edit the
boundary points.

Read the geometry from file

The boundaries list.

Save the geometry to the file

Add an internal boundary
Remove the selected hole

Show the No. of the points

The list of the points on the

selected boundary

The coordinates and radius

Add a point on the boundary

Insert a point before the
selected point
Remove the selected point
Reverse the sequence of the
points

Modify the coordinates and radius

Insert a point after the selected
point
Remove all the points on the
boundary
Check the validity of the
boundary

(1) The input of the coordinates and fillet radius. Enter the coordinates X, Y and fillet radius R of the point in
the edit boxes.
(2) Add a point to the current boundary. There are two ways to add a point: (a) Enter the X, Y and R, and then
click on the button Add. (b) Select a point with the mouse in the graphic area. In this case, the radius will be
0. Notice: When adding or selecting a point in the graphic area with the mouse, please click the icon Select on
the toolbar.
Select

(3) Modify the coordinates and radius of a pointFirstly select the point from the list of the points or select it
in the graphic area with the mouse. You can check Show Point No to show the point label to help you find
your wanted point. Enter new X, Y and R and click on the button Modify. You can also click on the point in
the graphic area and then drag it to another position.
(4) Insert a point before the current point. Enter the X, Y and R and click on the button Insert Before. The new
point will be inserted before the current point.
(5) Insert a point after the current point. Enter the X, Y and R and click on the button Insert After. The new
point will be inserted after the current point.
(6) Remove a pointSelect the point and click on the button Remove.
(7) Remove all the points on the current boundaryClick on the button Remove All and all the points on the
current boundary will be removed.
(8) Reverse the sequence of the points Click on the button Reverse and the sequence of the boundary points
will be reversedAs mentioned previously, the points on the external boundary should be entered in counter-

clockwise sequence and the points on the internal boundaries in clockwise sequence. When the sequence of
the points does not satisfy with the requirement, click on the button to reverse the sequence.
(9) Check the validity of the boundaryClick on the button Check to check if the boundary is valid
(10)Save the geometry to the file Click on the button Write Geo, enter the file name and the points on the
boundaries will be saved to the file (Text file in XYR format).
(11)Read the geometry from the fileClick on the button Read Geoselect the file name and the points on the
boundaries will be read from the file (only in XYR format)When the geometry can not be represented by the
line and arc, you should convert it to XYR format according to certain precision and then read it.
Notice: The fillet radius of the first and last points of every boundary will be neglected. The boundary can be
closed or open. But the first and last points must coincide when the boundary is closed.
2Mesh Generation
In order to achieve good mesh, the concept of the mesh density is introduced first. The mesh density can be
defined as the reciprocal of the length of the element side. So the smaller mesh element has larger mesh density
and on the contrary the larger mesh element has smaller mesh density. Since the object will be represented by the
mesh, the smaller elements should be placed in the area where the boundary has high curvature and the larger
elements can be used in the area where the boundary is relatively flat. So the mesh density should be specified on
the boundary. In order to get more accurate analysis result, more mesh elements should be placed in the area
where the field variables (such as temperature, strain, strain rate etc.) have high gradient. So the mesh density also
need be specified inside. In AUTOMESH-2D the boundary and internal mesh density can be set and generated
automatically by the system. The user can set the mesh density manually. To facilitate the input and generation of
mesh density, the density values in the procedure are relative, rather than absolute value.
In AUTOMESH-2D, there are two algorithms to generate mesh. One is LOOPING algorithm, and the other is
PAVING algorithm. Triangular mesh can also be generated using Delaunay algorithm.
In AUTOMESH-2D, there are two ways to generate the mesh density: (1) automatic generation by system;
(2) user-defined. The mesh and density generation will be introduced in detail as following:
2.1 Automatic density generation and mesh generation

Click on the button AMG, and automatic mesh generation dialog will appear.
2.1.1 Initial mesh generation. This situation does not require the old mesh information, solely on the basis
of the object geometry and density parameter to generate mesh density, and the mesh.

mesh generation method

number of elements to be meshed

the ratio of the max and min density
number of elements in the thickness direction

The parameters that need to be set are as following:

(1) The number of elements to be meshed. Enter the number of elements that you wish the procedure to
generate. This number is only approximate. The procedure uses this number to estimate how many elements will
be generated. The actual number of the elements may be different, but will be very close to this value. This
parameter can be set 0, then the mesh and density will be generated solely on the basis of THICKNESS
ELEMENTS.
(2) The ratio of maximum and minimum density. The procedure uses this parameter to adjust the density
generated on the basis of (a) the boundary curvature and (b) field variable gradient. The ratio of the maximum and
minimum density will equal to this value after density adjustment. If this parameter is set 1, the density will be
uniform for the above two cases.
(3) Number of elements in thickness direction The procedure uses this parameter to generate a certain
number of elements in the area of thin structure. For example, in Fig.3, the mesh and density are generated solely
on the basis of this parameter (number = 4).

Fig. 3 Density and mesh generation on the basis of thickness

In general, only the above three parameters need to be set. Then click on the button Generate Mesh in the
dialog, and the density and mesh will be generated automatically. The generated mesh will be shown in the

graphic window. The user can check the mesh by clicking on the buttons the Toolbar.
pan zoom window

fit

dynamic zoom zoom in zoom out measure

(4) Density window. The procedure does not use the density window by default. If you want to define
density in the domain by density window, follow the instruction. Click on the Density Weight Setting button and
the dialog Density Weight appears. Set the weight value of density window in the dialog. There are totally 5 types
of density weight, and the sum of them is 1. They are the weight of the density generated on the basis of (a)
boundary curvature; (b) density window; (c) strain distribution; (d) strain rate distribution and (e) temperature
distribution. The percentage of the density generated according to the boundary curvature in the final density is
determined by its weight. Also the percentage of the density generated according to the density window is
determined by its weight. The last three types of weight are used in the remeshing process to determine the
percentage of the density generated according to the field variables gradient. If the sum of the weights does not
equal to 1, they will be scaled proportionally to make the sum be 1.

Set the weight

Add a density window

Window list

Delete a density window

Relative density of the window

To add a density window, just click on the button Add. To modify the relative density of the window, enter
the new value in the edit box. The next step is to define the window polygon. Since the position of the window
does not need to be very accurate, just click in the graphic area with the mouse to define the polygon vertex. To
modify the position of the vertex, press the mouse button on the vertex and drag it to the proper location. To delete
a density window, select the window from the list and click on the button Delete.
It should be noted that since the density in the window is a relative value, at least two density windows
should be defined and the windows should have intersection with the boundary. When all the windows dont
intersect with the boundary, you can define one or more density window in the domain and the relative density
value on the boundary will be set 1 by the system. In Fig. 4, three density windows are defined and the relative

density value of the each window is 1, 3 and 1 respectively (the weight of the density window is 1 and the other
weights are 0). In Fig. 5, two density windows are defined and they dont intersect with the boundary. The relative
density value is 2 and 3 repectively (the weight of the density window is 1 and the other weights are 0).

Fig. 4 Density and mesh generated according to density window only.

Fig. 4 Density windows dont intersect with the boundary.

2.1.2 Remeshing. Remeshing or mesh re-generation needs two steps: (a) to extract the boundary of the old mesh
and generate new mesh; (b) to interpolate history field variables, such as nodal temperature and elemental strain,
from the old mesh to the new one.
In order to remesh, click on the button Read Mesh in the dialog and select the file that has the old mesh
information. A message box will appear. Choose YES to remesh and the old mesh and history field variable will
be input; choose NO only to read the mesh including nodal coordinates and element connectivity.

In remeshing, you can set the parameters as you do in the initial mesh generation, but at this time you can set
the density weight of strain, strain rate and temperature distribution. After all the parameters are set, click on the
button Remesh to generate new mesh and interpolate history field variable from old mesh to the new one.
To save the mesh to a file, click on the button Write Mesh in the dialog and input the file name. The file is text
format (the extension .msh). The detail formats of the file please refer to the example file OLDMESH.MSH.
2.2 Used-defined density and mesh generation

If the user want to define density on the boundary and in the domain manually, click on the button User and
the dialog User-defined Mesh Density will appear.

The boundary nodes as

mesh nodes

Density points list

Boundary density point

Internal density point

Relative density value of the
point

The coordinates of point

Add a density point

Modify the density point

Delete a density point

Delete all the points

Generate mesh according to

user-defined density

Number of elements to be
generated

The user can designate the relative density value on the points of the boundary and internal domain. The
system will generate the density of smooth transition according to the density points and then generate the mesh.
The definition of density points is as following:
(1) The type of density point. There are two types of density points, i.e. boundary point and internal point.
(2) The relative density value on the point. Enter the value in the edit box.
(3) Add a density point. Select the type, enter the coordinates and relative density value, and click on the
button Add to add a density point. You can also click on a point in the graphic area to add a density point, since its
position does not need to be very accurate.
(4) Modify a density point. Select the point from the list first, or select it in the graphic area by the mouse.
Select the type, enter new density value and coordinates and click on the button Modify. You can also press the
mouse button on the point and drag it to proper location.
(5) Delete a density point. First select the point, then click on the button Remove.
(6) Delete all the points. Click on the button Remove all, and all the density points will be deleted.
After all the boundary and internal density points are defined, the only parameter needs to be set is the
number of elements to be generated. Click on the button Generate Mesh in the dialog and the system will generate
the mesh density according to use-defined density points and then the mesh. Notice: if only internal density points
are defined, the relative density on the boundary is set 1 by the system. For example, in Fig. 6, five internal
density points are defined in the square, and all the relative density values are 3.

Fig. 6 User-defined density points

If the user want to keep boundary nodes as mesh nodes, please check the item Keep origin boundary nodes in
the dialog. Since the boundary nodes are generated, the absolute density value on the boundary is determined. At
this situation, only internal density points need to be defined and the element size, not the relative density, needs
to be entered. In order to generate all-quadrilateral mesh, each boundary must have even number of nodes.
Check the item

Only the internal density point

Enter absolute element size

In the circumstance, the absolute density value is used, so the number of the elements to be generated can be
determined by the system. Just click on the button Generate Mesh in the dialog, and the system will generate the
density of smooth transition according the absolute density value and the mesh.

Please refer this if you publish your paper or thesis:

Ma XW, Zhao GQ, Sun L. AUTOMESH2D/3D: robust automatic mesh generator for metal forming simulation.
Materials Research Innovations, 2011, 15(s1): s482-s486