Verification & Validation — Lesson 8

Refine the Mesh

One of the ways we can check the validity of our analysis is by refining our mesh. If the values for our frequencies approach a limit, then we have arrived at our answer. If the values change drastically when we refine the mesh, then we need to refine the mesh further and we have not yet found an acceptable solution. We will refine the mesh by increasing the number of divisions in our edge sizing. In the Outline window, go to Mesh > Edge Sizing > Number of Divisions > 100. Also, go to Mesh > Edge Sizing 2 > Number of Divisions > 40. Our new mesh looks like this:

Our new mesh has 8000 elements: four times as many elements as our unrefined mesh. Click  , and look at the values for the modal frequencies. A table comparing the unrefined mesh and the refined mesh is here:

Mode Number Frequency(Unrefined Mesh) Frequency(Refined Mesh)
1 4.8329 4.8297
2 25.327 25.236
3 32.175 32.155
4 38.089 38.038
5 48.315 48.063
6 53.540 53.403

Because the values don't change much, we don't have to refine the mesh further. We are done!