changing mesh type

- July 8, 2018 at 6:13 pm
  
  Adisa
  Subscriber
  
  Hi everyone,
  
  How to change the low-order to high-order elements. How to change type of elements, example: solid 186 to 187
  
  does anyone know the code?
  
  for exapmle: how to convert for tetra element with 4 to 10 nodes.
  
  And, how and when use mid-side nodes?
  
  Best regards.
- July 8, 2018 at 8:40 pm
  
  peteroznewman
  Subscriber
  
  Hi Adisa,
  
  If you are using Workbench and Mechanical, the default "Program Controlled" element order is quadratic for almost all structural models. If you want to change that, click on Mesh and in the Details window is Element Order and you can set that to Linear or Quadratic.
  
  Quadratic means there are mid-side nodes. Linear means there are not.
  
  Quadratic elements are generally preferred because they capture the curvature in the solution along the element edges and across the element faces.
  
  Sometimes Linear elements are required. Some material models require Linear elements, such as the Gasket material model. Some numerical methods such as the nonlinear adaptive remeshing requires linear elements (at least in 18.2).
  
  There are more examples of when to use Linear elements in this portion of the ANSYS Help system.
  
  Best regards,
  Peter
- July 8, 2018 at 10:00 pm
  
  Sandeep Medikonda
  Ansys Employee
  
  Hi Adisa,
  
  Just to add, you might find these videos helpful.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRUeyWTwJ2g
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzFh_UbUF4k
  
  Regards,
  
  Sandeep