INGEN, 2-D, 3-D Mesh Generator for Finite Elements Program

1 - Description of problem or function: INGEN is a general-purpose mesh generator for use in conjunction with two- and three-dimensional finite element programs. The basic components of INGEN are surface and three-dimensional region generators that use linear-blending interpolation formulae. These generators are based on an i, j, k index scheme, which is used to number nodal points, construct elements, and develop displacement and traction boundary conditions. 2 - Method of solution: The user of INGEN develops a mesh grading by first generating the boundary edges of the mesh with the desired spacing of nodal points using the line and circular-arc generators and then using surface and volume (three-dimensional region) generators, both of which preserve this spacing. The surface nodal-point generator preserves this spacing by using the nodal points as they are distributed along the boundary edges as the criteria for spacing the surface nodal points. Similarly, the volume nodal-point generator calculates the interior nodal points, using the surface nodal points as the criteria for spacing the interior nodal points. Both the surface and volume generators use linear-blending interpolation equations for calculating nodal point coordinates. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: The origin cannot be used as the coordinates of a nodal point because the zero coordinates are a test used for nonexistent nodal points