About Mesh Transitions

In a mesh transition, the mesh element types change. For example, the mesh might be predominantly quad elements in one region and then transition from quad elements to triangle elements in another region.

In a quad-dominant mesh, triangle elements help to create smooth mesh transitions. Smoother transitions with more triangles create a better mesh pattern for Explicit Dynamics analyses. For most other structural simulation procedures, you can use a mesh that favors quads, despite having rougher transitions.

When you enable the Minimize triangles in transitions option (default behavior), Mesh Creation favors quad elements instead of triangles. In this case, you can have three or five quads connected to a single node in the transition range. This kind of mesh creates distorted quads that might disturb energy transfer in the simulation.

If you deactivate the Minimize triangles in transitions option, Mesh Creation favors triangles instead of distorted quad elements, and the mesh transition improves. Two examples of possible patterns for replacing three quads connected to a single node are illustrated below. In the first pattern, two triangles are created in two different orientations:

In the second pattern (below), two triangles are created in the same orientation: