IDEA StatiCa 22.1 makes a structural design of mesh around openings and above supports more accurate. The new mesh implementation leads to reducing the triangular finite elements around circular openings.

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Detail: Mesh refinement around openings and above supports

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Making the structural engineers' work as easy and time-saving as possible is essential. To code-check structures quickly and safely is one of their main goals. When working on the new version, we focused on the mesh to make the calculation faster and results more accurate than ever before.

Improved mesh quality around openings

Defining of the mesh is very important and accounts for approximately 10 % of the overall analysis. The software creates it automatically. The new mesh implementation leads to reducing the triangular finite elements around circular openings, so you get higher mesh quality and refined finite elements in the surrounding area. And because sometimes it is necessary to create a model of a large structure with small openings, the new mesh is automatically refined around the openings while making the finite elements bigger on the rest of the model. So the analysis is faster and more stable than in the previous versions.

Improved mesh quality above supports

Another part of the discontinuity region affected by the advanced mesh refinement is the area above the support. In version 22.1, a new condition of a minimum of four finite elements above support leads to better stress-state definition hence even more accurate results with limitation of inaccuracies in the strength check and reaction calculation.