FEM_TO_MESH
Convert finite element mesh data from FEM to MESH format

FEM_TO_MESH is a MATLAB program which reads a pair of FEM files defining the node coordinates and elements of a finite element mesh, and rewrites the data as a MESH file.

The program can convert 2D meshes of triangles, or 3D meshes of tetrahedrons.

Usage:

fem_to_mesh prefix

• prefix_nodes.txt is a file containing node coordinates;
• prefix_elements.txt is a file listing the nodes forming each element;
• prefix_boundary_node_mask.txt is a file listing a "0" for each interior node and a "1" for each boundary node; (This file can be created by the triangulation_boundary_nodes or tet_mesh_boundary programs.)
• prefix.mesh is the name of the MESH file to be created.

Licensing:

The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the GNU LGPL license.

Languages:

FEM_TO_MESH is available in a C++ version and a FORTRAN90 version and a MATLAB version.

Related Data and Programs:

FEM_TO_TEC is a MATLAB program which converts FEM models into TECPLOT ASCII files.

FEM2D, a data directory which contains examples of 2D FEM files, text files that describe a 2D finite element geometry and associated nodal values;

FEM3D, a data directory which contains examples of 3D FEM files, three text files that describe a 3D finite element geometry and associated nodal values.

ICE_TO_MESH is a MATLAB program which reads a NETCDF file containing an ICE dataset and rewrites the information as a MESH file.

MESH is a data directory which contains examples of MESH files, which can be used to define the geometry of a finite element mesh in 2D or 3D, using triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedrons or hexahedrons.

TET_MESH_BOUNDARY is a MATLAB program which returns the nodes and faces of the boundary of a tetrahedral mesh, which themselves form a 3D triangular mesh or "TRI_SURFACE".

TRIANGULATION_BOUNDARY_NODES is a MATLAB program which reads data defining a triangulation, determines which nodes lie on the boundary, and writes their coordinates to a file.

Reference:

1. Pascal Frey,
   MEDIT: An interactive mesh visualization software,
   Technical Report RT-0253,
   Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique,
   03 December 2001.

Source Code:

• fem_to_mesh.m, the source code.

Examples and Tests:

ELL is a 2D L-shaped region, with a grid of 65 nodes and 96 elements of order 3 triangles.

• ell_nodes.txt
• ell_elements.txt
• ell_elements.png, an image of the triangulation.
• ell_boundary_node_mask.txt
• ell.mesh, the MESH file.

P01 is 3D FEM data for a rectangular channel of dimensions 3x1x1 physical units, using 584 nodes and 2568 tetrahedral elements.

• p01_nodes.txt, defines the FEM nodes.
• p01_elements.txt, defines the FEM elements.
• p01.png, an image of the mesh.
• p01_boundary_node_mask.txt
• p01.mesh, the MESH file.

You can go up one level to the MATLAB source codes.