With RFEM, you can analyze member elements, plates, walls, shells, and solids. Before you calculate data, the FE mesh must be generated to create the corresponding 1D, 2D, and 3D elements.
The FE analysis requires the division of the structural system into small subsystems represented by finite elements. Equilibrium conditions are set up for each element. A linear system of equations with a lot of unknown factors is created. The more refined the mesh size of the finite elements is, the more precise the results will be. On the other hand, computing time increases enormously due to the amount of calculated data, as additional equations must be solved for every additional FE node.
The FE mesh is created automatically. However, there are some options that can be used to control the mesh generation.
Note
Useful information regarding discretization and the finite element method can be found in [5].
Literature