Global Mesh Size

The Global Mesh Size parameters affect meshers at the surface, volume, and inflation
(prism) layer levels.
Global Element Scale Factor
multiplies other mesh parameters to globally scale the model. For a list of
parameters affected by this scale factor, please see the tables in Global Mesh
Setup.
For example, if the Max Element Size of a given entity is 4 units, and the
Global Element Scale Factor is 3.5, then the actual maximum element size
used for meshing of that entity will be 4 * 3.5 = 14.0 units. The Global
Element Scale Factor can be any positive real number, and it allows you to
globally control the mesh size instead of changing the mesh parameters for
different entities.
Display
when enabled, a reference mesh element will be displayed that corresponds to
the specified element size.
Global Element Seed Size
Max Element
controls the size of the largest element. The largest element size in the model
will not exceed the Max Element size multiplied by the Global Element
Scale Factor. It is recommended that the Max Element value is a power of 2.
Even if you specify a value other than a power of two, some meshers
(Octree/Patch Independent) approximate the Max Element size to the nearest
power of two while meshing.

Note: If the Max Element size is set to 0, the Automatic Sizing feature will be
implemented. Autosizing temporarily sets a Global Max Element size, which
produces a uniform mesh, if no surface or curve sizes are smaller. If most
surface sizes are not set (< 22%), the autosizing will set the Global Max
Element size to 0.025 * the bounding box diagonal of the geometry. If most
surface sizes are set (> 22%), the autosizing will set the Global Max Element
size to be the largest surface size that is specified.
If the Global Max Element size is too large (>= 0.1* the bounding box
diagonal), and either no surface sizes are set or are also greater than this value,
a message will appear informing you that the mesh size may be inadequate to

represent the geometry and asking if you want to run with autosizing instead.
Curvature/Proximity Based Refinement
when enabled, the mesh is automatically refined based on geometry curvature
and proximity. This will result in larger elements on flat planar surfaces and
smaller elements in areas of high curvature or within small gaps. The
algorithm attempts to satisfy the Refinement and Elements in Gap settings,
but is limited by the Min size limit. The effective Min size limit is scaled by
the Global Element Scale Factor along with the Max Element Size. Entity
Min size limits may be smaller than the global setting and will cause further
local refinement.

Note: This option currently applies only to Octree and Patch Independent meshing.
All other mesh sizes will be rounded to the nearest power of 2 of the Min Size
Limit value.
The following options are applicable when Curvature/Proximity Based
Refinement is enabled:
Min size limit
specifies the size limit for the smallest element. Mesh elements will be limited
from being subdivided smaller than this value. To see a mesh element of this
size displayed on the screen, enable the Display option and press Apply.
Elements in Gap
is used to force the Octree/Patch Independent mesher to create a defined
number of elements in a gap (proximity based refinement). The specified
value may not be possible if the Min size limit is too large, as the mesh can not
be refined smaller than the Min size limit. Any positive integer can be entered
for this option.
Refinement
defines the number of edges that would fit along a radius of curvature if that
radius were extended out to 360 degrees. This is generally used to avoid
having too many elements along a given curve or surface, if the Min size limit
is too small for that particular curve. Any positive integer can be entered for
this option. See the example in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Refinement

Ignore Wall Thickness

prevents the Curvature / Proximity Based sizing function from refining for
closely spaced parallel surfaces, though it will still resolve other forms of
proximity. The Elements in Gap function may cause the model to over-refine
within or around thin walled sections of a model. In these cases, the
refinement results in relatively uniform elements and high mesh density in
those areas. This can dramatically increase the element count. Enabling the
Ignore Wall Thickness option will result in a mesh that uses larger elements
in the thin walled area. There will still be refinement near the edges of the thin
wall, but it will not refine most of the area. These larger elements will not be
uniform and are likely to have lower quality. These higher aspect ratio tetra
elements are also more likely to result in holes or non-manifold vertices in the
thin wall, which can be addressed using the Define Thin Cuts option for
Octree Tetra meshing.
In the following examples, all refinement was controlled automatically by the
Curvature / Proximity Based Refinement sizing function.
Figure 4 FEA Model with Ignore Wall Thickness Option Disabled

Figure 5 FEA Model with Ignore Wall Thickness Option Enabled

In the CFD example shown, there is a thin wall separating larger volumes.
There is no need to refine the mesh for the wall thickness because meshing is
not required within the wall. In this example, the quality is better when using
Ignore Wall Thickness because of fewer size transitions.
Figure 6 CFD Model with Ignore Wall Thickness Option Disabled

Another view of the same CFD model

Figure 7 CFD Model with Ignore Wall Thickness Enabled