Quadratic elements


Triangle generates meshes with quadratic subparametric elements if the -o2 switch is specified. Quadratic elements have six nodes per element, rather than three. `Subparametric' means that the edges of the triangles are always straight, so that subparametric quadratic elements are geometrically identical to linear elements, even though they can be used with quadratic interpolating functions. The three extra nodes of an element fall at the midpoint of each edge.

In .ele files produced by Triangle with the -o2 switch, each elements has six nodes. The first three are the corners of the element, in counterclockwise order. The next three are the nodes opposite the first three, respectively.


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jrs@cs.cmu.edu