Version: 8.3.0
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Nodal connectivity of elements

The following images show order of nodes in correctly defined elements.

Edge (segment): linear and quadratic
connectivity_edge.png
Triangle: linear, quadratic and bi-quadratic
connectivity_tria.png
Quadrangle: linear, quadratic and bi-quadratic
connectivity_quad.png
Polygon: linear and quadratic
connectivity_polygon.png
Tetrahedron: linear and quadratic
connectivity_tetra.png
Hexahedron: linear, quadratic and tri-quadratic
connectivity_hexa.png
Pentahedron: linear and quadratic
connectivity_penta.png
Pyramid: linear and quadratic
connectivity_pyramid.png
Hexagonal prism
connectivity_hex_prism.png

Polyhedron is defined by

  • a sequence of nodes defining all facets
  • a sequence of number of nodes per facet

Nodes:
Node1_of_Facet1, Node2_of_Facet1, ..., NodeN_of_Facet1,
Node1_of_Facet2, Node2_of_Facet2, ..., NodeN_of_Facet2,
Node1_of_FacetM, Node2_of_FacetM, ..., NodeN_of_FacetM
Quantity of nodes per facet:
NbNodes_in_Facet1, NbNodes_in_Facet2, ..., NbNodes_in_FacetM

For example the polyhedron shown in the image below is defined by nodes
[ 1,2,3, 1,4,5,2, 2,5,6,3, 3,6,4,1, 4,7,9,5, 5,9,8,6, 6,8,7,4, 7,8,9 ]
and quantities [ 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 ]

connectivity_polyhedron.png

Order of nodes of a facet must assure outward direction of its normal.