General mesh question

[robo1billion]

This is something I want to clear up in my head in relation to the terminology used for meshing. Terms that are typically used are structured/unstructured, regular/irregular and in the case of Ansys mapped/free. My question is do all these terms refer to the same thing? i.e. does
structured = regular = mapped
and
unstructured = irregular = free

I was always under the impression that structured and regular referred to the same thing. However I was wondering if the mapped term used by Ansys is slightly different due to the method of implementation?

 

[corus]

Mapped probably means that the topology of a regular mesh (ie. 4 or 5 sided region in 2D) is mapped on to your geometry. It means the same as structured as far as I'm aware.

Tata

 

[crisb]

There seems no reason to suggest they mean different things. Extract from ANSYS modeling and meshing guide:

"A free mesh has no restrictions in terms of element shapes, and has no specified pattern applied to it. A mapped mesh is restricted in terms of the element shape it contains and the pattern of the mesh. A mapped area mesh contains either only quadrilateral or only triangular elements, while a mapped volume mesh contains only hexahedron elements. In addition, a mapped mesh typically has a regular pattern, with obvious rows of elements. "

http://www1.ansys.com/customer/content/documentation/100/ansys/gmod100.pdf