3D Grid Types

Two types of grids are supported in the 3D Grid module: mesh-centered grids and cell-centered grids. When computations are performed on a mesh-centered grid, the computation points are the grid nodes or the corners of the grid cells. With a cell-centered grid, computations are performed at the cell centers.

(a) Cell Centered Grid (b) Mesh Centered Grid

When a data set is imported to a cell-centered grid, there is one value in the data set for each cell. To use contouring or fringing the values at the cell corners must be known. Therefore, whenever contouring or fringing is performed, the values at the cell centers are interpolated to the cell corners. Interpolation to cell corners is only done for visualization. All computations performed using the data calculator are performed on the original values at the cell centers. With mesh-centered grids, all visualization and computations are performed at the cell corners and no interpolation is necessary.

All of the model interfaces in the 3D Grid module are based on cell-centered grids. Mesh-centered grids are useful for interpolation and iso-surface visualization since no extra interpolation is necessary.

Related Links:
Creating and Editing 3D Grids