Topology modification based rezoning strategies for the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method on unstructured hexahedral meshes.

The arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) simulation of multi-material flows with large deformations often suffers from mesh tangling. This paper presents a novel topology modified mesh rezoning method for hexahedral meshes with complex boundaries. To adapt the mesh to deformed or moving boundaries, the element connectivity is changed using coarsening, refinement, and reconnection methods. The geometric features of the complex boundaries are preserved by refining the boundary nodes and generating boundary-layered meshes. We have incorporated the proposed rezoning method into an ALE method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a hexahedral topology modification method has been used as a rezoning method in ALE simulations. Examples show that the topology-modification mesh rezoning method can simultaneously improve the element quality and size distribution while preserving the geometric features of the boundaries. The accuracy and efficiency of the ALE simulation were improved using the topology-modification rezoning method. • We present a topology-modification rezoning method based on sheet operations for hexahedral mesh. • We firstly incorporate the hexahedral topology-modification rezoning method into an ALE simulation. • We propose a sheet reconnection method to locally improve the mesh regions with sheared deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]