Cubit Overview

High-end Modeling

Cubit is a CAD toolkit used to generate volume and surface meshes for CFD and FEA analysis. Its main focus is large hex meshes for complex, interlocking assemblies. Mesh generation algorithms include quadrilateral and triangular paving, 2D and 3D mapping, hex sweeping and multi-sweeping, tet meshing, and various special purpose primitives. Cubit contains many algorithms for controlling and automating much of the meshing process, such as automatic scheme selection, interval matching, sweep grouping and sweep verification, and also includes state-of-the-art smoothing algorithms.

Flexible Geometry Preparation

One of Cubit's strengths is its ability to import and mesh geometry from a variety of CAD packages. Cubit currently integrates the ACIS, Granite, and Catia geometry kernels directly within its code base, allowing direct manipulation of the native CAD geometry format within Cubit. This reduces the errors and anomalies so often associated with geometry translation. CGM also boasts a facet-based geometry kernel developed at Sandia that can be used for remeshing or editing old mesh files or models defined by triangle facets. In addition, Cubit has developed a comprehensive virtual geometry capability that permits local composites and partitions to geometry without modifying the underlying native geometry representation. The user can choose to ignore, clean-up or add features to the model allowing greater flexibility to meshing algorithms to generate better quality elements.

Intuitive Environment

Cubit includes both a convenient command line interface with an extensive command language as well as a polished graphical user interface environment. The GUI is based upon the cross-platform standard QT, which allows the same look and feel on all supported platforms. Also included is a graphical environment based upon the VTK graphics standard which has been optimized for display and manipulation of finite element data and geometry. Fast, interactive manipulation of the model is a tremendous advantage for models with thousands of parts or millions of elements.