Three dimensional finite element preprocessing of magnetic field problems

The ever increasing power of computers couples with the downward trend in memory costs have made it possible to solve very large complex field problems utilising the finite element methodology. This has emphasised the need for efficient data creation and handling which has stimulated investigation into what has become known as pre- and post- processing. Over the last decade a great deal of work has been done in pre- and post-processing as far as two dimensional analysis is concerned. However the level of expertise demonstrated with two dimensional problems is some way from being realised as far as three dimensional problems are concerned. This paper reports some of the details of element and constraint definition as implemented in a highly interactive three dimensional mesh generator designed to operate on a small dedicated computer.