Types of FEM Meshes
Before you create a FEM mesh you need to select a mesh type. Click Home and then click the arrow next to 
Mesh. Select one of the following mesh types based on your model geometry:
Mesh. Select one of the following mesh types based on your model geometry:• Solid — Generates a solid mesh for your model. The meshing process creates an optimal model of the solid volume of the meshed model with a network of three-dimensional tetrahedral elements. The resulting mesh includes:
◦ tetrahedral solid elements for all solid chunks in your model
◦ elements for any beam, spring, contact, mass, rigid link, or weighted link idealizations
• Midsurface—Generates a shell mesh of triangular or quadrilateral elements for shell idealizations defined through shell pairs. The resulting mesh includes:
◦ shell elements at the midsurface of your model
◦ shell elements for any simple or advanced shell idealizations that you created for quilt surfaces
◦ elements for any beam, spring, contact, mass, rigid link, or weighted link idealizations
• Solid / Midsurface—Generates a mixed mesh of solid and shell elements on your model. The resulting mesh includes:
◦ tetrahedral solid elements for all solid chunks in your model
◦ shell elements at the midsurface of your model
◦ shell elements for any simple or advanced shell idealizations that you created for quilt surfaces
◦ elements for any beam, spring, contact, mass, rigid link, or weighted link idealizations
• Shell—Generates a shell mesh of triangular or quadrilateral elements on a model's quilt surfaces if you defined simple or advanced shell idealizations on those surfaces. The resulting mesh includes:
◦ shell elements for any simple or advanced shell idealizations that you created for quilt surfaces
◦ elements for any beam, spring, contact, mass, rigid link, or weighted link idealizations
• Boundary — Generates a shell mesh of triangular or quadrilateral elements on your model's exterior surfaces. The resulting mesh includes:
◦ shell elements for any simple or advanced shell idealizations that you created for quilt surfaces
◦ elements for any beam, spring, contact, mass, rigid link, or weighted link idealizations
• Bar — Generates a mesh on one-dimensional idealizations such as beams, springs, contacts, masses, rigid links, or weighted links.
After selecting any of these options, click Mesh to start mesh generation. The mesh generator then creates and optimizes the mesh. To terminate mesh generation, click the red stop sign.
Mesh to start mesh generation. The mesh generator then creates and optimizes the mesh. To terminate mesh generation, click the red stop sign.When the mesh is complete, Creo Simulate displays the meshed model and the Element Quality Checks dialog box. What the model looks like depends on the display style. The mesh generator automatically produces a mesh that satisfies all applied mesh controls and ensures that each constrained or loaded datum point becomes a node in the resulting mesh.