Meshing Error—Insufficient Memory for Mesh Generation

Issue

After clicking the Start button on the Solve dialog, the following error is issued:

Meshing Error: Insufficient memory available to complete mesh generation, Code 250

Solution

Generally, there are two primary reasons this error is issued:

Reason 1:

The generation of the mesh failed because there is not enough RAM on the computer. This may be because the specified mesh distribution is excessive for the situation or the computer simply does not have as much RAM as it needs to execute the defined mesh.

Examine the mesh distribution to ensure that it is not too fine for the level of detail in the model. Check the Approximate element count as well.

A simple rule of thumb for memory usage in is 1 million elements requires 2.5 Gbyte of RAM.

If the approximate element count far exceeds the amount of memory on the machine, then it is a good idea to check the mesh distribution:

• Check Edge-mode Diagnostics. (Click the Diagnostics button on the Mesh dialog.) Increasing the Minimum refinement length can make the mesh coarser. (Be careful to not increase it so much that the mesh generation fails due to an insufficient density.)
• If Use Uniform was used, it may have assigned one or more parts an overly fine, uniform mesh distribution. Select the part or parts and move the Size adjustment slider toward Coarse.
• If refinement regions are used, check their mesh distribution. It may be necessary to make the mesh density coarser (if possible) or simply reduce the size of the region.
• An alternative approach is to start over by clicking the Automatic size button again and refine selectively. Be careful to selectively refine only those areas that need refinement, leaving the rest of the model coarser.

Reason 2:

In some instances, this error is issued because the mesher is unable to complete the mesh on a problematic region in the geometry. As the mesher iterates within a region, its memory allocation grows until, in extreme cases, it has used all available RAM. If the generation of the mesh had been successful, it likely would not have been so large as to exceed the system RAM.

Techniques for resolving problematic geometry regions are presented in this solution: