MOOSE 2nd-order mesh generation curvature

[smpark7]

I am creating 2nd-order meshes containing CartesianConcentricCircleAdaptiveBoundaryMeshGenerator for circular surfaces in 2-D and extruding them to 3-D.

In the mesh generation console output, the circular area does not equal to the true circular area. I suppose the element faces are linear between the mid-side and edge nodes. Do I need to use external mesh generators to generate truly quadratic curved element faces, and does libmesh support these mesh types?

[GiudGiud]

Hello

Do I need to use external mesh generators to generate truly quadratic curved element faces

No you just need to set the right parameters in the right mesh generator
For CartesianConcentricCircleAdaptiveBoundaryMeshGenerator , set
quad_element_type = QUAD8 or 9
preserve_volumes kept to true

and does libmesh support these mesh types?

Libmesh does support it

[smpark7]

Thanks, I tried those parameters and they worked.

Separately, I opened the mesh files on paraview, but paraview does not recognize the file as "eligible" for higher-order rendering through their Nonlinear Subdivision Level feature. Do you know if there's any way to render the curves properly?

[GiudGiud]

I don’t. Try the kitware forum?