Hex meshing of intersecting solid cylinders

[vinit245]

I have been trying to mesh the model (pic below)
Currently it can be easily meshed with Tet elemnts and/or quad elements(pic below) but I want to mesh it with hex elements and apparently it can be done only through bottom up mesh for which i need to partition it. I have tried partitioning it at intersection of cylinders but still its unmeshable. what would be the ideal way to mesh this model with hex elements?

 

[pdiculous963]

I'm guessing your part is a shell part based upon the mesh of the intersecting cylinders. If you want to use hexahedral elements (3D continuum elements), it needs to be be a solid part.

 

[Mustaine3]

I think it is nearly impossible to mesh this center region with hex elements. Use parabolic tets and tie them at the two blocks. The tie is automatically created, when everything is one part and you assign different element shapes to different cells.

 

[Dave442]

the threads below have discussed meshing similar structures. Might be some help.

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=390004

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=398006

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=415229