Patent ID: 7576728

Claim:
An apparatus for generating mesh data comprising: a three-dimensional design data retaining section for retaining three-dimensional design data representing a structure of an object formed by uniting a plurality of elements; an edge extracting section for extracting, on the basis of information to discriminate a connector in the three-dimensional design data retained in said three-dimensional design data retaining section, a pair of edges which are included in two of the plural elements and which are corresponding to a connection at which the two elements are connected to each other by the connector when the object is formed; a mesh data generating section for generating, on the basis of the three-dimensional design data, mesh data concerning each of the plural elements except for the connector which mesh data is used for application structural analysis to the object; a node extracting section for extracting nodes corresponding one to each of the pair of edges extracted by said edge extracting section from the mesh data generated by said mesh data generating section; and a node connecting section for connecting the nodes of the pair of edges to each other, which nodes are extracted by said node extracting sections wherein, if each of two of the plural elements has a threaded hole and the two or more elements are connected by a screw inserted into the threaded holes, said edge extracting section extracts edges of the threaded holes, serving as the connection, as edges of the two or more elements.