Since the stability limit is roughly proportional to the shortest element dimension, it is advantageous to keep the element size as large as possible. Unfortunately, for accurate analyses a fine mesh is often necessary. To obtain the highest possible stability limit while using the required level of mesh refinement, the best approach is to have a mesh that is as uniform as possible. Since the stability limit is based on the smallest element dimension in the model, even a single small or poorly shaped element can reduce the stability limit drastically. For diagnostic purposes Abaqus/Explicit provides a list in the status (.sta) file of the 10 elements in the mesh with the lowest stability limit. If the model contains some elements whose stability limits are much lower than those of the rest of the mesh, remeshing the model more uniformly may be worthwhile.