Chapter 3

Meshing Methods for 3D

Geometries

Introduction to ANSYS
Meshing

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Meshing Methods for 3D Geometries

Overview Training Manual

Geometry Requirements
Meshing
g Methods
Tetrahedrons
Patch Conforming
Patch Independent (ICEM CFD Tetra)
Swept Mesh
Automatic
MultiZone
CFX-Mesh

Workshop 3.1
Combining Sweep and Tetrahedral Methods for a Multibody Part
Inflating Tetrahedral and Sweep Methods

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Geometry Requirements Training Manual

All the 3D meshing methods

require that the geometry
consist of solid bodies

If an imported geometry consists of surface bodies,

additional steps would be required to convert it to a
3D solid if a 3D mesh is to be generated in the ANSYS Meshing
Application (although surface bodies can be meshed with surface meshing
algorithms)

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Tetrahedral Meshes Training Manual

Advantages
An arbitrary volume can always be filled with tetrahedra
Can be generated quickly,
quickly automatically
automatically, and for
complicated geometry
Can be easily combined with curvature and proximity
size functions to automatically refine the mesh in critical regions
Can be combined with inflation to refine the mesh near solid walls
(boundary layer resolution)

Disadvantages
Element and node counts are higher than for a hex mesh with a
similar mesh density
Generally not possible to align the cells with a flow direction
Not well suited for thin solids or annuli due to non-isotropy
of geometry and nature of element

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Tetrahedral Algorithms Training Manual

Two different algorithms are available for generating

tetrahedral meshes in the ANSYS Meshing Platform

Patch Conforming: A surface mesh is generated first using a Delaunay

or Advancing Front surface mesher which will, by default, respect all faces and
edges in the geometry (note: some built-in defeaturing for features below the
minimum size limit). The volume mesh is then created from the surface mesh
via an algorithm based on TGRID Tetra.

Patch Independent: Here a volume mesh is generated and projected to

surfaces to yield the surface mesh. Faces and edges will not necessarily be
respected unless loads or boundary conditions are scoped to them.
This method is more tolerant of poor quality CAD. The patch independent
algorithm is based on ICEM CFD Tetra.

Both tetrahedral algorithms can be inflated for boundary layer resolution

often
ft required
i d for
f CFD

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Tetrahedral Meshing Training Manual

Common Parameters
Minimum and Maximum Sizes
Face and Body Sizes
Advanced Size Functions (Curvature and/or Proximity)
Growth Rate (gradual variation for CFD, avoid sudden jumps)
Smoothing (helps achieve a more uniformly sized mesh)
Statistics
Mesh Metrics

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Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons Training Manual

Right click on Mesh, insert

a Method and Choose the bodies
to which to apply the method.

Set the Method to Tetrahedrons and

the Algorithm to Patch Conforming

Different parts can have different

methods. A single part with multiple
bodies can include a mix of patch
conforming tetrahedrons and sweep
methods and will still produce a
conformal mesh (Workshop 3.1)

The Patch Conforming method can

be used in conjunction with Pinch
Controls to helpp remove short edges.
g It
also has built-in mesh defeaturing based Small Hole
Faces in
on the minimum size Close Proximity
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Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons Example Training Manual

Resolution of
Circular Hole

Faces (and edges) are respected

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Patch Independent Tetrahedrons Training Manual

Useful for CAD with many surface

patches, sliver faces, short edges,
poor surface parameterization, etc.

With the Method to Tetrahedrons, set

the Algorithm to Patch Independent

Faces and edges will not necessarily

be respected unless a load or named
selection is scoped to them

Note that there are additional

settings concerning defeaturing as
well as settings for curvature and
proximity Faces in Small Hole
Close Proximity
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Patch Independent Tetrahedrons Training Manual

No Named Selections: Faces and Edges are not respected

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Patch Independent Tetrahedrons Training Manual

Named Selections: Faces and Edges are respected

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Inflating the Tetrahedral Method Training Manual

Inflation is scoped to bodies and defined for faces

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Sweep Method Training Manual

Body must be sweepable

Inflation can yield pure hex or prisms
M
Manual l or automatic
t ti source/target
/t t
Normally single source to single
target face, automatic thin model can be
used d ffor multiple
lti l faces
f with
ith multiple
lti l
elements through the thickness
Right-click on Mesh: Show Sweepable
B di
Bodies

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Sweep Method: Source/Target, Mesh Type Training Manual

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Sweep Method: Thin Model Training Manual

Useful when there are multiple faces as in

the geometry shown below which has 3
source and target faces

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Sweep Example with Bias in Sweep Direction Training Manual

Geometry with a single source and target face can be swept with a
bias in the sweep direction

(Faces have been merged either in CAD or with VT)

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Sweep with Inflation Training Manual

Inflation is scoped to a face with

inflation specified on edges

(F
(Faces h
have b
been merged
d either
i h iin CAD or with
i h VT)
Thin Model Sweeps cannot be inflated
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Automatic Method Training Manual

The Automatic setting toggles between Tetrahedral (Patch

Conforming) and Swept Meshing, depending upon whether the
body is sweepable.
sweepable Bodies in the same part will have a conformal
mesh.

Swept Tetrahedron (Patch Conforming) T t h d

Tetrahedron (Patch
(P t h Conforming)
C f i )

No inflation Programmed Controlled Inflation

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MultiZone Sweep Meshing Training Manual

Based on ICEM CFD Hexa Blocking

Automatic geometry decomposition
With the swept method, this part would have to be With MultiZone, it can
sliced into 3 bodies to get a pure hex mesh be meshed directly!

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MultiZone for Pipe Intersection Training Manual

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MultiZone for Pipe Intersection Training Manual

Free block in center (here meshed with tets)

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Adding Inflation to MultiZone Training Manual

As for the tetrahedral meshers, inflation is scoped to bodies and

defined for faces

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MultiZone Mesh with Inflation Training Manual

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CFX-Mesh Method Training Manual

Tet/prism mesher or extruded

meshes for geometries with a
periodic translation or rotation
CFX-Mesh uses a loose integration
Selecting Right Mouse
Edit
Edit on the Method
launches CFX-Mesh as a
separate window that is
different than the Workbench
Meshing environment.
No Meshing Application
sizings are respected or
transferred to CFX
CFX-Mesh
Mesh

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