Chapter 2

Introduction to ANSYS
Meshing

Introduction to ANSYS
Meshing

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Overview Training Manual

Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Meshingg Requirements
q for Different Physics
y
ANSYS Meshing Workflow
Meshing Methods for 3D and 2D geometries
Workshop 2.1
Automatic Meshing for a Multibody Part
Program Controlled Inflation
Transferring Mesh to CFX or FLUENT

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Workbench Guiding Principles Training Manual

Parametric: Parameters drive system

Persistent: Model updates passed through system
Highly-automated: Baseline simulation w/limited input
Flexible:
Fl ibl Able
Abl tto add
dd controls
t l tto influence
i fl resulting
lti mesh
h
(complete control over model/simulation)
Physics aware: Key off physics to automate modeling
and simulation throughout system
Adaptive architecture: Open system that can be
adapted to a customers process
CAD neutral, meshing neutral, solver neutral, etc.

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

What is the ANSYS Meshing Application? Training Manual

ANSYS has been working to integrate best in class

t h l i ffrom severall sources:
technologies
ICEM CFD
TGrid
GAMBIT
CFX
ANSYS Prep/Post
Etc.

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

ANSYS Meshing Application Overview Training Manual

The objective of the ANSYS Meshing Application in

Workbench is to pprovide access to common ANSYS Inc.
meshing tools in a single location, for use by any analysis
type:

FEA Simulations
Mechanical Dynamics Simulation
Explicit Dynamics Simulation
AUTODYN
ANSYS LS DYNA
Electromagnetic Simulation
CFD Simulation
CFD
ANSYS CFX
ANSYS FLUENT

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Specification Training Manual

Purpose
For both CFD (fluid) and FEA (solid) modelling, the software performs
the computations
p at a range
g of discrete locations within the domain.
The purpose of meshing is to decompose the solution domain into an
appropriate number of locations for an accurate result.
The basic building-blocks
building blocks for a 3D mesh are:

Tetrahedrons Hexahedrons Pyramids (where tet. Prisms (formed when a

(unstructured) (usually structured) and hex. cells meet) tet mesh is extruded)

Manifold Example: Outer casting and internal flow region are meshed for coupled thermal/stress gas flow simulation
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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Specification Training Manual

Considerations

Detail:
How much geometric detail is
relevant to the simulation physics.
Including unnecessary detail can
greatly
tl increase
i th
the effort
ff t required
i d
for the simulation.
Is it necessary
to resolve this
recess?
ecess

Refinement
Where in the domain are the most
complex stress/flow gradients?
Th
These areas will
ill require
i hihigher
h
densities of mesh elements.

Refined mesh Extra mesh applied

around bolt-hole across fluid
boundary layer
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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Specification Training Manual

Efficiency
Greater numbers of elements require more compute resource (memory /
processing time)
time). Balance the fidelity of the simulation with available resources
resources.

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Specification Training Manual

Quality
In areas of high geometric complexity mesh elements can become distorted. Poor
quality
q y elements can lead to p
poor q
quality
y results or,, in some cases,, no results at all!

There are a number of methods for measuring mesh element quality (mesh metrics*).
For example, one important metric is the element Skewness. Skewness is a measure
of the relative distortion of an element compared to its ideal shape and is scaled from
0 (Excellent) to 1 (Unacceptable).

0-0.25 0.25-0.50 0.50-0.80 0.80-0.95 0.95-0.98 0.98-1.00

Excellent very good good acceptable bad Unacceptable

*Further information on mesh metrics is available in the documentation and training lecture appendices
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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Specification Training Manual

Example showing difference between good and poor meshes:

This example illustrates an unconverged thermal field in a manifold solid casting. On closer inspection it is
clear that the simulation is unable to resolve a sensible data field in the region of poor quality elements.

The example with good quality elements demonstrates no problems in the solution field
field.

The ANSYS Meshing Application provides many tools to help maximise mesh quality
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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

FEA Meshing Issues Training Manual

Structural FEA
Refine mesh to capture
p g
gradients of
concern
E.g. temperature, strain energy, stress
energy, displacement, etc.
tet mesh dominated, but hex
elements still preferred
some explicit FEA solvers require a
hex mesh
tet meshes for FEA are usually
second order (include mid-side
nodes on element edges)

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

CFD Meshing Issues Training Manual

CFD
Refine mesh to capture gradients of concern
E.g.
E g Velocity
Velocity, pressure
pressure, temperature
temperature, etc
etc.
Mesh quality and smoothness critical for
accurate results
This leads to larger mesh sizes,
sizes often millions
of elements
tet mesh dominated, but hex elements still
preferred
tet meshes for CFD are usually first order (no
mid-side nodes on element edges)

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Types Training Manual

Tet Mesh and Tet/Prism hybrid

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Mesh Types Training Manual

Hex Mesh

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Mesh Types Training Manual

Tet Mesh
1) Can be generated quickly, automatically, and for
complicated geometry

Mesh can be generated in

2 steps:
Step 1: Define element
sizing
Step 2: Generate Mesh

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Types Training Manual

Tet Mesh
2) Isotropic refinement in order to capture gradients in one direction, mesh
is refined in all three directions cell counts rise rapidly

Perforated plate
resulting in
pressure drop in
x direction

x
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Mesh Types Training Manual

Tet Mesh
3) Inflation layer helps with refinement normal to the wall, but still isotropic in
2-D (surface mesh)

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Mesh Types Training Manual

Hex Mesh
Fewer elements required to resolve physics for most CFD
applications
This hexahedral mesh, which provides the same
resolution of flow physics
physics, has LESS than half the
amount of nodes as the tet-mesh)

TET HEX

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Types Training Manual

Hex Mesh
Fewer elements required to resolve physics for most CFD
applications.
Anisotropic elements can be aligned with anisotropic physics
(boundary layers
layers, areas of tight curvature like wing leading
and trailing edges)

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Mesh Types Training Manual

Hex Mesh
For arbitrary geometries, hex meshing may require a multi-step
process which can yield a high quality/high efficiency mesh
For many simpler geometries, sweep techniques can be a simpler
way to generate hex meshes
Sweep
MultiZone

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

ANSYS Meshing Application Workflow Training Manual

The ANSYS Meshing Application uses a divide & conquer

app oac
approach
A different Meshing Method can be applied to each part
in the geometry
Meshes between bodies in different parts will be non-matching or
non-conformal
Matched or conformal meshes will be generated for bodies in a
single part
All meshes are written back to a common central database
A number of different methods are available for 3D and
2D geometry

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Meshing Methods for 3D Geometry Training Manual

There are six different meshing methods in the ANSYS

Meshing Application for 3D Geometry:

Automatic
Tetrahedrons
T t h d
Patch Conforming
Patch Independent
(ICEM CFD Tetra algorithm)
Swept Meshing
MultiZone
Hex Dominant
CFX-Mesh

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Meshing Methods for 2D Geometry Training Manual

There are four different meshing methods in the ANSYS

Meshingg Platform for 2D Geometryy which can be applied
pp to
Surface Bodies or Shells:

Automatic Method
(Quadrilateral Dominant)
All Triangles
Uniform
U if Q
Quad/Tri
d/T i
Uniform Quad

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons Training Manual

Tetrahedrons Method with Patch Conforming Algorithm

Faces and their boundaries (edges and vertices) are respected
Includes the Expansion Factor setting, which controls the internal growth rate
of tetrahedrons with respect to boundary size
Includes inflation or boundary layer resolution for CFD
Can be mixed with Sweep methods for bodies in a single part conformal
meshes will be generated

Element Shapes

Tetrahedral Mesh

Pyramid Prism

Tet Swept Mesh

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Patch Independent Tetrahedrons Training Manual

Tetrahedrons Method with Patch Independent (ICEM CFD Tetra) Algorithm

Faces and their boundaries (edges and vertices) are not necessarily respected unless
th
there iis a lload,
d bboundary
d condition,
diti or other
th object
bj t scoped
d tto th
them
Useful for gross defeaturing or to produce a more uniformly sized mesh
Simplified version of Tetra tightly integrated into the ANSYS Meshing Application
Honors standard ANSYS Meshing Application mesh sizing controls
Tetra parts can also have inflation applied

Coarse mesh walks over detail

in surface model
Element Shapes

Pyramid Prism

Tet
Inflation layer
applied for CFD
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Sweep Method Training Manual

Produces Hexes and/or Prisms Body split into 2 parts to allow

for swept meshing
Body must be Sweepable
Single Source, Single Target Extrusion removed
to allow for swept
Inflation can yield pure hex or prisms meshing

El
Element
t Shapes
Sh

Prism

Hex
Allows for inflation layer (boundary
layer resolution) for CFD
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Thin Solid Sweep Meshing Training Manual

Multiple source/target faces

Works at body level with other methods
Multiple elements through thickness possible for single body parts

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

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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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Inflation Training Manual

Inflation is accomplished by extruding faces normal to a boundary to

increase the boundary y mesh resolution,, typically
yp y for CFD
Smooth Transition from inflated layer to interior mesh
Collision avoidance:
Stair-stepping
Stair stepping
Layer compression
Preview Inflation
Pre
P vs. Post
P t inflation
i fl ti
All methods can be inflated except
for Hex-Dominant and Thin Sweep
Sweeping:
Pure hex or wedge

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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

MultiZone Sweep Meshing Training Manual

New feature for 12.0

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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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

Hex-Dominant Method Training Manual

The hex-dominant meshing algorithm creates a quad-dominant surface mesh

first, then hexahedral, pyramid and tetrahedral elements are filled in as needed.
Recommended
R d d when
h ah hex meshh iis d
desired
i d ffor a b
body
d th
thatt cannott b
be sweptt
Useful for bodies with large amounts of interior volume
Not useful for thin complicated bodies where the ratio of volume to surface area is low
No boundary layer resolution for CFD
Mainly used for FEA analysis

Element Shapes

Pyramid Prism

Hex-dominant mesh shown above:

19 615 Hex (60%)
19,615
Tet Hex 5,108 Tet (16%)
211 Prisms (1%)
7,671 pyramids (24%)
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Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

CFX-Mesh Method Training Manual

CFX-Mesh uses a loose

integration.
No Meshing g Application
sizings are respected or G
Generate
t Volume
V l Mesh
M h
transferred to CFX-Mesh
Selecting Right Mouse
Edit on the Method
l
launches
h ththe CFX
CFX-Mesh
M h
GUI.
Define mesh
settings/controls/
inflation
P i
Preview & generate
volume mesh
Commit the current
mesh model
Return to ANSYS
Meshing
Possible to Generate
Mesh on a CFX-Mesh
method without opening
pp
the application
Uses current or default Inflation layer
settings

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