Computational Fluid

Dynamics
Tutorial 2 Meshing
Dr. Andrew Cashman
2/7/2014

MECH9002: Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

In this tutorial we will develop meshing techniques for various complexities of geometries.
The analyst will need to be familiar with both global and local meshing settings.
Meshing is one of the most important steps in a numerical simulation and accuracy of
results can be extremely sensitive to mesh quality and density. Knowledge of the flow
characteristics is essential to develop a detailed mesh in areas where complex flow or
gradients may exist, while a courser mesh could be applied to areas not of concern to the
analyst. A poor quality mesh can also affect the convergence of the simulation.
In general, a mesh is generated using an
iterative procedure, where initial meshes
are improved based on mesh quality
checks, convergence issues, or preliminary
post processing results. Global commands
are initially specified and local mesh
settings are then applied where refined
mesh or inflation layers may be required.

Open the ANSYS Meshing from workbench once geometry has been added to the project.
The Outline tree on the left hand side contains three default sections:

Geometry Contains the bodies present in the solid model. If
multiple bodies are present, a contact region is automatically
created between those parts. Each part is meshed
independently (resulting in a non-conformal mesh). A grid
interface can be defined in Fluent for the faces at the contact
region.

Coordinate Systems Contains the default and user defined systems

Mesh Contains the meshing operations displayed in order in which they are
inserted. Clicking on Mesh presents another menu underneath the outline tree
called Details of Mesh. These details are the global commands.

Dr. A. Cashman

MECH9002

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Computational Fluid Dynamics

Global Commands
Defaults
The defaults should be selected as CFD and Fluent
automatically when you use the Fluid Flow (Fluent)
system so these will not need to be set. The relevance can
be adjusted between -100 and +100 for automatic global
coarsening or refining of the mesh, respectively.

Sizing
The sizing menu controls some important control functions for the mesh sizing conditions
that will be employed in the meshing process. The Advanced Sizing Functions control the
growth and distribution of mesh in important regions of high curvature or close proximity of
surfaces. The schematic below explains the performance of the five setting options:

Other important settings in this menu are the Max and Min Size and Face Size settings.
These can be adjusted if the selected relevance centre does not develop a course or fine
enough mesh. A handy guideline is available for these settings as the mouse pointer can be
used to demonstrate the approximate sizes of these settings as shown below.

Dr. A. Cashman

MECH9002

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Computational Fluid Dynamics

The growth ratio may also be defined in the sizing menu. This dictates the size of adjacent
cells and should be kept relatively small. Good meshing practice should not result in small
elements directly beside relatively large elements.

Inflation
Inflation extrudes faces normal to a boundary to increase the mesh resolution in order to
resolve viscous boundary layer in fluid dynamics problems. The three options for inflation
are:

None

Program Controlled All the faces selected for inflation except those scoped in
named selections, faces with manual inflation defined, faces in contact regions and
faces in symmetry.

All Faces in chosen Named Selection Allows inflation layers from faces grouped in
one named selection.
The inflation option may also be set to one of Smooth Transition, First Layer Thickness, Total
Thickness, First Aspect Ratio, or Last Aspect Ratio.

Assembly Meshing
The assembly meshing menu allows the user to define various methods of generating the
mesh. This process will then act as a single mesh for the whole model. The different options
are:

CutCell CutCell results in a Cartesian mesh and tetrahedron cells

Tetrahedrons Results in a tet mesh and also creates prisms if inflation is specified.
Different methods have different benefits for various geometries and experience is the best
method of learning the advantages and disadvantages of each. These methods will be
explored in Workshop 2.

Defeaturing
This gives the user the capability to remove small geometry features meeting the tolerance
using Pinch and/or Automatic Mesh based defeaturing controls in order to improve the
mesh quality.

Statistics
Statistics should always be reviewed after a mesh has been generated. The number of nodes
and cells are presented, which may give an indication of simulation times. More
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MECH9002

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Computational Fluid Dynamics

importantly, it also presents options to view various mesh quality metric. Generally,
Orthogonal Quality and Skewness would always be viewed.

Grid Independence Tests

As stated previously, the mesh density and quality affect the accuracy of a numerical
simulation greatly. Therefore, it is essential to carry out certain quality checks and also a
grid independence test. As the name suggests, a grid independence test is a method of
ensuring your results are independent of mesh size.
Create any general mesh, and run a simulation. Record specific parameters, e.g. velocity, lift
or drag force, pressure at a point, etc. Increase the density of your mesh and rerun the
simulation under the same conditions. Measure the same parameters and compare with the
initial results. Repeat these steps until the percentage difference has fallen below a
tolerable level (sometimes set at 5%). For detailed simulations, a grid independence criteria
of 1% should be used as long as computational time is not too large.
The object of a grid independence test is to develop the smallest possible mesh that will
generate acceptable results. Overly large meshes may give accurate results but
computational time can be quite large!

Task 1: Complete Workshop 1 Global Mesh Methods

Task 2: Complete Workshop 2 - Meshing Methods
Files and pdf provided on blackboard

Dr. A. Cashman

MECH9002

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