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Gambit Tips and Tricks
Gambit Tips and Tricks
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Outline
Data exchange with other CAD systems Construction and clean-up tools Meshing tools Miscellaneous tips and tricks
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Geometry
ACIS (R12) Parasolid (v15.0) Catia V4 STEP (AP203/214) IGES Direct Pro/E Interface Geometry (Real/Virtual)
Mesh
I-DEAS UNV FLUENT/TGRID CGNS (v2.0) PLOT3D (formatted) ANSYS PATRAN NASTRAN Geometry (Faceted)
Faceted Geometry
I-DEAS FTL STL VRML Optegra visualizer Geometry (Faceted)
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Checking Connectivity
Check import of volumes/faces using entity based coloring
Vertices (white), edges (yellow), faces (light blue), volumes (green), groups (dark green) Virtual/faceted geometry identified by label (v_*/f_*), picking filter, and color coding
Vertices (darkkhaki), edges (peru), faces (dodgerblue), volumes (springgreen)
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Checking Connectivity
Color by entity
Color by connectivity
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Geometry not C1 or G1
Indicates lack of parametric/geometric continuity Real operations (booleans, splits, sweeps) may fail Can use virtual operations as fallback Geometry errors do generally not prevent meshing. If the model can be shaded, then it can likely be meshed
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Tolerant Modeling
Tolerant modeling in Gambit
Real connectivity using an automatically evaluated local tolerance value (instead of 1.0e-6 real ACIS tolerance) assigned to vertices and edges Allows use of less precise CAD data and still ensures proper topology Most construction tools (Booleans and splits) are tolerant Requires less virtual clean-up Tolerant modeling will attempt to stitch volume Make geometry tolerant
globally during geometry import
all entities can be connected Automatic sliver/short edge removal during tolerant import, controlled through defaults
GEOMETRY.TOLERANCE.HEAL_REMOVE_SLIVER_FACE = -1 GEOMETRY.TOLERANCE.HEAL_REMOVE_SHORT_EDGE = 0.001
Tolerant Modeling
Assigns local tolerances instead of geometry modification Tolerances based on face size or edge length (body box size). Stitching stops at maximum tolerance
Body box size < 0.01 < 0.1 < 1.0 < 10.0 > 10.0 Maximum tolerance 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1.0
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Healing repairs geometry near boundaries. Healing does not fix geometry defects distant from edges Healing can further corrupt poor geometry. Carefully inspect and check geometry after healing!
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Face smoothing
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Boundary types are preserved during import of mesh files into Gambit
Except periodic boundary types, periodic_shadow will have type wall Import of mesh with hanging nodes (e.g. adapted mesh, hex core mesh) is not supported PLOT 3D files with Iblanking or of binary type need to be converted to Fluent/Fidap mesh file using utility fe2ram
64-bit utility available for large mesh files
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Unclick the Keep original edge toggle to remove existing edges Use Automatic Angle to add geometry edges
Similar to feature engle during mesh import
Fine tune geometry edge definition by manually adding or deleting individual mesh edges
Spurs removed in single pick
Real (ACIS) geometry tools Real Boolean operations Imprinting Virtual geometry tools Clean-up tools Decomposing virtual geometry
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Non-coplanar edges
Any 3 or 4 sided non-planar loop can be stitched into real face Loops with 5 or more non-planar edges can be stitched into real face if
Edge loop is convex Edges dont turn excessively
New planar tolerant real face creation in Gambit 2.2 for non-coplanar edge loops
Tolerant option ignored if ACIS is able to create non-tolerant face Maximum tolerance reported in transcript window Edges should be close to coplanar and connected Tolerance should be smaller than intended mesh size
Turn off final projection of mesh from facets to geometry if tolerance is larger than mesh size (MESH.FACE.PROJECT_TO_SURFACE = 0)
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Tolerant real face creation from noncoplanar edges Tolerance value reported in transcript window
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Both real and virtual creation in single step May produce unwanted short edges
Healing can be tried in place of stitching
GEOMETRY.VOLUME.SPLIT_AT_CVXTY_PTS_IN_FACE_STITCH = 0
Single volume stitch can handle voids and dangling faces in Gambit 2.2
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Single volume
Searches automatically for missing (connected) faces Builds smallest possible volume from selected faces
Multiple volumes
Builds volumes for each watertight set of faces found Discards extra faces not belonging to a closed set
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Intersection/Subtraction option
Intersect A with B while retaining A Subtract the result (intersection) from A while retaining the tool Connect before meshing
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Global imprinting
Local imprinting
GEOMETRY.VOLUME.BOOLEAN_METHOD = 0
GEOMETRY.VOLUME.BOOLEAN_METHOD = 1
Default algorithm, more stable Should not require to disconnect geometry before operation Requires subsequent bi-directional split
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Virtual Geometry
Overlay technology
Tool of choice to clean-up and simplify imported geometry Needed when tolerant modeling and healing/smoothing are not sufficient Modifies size and shape of boundary surfaces while being constrained by underlying host geometry definition
Represents same geometry but different topology Can be derived from real, virtual, or faceted geometry
Limited use for Boolean operations Semi-automatic virtual clean-up tool available
Split: Partitions an individual entity (edge/face/volume) into two or more connected virtual entities Connect: Combines two individual unconnected entities (vertex/edge/face) into a single virtual entity
Connect entities by connecting lower order topology Virtual connect can bridge relatively large gaps in model, larger than ACIS tolerance of 1.0e-6
Collapse: Splits a face and merges the resulting with two neighboring faces Simplify Faces: Removes dangling edges
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Suggests appropriate tools (standard virtual tools) to fix problems Easy switch between clan-up tools and regular geometry tools
Clean Up Cracks Clean Up Sharp Angles Clean Up Large Angles Clean Up Small Faces Clean Up Hard Edges Clean Up Fillets Clean Up Duplicate Geometry in Gambit 2.2
Removal of duplicate volumes, faces, edges, and vertices
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Centroid based
Less accurate, but helpful in detecting duplicate faces with different lower topology
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Angles sharper than the defaults are cleaned up using vertex connect
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must be set to 1 in the defaults to connect the vertices defining the shortest edge
Identify short edges using the Highlight shortest edge button in the edge and face connect forms
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Use merge edges option in face merge GUI to automatically remove short edges
GEOMETRY.EDGE.CONNECT_REMOVE_DEGENERATE_FACE = 1
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For faces separated by a large gap, create new face to fill the gap
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Edges (Virtual)
Endpoints of splitting edge need to be connected to edges of face Tolerance for edge proximity to face
Vertices (Virtual)
Tolerance option for vertex proximity to face Can produce dangling edges Shaped edge option
Locations (Virtual)
Locations snap to edges near boundaries Manually drag and position temporary Locations Shaped edge option
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Locations (Virtual)
Easy tool to split virtual volumes Manually drag and position temporary Locations Splitting volumes with voids not supported
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Vertices can be adjusted after meshing (might require subsequent smoothing of mesh)
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Meshing Tools
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Size Functions
Control mesh distribution on faces and in volumes
Eliminate the need to premesh edges manually Automatically capture important geometry and flow features Ensure high-quality meshes
Primarily designed for unstructured meshing Speed and robustness improvements in Gambit 2.2
Without Size Function Controlled growth rate with Size Function
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Curvature
Controls mesh element size as a function of geometric curvature of a face or edge and growth of mesh away from source Good for highly curved surfaces or edges
Proximity
Controls the number of of mesh elements in a gap (edge gaps and face gaps) and growth of mesh away from gap
Meshed
Uses existing mesh as initial size on source entity New Size Function type in Gambit 2.2
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Component sources
Sources can be topologically part of the attachment (component source) or independent of attachment (non-component source) Sources can be internal or external Non-component source
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Attachment face
Fixed Size Function can be attached to edges, faces, and volumes Attachment volume Attachment is ideally the whole model to ensure high quality mesh
Parameter specification
Start size
Mesh element size at source
Growth rate
Geometric stretching of mesh away from source Cannot be less than 1.0
Size limit
Maximum allowable mesh size for attachment No further growth if size limit is reached
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Parameter specification
Angle
Maximum allowable angle between any two adjacent face normals on source 5-30 degrees is reasonable value With Curvature Size Function
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Cells/gap
Minimum number of mesh cells in gap
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Parameter specification
Only growth rate and size limit are required
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Background Grid
Use of the background grid default parameters is key to obtaining the desired meshes
TOOLS.SFUNCTION.BGRID_MAX_TREE_DEPTH controls
controls the allowable deviation of the local mesh from the prescribed mesh size
Default is 25%, can vary between 3 and 25% Number of cells above the prescribed tolerance are reported in the transcript window TOOLS.SFUNCTION.REPORT_BGRID_INFO = 1 turns
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Background Grid
Use the Size Function reporting in the Transcript window
If the mesh is noticeably changing as BGRID_MAX_TREE_DEPTH is increased, it is a sign that too many background grid cells are hitting the limit
Background grid level reached maximum value specified Size Function not sufficiently resolved
Underresolved BGRID
Resolved BGRID
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Boundary Layers
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2D Boundary Layers
Boundary layer shape near vertices depends on vertex type
End (E) type
BL mesh butts up against adjoining edge Overlapped mesh where two BL meet
E E
E E
E S E
Wedge corner shape option for corner (C) and reversal (R) vertices
Wedge corner shape applies to 2D BL only Can be combined with Cooper tool for quasi-3D BL Wedge corner shape off Wedge corner shape on
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3D Boundary Layers
Internal continuity
Allows boundary layers to be formed without crossover region
Internal continuity on
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3D Boundary Layers
Different 3D BL settings allowed on adjacent surfaces in Gambit 2.2
Imprinting of 3D BL fails if adjacent volume has already BL attached Modify existing BL instead
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Gambit 2.2 Consistent for 2D BL and 3D BL Can grow many layers with good quality
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changes when sides of BL attach to premeshed edges > 1 = number of cells over which height changes from premeshed edge to specified height < 1 = fraction of edge length
Gambit 2.1 Only for 2D BL Gambit 2.2
HEIGHT_TRANSIT_RATIO consistent for
2D and 3D BL
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Use normal and offset smoothing when BL generates skewed elements in concave corners
Normal Smooting Direction of advancing normals is smoothed to avoid collapsing of BL
NORMAL_SMOOTH_ITER (default = 10) NORMAL_SMOOTH_ANGLE (default = 10o) NORMAL_SMOOTH_CONVERGED (default = 0.0o) NORMAL_SMOOTH_LOCALLY (default = 1)
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Arrow of temporary BL points toward the label (ID) of the face/volume into which the BL grows
Can be misleading when attaching BLs
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Meshing of Periodic BC
Reverse orientation active as default Can hard-link multiple pairs of periodic faces in same volume
Export mesh Fluent 6 correctly recognizes node pairing of periodic boundary conditions
Default periodic type is translational in Fluent 6
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Meshing Tips
Surface meshing done on faceted face representation by default
MESH.FACE.EXACT_MESH_EVALS = 0
Turn final projection off and leave mesh on facets if projection generates skewed or degenerated mesh on bad/corrupt surfaces
PROJECT_TO_SURFACE = 1 PROJECT_TO_SURFACE = 0
Meshing Tips
If Tet/TGrid fails to initialize the volume mesh
Inspect quality of surface mesh Turn on verbosity in defaults MESH.TETMESH.VERBOSITY = 1
Reports number of uninitialized nodes Likely fixable if only few nodes fail to initialize TGrid allows to visualize uninitialized nodes
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Meshing Tips
Example 2: Self-intersecting volume
Tet/TGrid initialization fails due to self-intersecting volume Difficult to diagnose for complex geometries Fix: Split volume
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Meshing Tips
Access additional swap space on UNIX/Linux platforms (requires 3GB of swap space on disk)
setenv FLUENT_MMAP_PATH /tmp/filename setenv FLUENT_USE_MMAP 1 Gives access to more memory and allows larger models
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Meshing Tips
Mesh delete
Delete volume or face mesh using Remove unused lower mesh removes edge mesh, but does not reset assigned edge grading and spacing Delete edge mesh without using Reset to default values deletes the edge mesh, but retain the assigned grading and spacing
Reset to default values restores the default spacing specified in
MESH.INTERVAL.COUNT MESH.INTERVAL.SIZE
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Mesh Export
Native Fluent 6 export
Exports mixed (volume + surface) mesh Exports surface mesh without specifying the boundary conditions
Unspecified boundaries will be wall
For rare cases where direct Fluent 6 exports fails Exports only volume mesh Exports surface mesh only for surfaces with specified boundary conditions if FILE_IO.FLUENT5.EXPORT_SURFACE_MESH_ONLY = 1
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Geometry display and faceting Boundary zone coloring Picking entities Journal files
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before the geometry creation to control the edge facets For existing geometry, change the defaults, save and restore database
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Picking Entities
Picking by dragging a box over entities
Picking partially included entities when dragging box diagonally down Picking completely included entities when dragging box diagonally up
Journal Files
Extracting lost journal file from existing database file
gambit res(torejournal) journalfile id database
Set GEOMETRY.VOLUME.BOOLEAN_METHOD = 0 to use old Boolean/imprinting method Set GEOMETRY.GENERAL.REAL_LABEL_CHANGE_MINIMIZATION = 0 when running Gambit 2.0 journal files Set GEOMETRY.FACE.VIRTUAL_FACE_SPLIT_METHOD = 0 to get old behavior
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Summary
GAMBIT continues to improve pre-processing efficiency Improved robustness and speed Improved real geometry tools Extended automatic clean-up Improved meshing tools Go try this at home.
Create real non-planar faces Stitch volumes with voids Quickly find duplicate entities Connect faces with T-junctions Split entities with Locations Mesh with fast Size Functions
Thank You!
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