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Module 02: Meshing Methods

Introduction to ANSYS Meshing

1 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Overview
In this lecture we will learn:
• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
• Methods & Algorithms for:
– Tetrahedral Meshing
– Hex Meshing
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

2 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Preprocessing Workflow

Preprocessing
Meshing
and Solution

Geometry
Import / Geometry
Creation Cleanup /
Modifications

3 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Mesh Process & Course Plan
Global
Controls
Module 3

Meshing Core Local

Methods Skills Controls
Module 2 Module 1 Module 4

Mesh
Quality
Module 5
4 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018
 Which method to choose? High aspect ratio cells Cells refined around
(Inflation) near wall to capture small geometric details
Why Multiple Methods? boundary layer gradients and complex flow

• Choice depends on:

– Physics
– Geometry
– Resources

• Mesh could require just one or a

combination of methods

Hex (3d) or Quad (2d)

cells used to mesh
simple regions
Tet (3d) or Tri (2d) cells used
here to mesh complex region

5 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
• Methods & Algorithms for
– Tetrahedral Meshing
– Hexahedral Meshing
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

6 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (1)

• Advantages of hexahedral over tetrahedral:

– Less elements = Faster solution time with better
accuracy
• Naturally anisotropic: Fewer elements required as mesh is
aligned with the physics
– Fewer elements for given number of nodes
– 3 mostly parallel sets of faces (improves solution accuracy)

However, this assumes the geometry is such that the hex mesh is
more efficient and that the structured mesh aligns to the physics

7 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (2)

• Advantages of tetrahedral over hexahedral:

– Easier to mesh more complex geometry:
• Mesh quality is often easier to achieve with tetrahedral (or poly) mesh
1 tet to 4 hex

Tet mesh can be easily

converted to hex mesh,
but if the quality is bad,
what’s the point?

• Mesh transitioning with hex mesh can be problematic

Small mesh size on holes need
to transition to larger size
elsewhere, but transitioning
hex mesh can be a problem All Hex

Choosing the proper mesh element type will improve the mesh generation efficiency
8 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018
 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (3)
Use Tet Mesh? High

Amount of decomposition required

Hex Meshable:

Hex-Meshable: Med
but requires work/trade-offs

Sweepable Low

Clean (no slivers, gaps, steps, fillets, etc.)

Complexity: Dirty (slivers, gaps, steps, fillets, etc.)

Topology cleanliness
9 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018
 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing 2 algorithms available
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
• Patch Conforming
• Methods & Algorithms for • Patch Independent
– Tetrahedral Meshing
– Hexahedral Meshing
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

10 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Patch Conforming versus Independent

11 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Tetrahedrons Methods
Patch Conforming
• Bottom up approach: Meshing process
• Edges  Faces  volume
• All faces and their boundaries are respected
(conformed to) and meshed (except with
defeaturing tolerance)
• Good for high quality (clean) CAD geometries
• CAD cleanup required for dirty geometry
• Sizing is defined by global and/or local controls
• Compatible with inflation
Patch Independent
• Top down approach: Meshing process
• Volume meshed first  projected on to faces
& edges
• Faces, edges & vertices not necessarily conformed
• Controlled by tolerance and scoping of Named
Selection, load or other object
• Good for gross de-featuring of poor quality (dirty)
CAD geometries
• Method Details contain sizing controls
• Compatible with inflation

To access it To access it
• Insert Method • Insert Method
• Set to Tetrahedrons • Set to Tetrahedrons
• Set to Patch Conforming • Set to Patch Independent

12 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Tetrahedrons Method: Control (1)

Patch Conforming - Sizing

• Mesh sizing for the Patch Conforming algorithm is
defined by Global & Local Controls
• Automatic refinement based on curvature and/or
proximity accessible in Global Controls
• Details of Global & Local Controls covered in
separate lectures

• Choice of surface
mesher algorithm
in global controls

13 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Tetrahedrons Method: Control (2)

Patch Independent - Sizing

• Sizing for the Patch Independent algorithm
defined in Patch Independent Details
Name Selec. assigned &
defeaturing Tol = 0.02
• Automatic curvature & proximity refinement Features > 0.02m
option respected

Defeaturing Control
• Set Mesh Based Defeaturing On
• Set Defeaturing Tolerance
• Assign Named Selections to selectively preserve
geometry
Defeaturing Tolerance off

14 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Tetrahedrons Method: Algorithm comparison
Patch conforming : details caputred
Patch independent : details ignored

Delaunay mesh - smooth growth rate Octree mesh . approximate growth rate

Geometry with small details

15 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing 3 methods available
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
• Sweep
• Methods & Algorithms for • Multizone
– Tetrahedral Meshing • Hex Dominant
– Hexahedral Meshing • (not recommended
for CFD)
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

16 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Hexahedral Mesh Tetra mesh - 48 000 Cells

Hex Meshing
• Reduced element count
– Reduced run time

• Elements aligned in direction of flow

– Reduced numerical error Hexa mesh - 19 000 Cells

Initial Requirements
• Clean geometry
• May require geometric decomposition

17 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Sweep Meshing (2)
Source & Target selection
Automatic
• Source & Target faces identified automatically
• Requires that the mesher find the sweeping Define the number
of intervals on the
direction side face(s)
• Manual source & Manual source and target
• User selection
• Source face colored in red
• Target face colored in blue
• Rotational Sweeping Sweep Path
 Sweep around an axis
 Requires selection of both - Source & target

Note
• Specifying both Source & Target accelerate
meshing Generation of wedges
& hex elements

18 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Sweep Meshing (3)

Source & Target selection

Automatic Thin & Manual Thin
• Alternate sweep algorithm Source
• Advantages Faces Target
 Sweep multiple Source & Target faces
 Can perform some automatic defeaturing

• Limitations
X For multibody parts only one division allowed
across the sweep
X Inflation not allowed
X Sweep bias not allowed Source Faces imprinted
on Target

19 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Sweep Meshing (4)
Sweep and Inflation
Compatibility with Src/Trg Selection
X

 Sweep Mesh - No Inflation
X
X

Use of Inflation
• Defined on source face ( NOT on target one)
• From boundary edges (2D)
• Swept through volume

Sweep Mesh with Inflation

20 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Geometry
Sweep Meshing (5)

Identifying sweepable bodies

Right mouse button
• Automatic detection of sweepable bodies
• Rotational ones are not identified

• Identification method
• Right click on mesh object
• Outline tree Sweepable bodies in
• Select : Sweepable Bodies green color

Unsweepable
Decompose
Making bodies sweepable Sweep Mesh

• Decompose bodies into multi-simple topological

shapes
• Perform decomposition in CAD/DM

21 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Multizone Meshing (1)

Mesh Method & Behavior

• Based on blocking approach (ANSYS ICEM CFD
Hexa)
• Automatically decomposes geometry into blocks
• Generates structured hexa mesh where block
topology permits
• Remaining region filled with unstructured Hexa
Core or Tetra or Hexa dominant mesh
• Src/Trg Selection
• Automatic or Manual source selection
• Multiple source faces
• Select Target faces as “Source”
• Compatible with 3D Inflation 

To access it
• Insert Method  Set to Multizone

22 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Multizone Meshing (2)

Mapped Mesh Type

Determines which elements to use
Geometry
• Hexa
• Default
• Only Hexahedral elements are generated
• Hexa/prism
• For quality and transition, triangles will be
inserted on the surface mesh (sources)
• Prism
• Only prisms will be generated
• Useful when the adjacent volume is filled in
Hexa
with tet mesh

Hexa - Prism

23 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Multizone Meshing (3)

Surface Mesh Method

Specify a method to create the surface mesh Geometry
• Uniform
• Uses a recursive loop-splitting method which
creates a highly uniform mesh
• Pave
• Creates a good quality mesh on faces with high
curvature, and also when neighboring edges
have a high aspect ratio
Pave
• Program controlled
• Combination of Uniform and Pave methods
• depends on the mesh sizes set and face Uniform
properties

24 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Multizone Meshing (4)
Sweep

2.5 D Type of Meshes

Multizone allows to have effect of global size
function on only just Source faces
• Sweep Size Behavior
• Sweep Element Size
• Allows to select a swept mesh size on sides
irrespective of Source mesh sizing
• Sweep Edges
• Allows for Edge Selection for biasing

25 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Automatic Method

Mesh Method & Behavior

• Combination of Tetrahedron Patch Conforming
and Sweep Method
• Automatically identifies sweepable bodies and
creates sweep mesh
• All non-sweepable bodies meshed using
tetrahedron Patch Conformal method

• Compatible with inflation

To access it
• Default method
• Insert method  Set to Automatic

26 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
3 methods available
• Methods & Algorithms for
• Quadrilateral Dominant
– Tetrahedral Meshing
• Triangles
– Hexahedral Meshing • Multizone Quad/Tri
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

27 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Automatic Triangles
2D Meshing Methods
Mesh Method & Behavior
• Quadrilateral Dominant & Triangles
• Patch conforming methods
• MultiZone Quad/tri
• Patch Independent Methods
• Associated with face mesh type
• All Tri
• Quad/tri MultiZone
• All Quad Quad/Tri MultiZone
Quad/Tri
With option
All Quad

• Advanced size function & local size

controls are supported

28 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 2D Meshing Controls 2D Mapped
mesh

Control
• Mapped Surface Meshes
• Local mesh controls
• Fully Mapped surface meshes
• Specified edge sizing/intervals

Inflation
• Boundary edges are inflated
• Global & local inflation controls are supported

29 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 2D Mesh Solver Guidelines

ANSYS Fluent ANSYS CFX

• For a 2D analysis in Fluent generate the mesh in • For 2D analysis in CFX, create a volume mesh
the XY plane (using Sweep)
• Z=0 • 1 element thick in the symmetry direction, i.e.,

• For axisymmetric applications y  0 and make sure • Thin Block for Planar 2D
that the domain is axisymmetric about x axis
• Thin Wedge (< 5°) for 2D Axis-symmetric
• In ANSYS Meshing, by default, a thickness is
defined for a surface body and is visible when the
view is not normal to the XY Plane.
• This is purely graphical – no thickness will be
present when the mesh is exported into the
Fluent 2D solver

30 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing
– Assembly Meshing covered separately
• Methods & Algorithms for
– Tetrahedral Meshing
– Hexahedral Meshing
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

31 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Selective Mesh (1)

What is ?
• Selectively picking bodies and meshing them incrementally

Why ?
• Bodies can be meshed individually
• Mesh seeding from meshed bodies influences neighboring bodies (user has
control)
• Automated meshing can be used at any time to mesh all remaining bodies
• When controls are added, only affected body meshes require remeshing
• Selective body updating
• Extensive mesh method interoperability

32 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Selective Mesh (2)
Meshing first the pipe then the block

Local Meshing
Clear meshes on individual bodies
Generate meshes on individual bodies
• Subsequent bodies will use the attached face
mesh
• The meshing results (cell types) will depend on the
meshing order
• Adjust/add controls – able to remesh only Meshing first the block then the pipe
affected body

• Select body(s)
• Right click

33 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Selective Mesh (3)
Example : Meshing cylinder first and then block
Recording Mesh Operations
• Use it to record the order of meshing to automate
future use
• Right click Mesh in the
Outline to access it

• A Worksheet is generated
• Record mesh operations as ordered steps
• Named Selections are automatically created for
each meshed body for reference in the Worksheet
• We can create Named Selection to define an order

34 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Selective Mesh (4)
Selective Body Updating
• Remeshing only bodies that have changed

• Access option through RMB click on Geometry 

Properties
• No: All geometry updated, all bodies remeshed.
• Associatively: Accommodates for body topology
change (add/delete) (slower)
• Non-Associatively: Assumes no topology
change (faster)

Example :
Geometric
change to block

35 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Summary

• We have studied the different Methods & Algorithms at disposal into Meshing
– Tetrahedral Meshing
• Patch Conforming (bottom up approach)
• Patch Independent (top down approach)
– Hex Meshing (best suited for CFD)
• Sweep meshing – requires a sweep direction, a source face and a target
• Multizone which handles multiple source and target faces with a sweep direction
– 2D Meshing

• Meshing Multiple Bodies

– Selective Meshing – Define the order of meshing
– Recording Meshing Order – Worksheet

36 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Workshop 2.1 CFD: Meshing Methods

37 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018

 Workshop 2.1 FEA: Meshing Methods

38 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. February 14, 2018