#1423: HyperMesh – Mesh Controls

Product: HyperMesh
Product Version: HyperMesh 14.130 or above

Topic Objective
The Mesh Controls browser allows the access of a majority of the supported meshing approaches (e.g.
size and bias, surface deviation), an additional method called “feature based,” the assignment of
meshing regions, the storage and management of meshing parameters all within a mesh controls tree.
For many applications (e.g. structural and CFD) this streamlines the preprocessing and mesh
management tasks.

Topic Detail
Mesh Controls Overview

The mesh controls are organized into a browser which can be displayed from the “Mesh” menu (Mesh
> Mesh Controls). By simply right-clicking on any of the controls the meshing methods and zones may
be defined. The figure below illustrates the creation of a local surface mesh with the edge deviation
method. Note the major meshing methods are also readily available for meshing of surfaces or
elements.

The browser may be divided into the upper and lower pane, as illustrated below. The upper pane
grants access to the meshing methods such as BatchMesher, Surface Mesh, Local - Size and Bias,
Tetra, and Region. The lower pane contains the parameters for the highlighted meshing method. By
working from this one browser a majority of the shell and solid meshing tasks may be performed.

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 Mesh Controls (Upper Pane)

Entity Editor (Lower Pane)

Mesh controls are applicable to a variety of engineering disciplines (e.g. structural, thermal, NVH,
acoustics), and one which will be highlighted here is meshing for computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Mesh controls in action

Generating a mesh for the fluid volume, used in a CFD analysis, is a good example of where Mesh
Controls can substantially reduce time navigating to several tools and ease the process of adjusting the
meshing parameters and remeshing. Furthermore, once set up, the mesh controls may be saved as a
template for any other future models.

The figure below shows the geometry of a half symmetry of a blue aircraft fuselage and yellow
surrounding fluid volume.

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From the browser a surface mesh for the model and a local surface mesh for the fluid’s far field are
created.

“Model” and “Local” Surface Mesh Controls

Their respective parameters are shown in the figures below.

Surface Mesh, Local: Far Field Surface

Surface Mesh, Model: All Surfaces

To execute the meshing simply right click on the controls folder and select “mesh.”

The baseline mesh may be generated. Adjusting of the mesh may be done by editing the minimum
element size and performing remesh.

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 Coarse Mesh

Refined Mesh

Next the volume mesh controls need to be created and assigned to their respective surfaces.

“Model” and “Local” Volume Mesh Controls

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 Volume Mesh, Local: Fluid Component

Volume Mesh, Model: All Components

The resulting volume mesh, with boundary layers, may be seen in the figure below.

This model may be exported and another iteration with differing parameters (e.g. additional layers) may
be meshed. Furthermore, each of the mesh control setups may be saved and associated with those FE
models, exported as an XML to be used for other models, and shared with colleagues.

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 Exporting mesh controls

Conclusion
By implementing HyperMesh’s Mesh Control browser, meshing tools are more accessible, organized,
oriented to an engineer’s preprocessing workflow, streamlines model iterations and fosters
collaboration. For the many other features of mesh controls (e.g. feature and region-based meshing)
please see our online resources.

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