Introduction To The ANSYS Meshing Application

Chapter 2
Introduction to the
ANSYS Meshing Application
ANSYS Meshing
Application Introduction
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary April 28, 2009

© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. 2-1 Inventory #002645
Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application
Overview Training Manual
• Introduction to the ANSYS Meshing Application

• Meshing Requirements for Different Physics
• 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

Workbench Guiding Principles Training Manual
• Parametric: Parameters drive system

• Persistent: Model updates passed through system
• Highly-automated: Baseline simulation w/limited input
• Flexible: Able to add controls to influence resulting mesh
(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 customer’s process
– CAD neutral, meshing neutral, solver neutral, etc.

What is the “ANSYS Meshing Application”? Training Manual
• ANSYS has been working to integrate “best in class”

technologies from several sources:
– ICEM CFD
– TGrid
– GAMBIT
– CFX
– ANSYS Prep/Post
– Etc.

ANSYS Meshing Application Overview Training Manual
• The objective of the ANSYS Meshing Application in

Workbench is to provide 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
• ANSYS CFX
• ANSYS FLUENT

Mesh Specification Training Manual
Purpose
– For both CFD (fluid) and FEA (solid) modelling, the software performs
the computations at a range 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 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
Considerations
• Detail:
– How much geometric detail is
relevant to the simulation physics.
– Including unnecessary detail can
greatly increase the effort required
for the simulation.
Is it necessary
to resolve this
recess?
• Refinement
– Where in the domain are the most
complex stress/flow gradients?
These areas will require higher
densities of mesh elements.
Refined mesh Extra mesh applied

around bolt-hole across fluid
boundary layer
• Efficiency
– Greater numbers of elements require more compute resource (memory /
processing time). Balance the fidelity of the simulation with available resources.

• Quality
– In areas of high geometric complexity mesh elements can become distorted. Poor
quality elements can lead to poor quality 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).
*Further information on mesh metrics is available in the documentation and training lecture appendices
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.
The ANSYS Meshing Application provides many tools to help maximise mesh quality
FEA Meshing Issues Training Manual
• Structural FEA
– Refine mesh to capture 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)

CFD Meshing Issues Training Manual
• CFD
– Refine mesh to capture gradients of concern
• E.g. Velocity, pressure, temperature, etc.
– Mesh quality and smoothness critical for
accurate results
• This leads to larger mesh 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)

Mesh Types Training Manual
• Tet Mesh and Tet/Prism hybrid

• Hex Mesh

• 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

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

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

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

• 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

ANSYS Meshing Application Workflow Training Manual
• The ANSYS Meshing Application uses a ‘divide & conquer’

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

Meshing Methods for 3D Geometry Training Manual
• There are six different meshing methods in the ANSYS

Meshing Application for 3D Geometry:
– Automatic
– Tetrahedrons
• Patch Conforming
• Patch Independent
– (ICEM CFD Tetra algorithm)
– Swept Meshing
– MultiZone
– Hex Dominant
– CFX-Mesh

Meshing Methods for 2D Geometry Training Manual
• There are four different meshing methods in the ANSYS

Meshing Platform for 2D Geometry which can be applied to
Surface Bodies or Shells:
– Automatic Method
(Quadrilateral Dominant)
– All Triangles
– Uniform Quad/Tri
– Uniform Quad

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

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
there is a load, boundary condition, or other object scoped to 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
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
Element Shapes
Prism
Hex
Allows for inflation layer (boundary
layer resolution) for CFD
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

Automatic Method Training Manual
• The Automatic setting toggles between Tetrahedral (Patch

Conforming) and Swept Meshing, depending upon whether the
body is sweepable. Bodies in the same part will have a
conformal mesh.
Swept Tetrahedron (Patch Conforming) Tetrahedron (Patch

Conforming)
No inflation Programmed Controlled Inflation

Inflation Training Manual
• Inflation is accomplished by extruding faces normal to a boundary to

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

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!

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 when a hex mesh is desired for a body that cannot be swept
– 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%)
Tet Hex 5,108 Tet (16%)
211 Prisms (1%)
7,671 pyramids (24%)
CFX-Mesh Method Training Manual
• CFX-Mesh uses a ‘loose’

integration.
– No Meshing Application
sizings are respected or Generate Volume Mesh
transferred to CFX-Mesh
– Selecting Right Mouse
‘Edit…’ on the Method
launches the CFX-Mesh
GUI.
– Define mesh
settings/controls/
inflation
– Preview & generate
volume mesh
– Commit the current
mesh model
– Return to ANSYS
Meshing
– Possible to ‘Generate
Mesh’ on a CFX-Mesh
method without opening
the application
• Uses current or default Inflation layer
settings

Workshop 2.1
Pipe Tee Mesh

Goals Training Manual
• This workshop will illustrate the use of

the Automatic Meshing Method for a
single body part
• The transfer of the mesh to

FLUENT and CFX is also demonstrated

Specifying Geometry Training Manual
1. Copy the pt.agdb file from the tutorial

files folder to your working directory
2. Start Workbench and double-click the
Mesh entry in the Component
Systems panel in the Toolbox
3. Right-click on Geometry in the Mesh
entry in the Project Schematic and
select Import Geometry/Browse
4. Browse to the pt.agdb file you
copied and click Open
5. Note that the Geometry entry in the
Project Schematic now has a green
check mark indicating that geometry
has been specified

Initial Mesh Training Manual
6. Double-click the Mesh entry in the

schematic or right-click and select Edit. This will
open the Meshing Application
7. In the Meshing Options panel set the Physics
Preference to CFD, the Mesh Method to
Automatic and press OK
8. Right click on Mesh and select Generate Mesh
9. Use the view manipulation tools and the axis
triad to inspect the mesh
Based upon choice of physics (CFD), the Meshing Application has produced a mesh
accommodating curvature, a reasonable sizing strategy and automatic selection of
optimal mesh methods with minimal user input. There are many ways in which the
Meshing Application can control and improve the mesh. Some further mesh controls will
now be demonstrated.

Named Selections Training Manual
velocity-inlet-2 velocity-inlet-1
10. Set the Selection Filter to Faces
and select one of the pipe end
faces as shown. Right-click in the
Model View and choose Create
Named Selection. Enter velocity-
inlet-1 for the Selection Name
11. Repeat for the other two pipe end
faces using the naming as shown
12. The Named Selections just pressure-outlet
created are listed in the Outline by

expanding Named Selections.
The names assigned here will be
transferred to the CFD solver so
the appropriate flow conditions
can be applied on these surfaces.
Inflation Training Manual
13. Select Mesh in the Outline and expand Inflation

in Details
14. Set Use Automatic Tet Inflation to Program
Controlled, leave other settings
15. Right click on Mesh and select Generate Mesh.
Note the inflation layers are grown from all
boundaries not assigned a Named Selection.
The thickness of the inflation layers is calculated
as a function of the surface mesh and applied
fully automatically.

Section Planes Training Manual
16. Orient the model by clicking on

After the Section Plane has been created the
the axis triad (+X Direction) Section Plane cursor tool will still be active. Left
clicking in the viewport and dragging will slide the
17. Click on the New Section Plane Section Plane along its axis.
icon in the menu bar. Left click, Clicking on either side of the Plane tool will cut
the mesh on each side respectively. Clicking
hold and drag the cursor in the twice on one side will change the view to a planar
slice.
direction of the arrow as
When the position is finalized, select a view
illustrated to create the Section manipulation tool
Plane
18. Created Section Planes are
listed (bottom left). Planes can
be individually activated using
the checkbox, deleted and
toggled between 3D element
view and 2D slice view. Try this
now (you will need to rotate the
model to see the cross-section)
Mesh Statistics Training Manual
19. If you expand the Statistics entry

under Mesh, it will summarize the
number of nodes and elements in
the mesh
20. Under Mesh Metric select
Skewness. Note the reported
mesh quality

Transferring Mesh to CFD Training Manual
21. After the mesh has been generated, you

can transfer it to a new CFD simulation
22. In the main Workbench Window, right click
on the Mesh entry in the Meshing instance
you created on the Project Schematic and
observe that you can transfer the mesh to
a new FLUENT or CFX simulation
(Transfer Data To New >). Select either
FLUENT or CFX
23. Note that the Mesh entry now has an
Update symbol, right click the Mesh entry
and select Update. This will pass data to
the new FLUENT/CFX instance.

Fluent with Workbench Mesh Training Manual
24. If FLUENT was

selected - Double
click the Setup
entry and accept
the default options
in the FLUENT
Launcher
25. FLUENT will start
with the mesh
loaded
26. Save the project
from the
Workbench File
Menu

CFX with Workbench Mesh Training Manual
27. If CFX was

selected - Double
click the Setup
entry, CFX Pre will
launch with the
mesh loaded
28. Save the project
from the
Workbench File
Menu


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Chapter 2

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary April 28, 2009

Overview Training Manual