GAMBIT

Tutorial Guide

May 2000
Licensee acknowledges that use of Fluent, Inc.’s products can only provide an imprecise
estimation of possible future performance and that additional testing and analysis,
independent of the Licensor’s products, must be conducted before any product can be
finally developed or commercially introduced. As a result, Licensee agrees that it will not
rely upon the results of any usage of Fluent, Inc.’s products in determining the final
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© 2000 by Fluent, Incorporated

All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or otherwise used in
any form without express written permission from Fluent, Incorporated.

FIDAP, FLUENT, RAMPANT, and GeoMesh are registered trademarks of Fluent, Inc.
NEKTON is a registered trademark of Nektonics Inc.
ImageMagick is © 1996 E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.
All other products or name brands are trademarks of their respective holders.

For GAMBIT Technical Support contact information, visit the Fluent, Inc. Web site at
www.fluent.com.

Fluent, Incorporated
Centerra Resource Park
10 Cavendish Court
Lebanon, NH 03766
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE .................................................... 0-1

0.1 What’s in This Guide...................................................................................... 0-1
0.2 How to Use This Guide................................................................................... 0-2
0.3 Font Conventions............................................................................................ 0-3
0.4 Using the Mouse.............................................................................................. 0-4
0.4.1 Menus and Forms................................................................................. 0-4
0.4.2 Graphics Window ................................................................................ 0-4
0.5 GUI Components ............................................................................................ 0-8
0.5.1 Graphics Window ................................................................................ 0-9
0.5.2 Main Menu Bar .................................................................................... 0-9
0.5.3 Operation Toolpad ............................................................................... 0-9
0.5.4 Form Field.......................................................................................... 0-11
0.5.5 Global Control Toolpad ..................................................................... 0-12
0.5.6 Description Window .......................................................................... 0-12
0.5.7 Transcript Window and Command Text Box .................................... 0-12
1. CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY ....................... 1-1
1.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 1-1
1.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 1-2
1.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 1-3
1.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 1-4
1.4.1 Create a Brick....................................................................................... 1-5
1.4.2 Create an Elliptical Cylinder ................................................................ 1-8
1.4.3 Unite the Two Volumes ..................................................................... 1-10
1.4.4 Manipulate the Display ...................................................................... 1-12
1.4.5 Mesh the Volume ............................................................................... 1-14
1.4.6 Examine the Mesh.............................................................................. 1-16
1.4.7 Save the Session and Exit GAMBIT.................................................. 1-19
1.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 1-20
2. MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)........................................... 2-1
2.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 2-1
2.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 2-2
2.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 2-3
2.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 2-4
2.4.1 Select a Solver...................................................................................... 2-4
2.4.2 Create the Initial Vertices..................................................................... 2-5
2.4.3 Create Arcs for the Bend of the Mixing Elbow ................................... 2-9
2.4.4 Create Straight Edges ......................................................................... 2-12
2.4.5 Create the Small Pipe for the Mixing Elbow ..................................... 2-14
2.4.6 Create Faces From Edges................................................................... 2-21

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Table of Contents

2.4.7 Specify the Node Distribution............................................................ 2-24

2.4.8 Create Structured Meshes on Faces ................................................... 2-32
2.4.9 Set Boundary Types ........................................................................... 2-35
2.4.10 Export the Mesh and Save the Session ............................................ 2-39
2.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 2-40
3. MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) ................... 3-1
3.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 3-1
3.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 3-2
3.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 3-3
3.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 3-5
3.4.1 Select a Solver...................................................................................... 3-5
3.4.2 Create the Geometry............................................................................. 3-5
3.4.3 Decompose the Geometry .................................................................... 3-9
3.4.4 Journal Files ....................................................................................... 3-17
3.4.5 Turn Off Automatic Smoothing of the Mesh..................................... 3-20
3.4.6 Apply Boundary Layers at Walls ....................................................... 3-22
3.4.7 Mesh the Sphere Octant Volume ....................................................... 3-25
3.4.8 Mesh the Pipe Volumes ..................................................................... 3-27
3.4.9 Examine the Quality of the Mesh....................................................... 3-37
3.4.10 Set Boundary Types ......................................................................... 3-40
3.4.11 Export the Mesh and Save the Session ............................................ 3-44
3.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 3-45
4. MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) ......................... 4-1
4.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 4-1
4.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 4-2
4.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 4-3
4.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 4-5
4.4.1 Select a Solver...................................................................................... 4-5
4.4.2 Set the Default Interval Size for Meshing............................................ 4-5
4.4.3 Create Two Cylinders .......................................................................... 4-8
4.4.4 Subtract the Small Cylinder From the Large Cylinder....................... 4-12
4.4.5 Shade and Rotate the Display ............................................................ 4-14
4.4.6 Remove Three Quarters of the Cylindrical Volume........................... 4-15
4.4.7 Create the Chamber of the Burner ..................................................... 4-18
4.4.8 Blend the Edges of the Chamber........................................................ 4-20
4.4.9 Geometry Decomposition................................................................... 4-23
4.4.10 Generate an Unstructured Hexahedral Mesh ................................... 4-35
4.4.11 Examine the Quality of the Mesh..................................................... 4-46
4.4.12 Set Boundary Types ......................................................................... 4-49
4.4.13 Export the Mesh and Save the Session ............................................ 4-54
4.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 4-55

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 Table of Contents

5. IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY........... 5-1

5.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 5-1
5.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 5-2
5.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 5-3
5.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 5-4
5.4.1 Select a Solver...................................................................................... 5-4
5.4.2 Import the IGES File for the Sedan Body............................................ 5-5
5.4.3 Eliminate Very Short Edges ................................................................. 5-8
5.4.4 Automatically Connect All Remaining "Duplicate" Edges................ 5-12
5.4.5 Merge Faces ....................................................................................... 5-17
5.4.6 Mesh Faces on Car Body ................................................................... 5-22
5.4.7 Create a Brick Around the Car Body ................................................. 5-25
5.4.8 Remove Unwanted Geometry ............................................................ 5-28
5.4.9 Create Straight Edges on the Symmetry Plane ................................... 5-29
5.4.10 Create Faces on the Symmetry Plane ............................................... 5-33
5.4.11 Create a Volume............................................................................... 5-38
5.4.12 Mesh the Edges ................................................................................ 5-40
5.4.13 Mesh the Volume ............................................................................. 5-45
5.4.14 Examine the Volume Mesh .............................................................. 5-47
5.4.15 Set Boundary Types ......................................................................... 5-50
5.4.16 Export the Mesh and Save the Session ............................................ 5-56
5.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 5-57
6. MODELING FLOW IN A TANK ...................................................... 6-1
6.1 Prerequisites.................................................................................................... 6-1
6.2 Problem Description....................................................................................... 6-2
6.3 Strategy............................................................................................................ 6-3
6.4 Procedure ........................................................................................................ 6-5
6.4.1 Select a Solver...................................................................................... 6-5
6.4.2 Set the Default Interval Size for Meshing............................................ 6-5
6.4.3 Create Cylinders................................................................................... 6-7
6.4.4 Complete the Geometry Creation....................................................... 6-11
6.4.5 Decompose the Geometry .................................................................. 6-15
6.4.6 Unite Some Parts of the Geometry..................................................... 6-21
6.4.7 Subtract the Remaining Parts of the Symmetry Plane........................ 6-24
6.4.8 Split off Annulus Pipe to Make the Volumes Meshable.................... 6-29
6.4.9 Unite the Side Pipe............................................................................. 6-38
6.4.10 Mesh the Edges ................................................................................ 6-40
6.4.11 Apply Boundary Layers ................................................................... 6-43
6.4.12 Turn Off Automatic Smoothing of the Mesh................................... 6-47
6.4.13 Mesh One of the Volumes ............................................................... 6-50
6.4.14 Mesh Some Faces............................................................................. 6-53
6.4.15 Modify Mesh Settings on Some Faces............................................. 6-58

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6.4.16 Mesh the Volumes ........................................................................... 6-61

6.4.17 Examine the Volume Mesh .............................................................. 6-65
6.4.18 Set Zone Types and Export the Mesh .............................................. 6-66
6.5 Summary ....................................................................................................... 6-70

vi
USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE What’s in This Guide

0. USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

0.1 What’s in This Guide

This guide contains step-by-step examples that teach you how to use GAMBIT to create
and mesh various geometries. Each example illustrates at least one new concept with
respect to GAMBIT geometry creation and mesh generation.
Tutorial 1 includes explicit instructions for all steps in the geometry creation, mesh gen-
eration, and examination of a completed mesh. Its purpose is to introduce the beginning
user to several basic features and operations that are available in GAMBIT. The
remaining tutorials are designed for the user who has read or worked through Tutorial 1
or who is already familiar with GAMBIT. Consequently, they are not as explicit in their
instructions as is Tutorial 1.
Tutorial 5 illustrates how to import geometry into GAMBIT from an existing file. The file
that contains the geometry to be imported is located in the directory where GAMBIT is
installed. (This file is included on your installation tape or CD.)

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-1

How to Use This Guide USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

0.2 How to Use This Guide

If you are new to GAMBIT, you should first work through Tutorial 1 in order to famil-
iarize yourself with the GAMBIT graphical user interface (GUI) and with basic geometry
creation and meshing procedures. You may then want to try a tutorial that demonstrates
features that you are going to use in your application. For example, if you are planning to
start from an existing geometry that requires some cleanup, you should look at Tutorial 5.
Each tutorial demonstrates different GAMBIT features, so it is recommended that you do
each tutorial in order to get the full benefit from this Tutorial Guide.
Note that Step 1 in Tutorials 2 through 6 requires you to select the solver to be used for
the CFD calculation. In many cases, you could select a different solver than the one used
in the tutorial. The solver selection is included in the tutorials to demonstrate the process
of selecting a solver. It also illustrates that the choice of solver dictates the options avail-
able in various forms (for example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary
Types form).

0-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE Font Conventions

0.3 Font Conventions

The following font conventions are used throughout this manual to represent user input
data, the titles of forms and command buttons, options, and the names of modeling
objects.

Font Description Example(s)

Courier Command line arguments, volume create sphere

file names, and other user GAMBIT.ini
input from the keyboard

Arial Narrow, Bold Titles of buttons, Model

selectors, fields, and Volume
forms as they appear in Vertex
the graphical user
interface

Arial Narrow Titles of options and Interval size

commands Lower topology

Arial Narrow, Italic Names of GAMBIT edge.1

topological entities and vertex.3
coordinate systems

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-3

Using the Mouse USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

0.4 Using the Mouse

The GAMBIT GUI is designed for use with a three-button mouse. The function associ-
ated with each mouse button varies according to whether the mouse is operating on menus
and forms, or in the graphics window. Some graphics-window mouse operations involve
keyboard keys in conjunction with the mouse.

0.4.1 Menus and Forms

Mouse operations for GAMBIT menus and forms require only the left and right mouse
buttons and do not involve any keyboard key operations. Most of the mouse operations
performed on GAMBIT GUI menus and forms require only the left mouse button. The
right mouse button is used to open menus related to command buttons on the toolpads. On
some forms that include a text window, the right mouse button opens a hidden menu of
options such as that described in “Using a Pick List Form” in Section 3.2.8 of the
GAMBIT User’s Guide.

0.4.2 Graphics Window

There are three general types of GAMBIT GUI graphics-window mouse operations:
• Display
• Task
• Vertex creation
Display operations allow you to directly manipulate the appearance of the model in any of
the enabled graphics-window quadrants. Task operations allow you to specify topological
entities and to execute geometry and meshing operations. The vertex creation operation
allows you to create vertices on any displayed coordinate-system grid. (For further infor-
mation on these operations, see Section 3.3.2 of the GAMBIT User’s Guide.)

0-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE Using the Mouse

Display Operations
GAMBIT graphics-window display operations employ all three mouse buttons as well as
the Ctrl keyboard key.

Keyboard Key/ Mouse Mouse Motion Description

Button

Left-click Left-drag the cursor in any Rotates the model

direction.

Middle-click Middle-drag the cursor in Translates the model

any direction.

Right-click Right-drag the cursor Zooms the model in or out

vertically.

Right-click Right-drag the cursor Rotates the view of the model

horizontally. about the center of the graphics
window

Ctrl-left-click Left-drag the cursor Enlarges the model, retaining the

diagonally. model proportions. When you
release the mouse button,
GAMBIT enlarges the display

Double-middle-click Displays the model as shown

immediately before the current
view

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-5

Using the Mouse USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

Task Operations
GAMBIT graphics window task operations employ all three mouse buttons in conjunction
with the Shift key to allow you to pick entities and to execute actions related to GAMBIT
forms. There are two types of task operations:
• Picking entities
• Executing actions

Picking Entities
Many GAMBIT modeling and meshing operations require you to specify one or more
entities to which the operation applies. There are two ways to specify an entity for a
GAMBIT operation:
• Input the entity name in the appropriate list box on the specification form or select
it from the appropriate pick list.
• Use the mouse to “pick” the entity from the model as displayed in the graphics
window.
When you use the mouse to pick an entity from the model that is displayed in the graphics
window, GAMBIT inserts the entity name in the currently-active pick list as if you had
specified its name on the currently-open specification form.
There are two different types of GAMBIT entity-picking operations, each of which
involves the Shift key. Throughout the Tutorial Guide, you will see expressions such as
Shift-left-click; this indicates that you should press and hold the Shift key while clicking
the left mouse button. The two entity picking operations are as follows:

Operation Description

Shift-left-click Highlights the entity in the graphics window and includes it in

the currently active pick list.

Shift-middle-click Toggles between adjoining multiple entities of a given type.

To select a group of objects, Shift-left-drag a box around the objects. The box does not
have to completely enclose the objects; it only needs to be enclosing parts of them.

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USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE Using the Mouse

Executing Actions
When you Shift-right-click the mouse in the graphics window, GAMBIT accepts the
selection of an entity and moves the focus to the next pick list in the form. If the current
pick list is the last one in the form, Shift-right-click executes the operation associated with
the currently open form. In this case, the Shift-right-click operation is equivalent to the act
of clicking Apply on the bottom of the form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-7

GUI Components USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

0.5 GUI Components

GAMBIT allows you to construct and mesh models by means of its graphical user inter-
face (GUI), which is designed to be mouse-driven. The GAMBIT GUI (Figure 0-1)
consists of eight components, each of which serves a separate purpose with respect to the
creating and meshing of a model. The following sections briefly describe the GUI com-
ponents.
Operation
Main menu bar toolpad

Geometry
subpad

Graphics
window

Transcript
window

Command Description
text box window Global Control
toolpad
Figure 0-1: The GAMBIT GUI

0-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE GUI Components

0.5.1 Graphics Window

The graphics window is the region of the GUI in which the model is displayed. It is
located in the upper left portion of the GUI and occupies most of the screen in the default
layout. Chapter 3 of the GAMBIT User’s Guide presents a more detailed description of
the graphics window.

0.5.2 Main Menu Bar

The main menu bar is located at the top of the GUI, directly above the graphics window.
It contains four menu items. Each of the items is associated with its own menu of
commands that allow you to perform various GAMBIT operations. To open the menu
associated with any item, left-click the item name (for example, File).
Chapter 4 of the GAMBIT User’s Guide presents detailed descriptions of the menu items,
as well as the commands available on each associated menu.

0.5.3 Operation Toolpad

The Operation toolpad is located in the upper right portion of the GUI. It consists of a
field of command buttons, each of which performs a specific function associated with the
process of creating and meshing a model.
Within the Operation toolpad, command buttons are grouped according to their hierarchy
and purpose in the overall scheme of creating and meshing the model. The topmost group
constitutes the main pad. All other command button groups constitute subpads.

Subpads
When you click a main-pad command button, GAMBIT opens an associated subpad. For
example, if you click the GEOMETRY command button on the main pad, GAMBIT opens
the Geometry subpad.
Each subpad contains command buttons that perform operations related to the overall
purpose of the subpad. For example, the Geometry subpad contains command buttons that
allow you to perform operations related to the creation and refinement of model geometry.
Some of the command buttons located on subpads open related subpads of their own. For
example, when you click the VOLUME command button on the Geometry subpad,
GAMBIT opens the Geometry/Volume subpad.
Each command button on the Geometry/Volume subpad is associated with a specification
form that allows you to specify parameters related to the function indicated on the button.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-9

GUI Components USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

Toolpad Command Buttons

Toolpad command buttons allow you to execute program commands related to building,
meshing, or viewing the model and working with the GUI. Some toolpad command
buttons cause a direct action to occur; others open specification forms.
All toolpad command buttons contain symbols representing their functions. Buttons that
perform more than one function (multifunction command buttons) contain small, down-
ward-pointing arrowheads in their lower left corners.
For complete descriptions of the GAMBIT GUI toolpad and command buttons, see
Chapter 3 of the GAMBIT User’s Guide.

Tutorial Convention—Toolpad Command Buttons

GAMBIT geometry and meshing procedures operate by means of specification forms.
Each specification form is associated with a unique combination of GAMBIT toolpad
command buttons.
This tutorial guide employs the following convention to indicate the command button
combination associated with any specification form:
L1 → L2 → L3
where L1 represents the main-pad command button, and L2 and L3 represent the second-
and third-level subpad command buttons, respectively. For example, the command button
combination associated with the Create Real Brick form is as follows:

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

Note that the toolpad choices are indicated in two ways:
• The name of the command button that appears in the Description window of
the GAMBIT GUI
• A picture of the command button
When you see this kind of flow chart in a tutorial, you should left-click the command
buttons in the order shown so that they appear depressed. A command button has a black
border on its top and left-hand side when it is depressed. The GEOMETRY command

button at the top of the Operation toolpad in Figure 0-1 is an example of a

depressed button. The black border is on the bottom and right-hand side when the button

is not depressed; see the MESH command button in Figure 0-1. Note that if a button

0-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE GUI Components

is already depressed, you need not click that button again. In fact, clicking a selected
button will deselect it.
Toolpad choices that require pressing the right mouse button are indicated by an R to the
right of the corresponding command button icon, followed by the icon to select from the

list of available functions. For example, R indicates that you should

right-click the CREATE VOLUME command button , then choose the CREATE REAL

CYLINDER option from the resulting list. CREATE REAL CYLINDER is the
text that is written in the Description window when you hold the mouse cursor over the

menu item.
0.5.4 Form Field
When you click any subpad command button (except UNDO), GAMBIT opens an associ-
ated specification form. Specification forms, such as that shown in Figure 0-2, allow you
to specify parameters related to modeling and meshing operations, the assignment of
boundary attributes, and the creation and manipulation of GAMBIT coordinate systems
and grids.

Figure 0-2: Example GAMBIT specification form

When you open a specification form, it appears in the form field. The form field is located
at the right side of the GUI, immediately below the Operation toolpad.
Text boxes allow you to input alphanumeric data. They are located on forms and appear as
white, indented rectangles (for example, the Width text box in Figure 0-2). The title of any
text box appears immediately to its left. To enter data by means of a text box, left-click in
the box to enable it for user input, and then input the data from the keyboard.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 0-11

GUI Components USING THIS TUTORIAL GUIDE

0.5.5 Global Control Toolpad

The Global Control toolpad is located at the lower right corner of the GUI. Its purpose is
to allow you to control the layout and operation of the graphics window as well as the
appearance of the model as displayed in any particular quadrant. Section 3.4 of the
GAMBIT User’s Guide describes the function and use of each button on the Global
Control toolpad.

0.5.6 Description Window

The Description window is located at the bottom of the GUI, immediately to the left of the
Global Control toolpad. The purpose of the Description window is to display messages
describing the various GUI components, including sashes, fields, windows, and command
buttons.
Messages displayed in the Description window describe the component of the GUI corre-
sponding to the current location of the mouse pointer. As you move the mouse pointer
across the screen, GAMBIT updates the Description window message to reflect the
change in the location of the pointer.

0.5.7 Transcript Window and Command Text Box

The Transcript window is located in the lower left portion of the GUI. The Command text
box is located immediately below the Transcript window.
The purpose of the Transcript window is to display a log of commands executed and
messages displayed by GAMBIT during the current modeling session. The Command text
box allows you to perform GAMBIT modeling and meshing operations by means of
direct keyboard input, rather than by means of mouse operations on the GUI. See the
GAMBIT Command Reference Guide for more details.

0-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

1. CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

This tutorial illustrates geometry creation and mesh generation for a simple geometry
using GAMBIT.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Start GAMBIT
• Use the Operation toolpad
• Create a brick and an elliptical cylinder
• Unite two volumes
• Manipulate the display of your model
• Mesh a volume
• Examine the quality of the mesh
• Save the session and exit GAMBIT

1.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have no prior experience of working with GAMBIT. You
should, however, read Chapter 0, “Using This Tutorial Guide,” to familiarize yourself
with the GAMBIT interface and with conventions used in the tutorial instructions.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-1

Problem Description CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

1.2 Problem Description

The model consists of an intersecting brick and elliptical cylinder. The basic geometry is
shown schematically in Figure 1-1.

10

12

6 6

10

10

Figure 1-1: Problem specification

1-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Strategy

1.3 Strategy
This first tutorial illustrates some of the basic operations for generating a mesh using
GAMBIT. In particular, it demonstrates:
• How to build the geometry easily using the “top-down” solid modeling approach
• How to create a hexahedral mesh automatically

The “top-down” approach means that you will construct the geometry by creating
volumes (bricks, cylinders, etc.) and then manipulating them through Boolean operations
(unite, subtract, etc.). In this way, you can quickly build complicated shapes without first
creating the underlying vertices, edges, and faces.
Once you have built a valid geometry model, you can directly and (in many cases) auto-
matically create the mesh. In this example, the Cooper meshing algorithm is used to auto-
matically create an unstructured, hexahedral mesh. More complicated geometries may
require some manual decomposition before you can create the mesh; this is demonstrated
in subsequent tutorials.
The steps you will follow in this tutorial are listed below:
• Create two volumes (a brick and an elliptical cylinder).
• Unite the two volumes.
• Automatically generate the mesh.
• Examine the quality of the resulting mesh.

To keep this introductory tutorial short and simple, certain steps that you would normally
follow have been omitted:
• Adjusting the distribution of nodes on individual edges of the geometry
• Setting continuum types (for example, identifying which mesh zones are fluid and
which are solid) and boundary types

These details, as well as others, are covered in subsequent tutorials.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-3

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

1.4 Procedure
Type
gambit -id basgeom
to start GAMBIT.

This opens the GAMBIT graphical user interface (GUI). (See Figure 1-2.)
GAMBIT uses the name you specify (in this example, basgeom) as a prefix to all
files it creates: for example, basgeom.jou.

Figure 1-2: The GAMBIT graphical user interface (GUI)

1-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 1: Create a Brick

1. Create a brick by doing the following:

a) In the Operation toolpad (located in the top right corner of the GAMBIT GUI),

select the GEOMETRY command button by clicking on it with the left mouse
button. If the Geometry subpad does not appear when you select the GEOMETRY
command button, click it again.

The name of a command button is displayed in the Description window at the

bottom of the GAMBIT GUI when you hold the mouse cursor over the
command button. The GEOMETRY command button will appear depressed
when it is selected. Selecting the GEOMETRY command button opens the
Geometry subpad. Note that when you first start GAMBIT, the GEOMETRY
command button is selected by default.

b) Use the left mouse button to select the VOLUME command button in the
Geometry subpad.

Again, this command button will be depressed when selected. Selecting this
command button opens the Geometry/Volume subpad.

c) Use the left mouse button to select the CREATE VOLUME command button
in the Geometry/Volume subpad.

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-5

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

The above description of selecting command buttons can be shortened to the following:

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

The selection of the command buttons will be represented using this method for the
remainder of this tutorial, and in all subsequent tutorials.

d) Left-click in the text entry box to the right of Width in the Create Real Brick form,
and enter a value of 10 for the Width of the brick.

e) Use the Tab key on the keyboard to move to the Depth text entry box, and enter 6
for the Depth of the brick.

The text entry box for Height can be left blank; GAMBIT will set this value to
be the same value as the Width by default.

f) Select Centered from the option menu to the right of Direction.

i) Hold down the left mouse button on the option button to the right of Direction
until the option menu appears.

ii) Select Centered from the list.

g) Click Apply.

A message appears in the Transcript window at the bottom left of the GAMBIT
GUI to indicate that a volume, called volume.1, was created. The volume will
be visible in the graphics window, as shown in Figure 1-3.

If you make a mistake at any point in the geometry creation process, you can

use the UNDO command button to undo multiple levels of geometry

creation. At this point, you have only performed one operation, so you can
only undo one operation.

1-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 1-3: Rectangular brick volume (side view)

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-7

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

Step 2: Create an Elliptical Cylinder

1. Create an elliptical cylinder.

a) Hold down the right mouse button while the cursor is on the CREATE VOLUME

command button.

b) Select the CREATE REAL CYLINDER option from the resulting

menu.

! CREATE REAL CYLINDER is the text that is written in the Description window

when you hold the mouse cursor over the menu item.

This opens the Create Real Cylinder form.

The above method of selecting command buttons can be shortened to the following:

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

where R indicates a toolpad choice using the right mouse button.

c) Enter a Height of 10.

d) Enter a value of 3 for Radius 1.

e) Enter a value of 6 for Radius 2.

1-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

f) Retain the default Axis Location of Positive Z.

g) Click Apply.

The brick and elliptical cylinder are shown in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4: Brick and elliptical cylinder

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-9

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

Step 3: Unite the Two Volumes

1. Unite the brick and elliptical cylinder into one volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS

This opens the Unite Real Volumes form.

Notice that the Volumes list box is yellow in the Unite Real Volumes form at
this point. The yellow color indicates that this is the active field in the form,
and any volume selected will be entered into this box on the form.

a) Hold down the Shift key on the keyboard and select the brick by clicking on one of
its edges in the graphics window using the left mouse button.

! The Shift key must always be held down when selecting entities in the graph-
ics window using the left mouse button. This operation will be referred to as
Shift-left-click in all further steps.

The brick will appear red in the graphics window and its name (volume.1) will
appear in the Volumes list box in the Unite Real Volumes form.

b) Shift-left-click the elliptical cylinder in the graphics window.

c) Click Apply to accept the selection and unite the elliptical cylinder and brick.

! Alternatively, you could continue to hold down the Shift key and click the
right mouse button in the graphics window to accept the selection of the
volumes. This method allows you to rapidly accept selections and apply
operations with minimal movement of the mouse.

! The Shift key must always be held down when clicking the right-mouse button
to accept the selection of entities in the graphics window. This operation is
referred to as Shift-right-click.

1-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

The volume is shown in Figure 1-5. You can rotate the display (as shown in
Figure 1-5) by holding down the left mouse button in the graphics window and
moving the mouse to the left. More information on manipulating the graphics
display is given in the next step.

Figure 1-5: Brick and elliptical cylinder united into one volume

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-11

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

Step 4: Manipulate the Display

1. Zoom out from the current view by holding down the right mouse button in the
graphics window and pushing the mouse away from you.

2. Rotate the view around the screen center by holding down the right mouse button and
moving the mouse from side to side.

3. Rotate the view in free-form mode by holding down the left mouse button and moving
the mouse.

4. Translate the display by holding down the middle mouse button and moving the
mouse.

5. Divide the graphics window into four quadrants by clicking the SELECT PRESET

CONFIGURATION command button in the Global Control toolpad.

GAMBIT divides the graphics window into four quadrants and applies a dif-
ferent orientation to the model in each of the four quadrants. Each view of the
graphics window can be manipulated independently. All changes to the model
appear in all portions of the graphics window, unless you disable one or more
quadrants.

1-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 1-6: GAMBIT GUI—four graphics-window quadrants

6. Restore a single display of the model.

a) Use the left mouse button to select the graphics-window “sash anchor”—the small
gray box in the center of the graphics window.

b) Use the mouse to drag the sash anchor to the bottom right corner of the graphics
window.

7. Restore the front view of the model by left-clicking the ORIENT MODEL
command button in the Global Control toolpad.

8. Scale the model to fit the graphics window by clicking the FIT TO WINDOW
command button in the Global Control toolpad.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-13

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

Step 5: Mesh the Volume

1. Create a mesh for the volume.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

a) Shift-left-click the volume in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically choose the Cooper Scheme Type as the meshing
tool to be used, and will use an Interval size of 1 (the default) under Spacing.
See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide, Chapter 3 for details about the Cooper
meshing tool.

b) Click Apply at the bottom of the Mesh Volumes form.

This accepts the volume you selected as the one to be meshed. It also accepts
the source faces (the faces whose surface meshes are to be swept through the
volume to form volume elements) that GAMBIT has chosen for the Cooper
meshing scheme and starts the meshing. A status bar appears at the top of the
GAMBIT GUI to indicate how much of the meshing is complete.

The volume will be meshed as shown in Figure 1-7.

1-14 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 1-7: Meshed volume

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-15

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

Step 6: Examine the Mesh

It is important that you check the quality of the resulting mesh, because properties
such as skewness can greatly affect the accuracy and robustness of the CFD solu-
tion. GAMBIT provides several quality measures (sometimes called “metrics”)
with which you can assess the quality of your mesh. In the case of skewness meas-
ures such as EquiAngle Deviation and EquiVolume Deviation, for example, smaller
values are more desirable. It is also important to verify that all of the elements in
your mesh have positive area/volume. You should consult the documentation for
the target CFD solver for additional mesh quality guidelines.

1. Select the EXAMINE MESH command button at the bottom right of the Global
Control toolpad.

This opens the Examine Mesh form.

1-16 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

a) Select Range under Display Type at the top of the Examine Mesh form.

A histogram appears at the bottom of the form. The histogram consists of a

bar chart representing the statistical distribution of mesh elements with
respect to the specified Quality Type. Each vertical bar on the histogram cor-
responds to a unique set of upper and lower quality limits.

The 3D Element type selected by default at the top of the form is a brick .

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-17

Procedure CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY

b) Select EquiAngle Skew from the Quality Type option menu.

c) Click on one of the green vertical bars in the histogram to view elements within a
certain quality range.

Each element has a value of skewness between 0 and 1, where 0 represents an

ideal element. The histogram is divided into 10 bars; each bar represents a
0.1 increment in the skewness value. For a good mesh, the bars on the left of
the histogram will be large and those on the right will be small.

Figure 1-8 shows the view in the graphics window if you click on the fifth bar
from the left on the histogram (representing cells with a skewness value
between 0.4 and 0.5).

Figure 1-8: Elements of the mesh within a specified quality range

d) Move the Upper and Lower slider boxes beneath the histogram to redefine the
quality range to be displayed.

1-18 © Fluent Inc., May-00

CREATING AND MESHING BASIC GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 7: Save the Session and Exit GAMBIT

1. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT.

File → Exit

GAMBIT will ask you whether you wish to save the current session before you
exit.

Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 1-19

Summary CREATING AND MESHING A MODEL

1.5 Summary
This tutorial provided a quick introduction to GAMBIT by demonstrating how to create a
simple 3-D geometry using the “top-down” modeling approach. The Cooper scheme was
used to automatically generate an unstructured, hexahedral mesh. For more information
on the Cooper scheme, consult the GAMBIT Modeling Guide.

1-20 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

2. MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

In this tutorial, you will use GAMBIT to create the geometry for a mixing elbow and then
generate a mesh. The mixing elbow configuration is encountered in piping systems in
power plants and process industries. It is often important to predict the flow field and
temperature field in the neighborhood of the mixing region in order to properly design the
location of inlet pipes.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Create vertices using a grid system
• Create arcs by selecting the center of curvature and the endpoints of the arc
• Create straight edges between vertices
• Split an arc using a vertex point
• Create faces from edges
• Specify the distribution of nodes on an edge
• Create structured meshes on faces
• Set boundary types
• Prepare the mesh to be read into FLUENT 4
• Export a mesh

2.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have worked through Tutorial 1 and you are consequently
familiar with the GAMBIT interface.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-1

Problem Description MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

2.2 Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 2-1. A cold fluid enters
through the large pipe and a warmer fluid enters through the small pipe. The two fluids
mix in the elbow.

32

39.93°

16

V1
T1
16

4
32 12

V2
T2

Figure 2-1: Problem specification

2-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Strategy

2.3 Strategy
In this tutorial, you will build a 2-D mesh using a “bottom-up” approach (in contrast to
the “top-down” approach used in Tutorial 1). The “bottom-up” approach means that you
will first create some vertices, connect the vertices to create edges, and connect the edges
to make faces (in 3-D, you would stitch the faces together to create volumes). While this
process by its very nature requires more steps, the result is, just as in Tutorial 1, a valid
geometry that can be used to generate the mesh.
The mesh created in this tutorial is intended for use in FLUENT 4, so it must be a single
block, structured mesh. However, this mesh can also be used in any of the other Fluent
solvers. This type of mesh is sometimes called a mapped mesh, because each grid point
has a unique I, J, K index. In order to meet this criterion, certain additional steps must be
performed in GAMBIT and are illustrated in this tutorial. After creating the straight edges
and arcs that comprise the geometry, you will create two faces: one for the main flow
passage (the elbow) and one for the smaller inlet duct. The mesh is generated for the
larger face using the Map scheme; this requires that the number of grid nodes be equal on
opposite edges of the face. You will force GAMBIT to use the Map scheme to mesh the
smaller face as well.
Several other features are also demonstrated in this tutorial:
• Using a background grid and “snap-to-grid” to quickly create a set of vertices.
• Using “pick lists” as an alternative to mouse clicks for picking entities.
• Specifying a non-uniform distribution of nodes on an edge.
• Setting boundary types.
• Exporting a mesh for a particular Fluent solver (FLUENT 4 in this case).

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-3

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

2.4 Procedure
Start GAMBIT.

Step 1: Select a Solver

1. Choose the solver you will use to run your CFD calculation by selecting the following
from the main menu bar:

Solver → FLUENT 4

This selects the FLUENT 4 solver as the one to be used for the CFD calculation.
The choice of a solver dictates the options available in various forms (for
example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary Types form).
The solver currently selected is indicated at the top of the GAMBIT GUI.

2-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Step 2: Create the Initial Vertices

1. Create vertices to define the outline of the large pipe of the mixing elbow.

TOOLS → COORDINATE SYSTEM → DISPLAY GRID

This opens the Display Grid form.

a) Check that Visibility is selected.

This ensures that the background grid will be visible when it is created.

b) Select X (the default) to the right of Axis.

c) Enter a Minimum value of –32, a Maximum value of 32, and an Increment of 16.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-5

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

d) Click the Update list button.

This creates a background grid with four cells in the x direction and
enters the x coordinates in the XY_plane X Values list.

e) Select Y to the right of Axis.

f) Enter a Minimum value of –32, a Maximum value of 32, and an Increment of 16.

g) Click the Update list button.

This creates a background grid with four cells in the y direction and
enters the y coordinates in the XY_plane Y Values list.

h) Check that Snap is selected under Options.

The vertices you create later in this step will be “snapped” to points on
the grid where the grid lines intersect.

i) Select Lines (the default) to the right of Grid.

The grid will be displayed using lines rather than points.

j) Click Apply.

GAMBIT will draw a 4x4 grid in the graphics window as shown in

Figure 2-2. You will need to click the FIT TO WINDOW command
button at the top left of the Global Control toolpad to see the whole grid.
You may need to move the Display Grid form in order to access the
Global Control toolpad.

2-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Figure 2-2: 4™4 grid to be used for creating vertices

k) Ctrl-right-click the nine grid points shown in Figure 2-3.

“Ctrl-right-click” indicates that you should hold down the Ctrl key on
the keyboard and click on the point at which the vertex is to be created
using the right mouse button.

You can use the UNDO command button if you create any of the
vertices incorrectly.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-7

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

H I

E F G

C D

A B

Figure 2-3: Create vertices at grid points

l) Deselect the Visibility check box in the Display Grid form and click Apply.

The grid will be removed from the graphics window and you will be
able to clearly see the nine vertices created, as shown in Figure 2-4.

Figure 2-4: Vertices for the main pipe

2-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Step 3: Create Arcs for the Bend of the Mixing Elbow

1. Create an arc by selecting the following command buttons in order:

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE R

This opens the Create Real Circular Arc form.

a) Retain the default Method.

Notice that the Center list box is yellow in the Create Real Circular Arc
form at this point. The yellow color indicates that this is the active field
in the form, and any vertex selected will be entered into this box on the
form.

b) Shift-left-click the vertex in the center of the graphics window (vertex E in Figure
2-5).

The selected vertex will appear red in the graphics window and its
name will appear in the Center list box under Vertices in the form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-9

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

E F G

Figure 2-5: Vertices used to create arcs

c) Left-click in the list box to the right of End-Points to accept the selection of vertex
E and make the End-Points list box active.

! Alternatively, you could continue to hold down the Shift key and click
the right mouse button in the graphics window to accept the selection
of the vertex and move the focus to the End-Points list box.

Note that the End-Points list box is now yellow—that is, this is now the
active list box, and any vertex selected will be entered in this box.

d) Shift-left-click the vertex to the right of the center vertex in the graphics window
(vertex F in Figure 2-5).

The vertex will turn red.

e) Select the vertex directly below the one in the center of the graphics window
(vertex D in Figure 2-5).

f) Click Apply to accept the selected vertices and create the arc.

2-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

2. Repeat the above steps to create a second arc. The center of the arc is the vertex in the
center of the graphics window (vertex E in Figure 2-5). The endpoints of the arc are
the vertices to the right and below the center vertex that have not yet been selected
(vertices G and B, respectively, in Figure 2-5). The arcs are shown in Figure 2-6.

Figure 2-6: Vertices and arcs

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-11

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Step 4: Create Straight Edges

1. Create straight edges for the large pipe.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE R

This opens the Create Straight Edge form.

a) Shift-left-click the left endpoint of the smaller arc (vertex D in Figure 2-7).

H I

F G

C D

A B

Figure 2-7: Vertices used to create straight edges

b) Shift-left-click the vertices marked C, A, and B in Figure 2-7, in order.

2-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

c) Click Apply to accept the selection of the vertices.

Three straight edges are drawn between the vertices.

d) Shift-left-click the vertices marked F, H, I, and G in Figure 2-7, in order.

e) Click Apply to accept the selection of the vertices.

The graphics window with the arcs and straight edges is shown in
Figure 2-8.

Figure 2-8: Arcs and edges

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-13

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Step 5: Create the Small Pipe for the Mixing Elbow

In this step, you will create vertices on the outer radius of the bend of the mixing elbow
and split the large arc into three smaller arcs. Next, you will create vertices for the inlet
of the small pipe. Finally, you will create the straight edges for the small pipe.

1. Create vertices on the outer radius of the bend, and split the large arc into three
sections.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → SPLIT/MERGE EDGES

This opens the Split Edge form.

a) Select the large arc as the edge to split by using the Edge pick list.

Note that you could select the edge in the graphics window; a pick list
provides an alternate way of picking an element.

i. Left-click the black arrow to the right of the Edge list box in the Split Edge
form.

2-14 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

This opens the Edge List form. There are two types of pick-list
forms: Single and Multiple. In a Single pick-list form, only one
entity can be selected at a time. In a Multiple pick-list form, you can
select multiple entities.

ii. Select edge.2 under Available in the Edge List form.

! Note that the Available names may be different in your geometry,

depending on the order in which you created the edges.

iii. Click the − − −> button to pick edge.2.

edge.2 will be moved from the Available list to the Picked list. The
large arc is the edge that should be selected and shown in red in
the graphics window.

iv. Close the Edge List form.

This method of selecting an entity can be used as an alternative to

Shift-left-click in the graphics window. See the GAMBIT User’s
Guide for more information on pick lists.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-15

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

b) Select Real connected (the default) under Type in the Split Edge form.

You should select this option because the edge you selected is real
geometry, not virtual geometry, and because you want the two edges
created by the split to share the vertex created when GAMBIT does the
split. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on real
and virtual geometry.

c) Select Point (the default) to the right of Split With.

You will split the edge by creating a point on the edge and then using
this point to split the edge.

d) Select Cylindrical from the Type option menu.

You can now use cylindrical coordinates to specify where GAMBIT

should split the edge.

e) Input a value of –39.93 degrees next to t under Local.

This is the angle between the horizontal direction and the position of
the right-hand side of the opening of the small pipe on the bend of the
mixing elbow, as shown in Figure 2-1.

f) Click Apply.

The large arc is split into two smaller arcs and a vertex is created.

g) Use the Edge List form (or Shift-left-click in the graphics window) to select the
larger of the two arcs just created (edge.9).

h) Input a value of –50.07 degrees next to t under Local.

This is the angle between the horizontal direction and the position of
the left-hand side of the opening of the small pipe on the bend of the
mixing elbow (-90° + 39.93°), as shown in Figure 2-1.

i) Click Apply.

The arc is split into two parts and a second vertex is created on the
bend of the mixing elbow, as shown in Figure 2-9.

2-16 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Figure 2-9: Vertices created on outer radius of mixing elbow bend

2. Create points at the small inlet.

GEOMETRY → VERTEX → MOVE/COPY VERTICES

This opens the Move / Copy Vertices form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-17

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

a) Select the second vertex created on the bend of the mixing elbow.

b) Select Copy under Vertices in the Move / Copy Vertices form.

c) Select Translate (the default) under Operation.

d) Enter the translation vector (0, -12, 0) under Global to create the new vertex at a
position 12 units below the vertex you selected.

The inlet is 12 units below the second point created on the outer radius
of the bend.

Note that GAMBIT automatically fills in the values under Local as you
enter values under Global.

e) Click Apply.

f) Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global
Control toolpad to scale the model to fit into the graphics window.

g) Select the vertex just created in the graphics window.

2-18 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

h) Enter the translation vector (4, 0, 0) under Global in the Move / Copy Vertices form
to create the new vertex at a position 4 units to the right of the vertex you selected.

i) Click Apply.

The vertices are shown in Figure 2-10.

Figure 2-10: Vertices to define the small pipe

3. Create straight edges for the small pipe.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE

This opens the Create Straight Edge form.

a) Create straight edges for the small pipe by selecting the vertices marked K, L, M,
and J in Figure 2-11, in order, and accepting the selection.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-19

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

K J

L M

Figure 2-11: Vertices to be used to create small pipe

The small pipe is shown (with the large pipe) in Figure 2-12.

Figure 2-12: Completed small pipe

2-20 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Step 6: Create Faces From Edges

1. Create a face for the large pipe.

GEOMETRY → FACE → FORM FACE

This opens the Create Face From Wireframe form.

a) Shift-left-click each edge of the large pipe, in turn, to form a continuous loop.

! The large pipe is created from the 10 edges shown in Figure 2-13. If
you select an incorrect edge, click Reset in the Create Face From
Wireframe form to deselect all edges, and then reselect the correct
edges.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-21

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Figure 2-13: Edges used to create face for large pipe

Note that the edges must form a continuous loop, but they can be
selected in any order. An alternative method to select several edges is
to Shift-left-drag a box around the edges. The box does not have to
completely enclose the edges; it only needs to enclose a portion of an
edge to select it. The edges will be selected when you release the mouse
button.

b) Click Apply to accept the selected edges and create a face.

The edges of the face will turn blue.

2. Create a face for the small pipe by selecting the four edges shown in Figure 2-14 and
then accepting the selected edges.

2-22 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Figure 2-14: Edges used to create face for small pipe

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-23

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Step 7: Specify the Node Distribution

The next step is to define the grid density on the edges of the geometry. You will accom-
plish this graphically by selecting an edge, assigning the number of nodes, and specifying
the distribution of nodes along the edge.

1. Specify the node density on the inlet and outlet of the large pipe.

MESH → EDGE → MESH EDGES

This opens the Mesh Edges form.

a) Shift-left-click the edge marked EA in Figure 2-15.

2-24 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

EB

EE EF

EJ EI
ED

EG
EA
EH
EC

Figure 2-15: Edges to be meshed

The edge will change color and an arrow and several circles will
appear on the edge.

b) Shift-left-click the edge marked EB in Figure 2-15.

c) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
that Successive Ratio is selected in the Type option menu.

The Successive Ratio option sets the ratio of distances between con-
secutive points on the edge equal to the specified Ratio.

d) Enter 1.25 in the text entry box to the right of Ratio.

Alternatively, you can slide the Ratio slider box (the small, gray rectan-
gle with a vertical line in its center that is located on the slider bar)
until 1.25 is displayed in the Ratio text box.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-25

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

e) Select the Double sided check box under Grading.

If you specify a Double sided grading on an edge, the element intervals

are graded in two directions from a starting point on the edge.
GAMBIT determines the starting point such that the intervals on either
side of the point are approximately the same length.

Note that Ratio changes to Ratio 1 and Ratio 2 when you select the
Double sided check box. In addition, the value you entered for Ratio is
automatically entered into both the Ratio 1 and the Ratio 2 text entry
boxes.

f) Select Interval count from the option menu under Spacing and enter a value of 10 in
the text entry box. Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing.

GAMBIT will create 10 intervals on the edge.

g) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

Figure 2-16 shows the mesh on the inlet and outlet edges of the large
pipe.

EB

EE EF

EJ EI
ED

EG
EA
EC EH

Figure 2-16: Edge meshing on inlet and outlet of large pipe

2-26 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

2. Mesh the four straight edges of the large pipe.

a) Select the edges marked EC, ED, EE, and EF in Figure 2-16.

b) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
click the Default button to the right of Grading.

GAMBIT will deselect the Double sided check box and set the Ratio to 1.

c) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing and select Interval count from
the option menu.

d) Enter a value of 15 in the text entry box below Spacing and click the Apply button
at the bottom of the form.

Figure 2-17 shows the mesh on the straight edges of the large pipe.

EB

EE EF

EJ EI

ED
EA EG
EC EH

Figure 2-17: Mesh on the straight edges of the large pipe

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-27

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

3. Mesh the edge connecting the two pipes.

a) Select the edge marked EG in Figure 2-17.

b) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
enter a value of 1 for the Ratio.

c) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing, select Interval count from the
option menu, and enter a value of 6 in the text entry box below Spacing.

d) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

4. Mesh the two edges on the outer radius of the bend of the mixing elbow.

a) Select the edge marked EH in Figure 2-17. The arrow should point towards the
small pipe. Shift-middle-click the edge to reverse the direction of the arrow if
necessary.

! The arrow is small and you may have to zoom into the edge to see it.
It is located near the center of the edge.

b) Select the edge marked EI in Figure 2-17. The arrow should point towards the
small pipe. Shift-middle-click the edge to reverse the direction of the arrow if
necessary.

c) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
enter a value of 0.9 for the Ratio.

d) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing, select Interval count from the
option menu, and enter a value of 12 in the text entry box below Spacing.

e) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The mesh on the two edges on the outer radius of the bend is shown in
Figure 2-18.

2-28 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

EB

EE EF

EJ EI
ED

EG
EA
EH
EC

Figure 2-18: Mesh on outer bend of pipe

5. Set the grading for the inner bend of the mixing elbow.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-29

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

a) Select the edge marked EJ in Figure 2-18.

b) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
enter a value of 0.85 for the Ratio.

c) Select the Double sided check box.

d) Deselect the Apply check box to the right of Spacing.

You will not set a spacing on this edge, instead you will let GAMBIT
calculate the spacing for you when it meshes the face. You will mesh
the face using a mapped mesh, so the number of nodes on the inner
bend of the mixing elbow must equal the number of nodes on the outer
bend, and GAMBIT will determine the correct number of nodes for you
automatically.

e) Deselect the Mesh check box under Options and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

You deselected the Mesh check box because at this point you do not
want to mesh the edge; you only want to apply the Grading to the edge.

2-30 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

GAMBIT will mesh the edge using the specified Grading when it
meshes the large pipe of the mixing elbow in the next step.

Figure 2-19 shows the edge meshing for the mixing elbow geometry.

Figure 2-19: Edge meshing for the mixing elbow

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-31

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Step 8: Create Structured Meshes on Faces

1. Create a structured mesh for the large pipe.

MESH → FACE → MESH FACES

This opens the Mesh Faces form.

a) Shift-left-click the large pipe in the graphics window.

Note that four of the vertices on this face are marked with an “E” in the
graphics window; they are End vertices. Therefore, GAMBIT will
select the Map Type of Scheme in the Mesh Faces form. See the
GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on Map meshing.

b) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

GAMBIT will ignore the Interval size of 1 under Spacing, because the
mapped meshing scheme is being used and the existing edge meshing
fully determines the mesh on all edges.

Notice that GAMBIT calculates the number of nodes on the inner bend
of the mixing elbow and displays these nodes before creating the mesh
on the face. The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 2-20.

2-32 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Figure 2-20: Structured mesh on the large pipe of the mixing elbow

2. Mesh the small pipe of the mixing elbow.

a) Select the small pipe in the graphics window.

You will force GAMBIT to use the Map scheme to mesh the smaller
face.

b) In the Mesh Faces form, select Quad from the Elements option menu under
Scheme and Map from the option menu to the right of Type.

This is an example of “enforced mapping”, where GAMBIT automati-

cally modifies the face vertex type on the face to satisfy the chosen
meshing scheme. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more informa-
tion on face vertex types.

c) Retain the default Interval size of 1 under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

The structured mesh for the entire elbow is shown in Figure 2-21.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-33

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Figure 2-21: Structured mesh for the mixing elbow

2-34 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Step 9: Set Boundary Types

1. Remove the mesh from the display before you set the boundary types.

This makes it easier to see the edges and faces of the geometry. The mesh is not
deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

c) Click Apply and close the form.

2. Set boundary types for the mixing elbow.

ZONES → SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES

This opens the Specify Boundary Types form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-35

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Note that FLUENT 4 is shown as the chosen solver at the top of the form. The
Specify Boundary Types form displays different Types depending on the solver
selected.

a) Define two inflow boundaries.

i. Enter the name inflow1 in the Name text entry box.

If you do not specify a name, GAMBIT will give the boundary a

default name based on what you select in the Type and Entity lists.

ii. Select INFLOW in the Type option menu.

iii. Change the Entity to Edges by selecting Edges in the option menu below Entity.

2-36 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

iv. Shift-left-click the main inflow for the mixing elbow in the graphics window
(marked EA in Figure 2-22) and click Apply to accept the selection.

EB

EA EK

Figure 2-22: Boundary types for edges of mixing elbow

This edge will be set as an inflow boundary.

v. Enter inflow2 in the Name text entry box.

vi. Check that INFLOW is still selected in the Type option menu and select the edge
marked EK in Figure 2-22 (the inlet for the small pipe). Click Apply to accept
the selection of the edge.

b) Define an outflow boundary.

i. Enter outflow in the Name text entry box.

ii. Change the Type to OUTFLOW by selecting OUTFLOW in the option menu
below Type.

iii. Select the main outflow for the mixing elbow (the edge marked EB in Figure
2-22) and click Apply to accept the selection.

The inflow and outflow boundaries for the mixing elbow are shown
in Figure 2-23.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-37

Procedure MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

Figure 2-23: Inflow and outflow boundaries for the mixing elbow

Note that you could also specify the remaining outer edges of the
mixing elbow as wall boundaries. This is not necessary, however,
because when GAMBIT saves a mesh, any edges (in 2-D) on
which you have not specified a boundary type will be written out as
wall boundaries by default. In addition, when GAMBIT writes a
mesh, any faces (in 2-D) on which you have not specified a contin-
uum type will be written as FLUID by default. This means that you
do not need to specify a continuum type in the Specify Continuum
Types form for this tutorial.

2-38 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A MIXING ELBOW (2-D) Procedure

Step 10: Export the Mesh and Save the Session

1. Export a mesh file for the mixing elbow.

File → Export → Mesh…

This opens the Export Mesh File form. Note that the File Type is Structured
FLUENT 4 Grid.

a) Enter the File Name for the file to be exported (2-DELBOW.GRD).

b) Click Accept.

The file will be written to your working directory.

2. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT.

File → Exit

GAMBIT will ask you whether you wish to save the current session before you
exit.

Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 2-39

Summary MIXING ELBOW (2-D)

2.5 Summary
This tutorial shows you how to generate a 2-D mesh using the “bottom-up” approach.
Since the mesh is to be used in FLUENT 4, it was generated in a single block, structured
fashion. Several other features that are commonly used for 2-D mesh generation were also
demonstrated, including entering vertices using a background grid, creating straight edges
and arcs, and specifying node distributions on individual edges. As compared to Tutorial
1, which omitted some details, all steps required to create a mesh ready to read into the
solver were covered, including how to set boundary types, choose a specific Fluent solver,
and finally write out the mesh file.

2-40 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

3. MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

This tutorial employs “primitives”—that is, predefined GAMBIT modeling components

and procedures. There are two types of GAMBIT primitives:
• Geometry
• Mesh
Geometry primitives are volumes possessing standard shapes—such as bricks, cylinders,
and spheres. Mesh primitives are standard mesh configurations.
In this tutorial, you will use geometry primitives to create a three-pipe intersection. You
will decompose this geometry into four parts and add boundary layers. Finally, you will
mesh the three-pipe intersection and will employ a mesh primitive to mesh one part of the
decomposed geometry.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Create volumes by defining their dimensions
• Split a volume
• Use GAMBIT journal files
• Add boundary layers to your geometry
• Prepare the mesh to be read into POLYFLOW

3.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have worked through Tutorial 1 and you are consequently
familiar with the GAMBIT interface.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-1

Problem Description MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

3.2 Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 3-1. The geometry
consists of three intersecting pipes, each with a diameter of 6 units and a length of 4 units.
The three pipes are orthogonal to each other. The geometry can be represented as three
intersecting cylinders and a sphere octant at the corner of the intersection.

10

Figure 3-1: Problem specification

3-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Strategy

3.3 Strategy
In this tutorial, you will quickly create the basic geometry for a three-pipe intersection.
The basic geometry can be automatically meshed with tetrahedra, but your goal in this
tutorial is to create a conformal, hexahedral mesh for POLYFLOW, which requires some
decomposition of the geometry before meshing. Thus, the tutorial shows some of the typi-
cal procedures for decomposing a complicated geometry into “meshable” volumes.
The first decomposition involves using a brick to split off a portion of the three-pipe inter-
section. The resulting volume is described as a sphere “octant” (one-eighth of a sphere)
residing in the corner of the intersection, as shown in Figure 3-2. This volume, which is
very similar in shape to a tetrahedron, will therefore be meshed using GAMBIT's Tet
Primitive scheme. Note that this creates a hexahedral mesh in a tetrahedral topology; it does
not create tetrahedral cells.

Figure 3-2: Decomposition of the three-pipe intersection geometry

The remaining geometry is then split into three parts, one for each pipe, as shown in
Figure 3-1. To do this, you will create an edge and three faces that are used to split the
volume into the required three parts. These volumes are meshed using GAMBIT's Cooper
scheme (described in detail in the GAMBIT Modeling Guide). This tutorial illustrates
three different ways to specify the source faces required by the Cooper scheme.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-3

Strategy MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Two other helpful topics are covered in this tutorial: the use of journal files and the mesh-
ing of boundary layers. The journal file contains a record of all your command inputs to
GAMBIT. This file can be edited and your inputs can be converted into variable parame-
ters that allow subsequent geometries (with changes in key dimensions, for example) to be
quickly created and meshed. The boundary layer meshing tools in GAMBIT allow you to
control how the mesh is refined near walls and other boundaries.

3-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

3.4 Procedure
Start GAMBIT.

Step 1: Select a Solver

1. Choose the solver you will use to run your CFD calculation by selecting the following
from the main menu bar:

Solver → POLYFLOW

The choice of a solver dictates the options available in various forms (for
example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary Types form).
The solver currently selected is indicated at the top of the GAMBIT GUI.

Step 2: Create the Geometry

1. Create the three pipes for the intersection.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Cylinder form.

a) Create the first pipe.

i. Enter a Height of 10 in the Create Real Cylinder form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-5

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

ii. Enter 3 for Radius 1.

The text entry box for Radius 2 can be left blank; GAMBIT will set
this value by default to be the same value as Radius 1.

iii. Select Positive Z (the default) in the list to the right of Axis Location.

iv. Click Apply.

b) Create the second pipe. Use the same Height and Radius 1 as above, and select
Positive X in the list to the right of Axis Location.

c) Create the third pipe. Use the same Height and Radius 1 as above, and select
Positive Y in the list to the right of Axis Location.

2. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button , at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad, to view all three cylinders.

You can rotate the view by holding down the left mouse button and moving the
mouse. The cylinders are shown in Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3: Three cylinders for the three-pipe intersection

3-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

3. Create a sphere to complete the basic geometry.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Sphere form.

a) Enter 3 for the Radius.

b) Click Apply.

4. Unite the four volumes into one volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS

This opens the Unite Real Volumes form.

a) Shift-left-click all of the volumes in the graphics window, and click Apply.

These volumes will be united into one volume. The completed geometry
is shown in Figure 3-4.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-7

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-4: The completed geometry

3-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Step 3: Decompose the Geometry

It is possible to automatically mesh this full geometry using the TGrid scheme. However, it
is not possible to automatically mesh this geometry with conformal hexahedra. In order
to generate a conformal hexahedral mesh, you must now decompose the geometry into
portions, each fulfilling the criteria of available hexahedral meshing schemes. In this
example, you will create a brick that will be used to split the three-pipe volume, forming a
sphere octant (one-eighth of a sphere) where the three pipes intersect. You will then
create an edge, and use it to form three faces inside the geometry. These faces will be
used to split the three-pipe intersection volume into three pipe sections.

1. Create a brick.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 5 for the Width of the brick.

GAMBIT will set the Depth and the Height of the brick to be the same
as the Width if no values are entered in these fields in the form.

b) Select -X -Y -Z in the list next to Direction.

c) Click Apply.

The view in the graphics window is shown in Figure 3-5.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-9

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-5: Three-pipe geometry and brick

2. Split the volume and create a sphere octant volume where the three pipes intersect.

If you split one volume with another volume, the following volumes will result:

• Volumes corresponding to the common region(s) from intersection.

• Volumes corresponding to the region(s) defined by subtracting the

second volume from the first.

In other words, splitting a volume results in a combination of the intersection

and subtraction Boolean operations. The order of selecting the volumes is
important. For example, Figure 3-6 shows the difference between splitting
volume A using volume B, and vice versa.

3-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

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Figure 3-6: Splitting volumes

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → SPLIT/MERGE VOLUMES

This opens the Split Volume form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-11

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

a) Select the three-pipe volume in the graphics window.

b) Left-click in the list box to the right of Split With Volume to accept the selection of
the three-pipe volume and make the Split With Volume list box active.

c) Select the brick and click Apply to accept the selection.

GAMBIT will split the three-pipe volume using the brick, leaving two
volumes: the three pipes (volume.2) and the sphere octant (volume.3).

3. Create a straight edge inside the three-pipe volume.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE

This opens the Create Straight Edge form.

a) Shift-left-click the vertex at the origin (Gx, Gy, Gz).

b) Select the vertex that is shared by all three cylinders (x = y = z).

c) Click Apply to accept the selected vertices and create an edge between them.

The edge is shown in Figure 3-7 and will appear yellow in the graphics
window.

3-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

edge

Figure 3-7: Straight edge created inside the volume

4. Create faces inside the three-pipe volume.

GEOMETRY → FACE → FORM FACE

This opens the Create Face From Wireframe form.

a) Create a face inside the geometry using the edge created in the previous step.

i. Select the edge created in the previous step.

ii. Select a curved edge on one of the cylindrical surfaces that is connected to the
edge just selected.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-13

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

iii. Select the edge that closes the loop.

The three edges to be selected are shown in Figure 3-8.

Figure 3-8: Three edges used to create a face

iv. Click Apply to accept the selection and create a face.

The edge created in the previous step will turn blue.

b) Create a second face by selecting the blue edge, a different curved edge connected
to the blue edge, and the edge that closes the loop.

c) Create a third face by selecting the blue edge, the third curved edge connected to
the blue edge, and the edge that closes the loop.

The three faces are shown in Figure 3-9. It may be useful to remove the
volumes from the display; it is then easier to see the faces you created.
The volumes are not deleted, just removed from the graphics window.
To remove the volumes from the display, click the SPECIFY MODEL

DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the bottom of the

Global Control toolpad. Select the check box to the left of Volumes.
Select the check box to the left of Visible, select Off from the option
menu to the right of Visible near the bottom of the form, and click
Apply. Turn the visibility of the volumes back on after you have
examined the faces.

3-14 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Figure 3-9: Three faces created inside the pipe intersection

5. Split the three-pipe volume using the faces created in the previous step.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → SPLIT/MERGE VOLUMES

This opens the Split Volume form.

a) Select the three-pipe volume in the graphics window.

b) Select Face in the list below Split With.

c) Pick one of the internal faces created in the steps above.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-15

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Shift-middle-click on a face if you need to deselect it and select the face

next to it.

d) Click Apply to split the volume.

GAMBIT will use all three faces (which are connected to each other)
to split the three-pipe volume into three smaller volumes (which repre-
sent the three pipes of the intersection). All three volumes are
connected with common geometry. The decomposed geometry is shown
in Figure 3-10 and is now ready to be meshed.

Figure 3-10: Decomposed geometry

3-16 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Step 4: Journal Files

! Note that this step is not an essential part of the tutorial and is designed to
provide information on using journal files in GAMBIT.

Every time a GUI operation is performed in GAMBIT, the corresponding commands are
automatically written to a journal file. This journal file, therefore, provides a backup
copy of all the commands for the current session.

Journal files can be used to recreate a geometry or mesh that was created in a previous
session. You can view, run, and edit journal files in GAMBIT. See the GAMBIT User’s
Guide for more information on journal files.

1. View the journal file for the current GAMBIT session.

File → Run Journal…

This opens the Run Journal form.

a) Select the Edit / Run Mode option at the top of the form.

b) Click the Current Journal button.

The File Name for the current journal file will appear in the form.

c) Click Accept.

This opens the Edit/Run Journal form. You can see the journal file for
the current session, showing every step completed.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-17

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

2. Edit the current journal file.

a) Left-click at the end of the first line and press the Enter key.

GAMBIT will open a new line where you can type a command.

b) Type reset in the new line.

! If you run the journal file without executing the reset command,
GAMBIT creates new geometry on top of the existing geometry.

3. Save the journal file with a new name.

a) In the File Name text entry box at the bottom of the form, delete the text
“GAMBIT.#####/jou”.

##### is the process identifier for the current GAMBIT session. In the
above form, ##### is 20668.

b) Rename the journal file by typing 3pipe.geo in the File Name text entry box.

c) Click the Save button at the bottom of the form.

3-18 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

The file will be saved to your working directory. By saving the journal
file to another name, you ensure that it will not be overwritten or
appended.
4. Replay the steps you have taken in the current session.

a) Hold down the right mouse button in the TEXT EDIT FIELD (this name will be dis-
played in the Description window when the mouse cursor is over this field) of the
Edit/Run Journal form until a menu appears. Choose the Select All option in the
menu.

A black box in the LINE EXECUTION COLUMN of the Edit/Run Journal

form indicates that a line is selected. Note that all lines are now marked
with a black box. You can select/deselect individual lines by clicking the
left mouse button on the arrow on the left side of the required line.

b) Repeatedly click the Step button at the bottom of the Edit/Run Journal form until a
cylinder appears in the graphics window.

Note that GAMBIT’s current position in the journal file is marked by

an asterisk in the LINE EXECUTION COLUMN of the Edit/Run Journal
form. The Step button allows you to step through a journal file one line
at a time. Each time the Step button is clicked, GAMBIT will execute
the next highlighted line; it will skip any lines that are not highlighted.

GAMBIT has used the information in the journal file to recreate the
first cylinder you created in Step 2.

c) Click the Step button again.

A second cylinder appears in the graphics window.

d) Click the Auto button in the Edit/Run Journal form.

The Auto button allows you to automatically rerun a journal file. If the
Auto button is used, GAMBIT will automatically execute all lines that
are highlighted, and skip any lines that are not highlighted. GAMBIT
just used your journal file to redo the geometry creation and decompo-
sition for the three-pipe intersection. Each line of the journal file was
displayed in the Transcript window as it was executed.

e) Close the Edit/Run Journal form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-19

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Step 5: Turn Off Automatic Smoothing of the Mesh

It is necessary to turn off smoothing of the mesh in this example to prevent the boundary
layers from being smoothed out during the volume meshing.

Edit → Defaults…

This opens the Edit Defaults form.

1. Select the MESH tab at the top of the form.

3-20 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

This displays the types of meshing for which you can set defaults.

2. Select the FACE radio button.

GAMBIT displays the Variables for which defaults are set in a list in the
Edit Defaults form.

3. Select AUTO_SMOOTH in the Variable list.

AUTO_SMOOTH will appear in the text entry box at the bottom of the list and
its default value will appear in the Value text entry box.

4. Enter a value of 0 in the Value text entry box.

5. Click the Modify button to the left of AUTO_SMOOTH.

The Value of the variable AUTO_SMOOTH will be updated in the list.

6. Close the Edit Defaults form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-21

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Step 6: Apply Boundary Layers at Walls

Boundary layers are layers of elements growing out from a boundary into the domain.
They are used to locally refine the mesh in the direction normal to a face or an edge. A
single boundary layer can be attached to several face/edge pairs or volume/face pairs.
The direction of the boundary layer is indicated during picking with an arrow that points
towards the middle of the active face or volume.

1. Create boundary layers on the edges where the sphere octant intersects the pipes.

MESH → BOUNDARY LAYER → CREATE BOUNDARY LAYER

This opens the Create Boundary Layer form.

3-22 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

a) Enter 0.1 next to First row under Definition.

This defines the height of the first row of elements normal to the edge.

b) Enter 1.4 next to Growth factor.

This sets the ratio of distances between consecutive rows of elements.

c) Move the slider box below Rows until the number of rows = 4.

This defines the total number of element rows. Notice that GAMBIT
updates the Depth automatically. The depth is the total height of the
boundary layer.

d) Retain the default Transition pattern (1:1).

e) Select one of the three curved edges where the sphere octant intersects the pipes
(Figure 3-11).

The boundary layer will be displayed on the edge.

f) Check that the arrow indicating the direction of the boundary layer is pointing
towards the origin (Gx, Gy, Gz). If it is not, Shift-middle-click the edge until the
arrow is pointing in the correct direction.

g) Select a second curved edge where the sphere octant intersects the pipes and
ensure that the arrow on the edge is pointing towards the origin.

h) Repeat for the third curved edge.

The boundary layers will be displayed on the edges as shown in Figure

3-11.

i) Click Apply in the Create Boundary Layer form to apply the boundary layers to the
edges.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-23

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-11: Boundary layer on three edges of the sphere octant

2. Repeat the above steps to create the same boundary layer on the three curved edges
where the three pipes intersect, as shown in Figure 3-12. Again, the arrows on the
edges must point towards the origin.

Figure 3-12: Boundary layers on the three edges where the pipes intersect

3-24 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Step 7: Mesh the Sphere Octant Volume

1. Mesh the sphere octant.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

a) Select the sphere octant in the graphics window.

GAMBIT automatically selects Hex Elements and the Tet Primitive Type
under Scheme in the Mesh Volumes form, because the volume repre-
sents a logical tetrahedron. (NOTE: The Tet Primitive scheme divides a
logical tetrahedron into four logical-hexahedral blocks and creates
hexahedral mesh elements in each block. The Tet Primitive scheme does
not create tetrahedral mesh elements. (See the GAMBIT Modeling
Guide.))

b) Accept the default Interval size under Spacing in the Mesh Volumes form and click
the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The mesh for the sphere octant is shown in Figure 3-13 Note the
boundary layers you applied on three faces of the sphere octant.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-25

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-13: Mesh on sphere octant

2. Remove the mesh from the display before you mesh the three pipes.

This makes it easier to see the edges and faces of the geometry. The mesh is not
deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

c) Click Apply and close the form.

The boundary layers will still be visible in the graphics window.

3-26 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Step 8: Mesh the Pipe Volumes

You will now mesh the three pipes. These volumes will be meshed using GAMBIT’s
Cooper scheme (described in detail in the GAMBIT Modeling Guide). This tutorial illus-
trates three different ways to specify the source faces (the faces whose surface meshes are
to be swept through the volume to form volume elements) required by the Cooper scheme.
In the first example, you will modify the face vertex types for the side face of one pipe.
This is the safest way to ensure correct meshing. In the second example, you will enforce
the Submap scheme on the side face of the pipe. In the third example, you will enforce the
Cooper meshing scheme for the volume and hand-pick all the source faces.

1. Mesh one of the pipes by changing the vertex type on the wall face to Side and then
using the Cooper meshing scheme to mesh the volume.

By changing the vertex type to Side on the wall face of the pipe, you will enable
GAMBIT to use the Submap scheme on this face. The criteria for the Cooper
meshing scheme will then be fulfilled for the pipe, and the pipe can be meshed
using the Cooper scheme.

a) Change the vertex type on the wall face to Side.

MESH → FACE → SET FACE VERTEX TYPES

This opens the Set Face Vertex Type form.

i. Select Side (the default) under Type.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-27

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

ii. Select the wall face of the pipe (shown in Figure 3-14) in the graphics
window. Note the vertex on the wall face marked with an “E” for End (where
the three pipes intersect).

Wall face “End” vertex

of first pipe

Figure 3-14: Wall face of the first pipe volume showing the End vertex

iii. Left-click in the Vertices list box.

iv. Select the vertex that was marked with an “E” in the graphics window (where
the three pipes intersect, as shown in Figure 3-14).

v. Click Apply in the Set Face Vertex Type form.

The vertex will be changed to Type “S” for Side. You will only see
the vertex label if you reselect the face. A message will appear in
the Transcript window stating that the vertex was set to type Side.

b) Mesh the pipe volume using the Cooper meshing scheme.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

3-28 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

i. Select the first pipe volume in the graphics window.

Note that Hex Elements and the Cooper Type are automatically
selected under Scheme in the Mesh Volumes form because you
changed the vertex type on the wall face to Side.

GAMBIT automatically selects the source faces because you

changed the vertex type on the wall face to Side.

ii. Retain the default Interval size of 1 and click the Apply button at the bottom of
the form.

The pipe will be meshed as shown in Figure 3-15.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-29

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-15: Pipe meshed by changing the vertex type on the wall face to Side
and using the Cooper meshing scheme

! It may be useful to remove the mesh from the display at this point; it is
then easier to see the faces of the geometry for the other two pipes. The
mesh is not deleted, just removed from the graphics window. To remove
the mesh from the display, click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY

ATTRIBUTES command button at the bottom of the Global Control

toolpad. Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the
bottom of the form and click Apply.

2. Mesh the second pipe using the Submap scheme on the wall face of the pipe and using
the Cooper meshing scheme to mesh the volume.

By enforcing the Submap scheme on the wall face of the pipe, GAMBIT will
automatically modify the vertex types on this face to honor the Submap scheme.
The criteria for the Cooper meshing scheme will then be fulfilled for the pipe,
and the pipe can be meshed using the Cooper scheme.

a) Set the meshing scheme for the wall face to Submap.

MESH → FACE → MESH FACES

This opens the Mesh Faces form.

3-30 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

i. Select the wall face of the second pipe (shown in Figure 3-16) in the graphics
window.

Wall face of
second pipe

Figure 3-16: Wall face of the second pipe volume

ii. Select Quad in the Elements option menu under Scheme, and select Submap
under Type.

See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on the

Submap scheme.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-31

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

iii. Retain the default Interval size of 1.

iv. Deselect the Mesh check box under Options.

You deselected the Mesh check box because at this point you do not
want to mesh the face; you only want to apply the meshing Scheme
to the face. GAMBIT will mesh the face using the specified
Scheme when it meshes the pipe volume.

v. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

b) Mesh the pipe volume using the Cooper meshing scheme.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

i. Select the pipe volume in the graphics window.

Note that Hex Elements and the Cooper Type are automatically
selected under Scheme in the Mesh Volumes form because you
enforced the Submap scheme on the side face of the pipe.

GAMBIT automatically selects the source faces because you

enforced the Submap scheme on the side face of the pipe.

3-32 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

ii. Retain the default Interval size of 1 under Spacing and click the Apply button at
the bottom of the form.

The pipe will be meshed as shown in Figure 3-17.

Figure 3-17: Pipe meshed using the Submap scheme for the wall face of the pipe and the
project scheme for the volume

! It may be useful to remove the mesh from the display at this point; it is
then easier to see the faces of the geometry for the last pipe.

3. Mesh one of the pipes by hand-picking the source faces and then using the Cooper
meshing tool.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-33

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

a) Select the third pipe in the graphics window.

Note that GAMBIT selects Undetermined next to Elements under

Scheme in the form. The criteria for the Cooper scheme are not fulfilled
for the pipe. This is because GAMBIT cannot mesh the side face of the
volume using the Map or Submap meshing schemes. However, you can
force GAMBIT to use the Cooper scheme on this volume by selecting
the Cooper scheme and then manually picking the source faces (the
faces whose surface meshes are to be swept through the volume to form
volume elements). When you click Apply, GAMBIT will automatically
enforce the Submap scheme on the side face and modify the vertex types
to honor the scheme selected. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for
more information on using the Cooper meshing scheme.

b) Select Hex in the Elements option menu under Scheme, and select Cooper under
Type.

c) Left-click in the Sources list box in the form, and then pick the source faces for
the mesh by selecting all the faces of the pipe except the pipe wall. The faces are
marked A through D in Figure 3-18.

! Shift-middle-click on a face to deselect it and select the face next to

it. You can also click Reset in the Mesh Volumes form to deselect all
faces and volumes, and reset all parameters entered in the form.

3-34 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

The four faces to be selected are at opposite ends of the pipe, as shown
in Figure 3-18. You can select the faces in the graphics window, or you
can use the Sources pick list.

B A

Figure 3-18: Source faces used to mesh one of the pipe volumes
using the Cooper meshing scheme

d) Retain the default Interval size of 1 under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

4. Display all the face meshes for the three-pipe intersection.

You will only display the face meshes at this point because displaying the
volume meshes would create a cluttered view in the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select the check box to the left of Faces.

c) Select On from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

d) Click Apply and close the form.

The face meshes on the three-pipe intersection are shown in Figure 3-

19.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-35

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Figure 3-19: Face meshes for the three-pipe intersection

3-36 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Step 9: Examine the Quality of the Mesh

1. Select the EXAMINE MESH command button at the bottom right of the Global
Control toolpad.

This opens the Examine Mesh form.

a) Select the Sphere option under Display Type.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-37

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

This creates a section through the grid that is spherical in shape. For
the three-pipe geometry, a spherical section displays more useful
information than a planar section.

The 3D Element type selected by default at the top of the form is a brick

b) Select EquiAngle Skew from the Quality Type option menu.

c) Select the + option under Cut Orientation near the bottom of the form.

The “+” option indicates that only elements on the positive side of the
cut are displayed. For a sphere, this means that only elements on the
inside of the sphere will be visible. The “0” option displays elements on
the cut, and the “-” option displays elements on the negative side of the
cut (the outside of the sphere in this case).

d) Click the SELECT PRESET CONFIGURATION command button in the Global

Control toolpad.

This divides the graphics window into four quadrants and displays a
different view of the spherical section of the grid in each quadrant.

e) Hold down the left mouse button on the X slider box in the Examine Mesh form
and move it until the spherical cut is centered in the x direction in the graphics
window.

f) Move the Y and Z slider boxes to center the spherical cut in the y and z directions
in the graphics window. The graphics window display is shown in Figure 3-20.

3-38 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

Figure 3-20: Spherical cut centered in the x, y, and z directions

g) Move the R slider box in the Examine Mesh form to view the mesh on different
spherical cuts in the graphics window.

h) Hold down the left mouse button on the GRAPHICS-WINDOW SASH anchor, the
small gray box in the center of the four quadrants of the graphics window, and
drag it diagonally across the graphics window to the bottom right corner.

This restores a single window.

i) Close the Examine Mesh form.

The spherical cut of the mesh will be removed and the face meshes will
be restored.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-39

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Step 10: Set Boundary Types

1. Remove the mesh and boundary layers from the display before you set the boundary
types.

This makes it easier to see the edges and faces of the geometry. The mesh and
boundary layers are not deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

c) Click Apply.

d) Select the check box to the left of B. Layers and select Off from the option menu to
the right of Visible near the bottom of the form.

e) Click Apply and close the form.

2. Set boundary types for the three-pipe intersection.

ZONES → SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES

This opens the Specify Boundary Types form.

3-40 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

a) Define the flow inlet.

i. Enter the name inflow in the Name text entry box.

ii. Select ELEMENT_SIDE in the Type option menu.

The specific boundary types will be defined inside the POLYFLOW

solver.

iii. Check that Faces is selected as the Entity.

iv. Shift-left-click the end of one of the pipes (the face marked A in Figure 3-21)
and click Apply to accept the selection.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-41

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

C
A

Figure 3-21: Boundary types for faces of the three-pipe intersection

b) Define the two flow outlets.

i. Enter the name outflow1 in the Name text entry box.

ii. Check that ELEMENT_SIDE is still selected in the Type option menu and Shift-
left-click the end of one of the other pipes in the graphics window (the face
marked B in Figure 3-21).

iii. Click Apply to accept the selection of the face.

iv. Set the Type for the end of the third pipe (the face marked C in Figure 3-21) to
be ELEMENT_SIDE, using the Name outflow2.

c) Define wall boundary types for the walls of the three-pipe intersection.

i. Enter the name wall in the Name text entry box.

ii. Check that ELEMENT_SIDE is still selected in the Type option menu and pick
all the wall faces (the outer walls of the three pipes and the outer face of the
sphere octant) in the graphics window.

! You will select four faces in total.

3-42 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Procedure

iii. Click Apply to accept the selection of the faces.

The boundaries for the three-pipe intersection are shown in Figure

3-22.

Figure 3-22: Boundary types for the three-pipe intersection

Note that when GAMBIT writes a mesh, any volumes (in 3-D) on
which you have not specified a continuum type will be written as
FLUID by default. This means that you do not need to specify a con-
tinuum type in the Specify Continuum Types form for this tutorial.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-43

Procedure MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D)

Step 11: Export the Mesh and Save the Session

1. Export a mesh file for the three-pipe intersection.

File → Export → Mesh…

This opens the Export Mesh File form.

a) Enter the File Name for the file to be exported (intersection.neu).

b) Click Accept.

The file will be written to your working directory.

2. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT.

File → Exit

GAMBIT will ask you whether you wish to save the current session before you
exit.

Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

3-44 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A THREE-PIPE INTERSECTION (3-D) Summary

3.5 Summary
In this tutorial, you created geometry consisting of three intersecting pipes. Before creat-
ing the mesh, you decomposed the three-pipe geometry into four volumes: the three indi-
vidual pipes and the wedge-shaped corner of the intersection (the sphere “octant”). These
constituent volumes were readily meshed using GAMBIT’s Cooper and Tet Primitive
meshing schemes.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 3-45

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

4. MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

In this tutorial, you will create the geometry for a burner using a top-down geometry con-
struction method in GAMBIT (creating a volume using solids). You will then mesh the
burner geometry with an unstructured hexahedral mesh.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Move a volume
• Subtract one volume from another
• Shade a volume
• Intersect two volumes
• Blend the edges of a volume
• Create a volume using the sweep face option
• Prepare the mesh to be read into FLUENT/UNS

4.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have worked through Tutorial 1 and you are consequently
familiar with the GAMBIT interface.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-1

Problem Description MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

4.2 Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 4-1. The geometry
consists of a simplified fuel injection nozzle that feeds into a combustion chamber. You
will only model one quarter of the burner geometry in this tutorial, because of the
symmetry of the geometry. The nozzle consists of two concentric pipes with radii of 4
units and 10 units respectively. The edges of the combustion chamber are blended on the
wall next to the nozzle.

20

y
30
z x

20

12 10

4
40

Figure 4-1: Problem specification

4-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Strategy

4.3 Strategy
In this tutorial, you will create a combustion chamber geometry using the “top-down”
construction method. You will create volumes (in this case, bricks and cylinders) and use
Boolean operations to unite, intersect, and subtract these volumes to obtain the basic
geometry. Finally, using the “blend” command, you will round off some edges to
complete the geometry creation.
For this model, it is not possible to simply pick the geometry and mesh the entire domain
with hexahedral elements, because the Cooper tool (which you will be using in this
tutorial) requires two groups of faces, one group topologically parallel to a sweep path,
and the other group topologically perpendicular. However, the rounded (blended) edges
fit in neither group. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for a more detailed description of
the Cooper tool. You need to decompose the geometry into portions that can be meshed
using the Cooper tool. There are several ways to decompose geometry in GAMBIT. In this
example, you will use a method whereby portions of the volume around the blend are split
off from the main volume. A detailed description of the decomposition strategy for the
combustion chamber is given below.
Note that there are several faces in the geometry for which the default meshing scheme is
the Pave scheme; most of these faces are perpendicular to the z direction. There are also
geometrical protrusions in the z direction, so this should be chosen as the main direction
for the Cooper meshing scheme. To make this possible, the paved faces in the x and y
directions (the two symmetry planes in the geometry shown in Figure 4-2) must be
changed to use the Submap or Map meshing scheme.

Figure 4-2: The two symmetry planes in the combustion chamber geometry

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-3

Strategy MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

By default, GAMBIT selects the Pave meshing scheme for these two faces because each
has a rounded edge where the blend occurs. If you split off the rounded corners of both
faces and connect them through a volume, you can use the Submap meshing scheme on
the remaining faces, and hence the Cooper meshing scheme for the volume.
Instead of creating two faces, one on each symmetry plane, you will create a face at the
junction of the two blended edges (face A in Figure 4-3). This face will then be swept in
two directions onto the symmetry planes (creating faces B and C in Figure 4-3), to split
the volume into three parts. The three volumes can then be meshed individually using the
Cooper tool.

B A

Figure 4-3: Faces created at the blended edges and on the symmetry planes

This tutorial also demonstrates a few ways of controlling the mesh density and the mesh-
ing schemes used on individual faces. You will mesh the small quarter-circle face that
forms the second inlet with a Tri Primitive scheme and a finer mesh size. Similarly, you will
mesh the annular face of the primary inlet with a fine mapped mesh. To meet the require-
ments of the Cooper tool, you will also need to create a mapped mesh on the face between
these two faces. Finally, you will use the automatic Cooper tool to mesh the remaining
faces and the volume.

4-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

4.4 Procedure
Start GAMBIT.

Step 1: Select a Solver

1. Choose the solver you will use to run your CFD calculation by selecting the following
from the main menu bar:

Solver → FLUENT/UNS

The choice of a solver dictates the options available in various forms (for
example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary Types form).
The solver currently selected is indicated at the top of the GAMBIT GUI.

Step 2: Set the Default Interval Size for Meshing

Edit → Defaults…

In this tutorial, you will change the default interval size used for meshing. The
mesh spacing is, by default, based on the interval size parameter, which you
will modify in the Edit Defaults form. The value you enter should be the esti-
mated average size of a mesh element in the model. This value will appear as
the default Interval size on all meshing forms. You will be able to change it on
the meshing forms, if required.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-5

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

1. Select the MESH tab at the top of the form.

2. Select the INTERVAL radio button near the top of the form.

4-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

3. Select SIZE in the Variable list.

SIZE will appear in the space at the bottom of the list and its default value will
appear in the Value text entry box.

4. Enter a value of 2 in the Value text entry box.

5. Click the Modify button to the left of SIZE.

The Value of the variable SIZE will be updated in the list.

6. Close the Edit Defaults form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-7

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 3: Create Two Cylinders

1. Create a cylinder to form the opening of the burner.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Cylinder form.

a) Enter a value of 12 for the Height of the cylinder.

b) Enter a value of 4 for Radius 1 of the cylinder.

The text entry box for Radius 2 can be left blank; GAMBIT will set this
by default to be the same value as Radius 1.

c) Select Positive Z (the default) as the Axis Location.

d) Click Apply.

2. Repeat the steps above to create a cylinder of Height = 20 and Radius 1 = 10 along the
Positive Z axis.

3. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button , at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad, to see the cylinders created.

4-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

The two cylinders are shown in Figure 4-4. Hold down the left mouse button
and move the mouse to rotate the view in the graphics window. You can zoom
out from the current view by holding down the right mouse button and pushing
the mouse away from you.

Figure 4-4: Two cylinders

4. Move the first cylinder you created so that it is at the front of the large cylinder.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Move / Copy Volumes form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-9

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

a) Shift-left-click the small cylinder in the graphics window.

volume.1 will be entered next to Volumes in the Move / Copy Volumes

form.

b) Select Move (the default) under Volumes in the Move / Copy Volumes form.

c) Select Translate (the default) under Operation.

d) Enter a Global translation vector of (0, 0, 8) to move the cylinder 8 units in the z
direction.

Note that GAMBIT automatically fills in the values under Local as you
enter values under Global.

e) Click Apply.

The two cylinders are shown in Figure 4-5. Notice that the small cylin-
der has been moved from the back of the large cylinder to the front.

4-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-5: Two cylinders after moving the small cylinder

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-11

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 4: Subtract the Small Cylinder From the Large Cylinder

1. Create one volume from the two cylinders by subtracting one cylinder from the other.

The order of selecting the volumes is important. For example, Figure 4-6
shows the difference between subtracting volume B from volume A, and vice
versa.


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5HJLRQRILQWHUVHFWLRQ

%-$

Figure 4-6: Subtracting volumes

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS R

This opens the Subtract Real Volumes form.

4-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

a) Shift-left-click the large cylinder in the graphics window.

b) Left-click in the list box to the right of Subtract Volume to accept the selection of
volume.2 and make the Subtract Volume list box active.

! Alternatively, you could continue to hold down the Shift key and click
the right mouse button in the graphics window to accept the selection
of the large cylinder and move the focus to the Subtract Volume list
box.

c) Select the small cylinder and accept the selection.

Selecting the cylinders in this order ensures that the small cylinder is
subtracted from the large cylinder and not vice versa.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-13

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 5: Shade and Rotate the Display

1. Click the RENDER MODEL command button , in the middle of the bottom row of
the Global Control toolpad, to create a shaded view of the volume.

2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to rotate the graphics display
and see the cylindrical hole created in the large cylinder (see Figure 4-7).

Figure 4-7: Shaded geometry showing hole in large cylinder

3. To return to the unshaded view, right-click on the RENDER MODEL command button

in the Global Control toolpad and select from the resulting list.

4-14 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Step 6: Remove Three Quarters of the Cylindrical Volume

In this step, you will create a brick that will be intersected with the cylindrical
volume. Three quarters of the cylindrical volume will be removed, leaving the
volume for the entrance of the burner.

1. Create a brick that will be intersected with the cylindrical volume already created.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 21 for the Width of the brick.

The text entry boxes for Depth and Height can be left blank; GAMBIT
will set these values by default to be the same value as the Width, to
create a cube.

b) Use a Direction of +X +Y +Z (the default).

c) Click Apply.

Figure 4-8 shows the cylindrical volume and the brick.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-15

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Figure 4-8: Cylindrical volume and brick

2. Intersect the brick and the cylindrical volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS R

This opens the Intersect Real Volumes form.

a) Shift-left-click the brick in the graphics window.

b) Select the cylindrical volume in the graphics window.

c) Click Apply to accept the selection of the volumes.

The order in which you select the two volumes is not important when
you are intersecting them. The cylindrical volume will be trimmed so
that only the part inside the brick remains, as shown in Figure 4-9.

4-16 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-9: One quarter of the cylindrical volume remains

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-17

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 7: Create the Chamber of the Burner

1. Create a brick for the chamber.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 20 for the Width of the brick, 30 for the Depth, and 40 for the
Height.

b) Change the Direction to +X +Y -Z by selecting this option in the option menu to the
right of Direction.

c) Click Apply.

2. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad to see the brick created.

3. Unite the brick and cylindrical volume into a single volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS R

This opens the Unite Real Volumes form.

4-18 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

a) Shift-left-click the cylindrical volume in the graphics window.

b) Select the brick and click Apply to accept the selection.

The order in which you select the two volumes is not important when
you are uniting them. The brick and the cylindrical volume will be
united as shown in Figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10: Brick and cylindrical volume are united

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-19

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 8: Blend the Edges of the Chamber

1. Blend (round off) two edges of the chamber geometry to give it a more rounded
shape.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BLEND VOLUMES

This opens the Blend Volumes form.

a) Click the Edge button under Define Blend Types.

This opens the Edge Blend Type form.

i. Shift-left-click the two edges to be blended, as shown in Figure 4-11.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Edges to be
blended

Figure 4-11: Edges to be blended

ii. Select Constant radius round (the default) under Options in the Edge Blend Type
form.

iii. Enter 5 for the Radius.

iv. Click Apply in the Edge Blend Type form and Close the form.

b) Shift-left-click the volume in the graphics window.

c) Click Apply in the Blend Volumes form.

The burner geometry with the blended edges is shown in Figure 4-12.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-21

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Figure 4-12: Burner with blended edges

4-22 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Step 9: Geometry Decomposition

For this model, it is not possible to simply pick the geometry and mesh it with a
hexahedral mesh. The Cooper meshing scheme requires that all “source” faces
are topologically parallel, and that all other faces can be meshed using the Map or
Submap meshing scheme. However, the curved faces resulting from the blend
operation do not satisfy the Cooper criteria. Therefore, you will need to decom-
pose the geometry into portions that are each suitable for the Cooper tool. There
are several ways to decompose geometry in GAMBIT. In this example, you will
use a method whereby portions of the volume around the blend are split off from
the main volume. To do this, you will create a vertex near the junction of the two
blended edges. You will then use this vertex to create straight edges, and use these
edges to create a face. This face will then be swept in two directions to create two
volumes. These two volumes will be used to split the burner volume into three
parts. It will then be possible to mesh each of these parts individually using the
Cooper tool.

1. Create a vertex inside the volume.

GEOMETRY → VERTEX → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VERTICES

This opens the Move / Copy Vertices form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-23

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

a) Select the vertex marked A in Figure 4-13.

To zoom in to an area of the graphics window, hold down the Ctrl key
and use the left mouse button to draw a box around the area you want
to view.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-13: Vertex to copy

b) Select Copy under Vertices in the Move / Copy Vertices form.

c) Select Translate (the default) under Operation.

d) Enter the translation vector (0, 0, -5) under Global.

e) Click Apply.

The vertex will be visible in the graphics window as a white cross near
where the two blended edges meet. See vertex B in Figure 4-14.

2. Create two straight edges using the new vertex.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE

This opens the Create Straight Edge form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-25

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

a) Shift-left-click the vertex marked A in Figure 4-14.

Figure 4-14: Vertices to be selected to create edges

b) Shift-left-click the vertices marked B and C in Figure 4-14, in order.

c) Click Apply to accept the selected vertices and create two edges.

The edges are shown in Figure 4-15.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-15: Two new straight edges

3. Create a face using the two new edges.

GEOMETRY → FACE → FORM FACE

This opens the Create Face From Wireframe form.

a) Shift-left-click the edge marked D in Figure 4-16.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-27

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

F
E

Figure 4-16: Edges used to create the face

b) Shift-left-click the edges marked E and F in Figure 4-16.

c) Click Apply to accept the selected edges and create a face.

4. Create a volume by selecting the new face and sweeping it along the direction defined
by an edge.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → FORM VOLUME R

This opens the Sweep Real Faces form.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

a) Select the new face in the graphics window.

Shift-middle-click on a face to deselect it and select the face next to it.

b) Left-click in the list box to the right of Edge to make the Edge list box active.

c) Select the edge marked G in Figure 4-17.

! A red arrow will appear on the edge, indicating the direction in

which the face will be swept. This arrow should be pointing away
from the face you selected. If it is not, click the Reverse button in the
Sweep Real Faces form to reverse the direction of the arrow and the
sweep.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-29

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Figure 4-17: Edge to be used for sweep face

d) Select the Perpendicular radio button under Type in the Sweep Real Faces form.

The perpendicular option will sweep the tilted face you just created to a
face that is perpendicular to the driving edge of the sweep (the edge
marked G in this example).

e) Select Draft (the default) under Option and enter 0 for the Angle.

In a perpendicular sweep with draft, the face is expanded or contracted

as it is swept along the path. The angle defines the expansion or con-
traction of the face during the sweep. An angle of 0 means there will be
no expansion or contraction.

f) Click Apply to sweep the face.

The volume created by the sweep is shown in Figure 4-18.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-18: Face swept parallel to an edge to form a volume

5. Sweep the same face in a different direction.

a) Select the face marked H in Figure 4-19.

b) Left-click in the list box to the right of Edge to make the Edge list box active.

Face H

Edge J

Figure 4-19: Face and edge to be used for sweep face

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-31

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

c) Select the edge marked J in Figure 4-19.

! Again, the arrow on this edge should be pointing away from the
selected face.

d) Select Perpendicular under Type in the Sweep Real Faces form, and enter 0 for the
Angle.

e) Click Apply.

The volume created by the sweep is shown in Figure 4-20.

Figure 4-20: Face swept parallel to an edge to form a second volume

6. Split the large burner volume using the two smaller volumes.

If you split one volume with another volume, the following volumes will result:

• Volumes corresponding to the common region(s) from intersection.

• Volumes corresponding to the region(s) defined by subtracting the

second volume from the first.

In other words, splitting a volume results in a combination of the intersection

and subtraction Boolean operations. The order of selecting the volumes is
important. For example, Figure 4-21 shows the difference between splitting
volume A using volume B, and vice versa.

4-32 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

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Figure 4-21: Splitting volumes

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → SPLIT/MERGE VOLUMES

This opens the Split Volume form.

a) Select the large burner geometry in the graphics window.

b) Select Volume as the Split With tool.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-33

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

c) Left-click in the list box to the right of Split With Volume to make the Split With
Volume list box active.

d) Select the first volume created using the sweep face method.

e) Click Apply.

GAMBIT will use both of the two smaller volumes (which are con-
nected to each other) to split the large burner volume into three smaller
volumes. All three volumes are connected with common geometry. The
complete decomposed burner geometry is shown in Figure 4-22 and is
now ready to be meshed.

Figure 4-22: Decomposed burner geometry

4-34 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Step 10: Generate an Unstructured Hexahedral Mesh

In the meshing section of this tutorial you will use:

• Cooper tool
• Face meshing schemes
• Variable global mesh densities

It is possible to use the Cooper tool to automatically mesh the entire model with a
uniform mesh size, but this tutorial will instead demonstrate a few ways of con-
trolling the mesh density and the meshing schemes used. Typically, the Cooper tool
will use the Pave meshing scheme on all source faces, if certain criteria are not
met. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on GAMBIT’s
meshing tools.

The two small volumes will be meshed first using the Cooper meshing scheme. For
the remaining volume, you will mesh some faces first. In this case, you will mesh
the small quarter-circle face with a Tri Primitive scheme and a finer mesh size.
Similarly, you will mesh the annular face of the inlet with a fine mapped mesh.
However, to ensure that the face in-between the quarter-circle and the annular
faces has a mapped (or submapped) mesh, which is required for the Cooper tool,
you will mesh this face before meshing the annular face. Finally, you will use the
automatic Cooper tool to mesh the remaining faces and volume.

1. Generate a mesh for one of the small volumes.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-35

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

a) Select the volume at the top front of the burner geometry.

The volume to be selected is shown in Figure 4-23.

Figure 4-23: Faces to select for Cooper meshing on the volume

at the top of the burner geometry

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

In this case the criteria for the Cooper scheme are not fulfilled. This is
because GAMBIT will not automatically mesh the back face of the
volume using the Map or Submap meshing scheme, because the angle at
one of the face corners is not close enough to 90° for it to be automati-
cally classified with the End vertex type, which is a requirement for
automatic Map meshing on a four-sided face. However, you can force
GAMBIT to use the Cooper scheme on this volume by selecting it and
then manually picking the source faces (the faces whose surface meshes
are to be swept through the volume to form volume elements). When
you click Apply, GAMBIT will automatically enforce the Submap
scheme on all side faces not already set to use the Map or Submap
schemes, and will modify the vertex types to honor the scheme selected.
See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on using the
meshing schemes.

b) Select Hex from the Elements option menu under Scheme in the Mesh Volumes
form and select Cooper from the Type option menu.

c) Left-click in the Source list box (which will turn yellow), and then select the faces
marked K and L in Figure 4-23 as the Source faces.

The faces are at opposite ends of the volume.

! If you select the wrong face, and the face you want is the one next to
the face selected, Shift-middle-click on the face to deselect it and
select the face next to it. You can also click Reset in the Mesh
Volumes form to reset everything you set in the form.

d) Retain the default Interval size of 2 under Spacing in the Mesh Volumes form.

Note that this is the interval size for meshing that you set as the default
in Step 2 of this tutorial.

e) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

Notice that all faces are meshed before GAMBIT meshes the volume.
The mesh is shown in Figure 4-24.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-37

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Figure 4-24: Mesh generated for the first small volume in the burner geometry

2. Generate a mesh for the other small volume in the burner geometry.

a) Select the volume at the side of the burner geometry.

The volume to be selected is shown in Figure 4-25.

Figure 4-25: Faces to select for cooper meshing on the volume

at the side of the burner geometry

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

b) Select Hex from the Elements option menu under Scheme in the Mesh Volumes
form and select Cooper from the Type option menu.

c) Left-click in the Source list box (which will turn yellow), and select the faces
marked M and N in Figure 4-25 as the Source faces.

The faces are at opposite ends of the volume.

! If you select the wrong face, and the face you want is the one next to
the face selected, Shift-middle-click on the face to deselect it and
select the face next to it. You can also click Reset in the Mesh
Volumes form to deselect all faces, and then select the correct faces.

d) Retain the default Interval size of 2 under Spacing in the Mesh Volumes form and
click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The mesh is shown in Figure 4-26.

Figure 4-26: Mesh generated for the second small volume in the burner geometry

Next, you will mesh the small face where the burner entrance and the burner
chamber meet, and the face at the entrance to the burner. In GAMBIT, you
can “pre-mesh” any source faces on a volume by selecting a meshing scheme
and size, to improve the quality of the final mesh.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-39

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

3. Mesh the small face where the burner entrance and the burner chamber meet.

MESH → FACE → MESH FACES

This opens the Mesh Faces form.

a) Select the face marked P in Figure 4-27.

Notice that GAMBIT automatically selects the Tri Primitive Scheme in

the Mesh Faces form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more
information on the Tri Primitive scheme.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-27: Faces to be meshed in the burner geometry

b) Enter 0.5 for the Interval size under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 4-28.

Figure 4-28: Mesh on small face

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-41

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

4. Mesh the curved face along the entrance to the burner.

a) Select the face marked Q in Figure 4-27.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Map Scheme in the Mesh Faces
form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on the
Map meshing scheme.

b) Retain the default Interval size of 2 under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 4-29.

Figure 4-29: Mesh on curved face along the entrance to the burner

5. Mesh the face at the entrance to the burner.

a) Select the face marked R in Figure 4-27.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Map Scheme in the Mesh Faces
form.

b) Enter 1 for the Interval size under Spacing and click the Apply button at the bottom
of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 4-30.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-30: Mesh on face at entrance of burner

6. Create a mesh for the rest of the volume of the burner.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

a) Select the remaining burner geometry in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically choose the Cooper Scheme as the meshing

tool to be used, and will use an Interval size of 2 (the default) under
Spacing. It will also select the source faces it requires to generate the
Cooper mesh. These faces are marked S through X in Figure 4-31.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-43

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

U X

S
W
T

Figure 4-31: Source faces to be used for cooper mesh

b) Click Apply at the bottom of the Mesh Volumes form.

This accepts the volume you selected as the one to be meshed and the
source faces GAMBIT has chosen for the Cooper meshing scheme, and
starts the meshing. The complete mesh is shown in Figure 4-32.

Notice that hidden line removal has been turned on in Figure 4-32 to
make the mesh easier to see. To turn on hidden line removal, hold down

the right mouse button on the RENDER MODEL command button

in the Global Control toolpad and select from the

resulting list. To view the mesh without hidden line removal, reselect

the option.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-32: Volume mesh for the burner geometry

7. You can view a shaded display of the mesh using the RENDER MODEL command
button in the Global Control toolpad

a) Hold down the right mouse button on the RENDER MODEL command button

and select from the resulting list.

b) Rotate and translate the volume to view the mesh.

c) When you are finished, return to the wireframe view of the model, by selecting the

following command buttons in the Global Control toolpad: R .

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-45

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 11: Examine the Quality of the Mesh

1. Select the EXAMINE MESH command button at the bottom right of the Global
Control toolpad.

This opens the Examine Mesh form.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

The 3D Element type selected by default at the top of the form is a brick

a) Select the Plane option under Display Type.

b) Select EquiAngle Skew from the Quality Type option menu.

c) Hold down the left mouse button on the X slider box and move it to view slices of
the mesh with different x values.

An example is shown in Figure 4-33. The mesh is drawn as a wireframe

(by default) as you drag the slider box, and it is colored by EquiAngle
Skew quality when you release the slider box. As you sweep a plane
through the x values, you will see the way in which the Cooper tool has
automatically decomposed the volume internally to mesh it with hexa-
hedral elements.

Figure 4-33: Slice of the mesh in the x direction

d) Use the Y and Z sliders to view slices in the y and z directions.

e) Select Range under Display Type, and then click with the left mouse button on the
histogram bars that appear at the bottom of the Examine Mesh form to highlight
elements in a particular quality range.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-47

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Figure 4-34 shows the view in the graphics window if you click on the
fifth bar from the left on the histogram (representing cells with a skew-
ness value between 0.4 and 0.5). These low values for the maximum
skewness indicate that the mesh is acceptable.

The histogram consists of a bar chart representing the statistical distri-

bution of mesh elements with respect to the specified Quality Type. Each
vertical bar on the histogram corresponds to a unique set of upper and
lower quality limits.

Figure 4-34: Elements within a specified quality range

f) Close the Examine Mesh form by clicking the Close button at the bottom of the
form.

4-48 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Step 12: Set Boundary Types

1. Remove the mesh from the display before you set the boundary types.

This makes it easier to see the edges and faces of the geometry. The mesh is not
deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

c) Click Apply and close the form.

2. Set boundary types for the burner.

ZONES → SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES

This opens the Specify Boundary Types form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-49

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

a) Define two velocity inlets.

i. Select VELOCITY_INLET in the Type option menu.

ii. Check that Faces is selected as the Entity.

iii. Shift-left-click the face marked A in Figure 4-35 and click Apply to accept the
selection.

GAMBIT will give the boundary a default name based on what

you select in the Type and Entity lists (velocity_inlet.1 in this
example). You can also specify a name for a boundary by entering
a name in the Name text entry box.

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MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

Figure 4-35: Boundary types for the burner (side view)

This face will be set as a velocity inlet.

iv. Check that VELOCITY_INLET is still selected in the Type option menu, select
the face marked B in Figure 4-35, and click Apply.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-51

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

b) Define a pressure outlet.

i. Change the Type to PRESSURE_OUTLET by selecting it in the option menu

below Type.

ii. Select the face marked C in Figure 4-35 and click Apply to accept the
selection.

c) Define symmetry boundary types for the two faces normal to the x axis.

i. Enter the name symmetryx in the Name text entry box.

ii. Change the Type to SYMMETRY.

iii. Select the two faces on the left side of the geometry as you look at it from the
front (the faces marked D and E in Figure 4-36). Accept the selection of the
faces.

Figure 4-36: Boundary types for the burner

4-52 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Procedure

d) Define symmetry boundary types for the two faces normal to the y axis.

i. Enter the name symmetryy in the Name text entry box.

ii. Check that SYMMETRY is still selected in the Type option menu and select the
two faces on the bottom of the geometry (the faces marked F and G in Figure
4-36). Accept the selection of the faces.

The velocity inlet, pressure outlet, and symmetry boundaries for

the 3-D combustion chamber are shown in Figure 4-37.

Figure 4-37: Boundary types for the combustion chamber

Note that you could also specify the remaining outer faces of the
model as WALL boundaries. This is not necessary, however,
because when GAMBIT saves a mesh, any external faces (in 3-D)
for which you have not specified a boundary type will be written
out as WALL boundaries by default.

In addition, when GAMBIT writes a mesh, any volumes (in 3-D)

for which you have not specified a continuum type will be written
as FLUID by default. This means that you do not need to specify a
continuum type in the Specify Continuum Types form for this
tutorial.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-53

Procedure MODELING A COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D)

Step 13: Export the Mesh and Save the Session

1. Export a mesh file.

File → Export → Mesh…

This opens the Export Mesh File form. Notice that the File Type at the top of the
form is UNS / RAMPANT / FLUENT 5.

a) Enter the File Name for the file to be exported (burner.msh).

b) Click Accept.

The file will be written to your working directory.

2. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT.

File → Exit

GAMBIT will ask you whether you wish to save the current session before you
exit.

Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

4-54 © Fluent Inc., May-00

COMBUSTION CHAMBER (3-D) Summary

4.5 Summary
In this tutorial, you created the geometry and hexahedral mesh for a 3-D combustion
chamber using a top-down construction approach. The use of Boolean operations for
uniting, subtracting, and intersecting volumes was demonstrated. The blend volumes
command was used to create a rounded shape on the edges of the combustion chamber.
Next, the geometry was decomposed into smaller volumes for which the Cooper meshing
scheme could be used. Several different ways of meshing the source faces needed by the
Cooper scheme were shown.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 4-55

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

5. IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

In this tutorial you will import an IGES file containing the geometry for a sedan automo-
bile, clean up the geometry, and mesh it with triangles and tetrahedra.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Import an IGES file
• Specify the way in which the geometry will be colored
• Connect edges, using a manual and an automatic method
• Merge faces
• Create a triangular surface mesh
• Mesh a volume with a tetrahedral mesh
• Prepare the mesh to be read into FLUENT 5

5.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes you have worked through Tutorial 1 and, therefore, that you are
familiar with the GAMBIT GUI.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-1

Problem Description IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

5.2 Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 5-1; it is the external body
of a luxury sedan. You will generate a mesh on the outside of the car body; therefore, you
will create a brick around the sedan to represent the flow domain.

Figure 5-1: Outline of sedan

5-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Strategy

5.3 Strategy
In this tutorial, you will create a fully unstructured tetrahedral mesh around a car-body
geometry imported as an IGES file. This tutorial illustrates the steps you would typically
follow to prepare an imported CAD geometry for meshing. The imported geometry is
“dirty”—that is, there are gaps between some of the surfaces that make it unsuitable for
creating a CFD mesh. You will first clean up the geometry using the tools available in
GAMBIT.
Most of the gaps can be fixed automatically either during mesh import or subsequently by
means of the “connect edge” command. The original CAD geometry is not modified
during the fixing process; the modifications required to eliminate the gaps are made using
“virtual” geometry, which lies on top of the “real” geometry. Some edges in the original
geometry are very short and will be eliminated using the “vertex connect” command.
Other edges are not automatically connected, because they are farther apart than the speci-
fied tolerance. You will connect such edges manually.
The imported geometry includes a number of small surfaces, the edges of which may
unnecessarily constrain the mesh generation process. Using the “merge faces” command,
GAMBIT allows you to easily combine these surfaces prior to meshing. You can then
have GAMBIT automatically create a triangular mesh on the car body.
Since the imported geometry consists only of the car body, you need to create a suitable
domain around the car in order to conduct a CFD analysis (this is loosely equivalent to
placing the car in a wind tunnel). The remainder of the tutorial shows how to add a real
box around the car body, use virtual geometry to create some missing faces, and finally
stitch all faces together into a single volume. This volume can then be meshed (without
any decomposition) using a tetrahedral meshing scheme.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-3

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

5.4 Procedure

1. Copy the file

path/Fluent.Inc/gambit1.0/tut/sedan.igs

from the GAMBIT installation area in the directory path to your working direc-
tory (for example, /home/user/tutorial/).

2. Start GAMBIT.

Step 1: Select a Solver

1. You will use the default solver (FLUENT 5).

The choice of a solver dictates the options available in various forms (for
example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary Types form).
The solver currently selected is indicated at the top of the GAMBIT GUI.

5-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 2: Import the IGES File for the Sedan Body

File → Import → IGES …

This opens the Import IGES File form.

1. Select the No stand-alone vertices and No stand-alone edges check boxes under Options.

This option instructs GAMBIT not to read in any vertices that do not belong to
faces, edges, or volumes. This option should be used when you want only the
surfaces. The vertices can be deleted after the geometry has been read into
GAMBIT, but this option eliminates the extra step.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-5

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

2. Click on the Browse... button.

This opens the Select File form.

a) Select sedan.igs in the Files list.

b) Click Accept in the Select File form.

3. Change to connectivity-based coloring of the geometry in the graphics window by

clicking on the SPECIFY COLOR MODE command button in the Global Control
toolpad.

The SPECIFY COLOR MODE command button will change to . When

GAMBIT is in this connectivity color mode, it displays colors based on con-
nectivity between entities. The color of all edges in the graphics window will
change to orange. This indicates that the faces are not connected to each
other; there are gaps between the faces.

5-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

4. Set the connect tolerance to 10% of the shortest edge by selecting the Virtual Cleanup
toggle and specifying the % Shortest Edge at 10.

This invokes an automated sequence of connect operations that attempt to

clean up the imported geometry after it is read into GAMBIT.

5. Click Accept in the Import IGES File form.

The IGES file for the sedan body will be read into GAMBIT, and is shown in
Figure 5-2. Notice that the geometry first appears with orange edges. As the
repair operations progress, the edges turn light blue .

Figure 5-2: Imported sedan body

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-7

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 3: Eliminate Very Short Edges

The imported IGES geometry is “dirty”—that is, there are a few short edges and
gaps between the faces that need to be repaired. In this step, you will eliminate the
short edges.

1. Find the shortest edge.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CONNECT/DISCONNECT EDGES

This opens the Connect Edges form.

a) Select All from the option menu to the right of Edges.

b) Select the Real and Virtual (Tolerance) option.

c) Press the Highlight shortest edge button.

GAMBIT will highlight (in white) the shortest edge—along with its
label—in the graphics window.

d) Zoom in near the highlighted edge by pressing the Ctrl key while using the mouse
to drag a box around the edge.

Figure 5-3 shows the general area on the sedan that contains the short-
est edge. Figure 5-4 shows a zoomed view of the edge.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Zoom region

Figure 5-3: Sedan—showing general area of shortest edge location

Figure 5-4: Sedan—showing zoomed area near shortest edge

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-9

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

2. Remove the shortest edge.

GEOMETRY → VERTEX → CONNECT/DISCONNECT VERTICES

This opens the Connect Vertices form.

a) Select the Virtual (Forced) option.

b) Pick the two vertices on the shortest edge.

c) Click Apply.

When GAMBIT attempts to connect these two vertices, an error mes-

sage is generated stating that connecting these two vertices will cause
the connecting edge to be deleted. In some cases, this is an undesired
effect; therefore, the geometry is protected from such operations by
means of a default setting.

d) Select Defaults from the Edit menu on the main menu bar, and change the value of
the GEOMETRY/VERTEX/CONNECT_REMOVE_SHORT_EDGE variable to
1.

e) Repeat steps (a), (b), and (c).

This time, GAMBIT connects the vertices without generating an error

message.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

f) Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global
Control toolpad to see the full sedan in the graphics window.

g) Select the Virtual (Tolerance) option to activate the Highlight shortest edge button on
the Connect Vertices form.

h) Click the Highlight shortest edge button and repeat steps (a), (b), and (c) to eliminate
the next shortest edge (see Figure 5-5).

i) Repeat steps (f) and (g) to verify that the shortest edge is now acceptable.

Figure 5-5: Sedan—showing zoomed area near next shortest edge

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-11

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 4: Automatically Connect All Remaining “Duplicate” Edges

The imported IGES geometry is still “dirty”—that is, there are a few gaps remaining
between the faces that make it unsuitable for creating a mesh. In this step, you will
“clean up” the geometry using GAMBIT’s tools.

1. Connect all edges in the geometry that are less than a specified tolerance apart using
an automatic method.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CONNECT/DISCONNECT EDGES

This opens the Connect Edges form.

a) Select All from the option menu to the right of Edges.

b) Select the Real and Virtual (Tolerance) option.

You want GAMBIT to connect all real and virtual edges that are within
a tolerance distance of each other.

c) Enter a value of 10 for the Shortest Edge % and press Enter.

The Tolerance value in the Connect Edges form will be updated.

d) Select the T-Junctions option.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

This option ensures that edges that do not match up correctly will be
connected. GAMBIT will perform edge splits and then reconnect the
geometry; an example is shown in Figure 5-6.


7ZRHGJHV 7KUHHHGJHV


Figure 5-6: Connecting edges

e) Click Apply.

A few more edges turn blue in the graphics window as they are
connected.

! The edges on the symmetry plane will remain orange because they
do not have any other edges with which they can be connected.

When GAMBIT has finished connecting the edges, three of the edges
will still be orange (apart from those on the symmetry plane). You
could increase the Shortest Edge % and connect the edges again, but
instead you will learn how to manually force the connections.

You will use the manual approach in this case because there are only a
few more edges to connect. The manual approach is useful when the
gaps between the edges are of the order of the shortest edge in size, or
larger, because the Shortest Edge % connection would require a size so
large that other faces would become collapsed.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-13

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

2. Connect edges using a manual method.

a) Tilt the geometry forward slightly by holding down the left mouse button in the
graphics window and then moving the mouse pointer downward. Then turn the
geometry to view the front bumper by holding down the left mouse button in the
graphics window and moving the mouse pointer to the right.

This will enable you to distinguish the pairs of orange unconnected

edges from the edges on the symmetry plane, which are also orange.

b) Zoom in near the front of the car by holding down the Ctrl key on the keyboard
while dragging a box around the front of the car with the left mouse button. Figure
5-7 shows the area on the sedan where you will find the unconnected edges, and
Figure 5-8 shows a zoomed view of the front of the sedan. You should clearly see
three pairs of orange edges at the front of the sedan.

You will not be able to see that there are two edges to the pair, but the
fact that the edges are orange indicates that there are two unconnected
edges there.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Zoom region

Figure 5-7: Area to zoom into on the sedan

Figure 5-8: Zoomed view of the front of the sedan

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-15

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

c) Select Pick from the option menu to the right of Edges in the Connect Edges form.

d) Select the Virtual (Forced) option.

You will force GAMBIT to manually connect the edges that you select,
using GAMBIT’s virtual geometry.

e) Select one pair of orange edges by holding down the Shift key and dragging a
small box across the edges with the left mouse button.

! The box does not have to completely enclose the edges; it only needs
to enclose a portion of an edge to select it. The edges will be selected
when you release the mouse button.

It will appear as if only one edge is selected in the graphics window,

unless you zoom in very close to the pair of edges.

f) Click Apply to accept the selection and connect the edges.

g) Repeat steps (e) and (f) to connect the other two pairs of edges.

3. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad to see the full sedan in the graphics window.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 5: Merge Faces

In many cases, the IGES model contains more detail than you need for meshing. The
imported geometry for the sedan includes a number of small faces, the edges of
which may constrain the mesh generation process unnecessarily. In GAMBIT, you
can merge faces together prior to meshing.

1. Merge some of the faces on the sedan hood.

GEOMETRY → FACE → SPLIT/MERGE/COLLAPSE FACES R

This opens the Merge Faces (Virtual) form.

a) Select Virtual (Forced) under Type.

b) Zoom in to the hood of the sedan by holding down the Ctrl key on the keyboard
while dragging a box around the hood of the car with the left mouse button.

c) Select the three faces on the top of the hood as shown in Figure 5-9, either by
selecting one at a time, or by selecting all three faces within a box.

d) Click Apply to accept the selected faces and merge them into one face, as shown in
Figure 5-10.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-17

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-9: Three faces on hood of sedan

Figure 5-10: Three faces merged on hood of sedan

2. Merge four faces on the trunk of the car (just behind the rear window) using the above
method. The faces to be merged are shown in Figure 5-11, and the merged faces are
shown in Figure 5-12.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 5-11: Four faces on trunk of sedan

Figure 5-12: Four faces merged on trunk of sedan

3. Merge three faces near the rear end of the trunk of the car using the above method.
The faces to be merged are shown in Figure 5-13, and the merged faces are shown in
Figure 5-14.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-19

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-13: Three faces near rear end of trunk

Figure 5-14: Three faces merged near rear end of trunk

4. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad to see the full sedan in the graphics window.

The top portion of the trunk should now consist of two large faces, as shown in
Figure 5-15.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 5-15: Merged faces on sedan

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-21

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 6: Mesh Faces on Car Body

1. Create a surface mesh on the faces of the car body.

MESH → FACE → MESH FACES

a) Select all the faces on the car body by holding down the Shift key and using the
left mouse button to drag a box around the whole geometry in the graphics
window.

! It may take a while for GAMBIT to select all the faces. GAMBIT is
analyzing each face to determine suitable meshing schemes. You
should wait until all the edges turn red before going on to the next
step.

b) Select Tri from the hidden Elements menu under Scheme, and select Pave from the
Type option menu.

See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on meshing

schemes.

c) Enter an Interval size of 0.03 under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

GAMBIT will mesh the car body surfaces. A portion of the mesh is
shown in Figure 5-16.

Figure 5-16: Surface mesh on rear of car body

2. Remove the mesh from the display.

! This will make it easier to see what to do in the next steps. The mesh is not
deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

This opens the Specify Display Attributes form.

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Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

GAMBIT will select the Mesh check box.

c) Click Apply and close the form.

The mesh will be removed from the graphics window.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 7: Create a Brick Around the Car Body

1. Create a brick.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 10 for the Width of the brick.

b) Enter 5 for the Depth and 5 for the Height.

c) Select Centered from the option menu to the right of Direction.

d) Click Apply.

2. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad to see the full sedan and the brick just created in the graphics window.

3. Move the brick to the desired location relative to the sedan.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Move / Copy Volumes form.

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Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

a) Shift-left-click the brick in the graphics window.

b) Select Move (the default) under Volumes in the Move / Copy Volumes form.

c) Select Translate (the default) under Operation.

d) Enter (0, 2.5, 2.5) under Global to move the brick 2.5 units in the y direction and
2.5 units in the z direction.

Note that GAMBIT automatically fills in the values under Local as you
enter values under Global.

e) Click Apply.

4. Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global Control
toolpad to see the full sedan and the brick in the graphics window.

The brick and sedan are shown in Figure 5-17.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 5-17: Brick and sedan

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-27

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 8: Remove Unwanted Geometry

You cannot simply subtract the car from the brick to produce the flow domain
around the car, because you used “virtual geometry” to clean up the car body and
GAMBIT cannot perform Boolean operations on virtual geometry. Instead, you must
“stitch together” a virtual volume from the virtual faces of the car and the real faces
of the brick. To do this you will delete the volume of the brick, leaving the lower
geometry (the faces) behind. In the next steps, you will create virtual edges and faces.

1. Delete the volume of the brick, leaving the faces behind.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → DELETE VOLUMES

This opens the Delete Volumes form.

a) Shift-left-click the brick in the graphics window.

b) Deselect the Lower Geometry option in the Delete Volumes form and click Apply.

The brick volume will be deleted, but all its components (faces, edges,
and vertices) will remain in the geometry, because you deselected the
Lower Geometry option.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 9: Create Straight Edges on the Symmetry Plane

In this step, you will create two straight edges that will be used in the next step to
create faces on the symmetry plane.

1. Split the bottom edge of the symmetry plane into three sections.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → SPLIT/MERGE EDGES

This opens the Split Edge form.

a) Select the Real connected option (the default) next to Type.

b) Select Split With Point (the default).

You will split the edge by creating a point on the edge and then using
this point to split the edge.

c) Use the Ctrl key and the left mouse button to zoom in to the sedan and the line at
the bottom of the symmetry plane, similar to the view shown in Figure 5-18.

d) Select the blue line at the bottom of the symmetry plane in the graphics window.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-29

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

e) Enter a U Value of 0.64 in the Split Edge form and click Apply.

The vertex needs to be close to the front of the sedan. A U Value of

0.64 will place the vertex in the correct position, but it is the position
relative to the sedan that is important, not the exact U Value.

The edge is split into two parts and a vertex is created near the front
bumper of the sedan, as shown in Figure 5-18.

f) Select the longer edge of the two edges just created in the graphics window.

g) Enter a U Value of 0.57 in the Split Edge form and click Apply.

Again, the position of the vertex relative to the sedan is more important
than the exact U Value.

The edge will be split and a second vertex created near the rear bumper
of the sedan, as shown in Figure 5-18.

Edge to be split

Figure 5-18: Bottom edge of symmetry plane is split into three edges

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

2. Create straight edges between the two points just created and two points on the sedan.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → CREATE EDGE

This opens the Create Straight Edge form.

a) Select the Virtual option to the right of Type.

You must use Virtual because the vertex to be used on the car body is a
virtual vertex.

b) Zoom in to the front of the sedan, so that you can see the front bumper and the
first vertex created on the line at the bottom of the symmetry plane, as shown in
Figure 5-19.

c) Shift-left-click the first vertex created on the bottom line of the symmetry plane.

d) Shift-left-click the vertex on the sedan that is also on the symmetry plane, as
shown in Figure 5-19.

! Make sure that you select the vertex that is on the symmetry plane as
well as the sedan. The vertex will be on an orange line if it is on both
the symmetry plane and the sedan geometry.

e) Click Apply to accept the selected vertices and create a line, as shown in Figure 5-
19.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-31

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-19: Line from bottom of symmetry plane to front of sedan

3. Create a straight line from the second vertex created on the bottom line of the symme-
try plane to the rear bumper of the sedan, as shown in Figure 5-20.

! Again, make sure you select the vertex that is on both the sedan geometry
and the symmetry plane.

Figure 5-20: Line from bottom of symmetry plane to rear of sedan

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 10: Create Faces on the Symmetry Plane

In this step, you will create two new faces on the symmetry plane by stitching edges
together. You will use the existing symmetry plane on the brick as a host. The two
faces you create in this step will be used to create a volume in the next step.

1. Create a new face on the symmetry plane by stitching edges together.

GEOMETRY → FACE → FORM FACE

This opens the Create Face From Wireframe form.

a) Select the Virtual option next to Type.

You must use Virtual because the edges to be selected on the car body
are virtual edges.

b) Shift-left-click the edges underneath the sedan, the two small diagonal edges on
the symmetry plane, and the middle edge at the bottom of the symmetry plane.

! The area under the sedan where the edges to be selected are located
is shown in Figure 5-21, and the edges to be selected are shown in
Figure 5-22.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-33

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

First face to create on

symmetry plane

Figure 5-21: Area under sedan where edges to be selected are located

! You should select seven edges in total. Pay particular attention to

any very small edges. If you select an incorrect edge, Shift-middle-
click on the edge to deselect it and select the edge next to it.

Figure 5-22: Edges used to create face at bottom of sedan

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

c) Select the Host check box in the Create Face From Wireframe form.

d) Select Face from the Host option menu.

e) Shift-left-click the back face of the brick (the symmetry plane) in the graphics
window, as shown in Figure 5-23.

If you select the wrong face, Shift-middle-click on the face to deselect it

and select the face next to it.

f) Enter 0.001 in the Tolerance text entry box.

The tolerance value (0.001) must be less than or equal to the tolerance
used for the connect operation (0.00163959). (See page 5-12.)

g) Click Apply to accept the selection and create the face.

Figure 5-23: Symmetry plane of the brick

2. Create a second face on the symmetry plane.

a) Check that the Virtual option is selected next to Type.

b) Left-click in the Edges list box in the Create Face From Wireframe form.

c) Select all the edges shown in Figure 5-24.

! You should select 26 edges in total.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-35

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

d) Left-click in the list box to the right of Host in the form.

e) Shift-left-click the back face of the brick (the symmetry plane) in the graphics
window, as shown in Figure 5-23.

f) Click Apply to accept the selection and create the face.

Figure 5-24: Edges used to create face at top of sedan

3. Verify the creation of the faces.

GEOMETRY → FACE → SUMMARIZE/QUERY FACES/TOTAL ENTITIES

This opens the Summarize Faces form.

a) Left-click the black arrow to the right of the Faces list box.

This opens the Face List form. There are two types of pick-list forms:
Single and Multiple. In a Single pick-list form, only one entity can be
selected at a time. In a Multiple pick-list form, you can select multiple
entities.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

i. Select the two faces at the bottom of the Available list in the Face List form.

! Note that the names of entities in the Available list may be

different in your geometry. In the above form, the last two faces
in the Available list are v_face.151 and v_face.152, but you might
see faces with different numbers.

ii. Click the − −> button to pick the two faces.

The two faces will be moved from the Available list to the Picked list,
and they will be highlighted in the graphics window.

iii. Check that the two faces highlighted in the graphics window are the correct
faces that you should have created in the previous steps.

Figure 5-22 and Figure 5-24 show the faces that you should have
created.

iv. Close the Face List form.

b) Click Reset in the Summarize Faces form to deselect the two faces in the graphics
window.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-37

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 11: Create a Volume

1. Use the faces to create a volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → FORM VOLUME

This opens the Stitch Faces form.

a) Select the Virtual option next to Type.

b) Select the symmetry plane in the graphics window (as shown in Figure 5-23) and
remember the label name (e.g., face.149).

c) Left-click the black arrow to the right of the Faces list box.

This opens the Face List form.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

i. Click on the All −> button to move all the faces from the Available list to the
Picked list.

ii. Select the name of the symmetry plane in the Picked list.

The symmetry plane face will be highlighted in the graphics window.

iii. Click the < − − − button to move the symmetry plane face back into the
Available list.

iv. Close the Face List form.

d) Click Apply in the Stitch Faces form to accept the selection of the faces and create
the volume.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-39

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 12: Mesh the Edges

When you created the mesh on the faces of the sedan, you used a fine mesh. For the
volume, you will create a more coarse mesh, so you will need to instruct GAMBIT to
gradually change the mesh density between the coarse and fine meshes. To do this,
you will specify the distribution of nodes along some edges in the geometry.

1. Define the grid density on three edges of the geometry underneath the sedan.

MESH → EDGE → MESH EDGES

This opens the Mesh Edges form.

a) Select the edges marked A, B, and C in Figure 5-25 (the two small edges you
created underneath the sedan and the middle section of the edge underneath the
sedan that you split into three sections).

The edges will change color and an arrow and several circles will
appear on each edge.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

A C
B

Figure 5-25: Edges underneath the sedan to be selected for edge meshing

b) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
that Successive Ratio is selected from the Type option menu.

The Successive Ratio option sets the ratio of distances between consecu-
tive points on the edge equal to the Ratio specified in the Mesh Edges
form.

c) Retain the default Ratio of 1.

d) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing. Select Interval size from the
option menu under Spacing and enter a value of 0.03 in the text entry box.

e) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

Figure 5-26 shows the mesh on two of the edges underneath the sedan.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-41

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-26: Edge meshing near the front of the sedan

2. Define the grid density on the two outer sections of the edge underneath the sedan that
you split into three sections.

a) Select the edges marked D and E in Figure 5-27 (two of the edges you created by
splitting the edge underneath the sedan into three sections).

b) Make sure that the arrows on the two edges point away from the sedan. Shift-
middle-click on an edge to change the direction of the arrow, if necessary.

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

D E

Figure 5-27: Edges to be selected for edge meshing

c) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
select First Length from the Type option menu.

The First Length option sets the length of the first interval on the edge.
The other points on the edge are calculated using the geometric ratio
factor required to fit the specified number of points in the remaining
portion of the edge.

d) Enter a value of 0.03 next to Length.

e) Check that Apply is selected to the right of Spacing. Select Interval count from the
option menu under Spacing and enter a value of 15 in the text entry box.

f) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The meshed edges are shown in Figure 5-28.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-43

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-28: Edge meshing for the sedan geometry

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 13: Mesh the Volume

1. Mesh the volume with a coarser mesh than the mesh on the car faces.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

a) Select the volume in the graphics window.

b) Select Tet/Hybrid from the Elements option menu under Scheme in the Mesh
Volumes form, and select TGrid from the Type option menu.

See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on meshing

schemes.

c) Retain the default Interval size of 1 under Spacing and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

A portion of the volume mesh (looking at the sedan from the symmetry
plane side) is shown in Figure 5-29, along with the surface mesh for the
sedan, which you previously turned off. To redisplay the surface mesh,
click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button

at the bottom of the Global Control toolpad. Select On from the

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-45

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form and click
Apply.
To achieve the model view shown in Figure 5-29, below, you must turn
on hidden-line removal mode and make the symmetry plane invisible.

i) To turn on hidden-line removal, right-click the RENDER MODEL

command button in the Global Control toolpad and select

from the resulting list.

ii) To make the symmetry plane invisible, click the SPECIFY MODEL

DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button to open the Specify

Display Attributes form, select Off from the option menu to the right
of Visible option, click the Faces pick-list button to open the Face
List (Multiple) pick-list form, select the symmetry face (face.149) from
the pick-list form, close the form, and click Apply on the Specify
Display Attributes form.

Figure 5-29: A portion of the volume mesh

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IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Step 14: Examine the Volume Mesh

1. Select the EXAMINE MESH command button at the bottom right of the Global
Control toolpad.

This opens the Examine Mesh form.

a) Select Range under Display Type at the top of the form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-47

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

The 3D Element type selected by default at the top of the form is a brick

. You will not see any mesh elements in the graphics window when
you first open the Examine Mesh form, because there are no hexahedral
elements in the mesh.

b) Left-click on the tetrahedron icon next to 3D Element near the top of the
form.

The mesh elements will now be visible in the graphics window.

c) Select EquiVolume Skew from the Quality Type option menu.

This is the default skewness measure for tetrahedra in TGrid.

d) Click with the left mouse button on the histogram bars that appear at the bottom of
the Examine Mesh form to highlight elements in a particular quality range.

Figure 5-30 shows the view in the graphics window if you click on the
fourth bar from the right on the histogram (representing cells with a
skewness value between 0.6 and 0.7). These low values for the maxi-
mum skewness indicate that the mesh is acceptable.

The histogram consists of a bar chart representing the statistical distri-

bution of mesh elements with respect to the specified Quality Type. Each
vertical bar on the histogram corresponds to a unique set of upper and
lower quality limits.

5-48 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 5-30: Elements within a specified quality range

e) Close the Examine Mesh form by clicking the Close button at the bottom of the
form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-49

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 15: Set Boundary Types

1. Remove the mesh from the display before you set the boundary types.

This makes it easier to see the edges and faces of the geometry. The mesh is not
deleted, just removed from the graphics window.

a) Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad.

b) Select Off from the option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form.

c) Click Apply and close the form.

2. Set boundary types for the sedan.

ZONES → SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES

This opens the Specify Boundary Types form.

5-50 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

a) Define the pressure inlet boundary.

i. Select PRESSURE_INLET in the Type option menu.

ii. Check that Faces is selected as the Entity.

iii. Shift-left-click the face on the brick in front of the car in the graphics window
(marked A in Figure 5-31) and click Apply to accept the selection.

This face will be set as a pressure inlet.

GAMBIT will give the boundary a default name based on what you
select in the Type and Entity lists (pressure_inlet.1 in this example).
You can also specify a name for a boundary by entering a name in
the Name text entry box.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-51

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

A B

Figure 5-31: Pressure inlet (A) and pressure outlet (B) for the sedan geometry

b) Define the pressure outlet boundary.

i. Change the Type to PRESSURE_OUTLET by selecting it from the option menu

below Type.

ii. Select the face on the brick behind the car in the graphics window (marked B
in Figure 5-31) and click Apply to accept the selection.

c) Define symmetry boundary types for the two faces on the symmetry plane of the
brick.

i. Enter symmetry1 in the Name text entry box.

ii. Select SYMMETRY from the Type option menu.

iii. Select the two faces you created on the symmetry plane of the brick (the faces
marked C and D in Figure 5-32) and click Apply to accept the selection.

GAMBIT will merge the two faces into a single symmetry zone.

5-52 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Figure 5-32: Two faces created on the symmetry plane of the brick

d) Define symmetry boundary types for the top face of the brick and the side face
opposite the symmetry plane.

i. Enter symmetry2 in the Name text entry box.

ii. Check that SYMMETRY is selected in the Type option menu.

iii. Select the faces on the brick that are above and to the side of the sedan (the
faces marked E and F in Figure 5-33) and accept the selection.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-53

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Figure 5-33: Two symmetry boundaries for the sedan geometry

The pressure inlet, pressure outlet, and symmetry boundaries for the
sedan geometry are shown in Figure 5-34.

Figure 5-34: Boundary types for the sedan geometry

5-54 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY Procedure

Note that you could also specify the remaining outer edges of the
sedan geometry as wall boundaries. This is not necessary, however,
because when GAMBIT saves a mesh, any faces (in 3D) on which
you have not specified a boundary type will be written out as wall
boundaries by default.

In addition, when GAMBIT writes a mesh, any volumes (in 3D) on

which you have not specified a continuum type will be written as
fluid by default. This means that you do not need to specify a contin-
uum type in the Specify Continuum Types form for this tutorial.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-55

Procedure IMPORTING AND CLEANING UP SEDAN GEOMETRY

Step 16: Export the Mesh and Save the Session

1. Export a mesh file for the sedan.

File → Export → Mesh…

This opens the Export Mesh File form.

a) Enter the File Name for the file to be exported (sedan.msh).

b) Click Accept in the Export Mesh File form.

The file will be written to your working directory.

2. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT.

File → Exit

GAMBIT will ask you whether you wish to save the current session before you
exit.

Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

5-56 © Fluent Inc., May-00

IMPORT AND CLEAN-UP OF SEDAN GEOMETRY Summary

5.5 Summary
This tutorial illustrated how to import geometry from an external CAD package as an
IGES file, and mesh it. Several geometry “cleanup” operations were demonstrated. Addi-
tional geometry was created to construct a box around the car-body geometry, and an
unstructured tetrahedral volume mesh was generated.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 5-57

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

6. MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

In this tutorial you will utilize the techniques illustrated in the previous tutorials to create
a complex pipe junction that represents a real-world example of flow in a process tank.
In this tutorial you will learn how to:
• Create cylinders and bricks by defining their dimensions
• Translate and rotate volumes
• Perform Boolean operations on volumes (unite and subtract)
• Split a volume using another volume
• Align two volumes using a vertex pair
• Specify the distribution of nodes on an edge
• Add boundary layers to your geometry
• Generate an unstructured hexahedral mesh
• Examine the quality of the mesh
• Prepare the mesh to be read into FIDAP

6.1 Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you have worked through Tutorials 1, 2, 3, and 4.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-1

Problem Description MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

6.2 Problem Description

The problem to be considered is shown schematically in Figure 6-1. Due to symmetry,
only half of the actual model is shown.
The geometry consists of a large cylindrical tank with an inlet/outlet annular section. This
section is connected to the tank at half the length of the tank and at an offset from the
center of the tank. In the annular section, the inner pipe is the inlet pipe. There is a small
T-junction on the upper end of outer pipe. This is the outlet.
The overall goal is to create a high quality hexahedral mesh including boundary layers and
edge meshing to sufficiently capture gradient in solution variables, such as velocity and
temperature. The solver selected for this tutorial is FIDAP















Figure 6-1: Problem specification

6-2 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Strategy

6.3 Strategy
In this tutorial we will combine several of the previously shown tools and strategies and
apply them on a real industrial problem. The first thing to find out is if the boundary con-
dition and the physics will allow us to model only half of the geometry. This is a very
important step since it immediately reduces the effort of preprocessing and running time.
After confirming the symmetry condition, we start building the geometry using primitives
and Boolean operations. Although we normally recommend to create the model in the
following order;
1. Geometry creation
2. Decomposition
3. Mesh generation
We will illustrate, in this journal, that the order of geometry creation and decomposition is
not strict. Mesh generation, though, should in all cases be left to last.
The overall geometry creation is fairly straightforward and based on cylinder primitives,
Boolean unites, and subtracts. The model can not be meshed as is, using hexahedral
meshing, since several faces in this model are non-trivial and their normals are facing all
three major directions. Essentially there are two pipe-pipe intersections, which needs to be
decomposed
The first section is the pipe/annulus intersection at the outlet. In this situation, the recom-
mended strategy is to use a block to split of the outlet pipe. The split has to be made with
an angle, such that the unstructured mesh from the pipe will be “projected” to the wall of
the inner pipe. (See the following figure.)

Inner pipe wall

Unstructured mesh

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-3

Strategy MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

The second section is the main intersection of the inlet/outlet pipes with the tank. Again,
we are using a block to split of the bigger tank section into a center section. We are tilting
the cutting block to optimize mesh quality. This will allow the mesh on all non-trivial
source faces to be “projected” into the bottom of the tank as illustrated in the picture
below

The mesh on these source faces

will be projected on this face

Edge meshing and boundary layers are applied at several areas to ensure appropriate
grading in key areas of the model. The boundary layers are particularly important in areas
where the face is being paved—that is, on most source faces, while edge meshing is used
where the mesh is being mapped. In some cases edge meshing and boundary layer are
combined for full control over the mesh density
Several techniques are used in the face meshing part like; enforce Submap without
meshing and multiple source face meshing, where side faces between source faces are
also meshed
Finally, the Cooper tool is used to mesh all volumes in this model.

6-4 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

6.4 Procedure
Start GAMBIT using the session identifier “Tank”.

Step 1: Select a Solver

1. You will change the solver to FIDAP

The choice of a solver dictates the options available in various forms (for
example, the boundary types available in the Specify Boundary Types form).
The solver currently selected is indicated at the top of the GAMBIT GUI.

Step 2: Set the Default Interval Size for Meshing

Edit → Defaults…

In this tutorial, you will change the default interval size used for meshing. The
mesh spacing is by default based on the interval size function, which you will
modify in the Edit Defaults form. The value you enter should be the estimated
average size of an element in the model. This value will appear as the default
Interval size on all meshing forms. You will be able to change it on the meshing
forms if required.

1. Select the MESH tab at the top of the form. immediate

2. Select the INTERVAL radio button near the top of the form.

3. Select SIZE in the Variable list.

SIZE will appear in the space at the bottom of the list and its default value will
appear in the Value text entry box.

4. Enter a value of 2 in the Value text entry box.

5. Click the Modify button to the left of SIZE.

The Value of the variable SIZE will be updated in the list.

6. Close the Edit Defaults form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-5

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

6-6 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 3: Create Cylinders

1. Create the first pipe for the pipe junction.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Cylinder form.

a) Enter a Height of 60.

b) Enter 40 for Radius 1.

The text entry box for Radius 2 can be left blank; GAMBIT will set this
value by default to be the same value as Radius 1.

c) Select Positive Z (the default) in the list to the right of Axis Location.

d) Click Apply.

e) Click the FIT TO WINDOW command button at the top left of the Global
Control toolpad to see the cylinder created.

You can rotate the view by holding down the left mouse button and
moving the mouse. The cylinder is shown in Figure 6-2.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-7

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-2: First cylinder for the pipe junction

2. Create a second cylinder, with a Height of 64, a Radius 1 of 13, in the Centered Y
direction.

The two cylinders are shown in Figure 6-3.

6-8 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-3: Second cylinder for the pipe junction

3. Create a third cylinder, with a Height of 64, a Radius 1 of 6, in the Centered Y

direction.

4. Create a fourth cylinder, with a Height of 64, a Radius 1 of 4, in the Centered Y

direction.

The four cylinders created so far are shown in Figure 6-4.

5. Create a fifth cylinder, with a Height of 16, a Radius 1 of 6, in the Centered X

direction.

The five cylinders are shown in Figure 6-5.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-9

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-4: Four cylinders for the pipe junction

Figure 6-5: Five cylinders for the pipe junction

6-10 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 4: Complete the Geometry Creation

1. Move three of the cylinders to create the geometry of the complex pipe junction.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Move / Copy Volumes form.

a) Select the second, third, and fourth cylinders created, by either selecting them in
the graphics window or using the Volume query list.

b) Select Move (the default) under Volume in the Move / Copy Volumes form.

c) Select Translate (the default) under Operation.

d) Enter a Global translation vector of (-17, 52, 0) and click Apply.

Note that GAMBIT automatically fills in the values under Local as you
enter values under Global.

The three cylinders will be moved as shown in Figure 6-6.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-11

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-6: Three cylinders moved into position for the complex pipe junction geometry

2. Move the fifth cylinder using a Global translation vector of (-32, 74, 0).

3. Subtract volume.3 from volume.2.

The order of selecting the volumes is important. For example, Figure 6-7
shows the difference between subtracting volume B from volume A, and vice
versa.

6-12 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

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Figure 6-7: Subtracting volumes

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATION

This opens the Subtract Real Volumes form.

a) Select volume.2 in the graphics window and Accept the selection of the volume.

b) Select volume.3 and accept the selection of the volume.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-13

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

The completed geometry is shown in Figure 6-8.

Figure 6-8: Completed geometry

6-14 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 5: Decompose the Geometry

In this tutorial we are decomposing the big tank before we are uniting it with all
the pipes. If we reversed the order, the pipes would have been split right through
them, which is undesirable. We also rotating the brick to make the cut of the tank
be more symmetric. This will also increase the edge-angle of one of the faces,
which ultimately leads to better mesh quality

1. Create a brick to split the large cylinder.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME R

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 42 for the Width of the brick.

b) Enter a Depth of 82 and a Height of 160.

c) Select Centered from the option menu to the right of Direction and click Apply.

The brick and the pipe junction are shown in Figure 6-9.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-15

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-9: Brick and complex pipe junction

2. Rotate the brick relative to the geometry.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Move / Copy Volumes form.

6-16 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

a) Select the brick in the graphics window.

b) Select Move (the default) under Volume at the top of the Move / Copy Volumes
form.

c) Select Rotate under Operation.

d) Enter an Angle of 30 for the angle of rotation.

You will use the default Active Coord. Sys. Vector. The brick will be
rotated around the z axis.

e) Click Apply.

The brick will be rotated as shown in Figure 6-10.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-17

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-10: Rotated brick

3. Split the largest cylinder using the brick.

If you split one volume with another volume, the following volumes will result:

• Volumes corresponding to the common region(s) from intersection.

• Volumes corresponding to the region(s) defined by subtracting the

second volume from the first.

In other words, splitting a volume results in a combination of the intersection

and subtraction Boolean operations. The order of selecting the volumes is
important. For example, Figure 6-11 shows the difference between splitting
volume A using volume B, and vice versa.

6-18 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

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Figure 6-11: Splitting volumes

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → SPLIT/MERGE VOLUMES

This opens the Split Volume form.

a) Select the first cylinder you created in the graphics window (the largest cylinder)
and accept the selection of the cylinder.

b) Select the brick in the graphics window.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-19

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

c) Click Apply.

The cylinder will be split as shown in Figure 6-12.

Figure 6-12: Splitting the large cylinder

6-20 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 6: Unite Some Parts of the Geometry

1. Unite two of the volumes into one volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS R

This opens the Unite Real Volumes form.

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Figure 6-13: Volumes to be united

a) Select the cylinder that you created by subtracting one cylinder from another in
Step 3 (the volume marked A in Figure 6-13).

b) Select the middle section of the largest pipe which was created by splitting the
pipe with the brick (the volume marked B in Figure 6-13).

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-21

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

c) Click Apply.

The two volumes will be united as shown in Figure 6-14. The order in
which you select the two volumes is not important when you are uniting
them.

Figure 6-14: Two volumes united into one

2. Unite two more volumes.

a) Select the middle cylinder of the three concentric cylinders (the volume marked C
in Figure 6-13).

b) Select the volume you created in the previous step.

c) Click Apply.

The united volumes are shown in Figure 6-15.

6-22 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-15: United volumes

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-23

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 7: Subtract the Remaining Parts of the Symmetry Plane

1. Create a brick, which will be used to remove some parts of the geometry to create a
symmetry plane in the geometry.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a Width of 50, a Depth of 100, and a Height of 20.

b) Select -X +Y -Z from the Direction option menu.

c) Click Apply to create the brick.

The brick and the pipe junction are shown in Figure 6-16.

6-24 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-16: Brick and pipe junction

2. Subtract the brick from the complex pipe volume.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS R

This opens the Subtract Real Volumes form.

a) Select the volume that contains most of the pipe sections in the geometry (the
volume marked A in Figure 6-17). Accept the selection of the volume.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-25

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-17: Volume to use in subtraction

b) Select the brick in the graphics window.

c) In the Subtract Real Volumes form, select the Retain check box below Subtract
Volume.

This option instructs GAMBIT to subtract the brick from the pipe
geometry, but retain the brick to be used again in the next step.

d) Click Apply.

The brick will be subtracted from the pipe geometry as shown in Figure
6-18. Notice that the brick is still displayed in this figure, this is
because the Retain check box is selected in the Subtract Real Volumes
form.

6-26 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-18: Brick subtracted from the pipe geometry

3. Subtract the brick from the small pipe.

a) Select the smallest cylinder in the graphics window, and accept the selection.

b) Select the brick in the graphics window.

c) In the Subtract Real Volumes form, deselect the Retain check box.

d) Click Apply.

Figure 6-19 shows the geometry after the subtraction.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-27

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-19: Brick subtracted from the small pipe to create a symmetry plane

6-28 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 8: Split off Annulus Pipe to Make the Volumes Meshable

1. Create a brick to split off part of the geometry.

Again the decomposition of the cylinder is done before the full geometry has
been created. In this example, we are using Align instead Move/Copy to posi-
tion the tool to the appropriate position before the splitting

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → CREATE VOLUME

This opens the Create Real Brick form.

a) Enter a value of 20 for the Width of the brick. Leave the Depth and Height text
entry boxes blank.

GAMBIT will set the Depth and Height by default to be the same value
as the Width, to create a cube.

b) Select -X +Y +Z from the option menu to the right of Direction and click Apply.

2. Rotate the brick relative to the geometry.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Move / Copy Volumes form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-29

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

a) Select the brick in the graphics window.

b) Select Move (the default) under Volume at the top of the Move / Copy Volumes
form.

c) Select Rotate under Operation.

d) Enter an Angle of 30 for the angle of rotation.

You will now redefine the Active Coord. Sys. Vector so that GAMBIT
rotates the brick about the y axis.

e) Click the Define button to the right of Axis.

This opens the Vector Definition form.

6-30 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

i. Select Positive Y under Coordinate System Axis and click Apply.

f) Click Apply in the Move / Copy Volumes form.

3. Create a vertex on the brick.

You will create a vertex on the brick and use it to align the brick correctly relative
to the geometry. This is an alternative method to moving the splitting tool (the
brick) to the right position in the geometry using coordinates.

GEOMETRY → EDGE → SPLIT/MERGE EDGE

This opens the Split Edge form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-31

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

a) Select the edge on the brick marked A in Figure 6-20.

Figure 6-20: Edge to be split on the brick

6-32 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

b) Enter a U Value of 0.3 in the Split Edge form and click Apply.

4. Align the brick with the part of the geometry to be split.

GEOMETRY →VOLUME →MOVE/COPY/ALIGN VOLUMES

This opens the Align Volumes form.

a) Select the brick in the graphics window and accept the selection.

The Translation Vertex Pair list box in the Align Volumes form will be
highlighted. You will now select the vertex on the object you want to
move and then the vertex with which you want to align the object.

b) Select the vertex you just created on the brick.

c) Select the vertex marked A in Figure 6-21. The vertex is on the end of the long
thin pipes near the smallest cylinder.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-33

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-21: Vertex to be selected to align the brick

d) Click Apply in the form.

The brick will be aligned with the pipe volume as shown in Figure 6-22.

Figure 6-22: Brick aligned with pipe geometry

6-34 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

5. Use the brick to split the volume that contains most of the pipe sections.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → SPLIT/MERGE VOLUMES

This opens the Split Volume form.

a) Select the volume that contains most of the pipe sections in the geometry (the
volume marked A in Figure 6-23) and accept the selection.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-35

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-23: Volumes to be used in the split

b) Select the brick (marked B in Figure 6-23) in the graphics window.

Select Real connected (the default) under Type in the Split Volume form

c) Click Apply.

The geometry will be split as shown in Figure 6-24.

6-36 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-24: Decomposed geometry

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-37

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 9: Unite the Side Pipe

This is the final unite operation to complete the construction of the geometry

1. Unite two more volumes.

GEOMETRY → VOLUME → BOOLEAN OPERATIONS

R
This opens the Unite Real Volumes form.

Figure 6-25: Volume to be united

a) Select the volume you created in the previous step (marked A in Figure 6-25).

b) Select the smallest cylinder (the volume marked B in Figure 6-25).

c) Click Apply.

6-38 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

The united volumes are shown in Figure 6-26.

Figure 6-26: United volumes

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-39

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 10: Mesh the Edges

The next step is to define the grid density on some edges of the geometry. You will
accomplish this graphically by selecting an edge, assigning the number of nodes, and
specifying the distribution of nodes along the edge.

1. Define the grid density on four edges of the geometry.

MESH → EDGE → MESH EDGES

This opens the Mesh Edges form.

a) Select the edges marked A, B, C, and D in Figure 6-27.

The edges will change color and an arrow and several circles will
appear on each edge. The arrow is small and you may have to zoom
into the edge to see it. It is located near the center of the edge.

6-40 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

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Figure 6-27: Edges to be selected for edge meshing

b) Ensure that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
select Last First Ratio from the Type option menu.

The Last First Ratio is defined as the size ratio between the first element
(or grid distance) on the edge, and the last, based on the direction
(sense) of the edge. For double sided grading, the last first ratio is the
ratio between the central element and the element at the end of the edge

c) Enter a value of 3.6 for Ratio 1.

d) Select the Double sided check box

If you specify a Double sided grading on an edge, the element intervals

are graded in two directions from a starting point on the edge.
GAMBIT determines the starting point such that the intervals on either
side of the point are approximately the same length. Ratio 2 is auto-
matically given the value of Ratio 1

e) Ensure that the Apply check box is selected to the right of Spacing. Select Interval
size from the option menu under Spacing and enter a value of 2.5 in the text entry
box.

f) Click Apply in the Mesh Edges form.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-41

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

2. Define the grid density on two edges of the geometry.

a) Select the edges marked E and F in Figure 6-27.

b) Ensure that Apply is selected to the right of Grading in the Mesh Edges form and
select Successive Ratio from the Type option menu.

The Successive Ratio option sets the ratio of distances between con-
secutive points on the edge equal to the Ratio specified in the Mesh
Edges form.

c) Retain the default Ratio of 1.

d) Ensure that the Apply check box is selected to the right of Spacing. Enter 5 next to
Interval size.

e) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the Mesh Edges form.

The edge meshing for the six edges is shown in Figure 6-28.

Figure 6-28: Edge meshing on the complex pipe junction geometry

6-42 © Fluent Inc., May-00

MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 11: Apply Boundary Layers

Boundary layers are layers of elements growing out from a boundary into the
domain. They are used to locally refine the mesh in the direction normal to a face
or an edge. Boundary layers are used in this example to improve mesh density
close to walls on faces that will be paved

1. Create boundary layers on one edge.

MESH → BOUNDARY LAYER → CREATE BOUNDARY LAYER

This opens the Create Boundary Layer form.

a) Enter 7 next to First row under Definition.

© Fluent Inc., May-00 6-43

Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

This defines the height of the first row of elements normal to the edge.

b) Enter 0.88 next to Growth factor.

This sets the ratio of distances between consecutive rows of elements.

c) Move the slider box below Rows until the number of rows = 8.

This defines the total number of element rows. Notice that GAMBIT
updates the Depth automatically. The depth is the total height of the
boundary layer.

d) Retain the default Transition pattern (1:1).

e) Select the edge shown in Figure 6-29 with the boundary layer on it. The boundary
layer should appear in the direction shown in Figure 6-29. If it does not, Shift-
middle-click the edge to change the direction of the boundary layer.

Figure 6-29: Edge on which to apply the boundary layer, showing the direction in which
the boundary layer should point

f) Click Apply in the Create Boundary Layer form to apply the boundary layer to the
edge.

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

2. Create boundary layers on the three edges shown in Figure 6-30.

a) Enter 0.5 next to First row under Definition.

b) Enter 1.5 next to Growth factor.

c) Move the slider box below Rows until the number of rows = 2.

d) Retain the default Transition pattern (1:1).

e) Select the three edges shown in Figure 6-30 with boundary layers on them. The
boundary layers should appear in the directions shown in Figure 6-30. If they do
not, Shift-middle-click an edge to change the direction of the boundary layer.

Figure 6-30: Edges on which to apply the boundary layers, showing the directions in
which the boundary layers should point

f) Click Apply in the Create Boundary Layer form to apply the boundary layers to the
edges.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

2. Create boundary layers on the three edges shown in Figure 6-31.

a) Enter 1 next to First row under Definition.

b) Enter 1.5 next to Growth factor.

c) Move the slider box below Rows until the number of rows = 2.

d) Retain the default Transition pattern (1:1).

e) Select the three edges shown in Figure 6-31 with boundary layers on them. The
boundary layers should appear in the directions shown in Figure 6-31. If they do
not, Shift-middle-click an edge to change the direction of the boundary layer.

Figure 6-31: Edges on which to apply the boundary layers, showing the directions in
which the boundary layers should point

f) Click Apply in the Create Boundary Layer form to apply the boundary layers to the
edges.

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Step 12: Turn Off Automatic Smoothing of the Mesh

It is necessary to turn off smoothing of the mesh in this example, because

smoothing would “wash out” the boundary layers on the ends of the pipes.

Edit → Defaults…

This opens the Edit Defaults form.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

1. Select the MESH tab at the top of the form.

This displays the types of meshing for which you can set defaults.

2. Select the FACE radio button.

GAMBIT displays the Variables for which defaults are set in a list in
the Edit Defaults form.

3. Select AUTO_SMOOTH in the Variable list.

AUTO_SMOOTH will appear in the text entry box at the bottom of the list
and its default value will appear in the Value text entry box.

4. Enter a value of 0 in the Value text entry box.

5. Click the Modify button to the left of AUTO_SMOOTH.

The Value of the variable AUTO_SMOOTH will be updated in the list.

6. Close the Edit Defaults form.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 13: Mesh One of the Volumes

1. Mesh the volume marked C in Figure 6-32.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

a) Select the volume marked C in Figure 6-32 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Cooper Scheme in the Mesh

Volumes form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information
on the Cooper meshing scheme.

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-32: Volume to be meshed

b) Retain the default Interval size of 2 under Spacing in the Mesh Volumes form and
click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

This accepts the volume you selected as the one to be meshed. It also
accepts the source faces (the faces whose surface mesh is to be swept
through the volume to form volume elements) GAMBIT has chosen for
the Cooper meshing scheme and starts the meshing. If you need to
modify or confirm the source faces, either pick faces from the graphics
window or modify the selection of source faces by means of the Sources
face text box. The mesh for the volume is shown in Figure 6-33.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-33: Mesh for volume C

It may be useful to remove the mesh from the display before you mesh the faces
in the next exercise; it is then easier to see the faces of the geometry. The mesh
is not deleted, just removed from the graphics window. To remove the mesh
from the display, click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command

button at the bottom of the Global Control toolpad. Select Off from the
option menu to the right of Mesh near the bottom of the form and click Apply.

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Step 14: Mesh Some Faces

These faces are meshed to ensure a good mesh density around the pipes and
mapped meshes on some of the source faces. Some side faces also need to be
meshed to assure mesh matching between different source faces

1. Mesh the face marked A in Figure 6-34.

MESH → FACE → MESH FACES

This opens the Mesh Faces form.

a) Select the face marked A in Figure 6-34 in the graphics window. The face to
select is the curved face.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Submap Scheme in the Mesh

Faces form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on
the Submap meshing scheme.

b) Change the Interval size to 3 under Spacing and Click the Apply button

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-34: Faces to be meshed

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 6-34.

Figure 6-35: Mesh on face A

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

1. Mesh the face marked B in Figure 6-34

a) Select the face marked B in Figure 6-34 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Map Scheme in the Mesh Faces
form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on the
Map meshing scheme.

b) Enter 1 as the Interval size under Spacing in the Mesh Faces form and click the
Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 6-35.

Figure 6-36: Mesh on face A and B

2. Mesh the face marked C in Figure 6-34

a) Select the face marked C in Figure 6-34 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select a Scheme in the Mesh Faces form. If

GAMBIT does not automatically select a Map Scheme, change the Scheme
option to Map in order to impose face vertex types that allow a mapped
meshing scheme.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

b) Retain the default Interval size of 2.5 under Spacing in the Mesh Faces form and
click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 6-37.

Figure 6-37: Mesh on face A-C

3. Mesh the face marked D in Figure 6-34.

a) Select the face marked D in Figure 6-34 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Map Scheme in the Mesh Faces
form.

b) Enter 1 as the Interval size under Spacing in the Mesh Faces form and click the
Apply button at the bottom of the form.

The face will be meshed as shown in Figure 6-38.

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-38: Mesh on face A-D

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 15: Modify Mesh Settings on Some Faces

”Modifying mesh settings” is the same as “applying without meshing”.

This step illustrates two different applications to this technique

First, you will modify the scheme setting on two faces from Pave to
Submap. This is one way of making the main volume ready for Cooper
meshing

Secondly, you will modify the default size of one of the source faces. In this
case, you allow the Cooper meshing scheme to make sure the mesh is
matching with other source faces.

1. Set the meshing scheme to be Submap for the faces marked F and G in Figure 6-39.

a) Select the faces marked F and G in Figure 6-39 in the graphics window.

b) Select Submap from the Scheme option menu.

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MODELING FLOW IN A TANK Procedure

Figure 6-39: Faces to be modified

c) Retain the default Interval size of 2 under Spacing in the Mesh Faces form.

d) Deselect the Mesh check box under Options.

You deselected the Mesh check box because at this point you do not
want to mesh the faces; you only want to apply the Scheme to the faces.
GAMBIT will mesh the faces using the Scheme you specified when it
creates a volume mesh.

e) Click the Apply button at the bottom of the form.

2. Set the meshing size on the face marked H in Figure 6-40.

a) Select the face marked H in Figure 6-40 in the graphics window (the face at the
end of the pipe).

GAMBIT will automatically select the Pave Scheme in the Mesh Faces
form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information on the
Pave meshing scheme.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-40: Face to be modified

b) Enter 1 as the Interval size under Spacing in the Mesh Faces form.

c) Check that Mesh is not selected under Options and click the Apply button at the
bottom of the form.

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Step 16: Mesh the Volumes

1. Mesh the volumes marked J and K in Figure 6-41.

MESH → VOLUME → MESH VOLUMES

This opens the Mesh Volumes form.

a) Select the volumes marked J and K in Figure 6-41 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Cooper Scheme in the Mesh

Volumes form. See the GAMBIT Modeling Guide for more information
on the Cooper meshing scheme.

b) Enter 4 as the Interval size under Spacing in the Mesh Volumes form and click the
Apply button at the bottom of the form.
The volumes will be meshed as shown in Figure 6-42.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Figure 6-41: Volumes to be meshed

Figure 6-42: Mesh on volumes J and K

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2. Mesh the volume marked L in Figure 6-41.

a) Select the volume marked L in Figure 6-41 in the graphics window.

GAMBIT will automatically select the Cooper Scheme in the Mesh

Volumes form.

b) Check that the Remove lower mesh and Remove old mesh check boxes are not
selected at the bottom of the form.

c) Click the Apply button again.

The final volume mesh is shown in Figure 6-43.

Figure 6-43: Final volume mesh

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Notice that hidden line removal has been turned on in Figure 6-43 to
make the mesh easier to see. To turn on hidden line removal, hold down

the right mouse button on the RENDER MODEL command button

in the Global Control toolpad and select from the

resulting list. To view the mesh without hidden line removal, select the

option.

3. You can view the mesh by shading it using the RENDER MODEL command button in
the Global Control toolpad

a) Hold down the right mouse button on the RENDER MODEL command button

and select from the resulting list.

b) Rotate and translate the volume to view the mesh.

c) When you are finished, return to the wireframe view of the model, by selecting the

following command buttons in the Global Control toolpad: R .

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Step 17: Examine the Volume Mesh

1. Select the EXAMINE MESH command button at the bottom right of the Global
Control toolpad.

This opens the Examine Mesh form.

b) Examine the mesh with cut planes and with the EquiAngle Skew.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

Step 18: Set Zone Types and Export the Mesh

1. Set boundary types for the complex pipe junction.

ZONES → SPECIFY BOUNDARY TYPES

This opens the Specify Boundary Types form.

! It may be useful to remove the mesh from the display before you set the
boundary types; it is then easier to see the faces of the geometry. The
mesh is not deleted, just removed from the graphics window. To remove
the mesh from the display,

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Click the SPECIFY MODEL DISPLAY ATTRIBUTES command button at the

bottom of the Global Control toolpad. Select Off from the option menu to the
right of Mesh near the bottom of the form and click Apply.

a) Define an inlet.

i. Enter the name inlet in the Name text entry box.

ii. Select PLOT in the Type option menu.

iii. Check that Face is selected as the Entity.

iv. Shift-left-click the face marked A in Figure 6-44 and accept the selection.

Figure 6-44: Faces to set as inlet, outlet, and wall boundaries

b) Define an outlet.

i. Enter the name outlet in the Name text entry box.

ii. Check that PLOT is still selected in the Type option menu.

iii. Select the face marked B in Figure 6-44 and accept the selection.

c) Define symmetry boundary types for faces on the x-y plane.

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Procedure MODELING FLOW IN A TANK

i. Enter the name symmetry in the Name text entry box.

ii. Select PLOT in the Type option menu.

iii. Select all the faces on the symmetry plane (marked E, F, G, and H in Figure 6-
45). Accept the selection of the faces.

Figure 6-45: Faces on the symmetry plane

Note that you could also specify the remaining external faces of the
tank geometry as WALL boundaries. This is not necessary,
however, because when GAMBIT saves a mesh, any external faces
(in 3-D) for which you have not specified a boundary type will be
written out as WALL boundaries by default.

In addition, when GAMBIT writes a mesh, any volumes (in 3-D)

for which you have not specified a continuum type will be written
as FLUID by default. This means that you do not need to specify a
continuum type in the Specify Continuum Types form for this
tutorial.

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2. Export a mesh file.

a) Open the Export Mesh File form

File → Export → Mesh…

This opens the Export Mesh File form.

i. Enter the File Name for the file to be exported (Tank.FDNEUT).

ii. Click Accept.

The grid file will be written to your working directory.

3. Save the GAMBIT session and exit GAMBIT

a) Select Exit from the File menu.

File → Exit.

b) Click Yes to save the current session and exit GAMBIT.

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Summary FLOW IN A TANK

6.5 Summary
In this tutorial multiple primitive creations and Boolean operations was used to create the
full geometry. Decomposition was embedded in the creation. Edge meshing, boundary
layers and face meshing were used to control the mesh density, and type of mesh, in dif-
ferent areas of the model . The Cooper meshing scheme was used for all volumes.

6-70 © Fluent Inc., May-00