Workshop 7.

1
Mesh Preparation and Output to
Solver – Wing Edit 14.5 Release

Introduction to ANSYS
ICEM CFD
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 1 Release 14.5
 Overview
• Wing Edit model
– The model will be meshed with Robust (Octree)
method
– Two general steps are necessary before writing
to the solver
1. Check mesh for errors and possible
problems
– Repair problems at mesh level if a
small number of problem elements
– Change mesh size or fix geometry
problem and remesh if there is a large
number of problem elements
2. Smooth mesh to decent quality
– Write input file for Fluent

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 2 Release 14.5

 Wing Edit Workshop
• File > Change Working Dir…
– Choose WingEdit
– OK
• Use the quick icon to open geometry
– Choose WingEdit.tin
– Open

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 3 Release 14.5

 Compute Mesh

• Global and Part sizes have already been set

• Select Mesh > Compute Mesh > Volume Mesh
– Set Mesh Method > Robust (Octree) (default)
– Compute

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 4 Release 14.5

 Mesh Smoothing

• Mesh Smoothing
– Edit Mesh > Smooth Mesh Globally
– Specify 5 Smoothing iterations (default)
– Up to quality = 0.4
– Keep all other defaults
– Apply
– Right-click in quality histogram and select Replot to
modify its display as shown
• Set Min X value = 0, Max X value = 1, Max Y
height = 15
• Accept

Quality histogram after smoothing

and replot
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 5 Release 14.5
 Reviewing the mesh
• Quality Histogram
– Left-click on the columns up to 0.3 in the
histogram to highlight the elements within
those ranges
– Turn off all items under Geometry and Mesh
– Use the Fit Window button to zoom in on the
problem
• Turn on Curves again and zoom in or out a
bit to get a reference for the location
– Right click in the
histogram and
choose Subset to
enter the elements
into a subset
• You won’t be able
to edit them until
they are in a
subset
– Right click again and choose
Done to close histogram
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 6 Release 14.5
 Create/Modify subset
• Using a Subset
– The elements are placed into a subset given the
name of the smoothing criteria – “Quality” in this
case under the Mesh branch
– Right-click on the subset name and select Modify
– Select Add Layer(s) to Subset
– Add 2 layers with Also volume elements turned off
• Apply
• This adds additional elements for ease in seeing
surrounding element structure
– Select Remove from Subset by Selection
– Click on Select all volume elements from the
Select mesh elements toolbar. Middle click
• To only visualize and edit surface
elements
• Very difficult to view and edit volume
elements and usually not necessary

– Display in Solid using the utility icon

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 7 Release 14.5

 Merge Nodes

• Merging Nodes
– Edit Mesh > Merge Nodes > Merge Interactive
– Activate Ignore projection to allow removed node to un-
project
– With the subset displayed, turn off Shells from the tree
– Right-click on Mesh and select Dot Nodes
– Select 2 nodes from the screen – the first node is
kept, the second is removed, and middle mouse click
– Continue for length of problem (~8 or 9 locations)

2 1

2 1

Dot nodes colors nodes 2

according to association 1

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 8 Release 14.5

 Mesh Smoothing

• Mesh Smoothing
– Always smooth after manual editing
– Edit Mesh > Smooth Mesh Globally
– Use previous settings
– Apply After merging but before smoothing
– Verify that lowest quality (< 0.3) elements
are removed from the left side
– Right-click on the subset name “Quality”
from the model tree and select Clear or
Delete (deletes subset name, not elements) After merging and smoothing

– Manual node movement is also common

using Edit Mesh > Move Nodes > Interactive
• Preserves projection to geometry types
• Remember to smooth again…

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 9 Release 14.5

 Alternative Method
• Instead of editing the mesh, you could just inspect the source of
the problem, fix this, and remesh
– The source of the problem is the close curve (and end points)
• These curve and points cause mesh nodes to constrain to them
• They are not needed since there is no feature to model here (the
surface is flat)
• Geometry > Delete Curve
• Geometry > Delete Point

• Delete the one curve and 2 points

• Remesh
• Smooth

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 10 Release 14.5

 Check Mesh

• It is always necessary to check the mesh for errors

and possible problems after editing or as a last step
before output to solver
– Select Edit Mesh > Check Mesh
– Use the default set of checks and Apply
– For Duplicate elements select Fix from the popup
• This will delete the duplicates
• These are duplicate line elements that were
move on top of each other from the node
merging process
– For Delete the unconnected vertices select Yes
• It’s always safe to delete unconnected nodes
• These are normally deleted during the Save
mesh process anyway

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 11 Release 14.5

 Select Solver
• Select Solver
– Select Output -> Select Solver
– Set Output Solver to Fluent_V6
• The Output Solver selection can write to any
solver
• The Common Structural Solver selection only
applies to 5 special structural solvers which
allow extended setup in the Properties,
Constraints, Loads, and Solver Options tabs
– Ansys, Nastran, LS-Dyna, Abaqus, and
Autodyn
– Apply

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 12 Release 14.5

 Define Boundary Conditions

• Define boundary conditions

– Select Output -> Boundary conditions
– Expand Volumes, then LIVE, until you see
Create new and Paste
– Parts are ordered in the tree according to
geometry and mesh dimension types (0D, 1D,
2D, 3D) within that part
• Any part containing mixed dimensions (ex.
curves (1D) and tri’s (2D)) will be grouped
into mixed/unknown
– Click on Create New
– Select the appropriate boundary condition
(fluid) from the pop up window
– Click Okay

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 13 Release 14.5

 Boundary Conditions - Continued

• Continue with assigning surface

boundary conditions
– Expand under FARFIELD under
Surfaces list
– Press Create new
– Select wall, then Okay
– Set part IN to velocity-inlet
– Set OUT to pressure-outlet, exhaust-
fan, outlet-vent
– Set SYM to symmetry
– Press Accept when
done

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 14 Release 14.5

 Save Files
• Save boundary condition file and mesh
– File > Attributes > Save Attributes As…
• Saving attributes saves an attribute file (*.atr) and
boundary condition file (*.fbc)
• The attributes file (*.atr) is for the 5 common
structural solvers and the boundary condition file
(*.fbc) is for all others including fluid solvers
• Save to any name you wish, such as WingEdit.fbc
– File > Mesh > Save Mesh As…
• The mesh has been edited, and the translator to
Fluent reads from the file on disk, so you will need
to save the mesh
• Save to any name you wish, such as WingEdit.uns

– When you write the mesh to the solver, it will ask if you
want to save the project
• It is safe to save the project, but the boundary
condition file and the mesh are the needed files,
so if you have just saved these, it is not necessary
to save the project
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 15 Release 14.5
 Write Input • Write input file
– Select Output -> Write input
– When prompted to save the project, it is not
necessary if you just saved the boundary
conditions and mesh, but you may want to do
so to make sure all files have been saved,
such as the geometry (*.tin)
– You will next be prompted to select the mesh
(*.uns) to write out. Select the mesh saved in
the previous step (WingEdit.uns) or the file
named {project}.uns if you saved the project.
– The Fluent_V6 panel pops up
• This final options window is different for
every solver
– Take note of the boundary condition file name
– The output file will be saved in the working
directory. The default name of the file is
fluent.msh. The file name and location can be
changed by typing it in the Output file field
– Click Done
– Fluent-input.msh file is created in the working
directory
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 16 Release 14.5
 Mesh in Fluent
• The mesh
can be read
into Fluent
using File >
Read > Mesh
(or Case)
• Take note
that parts in
ICEM CFD
become
zones in
Fluent

© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. April 1, 2013 17 Release 14.5