Module 02: Mesh Methods

Introduction to ANSYS Meshing

Release 2019 R2

1 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.

 Overview
In this lecture we will learn:
• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing
• Methods & Algorithms for:
- Tetrahedral Meshing
- Hex Meshing
- 2D Meshing
- Shell/Solid Multi-body parts
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
- Selective Meshing
- Recording Meshing Order

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 Preprocessing Workflow

Preprocessing
Meshing
and Solution

Geometry
Import / Geometry
Creation Cleanup /
Modifications

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 Mesh Process & Course Plan
Global
Controls
Module 3

Meshing Core Local

Methods Skills Controls
Module 2 Module 1 Module 4

Mesh
Quality
Module 5
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 Which method to choose? High aspect ratio cells Cells refined around
(Inflation) near wall to capture small geometric details
boundary layer gradients and complex flow
Why Multiple Methods?
• Choice depends on:
– Physics
– Geometry
– Resources

• Mesh could require just one

or a combination of methods

Hex (3d) or Quad (2d)

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

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 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

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

6 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.

 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (1)

• Advantages of hexahedral over tetrahedral:

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

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

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 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (2)

• Advantages of tetrahedral over hexahedral:

– Easier to mesh more complex geometry:
• Mesh quality is often easier to achieve with tetrahedral (or poly) mesh
• 12 tets can be converted to one hex

• Mesh transitioning with hex mesh can be problematic

Mesh refinement need to the

continued through all the model

All Hex

Choosing the proper mesh element type will improve the mesh generation efficiency
8 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.
 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements (3)
Use Tet Mesh? High

Amount of decomposition required

Hex Meshable:

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

Sweepable Low

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

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

Topology cleanliness
9 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.
 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

• Meshing Methods for Part/Body Meshing Default tet method
• Methods & Algorithms for
– Tetrahedral Meshing
– Hexahedral Meshing
– 2D Meshing
• Meshing Multiple Bodies
– Selective Meshing
– Recording Meshing Order

10 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.

 Tetrahedrons Methods
Patch Conforming with defeaturing

• Patch Conforming with defeaturing meshes across patches is essentially Patch Independent.

• Best practice is to use Patch Conforming, to use defeaturing by default to defeature out small features in
the mesh and to use local defeature sizes for more control rather than using Patch Independent.

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 Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons: Defeaturing
• If mesh face size is smaller than the geometric faces meshing is robust.
• Tet is more robust when the geometric faces are smaller than the min or
defeature size provided it is still smaller than big features like ribs, holes, etc.
Min
Size
Face Size
Min
Size

Note: Defeature size by default is set

Min
to ½ min size.
Size
Min size should be set smaller than
big holes, ribs, and other big features

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 Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons: Defeaturing
• Primary Advantages:
• Coarser mesh for structural models (NVH, etc)
• Ability to automatically mesh more complex fluids and other models without needing
Auto-Virtual Topology, etc.
• Use selective sizing/Virtual Topologys to ignore problematic features

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

• Choice of surface
mesher algorithm
in global controls

Note: Patch independent method used to have some advantages for faceted models and
complex geometry, but for most models it doesn't have any advantages and is
considerably slower; so, we generally don't recommend to use that method.
14 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.
 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

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

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 Hexahedral Mesh Tetra mesh - 48 000 Cells

Hex Meshing
• Reduced element count
– Reduced run time

• Elements aligned in direction of flow

– Reduced numerical error Hexa mesh - 19 000 Cells

Initial Requirements
• Clean geometry
• May require geometric decomposition

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

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

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 Sweep Meshing (3)

Source & Target selection

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

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

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

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

Sweep Mesh with Inflation

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 Geometry
Sweep Meshing (5)

Identifying sweepable bodies

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

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

Unsweepable
Decompose
Making bodies sweepable Sweep Mesh

• Decompose bodies into multi-simple topological

shapes
• Perform decomposition in CAD/DM

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 Sweep Meshing (6)

Algorithm
• Allows you to choose sweep algorithm. The default is set to Program Controlled and
you can also select Axisymmetric
– Program Controlled: This algorithm can be applied only on the traditional sweepable models

– Axisymmetric: This algorithm can be applied only to 360-degree axisymmetric models

➢ Axisymmetric Sweeper does not support shared topology

➢ Mesh Based Defeaturing is available only when Axisymmetric algorithm is selected

➢ Topology Protection is not supported in Axisymmetric algorithm

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 Multizone Meshing (1)

Mesh Method & Behavior

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

To access it
• Insert Method ➔ Set to Multizone

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 Multizone Meshing (2)

Mapped Mesh Type

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

Note: For very complex models that require a lot of user decomposition, SpaceClaim has Hexa - Prism
integrated hex meshing tools.

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 Multizone Meshing (3)

Surface Mesh Method

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

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 Multizone Meshing (4)
Sweep

2.5 D Type of Meshes

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

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 Automatic Method

Mesh Method & Behavior

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

• Compatible with inflation

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

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 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

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

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 2D Meshing Methods Automatic Triangles

Mesh Method & Behavior

• Quadrilateral Dominant & Triangles
• Patch conforming methods
• MultiZone Quad/tri
• Patch Independent Methods
• Associated with face mesh type
• All Tri
• Quad/tri
• All Quad MultiZone
Quad/Tri MultiZone
Quad/Tri
With option
All Quad

• Advanced size function & local size

controls are supported

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 2D Meshing Controls 2D Mapped
mesh

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

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

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 2D Mesh Solver Guidelines

ANSYS Fluent ANSYS CFX

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

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

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 Shell/Solid Multi-body parts (1)

• Shared Topology w/shells &

solids now supported
• Meshing supported:
⁻ By default solids meshed first
⁻ Use selective meshing if you
want different behavior

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 Shell/Solid Multi-body parts (2)

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 Agenda

• Hexahedral vs Tetrahedral Elements

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

33 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.

 Selective Mesh (1)

What is ?
‐ Selectively picking bodies and meshing them incrementally

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

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

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

• Select body(s)
• Right click

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

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

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

• Access option through RMB click on Geometry →

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

Example :
Geometric
change to block

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 Summary

• We have studied the different Methods & Algorithms at disposal into Meshing
– Tetrahedral Meshing
• Default tet method (mostly used with Patch conforming algorithm and defeaturing)
– Hex Meshing (best suited for CFD)
• Sweep meshing – requires a sweep direction, a source face and a target
• Multizone which handles multiple source and target faces with a sweep direction
– 2D Meshing

– Shell/Solid Multi-body parts

• Meshing Multiple Bodies

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

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 Workshop 2.1 CFD: Meshing Methods

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 Workshop 2.1 FEA: Meshing Methods

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