Basic Training

DesignModeler/Meshing

Workshop 7
Structural and CFD
meshes for a Tee Mixer
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary
2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Workshop 7

Goals

Training Manual

Demonstrates the creation of a mesh using the patch conforming

tetrahedral mesher with an inflation layer.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-2

Workshop 7

Importing Geometry

Training Manual

Start Workbench, click on Import and select change the filter to Geometry
File.

Select the agdb file mixer-tee.agdb and then click Open.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-3

Workshop 7

Importing Geometry

Training Manual

Expand the Component Systems entry at the left and drag Mesh onto the
DM instance in the project schematic. Note the linkage that appears.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-4

Workshop 7

Importing Geometry

Training Manual

Double click the Mesh entry to open up Meshing Application.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-5

Workshop 7

Meshing Options

Training Manual

Click on Cancel to close the Meshing Options panel in order to set up

methods and preferences on a later step.

Generally it makes sense to choose the right options in this panel because
of time-saving.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-6

Workshop 7

Supressing Solid Parts

Training Manual

Note that there are 5 parts. The four Solid entries comprise the solid
portion of the mixing tee while the body named Fluid is the fluid region.

Since we will focus first on the fluid region, right-click and suppress the
four solid bodies under geometry in the Outline.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-7

Workshop 7

Setting the Method

Training Manual

Right-click on Mesh and select Insert Method. Select the fluid body and set
the Method to Tetrahedrons and the Algorithm to Patch Conforming.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-8

Workshop 7

Physics Preference

Training Manual

Set the Physics Preference to CFD and the Solver Preference to Fluent.

Expand the Sizing entry and set the Max Face Size to 20 mm and the Max
Tet Size to 40 mm.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-9

Workshop 7

Physics Preference

Training Manual

Expand the Inflation entry and set Use Automatic Tet Inflation to None.
This means that you will need to define inflation layers manually.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-10

Workshop 7

Previewing the Surface Mesh

Training Manual

Right click on Mesh and select Preview Surface Mesh. The mesh resolution
of the surfaces appears to be reasonable.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-11

Workshop 7

Inflating the Method

Training Manual

Right click on the Patch Conforming

Method and choose Inflate this Method.

Pick the five side surfaces of the model

and set the Inflation Option to First Layer
Thickness and enter a value of 1 mm.
Set the Maximum Layers to 5.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-12

Workshop 7

Generating the Inflated Mesh

Training Manual

Right click on Mesh and choose Generate Mesh to create the inflated
volume mesh.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-13

Workshop 7

Skewness Mesh Metric

Training Manual

Expand the Statistics Entry and set the Mesh Metrics Option to Skewness.
The maximum value of 0.849 is suitable for the Fluent Solver.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-14

Workshop 7

Unsuppressing the Solids

Training Manual

Select the four solid parts under geometry in the project outline and rightclick to unsuppress them.

You might want to mesh the solids for a conjugate heat transfer calculation
in either CFX or FLUENT or perhaps for a one-way FSI calculation.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-15

Workshop 7

Mesh Method for the Solid Parts

Training Manual

Insert a Patch Conforming Tetrahedral Method and assign it to the four

solid parts.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-16

Workshop 7

Body Sizing for the Solid Parts

Training Manual

Right-click on Mesh in the Outline and insert a Sizing. Select the four solid
bodies in the Model View (set the selection filter to bodies if needed) and
apply the selection to the geometry.

Enter an element size of 40 mm.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-17

Workshop 7

Combined Mesh for Fluid and Solid Parts

Training Manual

Regenerate the mesh. Note the new mesh count and quality metric.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-18

Workshop 7

Suppressing Solid Parts

Training Manual

For a plain CFD simulation however you will only need the fluid portion of
the mesh. Since the solid bodies are not needed for this, suppress the four
solid bodies again.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-19

Workshop 7

Named Selections for CFD

Training Manual

To help prepare the mesh for CFD, you will create named selections for the
3 end faces.

To create a named selection, set the selection filter to Faces, pick a face in
the Model View, right-click and choose Create Named Selection. Do this for
the low-Y face in the model using inlet-y as the Name for the Selection.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-20

Workshop 7

Named Selections for CFD

Training Manual

Repeat this for the high-Z face (inlet-z) and the high-Y face (outlet).

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-21

Workshop 7

Exporting the Mesh File

Training Manual

While still in ANSYS Meshing, click on File/Export and save the file as a
.meshdat or .msh file.

Save the Project and exit Workbench.

ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary

2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

WS 7-22