Lecture 7 Assembly Meshing

14. 5 Release

Introduction to ANSYS Meshing

2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 1 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing
What you will learn from this presentation

Concept of Assembly Meshing Assembly Meshing Methods

CutCell Tetra Controls Virtual Bodies Fluid Surfaces Contacts Sharp Angle Tool Leakage

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

Release 14.5

Preprocessing Workflow
Geometry Creation OR Geometry Import Geometry Operations Meshing Solver

Sketches and Planes 3D Operations

Extrude, Revolve, Sweep, etc

3D Operations
Boolean, Body Operations, Split, etc

Meshing Methods
Hybrid Mesh: Tet, Prisms, Pyramids

Hexa Dominant, Sweep meshing

Geometry Import Options

Direct CAD/BiDirectional CAD

Geometry Cleanup and Repair

Automatic Cleanup Merge, Connect, Projection, Flow Volume Extraction, etc

Assembly Meshing

Global Mesh Settings Local Mesh Settings

Sizing, Body/Sphere of Influence, Match Control, etc

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

Release 14.5

Meshing Process in ANSYS Meshing (Assembly Meshing)

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing
Behavior

Meshes an entire model as single

process Mesh Methods covered so far are part or body based methods Not compatible with part/body methods Two Algorithms available CutCell & Tetrahedrons

Access

Assembly Meshing is accessible only

when Physics and Solver Preferences are set to CFD and Fluent respectively To activate, replace None by Cutcell or Tetrahedrons
January 15, 2013 5 Release 14.5

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Assembly Meshing - Characteristics

Operates on parts, multi-body parts, etc.
Tolerates overlapping bodies Creates conformal meshes across parts in contact Eliminates the need for multi-body part generation in CAD Ability to define Virtual Bodies for fluid flow from a closed set of bodies (sheet or solid) Eliminates the need for Boolean/Fill operations in CAD Patch Independent Eliminates the need for pinch control and VT operations Mesh elements size driven by Size Functions
Note that some global and local controls are not available for Assembly Meshing (eg. Match Control)
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 6

CutCell Assembly Mesh

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - CutCell

CutCell Behavior

Cartesian meshing method designed

for the ANSYS FLUENT solver Generates a majority of hex cells Some wedges, tets and pyramids at boundaries to capture geometry During transfer to Fluent hexa cells at size transition are converted into Polyhedra Supports Inflation Post-inflation (TGrid algorithm) Inflation on zero thickness baffles not supported Thick inflation layers may fail Cutcell mesh generated first, inflation generated second (Post)
January 15, 2013 7 Release 14.5

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Assembly Meshing - Tetrahedrons

Tetrahedrons Behavior

Generates a Patch Independent tetra

mesh with automatic defeaturing Following steps occur in background Generate CutCell Delete volume mesh Triangulate surface mesh and improve Fill with tetra mesh Compatible with inflation Pre-inflation Algorithm similar to Tetra Patch Conformal Has the benefits of cutcell (no requirement on solid bodies, patch independent, etc) but with the flexibility of the bottom up approach i.e. pre inflation rather than post
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 8 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing Controls

Set Advanced Size Functions
Proximity SF Sources : 'edges', faces or edges and faces Faces is v. expensive and edges is recommended Define correct Min Size (details next slide) Inflation defined by Global or Local controls Combined Global & Local not supported Program Control acts on Fluid bodies only Bodies can be set as Fluid in Body properties For Virtual Bodies, only automatic Program Controlled inflation can be used (wetted surfaces may only be defined during meshing) Define Feature and Tessellation controls (see next slide) Apply any required local size controls Statistics Use Orthogonal Quality for Cutcell meshes
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 9 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Controls

Min Size definition

Example 1. Min Size too large compared to the size of the geometric detail

Assembly Meshing is Patch Independent and starts with a

Cartesian overlaid grid which finds closed regions Geometry recovery and leakage between regions depend on local sizes, i.e. if Cartesian size is too small near a gap you will get leakage between regions Local sizes are driven by Size Function definitions Min Size and Prox Min Size must be set with care Prox Min Size can be smaller than Min Size to avoid overrefinement in curved areas Local mesh size recommendation to capture 3D features Local size < important feature size Local mesh size recommendation to close gaps 1/10 local mesh size < gap size < local mesh size : apply hard sizing to force gap closed Gap size < 1/10 local mesh size : gap closed
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 10

Example2 . Doubling the Min Size closes the gap

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Controls

Feature Capture
Program Controlled : default which sets feature angle = 40 Feature Angle : user defined angle to define feature level to recover 0 to capture all curves in model Tessellation (faceting) refinement Assembly meshing is applied to a faceted representation of the geometry via TGrid libraries Program Controlled - default which sets tessellation refinement to 10% of the value of smallest mesh size Absolute Tolerance user defined tolerance Must be set to 5-10% of smallest mesh size None - Sets tessellation to the CAD program or Design Modeler default setting Note DM faceting control is in Options GraphicsDesign Modeler Graphics Facet Quality 2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 11

Tessellation problems may lead to leakage

Release 14.5

Tessellation Refinement
Tess. Ref. = None
Tess. Ref. = 0.1mm

Images above show the tessellated representation of the geometry in the workshop which is passed to the TGrid libraries for cutcell meshing With no refinement the geometry is coarsely faceted but with the recommended refinement of 0.1*min-size a good curvature of geometry is captured and will give better geometric fidelity in the mesh
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 12 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Virtual Bodies

Ability to mesh fluid regions without prior CAD manipulations Definition of fluid flow from a closed set of bodies (sheet or solid)
Capping faces might be necessary to close internal volume Use of virtual body (material point) to define meshed region to be kept

Capping Face

Material point

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

13

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Virtual Bodies

Using Virtual Bodies

1. Define a new Coordinate System inside the

Fluid Void Easy creation based on entity selection, e.g. Select 2 points, RMB > Create 2 Coordinate System 2. RMB on Geometry and Insert a Virtual Body 3. Assign the Coordinate System to the Material Point in the details of the Virtual Body
Material Point

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

14

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Virtual Bodies

Using Virtual Bodies When using Virtual Bodies, user can choose to keep or discard the solid mesh Keep Solid Mesh option in the global controls

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

15

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Fluid Surfaces

Creating Fluid Surfaces for Virtual Bodies

Description
If possible, the user can improve robustness by picking all faces that make up the wetted surfaces of the flow volume Can take advantage of Extend to Connection (see appendix) Only specified fluid surface faces will be used for mesh generation (solids ignored) Applications Used when only flow volume is needed Keep Solid Mesh NO Advantages Faster Less memory Reduction of leakages Reduction of unnecessary refinement Usage Fluid Surfaces will ignore baffles Fluid surfaces recommended when Virtual Body is bounded by surface bodies only
January 15, 2013 16 Release 14.5

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Assembly Meshing - Sharp Angle Tool

A special cell cutting algorithm has been
developed to properly capture sharp 3D angles Can be used to improve feature capturing in general Similar to thin cuts in ICEM CFD Right click on Mesh, Insert Sharp Angle. Select surfaces adjacent to edges at sharp locations. Can select multiple areas.

Mesh without Sharp Angle Tool

Sharp angles in the Flow volume of a drill bit model

Mesh with Sharp Angle Tool

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

17

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Leakage Path

Find leaks using material points

When using material points (for internal flow) and the mesh is leaking to the
outside, the leak-path will be automatically displayed together with the surface mesh. User can try to repair gap/hole based on path.
Example; Gap between pipe flange surfaces. Message indicates leakage. Leakage path displayed in Graphics Window.

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

18

Release 14.5

Appendix
Contents

Contacts Sharp Angle Notes Mesh Groups Important General Notes

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

19

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Using Contacts for Assembly Meshing

Workbench has extensive capabilities with respect to the detection of contacts

(interfaces or connections) between parts When meshing intersecting bodies using assembly meshing, the intersection lines can have poor feature capture Assembly Meshing Contact Tools Find Contacts Features at contact pairs will be well preserved in the mesh Enable use of Extend to Connection selection tool Find Thin Sections Check thin bodies to set a corresponding size Closing of small gaps using Contact Sizing
For example, in this image the circled edges would be removed without contact defined since the feature angle is below the default (40 degrees)
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 20 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Finding Contacts

By default connections are created automatically in WB, so to start with delete all
the old connections To create contacts, RMB on Mesh and Find Contacts This will generate contacts for the whole assembly Face - Edge and/or Face Face Make sure Size Functions and min-size are set to appropriate levels for the geometry

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

21

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Finding Thin Sections
Assembly meshing can leak through very thin plates Assembly Meshing produces better quality meshes if thin baffles and fins are well resolved By using the Find Thin Sections tool, thin geometry can be found in advance and appropriate sizing can be applied (< half the thickness of the thin section)

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

22

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Defining Contact Sizings
Contact Sizings can be used to avoid leaks between parts Closing Gaps smaller than ~ of min size
Example; Pick the face of the valve plug (blue) and the edge of the valve seat (red)

How to set Contact Sizings 1. Insert a contact with the entities between which there is a gap Face/Face or Face/Edge 2. Drag and drop the contact on top of the Mesh Icon Creates a Contact sizing 3. Adjust Contact sizing Should be bigger than the gap 4. Generate Mesh

#1

#2

#3
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 23 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Selection helper Extend to Connection can be used to pick wetted surfaces
User pick one surface, upon click on Extend to Connection all surfaces between neighboring contacts are selected Contacts must be defined beforehand

Picking Fluid Surface with Extend to Connection

Start by picking all capping faces Use the Tree to confirm the number of capping faces (Surface Bodies) In large models, hide all 3D-bodies! Select faces in the fluid region away from contacts Extend to connections, does not work if the face is already in contact Check that all the faces are picked, if not, meshing will leak To see missing faces, hide all bodies and look at the picked faces in the mesh group Faces could extend outside the flow volume (as they are not split at contacts) Note: Fluid Surfaces will ignore baffles
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 24 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Contacts

Contact Sizing Limitations

The features at a Face-Face location are often not well resolved since there are not features on both side of the gap
Avoid using inflation at contact size locations Exclude the faces around the gap using Named selection

Do not combine Contact sizing with sharp angle tool Contact sizing tries to walk over thin gaps Sharp angle tools try to resolve small gaps

Features

No Feature

This should be resolved in the CAD

2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 25 Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Sharp Angle Notes

Sharp angle tools does not work in following cases
Between baffles In combination with contact sizing Using sharp angle tool can lead to reduced quality Ignoring inflation at sharp angle faces often improves quality Sharp angle tool to resolve thin plates If you have a big thin plate and only edge proximity size function, CutCell might fail and leak right through the plate However, instead of resolving the plate using face proximity (which is time consuming), you can add sharp angle tool on both side of the plate Note that if the plate is meshed, the ends need to be well resolved

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

26

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Sharp Angle Notes

Without sharp angle tool
very thin plate

With sharp angle tool

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

27

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing - Mesh Groups

Using Mesh Groups
Mesh Groups can be defined to identify bodies that should be grouped together for assembly meshing algorithms

This approach may be useful if the fluid domain was decomposed into multiple volumes
With CutCell, decomposed volumes are no longer needed. Grouping tells the mesher to treat certain solid parts as one part The mesh generated on the combined parts (i.e., the group) will be associated with the mesh of the selected master body

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

January 15, 2013

28

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing Important General Notes

Cannot be used in combination with
other Meshing Methods Feature recovery limitations Sharp trailing edges and acute edges will produce a jagged mesh Recovering some features might lead to bad quality Prior to meshing the user is advised to resolve geometry features properly CAD/DM Avoid unnecessary geometry details Min size should be of smallest 3D feature, check and adjust if required
January 15, 2013

Interoperability
Inflation not supported on baffles or internal walls Ignored symmetry condition for meshing Failure in the CutCell meshing algorithm is almost always related to faceting issues in relation to the value of Min Size. Make sure that the value of Min Size truly represents the smallest size that you want the curvature and proximity size function to capture

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

29

Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing Common Warning 1

ANSYS Meshing Gives the Warning: The tolerance of the geometry is larger than the applied tessellation refinement tolerance. This might lead to an uneven mesh and/or to poor geometric accuracy of the mesh. Background: For assembly meshing a tessellated version of the geometry is generated and passed to TGrid libraries where the mesh is generated. This is very much like an STL representation. Meaning of warning: In certain models, some CAD curves may not accurately follow the topologically connected surface(s). The warning above happens when the tolerance describing the mismatch between curves and surfaces is greater than the refinement tolerance. This mismatch can lead to holes being created in the faceting. A post-tessellation refinement hole-fixing algorithm subsequently tries to patch any holes created with an algorithm but hole closing itself can lead to poor representation of the geometry. Hole closing can also fail, leading to leakage in the Assembly Meshing algorithms (cutcell and tetrahedra) inside ANSYS Meshing. Example given on next slide.
January 15, 2013 30 Release 14.5

2012 ANSYS, Inc.

Assembly Meshing Common Warning 2

1. No Tessellation Refinement sloppy CAD surfs dont match curves

2. Tessellation Refinement will refine facets to improve situation but can open holes

Hole opened

3. Hole fix step done automatically after tessellation refinement can distort geometry or fail leaving holes, causing cutcell to leak
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 31

Hole Fixed
Release 14.5

Assembly Meshing Common Warning 3

What can the user do about it?

This is a warning only and it may be that there are no ill effects caused by it patches could all be very clean. Check the final mesh.
User should inspect their geometry to check for problems around areas of curvature and fix if possible. Use CAD/DM to simplify. Do not use merging operations for faces in DM for Assembly Meshing it is patch independent and these are not required. Do not use virtual topology for Assembly Meshing for the same reason. Usually poor quality will show up if this is a problem or there will be some poor feature capture If cutcell leaks and the final surfaces of the mesh look nothing like the original geometry try switching off refinement to see if this helps and then trying larger user defined tolerances (recommend 1/10th min size in the mesh)
2012 ANSYS, Inc. January 15, 2013 32 Release 14.5