Workshop 7.

2
Multizone Meshing for a Tank Geometry with Piping

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Goals
This tutorial will show how to use the Meshing Application in ANSYS 12 to generate a mesh suitable for a CFD simulation of a chemical process flow. The geometry, consists of three bodies representing a tank together with a single inlet and outlet pipe. The goal is to produce an Hex mesh throughout the domain without any further decomposition of the geometry using the Multizone Method.
ANSYS, Inc. Proprietary 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.

Training Manual

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Creating a Standalone Meshing System

1. Launch ANSYS 12.0 Workbench from the START menu

Training Manual

2. Open the Component Systems section of the Toolbox on the LHS of the WB GUI. 3. Double click the Mesh option

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Importing the Geometry

Training Manual

4. Right click on the Geometry button in the RHS of the WB panel and select Import geometry (the question mark on the button turns to a tick once a geometry file is imported)

5. Import the 2-pipe-tank.agdb file 6. Double click on the Mesh button to launch the Meshing Application
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Geomety
7. The original geometry was modified in DesignModeler

Training Manual

The tank was split into three bodies and some simplification was made to remove small faces that are not important to the analysis One multi-body Part was created and a given the name Fluid and the material type Fluid Individual bodies were re-named

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Meshing Options

Training Manual

8. In the Meshing Options panel to the RHS of the main window select the following meshing options:
Physics Preference CFD Mesh Method Automatic Click OK after you made the selections In Units, make sure it is set to Metric, mm
*Note: If you are using ANSYS V14.0 or more recent versions of ANSYS then you will not see the Meshing Options panel at the start of ANSYS Meshing. You will still be able to set the Physics Preference and insert any Mesh Methods manually or set your defaults from Tools>Options..>Meshing

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Named Selections
Set the Cursor Mode to Face selection Select the inlet face RMB select Create Named Selection Assign the name Inlet Repeat for Outlet A naming convention has been established to automatically assign zone types in Fluent For example Inlet
Velocity-inlet zone

Training Manual

9. Named Selections are used to assign Fluent name and zone types

Outlet
Pressure-outlet zone

See Fluent Mesh export section of the manual for all options.
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Global Mesh Settings

10. Set Global Size and Quality control
Click on Mesh in the Model Tree to open up the Details of Mesh panel Sizing
Turn Off Use Advanced Size Function
Multizone does not use this option

Training Manual

Change the Relevance Center

Fine
Recommended for most CFD applications that apply the Multizone Method

Statistics
Assign Mesh Metric

Option Skewness Maintain all other defaults

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Inserting a Multizone Method

11. Insert Mutizone Meshing control
Set the Cursor Mode to Body selection RMB (in Window) Select All the bodies RMB (in Tree) Insert Method Select Multizone

Training Manual

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Setting Multizone Sources

12. Select Mutizone Source faces
Change Src/Trg Selection Manual Source
To ensure the middle section can be swept

Training Manual

Set the Cursor Mode to Face Pick the five green source faces (see top image) Rotate the model to look at the rear of the tank Pick the additional five red source faces (see bottom image) Apply

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Generating the Initial Mesh

13. Create an initial Mesh of the model

Training Manual

RMB (in Tree) Generate Mesh The mesh is successfully created but refinement is clearly needed
The mesh at the inlet and outlet pipes and close to the pipe/tank intersection is insufficient to capture the physics correctly This can be achieved by inserting some additional meshing instructions such as Inflation, Sizing and Biased Sizing to improve the pipe/tank meshing

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Face Sizing
14. Add Face Sizing for the pipes to control the size of elements
Start by removing the mesh
RMB (in Tree) Clean and confirm

Training Manual

Make sure youre using Face Selection and pick the four faces shown in Green RMB (in Tree) Insert Sizing Set Sizing Details: Set Element Size
1 mm

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Adding Inflation
15. Add Inflation (boundary layers)
Set the Cursor Mode to Body Selection Select the central green body RMB (in Tree) Insert Inflation

Training Manual

16. Set Inflation Details

Switch to Face selection Select the four green cylindrical faces and Apply Set Inflation Control
Number of Layers
2 1 mm
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Maximum thickness
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Introduction to MultiZone Meshing

Edge Sizing
17. Add Edge Sizing
Change Cursor Mode to Edge Selection Select two green edges on one side Rotate the model Repeat the selection RMB (in Tree) Insert Sizing

Training Manual

18. Set Sizing Details

Element Size
1mm

Behaviour
Hard

Bias type
_ __ ___ __ _

Bias Factor
6
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Generating the Final Mesh

19. Generate the mesh
RMB (in Tree) Generate Mesh Statistics
Elements ~45,000 Max Skewness Below 0.8

Training Manual

Overall a good Quality mesh

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Examining the Mesh

20. Examine the Mesh

Training Manual

Inflation on the pipe walls

Sizing 4 elements on face

Sizing element size 1mm across pipe and biasing to increase density at transition
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Saving the Project

21. The mesh is now complete
RMB (Tree) select Update Select File > Close Mesh to close the Mesh application

Training Manual

In the WB panel select File > Save Project As and give the project a name Exit from ANSYS Workbench by selecting File > Exit

22. Further Work

Change the mesh settings for each of the additional parameters
How do each of these parameters influence the mesh?

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