5 CFD Week06 - Domain Defintion

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Computational Fluid Dynamics
34
GEOMETRY GENERATION USING

OPEN SOURCE TOOLS
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Domain Definition
There many ways to creating a geometry, this
gives you the freedom to work in a way that is

comfortable to you.
There is no wrong or right way to generate a
geometry. The only rule you should keep in mind
is that by the end of the day you should get a
unique clean and watertight geometry.
The quality of the mesh and hence of the solution,
greatly depends on the geometry.
So always do your best when creating the
geometry.
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6
Potential geometry issues

Missing faces.
Cracks.
Small faces.
Misaligned faces.
Overlapping faces.
Sliver faces (high
aspect-ratio).
Repeated faces.
Several surfaces
connected to a single
surface.
Gaps.
Free faces, edges,
nodes.
Hard edges.
Small edges.
Sharp angles.
Repeated edges.
High curvature NURBS.
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NURBS
Non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) is a mathematical model commonly used in computer graphics for generating and
representing curves and surfaces.
It is a mathematically precise representation of freeform surfaces which could be exactly reproduced whenever technically needed,
like those used for
-
ship hulls,
aerospace exterior surfaces, and
car bodies,
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Potential geometry issues

In general, when generating the geometry and by using good geometry generation
practices, we should not experience these geometry issues. At the end, we should
get a smooth, clean, watertight body.
Usually, we find these issues when importing or exporting the geometry from/to
different formats.
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Preparing Geometry for Meshing
Delete hard edges.

Delete small edges/faces.
Fill holes.
Split surfaces with high curvature.
Sew faces.
Remove sliver faces.
Connect/disconnected edges/faces.
Delete sharp edges.
Remove unnecessary details (defeaturing). This includes points, edges and faces.
Decompose geometry into meshable sections.
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Missing face
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NURBS
- To improve quality, split the single surface into two surfaces
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Too many surfaces connected

to a single surface
\
High aspect ratio face/Sliver face
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Many times, it is not necessary to model all the details of the geometry.
In these cases you should consider simplifying the geometry (geometry

defeaturing) it can save a lot of time when generating the mesh.
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MESHING
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Meshing Preliminaries
Mesh generation consist in dividing the physical domain into a finite number of discrete regions,
called control volumes or cells in which the solution is sought.
Meshes used for the FVM method can consist of tetrahedras, pyramids, prisms, hexahedras
or any kind of polyhedral element (or a mix of all of them).
The meshes can be unstructured or structured. In our discussion, when we talk about
unstructured or structured meshes we refer specifically to the method used to generate them.
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Meshing Preliminaries
The data structure of the meshes used in the FVM is
represented by the points and faces that make up each control
volume.
The connectivity information of each cell (how faces and cells are connected) and cell/face
neighbor information is also needed for FVM unstructured meshes.
Meshes used for the FDM method are made of hexahedra and they are known as single and/or
multi-block structured meshes.
The connectivity information of the meshes used in the FDM is expressed as a two or three
dimensional array, this is highly memory efficient as we do not need to store all the connectivity
information of the faces and cells.
Meshing Examples
Single-block C-type structured grid around a NACA 4412 airfoil
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Meshing Examples
Multi-block structured grid around a NLR 7301 airfoil with flap
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Meshing Examples
Unstructured triangular mesh around a NHLP-2D
three element airfoil
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Meshing Examples
Overlapping structured grid around a NLR
7301 airfoil with flap
Meshing Examples
Cartesian mesh around a
Drela DAE11 low
Reynolds airfoil
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Meshing Comparison
STRUCTURED UNSTRUCTURED CARTESIAN OVERLAPPING
Geometric Flexibility/
Adaptation
Grid Adaptation/ Local
Refinement
Viscous Computation
Moving/Deforming
Meshes Quality
Interpolation/
Conservation
Grid generation
easiness
V Good
V Good
Average
Bad
V Good
V Good
V Good
Good
Good
Average
V Good
V Good
V Good
Good
Bad
V Good
V Good
Bad
V Good
Bad
V Good
V Good
Bad
V Good
V
Goo
d
V
Goo
V Bad
Memory
Requirements
CPU Requirements
V
Goo
d
V
Goo
d
V
Goo
V
Goo
d
Goo
d
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Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh
A single block structured mesh may comprise of square elements (2D) or hexahedral elements (3D) which are orthogonal in i, j space (2D) or i, j, k space (3D).
Although it is also possible to have wedges (3D), triangles (2D) and pyramids (3D) in a structured mesh.
Looking at a 2D example, for simplicity:
Every node in a 2D structured mesh has a corresponding integer i and j index value which is unique.
The physical locations of the nodes are stored in a table or are functionally related to the mesh space (ie
(x,y)= f(i,j)).
The neigbours of node (ij) are (i-1,j), (i+1,j), (ij-1), (ij+1), (i-1,j-1), and (i+1,j+1).
A structured mesh makes it very easy to loop through neighbours and can be efficient with memory.
A structured mesh has many coding advantages, but it may be difficult to conform a single block to a complicated shape. Code developers have got around this by
allowing multiple blocks (multiblock unstructured), but this can make the internal memory strucutres more inefficient.
Another way to make the mesh generation simpler, and improve code performance is to throw away the block structure and replace indices with node numbers and a
connectivity table. This is known as an unstructured mesh, because it lacks the i,j,k structure.
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A structured
mesh requires
the blocking as
input.
Unstructured
meshes, only
requires the
element size on
the lines and
surfaces that
define the
geometry as
input.
Unstructured Hybrid
Mesh (tetras, prisms
and hexs)
Cell count: approx. 5

000 000
Structured Mesh
(hexahedrals)
Cell count: approx. 5

000 000
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Each mesh type has its advantages and disadvantages.
At the end of the day, the mesh you use must has a good overall quality and must
be smooth.
The mesh density should be high enough to capture all relevant flow features.
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Mesh Quality
There is no written theory when it comes to mesh generation and the whole
process depends on user experience.
Rule of thumb: the elements shape and
distribution should be pleasing to the eye.

The user can rely on grid dependency studies, but they are time consuming
and expensive.
No single standard benchmark or metric exists that can effectively assess the
quality of a mesh, but you can rely on suggested best practices.
Mesh Quality
The most common mesh quality metrics are:
-
Orthogonality.
Skewness.
Aspect Ratio.
Smoothness.
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Mesh Quality
Mesh orthogonality
-
It is the angular deviation of the vector S (located at the face center

connecting the two cell centers P and N.
) from the vector d
It affects the gradient of the face center f.

It adds diffusion to the solution.
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Mesh Quality
Mesh skewness
- Skewness is the deviation of the vector d that connects the two cells P and N, from the face
center f. The deviation vector is represented with A and the point where the vector d intersects
- It affects the interpolation of the cell centered
quantities to the face center f.
the face f is f-.
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Mesh Quality
Mesh aspect ratio AR
-
Mesh aspect ratio AR is the ratio between the longest side Ax and the shortest side Ay .
Large AR are fine if gradients in the long direction are small.
High AR smear gradients.
Mesh Quality
Smoothness
Smoothness, also known as expansion rate, growth factor or
uniformity, defines the transition in size between contiguous cells.
Large transition ratios between cells add diffusion to the solution.
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Mesh Quality
The mesh density should be high enough to capture all relevant flow features. In areas where the
solution change slowly, you can use larger elements.
To keep cell count down, use non-uniform meshes to cluster cells only where they are needed. Use
local refinements and solution adaption to further refine only on selected areas.
For the same cell count, hexahedral meshes will give

more accurate solutions, especially if the grid lines are
aligned with the flow.

In boundary layers, quad, hex, and prism/wedge cells are preferred over triangles, tetrahedras,
or pyramids.
If you are not using wall functions (turbulence modeling), the mesh adjacent to the walls should be
fine enough to resolve the boundary layer flow. This will rocket the cell count.
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Mesh Quality
In
- WM_PROJ ECT_DIR/src/OpenFOAM/meshes/primitive
Mesh/primitiveMeshCheck/primitiveMeshCheck.C you will
find the quality metrics used in OpenFOAM.
Their maximum (or minimum) values are defined as

follows:
Foam::scalar Foam::primitiveMesh::closedThreshold_ = 1.0e-6; Foam::scalar
Foam::primitiveMesh::aspectThreshold_ = 1000; Foam::scalar
Foam::primitiveMesh::nonOrthThreshold_ = 70; // deg Foam::scalar
Foam::primitiveMesh::skewThreshold_ = 4; Foam::scalar
Foam::primitiveMesh::planarCosAngle_ = 1.0e-6;
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Mesh Quality
OpenFOAM comes with the utility checkMesh which
checks the validity of the mesh.
checkMesh will look for/check for:
-
Mesh stats and overall number of cells of each type.

Check topology (boundary conditions definitions).
Check geometry and mesh quality (bounding box, cell
volumes, skewness, orthogonality, aspect ratio)
If for any reason checkMesh finds errors, it will give

you a message and it will tell you what check failed.
It will also write a set with the faulty cells, faces,
points. These sets are saved in the directory
constant/polyMesh/sets/
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Mesh Quality
Mesh topology and patch topology errors must be
repaired.
You will be able to run with mesh quality errors

such as skewness, aspect ratio, minimum face
area, and non-orthogonality. But remember, they
will severely tamper the solution accuracy and
eventually can make the solver blow-up.
checkMesh does not repair these errors. You will
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need to check the geometry for possible errors

and generate a new mesh.
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Mesh Conversion
It is also possible to export a mesh generated with a third party
software and use it in OpenFOAM. Some of the utilities available
formesh conversion are listed below:
ansysToFoam: converts an ANSYS input mesh file OpenFOAM format.

cfx4ToFoam: converts a CFX 4 mesh to OpenFOAM format.
fluent3DMeshToFoam: converts a Fluent mesh to OpenFOAM format.
gambitToFoam: converts a GAMBIT mesh to OpenFOAM format.
gmshToFoam: reads .msh file as written by Gmsh.
ideasUnvToFoam: I-Deas unv format mesh conversion.
plot3dToFoam: plot3d mesh (ascii/formatted format) converter.
star4ToFoam: converts a STAR-CD (v4) PROSTAR mesh into
OpenFOAM format.
tetgenToFoam: Converts .ele and .node and .face files, written by tetgen.
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Mesh Conversion
OpenFOAM also comes with many mesh manipulation
utilities.
Some of them are listed below:
-
checkMesh: checks validity of a mesh.

refineMesh: utility to refine cells in multiple directions.
renumberMesh: renumbers the cell list in order to reduce
the bandwidth, reading and renumbering all fields from all
the time directories
transformPoints: transforms the mesh points in the
polyMesh directory according to the translate, rotate and
scale options.
mirrorMesh: mirrors a mesh around a given plane.
setSet: manipulate a cell/face/point/ set or zone
refineWallLayer: utility to refine cells next to patches.
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Mesh Conversion
-
For simple geometries, the mesh generation utility blockMesh (supplied

with OpenFOAM), can be used. The blockMesh utility creates multiblock
meshes. The mesh is generated from a dictionary file named
blockMeshDict located in the constant/polyMesh directory.
blockMesh
snappyHexMesh
For complex geometries, the mesh generation utility snappyHexMesh

(supplied with OpenFOAM), can be used. The snappyHexMesh utility
generates 3D meshes containing hexahedra and split-hexahedra from a
triangulated surface geometry in Stereolithography (STL) format. The
mesh is generated from a dictionary file named snappyHexMeshDict
located in the system directory and a triangulated surface geometry file
located in the directory constant/triSurface.
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Meshing Examples
Working with lid driven cavity
blocks
(
hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) (20 20 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
);
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Meshed Cavity - Grading 1 1 1

Max aspect ratio = 1 OK.
Minumum face area = 2.5e-05. Maximum face area =

5e-05. Face area magnitudes
OK.
Min volume = 2.5e-07. Max
volume = 2.5e-07. Total volume
= 0.0001. Cell volumes OK.
Mesh non-orthogonality Max: 0
average: 0
Non-orthogonality check OK.

Face pyramids OK.
Max skewness = 1e-08 OK.
Coupled point location match

(average 0) OK.
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Meshed Cavity - Grading 4 1 1
Max aspect ratio = 2.18175 OK.

Minumum face area = 1.14587e5. Maximum face area = 9.16694e- 05. Face area magnitudes OK.
Min volume = 1.14587e-07. Max volume = 4.58347e-07. Total
volume = 0.0001. Cell volumes OK.
average: 0
Face pyramids OK.
Max skewness = 2.18175e-08 OK.
(average 0) OK.
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Meshed Cavity- Grading 4 4 1

Minumum face area = 5.25205e6. Maximum face area = 9.16694e- 05.
Face area magnitudes OK.
average: 0
Face pyramids OK.
(average 0) OK.
Meshed Cavity - Grading 0.25 1 1

Minumum face area = 1.14587e- 05. Maximum face area =
9.16694e- 05. Face area magnitudes OK.
average: 0
Face pyramids OK.
(average 0) OK.
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Meshed Cavity - Grading 0.25 0.25 1

Minumum face area = 5.25205e- 06.
Maximum face area = 9.16694e- 05.
average: 0
Face pyramids OK.
(average 0) OK.
Dense Cavity
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Minumum face area = 5.86845e7. Maximum face area = 3.06423e05. Face area magnitudes OK.
hex ( 0 1 4 3 910 13 12) (30 30 1) simpleGrading (4 4 1) // bottom left quadrant hex (1 2 5 4

1011 14 13) (30 30 1) simpleGrading (0.25 4 1) // bottom right quadrant hex (3 4 7 6 12 13 16
15) (30 30 1) simpleGrading (4 0.25 1) // top left quadrant hex (4 5 8 7 13 14 17 16) (30 30 1)
simpleGrading (0.25 0.25 1) // top right quadrant
);

Coupled point location match (average 0) OK.
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Arched Cavity

Minumum face area = 1.10919e-08.
Maximum face area = 4.81143e-05.
Min volume = 1.10919e-10. Max volume =
1.47263e-07. Total volume = 0.0001. Cell
volumes OK.
Mesh non-orthogonality Max: 89.3105
average: 52.3784
*Number of severely non-orthogonal faces:
1309.
<<Writing 1309 non-orthogonal faces to set
nonOrthoFaces
Face pyramids OK.
Max skewness = 1.57064 OK.
Coupled point location match (average 0)
OK.
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Arched Curved Cavity

Minumum face area = 1.10919e-08. Maximum face area = 4.81143e-05.
I\/lin \/nli imp 1 1 DQ1 Qp-1 D IV/IPV
edges
(
arc 12 (0.8 0.4 0) arc 1011(0.8 0.4 0.1) arc
4 5(0.8 0.9 0) arc 13 14 (0.8 0.9 0.1) arc 7
8(0.81.4 0) arc 1617 (0.8 1.4 0.1)
);
Face pyramids OK.

Max skewness = 1.57064 OK.
Coupled point location match (average
0) OK.
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Problem
You are required to simulate 2D circular domain, of radius R = 2 m.

Draw a figure highlighting the vertices that will be used in the blockMeshDict to create
the geometry in OF.
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Partial Solution
(0,2,0)
(2,0,0)
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Examples of 3D Shapes using BlockMesh
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Examples of 3D Shapes using BlockMesh
3D Cylinder using blockMesh: Step1
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Dome using blockMesh: Stepl
Dome using blockMesh: Step2
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QUIZ
Problem
You are required to
simulate a 2D domain
shown.
Draw a figure
highlighting the vertices
that will be used in the
blockMeshDict to create
the geometry in OF.
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Partial Solution
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ar15
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27-Mar-1527-Mar-15

Computational Fluid Dynamics

GEOMETRY GENERATION USING

Computational Fluid Dynamics

gives you the freedom to work in a way that is

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Potential geometry issues

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Potential geometry issues

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Delete hard edges.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Too many surfaces connected

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Preparing Geometry for Meshing

In these cases you should consider simplifying the geometry (geometry

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh

Cell count: approx. 5

Cell count: approx. 5

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Structured Vs. Unstructured Mesh

Each mesh type has its advantages and disadvantages.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

It is the angular deviation of the vector S (located at the face center

) from the vector d

It affects the gradient of the face center f.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

the face f is f-.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics

For the same cell count, hexahedral meshes will give

Computational Fluid Dynamics