17.

0 Release

ANSYS Meshing Advanced Techniques

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 Overview
• ANSYS Meshing Overview
• Advanced Tet Methods
• Advanced Hex Methods
• Selective Meshing Methods
• Using Global Meshing Methods
• Using Local Meshing Methods
• Clean Up Tools
• Quality Metrics
• Meshing Tips and Tricks

3 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 What is ANSYS Meshing
ANSYS Meshing is a component of ANSYS Workbench
• Meshing platform
• Combines and builds on strengths of preprocessing offerings from
ANSYS:
– ICEM CFD, TGRID (Fluent Meshing), CFX-Mesh, Gambit

Able to adapt and create Meshes for different Physics

and Solvers
• CFD: Fluent, CFX and POLYFLOW
• Mechanical: Explicit dynamics, Implicit
• Electromagnetic
Integrates directly with other WB systems

4 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 What are the Element Types
• Tetrahedral
• Hexahedral
• Polyhedral (CFD)

5 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Advanced Tet Methods

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 Hexahedral vs. Tetrahedral Elements
• Advantages of tetrahedral over hexahedral:
– Easier to mesh more complex geometry:
• Mesh quality is often easier to achieve with tetrahedral (or poly)
mesh 1 tet to 4 hex
Tet mesh can be easily
converted to hex mesh,
but if the quality is bad,
what’s the point?

• Mesh transitioning with hex mesh can be problematic

Small mesh size on holes need

to transition to larger size
elsewhere, but transitioning
hex mesh can be a problem All Hex

Choosing the proper mesh element type will improve the mesh generation efficiency

7 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Patch Conforming versus Independent

8 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Tetrahedral Methods
Patch Conforming Patch Independent
• Bottom up approach: Meshing process • Top down approach: Meshing process
• Edges  Faces  volume • Volume meshed first  projected on to faces
• All faces and their boundaries are respected & edges
(conformed to) and meshed (except with • Faces, edges & vertices not necessarily conformed
defeaturing tolerance) • Controlled by tolerance and scoping of Named
• Good for high quality (clean) CAD geometries Selection, load or other object
• CAD cleanup required for dirty geometry • Good for gross de-featuring of poor quality (dirty)
• Sizing is defined by global and/or local controls CAD geometries
• Compatible with inflation • Method Details contain sizing controls
• Compatible with inflation

To access it To access it
• Insert Method • Insert Method
• Set to Tetrahedrons • Set to Tetrahedrons
• Set to Patch Conforming • Set to Patch Independent

9 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Tetrahedral Method: Algorithm comparison
Patch conforming : details caputred
Patch independent : details ignored

Delaunay mesh - smooth growth rate Octree mesh . approximate growth rate

Geometry with small details

10 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Advanced Hex Methods

11 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Hexahedral versus Tetrahedral Elements
• 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

12 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 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

13 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sweep Meshing
Source & Target selection
Automatic
• Source & Target faces identified automatically
Define the number
• Requires that the mesher find the sweeping
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

14 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Multizone Meshing
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

15 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 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

16 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Meshing Options
Global Meshing Local Meshing
Parameters Parameters
Global Settings Mesh Method
- Physics Preference - Tet, Hex,
- Shape Checking Multizone, Sweep

Global Sizing Advanced Tools

- Size Functions - Inflation, Pinch and
- Relevance Center match controls

Global Inflation Layers Local Sizings

- Edge, Face, Body
Advanced Settings
- Number of CPUS Mesh Edit Tools
- Node move/merge
Mesh Statistics - Contact Match

17 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Global Meshing Methods

18 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Global Mesh Controls
• Global mesh controls are used to make
global adjustment in the meshing
strategy, which includes sizing
functions, inflation, smoothing,
defeaturing, parameter inputs,
assembly meshing…
• Minimal inputs
– Automatically calculates global element sizes
based on the smallest geometric entity
– Smart defaults are chosen based on physics
preference
• Makes global adjustments for required
level of mesh refinement
• Advanced Size Functions for resolving
regions with curvatures and proximity
of surfaces Smart defaults !

19 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Defaults
• Five options under “Physics Preference”
– Mechanical, Nonlinear Mechanical, Electromagnetics, CFD and Explicit

• Three options under “Solver Preference” when CFD is

selected
– Fluent, CFX and Polyflow

• Mesh setting defaults are automatically adjusted to suit the

“Physics Preference” and “Solver Preference”

The Nonlinear Mechanical Physics

Preference Option has been
added in R17.0 and may results in
higher mesh quality for FEA users

20 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sizing: Size Function
• Controls the growth and distribution of mesh in
important regions of high curvature or close proximity of
surfaces
• Five Options:
– Adaptive
– Proximity and Curvature
– Curvature
– Proximity
– Uniform

• When CutCell Meshing is active with ‘Proximity’ or

‘Proximity and Curvature’, Proximity Size Function
Sources control is displayed to specify the regions of
proximity between “Edges”, “Faces” or “Faces and
Edges” in the computation of Proximity Size Function (SF)

21 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sizing: Sizing Function Examples

SF: Adaptive SF: Curvature SF: Proximity

• The edges are meshed with global • Determines the Edge and Face sizes • Controls the mesh resolution on
Element Size based on Curvature Normal Angle proximity regions in the model
• Then the edges are refined for • Finer Curvature Normal Angle creates • Fits in specified number of elements in
curvature and 2D proximity finer surface mesh the narrow gaps
• At the end, corresponding face and • Transition of cell size is defined by • Higher Number of Cells Across Gap
volume mesh is generated Growth Rate creates more refined surface mesh
• Transition of cell size is defined by • Transition of cell size is defined by
Transition Growth Rate

22 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

Sizing: Element Size

Element Size (only available when the size function is set to

Adaptive)
• Element size used for the entire model
– This size will be used for meshing all edges, faces and bodies

• Default value based on Relevance and Initial Size Seed

– User can input required value as per geometry dimensions

23 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Local Meshing Methods

24 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sizing
Recommended for locally defining the mesh sizes
You can only scope sizing to one geometry entity type at a time
• For example: you can apply sizing to a number of edges or a number of faces, but not
a mix of edges and faces

Four Types of Sizing option

• Element Size specifies average element edge length on bodies, faces or edges
• Number of Divisions specifies number of elements on edge(s)
• Body of Influence specifies average element size within a body
• Sphere of Influence specifies average
element size within the sphere
Entity/Option Element Size Number of Divisions Body of Influence Sphere of Influence
Sizing options vary depending Vertices x
Edges x x x Requires a
on the entity type chosen Faces x x Coordinate
system for
Bodies x x x
the sphere
Advanced Size
Function in
Global settings
Only Element Size type is available for CutCell should be
meshing disabled

25 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sizing: Sphere of Influence
On Vertex On Bodies
– Available with or without Advanced Size – Available with or without Advanced Size
Functions Functions
– Sets the average element size around the – Constant element size is applied within the
selected vertex confines of a sphere
– Inputs: – Use coordinate system to define the center
• Sphere radius and Element size of the Sphere
• Center of the sphere is defined by a model
vertex

26 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Sizing: Bodies of Influence
Bodies of influence (BOI)
– Lines, surfaces and solid bodies can be used to refine the mesh
– Accessible when ASF is On
– Not available for CutCell meshing

Line BOIs

Surface BOI Solid BOI The ‘Body of Influence’

itself will not be meshed

Without BOIs

27 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Face Meshing Control
• Forces Mapped/Pave meshes on selected mappable surfaces
– Face Meshing with advanced control is supported for
• Sweep, Patch Conforming, Hexa Dominant
• Quad Dominant and Triangles
• MultiZone
• Uniform Quad/Tri and Uniform Quad
– RMB on Mesh and Show/Mappable Faces
to display all mappable faces
If Face Meshing fails, ( ) icon appears
adjacent to corresponding object in the
Tree outline. The mesh will still be created
but will ignore this control.

28 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Face Mesh Control: Advanced Vertex Options
• Sweep/MultiZone (2D and 3D) support for Advanced Vertex options on Face
meshing

S S

S S

Denoted by S
S, C or E

29 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Match Control
• Define periodicity on faces (3D) or edges (2D)
• The two faces or edges should be topologically and geometrically the same
• A match control can only be assigned to one unique face/edge pair
• Match controls are not supported with Post Inflation Algorithm
• Match Control with Patch Independent tetrahedrons not supported yet
– Two types of match controls available:
• Cyclic and
• Arbitrary
– Not available for CutCell meshing

Matching face
mesh

If ‘Match Control’ fails, ( ) icon appears adjacent to corresponding

object in the outline Tree, however the mesh is created ignoring it

30 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Symmetry Control
• Define mesh periodicity on faces (3D) or edges (2D)
• Faces/edges pairs should be topologically and
geometrically identical
• Can be assigned to several face/edge pairs at once
• Not supported with
– Assembly Meshing
– Post Inflation Algorithm
– Patch Independent tetrahedrons
– Two types of Symmetry Controls useful for CFD:
• ‘Cyclic’ for rotational periodicity
• ‘Linear Periodic’ for translational periodicity

Matching face
mesh

31 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Inflation
Used to generate prism layers (as explained in Global settings chapter)
• Inflation layer can be applied to faces or bodies using respectively edges
or faces as the boundary

Inflation layer grown on edge boundary (red)

Inflation layer grown on face boundary (red)

32 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Contact Match Mesh
• Connect mesh at mesh level
• At R17 only works with tet mesh
• Could avoid problems with shared topology

Notes:
• Mesh generated as separate parts
• Use Contact Match controls to match mesh
• Create Named Selection to inspect matched mesh
• Node merge can be added as second step to make
mesh conformal

33 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Nonlinear Adaptive Mesh
• Nonlinear Adaptive Region
• Enables you to change
the mesh during the solution phase
to improve precision without
incurring a great deal of
computational penalties.
The Nonlinear Adaptive Region
feature is completely automatic.
• Limitations: All 2D elements, Only
Linear 3D elements

34 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Selective Meshing Methods

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 Selective Mesh
What is selective meshing?
• Selectively picking bodies and meshing them incrementally

Why selective meshing?

• 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

36 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Selective Mesh 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

37 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Selective Mesh
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

38 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Selective Mesh
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

39 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Clean Up Tools

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 Node Merge & Node Move
• Node Merge: enables to merge mesh nodes within a specified tolerance,
making the mesh conformal across bodies, parts, and assemblies. Node
Merge can be performed on solid, sheet, and line bodies
• Node Move: Dynamically pick and drag nodes around (quality plots
updated real time)
• History of moves is recorded in Worksheet and allows for “Undo”

Note: If you update your mesh

(Mesh object>Update), the
application maintains your
movements in the Worksheet until
the mesh is cleared (zero nodes) using
the RMB option Clear Generated
Data or you refresh data from the
CAD source; In these cases all the
Node Move movements are lost

41 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh Connections
• Mesh Connections: enable you to join the meshes of topologically
disconnected surface bodies that may reside in different parts. This is an
alternative to connecting the geometry in SpaceClaim or DM

42 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Contact Matches
• Contact Matches: enable you to match mesh nodes between topologically
disconnected solids within a specified tolerance. They are an alternate
option to imprinting faces in SpaceClaim or DM.

43 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Defeaturing
• Removes small geometry features meeting the tolerances
using Pinch or/and Automatic Mesh Based Defeaturing
controls in order to improve the mesh quality.
• Automatic Mesh Based Defeaturing (AMBD) when it is ‘On’,
features smaller than or equal to the value of Defeaturing
Tolerance are removed automatically.
Note: Defeaturing Tolerance can be set maximum up to Global Min Size/2. Use a high value for Global
Min Size and use Local Sizing controls for defining Local Min Sizes smaller than this value. Defeaturing will
respect local min sizes and will clean only those faces/bodies with no local control. This approach is
recommended over Virtual Topology

AMBD Off AMBD On

44 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Pinch
• To improve quality Pinch control
removes small features (edges or narrow
regions) at the mesh level
• The Pinch feature is supported for the
following mesh methods:
– Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons
– Thin Solid Sweeps
– Hex Dominant meshing
– Quad Dominant Surface Meshing
– Triangles Surface meshing

– Not supported for CutCell meshing

45 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Pinch
• Pinch control removes small features automatically or manually at the mesh level
– Slivers
– Short Edges
– Sharp Angles
• The Pinch feature works on vertices and edges only
• The Pinch feature is supported for the following mesh methods:
– Patch Conforming Tetrahedrons
– Thin Solid Sweeps
– Hex Dominant meshing
– Quad Dominant Surface meshing
– Triangles Surface meshing before after before after
• Not supported for
– CutCell
– Patch Independent
– Multizone & General Sweep
Vertex-Vertex Edge-Edge

46 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Diagnostics: Close vertices (New in R17.0)
● Close Vertices: Checks for vertices that are very close together:
– Scale can be adjusted depending on model sizes

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 Virtual Topology
When to use? Without VT With VT
• To merge together a number of small (connected)
faces/edges
• To simplify small features in the model
• To simplify load abstraction for mechanical analysis
• To create edge splits for better control of the surface
mesh control

Virtual cells modify topology

• Original CAD model remains unchanged
• New faceted geometry is created with virtual
topology

Restrictions
• Limited to “developable” surfaces
• Virtual Faces cannot form a closed region
automatically manually

48 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Virtual Topology
In some instances it may be desirable to
modify topology to allow application of
some desired effect (e.g., mesh control,
load, support, …):
• Split face at vertices

• Split Edge

• Add a hard vertex

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 Quality Metrics

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 Impact of the Mesh Quality
Good quality mesh means that…
• Mesh quality criteria are within correct range
– Orthogonal quality …
• Mesh is valid for studied physics
– Boundary layer …
• Solution is grid independent
• Important geometric details are well captured

Bad quality mesh can cause

• Convergence difficulties
• Bad physics description
• Diffuse solution

User must…
• Check quality criteria and improve grid if needed
• Think about model and solver settings before generating the grid
• Perform mesh parametric study, mesh adaption …

51 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh Statistics and Mesh Metrics
Displays mesh information for Nodes and Elements
List of quality criteria for the Mesh Metric
• Select the required criteria to get details for quality
• It shows minimum, maximum, average and standard deviation
Different physics and different solvers have different requirements for mesh quality
Mesh metrics available in ANSYS Meshing include:
– Element Quality
– Aspect Ratio
– Jacobean Ration
– Warping Factor
– Parallel Deviation
– Maximum Corner Angle
– Skewness
– Orthogonal Quality

For Multi-Body Parts, go to corresponding body in Tree Outline

to get its separate mesh statistics per part/body

52 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Element Quality
• Element Quality:
• Composite quality metric that ranges between 0 and 1
• Ratio of the volume to the square root of the cube of the sum of the
square of the edge lengths for 3D elements

• 2D quad/tri elements:

0 1
Worst Perfect

• 3D brick elements:

53 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Aspect Ratio
2-D:
• Length / height ratio: δx/δy 1 ∞
Perfect Worst
3-D
• Area ratio
• Radius ratio of circumscribed / inscribed circle δy

δx
Limitation for some iterative solvers
• A < 10 … 100
• (CFX: < 1000)
Large aspect ratio are accepted where there is no
strong transverse gradient (boundary layer
...)

54 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Jacobian Ratio
𝑅𝑗𝑚𝑎𝑥
• Jacobian Ratio =
𝑅𝑗𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝜕𝐹1 𝜕𝐹1
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦
• Where 𝑅𝑗 = det(𝐽𝐹 ) at sampling locations and 𝐽𝐹 = 𝜕𝐹2 𝜕𝐹2
in 2D
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑦

• Jacobian Ratio ≥ 1
– If 𝑅𝑗𝑚𝑎𝑥 and 𝑅𝑗𝑚𝑖𝑛 have opposite signs then
the Jacobian ratio = -100 and is unacceptable

1 ∞
Perfect Worst

55 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Skewness
• Skewness: 0 - 1
• Two methods for determining skewness: Optimal (equilateral) cell
– Equilateral Volume deviation:
optimal cell size  cell size
– Skewness = optimal cell size

– Applies only for triangles and tetrahedrons

Actual cell
– Normalized Angle deviation:
 max Circumsphere
    e   min   min
– Skewness = max  max e , 
 180   e e 

– Where 𝜃𝑒 is the equiangular face/cell (60 for tets and tri’s, and 90 for quads and
hexas)
– Applies to all cell and face shapes
0 1
– Used for hexa, prisms and pyramids Perfect Worst

56 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Orthogonal Quality On cell On face
A1
Orthogonal Quality (OQ) A1
c1
f1
c2 e1
Derived directly from
e2
Fluent solver discretization f2 e3
f3 A2
A2
• For a cell it is the minimum of: c3
Ai  fi Ai  ci A3 A3
| Ai || f i | | Ai || ci |
computed for each face i
Ai  ei
For the face it is computed as the minimum of | Ai || ei | computed for each edge I
Where Ai is the face normal vector and fi is a vector from the centroid of the
cell to the centroid of that face, and ci is a vector from the centroid of the cell to
the centroid of the adjacent cell, where ei is the vector from the centroid of the
face to the centroid of the edge

At boundaries and internal walls ci is ignored in the computations of OQ

0 1
Worst Perfect

57 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Smoothness
Checked in solver
• Volume Change in Fluent Recommendation:
– Available in Adapt/Volume Good: 1.0 < σ <
1.5
– 3D : σi = Vi / Vnb
Fair: 1.5 < σ <
2.5
Poor: σ > 5 … 20

• Expansion Factor in CFX

– Checked during mesh import
– Ratio of largest to smallest element volumes
surrounding a node

58 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 CFD Mesh Quality
Mesh quality recommendations
Low Orthogonal Quality or high skewness values are not recommended
Generally try to keep minimum orthogonal quality > 0.1, or maximum skewness < 0.95. However these values
may be different depending on the physics and the location of the cell

Fluent reports negative cell volumes if the mesh contains degenerate cells
Skewness mesh metrics spectrum

Orthogonal Quality mesh metrics spectrum

59 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mechanical Shape Checking
Standard Mechanical
- Linear, modal, stress and thermal analysis
Aggressive Mechanical
- Large deformation and nonlinear analysis
Nonlinear Mechanical
- Nonlinear analysis

60 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Factors Affecting Quality
Geometry problems
Geometry cleanup in SpaceClaim
• Small edge
or
• Gaps
Virtual topology & pinch in Meshing
• Sharp angle
Meshing parameters
• Sizing Function On / Off
• Min size too large
Mesh setting change
• Inflation parameters
– Total height
– Maximum angle
• Hard sizing
Meshing methods
• Patch conformal or patch independent tetra
• Sweep or Multizone Mesh setting change

• Cutcell

61 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

Display Option: Color by quality
• Displays mesh color by quality metrics
• Options to probe quality or show min/max
• Contour band can be adjusted

Probe Find Min or Display

Element Max value mesh
Values contours

62 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh Metric Graph
• Displays Mesh Metrics graph for the element
quality distribution
• Different element types are plotted with
different color bars
• Can be accessed through menu bar using
Metric Graph button

• Axis range can be adjusted using controls

button (details next slide)

• Click on bars to view corresponding elements

in the graphics window
– Use to help locate poor quality elements

63 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh Metric Graph Controls
• Elements on Y-Axis can be plotted with two
methods;
– Number of Elements
– Percentage of Volume/Area
• Options to change the range on either axis
• Specify which element types to include in graph
– Tet4 = 4 Node Linear Tetrahedron
– Hex8 = 8 Node Linear Hexahedron
– Wed6 = 6 Node Linear Wedge (Prism)
– Pyr5 = 5 Node Linear Pyramid
– Quad4 = 4 Node Linear Quadrilateral
– Tri3 = 3 Node Linear Triangle
• Te10, Hex20, Wed15, Pyr13, Quad8 & Tri6 non-linear
elements
For more information about the different mesh metrics please consult module 05: Mesh Quality

64 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Grid Dependency Study
• Solution run with
multiple meshes x8

• Note : For all runs the

computed Y+ is valid for DP 0 DP 3
wall function (first cell
not in laminar zone)

2%

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 Grid Dependency Study
• Option 1: Run Convergence Study on Result
of interest

• Option 2: Set up convergence study by

parameterizing mesh sizing

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 Parameterizing Your Model
and Mesh

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 Named Selections
• Create Named Selections for all surfaces that
have a load or support applied
• Create Named Selections for all surfaces/bodies
that have a mesh setting applied
• Assign loads, boundary conditions, and mesh
settings to Named Selections

68 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Parameterize your Model
• Geometry
• Material Properties
• Mesh
• Loads
• Results
• Command Snippets
• UDF’s

69 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Tips and Tricks

70 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Tips and Tricks
• ACT Extensions:
• FE Info 17.0: Locates nodes and elements by IDs
• Iterative Meshing 17.0: Iterated through mesh
configurations and reports best mesh
• Mesh Settings 17.0: Export mesh settings to re-use in
another project
• Workbench Poly Meshing for Fluent 17.0: Create Fluent
meshing polyhedral meshes in the Workbench meshing
interface.
• Nonlinear Diagnostics: Identify and display highly distorted
elements after solver failure

71 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Questions?

72 © 2016 ANSYS, Inc. April 17, 2017 ANSYS Confidential