Gambit 2.3 Lecture 05a FaceMeshing

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Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006
Edge and Face Meshing
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2006 Fluent Inc.
Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com
Meshing - General
To reduce overall mesh size, confine smaller cells to areas where they are needed
Locations of large flow field gradients. Locations of geometric details you wish to resolve.
Controlling cell size distribution

Edges, faces, and volumes can be meshed directly. A uniform mesh is generated unless pre-meshing or size functions are used. Pre-meshing
Edge meshes can be graded (varying interval size on edge) A graded edge mesh can be used to control the cell size distribution of a face mesh. Controlling distribution of cell size on face mesh also controls the cell size distribution of the volume mesh.
Size functions and boundary layers

Allow direct control of cell size distribution on edges, faces and volumes directly for automatic meshing. 5-2 2006 Fluent Inc.
Edge Meshing
Edge mesh distribution is controlled through the spacing and grading parameters on the Mesh Edges form.
Picking
Temporary graphics Links, Directions
Grading/Spacing Special characteristics

Apply and Defaults Invert and Reverse
Options
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Edge Meshing
Sense
Sense is used to show direction of grading Every picked edge will show its sense direction using an arrow The sense can be reversed by a shift+middle-click on the last edge picked (this is in addition to the next functionality) or by clicking the Reverse button
Edge mesh preview

When you pick an edge, the edge mesh is displayed using white nodes. This is a temporary mesh that has not been applied to the edge. Displayed edge mesh is based on current grading and spacing parameters If you modify the grading or spacing, the temporary mesh will be updated immediately.
Meshing the edge

The edge mesh is generated by clicking the Apply button. The nodes will then be displayed in blue.
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Grading
Controls mesh density distribution along an edge. Grading can produce single-sided or double-sided mesh
Doubled-sided mesh can be symmetric or asymmetric.
Symmetric schemes produce symmetric mesh about edge center. Asymmetric schemes can produce asymmetric mesh about edge center.
Single-sided grading
Symmetric grading
Single-sided grading:
Uses a multiplicative constant, R, to describe the ratio of the length of two adjacent mesh elements:
Asymmetric grading
R can be a user-specified value (Successive Ratio) or calculated by GAMBIT. GAMBIT also uses edge length and spacing information to determine R.
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Double Sided Grading

Double-sided grading can be generated by activating the double sided option in the Mesh Edge form. Asymmetric grading is possible when the double-sided option is used with:
Successive Ratio, First Length, Last Length, First-Last Ratio, and Last-First Ratio The mesh is symmetric if R1 = R2
The mesh is asymmetric if R1 R2.
Edge center is determined automatically.
Some schemes implicitly generate double sided grading that is symmetric.
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Soft Links
Picking and soft links
Pick with links
By enabling this option, soft-linked edges can be selected in a single pick Linked edges share the same information and can be picked in a single pick
Modifying soft links

At any time, you can
Form links Break links Maintain links
By default, GAMBIT will form links between unmeshed edges that are picked together By default, GAMBIT will maintain links between meshed edges that are picked together
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2006 Fluent Inc.
Spacing
In all meshing forms, the following spacing functions can be specified:
Interval Count (recommended for edge mesh only)
Example Entering a value of 5 will create 5 intervals along the selected edge(s) (6 nodes, including end nodes)
Interval Size (default setting)

Requires input of distance between nodes. Edge is meshed with average interval size if grading is used. Example: An edge length of 10 and a value of 2 creates 5 intervals on the edge
Shortest Edge %
Meshes the selected edge according to a percentage of the length of the shortest edge in the model. Example Shortest edge in model has length of 1. Entering a value of 20 will create a mesh with interval size 0.2.
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First Edge Settings

Use First Edge Settings option
If enabled:
First edge selected in pick list updates all entries in the form. This mode is useful to copy settings from one meshed edge to other edge(s).
If disabled:
Use this setting any time you pick two or more meshed edges where there is a difference in type or spacing. The local Apply button for that option will be turned off This allows you to maintain pre-existing grading and/or spacing settings for each edge. Enforce a change in grading and/or spacing by enabling Apply button.
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Meshing Options
Mesh
This option is useful in cases where you want to impose a scheme without prescribing the number of intervals The higher level meshing scheme will decide (and match) the intervals
Remove old mesh

Deletes old mesh When selected, option to also delete lower geometry mesh appears.
Ignore size function

Toggle to either obey or ignore size functions Size function takes precedence when this option is disabled.
Meshing Options Example

1
Specify interval size, no grading, apply without meshing
3 Generate
face mesh.
Face Mesh Generated Using Quad Pave Scheme (Pave face meshing schemes require an even number of elements on edge meshes)
Specify grading only, apply without meshing
Face Mesh Generated Using Submap Scheme

Face Meshing
Mesh Faces form
Upon picking a face:
GAMBIT automatically chooses quad elements GAMBIT chooses the type based on the solver/face
vertex types
Available element/scheme type combinations

Quadrilaterial: Map, Submap, Tri-Primitive, Pave Triangular: Pave Quad/Tri (hybrid): Map, Pave, Wedge
Quad-to-tri conversion utility.
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Face Meshing - Quad Examples

Quad: Map
Quad: Submap
Quad: Tri-Primitive
Quad: Pave
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Face Meshing - Quad/Tri and Tri Examples

Quad/Tri Map Quad/Tri Wedge
Face must be split to generate more than one cell across
Quad/Tri Pave
Triangular cell Quad cells Triangular cell
Tri Pave
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Deleting Old Mesh

Existing mesh must be removed before remeshing.
Mesh can be deleted using delete mesh form. Lower topology mesh can also be deleted (default)
Alternatively, existing mesh can be deleted by selecting the Remove Old Mesh option
Remove old mesh alone will leave all lower topology mesh Remove old mesh + remove lower mesh will delete all lower topology mesh that is not shared with another entity
Undo after any meshing operation also works.
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2006 Fluent Inc.
Face Vertex Types

All vertices that are connected to a face are assigned initial face vertex types based on the angle between the edges connected to the vertex. Vertices shared by multiple faces can have multiple types, depending on which face you are considering. The combination of vertex types describes the topology of the face. Face vertex types are used automatically to determine all quad face meshing schemes (except quad pave and tri pave).
E E
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Face Vertex Types

End (E) 0o < < 120o
zero internal grid lines
E E E
Side (S) 120o < < 216o

One internal grid line
S S S
Corner (C) 216o < < 309o

Two internal grid lines
C C C
Reverse (R) 309o < < 360o

Three internal grid lines
R R
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2006 Fluent Inc.
Modifying Face Vertex Types

Face vertex types can be changed from their default settings:
Automatically
By enforcing certain meshing schemes in face and volume meshing. Can sometimes result in undesirable mesh.
Manually
By direct modification in the Face Vertex Type form. Select Face
symbols appear in graphics window
Select New Vertex Type Select Vertices to be affected Vertex Types can be applied to just Boundary Layers as option.
A vertex can have multiple types; one for each associated face. For a given set of face vertex types, GAMBIT will choose which meshing scheme to use based on predefined formulae.
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Formula for Submap Scheme

A face can be made submappable by manually changing vertex types Consider which vertex should be changed to type S (side) In the Set Face Vertex Type form, change vertex type to S by enforcing the submap scheme. In the Face Mesh form, change the scheme from default to submap and click Apply.
GAMBIT will attempt to change the vertex types so that the scheme is honored. User has less control the resulting mesh may be undesirable!
E R E E E R E E E E E R E E E E E E
E S
Which vertex to change?

E E
Submap (4 End ) + Side + [(2 End ) + Reverse ]
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Formula for Map Scheme

Map
(4 End ) + (n Side )
E S + E
E E
E E
Periodic Map n Side Project intervals can be specified for more control.
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How to Make a Face Mappable

Enforce the Map scheme (most common method)
In the Face Mesh form, change the scheme from default to Map and click Apply. GAMBIT will attempt to change the vertex types so that the chosen scheme is honored
E E
Map (4 End ) + (n Side)

C C
Manually change the vertex types

In Set Face Vertex Type form, change vertices (default) to "Side. Open the Face Mesh form and pick the face. GAMBIT should automatically select the map E E scheme)
Map (4 End ) + (n Side)
S E E E
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Formula for Submap Schemes

Submap: (4 End ) + (m Side ) + n (End + Corner ) + p(Reverse + 2 End ) (additional terms when interior loops exist)
E E E C S E E E S E C E E C E E E E E C C C C E
Periodic Submap (n Side ) + m(End + Corner ) where m > 2. (additional terms when interior loops exist)
S C C C C
C C
E E
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Formula for Tri-Primitive Sheme

Tri-Primitive
(3 End ) + (n Side )
S
E E
To mesh a rectangular face with the tri-primitive scheme:

Manually change one of the vertex types to "Side" in this example The Tri Primitive scheme can not be enforced
E E E S
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2006 Fluent Inc.
Meshing Faces with Hybrid Quad/Tri Schemes

Quad/Tri: Tri-Map 2 Triangle
The face vertex types must be changed manually to Trielement (T) The Tri-Map scheme must be selected.
T T
Quad/Tri: Pave
All vertex types are ignored except Trielement (T) and Notrielement (N) Trielement (T) will force a triangular element. Notrielement (N) will avoid a triangular element.
E C
Quad/Tri: Wedge
Used for creating cylindrical/polar type meshes The Vertex marked (T) is where rectangular elements are collapsed into triangles
N E
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Hard Links
Mesh linked entities have identical mesh
Created for periodic boundary conditions Applicable to edge, face, and volume entities
Best to use soft links for edge meshing To link volume meshes, all faces must be hard linked first.
Hard links for faces

Select faces and reference vertices
The sense of each edge appears. Reverse orientation on by default Periodic option should be used for periodic boundary conditions, which creates a matched mesh even if the edges are split differently.
Meshing one of the faces either before or after hard linking will generate an identical mesh on the linked face.
Multiple pairs of hard links can be created.

Mesh Smoothing
Smoothing can increase mesh quality beyond that of the default meshing algorithms
Most noticable in complicated geometry. May have little or no effect in simple geometries.
Mesh smoothing algorithms adjust interior node locations to obtain marginal improvement in mesh quality. Boundary meshes are not altered.
The mesh at the boundary is not altered. Face and volume meshes are smoothed using a default scheme.
Different schemes can be selected and applied after meshing.

Face mesh smoothing
Length-weighted Laplacian: Uses the average edge length of the elements surrounding each node to adjust the nodes. Centroid Area: Adjust node locations to equalize areas of adjacent elements. Winslow (quad meshes only): Optimizes element shapes with respect to perpendicularity.
Volume mesh smoothing

Length-weighted Laplacian: same as for face mesh smoothing Equipotential: Adjusts node locations to equalize the volumes of the mesh elements surrounding each node.
Examining the Mesh

Display Type
Plane/Sphere
View mesh elements that fall in plane or sphere.
Range
View mesh elements within quality range. Histogram shows quality distribution. Show worst element zooms the view to the worst element
Select 2D/3D and element type Select Quality Type
Display Mode Change cell display attributes Show Worst Element Automatically zooms the display to the worst element (based on current settings). Update button Will update values reported in the panel when options are changed.
Assessing Mesh Quality

GAMBIT has several methods for assessing mesh quality.
Aspect Ratio Diagonal Ratio Edge Ratio EquiAngle Skew EquiSize Skew MidAngle Skew Size Change Stretch Taper Volume
The most important of these quality metrics are EquiAngle Skew and Size Change.
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Mesh Quality EquiAngle Skew

The most important mesh quality metric is EquiAngle Skew (QEAS).
QEAS
max e e min = max , 180 e e
max
max
min min
max = Largest angle in face or cell min = Smallest angle in face or cell e = Angle for equiangular face or cell
Range of EquiAngle Skew values

0 (best) 1 (worst)
Quad/Hex e = 90o
Tri/Tet e = 60o
QEAS = 0 describes a perfectly orthogonal element QEAS = 1 describes a degenerate element

Mesh Quality Size Change

Another important mesh quality metric is Size Change (QSC).
QSC = max[r1, r2 , K, rn ]
ri = Area or Volume of element i Area or Volume of neighbor element j
V j =2
V j =3
Vi
V j =1
This metric applies only to 3D elements. By definition, QSC > 0.
V j =4
3D Example QSC,i = Vj=1/Vi since j=1 has largest volume ratio
QSC = 0 describes an element whose neighbor elements have exactly the same volume as the element of interest (i.e. uniform mesh).
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Striving for Quality

A poor quality grid can cause inaccurate solutions and/or slow convergence. Minimize EquiAngle Skew:
Hex, Tri, Quad: Skewness for all/most cells should be less than 0.85. Tetrahedral: Skewness for all/most cells should be less than 0.9. All elements: Size Change for cells in regions of interest should be less than 2
Minimize local variations in cell size, such as large jumps in size between adjacent cells. If Examine Mesh shows such violations:
Determine the reason(s) for the violations
Differences in spacing and grading on adjacent edges Geometry with small features or other defects Geometric complexity and size Mesh that grows too rapidly
Delete mesh completely or partially. Clean and/or decompose geometry, premesh edges and faces or adjust meshing parameters Remesh the domain.
Appendix
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Mesh Quality Aspect Ratio

The Aspect Ratio metric (QAR) applies to tri, tet, quad, and hex elements and is defined differently for each element type. The definitions are as follows: Tri/Tet
Q AR = f R r
Quad/Hex
Q AR =
max[e1, e2 ,K, eN ] min[e1, e2 , K, eN ]
f is a scaling factor R and r are radii of circles (tri elements) or spheres (tet elements) that inscribe and circumscribe the mesh element. f = 1/2 for tri elements and f = 1/3 for tet elements.
ei is the average length of edges in a coordinate system local to the element. N is the number of coordinate directions associated with the element
N = 2 for quad elements N = 3 for hex elements
r
Inscribed circle
e1 = b
a+c 2
Circumscribed circle
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e2 =
b+d 2
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Mesh Quality Diagonal Ratio

The Diagonal Ratio metric (QDR) applies only to quad and hex elements and is defined as follows:
QDR = max[d1, d 2 , K, d N ] min[d1, d 2 , K, d N ]
The di are the diagonals of the element. N is the total number of diagonals for a given element
N = 2 for quad elements N = 4 for hex elements.
d3
d1
d2
d1
d2
d4
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Mesh Quality Edge Ratio

The Edge Ratio quality metric (QER) is defined as follows:
QER = max[s1, s2 ,K, s N ] min[s1 , s2 , K, s N ]
The si are the edge lengths of the element. N is the total number of edges for the element of interest.
Tri N=3
Quad N=4
Tet N=6
Pyramid N=8
Wedge N=9
Hex N = 12
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Mesh Quality EquiSize Skew

The EquiSize Skew metric (QEVS) applies only to quad and hex elements and is defined as follows:
QEVS = Seq S Seq
S is the area (2D) or volume (3D) of the element of interest. Seq is the maximum area (2D) or volume (3D) of an equilateral cell the circumscribing radius of which is identical to that of the mesh element.
Actual element Area = S 0 < QEVS < 1
Equilateral element Area = Seq QEVS = 0

Mesh Quality MidAngle Skew

The MidAngle Skew (QMAS) applies only to quadrilateral and hexahedral elements. Defined by the cosine of the minimum angle formed between the bisectors of the element edges (quad) or faces (hex).
For quad elements: QMAS = cos For hex elements:
QMAS = max[cos 1, cos 2 , cos 3 ]
Bisectors
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Mesh Quality Stretch

The Stretch quality metric (QS) applies only to quadrilateral and hexahedral elements and is defined as follows:
QS = 1 K min[s1, s2 , K, sm ] max[d1, d 2 , K, d n ]
di is the length of diagonal i sj is the length of the element edge j, n and m are the total numbers of diagonals and edges, respectively.
Quad elements: n = 2, m = 4, and K = 2; Hex elements: n = 4, m = 12, and K = 3.
By definition, 0 < QS < 1.

QS = 0 describes an equilateral element QS = 1 describes a completely degenerate element.
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Mesh Quality Taper

The Taper quality metric (QT) applies only to quadrilateral and hexahedral mesh elements and is defined as follows:
For any quadrilateral (or hexahedral) mesh element, it is possible to construct a parallelogram (or parallelepiped) such that the distance between any given corner of the parallelogram (or parallelepiped) and its nearest element corner node is a constant value. As a result, any vector, T, constructed from an element corner node to the nearest corner of the parallelogram (or parallelepiped) possesses a magnitude identical to that of all other such vectors. Each vector T can be resolved into components, Ti, that are parallel to the bisectors of the mesh element.
Quad elements: two components Hex elements: three components
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T T2
T1 Corner node
Bisectors
Element edge
The Taper quality metric is defined as the normalized maximum of all such components for the element. By definition, 0 < QT < 1.
QT = 0 describes an equilateral element QT = 2 describes a degenerate element
2006 Fluent Inc.
Mesh Quality Volume and Warpage

Volume
The Volume quality metric (QV) applies only to 3D elements and represents quality in terms of element volume.
Warpage
The Warpage (QW ) applies only to quad elements and is defined as follows:
QW = Z min[a, b]
Z is the deviation from a best-fit plane that contains the element a and b are the lengths of the line segments that bisect the edges of the element. Bisectors By definition, 0 < QW < 1
Element edge
QW = 0 describes an equilateral element QW = 1 describes a degenerate element.

Best-fit plane

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Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Edge and Face Meshing

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Controlling cell size distribution

Size functions and boundary layers

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Grading/Spacing Special characteristics

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Edge mesh preview

Meshing the edge

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Double Sided Grading

The mesh is asymmetric if R1 R2.

Edge center is determined automatically.

Some schemes implicitly generate double sided grading that is symmetric.

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Modifying soft links

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Interval Size (default setting)

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

First Edge Settings

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Remove old mesh

Ignore size function

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Meshing Options Example

Specify grading only, apply without meshing

Face Mesh Generated Using Submap Scheme

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Available element/scheme type combinations

Quad-to-tri conversion utility.

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Face Meshing - Quad Examples

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006

Face Meshing - Quad/Tri and Tri Examples

Face must be split to generate more than one cell across

2006 Fluent Inc.

Fluent User Services Center www.fluentusers.com

Introductory GAMBIT Training GAMBIT 2.3 June 2006