Integrated Meshing in STAR-CCM+ Aly Khawaja
Overview The STAR-CCM+ meshing • suite – a pipelined process suite a pipelined process Conformal meshing – a • strength Specialized meshers for • specialized applications On the horizon On the horizon • Putting it all together • Integrated/automated process from Integrated/automated process from geometry geometry to post-processing to post-processing
The STAR-CCM+ meshing suite Surface meshing options • – Surface wrapper pp – Surface remesher – Interactive tools Volume meshing options Volume meshing options • – Tetrahedral mesher – Polyhedral mesher – Trimmed mesher – Boundary layer mesher – Specialized meshers p User creates a meshing pipeline • Surf Surface preparation is ace preparation is the he k k key to ey to process automat process automation i i on
Surface preparation – the key to automation At the forefront in automating CAD to surface process • Data import and organization Data import and organization • – Working upstream to import data directly from your CAD/PLM system – Retain assembly hierarchy, meta-data – Provide efficient ways to tag, filter data Import, edit, create and preserve CAD geometry Import edit create and preserve CAD geometry • Automatic meshers – surface wrapper, surface remesher • Interactive tools – boolean inflation imprinting etc Interactive tools boolean, inflation, imprinting, etc. • • Manual repair •
State-of-the-art manual repair mode Dynamically updated diagnostics panel • Ability to browse problem areas y p • Atomic operations (swap/split/collapse • edges, etc.) Mid-level operations (smooth fill holes Mid level operations (smooth, fill holes, • • inflate, imprint, etc.) Repair feature edge errors • Undo/redo capability Undo/redo capability • Elaborate selection/display controllers • Continually enhanced based on user • f feedback db k Intuitive, concise, functional Intuitive, concise, functional
STAR-CCM+ Meshing pipeline example
Automation without sacrificing mesh control… Size per boundary • Size per feature curve Size per feature curve • • Curvature control • Proximity control • Volume source • Prism mesh control • – Initial wall thickness Initial wall thickness – Stretching – Total prism thickness – Number of layers N b f l Same sizing information can be used across all meshers • Ease of use has been a focus Ease of use has been a focus •
Conformal meshing – a strength Has been a strong point of STAR-CCM+ for several years • Create connected meshes with a one to one matching Create connected meshes with a one-to-one matching • between regions/domains – leads to higher solution accuracy Accept variety of input data • – Data comes in prepped (connected parts, shared surfaces) – use split-by-topology use split-by-topology – Disconnected parts – automatic interfacing via close part browser, imprinting Taking it a step further – conformal periodic meshing •
Highly complex geometry – prepped CAD data
Automatic interfacing of disconnected parts
Automatic interfacing of disconnected parts Close part Close part browser browser Im Imprint one/all p rint one/all
Automatic interfacing of disconnected parts Allows convenient • close part browsing close part browsing through complex hierarchy Automatically imprints • touching components and creates interfaces Potential to pipeline – • one click operation f from disconnected di t d parts to conformal volume mesh
Automatic interfacing application
Automatic interfacing application
Conformal periodic meshes Subsurface proximity Subsurface proximity Volume control – Volume control –Finer surface iner surface Conformal mesh with Conformal mesh with no Face mismatches cause solution inaccuracies Face mismatches cause solution inaccuracies no additional user specification additional user specification based retraction based retraction
Specialized meshers for specialized applications Already have fully functional general purpose meshers • Specialized geometries need customized meshes for Specialized geometries need customized meshes for • – Optimal cell count – Cell quality q y – Solution accuracy Pushing the envelope for seamless integration of these • meshers into the STAR-CCM+ meshing suite h i t th STAR CCM+ hi it
Specialized meshers – 2.5D Extrusion
Specialized meshers – generalized cylinders Detects cylindrical Detects cylindrical boundaries boundaries and and produces swept produces swept meshes meshes
Specialized meshers – Thin Mesher Automatic detection • High quality orthogonal cells in • thin regions General polyhedra elsewhere General polyhedra elsewhere • •
On the horizon… Parallel meshing • SolidWorks SolidWorks assembly with assembly with y y – Distributed meshing using client-server architecture Distributed meshing using client server architecture multi-level multi-level hierarchy hierarchy Conformal meshing in conjunction with thin mesher • – Conformal conjugate heat transfer analysis j g y 3D-CAD solid modeler • – Create and edit geometry from within STAR-CCM+ Intuitive, efficient, parts based meshing • – Preserving hierarchy, structure from within your PLM system And much more And much more… • Assembly Assembly Assembly Assembly structure and all structure and all structure and all structure and all part names part names part names part names part names part names part names part names preserved preserved preserved preserved
Putting it all together A multi-pronged development philosophy… A multi-pronged development philosophy… Continue to enhance existing main-stream meshers/tools • for ease of use automation and accuracy for ease of use, automation and accuracy Particular emphasis on your biggest bottle-necks of data- • import, organization and surface preparation p g p p Forward thinking ideas and introduction of new meshers for • optimal cell count/placement … … to provide a state-of-the-art to provide a state-of-the-art CAE tool CAE tool
Putting it all together Import data from CAD/PLM system, retaining • part/assembly hierarchy, meta-data, etc. p y y, , Edit, create geometry, intuitive surface preparation tools • Automatic, conformal meshing using application-specific • mesh types mesh types Complete control on distribution • Flow/thermal/stress, multi-physics simulations p y • Parallel environment from start to finish • STAR-CCM+: a black-box simulation tool • in the design environment i th d i i t Rapid turnaround for design • modifications modifications
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