ANSYS Meshing Tutorial Guide
ANSYS Meshing Tutorial Guide
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Chapter 1: Can Combustor
This tutorial creates a mesh for a can combustor, which can be found in gas turbine engines. The geo-
metry is complex and consists of five separate solid bodies. It will be imported as a complete geometry
from a Parasolid file.
The diagram below shows the geometry schematically with part of the outer wall cut away.
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Can Combustor
• Parasolid import
1.1. Preparation
This tutorial requires you to have a copy of the Parasolid file Combustor.x_t.
3. Unzip the cancombustor.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
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Tutorial Setup
On the Project Schematic, right-click the Geometry cell in the Mesh system and select New
DesignModeler Geometry... to open the DesignModeler application.
a. Select File > Import External Geometry File... from the main menu.
b. In the file browser that opens, locate and open the file Combustor.x_t.
The Tree Outline should now show that you have 5 Parts, 5 Bodies. To produce a single mesh
that contains all of the bodies rather than one mesh per body, the parts must be combined into
a multibody part.
a. On the toolbar at the top of the window, click Selection Filter: Bodies . This means that you can
select only solid bodies in the next operation, which helps to make the selection process easier.
b. Click Select Mode and select Box Select from the drop-down menu.
c. In the Geometry window, select all five bodies by holding down the left mouse button and dragging
a box from left to right across the whole geometry to select all five bodies. To be selected, all of the
entities must lie completely within the box that you have drawn. When you release the mouse button,
the status bar located along the bottom of the window should change to show that 5 Bodies are
selected.
When using Box Select, the direction that you drag the mouse from the starting point determ-
ines which items are selected. Dragging to the right to form the box selects entities that are
completely enclosed by the box, while dragging to the left to form the box selects all entities
that intersect, or touch, the box.
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Can Combustor
The Tree Outline should now show that you have 1 Part, 5 Bodies.
The geometry does not need further modifications. It is now complete. From the DesignModeler applic-
ation's main menu, select File > Save Project to save the project and then File > Close DesignModeler
to return to the Project Schematic. Notice the Geometry cell appears in an up-to-date state .
Now that the geometry is complete, you can proceed to Generating the Mesh (p. 4).
1. To create a Named Selection for the fuel inlet, select the six tiny faces on the cone near the bottom of the
combustor. The easiest way to select them is as follows:
a. Click over the axes in the bottom right corner of the Geometry window in the position shown in the
figure below. As you move the cursor into this position, the black “-Z”-axis will appear (it is not shown
by default). This will put the geometry into a good position for picking the required faces.
c. In the Geometry window, zoom the geometry by holding down the left mouse button and dragging
a box across the area where the six tiny faces are located. Then release the mouse button.
e. Press and hold the CTRL key while picking the six faces, which are shown in green in the figure below
(the colors in your geometry may differ from those shown in this tutorial).
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Generating the Mesh
f. After selecting all six faces, release the CTRL key. Right-click in the Geometry window and select
Create Named Selection from the menu.
g. In the Selection Name dialog box, type fuel_inlet and click OK.
2. To create a Named Selection for the air inlet, select the eight faces at the very bottom of the geometry
having the lowest Z-coordinate, as shown below. Name this Named Selection air_inlet.
3. To create a Named Selection for the secondary air inlet, select the six small circular faces on the main
body of the combustor, as shown below. These introduce extra air to aid combustion. Name this Named
Selection secondary_air_inlet.
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Can Combustor
4. To create a Named Selection for the outlet, select the rectangular face with the highest Z-coordinate.
Name this Named Selection outlet.
The faces that you need to select for this Named Selection are not easily seen. The next several
steps help to make the selection process easier.
a. In the Tree Outline, click the Named Selection called air_inlet. In the Details View, change the value
of Visible to No.
Look into the combustor inlet. You should see eight curved vanes surrounding the fuel inlet,
as shown below. Rotate the view slightly and note that every other vane passage is blocked
by faces.
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Generating the Mesh
b. From the main menu, select Tools> Options. In the left pane of the Options dialog box, click the
plus sign to expand the Mechanical options. Highlight Graphics, and then in the right pane, set
Highlight Selection to Both Sides and click OK.
d. Press and hold the CTRL key while picking the eight faces of the vanes, as shown below.
e. After selecting all eight faces, release the CTRL key. Right-click in the Geometry window and select
Hide Face(s) from the menu.
f. To create the last Named Selection, select the four faces that block the vane passages, as shown below.
Name this Named Selection internal.
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Can Combustor
Note
You are done creating Named Selections. The next step toggles visibility of all faces
back on.
a. In the Tree Outline, click the Named Selection called air_inlet. In the Details View, change the value
of Visible to Yes.
b. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Show Hidden Face(s) from the menu.
2. In the Details View, set Physics Preference to CFD and Solver Preference to CFX.
3. In the Details View, click to expand the Sizing group of controls and notice the default sizing settings.
As a result of this setting, all faces in the model are selected to be inflation boundaries, with a few ex-
ceptions. For the purposes of this tutorial, the important exception is Named Selections—the faces in
Named Selections will not be selected to be inflation boundaries.
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Generating the Mesh
2. Activate a section plane to view a section cut through the model. Select Show Whole Elements to
view the mesh as shown.
This completes the mesh generation. Note that you may have received a warning about a problem with
inflation layer generation. This warning is common when using an automated inflation setup with coarse
mesh as the inflation layers do not have adequate room for orthogonal inflation layer growth. This
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Can Combustor
warning(s) can generally be ignored unless you are very concerned with near wall physics. Should this
be the case, more selective inflation and/or the use of local size functions should resolve the issue.
From the Meshing application's main menu, select File > Save Project to save the project and then
File > Close Meshing to return to the Project Schematic.
You can exit ANSYS Workbench by selecting File > Exit from the main menu.
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Chapter 2: Single Body Inflation
This tutorial demonstrates various ways to apply single body inflation. The 3D inflation capability
provided by the Meshing application is mainly used in CFD/Fluids meshing. It provides high quality
mesh generation close to wall boundaries to resolve changes in physical properties.
Essentially, there are two methods for applying inflation: globally, using Named Selections; and locally,
by scoping an inflation method. This tutorial covers using these methods along with various other settings
for defining inflation on a single body.
• Comparing two Collision Avoidance settings (Layer Compression and Stair Stepping), which determine
the approach that is to be taken in areas of proximity
• Previewing inflation, which can be used to examine proximity handling, determine the quality of inflation
layers, and detect potential quality issues
• Creating a new Named Selection, and automatically applying inflation to all the faces in it
• Scoping inflation to a body and selecting a Named Selection as the inflation boundary
• Comparing three Inflation settings (Smooth Transition, Total Thickness, and Last Aspect Ratio), which
determine the heights of the inflation layers
• Changing Solver Preference and how its value affects default inflation behaviors
2.1. Preparation
This tutorial requires you to have a copy of the ANSYS Workbench project file newquart.wbpj and
the project folder newquart_files and its contents.
3. Unzip the newquart.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
3. In the file browser that opens, locate and open the file newquart.wbpj.
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Single Body Inflation
Now that the tutorial is set up, you can proceed to Generating the Mesh (p. 12).
Notice that three Named Selections are defined already: Symmetry, Inlet, and Outlet. You will create a
fourth later in this tutorial.
2. Click to expand the Sizing group of controls and change Curvature Normal Angle to 12.
Notice that Program Controlled and Smooth Transition are selected and Transition Ratio is set
to 0.272 by default.
With Program Controlled inflation, inflation will be added to all external faces for which a Named
Selection has not been defined.
When Solver Preference is Fluent, the default Transition Ratio is 0.272 because the solver uses
a cell-centered scheme. This is in contrast to the CFX Solver Preference, which is covered later in
this tutorial.
5. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Preview > Inflation. Previewing inflation helps to identify
possible problems with inflation before generating a full mesh.
After a few moments, a preview of the inflation layers appears in the Geometry window, as shown
below.
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Generating the Mesh
Because the Fluent solver was used, the meshing process used the Layer Compression method
for Collision Avoidance by default.
Note
Notice that the mesh is colored pink. Because the pre-inflation mesh is not a final mesh,
it is considered “obsolete", and will remain obsolete until a new mesh is generated. The
mesh coloring helps to differentiate between partial and final meshes when you have
a fully meshed set of parts and apply pre-inflation or other new boundaries on some of
the parts.
6. Zoom and reposition the model to get a better view of the compressed layers in the area of interest.
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Single Body Inflation
Notice the heights of the inflation layers, which are determined by the setting of the Inflation
Option control. The Smooth Transition option, which was used here, uses the local tetrahedral
element size to compute each local initial height and total height so that the rate of volume change
is smooth.
Each triangle that is being inflated will have an initial height that is computed with respect to its
area, averaged at the nodes. This means that for a uniform mesh, the initial heights will be roughly
the same, while for a varying mesh, the initial heights will vary.
8. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Clear Generated Data.
Notice the value of Transition Ratio has changed from 0.272 to 0.77 automatically.
When Solver Preference is CFX, the default Transition Ratio is 0.77 because the solver uses a
vertex-centered scheme. Increasing the ratio creates a thicker boundary layer.
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Generating the Mesh
After a few moments, the mesh appears in the Geometry window, as shown below.
The inflation layers look different in this mesh because the CFX solver uses the Stair Stepping
method of Collision Avoidance by default.
3. Zoom and reposition the model to get a better view of the stair stepped layers in the narrow region.
5. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Clear Generated Data.
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Single Body Inflation
i. Click Face .
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Generating the Mesh
c. To select the remaining two faces, rotate the body so that it is positioned as shown below.
Note
The model you see may look different than what is shown in the image below. The
differences are explained in the next steps.
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Single Body Inflation
When the image above was captured, the Draw Face Mode option was set to Auto Face
Draw (the default). The Draw Face Mode option determines whether face culling is turned
on or off:
• Auto Face Draw (default) - Turning back-face culling on or off is program controlled.
• Draw Front Faces - Face culling is forced to stay on. Back-facing faces are not drawn.
• Draw Both Faces - Back-face culling is turned off. Both front-facing and back-facing faces are
drawn.
In the image above, the default setting resulted in face culling being forced to stay on, so that
back-facing faces were not drawn (that is, it is behaving the same way that the Draw Front
Faces setting would behave). This makes it easier to identify the faces that still need to be
selected. However, because the default setting is program controlled based on other features
and options you may have set, you may or may not need to manually select Draw Front Faces
to proceed with this tutorial. That is, if the model you see looks like this:
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Generating the Mesh
i. Click Face .
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Single Body Inflation
e. In the Selection Name dialog box, type Wall and click OK.
2. In the Tree Outline, click Wall to display the new Named Selection in the Geometry window.
5. In the Inflation group, change Use Automatic Inflation to All Faces in Chosen Named Selection.
The Total Thickness option creates constant inflation layers using the values of the Number of
Layers and Growth Rate controls to obtain a total thickness as defined by the Maximum Thickness
control. Unlike inflation with the Smooth Transition option, with Total Thickness the thickness
of the first inflation layer and each subsequent layer is constant.
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Generating the Mesh
After a few moments, the mesh appears in the Geometry window, as shown below.
10. Zoom and reposition the model to get a better view of the inflation layers in the narrow region.
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Single Body Inflation
12. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Clear Generated Data.
6. From the Boundary drop-down menu, select Wall by highlighting it in the drop-down menu and then
pressing Enter.
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Generating the Mesh
The Last Aspect Ratio option creates inflation layers using the values of the First Layer Height,
Maximum Layers, and Aspect Ratio (Base/Height) controls. With this option, the heights of the
inflation layers are determined by the aspect ratio of the inflations that are extruded from the in-
flation base. The aspect ratio is defined as the ratio of the local inflation base size to the inflation
layer height.
9. You are now finished setting the scoped (local) inflation controls. In the Tree Outline, click Mesh to return
to the global inflation controls.
12. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Preview > Inflation.
After a few moments, the mesh appears in the Geometry window, as shown below.
13. Zoom and reposition the model to get a better view of the inflation layers.
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Single Body Inflation
This completes the tutorial. From the Meshing application's main menu, select File > Save Project to
save the project and then File > Close Meshing to return to the Project Schematic.
You can exit ANSYS Workbench by selecting File > Exit from the main menu.
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Chapter 3: Mesh Controls and Methods
This tutorial creates a mesh for a piston. The geometry will be imported as a complete geometry from
a Parasolid file. The tutorial uses the model of the piston to demonstrate various mesh controls and
methods that are available in the Meshing application.
• Parasolid import
• Batch meshing
• Section planes
3.1. Preparation
This tutorial requires you to have a copy of the Parasolid file PISTON.x_t.
3. Unzip the piston.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
The Mesh system contains a Mesh system header and two cells. Notice the system name that is
located below the system defaults to Mesh.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
2. To change the system name, right-click the Mesh system header and select Rename. The name that appears
below the system is now editable. Type Piston and press Enter to rename the system Piston.
1. Now add geometry to the project. On the Project Schematic, right-click the Geometry cell in the Mesh
system and select Import Geometry > Browse....
2. In the file browser that opens, locate and open the file PISTON.x_t.
The geometry is complete and does not need modifications. Notice the Geometry cell in the Mesh
system has an up-to-date state .
Now that the tutorial is set up, you can proceed to Generating the Mesh (p. 26).
On the Project Schematic, right-click the Mesh cell in the Mesh system and select Update to mesh the
geometry in batch mode.
After a short wait, the meshing process is complete. Notice the Mesh cell in the Mesh system has an
up-to-date state .
1. Right-click the Mesh cell in the Mesh system and select Edit....
2. When the Meshing application opens, click the Mesh object in the Tree Outline to view the meshed
model in the Geometry window as shown below.
Since no mesh controls have been set, the Automatic mesh method was used by default. When
the Automatic method is used, bodies are swept if possible, and the remaining bodies are meshed
with the Patch Conforming Tetrahedral mesh method.
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Generating the Mesh
1. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Show > Sweepable Bodies.
2. To hide all non-sweepable bodies for a better view of the sweepable bodies, right-click on the Geometry
window and select Hide All Other Bodies.
Only the bodies that were meshed with the sweep method appear in the Geometry window, as
shown below.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
4. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Show > Sweepable Bodies again.
Now only the sweepable bodies are hidden. Those bodies that remain in the Geometry window
were meshed with the Patch Conforming Tetrahedral method.
2. In the Geometry window, select the top of the piston as shown below.
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Generating the Mesh
3. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Hide All Other Bodies.
4. Rotate and zoom in on the underside of the geometry so that the model is positioned as shown below.
Notice the thin regions at the bottom of the model and how the mesh conforms to the small patches..
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Mesh Controls and Methods
a. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Sizing.
Note that double-clicking a face will select that face and the attached ones up to the angle.
Rotate the model to select the faces on the other side.
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Generating the Mesh
e. In the Details View, click to Apply the selection. Verify that the Sizing is scoped to 20 Faces.
Notice the defeaturing removed the thin, poor quality mesh, thereby reducing the element count.
Also, the narrow faces are defeatured.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
9. On the triad located in the lower right corner of the Geometry window, click the sphere to return the
view to isometric.
2. In the Geometry window, select the bottom of the piston as shown below.
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Generating the Mesh
3. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Hide All Other Bodies.
4. Rotate and zoom the geometry so that the model is positioned as shown below.
5. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert >Face Meshing. In the Details View, Mapped Mesh
is set to Yes as the default.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
6. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Face Meshing again.
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Generating the Mesh
8. On the triad located in the lower right corner of the Geometry window, click the sphere to return the
view to isometric.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
c. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Hide All Other Bodies.
d. Rotate and zoom the geometry so that the model is positioned as shown below.
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Generating the Mesh
a. In the Tree Outline, right-click Model (A3) and select Insert > Virtual Topology.
b. Click Face .
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Mesh Controls and Methods
e. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Insert > Virtual Cell.
g. Click Face .
i. Select the bottom and bottom ridge of the top of the bolt as shown below. There are five faces to
select—one for the bottom and four that make up the ridge.
j. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Insert > Virtual Cell.
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Generating the Mesh
l. Click Face .
o. Right-click in the Geometry window and select Insert > Virtual Cell.
a. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Method.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
i. Click Face .
iv. Reposition the bolt so you will be able to pick the topmost face.
v. Click Face .
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Generating the Mesh
Notice the changes to the mesh. By inserting the MultiZone method for the bolt, a mesh composed
of mostly hexahedral elements was obtained. The mesh obtained is rather coarse. Next, define a
local sizing control for a finer mesh and increased solution accuracy.
a. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Sizing.
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Mesh Controls and Methods
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Generating the Mesh
3. Press the left mouse button and drag a line down the center of the bolt to slice it in half. Rotate the geo-
metry to view the section cut.
This completes the tutorial. From the Meshing application's main menu, select File > Save Project to
save the project and then File > Close Meshing to return to the Project Schematic.
You can exit ANSYS Workbench by selecting File > Exit from the main menu.
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Chapter 4: Sizing Options
This tutorial illustrates the use of the Meshing application's Sizing Options. This feature allows for
greater control over global sizing options, including the following properties:
• Number of mesh elements employed in the gaps between two geometric entities (Proximity-type sizing)
• Gradation between minimum and maximum sizes based on a specified growth rate
During the tutorial, the influence of each of the following sizing options on a mesh will be demonstrated:
• Uniform
• Proximity
• Curvature
4.1. Preparation
This tutorial requires you to have a copy of the ANSYS Workbench project file nacelle.wbpj and
the project folder nacelle_files and its contents.
3. Unzip the nacelle.zip file you have downloaded to your working folder.
3. In the file browser that opens, locate and open the file nacelle.wbpj.
Now that the tutorial is set up, you can proceed to Generating the Mesh (p. 45).
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Sizing Options
2. In the Details View, click to expand the Sizing group of controls. Notice that Use Adaptive Sizing is set
to No and Capture Curvature is enabled. Capture Curvature is the default when Physics Preference
is set to CFD and Solver Preference is set to Fluent.
It is not recommended to use Adaptive sizing as the resulting mesh quality is not as good as mesh
generated using other sizing options.
• Max Size
• Growth Rate
a. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Sizing.
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Generating the Mesh
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Sizing Options
3. Insert a second sizing control. In the Tree Outline, right-click Mesh and select Insert > Sizing.
b. Click Face .
d. There are eight faces that you need to select. Click the first three faces, as shown below.
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Generating the Mesh
e. To select the remaining five faces, rotate the geometry so that it is positioned as shown below.
f. Click Face .
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Sizing Options
In the Details View, the Geometry field should contain the text 8 Faces.
After a few moments, the mesh appears in the Geometry window, as shown below.
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Generating the Mesh
Notice how the element size is relatively uniform on the faces that were selected for the second
sizing control.
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Sizing Options
Notice how the element size is relatively uniform on the faces that were selected for the first sizing
control.
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Generating the Mesh
7. On the triad located in the lower right corner of the Geometry window, click the sphere to return the
view to isometric.
8. To get ready for the next part of the tutorial, you need to delete the sizing controls.
In the Tree Outline, right-click Face Sizing and select Delete. Answer Yes when prompted.
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Sizing Options
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Generating the Mesh
7. Do not reposition the geometry. Continue with the next part of the tutorial.
After a few moments, the mesh appears in the Geometry window, as shown below.
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Sizing Options
5. On the triad located in the lower right corner of the Geometry window, click the sphere to return the
view to isometric.
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Generating the Mesh
1. In the Details View, set both Capture Curvature and Capture Proximity to Yes.
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Sizing Options
This completes the tutorial. From the Meshing application's main menu, select File > Save Project to
save the project and then File > Close Meshing to return to the Project Schematic.
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Generating the Mesh
You can exit ANSYS Workbench by selecting File > Exit from the main menu.
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