Workshop 

3.2
Shell Meshing ‐ Wingbody
14. 0 Release

Introduction to ANSYS
ICEM CFD
1 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0
 Create Project / Open Geometry
• File > New Project • File > Geometry > Open
– Browse to the Geometry…
Wingbody folder – Select F6_complete.tin
– Type – Open
Wingbody-shell_mesh
– Save

2 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 Mesh Setup
Need to set Mesh Methods, Types and
Sizes:
• First set global settings
– Mesh > Global Mesh Setup > Global Mesh
size
• Set Max element size to 1000
• Maximum allowable mesh size in model
• Click on Display to see an icon display
• Set Max Size by parts as shown in the table
below
– Mesh > Part Mesh Setup

3 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 Surface Mesh Parameters
• Mesh > Global Mesh Setup >
Shell Mesh Parameters
– Mesh type: All Tri
– Mesh Method: Patch
Dependent
– Set Shell Meshing Parameters
section to Patch Dependent
– Set Ignore size = 0.05
– Apply

• Force mapped mesh along

wing leading/trailing edges
– Select Mesh > Surface
Mesh Setup
– Select 4 leading edge, and
2 thin trailing edge
surfaces as shown
– Change Mesh method to
Autoblock
– Apply NONE means it will use the global setting
4 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 (All Tri) Release 14.0
 Set Curve Parameters
• Set finer node distribution across leading edge
– Turn on all Parts
– Turn on Curves only
– Turn on Curve Node Spacing (right mouse select Curves > Curve
Node Spacing)
– Zoom toward front of WING where it meets the FAIRING
• Select Mesh > Curve Mesh Setup
– Change Method to Dynamic
– Select Number of nodes
– Position cursor on node number next to
curve shown
– Increment number of nodes with left mouse
key to 11 nodes (right = decrement)
– Change Bunching law to Geometric 1
– Select Bunching ratio and position
Spacing 1
cursor near the same curve
• Note the arrow which defines direction
from end spacing 1 to end spacing 2
• We want to bias towards 2 (direction of Spacing 2
arrow)
– Right mouse select until Geometric 2 appears
(takes one click)
– Increment with left mouse (over number) to
5 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 1.2 (takes 2 clicks) Release 14.0
 Set Curve Parameters
• Copy same distribution to
opposing “parallel” edges
– Still under Curve Mesh Setup,
change Method to Copy
Parameters
– For Curve select same curve
we just edited
– To Selected Curve(s), select 5
curves shown across leading
edge
– Middle mouse, then Apply
• Some curves have a reversed
direction than the one we copied
from
– In this case two bottom end curves
as shown
– Go back to Dynamic method
• Reverse (right mouse on curve)
or decrease Bunching ratio
number to 1.0 (two clicks)
• Bunching law changes to
Geometric 1, when the ratio
reaches 1
• Left mouse key to increase to 1.2
6 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0
(two clicks)
 Set Curve Parameters
• Make number of nodes equal
across parallel curves
– Still in Dynamic method select
Number of nodes and
change curve towards middle
bottom of wing as shown to 6
(right mouse to decrease) Node spacing turned off for clarity

– This will give 32 + 6 -1 (shared node) = 37 nodes

– Same as parallel ones
– Needed to ensure a mapped mesh
– Also increase number of nodes along wing tip to
more closely match those along leading edge

• Refine node distribution near the fuselage

nose
– Change Curve Mesh Setup Method to General
– Select 4 front most curves along fuselage
shown (nose of plane body)
– Middle mouse to accept selection
– Change Maximum size to 5
– Apply
7 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0
 Create Surface Mesh
• Mesh > Compute Mesh > Surface Mesh Only
– Select Geometry > All
– Compute
• Note bad quality surface mesh in front of
fuselage
– Turn off FARFIELD part
– Right click on Mesh > Shells > Solid & Wire in
model tree

8 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 Delete Mesh

• Delete bad mesh

– Turn off FARFIELD, INLET, OUTLET
• To be able to select mesh behind them
– Select Edit Mesh > Delete Elements and select
one of the elements on each surface as shown
– Press button for, Select all items attached to
current selection up to a curve in Select mesh
elements toolbar or “r” on the keyboard to
flood-fill all other elements on those two
surfaces
• Flood fills to boundary curves making up
loop
• Middle mouse or Apply

9 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 Re Mesh Two Surfaces
• Remesh fuselage surfaces
– Go back to Mesh > Global Mesh Setup > Shell
Meshing Parameters
– Turn on General > Respect Line Elements
• To ensure new mesh is conformal with
mesh on adjacent surfaces
– Change Repair > Try harder level to 3
• Runs robust octree (patch independent)
method if a surface fails
• Further down menu
• Apply
– Select Mesh Compute Mesh > Surface Mesh
Only
• Change Input to From Screen
• For Entities, select the two surfaces, then
middle mouse click
– Make sure to have surfaces turned
on in Model tree
– Compute

10 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 Final Mesh

• Observe revised surface mesh
• Note mapped (aligned) mesh along 
leading edge (front of wing)

Save Project!

11 © 2011 ANSYS, Inc. March 21, 2012 Release 14.0

 GlobalPrismParameters
• Set global prism parameters
– Mesh > Global Mesh Setup > Prism Meshing
Parameters
– Set Growth law to exponential (default)
– Initial height = 0
• Height determined automatically so that
last prism is of similar volume to adjacent
tetra
• Proportional to size of triangle
– Height ratio = 1.2
– Number of layers = 5
– Min prism quality = 0.000001
• Min allowed is 1e10^-6. A low quality
encourages less prisms to form.
– New volume part = LIVE
• We will create prism from a surface-only
mesh
• The volume part is required when
extruding from surface mesh only
– Apply
3 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0
 PickPartsforPrismMesh
• Select Parts and Compute prism mesh
– Mesh > Compute Mesh > Prism Mesh
– Press Select Parts for Prism Layer
• Select FAIRING, FUSELAGE, and WING in the prism
column
– Apply, then Dismiss
– Compute
• Height, height ratio, and num layers were set globally

• Unstructured mesh,
prism.uns is saved
automatically to the working
directory when prism in run

4 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0

 DisplayMesh
• Display Prism mesh
– Make sure Shells are on
– Turn off FARFIELD
– Zoom in to view prism quad faces
on symmetry plane
– Turn on Mesh > Volumes > Prisms
in model tree
– There is no other volume mesh but
prisms

• It’s usually best to view any volume mesh in cut

plane mode, since there are a lot of elements to
display
– RMB on Mesh > Cut Plane… > Manage Cut Plane
– Select Method: Middle X Plane
– Set D = 200 (actual X location), Enter on keyboard
– RMB on Mesh > Cut Plane… > Show Cut Plane
when done viewing to turn the cut plane off
– Turn off Prisms
5 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0
 PrepareforDensityRegion
• Create density region to define more
refined mesh behind wing
– Turn off Mesh, turn on Geometry > Points and Curves
– First create points behind wing
• Select Geometry > Transform Geometry
• Select first method: Translate Geometry
• Copy = on
• Method = Explicit, X Offset = 200
• Select the first point shown below, and Apply
• Select the second point, change X Offset to 150
• Apply

If you have First

trouble
selecting
X = 200
points, turn off Second
curve selection X = 150

6 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0

 CreateDensityRegion
• Select Mesh > Create Mesh Density
– Set Size = 5
– Ratio = 1.2
– Width = 5
• Element size of 5 within density region, 5 layers
(width) of size 5 outside of density region,
expansion ratio of 1.2 away after 5 layers
• In this case, the density region is planar, so the
virtual “region” is defined by the width and size
– Select Density Location > From: Points and select the
5 points as shown (any order)
• Three along wing, two create behind wing
– Apply

Pt3 Pt4

Pt1
Pt5
Pt2
7 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0
 ComputeMesh
• Check Delaunay settings first
– Mesh > Global Mesh Setup >
Volume Meshing Parameters
– Mesh Method = Quick (Delaunay)
– Memory scaling factor = 1
– Spacing scaling factor = 1
• This is the growth rate from
surface/curve sizes into
volume
– Apply
• We now need to fill the volume
between the prisms and the
farfield surface mesh
– Select Mesh > Compute Mesh >
Volume Mesh
– Mesh Method will be set to Quick
(Delaunay) since the default was
changed in the global
parameters
– Compute
8 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0
 ViewMeshCutPlane
• Select Mesh > Cut Plane… > Manage Cut
Plane in the Model Tree with right mouse
button
– Change Method to by 3 Locations
– Select 3 locations defining a plane
perpendicular to the wing,
through the wing

Turn on Volumes
• Rotate to side
view
• Note refined
mesh behind
wing
• Prisms
immediately
around wing

Notice refined mesh due to density region

9 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0
 SmoothOnlyTetras

• Improve overall mesh quality

• Select Edit Mesh > Smooth Mesh Globally
– Note Histogram
• In lower right hand corner
• Initial poor quality
– In panel, Freeze TRI_3, PENTA_6, QUAD_4 Types
• Try and retain elongated elements along wing
– Use default for Smoothing iterations, Up to Value and
Criterion
– Apply until no more improvement (about 3 times)
– Note change in histogram after complete
– Try changing Up to Value to 0.3

10 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0

 ReplotHistogramandSmoothEverything
• Replot histogram
– Right mouse select anywhere in histogram
window
– Select Replot
– Change values in Replot pop up window
• Min X = 0.0
• Max X = 1.0
• Max Y height = 20
– So you can see bars with smaller
number of cells

• Set all types to

Smooth
• Apply twice (10
iterations total)

11 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0

 HexaCore
• Refill the volume with a hexa-core mesh
– Turn on Hexa-Core for LIVE in Mesh > Part Mesh Setup
• Set max size = 340 for LIVE (max hexa size with region)
• Apply and Dismiss
• Recompute mesh
– With Create Hexa-Core toggled on
– Will replace tetras and grow hexa elements within
selected volume part(s)
– Hexa-Core ignores density region

12 ©2011ANSYS,Inc. March21,2012 Release14.0