Lecture 6A:

Geometry Modeling For CFD

16.0 Release

Introduction to ANSYS DesignModeler

1

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Geometry Modeling for CFD

In this lecture we will learn about:
Fluid Body Extraction

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

Internal
External
Symmetry Modeling
Watertight Body Preparation & Conformal Meshing
Surface Extensions
Connect
Use of Lines and Sketches for CFD Modeling
Zero Thickness Surface Modeling

March 2, 2015

Preprocessing Workflow
Import/
Geometry
Creation

Geometry
Modifications

Sketches and Planes

3D Operations
Booleans,
Decompose, etc.

3D Operations
Extrude, Revolve,
Sweep, etc

Geometry Cleanup
and Repair

Geometry Import
Options

Automatic
Cleanup

Bi-Directional
CAD/ Neutral

Simplification,
Mid-surface,
Fluid Extraction

Meshing

Meshing Methods
Hybrid Mesh: Tet,
Prisms, Pyramids
Hexa Dominant,
Sweep meshing
Assembly
Meshing

Global Mesh
Settings
Local Mesh Settings
Sizing, Controls,
etc.

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Solver

Fill
Creates internal fluid volume
Two options
By Cavity : user must select all wetted surfaces
By Caps : user must create closing surfaces at
inlets and outlets, and select bodies

Internal fluid volume

extracted using Fill

Details View of Fill

Cap surface bodies must be selected

4

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Enclosure
Creates enclosure around the bodies
Useful for external aerodynamic analysis
Can be used for extracting internal flow domain

Input
All or selected bodies
Shape of enclosure
Extent of enclosure

Output
A frozen body around the selected parts with specified extents
Internal flow volume as a result of automatic Boolean subtract

Supports symmetry models

Full or partial models can be included in enclosure

5

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Enclosure created for an airplane

Enclosure: External Flow Example

Using Symmetry

Model
User Defined Shape
Enclosure
6

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Symmetry
Tip: Use symmetry tool
as visualization tool for
discovering the model
(afterwards delete or
suppress the operation)

Defines symmetry for the model

Input
All or selected bodies
Up to three symmetry planes

Operation
Symmetry planes slice the model

Output
Sliced model (part lying on the positive side of the axis is retained)

Details View of Symmetry

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Using Symmetry

Note: Faces that are coincident with

the symmetry plane are tagged with a
Symmetry named selection

Surface Extension
Allows extension of surface bodies to the desired extent
Extension type
Natural: Based on gradients of selected edges
User Defined: User specifies the direction

Details View of Surface

Extension
Model with gap
8

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Model with gap closed

Connect
Aligns and possibly joins a set of
Vertices
edges
faces

Properties
Location property
T-junction property

Vertex Connect

Details View of Connect

9

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Connect: Edge Connect Example

Location:
Interpolated

Both edges moved to interpolated location

Model with a gap

Location:
Preserve First
Second edge moved to first edge location
10

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Connect: Edge Connect Example T-junction

Model with a gap

11

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Using
T-Junction

Connect After Shared Topology

Connect feature can be used after the Shared Topology feature
to selectively share faces between two bodies of a multibody
part. This can be used to:
Fix face sharing failures after Shared Topology
Can be used for selective sharing of faces in conjunction with
Selective Shared Topology
The advantage of Connect feature is that
It takes user defined tolerances to Connect faces which
failed due to smaller Shared Topology tolerance
This ensures conformal meshing
Please be careful in choosing tolerance value, as high
values may result in deformation of model at some places
12

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Concept Modeling Tools

Why is Concept Modeling(Lines and Faces) relevant for CFD users?
Sometimes the imported files contain issues like:
Missing Faces
Corrupt Faces
Details which require cleanup by selective geometry recreation
For cleaning, patching, recreating surfaces & stitching a water tight body, several line and
surface creation options of concept modeling are used

CFD models also require some solids/thin bodies to be modeled as zero thickness
surfaces
Examples are baffles, fins, zero thickness pipe walls, fan shrouds, etc.
For above mentioned cases mid-surfacing tools need to be used

Sometimes 2D modeling operations also require use of concept modeling tools

13

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Lines from Points

[Main Menu] Concept Lines From Points

Points can be any

2D sketch point
3D model vertex
Point Feature (PF)
A point segment is a straight line connecting
two selected points.
The feature can produce multiple Line Bodies,
depending on the connectivity of the chosen
point segments.

Point 1

Line Body

Point 2
14

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Lines from Edges

[Main Menu] Concept Lines From Edge

Creates line bodies based on existing 2D and 3D model edges

Can produce multiple line bodies depending on the connectivity

of the selected edges and faces

Can select edges and/or faces through two fields in the detail
window then Apply
Line Bodies

15

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Split Edges
[Main Menu] Concept Split Edges
Splits edges (including line body edges) into two or more pieces

Fractional: Value of 0.5 splits the edge into two edges of equal length

Split by Delta: Distance between each split is given by Delta along the
edge.

Split by N: Number of Divisions of the Edge

By Split Location: By Fraction or By Coordinates

Fractional:
Selected line

16

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

Fraction = 0.5

March 2, 2015

Fraction = 0.25

Surfaces From Edges

Existing solid body
edges are selected
for new surface
boundary.

[Main Menu] Concept Surfaces from Edges

Creates surface body using existing body edges,

including line body edges as the boundary

Can be solid or line body edges

Edges must form non-intersecting closed loops

Each closed loop creates a frozen Surface Body

The loops should form a shape such that a simple

surface can be inserted into the model as
planes, cylinders, tori, cones, spheres and
simple twisted surfaces

17

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

New, frozen, surface

body generated
(note, solid body is
hidden).

Twisted surface

Surfaces From Sketches

[Main Menu] Concept Surfaces from Sketches
Creates surface bodies using sketches as boundaries
(single or multiple sketches are OK)

Base sketches must be closed profiles which are not

self-intersecting
May choose to Add or Add Frozen operations

Can reverse normal direction No in Orient With

Plane Normal field
Can enter thickness which will be used in creating
the FE model

18

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Mid-Surface
Extracts surface body that is midway between existing
solid body faces
Two Options:

Manual: Operates only on user specified face pairs

Automatic: Provides option to search for other
matching face pairs

Details View of Mid-Surface

19

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Mid-Surface created for a

pipe geometry

Summary
What have we learnt in this session?
Fluid Body Extraction
Symmetry Modeling
Watertight Body Preparation & Duplicate Face Removal

Modeling of Lines and Surfaces for Simplification/Repair

20

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Workshop 6.1A Geometry Cleanup & Fluid

Extraction

21

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015

Micro-Workshop: 2
Objective:

Create an Enclosure for extracting external fluid region

22

2015 ANSYS, Inc.

March 2, 2015