Meshing a Mixing Plane in ICEM

Will Anderson · November 6, 2010, 17:13

I would like to make a mixing plane using ICEM CFD.
Fluent requires that the mixing plane constitute of two parallel and coincident planes. This is the example of a mixing plane in the fluent tutorial.

Two planes of different size, different mesh and different zone but which are entirely on the same geometric plane.

When I try to make a mixing plane in ICEM, ICEM forces the individual surface meshes to share elements, meaning, no parallel coincident planes, rather, a common shared plane.

The blue elements belong to one surface mesh and the green elements to another. These meshes should be separate and on top of each other.
I've tried a lot of things to force ICEM to produce two interior coincident planes which belong to separate zones but nothing has helped.
Maybe somebody here has made a mixing plane using ICEM. How did you do it?

PSYMN · November 7, 2010, 18:05

The Octree Tetra mesher is just assuming that you have a duplicate surface and it is doing the best it can with that and no additional info... But yes, we can get it to do what you want.

Do you want the mesh to be separate sizes in each zone?

If yes, and you want to use the Octree method, then you must separate out the geometry and mesh each side separately. The easiest way to do this is to display just the parts and entities you want to see and then "File => Geometry => Save Visible Geometry As..." Save each half, then load one half and mesh it, load the other half and mesh it, then load both meshes and merge (concatenate) them into one file (perhaps with the original geometry file). Then export to Fluent. (I think you could also export each file separately and join them in Fluent, but I usually check things in ICEM CFD first.)

If No, you don't need the mesh to be different sizes, but you just want two separate layers of nodes, each attached to their own volume, then just go into the "Mesh" tab, and look at the "Params by Parts" popup. The last couple columns are for "internal wall" or "Split Wall". Check box split wall for the interface part(s) and it will do the right thing. You should also make sure that you have different material parts on each side.

Simon

Will Anderson · November 9, 2010, 10:16

Thanks Simon,
I needed differently sized meshes on each side of the interface, so I took your first option, which worked like a charm!

November 6, 2010, 17:13	Meshing a Mixing Plane in ICEM	#1
Will Anderson Member W.N. Anderson Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Posts: 46 Rep Power: 16	I would like to make a mixing plane using ICEM CFD. Fluent requires that the mixing plane constitute of two parallel and coincident planes. This is the example of a mixing plane in the fluent tutorial. Two planes of different size, different mesh and different zone but which are entirely on the same geometric plane. When I try to make a mixing plane in ICEM, ICEM forces the individual surface meshes to share elements, meaning, no parallel coincident planes, rather, a common shared plane. The blue elements belong to one surface mesh and the green elements to another. These meshes should be separate and on top of each other. I've tried a lot of things to force ICEM to produce two interior coincident planes which belong to separate zones but nothing has helped. Maybe somebody here has made a mixing plane using ICEM. How did you do it?

November 7, 2010, 18:05	Split Wall	#2
PSYMN Senior Member Simon Pereira Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 2,663 Blog Entries: 1 Rep Power: 47	The Octree Tetra mesher is just assuming that you have a duplicate surface and it is doing the best it can with that and no additional info... But yes, we can get it to do what you want. Do you want the mesh to be separate sizes in each zone? If yes, and you want to use the Octree method, then you must separate out the geometry and mesh each side separately. The easiest way to do this is to display just the parts and entities you want to see and then "File => Geometry => Save Visible Geometry As..." Save each half, then load one half and mesh it, load the other half and mesh it, then load both meshes and merge (concatenate) them into one file (perhaps with the original geometry file). Then export to Fluent. (I think you could also export each file separately and join them in Fluent, but I usually check things in ICEM CFD first.) If No, you don't need the mesh to be different sizes, but you just want two separate layers of nodes, each attached to their own volume, then just go into the "Mesh" tab, and look at the "Params by Parts" popup. The last couple columns are for "internal wall" or "Split Wall". Check box split wall for the interface part(s) and it will do the right thing. You should also make sure that you have different material parts on each side. Simon Far likes this.

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November 9, 2010, 10:16		#3
Will Anderson Member W.N. Anderson Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Posts: 46 Rep Power: 16	Thanks Simon, I needed differently sized meshes on each side of the interface, so I took your first option, which worked like a charm!