[ICEM] Any successful way of converting Fluent Mesh (academic) to a CAD model?

RossFS · February 19, 2011, 21:15

We are only running version 12.1 (academic) version of ANSYS products.

Original mesh is generated from a (cleaned up) point cloud.

We are able to export the stator mesh out of ICEM to IGES format okay, but the rotor design will not export in IGES format (some sort of error message ending in 914, I can dig up the exact message).

Have tried pushing the mesh over to FEM in Workbench and tried to do the conversion to Parasolid format, but it just smashes the computer (Quad core 3.5gig RAM) and it didn't look like it was going to finish after 20min.

Rhino 3D format outputted by ICEM CFD won't open in SolidWorks (2011) even though it supports the file format.

What follows is most of the stuff I've tried:
-------------------------
Rhino 3D format opened in Rhino 3D okay and exporting from here works okay for generating surfaces in a variety of formats, but our CAM software needs a solid created to be able to recognise the rotor's blades.

Generating a solid rotor in Rhino 3d is failing.
Generating a solid rotor in SolidWorks is failing also (via trying to close [via knit] all the outer surfaces of the rotor and also via trying to thicken the rotor's surfaces).

Can open a .dwg file outputted from Rhino in SolidWorks but there are so many curves that any computers I use take a hammering and don't look promising.

SolidWorks can import meshes and point clouds in a few formats, but doesn't appear to deal with them too well and I can't just "join the dots" and make curves and then loft a solid out of some closed curves for some reason.

sac · February 20, 2011, 19:19

Does the point cloud have well defined surfaces. If not anything will struggle.

Ask yourself the question before you go any futher. Do you actually really need to have the CAD. Why operation do you need to do that requires you to do this step.

If you can get away with not having to do this then you'll save yourself alot of time.

Btw ICEM and TGRID both have pretty good facetted modelling tools. Maybe you could do the operations you need to do with these tools instead of requiring Solidworks.

RossFS · February 20, 2011, 19:59

The original point cloud wasn't that clean, but the guy doing the CFD modelling cleaned it up by hand in order to get some nice b-spline curves through it.

I need to get solid(s) created of a rotor blade and the hub and put into a format that can be opened with our CAM software so that we can manufacture the rotor in order to validate the CFD simulations.

I can get what I want into the software I want as surfaces no problems at all but the CAM software doesn't appear to like working with surfaces and doesn't pick up on the geometry of surfaces - only solids, even though the software does display the surfaces visually.

I'll have another look at ICEM and see if we have TGrid (I know we don't have a license for Gambit) - thanks for the tip.

February 19, 2011, 21:15	Any successful way of converting Fluent Mesh (academic) to a CAD model?	#1
RossFS Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 65 Rep Power: 16	We are only running version 12.1 (academic) version of ANSYS products. Original mesh is generated from a (cleaned up) point cloud. We are able to export the stator mesh out of ICEM to IGES format okay, but the rotor design will not export in IGES format (some sort of error message ending in 914, I can dig up the exact message). Have tried pushing the mesh over to FEM in Workbench and tried to do the conversion to Parasolid format, but it just smashes the computer (Quad core 3.5gig RAM) and it didn't look like it was going to finish after 20min. Rhino 3D format outputted by ICEM CFD won't open in SolidWorks (2011) even though it supports the file format. What follows is most of the stuff I've tried: ------------------------- Rhino 3D format opened in Rhino 3D okay and exporting from here works okay for generating surfaces in a variety of formats, but our CAM software needs a solid created to be able to recognise the rotor's blades. Generating a solid rotor in Rhino 3d is failing. Generating a solid rotor in SolidWorks is failing also (via trying to close [via knit] all the outer surfaces of the rotor and also via trying to thicken the rotor's surfaces). Can open a .dwg file outputted from Rhino in SolidWorks but there are so many curves that any computers I use take a hammering and don't look promising. SolidWorks can import meshes and point clouds in a few formats, but doesn't appear to deal with them too well and I can't just "join the dots" and make curves and then loft a solid out of some closed curves for some reason.

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February 20, 2011, 19:19		#2
sac Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 44 Rep Power: 17	Does the point cloud have well defined surfaces. If not anything will struggle. Ask yourself the question before you go any futher. Do you actually really need to have the CAD. Why operation do you need to do that requires you to do this step. If you can get away with not having to do this then you'll save yourself alot of time. Btw ICEM and TGRID both have pretty good facetted modelling tools. Maybe you could do the operations you need to do with these tools instead of requiring Solidworks.

February 20, 2011, 19:59		#3
RossFS Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 65 Rep Power: 16	The original point cloud wasn't that clean, but the guy doing the CFD modelling cleaned it up by hand in order to get some nice b-spline curves through it. I need to get solid(s) created of a rotor blade and the hub and put into a format that can be opened with our CAM software so that we can manufacture the rotor in order to validate the CFD simulations. I can get what I want into the software I want as surfaces no problems at all but the CAM software doesn't appear to like working with surfaces and doesn't pick up on the geometry of surfaces - only solids, even though the software does display the surfaces visually. I'll have another look at ICEM and see if we have TGrid (I know we don't have a license for Gambit) - thanks for the tip.