[tav98f]

I need to make a good mesh on a very complicated geometry (see pictures). I plan on running an LES simulation on a model of the human upper airways (lungs). in the form of an STL I have used Materialize software to extract a geometry from CT scans . I have access to ICEM and I wanted to ask where to begin on a model like this? My thoughts were to use a tetrahedral mesh because of complexity. It would be great if I could use hexahedral and still get good quality elements because of the reduction in computational time. I think it would be good to use prism layers at the surface but I am not sure if that would cause a problem with LES. Either way it is important to have very small elements near the wall. I do not have a lot of experience with meshing and I wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts or suggestions for me. What kind of meshing strategy would you use for a geometry like this?

Thank you for your time,
Timothy

[tav98f]

Simon has suggested a method of blocking for this geometry that I have tried with some results.

I have started with a bounding block. I split the block in half from top to bottom at the first split in my geometry. Then, because the splits in my geometry were not very sharp, I split the lower block into three blocks and deleted the middle block. I moved the nodes of the blocks so that the two lower blocks aligned with the two split directions. I would then perform a similar procedure on the next split on each side of the first split. I continued this process associating as much as possible along the way until my entire geometry was blocked.

[tav98f]

The result looked pretty cool but has some overlapping elements. (see picture)

Below is my blocking structure in that region.


Does anyone know why I may be getting overlapping mesh here?

I do not know what the problem is so I do not know the information one would need to figure out what is wrong. If you need any more pictures or information let me know.

Thanks,
Timothy