[jr33]

Hi foamers,

I have a following triangular meshes for a 3d geometry ( stl format).

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/68983831/Y-...sh_picture.png

so far I am using gmsh, I am trying to figure out:

How to convert above mesh ( .stl and .msh formats) into openfoam format:

If I use: gmshToFoam new.msh

--> FOAM FATAL IO ERROR:
No cells read from file "new.msh"
Does your file specify any 3D elements (hex=5, prism=6, pyramid=7, tet=4)?
Perhaps you have not exported the 3D elements?

file: new.msh at line 4995.

From function readCells(..)
in file gmshToFoam.C at line 721.

FOAM exiting

How to fix above error.

is there any interactive or alternative software that I can use to convert a mesh into foam format i.e. into blockMeshDict.

thanks
jay

[wyldckat]

Greetings Jay,

I think the problem you're having is due to a simple reason: you have a 3D surface mesh, not a 3D volume mesh.
This is why you're unable to convert the mesh directly to OpenFOAM, because OpenFOAM works with 3D volume meshes.

You either finish generating the mesh:

• Directly in Gmsh.
• Or you can use snappyHexMesh to create the volume mesh, using the STL as the basis for the geometry. For more information: http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/SnappyHexMesh
• Or you could even use enGrid: https://github.com/enGits/engrid/wiki

Best regards,
Bruno