[scareneb]

Hi fellow SHM users, this is my first post on the forums so apologies for any lack in clarity in the description/set-up.

I have been trying to mesh a fairly simple wing geometry where a wing section alters from a standard NACA0012 to the same aerofoil with a 25 degree plain flap (see picture 1).

The wing is enclosed at both ends by the blockMesh which was causing problems with SHM but that seemed to have sorted itself when I increased the max cell parameters in SHM Dict. All good there...

Now, however, I am still having problems with very large cells forming on the faces which are normal to the aerofoil chord (see pictures 2&3), and also SHM has problems snapping at cells which are at the leading edges of both wing sections. I have tried adding refinement zones at two locations (the wing/flap split section and the leading edge of the flap).

Below is my SHM Dict file. I delete most of the commenting in the Dict's to make it a bit easier to modify, sorry if this makes things confusing.

Any help/tips on this issue would be greatly appreciated (I'm still new to OF)! Also, I have changed a lot of the "angle" parameters from 0 to 30 to 60 to 180 etc and this doesn't seem to solve the issue.. Total cell count is ~700,000.


// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //

// Which of the steps to run
castellatedMesh true;
snap true;
addLayers false;


geometry
{
EulerWing25.stl
{
type triSurfaceMesh;
name wing;
}

refinementBoxA
{
type searchableBox;
min (0.65 0.96 -0.15);
max (1.02 1.04 0.05);
}

refinementBoxB
{
type searchableBox;
min (0.96 0 -0.125);
max (1.02 0.99 -0.1);
}

};

// Initial mesh generation
castellatedMeshControls
{

// Refinement parameters
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
maxLocalCells 350000;
maxGlobalCells 450000;
minRefinementCells 10;
maxLoadUnbalance 0.10;
nCellsBetweenLevels 4;
features
(
);
refinementSurfaces
{
wing
{
level (8 9);
patchInfo
{
type wall;
}
}

}
resolveFeatureAngle 60;
refinementRegions
{
wing
{
mode distance;
levels ((0.01 5) (0.05 3));
}

refinementBoxA
{
mode inside;
levels ((1 12));
}

refinementBoxB
{
mode inside;
levels ((1 12));
}

}
locationInMesh (-1 0.6 1);
allowFreeStandingZoneFaces true;
}



// Settings for the snapping.
snapControls
{
nSmoothPatch 10;
tolerance 4;
nSolveIter 50;
nRelaxIter 10;
nFeatureSnapIter 15;
implicitFeatureSnap false;
explicitFeatureSnap true;
multiRegionFeatureSnap false;
}


// Settings for the layer addition.
addLayersControls
{
relativeSizes false;
layers
{
wing
{
nSurfaceLayers 10;

}

}

expansionRatio 1.1;
finalLayerThickness 0.2;
minThickness 0.0005;
nGrow 1;
featureAngle 60;
nRelaxIter 3;
nSmoothSurfaceNormals 1;
nSmoothNormals 3;
nSmoothThickness 10;
maxFaceThicknessRatio 0.5;
maxThicknessToMedialRatio 0.3;
minMedianAxisAngle 130;
nBufferCellsNoExtrude 0;
nLayerIter 50;
}


// Generic mesh quality settings. At any undoable phase these determine
// where to undo.
meshQualityControls
{
maxNonOrtho 65;
maxBoundarySkewness 20;
maxInternalSkewness 20;
maxConcave 80;
minVol 1e-13;
minArea -1;
minTetQuality 1e30;
minTwist 0.02;
minDeterminant 0.001;
minFaceWeight 0.02;
minVolRatio 0.01;
minTriangleTwist -1;
errorReduction 0.75;
nSmoothScale 4;


relaxed
{
maxNonOrtho 75;
}

}

debug 0;
mergeTolerance 1E-6;


// ************************************************** *********************** //

[icaroaccordi]

My guess is that you are using shorten cells in span-wise direction. Probably you had decreased the size of the domain without changing the cell count in that direction. If you want a sharp corner you can use feature edges in the snapHexMeshDict after using the command surfaceFeatureExtract (you need a dictionary to do that). However is going to be a hell to get nice boundary layers in sharp corners. I hope that I would help you.

[scareneb]

Thanks for your suggestions Icaro! They did help, however, I have read that newer versions of OF do not require the surfaceFeatureExtractDict and the feature is now built in with the resolveFeatureAngle. I tried this with 90 degrees and the cells snapped perfectly!

Also, I was going a bit OTT on the refinement of surfaces and regions, and therefore the number of cells SHM could reach (defined by the maxGlobal/maxLocal cell parameters) was quickly used up & no additional cells were not added!

I have attached my new SHMDict and a few new images!

This SHMDict also works well with my smooth transition wing, of which I am looking to compare aerodynamic performance with! (3rd pic)



FoamFile
{
version 2.0;
format ascii;
class dictionary;
object snappyHexMeshDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //

// Which of the steps to run
castellatedMesh true;
snap true;
addLayers false;


geometry
{
NACA0012.stl
{
type triSurfaceMesh;
name wing;
}

flap_22deg_25c.stl
{
type triSurfaceMesh;
name flap;
}

refinementBoxA
{
type searchableBox;
min (0.74 2.35 -0.12);
max (2.00 2.45 0.06);
}

// refinementBoxB
// {
// type searchableBox;
// min (0.96 0 -0.125);
// max (1.02 0.99 -0.1);
// }

};

// Initial mesh generation
castellatedMeshControls
{

// Refinement parameters
// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
maxLocalCells 500000;
maxGlobalCells 1200000;
minRefinementCells 1;
maxLoadUnbalance 0.10;
nCellsBetweenLevels 4;
features
(
);
refinementSurfaces
{
wing
{
level (3 4);
patchInfo
{
type wall;
}
}

flap
{
level (3 4);
patchInfo
{
type wall;
}
}

}
resolveFeatureAngle 90;
refinementRegions
{
wing
{
mode distance;
levels ((0.1 4) (0.5 3));
}

flap
{
mode distance;
levels ((0.1 4) (0.5 3));
}

refinementBoxA
{
mode inside;
levels ((1 7));
}

// refinementBoxB
// {
// mode inside;
// levels ((1 12));
// }

}
locationInMesh (-1.01 0.62 1);
allowFreeStandingZoneFaces true;
}



// Settings for the snapping.
snapControls
{
nSmoothPatch 10;
tolerance 4;
nSolveIter 60;
nRelaxIter 10;
nFeatureSnapIter 15;
implicitFeatureSnap true;
explicitFeatureSnap false;
multiRegionFeatureSnap false;
}


// Settings for the layer addition.
addLayersControls
{
relativeSizes false;
layers
{
wing
{
nSurfaceLayers 10;

}

flap
{
nSurfaceLayers 10;

}

}

expansionRatio 1.1;
finalLayerThickness 0.2;
minThickness 0.0005;
nGrow 0;
featureAngle 60;
nRelaxIter 3;
nSmoothSurfaceNormals 3;
nSmoothNormals 3;
nSmoothThickness 10;
maxFaceThicknessRatio 0.5;
maxThicknessToMedialRatio 0.3;
minMedianAxisAngle 60;
nBufferCellsNoExtrude 0;
nLayerIter 50;
}


// Generic mesh quality settings. At any undoable phase these determine
// where to undo.
meshQualityControls
{
maxNonOrtho 65;
maxBoundarySkewness 4;
maxInternalSkewness 4;
maxConcave 60;
minVol 1e-13;
minArea 1e-13;
minTetQuality 1e30;
minTwist 0.02;
minDeterminant 0.001;
minFaceWeight 0.02;
minVolRatio 0.01;
minTriangleTwist -1;
errorReduction 0.75;
nSmoothScale 4;


relaxed
{
maxNonOrtho 75;
minVol 1e-13;
}

}

debug 0;
mergeTolerance 1E-6;



// ************************************************** *********************** //