[RubenGutiii]

Hello,

I need help with a mesh manipulation problem in OpenFOAM. My problem come from a case in which I would like to create an internal patch defined by a cutting plane. The utility that I will use is createBaffles but first I need to have the cutting plane defined by a faceSet and I don’t find the correct way to define it.

I am not able to define the patch with blockMesh because the geometry is too complex for it. I’ve meshed the case with ICEM CFD.

I’ve done some tries with the topoSet utility using different sources in topoSetDict:

surfaceToCell : using only the includeCut option and a .stl file of the plane extracted from paraFoam, I’ve obtained the plane in a faceSet but with a thickness equal to a cell length, so that the cellSet is a extruded block and not a plane. If I convert that cellSet to a faceSet it remains to be a block.

nearestToCell: I found the way to extract the cell center coordinates of the plane cells with a paraFoam filter. I used them as an input in the source of topoSetDict but the same result as before came up, an extruded block instead of a plane.

normalToFace: this faceSet defines all planes in the normal direction that I want. In this case, the objects are planes, but I only need one of them, the desired plane at a certain distance.

I know that I am approached to the solution, but I don’t find the correct way.

[japaf]

Hi,

you can look into topoSetDict of mesh/foamyHexMesh/simpleShapes tutorial. Basically what you want to do is the following:

    // define cellSet that has one side aligned with you desired cutting plane
    {
        name    z;
        type    cellSet;
        action  new;
        source  boxToCell;
        box     (-100 -100 0)(100 100 100);
    }
    // convert all faces in the above cellSet to a new faceSet
    {
        name    zf;
        type    faceSet;
        action  new;
        source  cellToFace;
        set     z;
        option  all;
    }
    // invert selection, thus the new cellSet has only the cutting plane in common with the original cellSet
    {
        name    z;
        type    cellSet;
        action  invert;
    }
    // convert faces to faceSet, but keep only those, which are common with original faceSet (the cutting plane)
    {
        name    zf;
        type    faceSet;
        action  subset;
        source  cellToFace;
        set     z;
        option  all;
    }

You will end up with faceSet named zf.