[OpenFOOL]

Hi folks,


first of all I want to say that this forum helped me a lot already just by reading threads. Unfortunately I have to open my first thread, because I despair of using SnappyHexMesh with my geometry. Originally I use several STL files which form a pump passage geometry (therefore it´s more complex), but to make things as simple as possible I will use another geometry to describe the problems I am facing. I get the same "problematic" results with those geometrys.

The main problem is SnappyHexMesh not snapping to the edges in a reliable manner.

The white lines represent the detected feature edges. So every edge was detected correctly. But SHM fails at the snapping process, see pictures below. My settings are as follows...

castellatedMeshControls
{
    maxLocalCells 100000;
    maxGlobalCells 2000000;
    minRefinementCells 0;
    maxLoadUnbalance 0.1;
    nCellsBetweenLevels 2;

    features
    (

    {
            file        "model1c.eMesh";
            level       3;
        }

    );

refinementSurfaces
    {
        model1c
        {
            level       (2 2);
        }
    }

snapControls
{
    nSmoothPatch 4;
    tolerance 5;
    nSolveIter 300;
    nRelaxIter 5;
    nFeatureSnapIter 10;
    implicitFeatureSnap false;
    explicitFeatureSnap true;
    multiRegionFeatureSnap true;
}

Apparently it does not matter what settings I use. Sometimes I get a slightly better result but those defects won´t disappear completely. At the inlet of the pump are four rippled locations, all 90° apart. Those ones seem to be too far away for SHM to snap to the edge (castellated circle, so there are 4 locations of the same distance to the edge, see Pumpe_2.jpeg). But changing the tolerance won´t let them disappear.

Does somebody see my mistake? It´s a quite common geometry, so I think it should be possible to mesh it with SHM. If you have any idea or suggestion or if you need more information, please let me know. Many thanks in advance.


Leon


Edit: I am stupid. I wondered why there's no surface refinement step in my castellated mesh. I looked at the number of cells...they are above the maximum global cells. So SHM won't be refine anything at all. Now I used a higher maximum global cells setting and got better results, but defects are still there. Maybe I am on the right way at least.

[OpenFOOL]

Ok, now I changed the maxGlobalCells entry and made a refinement at the profile. The red lines indicate the feature edges. They're correctly identified by surfaceFeatureExtract. But still I get those distortions, no matter what I try. Does somebody know what I could do else?

Many thanks in advance



My current settings are as follows...


blockMeshDict

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  5                                     |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.org                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      blockMeshDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //


convertToMeters 1;

vertices
(
    (-210 -210 -10)
    (210 -210 -10)
    (210 210 -10)
    (-210 210 -10)
    (-210 -210 110)
    (210 -210 110)
    (210 210 110)
    (-210 210 110)
);

blocks
(
    hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) (63 63 15) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
);

edges
(
);

boundary
(
);

mergePatchPairs
(
);

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

snappyHexMeshDict

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  5                                     |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.org                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      snappyHexMeshDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //


castellatedMesh true;
snap            true;
addLayers       false;

geometry
{
    model1c
    {
        type        triSurfaceMesh;
        file        "model1c.stl";
    }
};

castellatedMeshControls
{
    maxLocalCells 2000000;
    maxGlobalCells 10000000;
    minRefinementCells 0;
    maxLoadUnbalance 0.1;
    nCellsBetweenLevels 1;

    features
    (
        {
            file        "model1c.eMesh";
            level       3;
        }

    );

    refinementSurfaces
    {
        model1c
        {
            level       (2 4);
        }
    }

    resolveFeatureAngle 30;

    refinementRegions
    {
    }

    locationInMesh (-40 0 90);

    allowFreeStandingZoneFaces true;
}

snapControls
{
    nSmoothPatch 4;
    tolerance 4;
    nSolveIter 200;
    nRelaxIter 5;
    nFeatureSnapIter 10;
    implicitFeatureSnap false;
    explicitFeatureSnap true;
    multiRegionFeatureSnap true;
}

addLayersControls
{
    relativeSizes true;
    layers
    {
        model1c
        {
            nSurfaceLayers 1;
        }
    }
    expansionRatio 1;
    finalLayerThickness 0.3;
    minThickness 0.1;
    nGrow 0;
    featureAngle 30;
    nRelaxIter 3;
    nSmoothSurfaceNormals 1;
    nSmoothNormals 3;
    nSmoothThickness 10;
    maxFaceThicknessRatio 0.5;
    maxThicknessToMedialRatio 0.3;
    minMedianAxisAngle 90;
    nBufferCellsNoExtrude 0;
    nLayerIter 50;
    nRelaxedIter 20;
}

meshQualityControls
{
    maxNonOrtho 65;

    maxBoundarySkewness 20;
    maxInternalSkewness 4;

    maxConcave 80;
    minFlatness 0.5;
    //minVol 1e-13;
    minVol 1e-13;
    minTetQuality -1;
    minArea -1;
    minTwist 0.01;
    minDeterminant 0.001;
    minFaceWeight 0.05;
    minVolRatio 0.01;
    minTriangleTwist -1;
    nSmoothScale 4;
    errorReduction 0.75;
    relaxed
    {
    }
}

mergeTolerance 1e-06;

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

surfaceFeatureExtractDict

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\
| =========                 |                                                 |
| \\      /  F ield         | OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox           |
|  \\    /   O peration     | Version:  5                                     |
|   \\  /    A nd           | Web:      www.OpenFOAM.org                      |
|    \\/     M anipulation  |                                                 |
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
    version     2.0;
    format      ascii;
    class       dictionary;
    location    "system";
    object      surfaceFeatureExtractDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //


model1c.stl
{
    extractionMethod         extractFromSurface;

    extractFromSurfaceCoeffs
    {
        includedAngle        150;
    }

    subsetFeatures
    {
        nonManifoldEdges     no;
        openEdges            yes;
    }

    trimFeatures
    {
        minElem              0;
        minLen               0;
    }

    writeFeatureEdgeMesh     yes;

    writeObj                 yes;
}



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

[decanter]

Hello!

may I ask if you solved your problem so far? I am having a similar problem with distortions. You can see my geometry in the attached file. It is basicly the internal fluid volume in a decanter centrifuge. The empty areas are screwflights which snappy could snap well, but I have some missing parts alon the edges.

[Ship Designer]

Hi Leon,

You could try to increase the resolution of your input geometry file, e.g. stl ro obj file. For snappyHexMesh to snap correctly it is important that the faces of the geometry file are smaller than the desired mesh faces. So preferrably use a too fine geometry file, it doesn't hurt.

You can also check your geometry file with ParaView and then apply the Feature Edges filter. You can then adjust the feature angle until the edges you need in your mesh are continuous without gaps. Note that the angle indicated in the Feature Edges filter is reversed in relation to the one needed in surfaceFeatureDict. Thus, if according to Feature Edges an angle of 30° looks okay, then in surfaceFeatureDict you'll have to specify 150.

Hope this helps, cheers

[fedez91]

Hello Claudio,

Just out of curiosity, how do you know this?? There is very little information about the characteristics of the .stl file, other than it should be closed. I am having a lot of issues with reliable snaping, and I recall that I read something somewhere about the .stl file, but I could not find what or where.

[otaolafr]

Originally Posted by fedez91

Hello Claudio,

Just out of curiosity, how do you know this?? There is very little information about the characteristics of the .stl file, other than it should be closed. I am having a lot of issues with reliable snaping, and I recall that I read something somewhere about the .stl file, but I could not find what or where.

have a look at one of the sticky post in the openfoam meshing & mesh conversion section
Creating waterproof STL using snappyHexMesh or salome