Automatic workflow for geometry swapping - advice needed

jabeken · February 13, 2019, 06:09

Hi all,

I'm facing a project that will involve running multiple hundred simulations of the same type with slightly different geometries (for uncertainty quantification).

Now I'm looking for an efficient way to automate the process of setting up the simulations. My general idea would be to set up a baseline simulation and write a macro that swaps the geometry for each new geometry.

In previous projects I had experience with this by using ANSA to create a pro-STAR shell input file from the original step-files. The resulting .inp could be imported into Star-CCM+ using patch-IDs as identification and therefore allowing automatic recognition of the corresponding boundaries etc...

However, in this new project I don't have access to ANSA anymore and I have to come up with a new way.
My current idea is to export the different surfaces into different step-parts which would allow to update them individually and thus keeping their association with regions, boundary-definitions, etc. However, I'm afraid that this will lead to a lot of artifacts and faulty surfaces.

Thus, I am looking for suggestions and advice on how to set up a robust and efficient workflow to automate the setup of these simulations based on the tools I have (SolidWorks, Star-CCM+, Ansys Meshing, ICEM).

Looking forward to any input!

Cheers,
Jonas

me3840 · February 16, 2019, 11:29

Just using STAR-CCM+ by itself will work fine.

Part swapping will work well if your parts are solids, if they are surfaces things are a little more complex but doable. If your geometry is dirty you can consider using the wrapper to help automation.

Making sure the simulations have consistent naming and boundary/part surface association checking is easily done with Java macros. You should be able to write Java macros to do mostly anything you want for automation, it's a very powerful capability.

jabeken · February 18, 2019, 07:05

I figured out that my issue was a badly prepared STEP file and nothing else. The surfaces of the part just have to be specifically named and the STEP has to be exported in a way that keeps feature properties (like surface names).

I also switched to parasolids as it is recommended by Siemens (as Star is built on a parasolid kernel and thus no translation is necessary).
Surface recognition works just fine now and the rest should be no issue at all.

February 13, 2019, 06:09	Automatic workflow for geometry swapping - advice needed	#1
jabeken New Member Jonas Abeken Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Zurich Posts: 10 Rep Power: 8	Hi all, I'm facing a project that will involve running multiple hundred simulations of the same type with slightly different geometries (for uncertainty quantification). Now I'm looking for an efficient way to automate the process of setting up the simulations. My general idea would be to set up a baseline simulation and write a macro that swaps the geometry for each new geometry. In previous projects I had experience with this by using ANSA to create a pro-STAR shell input file from the original step-files. The resulting .inp could be imported into Star-CCM+ using patch-IDs as identification and therefore allowing automatic recognition of the corresponding boundaries etc... However, in this new project I don't have access to ANSA anymore and I have to come up with a new way. My current idea is to export the different surfaces into different step-parts which would allow to update them individually and thus keeping their association with regions, boundary-definitions, etc. However, I'm afraid that this will lead to a lot of artifacts and faulty surfaces. Thus, I am looking for suggestions and advice on how to set up a robust and efficient workflow to automate the setup of these simulations based on the tools I have (SolidWorks, Star-CCM+, Ansys Meshing, ICEM). Looking forward to any input! Cheers, Jonas

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February 16, 2019, 11:29		#2
me3840 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Posts: 1,232 Rep Power: 25	Just using STAR-CCM+ by itself will work fine. Part swapping will work well if your parts are solids, if they are surfaces things are a little more complex but doable. If your geometry is dirty you can consider using the wrapper to help automation. Making sure the simulations have consistent naming and boundary/part surface association checking is easily done with Java macros. You should be able to write Java macros to do mostly anything you want for automation, it's a very powerful capability.

February 18, 2019, 07:05		#3
jabeken New Member Jonas Abeken Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Zurich Posts: 10 Rep Power: 8	I figured out that my issue was a badly prepared STEP file and nothing else. The surfaces of the part just have to be specifically named and the STEP has to be exported in a way that keeps feature properties (like surface names). I also switched to parasolids as it is recommended by Siemens (as Star is built on a parasolid kernel and thus no translation is necessary). Surface recognition works just fine now and the rest should be no issue at all.