Tips & Tricks

Using Region sources in CFD-VisCART

In order to control grid spacing at user-defined locations, mesh sources are a common tool in CFD-VisCART (Figure 1). Point, Line, Curve, Plane, Box and Surface sources have been available for several years. Cylinder and Sphere sources were introduced a few years back. To extend this tool set further, CFD-VisCART V2013.0 introduced Region sources.

Automatic covering of larger unwanted holes in CFD-VisCART

CFD-VisCART meshing automatically closes or covers holes in the geometry that are smaller in size than the cell size specified at the surfaces. To cover LARGER holes, the ‘Max Hole Size to Cover’ feature can be used. This feature, introduced in V2013.2, works to automatically cover larger holes in the geometry during mesh generation, and thus prevents the mesh from leaking into unwanted regions. This feature is available with all mesh types supported in CFD-VisCART.

Model clipping feature in CFD-VisCART and CFD-GEOM

For better visualization of the geometry and mesh, a model clipping feature was introduced in CFD-VisCART and CFD-GEOM V2013.0. The following sections illustrate the usage and benefits of this feature.

Improve Productivity Using Scripts [Video Format]

As simulations become more integrated with the design process, engineers often spend time on repeated operations that do not contribute to their productivity. There is a need for tools that could capture, preserve and transfer the knowledge within the organization or to its customers.

Grouping parts during data import in CFD-VisCART

When dealing with complex industrial models such as cars and airplanes, hundreds of parts need to be managed. Each one of these parts may also be subdivided into different components. In order to easily manipulate these different parts and components in CFD-VisCART, you can make use of the grouping feature.

Boundary layer meshing with CFD-ACE+ [video format]

The accuracy of a CFD solution is strongly dependent on how well the mesh resolves geometry and flow features. This is especially true for near wall regions (boundary layer) where viscous forces are not negligible compared to inertial forces.

CFD-VisCART: Mesh Extrusion

In most CFD simulations, it is required to place inlets/outlets far enough from the region of interest in order to reduce their influence on the solution. In many applications, this can be done by extruding existing inlets/outlets BC patches away from the domain.

Preserving boundaries between patches with CFD-VisCART’s Single Domain mesher

The ‘Preserve Features’ option does very well in preserving features between geometry patches – as long as the patches are not coplanar (dihedral angle = 0) or include a very small dihedral angle between them.

CFD-VisCART: Suppression of parts for mesh generation

When performing an analysis comparing component A versus component B, it is useful to have both components stored in the same file for physical comparison and documentation purposes. However, when generating the mesh for the analysis, only one of the parts should be considered at a time. The "Suppress" option in CFD-VisCART makes this possible.

Boundary Layer meshing in CFD-VisCART

In order to accurately capture flow field characteristics, a fine mesh near boundary walls is often needed. This is commonly referred to as the Boundary Layer mesh or simply, Boundary Layers. When dealing with structured meshes, one would cluster grid points near specific boundaries before building mesh faces and blocks. But for an automated mesher, dedicated algorithms are needed to generate boundary layer cells. Both CFD-GEOM and CFD-VisCART are capable of generating boundary layer meshes, and they share the same core algorithm.