Mesh Import Formats
 

We just switched from Star-CD to CFX. We are using CFX for the blood flow simulation for blood pumps. We developed a similar but much better tubomachinery design and mesh generation tools like BladeGen and TurboGrid. However, we don't know what is the formats required by CFX 5.7 for the mesh import. Does anybody know the mesh import formats for Turbogrid or TascFlow?

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

Dear Jason,

You are not limited to the Turbogrid/TASCflow formats. You can use other more popular/generic formats.

For example, the documentation for CFX-Pre 5.7.1 stays that the following formats are supported:

PATRAN Neutral

ICEM CFD

CGNS

ANSYS

IDEAS Universal

GridPro

MSC/NASTRAN

Pointwise Gridgen

User Import

The User Import option is explained with some detail..I am not familiar how easy/difficult this is..There is an example as well..

Which format were you using to export your mesh to Star-CD? What is it any of the above?

Good luck, JC.

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

I just want to kown if CFX could solve with straucture grids?and how to import into it.....

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

Hi, JC:

Thaks a lot for teh information. Although a lot of formats are allowed to import into CFX, ironically users can't find any information from the manual or online help. Compared to Star-CD and FLUENT, CFX's pre-processor is totally a mess !!!

My version is CFX 5.7. I am sorry that I can't find any examples about users' mesh importing. If it is possible, could you please forward me that example?

Thanks a lot!

Jason

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

Hi Jason,

Opinion about tools usually lead to flame wars (linux/MacOS vs. MS windows, Word vs Wordperfect, C/C++ vs Fortran, Netscape vs IE, etc). I use what is in front of me, and try to get my job done the best I can..

I have not used the User Mesh Import option myself; however, browsing the CFX-5.7.1 documentation I found an explanation and some source code examples..

I opened the help, go to CFX-Pre Contents section, then goto Mesh Editor Advanced Options (page 103) and clicked on Mesh Import API..

It seems you will write your own mesh import code..Perhaps, the best option is to contact your CFX representative.

Good luck, JC..

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

Hello Jason,

I easily found information on grid import in the CFX Pre documentation (eg: what are the supported formats) There is even extensive documenation on some of the gotchas for a few of the formats. If you have a specific question I will gladly look through the doc for you and answer it.

I've also just started using Fluent and I can't even figure out how to get a grid from Gambit into the Fluent GUI. Any pointers??

If we are offering up comments on GUIs... Gambit seems pretty fast but it's obviously old and chunky and it's crazy that it still requires a tool like Exceed. The Fluent GUI is not much better and is just a glorified DOS prompt. Time for Fluent to get out of the dark ages and write a modern GUI. They cannot even come anywhere close to CFX in ANSYS Workbench.

Neale

Re: Mesh Import Formats
 

Hello, Naele:

Thank you very much for the information. I have found some mesh formats for CFX, such as CSGN and CFX-4 Geo. However, compared to Star-CD, it is still very cumbersome and inconvenient. Maybe when we are using a new CFD softawre, we all have to experience some trouble and frustration.

I am sorry that I have no experience in FLUENT. But anyway, FLUENT is the number one CFD software in the world. The following information may be encouraging for you:

Annual Income for 3 largest CFD software companies: 1. FLUENT-----> $400 Million 2. STAR-CD---> $250 Million 3. CFX-----------> $4 Million

Regards,

Jason