CFD Online Discussion Forums - [mesh manipulation] Combining two meshes for AMI of rotating turbine

Hi

I'm working on simulating a rotating turbine using the AMI function. I've started with the propeller tutorial and adapted it step by step for my case.

However, I'm facing a problem that is in order to achieve a good representation of the AMI cylinder edges (otherwise there are problems with the AMI patch source and target weights) and the thin blade edges.

What I found is that the cylinder edges are best when using implicitFeatureSnap and the blades egdes when using implicitFeatureSnap (with surfaceFeatureExtract and eMesh file)

I thought I could mesh one case for the AMI domain and another for the turbine blades and then use the mergeMeshes utility to place the turbine blades within the AMI zone (the blockMesh domain is the same for both cases).
The AMI mesh has two regions, one covering the domain and one for the AMI and the blade mesh adds a third region when merging the meshes.

However, now I have the AMI cellzone inside the whole cylinder, and the blades inside too.
What is the best way of getting the internal cells out of the blade region?
do i have to use the stitchMesh utility? As I get the following warning

Code:

Case/AMI$ --> FOAM Warning : 

    From function polyMesh::readUpdateState polyMesh::readUpdate()

    in file meshes/polyMesh/polyMeshIO.C at line 207

    Number of patches has changed.  This may have unexpected consequences.  Proceed with care.

Has anyone similar experiences with setting up an AMI domain and complex surface in SHM?