[ICEM] Defining Interfaces and Splitting Internal Walls ICEM-FLUENT

pmtgt · March 8, 2013, 05:31

Dear Community,

This is my first post and I'm relatively new to CFD. I am working through a problem that was originally designed to be meshed in GAMBIT but I am trying to do it in ICEM. The problem is to model a single channel PEM fuel cell which consisits of the following zones for both halves of the cell (anode and cathode) and also a fluid porous membrane zone separating the two halves:

From outer to inner

Solid Current Collector (CC)
Fluid Flow Channel (FC) running through middle of CC (open space)
Fluid Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) connected to FC and CC (porous)
Fluid Catalyst Layer (CL) connected to GDL (porous)

I created the geometry in workbench first of all and then also from co-ordinate points in ICEM. Each zone is rectangular so to mesh it I am simply splitting the geometry into blocks, associating edges and curves which all directly overlap in space and then adjusting pre-mesh parms to get the fine grid I desire.

To model the fuel cell in Fluent I have also labelled several surfaces which are important for the physics, such as the inlet and outlet of the flow channels on each side, the outer faces of the current collectors are terminals and the flow channel sides, cell ends and cell sides are all defined as walls.

My problem now is that there are several adjacent fluid zones with surfaces that are not important for this model and I have labelled them as interfaces and set the boundary conditions in ICEM. Once the mesh is loaded from the blocking I have tried to split these internal walls (which, necessarily or not, I have also ticked as internal walls in the part mesh setup) so that I can define the mesh interfaces in fluent and have two surface to link together. However, not all of the interfaces are being picked up when I select "split internal wall" and some of the surfaces I've set as being walls are being picked up.

Any light that can be shed on how to properly define interfaces and how ICEM decides which ones to let you split would be greatly appreciated. It may be that I have done something wrong or it could be a bug in ICEM.

I am happy to send files or pictures as the files are quite large.

Many Thanks

Tom Tranter

March 8, 2013, 05:31	Defining Interfaces and Splitting Internal Walls ICEM-FLUENT	#1
pmtgt New Member Tom Tranter Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Leeds, UK Posts: 21 Rep Power: 13	Dear Community, This is my first post and I'm relatively new to CFD. I am working through a problem that was originally designed to be meshed in GAMBIT but I am trying to do it in ICEM. The problem is to model a single channel PEM fuel cell which consisits of the following zones for both halves of the cell (anode and cathode) and also a fluid porous membrane zone separating the two halves: From outer to inner Solid Current Collector (CC) Fluid Flow Channel (FC) running through middle of CC (open space) Fluid Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) connected to FC and CC (porous) Fluid Catalyst Layer (CL) connected to GDL (porous) I created the geometry in workbench first of all and then also from co-ordinate points in ICEM. Each zone is rectangular so to mesh it I am simply splitting the geometry into blocks, associating edges and curves which all directly overlap in space and then adjusting pre-mesh parms to get the fine grid I desire. To model the fuel cell in Fluent I have also labelled several surfaces which are important for the physics, such as the inlet and outlet of the flow channels on each side, the outer faces of the current collectors are terminals and the flow channel sides, cell ends and cell sides are all defined as walls. My problem now is that there are several adjacent fluid zones with surfaces that are not important for this model and I have labelled them as interfaces and set the boundary conditions in ICEM. Once the mesh is loaded from the blocking I have tried to split these internal walls (which, necessarily or not, I have also ticked as internal walls in the part mesh setup) so that I can define the mesh interfaces in fluent and have two surface to link together. However, not all of the interfaces are being picked up when I select "split internal wall" and some of the surfaces I've set as being walls are being picked up. Any light that can be shed on how to properly define interfaces and how ICEM decides which ones to let you split would be greatly appreciated. It may be that I have done something wrong or it could be a bug in ICEM. I am happy to send files or pictures as the files are quite large. Many Thanks Tom Tranter