[ICEM] Strategy for meshing a building's storey

PorousBrain · June 1, 2018, 10:35

Hello everybody,

I have a question relating ICEM CFD.
My goal is the simulation of air flow in a building's storey with the software OpenFOAM. At he moment, I have a .stl file of the geometry on the one hand and the OpenFOAM tool FluentMeshToFoam on the other hand. The missing part inbetween is the generation of the mesh using ICEM CFD.

The shown geometry consists of walls (every wall is a seperate PART), openings (windows) and some elements like the stairs. The bottom and top face are missing.

I did following steps in ICEM:
1) Create a face on top (PART TOPWALL) and a face on the bottom (PART BOTTOMWALL)
2) Create a face surrounding all windows (PART WINDOWS) where i can set the boundary conditions for air flow in OpenFOAM.

Now Im struggling with the next step.
3) Mesh the "air" inbetween all faces using an unstructered grid (no refinement needed atm).

I used the material point to set a FLUID PART and checked the box for hexa in the part mesh setups. Then I tried to mesh globally but it doesnt work. Can you please help me with the meshing strategy?

Thank you very much and kind regards.

Gert-Jan · June 4, 2018, 05:01

I would not check the box for hexa, but start with Octree (tetra & Prism). Should work withour problems if your geometry is watertight.

bluebase · June 4, 2018, 10:23

Snappy hex mesh would be a good option here.

Your geometry has well aligned features, therefore cartesian meshes would be a good option.

Adapt the geometry and patches in ICEM or create it with your CAD system of choice.

June 1, 2018, 10:35	Strategy for meshing a building's storey	#1
PorousBrain New Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 10	Hello everybody, I have a question relating ICEM CFD. My goal is the simulation of air flow in a building's storey with the software OpenFOAM. At he moment, I have a .stl file of the geometry on the one hand and the OpenFOAM tool FluentMeshToFoam on the other hand. The missing part inbetween is the generation of the mesh using ICEM CFD. The shown geometry consists of walls (every wall is a seperate PART), openings (windows) and some elements like the stairs. The bottom and top face are missing. I did following steps in ICEM: 1) Create a face on top (PART TOPWALL) and a face on the bottom (PART BOTTOMWALL) 2) Create a face surrounding all windows (PART WINDOWS) where i can set the boundary conditions for air flow in OpenFOAM. Now Im struggling with the next step. 3) Mesh the "air" inbetween all faces using an unstructered grid (no refinement needed atm). I used the material point to set a FLUID PART and checked the box for hexa in the part mesh setups. Then I tried to mesh globally but it doesnt work. Can you please help me with the meshing strategy? Thank you very much and kind regards.

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June 4, 2018, 05:01		#2
Gert-Jan Senior Member Gert-Jan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Europe Posts: 1,836 Rep Power: 27	I would not check the box for hexa, but start with Octree (tetra & Prism). Should work withour problems if your geometry is watertight.

June 4, 2018, 10:23		#3
bluebase Senior Member Sebastian Engel Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Germany Posts: 566 Rep Power: 20	Snappy hex mesh would be a good option here. Your geometry has well aligned features, therefore cartesian meshes would be a good option. Adapt the geometry and patches in ICEM or create it with your CAD system of choice.