[jimbobmillionaire]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a CFD → FEA workflow where I’m trying to simulate aerodynamic loading on a two-bladed propeller using Ansys Fluent. The goal is to extract pressure forces and map them onto the blade in Mechanical for stress analysis.

I’ve modeled a propeller using multiple Clark-Y airfoil sections lofted together in Inventor, then cleaned and repaired it in SpaceClaim. The blade is embedded inside a cylindrical rotating domain, which is then booleaned into a larger static rectangular domain (for MRF). All volumes are properly separated and named.

The problem: I can’t get a successful mesh.

Even after simplification, the mesher either:
- Freezes for 30+ minutes on certain faces
- Crashes or returns sliver face / element errors
- Occasionally finishes but with a failed mesh

I suspect the **geometry of the propeller itself** might be the issue—possibly due to spline complexity or twisted surfaces from the lofted airfoil sections.

I’ve tested:
- Face and Body Sizing on prop
- Patch Independent on domains (most consistent but slow)
- Patch Conforming on domains
- Element sizes from 1–10 mm
- Curvature angle from 20° to 40°
- Separate meshing of static vs rotating domains, as well as isolated prop

I’m using my university's Virtual Lab system so I don’t have direct control over compute resources, but I’ve verified that meshing similar models works fine.

**Model details:**
- Blade length/prop radius: 950 mm
- 6+ Clark-Y sections, slightly twisted
- Rotating domain: 2.0 m long, 1.1 m radius
- Static domain: 5×5×7.5 m box
- Cleaned geometry via SpaceClaim auto repair (some spline faces still remain)

I've uploaded my complete Workbench project as a `.wbpz` file here:
📎 [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IJq...w?usp=sharing]

I would really appreciate any insight into whether the geometry is too complex or if there's a workaround to get a valid mesh.

Thanks so much in advance.