Hexa Block meshes in ANSYS Meshing?
 

Hi,

Is it possible to create multi-block structured meshes in ANSYS Meshing?

I see in the ICEM manuals that it is possible but requires the Hexa licence - we only have the Tetra/Prism licence so that rules out using ICEM (Hexa will not be purchased).

ANSYS Meshing v12 has a feature called MultiZone Meshing but I don't think that will do the same job - but I could be wrong.

Thanks.

Sorry, Workbench is unstructured hexa...
 

You can use MultiZone (which is automated ICEM CFD Hexa technology) to create Hexa or Hexa dominant meshes in Workbench ANSYS Meshing. You could also use sweep or other methods to create pure hexa or hexa dominant meshes, however, they will all be unstructured. On the plus side, your aitetra key will allow you to use ANSYS Meshing…

To get truly structured multi-block, ICEM CFD Hexa is the only option (for now).

I guess you just need to work on the ROI (return on investment) and see if you can make a financially sound argument to purchase ICEM CFD Hexa in this tough economy. Many companies are saying they need to “innovate thru the recession to come out on top”, but that is easier said than done.;)

Thanks Simon, appreciate the response.

By going on what you said in yesterdays webinar, which future release do you predict this appear in R13, R14?

ANSYS Extended meshing
 

13.0 plans are not yet complete (we are still busy with 12.1), but I am expecting that we can have the ANSYS Extended Meshing product start in 13.0… at that point, Hexa probably won’t be “Native” in Workbench, but rather would work like the CFX Mesh application did when it was first added. (Insert Method => Hexa Blocking; Opens up ICEM CFD and load the geometry. The user blocks and accepts, and then the mesh gets sucked back into Workbench. If a script is used in ICEM CFD, that is saved with the project for automatic updates. If variables are used in the script (for mesh sizes, etc.) they also appear in the Parameters bar) But Workbench 13.0 will still bring it back as unstructured mesh since none of its solvers need structured mesh.

It may take a release or two past that before it goes into the new GUI with support for Multi-Block output, then a year or so past that for ICEM CFD to sunset.

But even if this happened tomorrow, the new Extended Meshing product is still a higher level of ANSYS Meshing, equivalent to the ICEM CFD product… Purchasing ANSYS Meshing with the Extended Meshing Add-on will be approximately the same cost as ICEM CFD. Customers who currently have ICEM CFD will be migrated to the Extended Meshing product for no extra cost (that’s what TECS cost is for)… The Extended Meshing license keys will give a choice of using Extended Meshing or Stand alone ICEM CFD for a least a few years.