[murtinho]

Hi,

I want to carry out a simulation on a shell-like structure (a solid body with zero wall thickness). The shape is quite simple as seen in the picture. My aim is to trace the flow on the surface of the body, since 3D simulations are computationally exhaustive, I want to use a surface body. When I try to import this structure into Fluent I'm getting the following error message: "Error: This appears to be a surface mesh. Surface meshes cannot be read under the /file/read-case functionality." I have searched the forum and seen that the question was asked several times before but I couldn't find a satisfying answer.

How can I import this cylindirical shell into Fluent? Is it even possible to carry out a 3D simulation on 2D mesh elements?

I'm fairly new to topic, so I appreciate if someone can help me.

Thanks

[willisk15]

Hello murtinho,

I'm also relatively new at this, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

That being said, are you trying to simulate fluid moving through the cylinder as if it were a pipe? If so, keep in mind that when you are making your geometry/mesh, you are actually defining the control volume. If you want to simulate a pipe, you make a solid cylinder, not a shell.

Your geometry looks simple enough to not cause any problems with computing cost. How many nodes does your mesh have? If you are still wanting to do a 2D simulation for a 3D pipe, one method would be to just use a rectangle with the diameter as the height and the length of the pipe as the length.

Finally, make sure to specify either a 2D or 3D model when you launch Fluent.

Best of luck,
Will

[murtinho]

Will,

My intention is to model the flow in the shell, I'm not trying to simulate the flow inside the tube. And this is not my actual geometry, my geometry is far more complex than this cylinder but I just wanted to see a simple geometry first.

The thing is I'm not trying to make a 2D simulation of a 3D structure, I want to simulate a 3D flow on 2D mesh elements. I think it's called "2.5D" simulation.
The attached picture is pretty similar to what I want to do. There's an inlet through a node on the shell geometry and the liquid flows within the shell.

Thanks,

Murtinho

[willisk15]

Oh, ok, I apologize for the misunderstanding! I've got no experience with 2.5D, and I don't want to make any assumptions that lead you in the wrong direction. Sorry I can't be of more help!

[Kushal Puri]

Originally Posted by murtinho

Hi,

I want to carry out a simulation on a shell-like structure (a solid body with zero wall thickness). The shape is quite simple as seen in the picture. My aim is to trace the flow on the surface of the body, since 3D simulations are computationally exhaustive, I want to use a surface body. When I try to import this structure into Fluent I'm getting the following error message: "Error: This appears to be a surface mesh. Surface meshes cannot be read under the /file/read-case functionality." I have searched the forum and seen that the question was asked several times before but I couldn't find a satisfying answer.

How can I import this cylindirical shell into Fluent? Is it even possible to carry out a 3D simulation on 2D mesh elements?

I'm fairly new to topic, so I appreciate if someone can help me.

Thanks

3D simulation is not possible on 2d mesh. to open the 2d mesh in fluent you have to change the dimesions from 3d (which is default in fluent) to 2D.

[ARG]

Originally Posted by murtinho

Hi,
When I try to import this structure into Fluent I'm getting the following error message: "Error: This appears to be a surface mesh. Surface meshes cannot be read under the /file/read-case functionality."

It is all about the Dimensions of your mesh in Ansys Meshing Software. I had the same problem and I fixed it in this way:

Use one of geometry softwares of Ansys (like Design Modeler), create your geometry there of import in from other geometry softwares.
Then import that file into Ansys Meshing sotware. In the displayed tree, you see the geometry, click and then change the Dimensions from 3D to 2D.
Now you can easily generate your mesh and import it to Fluent without getting any error.