[pbrady2013]

Hi All,

So this question must have been asked before but my Google Fu appears to be letting me down.

I'm working with a c-topology and have an existing mesh from another project that I have to use that is in Plot3D format. Its a simple foil shape, nothing fancy. See attached for a 2D slice of the geometry. I can use the plot3dToFoam->autoPatch pipeline and get the model working fine as an external flow case: that is the outside boundaries are set as inlets and the vertical plane on the right hand side is an outlet. No problem.

Now, however, I want to change the simulation to check a case where the foil is in an enclosed water tunnel, so the top and bottom horizontal faces, which are so marked in the Plot3D file, become walls. The "C" shape on the left should remain an inlet.

Where I'm stuck is that autoPatch does not see the break between the C and the wall and merges these into one patch. Mathematically this makes sense as the model has a smooth change in the geometry there. Is there a way, though, to force a break at that location to create the separate patch sets that I want: an inlet and walls?

Thanks in advance,
-pete

[pbrady2013]

OK, so a couple of hours drilling through the manual and experimenting solved my issue. There is not an automatic method but my general work flow is:

1. plot3dToFoam
2. autoPatch -overwrite 80
3. setSet -batch setSetBatchCommands.txt
4. createPatch -overwrite
5. renumberMesh -overwrite
6. runApplication checkMesh

There is a bit of trial and error with Paraview to visualise the face sets for step 3 but otherwise the process is not too bad once you figure it out.