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| Note |
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I am quite certain these settings are not optimal. From the tests that I did, these gave the best mesh results for MSXIV’s particular geometry. Future projects should allow some time for finding more optimal mesh settings, even before the mesh independence study. |
| Info |
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After starting a mesh operation, SimScale will report the progress as a percentage. However, this percentage is not continually updated. While setting up the mesh operation it will say the mesh is 0% complete, while meshing it will jump to 50% complete, then near the end it will jump to 100% complete. I presume this will be fixed at some point. |
Reviewing the Mesh
After the mesh has been generated, navigate to mesh and click the yellow button that appears to select the mesh as your domain. The icon besides Mesh in the navigation panel should change from yellow to green. Before proceeding, we should check to make sure it looks right and that no mistakes have been made. SimScale has several tools for this, some of which have been added after MSXIV’s aerobody design was locked. The first and most basic is the mesh element count, found in the general mesh settings under Mesh selection. If your mesh is way smaller or way larger than expected, something may be wrong and any issues should be addressed before moving onto the simulation. The next quick check is to scroll down to the bottom of the Mesh quality controls and expand the new section called Event log. This section has element counts for each type of element. I believe the Number of prisms refers to the number of layer cells and can be used in the same way as the total element count. Fewer prisms than usual can indicate that too many layers were removed, which should be inspected and addressed before continuing. I was able to get around 22k prisms for wall function meshes. A more detailed inspection can be done by looking at the mesh in the 3-D display. The symmetry plane provides a convenient cross-section to look at the boundary layers running along the middle of the car, and the mesh clip tool can be used to create any other cross-sections. Finally, you can navigate to the Mesh quality section to conduct more detailed and quantifiable analysis of your mesh quality.
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