Tutoriales

HEXABLOCK MESHING
PIPE JUNCTION

Table of Contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 2
1.1. Prerequisites............................................................................................. 2
1.2. Problem Description ................................................................................ 2
1.3. Data Files and Preparation ....................................................................... 2
2. Creating the Hexa Boxes................................................................................. 3
3. Fitting the Boxes to the Geometry ................................................................... 7
4. Checking the Box Associations to the Geometry ........................................... 16
5. Generating the Surface Mesh ........................................................................ 18
6. Generating the Volume Mesh ........................................................................ 28
7. Check Mesh Quality and Smooth .................................................................. 30
8. Scaling the mesh ........................................................................................... 34
9. Conclusion.................................................................................................... 35

BETA CAE Systems

HEXABLOCK MESHING – Pipe Junction
1. Introduction
This tutorial presents in detail all the steps needed to generate a hexa mesh with layers in a pipe
junction using the Hexa Block tool. Hexa Block is an alternative method to the traditional meshing
technique for creating hexa grids. The innovation comes in the easiness of creation and
manipulation of hexa meshes.
The steps described in this tutorial are:
• Read the ANSA file with the geometry of the pipe junction.
• Generate Hexa boxes.
• Fit them to the model.
• Define the meshing parameters for the model.
• Create the volume mesh for the model.
• Modify the grid and introduce O-Grid type layers.
• Regenerate the volume mesh and produce the final grid.
• Use cutting planes to visually inspect the volume mesh.
1.1. Prerequisites
Reading the first chapter of the ANSA for CFD Brief User Guide document is recommended in order
to obtain a familiarization with the ANSA interface, terminology and CFD layout. A further
experience with Morphing boxes manipulation is recommended, as well.
1.2. Problem Description
Suitable Hexa Boxes have to be created and fitted to the geometry shown below.

1.3. Data Files and Preparation

The file required for this tutorial is hexablock.ansa. For reference, the result of this tutorial can
be obtained from the file hexablock_result.ansa.

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HEXABLOCK MESHING – Pipe Junction
2. Creating the Hexa Boxes
Start ANSA and from the pop-up launcher
select the CFD option so that ANSA starts
with the CFD layout.

Please refer to the

ANSA for CFD Brief User Guide.pdf document
for a description of the CFD layout.

Select File>Open to read the ANSA file. The

File Manager window appears. Navigate and
select the file hexablock.ansa.
Press OK.

Switch to the Hexa Block menu.

Activate Shadow to have a better

view of the geometry.

In this tutorial, we will work extensively with

points. So, it is important that the points are
clearly visible while zooming out as well.

Go to the Detail on Demand button and scroll

the slide bar to the left end in order to
deactivate the Detail on Demand effect.
This will allow ANSA to draw all details
regardless of zoom level.

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Now, the hexa boxes surrounding the
geometry will be created.

Activate the
New Boxes>New[Ortho]
function and the New
Ortho
Hexa Box window
appears.

Select all the pipes with a left-click box

selection and press the middle mouse-button
for confirmation.

ANSA shows a preview of the Hexa Box.

Confirm with middle mouse-button.

The hexa box has been created.

Press ESC to exit from the function.

Open the Model Browser.

Select New>Part and create a Part called

HexaBlocks.
Then select Set Part, select the hexa box from
the screen with the left mouse-button and
confirm with the middle mouse-button.
Double-click the HexaBlocks part to place
the new hexa box there.

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Now the Model Browser should look as shown
on the left.

Close the Model Browser window.

Now, you will split this box to smaller boxes in

order to allow its better manipulation.

Split Activate the Boxes>Split

function.

In the Split options window choose the Project

option and select the Hot Point shown on the
left at the pipes junction, with the left mouse-
button.
Then, left-click anywhere on the box edge
shown on the left.
The initial box is split into two smaller boxes.

Continue by selecting the opposite Hot

Point, on the other side of the junction.

Then, click on the top hexa box edge, as

shown on the left.

Tip! If you accidentally perform a wrong split,

you can join the boxes again by using the
Boxes>Join function or use the Undo (Ctrl+Z).

Next, click on the Hot Point at the base of the

pipe turn and then on the top edge of the
hexa box as shown.

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Finally, make a horizontal split by clicking the
Hot Point at the outlet of the pipe and then on
the edge shown.

Exit the function with middle mouse-button.

The creation of the hexa boxes is finished.

Now, you will delete all unnecessary hexa

boxes and fit the remaining ones to the
geometry.

Press F3 to view the model from the

side.

Activate the Boxes>Delete

Delete
function and with a box
selection pick the boxes shown on the left.
Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

Tip! If you delete by mistake another hexa box,

use the Boxes>Undelete function to bring it
back or use the Undo (Ctrl+Z).

Now you have a box topology that matches the

topology of your geometry. You now have to fit
the boxes on the geometry.

At this point, save your model from

File>Save as.

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3. Fitting the Boxes to the Geometry
Press F1 to view the model from the
top.

Activate the
Move Modification>Move function.
Deactivate the X and Z degrees of freedom, so
that you only move the points in the global Y-
axis.

Tip! You can move in a local coordinate system

if you pick it with right-click. Then the X,Y,Z
axes will refer to the local and not the global
coordinate system.

Now select the control points you want to

move and confirm with middle mouse-button.

Move them until they come close to the model.

Press left mouse-button to lock to the current

position.

Press OK to confirm the movement.

Press ESC to exit the function.

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For more precision in fitting, some geometry
manipulations, like adding Hot Points and
cutting some Faces, are required.

For example you must ensure that in the inlet

and outlets there are Hot Points located at the
four corners, so that you can associate the box
points to them.

Follow these steps:

Switch to Topo menu.

Insert Activate the Hot

Points>Insert function.
Hot Points should be placed to all cylinder
ends corresponding to the four corner points.
There will be a preview of the midpoints of the
Cons selected. Click on the preview with the
left mouse-button and the Hot Point will be
placed.

A new Hot Point is created.

Move to the upper end of the small pipe. Place

a Hot Point in the middle of each Cons.

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Next, insert Hot Points in the positions shown
on the left in order to place points in the middle
of the four small CONS as well.

You should now have Hot Points as shown

here.

Proceed to the other end of the curved pipe.

Tip! If you accidentally create more Hot Points

than required, use the function Hot
Points>Delete to remove them.

Finally, add two Hot Points at the connection of

the straight pipe.

Exit the function pressing the middle mouse-

button.

Now, you will perform two cuts at the turn.

These will be used to fit the hexa box edges to
the pipe.

Cut Activate the Faces>Cut

function.
Pick the Hot Point at the end of the curved
pipe and its opposite Hot Point at the
connection with the straight pipe.

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Do the same on the other side of the curved
pipe as well.

Exit the function with middle-click.

Now, we will fit the hexa boxes to the pipes.

Switch back to the Hexa Block menu.

Points
Project to Points

Activate the Association>Points[Project to

Points] function.

Zoom to the end of the straight pipe and select

the four points of the hexa box one by one or
with a box selection.
Confirm with middle-click.

Now, select the Hot Points where the hexa

box points will be associated to, as shown.

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Confirm with middle-click.
As the Association visibility flag is enabled,
you can see the hexa box points that are
associated to the model, shown in magenta
color.

Perform the same process at the upper end of

the small pipe.

As the Association>Points[Project to
Points] function is still active select the four
points of the hexa box as shown and confirm
with middle-click.

Now, select the four Hot Points shown and

confirm with middle-click.

Tip! If you make any mistake in the association

of the box points, press Ctrl+Z to undo your
action.

Finally, move to the end of the curved pipe.

Activate again Association>Points[Project to

Points], in case you have exited the function.

Select the two side box points and confirm

with middle mouse-button as shown.

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Associate them to the Hot Points shown.

Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

Next, select the two remaining points of the

hexa Box.

Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

Select the other two Hot Points on the other

side of the pipe end.

Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

Finally, do the same thing at the connection of

the straight and the curved pipe.

Select the points on the hexa box.

Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

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You can disable the Shadow visibility

flag to facilitate the selection of the
Hot Points

Select the four Hot Points on the model, as

shown.
Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

Bring back the Shadow view mode.

You will now fit the hexa box edges

to the pipe CONS.

In order to speed up the process, the

automatic way of associating will be used. It is
good to start by manually associating the box
points and proceeding then with the box
edges. This will eliminate wrong associations.

Association Activate the

Association> Auto
Auto function.

Select the box edges and set the Distance at

5mm. Then select the whole model and
confirm with middle mouse-button.

Tip! If some box edges are not associated

correctly e.g. at the bend, you can use
Association> Edges[Project to Edges] to
manually project onto CONS or Association>
Edges[Project to Surfs] to manually project
onto Faces.

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ANSA inserts points to change the shape of
the edges and snap them on the selected
CONS.

In fact there is no reason for the user to see

these Control Points, so deactivate the Box
Points visibility flag button, to only see the
curved box edges.

Now you can see more clearly the associated

edges colored also in magenta.

Disable the Shadow visibility.

Next, use the

Association
Association>Edges
Edges [Project to Surfs] and
select the edges shown.

Confirm with middle mouse-button.

Select the Faces shown and confirm with

middle mouse-button.

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The result of the association should be as

shown.

After associating the points and edges on the model ANSA has all the necessary information in
order to project the mesh nodes on the associated Faces of the model.

However, if there is an obvious deviation of the hexa box hatches from the geometry, the mesh
projection algorithm may fail and give bad results. In this case, the user can assist ANSA by
additionally associating selected hexa box faces on selected geometry Faces using the function
Association>Faces. This will assist ANSA to target the projections on specific Faces of the model.
Another case where the user must associate a box face on a geometry Face is when they want to
create the shell mesh on an interior boundary of the Hexa Block mesh.

Tip! You can use the function Checks>Box Quality to ensure that the associated hexa boxes have
good quality with respect to their shape and their internal angles. This will ensure that the resulting
hexa mesh will also be of good quality.

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4. Checking the Box Associations to the Geometry

Before proceeding to meshing it is advised to

check that the model associations (hexa
points, edges and faces) have no errors.

Association Activate the function

Checks>Association, keep the default
options in the Check Associations window
and press OK. Note that you may have to
adjust the tolerance value to your model
dimensions.

The Check Associations window that opens

should have no reported errors and have a
green message.

However, errors are present in this case. Two

hexa box edges are not associated correctly.

This is correct, since there are no underlying

CONS in the geometry to associate those
edges.

Select the two warnings and use right

mouse-button and select Erase
association.

Use the
Association Association>Edges
Edges [Project to Surfs] and
select these two edges.

Confirm the selection with middle mouse-

button.

Select the neighboring Faces and confirm

with middle mouse-button for the projection
to be finalized.

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Activate the function

Association Checks>Association.

Now all associations are correct.

Next you can also check the

Model Fit
model fit in general by using
Checks>Model Fit. That means not only the
associations that you have created manually
but all the box points, edges and faces.

In this case the list window may open with

some reported errors.
It may be that you have not associated some
edges, or it may also be, like in this case, that
some box faces are a bit far away from the
underlying geometry Faces, due to their
curvature.
In most cases errors of faces should not
cause a problem, but errors in Model Fit for
points or edges should be addressed
accordingly.

In this case the model is OK so proceed with

saving it.

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5. Generating the Surface Mesh
You will now mesh the model.
Disable the Box Points visibility flag (if you have not done so already). Enable the Box Grids
visibility flag to see the distributed grids along the edges.

Activate the Edges>Length

Length
function.

Pick the whole model and confirm with the

middle mouse-button.

In the window that opens, set an element

Length of 2 mm.

Press OK.

An element length of 2 is distributed along the

hexa box edges.

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Zoom in to the junction.

You will refine the edges around it.

Activate the Edges>Length

Length function and click on the
three edges shown.

Confirm with middle-click.

In the Length Parameters window that opens,

set an element Length of 1 mm.

Press OK to confirm the choice.

Disable the Macros visibility flag and

2 zoom closer to the junction. You will
1 2 see that some box edges have a
nodal length of 1 mm while others
have a nodal length of 2 mm.
1
1 You will apply a smooth transition from 1 mm
2 nodal length to 2 mm using the Spacing
function.

Activate the
Spacing
Edges>Spacing[Manu
Manual al] function

In the Selection Assistant select the Opposite

flag. Now select one edge in each direction.
ANSA will automatically select all parallel
edges. Use the right mouse-button if you
want to deselect. Then select again the correct
edge/direction.
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In the Spacing Input window set:
Biasing = Geometric
Factor = 1.1
dmin = 1 mm
dlimit = 2 mm
and leave the rest as they are.

Press OK.

The function gives a preview of the selected

spacing.
Press OK once again to accept the changes.
As the Box Grids visibility flag is enabled, a legend showing the way the grids are colored appears.
The user-defined grids inserted with the Number function are shown in red
color,
the grids defined by the Spacing function are shown in orange and finally,
the grids defined by the Length function are shown in light blue.

Enable the Faces visibility flag again.

You will now generate the surface mesh.

Note: When the Hexa Block menu is used, the
geometry is not meshed, but only the hexa
boxes. The mesh is then projected on the
geometry to ensure the exact matching of the
mesh to the geometry. This is the reason why
the association of the hexa boxes with the
model was performed.

Map Activate the Shell

Mesh>Map[Select]
Select function.

With a box selection, select all the hexa

boxes.

The selected boxes are highlighted.

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In the Options List window, in the lower right
corner of the screen, disable the Project on
geometry option in order to have a quick draft
mesh.
As this model is very small you will not see any
difference. In the case of a larger or more
complex model, deactivating Project on
geometry reduces the shell mesh generation
time significantly, so disabling this option is
recommended in order to have a first
estimation of the mesh density or quality,
without taking into consideration every detail of
the geometry.

Confirm with middle mouse-button.

As no projection takes place, ANSA asks the

user to which PID the new FE-Mode shells
should be placed.

The Properties window opens prompting the

user to set a PID for the created shell
elements. As this is just a quick draft mesh,
double-click on any of the PIDs to select it.

Now, let's examine the resulting mesh.

A closer look shows that the inlet and outlet
boundaries have some very bad, skewed
elements.

For a correct simulation, near-wall

discretization is required to capture the
boundary layer development.

Therefore, the mesh is not correct and it

should be erased in order to generate some
layers around the pipes walls.

Now, the reason why we call this mesh “a draft

mesh” is that we may have differences if we
compare the hexa boxes shape with the model
geometry.
For instance, if you look at the red marked
areas in the picture on the left, the elements
do not follow the geometry and so the
exported volume mesh is going to be bigger
than the real geometry volume.
However, disabling the option Project on
geometry gave a quick mesh which showed us
the bad mesh quality on the inlet and outlet
boundaries.

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In order to check the deviation between the

associated hexa boxes from the respective
geometry, select the function Check>Model
Fit, keep the default tolerance value and press
OK.

The Check Model Fit window shown on the

left, reports all the significant distance
differences among the hexa box faces and the
model Faces.
Significant distance is considered any distance
greater than the tolerance that you have set
(here 0.5 mm).
Expand the tree to see all the warnings.

By selecting any of these errors, you can

highlight them. Or isolate them on the screen
with right-click and selecting the option Show
Only.

As stated earlier these are not real problems,

as the Project on geometry meshing will
ensure that the mesh will match the geometry
exactly.

Use the Shell

Erase Mesh>Erase[Visible]
Visible function to delete the
existing surface mesh.

Select the whole model with a box selection

and confirm with the middle mouse-button.

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Now we will create the layers and this will help
us avoid the skewed cells.
O-Grid Activate the Boxes>O-Grid
function.

The O-Grid Topology window opens.

Click on the New button.

Select the whole model with a box selection

and confirm with middle-click.

Next, you should pick the box faces where no

O-Grid will be generated from.

Activate the Hatch visibility flag to facilitate

face selection.

First, click on the faces shown on the left.

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And then click on the end of the straight pipe.

Confirm with the middle mouse-button.

At the O-Grid Topology window, take a minute

to consult the Automatic and Pipe options
tooltips.

Select the Pipe option and click Next.

In the next window you will specify the height

of the O-Grid.
Click once on the up-arrow button next to
the Offset entry field (assigning the value 1)
and see the preview of the O-Grid.
Increase the Offset value to 2mm.
Note: Move the slide bar and see the preview
of the two extreme values (0 & 1). Enable the
Bell Shape option temporarily to see how you
can minimize the elements skewness near the
corners of the O-Grid and disable it again.
Now, set the slide bar to 0.65 and press the
middle mouse-button to confirm.
Press ESC to close the O-Grid Topology window.

Note: The O-Grid is created, changing only the hexa box topology. The model geometry remains
unaffected. So, if you deactivate the Box visibility flag, you will see that the model geometry
remains the same. Activate the Box visibility flag again to continue the tutorial.

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Now, spacing will be applied.
Activate the
Spacing Edges>Spacing
Manual [Manual] function.

Select the Opposite option from the

Selection Assistant toolbar.

Pick one of the four edges of the O-Grid

whose direction is towards the center of the
circular pipe section, as shown on the left.

If the arrows direction is opposite to the one

shown on the left, right-click on one of the
selected edges to deselect them and left-click
again on one of the four edges but this time
close to the outer perimeter of the pipe.
The parallel edges are selected, as well.

In the Spacing Input window set the following

options:

Factor = 1.1
dmin = 0.2 mm
steps = 6
Leave the rest as they are.
Press OK.

A preview of the distribution of the nodes is

shown.

Tip! If you cannot see clearly the values of the

steps, either disable the Shadow view mode
or just rotate your model.

Press OK again to accept the changes.

Spacing has been applied. Press ESC to exit

the function.

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As a final step, you will mesh the model.

Map Activate the

Shell
Select Mesh>Map[Select]
function and with a box
selection select the whole model, as shown.
In the Options List, activate the Project on
geometry option.

Middle-click to confirm.

As the Project on geometry option was activated, ANSA sets the PID for the created FE-Mode
shell elements according to the underlying model Faces. If the option was disabled ANSA would
ask you to define the PID of the created elements.
In order to ensure this:
- switch to PID draw mode,
- deactivate the Geometry visibility flag to
hide the model and
- open the Properties List (Ctrl+P).
Now, you can see that every FE-Mode element
of the hexa mesh belongs to the correct PID,
by selecting a PID and isolating it on the
screen.

Note: When you are in the Hexa Block menu, in the Options List window (at the bottom right corner
of the ANSA GUI) you can define if you prefer the Topo or Mesh View mode. When the Topo view
mode is selected, the visualization of the model is the same as in the Topo menu while Mesh view
mode offers a visualization that is the same as in the Mesh menu.

By setting this option to Mesh view mode, you will see that all Macros are referred as unmeshed,
because the shell mesh you see refers to the hexa boxes.

Activate the Geometry visibility flag again.

Switch back to the ENT draw mode.

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Focus on the junction area, and notice that
there is no divergence between the model and
the hexa mesh as there was before projection
on geometry.

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6. Generating the Volume Mesh

Activate the
Pure Hexa Volume Mesh>Pure Hexa
function.

Select the whole model with a box selection

and confirm with the middle mouse-button.
In the Mesh Generation window that opens
press OK.

Tip! For bigger mesh sizes with hundreds of

millions of cells you may want to activate the
Light volume representation flag. This will
facilitate both mesh creation and model
handling when working with big models.

The SOLID_PROPERTY HELP window opens.

Click New and in the property card that
appears next, set the name fluid and click
OK.
Double-click on the fluid property.

ANSA creates the volume mesh and the mesh

generation is complete.

Save the file.

You can inspect the model using Focus

commands.

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Have in mind that when you are working with a

Hexa Block mesh model you have three types
of entities:
Geometry: The Faces on which the mesh is
projected
FE-Mode: The surface mesh that is generated
by Hexa Block
Volume: The volume mesh that is generated
by Hexa Block
Changing the visibility of the three flags allows
you to control what you see on the display.

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7. Check Mesh Quality and Smooth
In order to check the volume mesh you must
first set appropriate quality criteria in F11
Quality Criteria window.
Deactivate all shell quality criteria in Shells tab
and activate in Solids tab:
• ABAQUS angle for hexas min 25, max
155 and
• IDEAS warping 20

Press OK.

Switch to Mesh view mode in the Options List,

in order to enable the visibility of the mesh
legend displaying the number of elements.

Activate the Hidden display mode to

check if there are elements that
violate the defined quality criteria.

Indeed there are around 300 Off elements.

If you right-click Show Only on the Off legend,

ANSA will isolate on the screen the violating
elements colored by the color of the criterion
that the violate. In this case red for angle.

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Using Focus commands you can see that
these are located at the sharp angle at the
pipe intersection.

You can also notice that the mesh inside has

some abrupt angle changes.

Smoothing the mesh should help in reducing

the Off elements and giving a more flowing
mesh.

Activate the function Volume Mesh>Smooth.

Select first all boxes and then as base the O-

Grid 1 from the list.
ANSA will automatically select all box faces
that are walls and from which layers grow. This
information is required in order for the
smoothing algorithm to recognize and impose
orthogonality near the walls.

Press Next.

ANSA recognizes the mesh feature lines

based on the default angle of 20 deg.

In a more complex model you can manually

add or remove with left and right mouse-button
more feature lines in order to have more
control of the frozen features.

Press Next.

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The Smooth window opens.

Specify the number of layers to have imposed

orthogonality, with the Preview flag you can
see the vectors of these layers.
Increase the Iterations to 40.

In the Advanced Options allow smoothing of

the surface mesh for best quality.
Allow also automatically fixing of the violating
solid elements.

Press Run.

Before Smooth After Smooth

The resulting smooth mesh looks much better.

Deactivating the visibility of boxes allows the

better observation of the smoothed mesh.

Before Smooth After Smooth

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Still if you switch to Hidden mode there are
some Off elements.

You should now address them using the

Mesh>Volumes>Improve[Fix Quality]
function.

Go to Mesh menu.

Activate the Volumes>Improve[Fix

Quality][Select] function.

In the Options List window set the External

bounds to Frozen, so that no node movement
takes place at the wall boundaries.

Now having the whole model visible, activate

the Volumes>Improve[Fix Quality][Visible].

ANSA will fix most of the elements and it will

only leave some at the corner of the pipes
intersection, where the imposed angle criteria
cannot be met.

Still if you right-click on the Off legend and

select Show Only Worst, ANSA will report to
you the worst element to have angles very
close to the limit.

Some general tips for the Smooth function:

The fewer the imposed orthogonal layers the easier it is for ANSA to create a valid mesh.
The more the iterations for both orthogonality and interior mesh smoothing, the easier it is for ANSA
to get a good result.

The tutorial is completed. You can save your database.

BETA CAE Systems 33 ANSA v.20.x Tutorials

HEXABLOCK MESHING – Pipe Junction
8. Scaling the mesh
Once a good quality mesh has been
constructed it is very easy to coarsen it, you
can coarsen it in any or all directions.

Scale Activate the function

Edges>Scale and select one
or more edges.
ANSA will print the current number of hexas.
The estimated number of hexas will appear as
soon as the factor is applied on the selected
edges.

The function will also work on edges that have

spacing distributions, by adjusting them
accordingly.

BETA CAE Systems 34 ANSA v.20.x Tutorials

HEXABLOCK MESHING – Pipe Junction
9. Conclusion
In this tutorial you have used the Hexa Block tool to create hexa boxes that allow volume meshing
with hexahedra. The proper way of creating hexa boxes and fitting them to the model was
demonstrated. Additionally, the functionality of the O-Grid function for creating layers was
presented. Finally, mesh smoothing and quality improvement of the hexa mesh was demonstrated.

BETA CAE Systems 35 ANSA v.20.x Tutorials