Learning Forum

[justintso1199]

Is there any documentation on how to use ANSYS CFD with Materialise Mimics or Materialise 3-matic? I have access to both, and the two are software partners that are compatible with each other, but I'm not sure how to link the two up. I create the geometry and mesh in 3-Matic, but once I import the volume mesh into ANSYS Fluent, I'm unable to re-access the mesh to define BC's and walls as such--when I try exporting the geometry into ANSYS, I'm not sure what format to use, and I'm unable to mesh them with the ANSYS mesher. Could anyone possibly point me in the right direction?

[Rob]

I doubt there's any documentation unless it's in the Mimics/Magics/3-Matics manuals. You'll need to make sure you set the boundary labels before you export the mesh, otherwise Fluent is likely to just see the external surface as a single label and type.  The features will be there as I remember helping with the project back in the early 00s before Ansys bought Fluent and tested several of the prototype meshes. 

[justintso1199]

Thank you for the response! I've been scrounging through the User manuals and I've found these images:

This would seem to solve the problem, but I can't seem to find the Finite Element Modeler in Ansys 2020. Is it no longer there? I've seen some people use External Model instead, but I'm not sure if it has the same "Add component" function that might be necessary for defining boundary conditions. Could someone assist me in this regard?

[justintso1199]

On top of that, I can't seem to link the External model to Ansys Fluent, while I can link it to a a bunch of other analysis modules. Why doesn't it work with CFD?

[Karthik R]

The screenshots you are looking at are referring to another of our products - Ansys Mechanical. This is the Finite Element Modeler and you should be able to find this on Ansys WorkBench.

Regarding your second question - could you please share a legible screenshot showing what you are attempting to do so we understand better?

Thanks.

Karthik

[Rob]

If it's FE Modeler (software) rather than Mechanical (our Finite Element solver) I think that's no longer bundled in Workbench.  You should be able to find a .msh file option in the Materialise tools. This is read into Fluent. 

[justintso1199]

Hi all, 

Thanks for your help. I was able to import the .msh file into "Fluent (with Fluent Meshing)" which auto-generated the mesh surfaces as all walls. I could then change the Type of the surfaces to the inlet and outlet Boundary conditions as required and run the calculations, which is great! One last issue, though is that "Fluent (with Fluent Meshing)" doesn't have a Results cell for post-processing like the "Fluid Flow (Fluent)" module, as shown in the screenshot:

Is there a way I can connect my calculated solution to the Fluent post-processor? Again, thanks a lot for all your help.

[Karthik R]

Fluent post-processing is already there as 'Solution'. Results will open another tool - CFD Post. You should be able to connect a CFD Post session to the 'Solution' Cell of your Fluent Meshing. Please drag and drop 'Results' to the cell A4.

I hope this helps.

Thanks.

Karthik