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Tutorial 1: Getting Started Part I

GridPro is an innovative, automatic grid generator which is easy to use when the user understands the basics of topology design. The technology is unlike any other grid generator on the market so we will begin our tutorial by starting out with a 2-D case that will emphasize the basic concepts and speed up the learning process. All of the concepts learned in 2-D will be used in 3-D grid generation that will be introduced in Part 2.

What You Will Create

What You Will Learn

Starting a GridPro session Zooming-in on geometry in the work space Turning on and turning off the global axis system Sizing the Cut-Plane Creating basic topology

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Inserting topology edges Using groups to wrap the topology Assigning the topology to the surface of the geometry Creating and viewing mesh

Part I Step 1
Loading the Geometry
Load up the Tutorial 1 geometry by directly double clicking on the Tutorial_1.fra file, or by clicking on the button in the Topology menu on the top menu bar and load in the TIL (Topology Input Language) file by clicking on Tutorial_1.fra

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Step 2

Working in 2D
Put GridPro in 2-D mode by clicking on at the top. in the menu bar

Step 3

Zooming-in
Zoom-in by right clicking on the mouse and dragging a box around the geometry which consists of a center circle and four walls as in the picture below.

Walls Cut Plane

Global Axis

Circle
Zoom

Box

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Step 4

Turning off the Global Axis and Cut-Plane

The dotted straight lines represent the X and Y of the Global Axis and the rectangular white square the Cut-Plane. Since we are working in 2D and our geometry is relatively simple lets reduce the screen clutter by shutting off the and the Cut-Plane in the

SHOW menu on the Command Panel to the right (we will learn more about the Cut-Plane in a later tutorial).

Step 5

Meshing Objectives
Understanding basic topology design is important in learning how to create a computational mesh. Much of the mesh in GridPro is automatic, however, the user must input basic topology information. This information exists in the form of points and edges that are wrapped around the geometry of interest. GridPro always makes a mesh that focuses on the most important part of the geometry, such as the boundary layer, that will remain refined and nearly orthogonal ensuring accurate and quick CFD results. In this case two objectives must be accomplished: 1. Creating a mesh around the cylinder and 2. Bounding the mesh at the four walls

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Designing Topology
Start building the topology by creating four corners of a box around the geometry by pressing down the key on your keyboard

while clicking in the screen at the location where you would like to place the point, as in the picture below.

Orange boxes represent corners of the topology

Corners can be dragged

Dragging Corners
In GridPro all of the topology corners can be moved at any time. Place the cursor on the corner, and when a red or white circle lights up, the corner can be dragged with the left mouse button.

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Step 6

Creating Outer Edges of the Topology

The topology needs to be wrapped around the geometry. The wrap is created by connecting the corners with edges. Press down the on the keyboard and make the edges by clicking on the , click the

upper left corner, and while continuing to press upper right corner.

When you place the cursor over the corner a red circle highlights the object

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Topology edge is created by clicking on corners with the left mouse button

Continue to create the edges

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Flexibility in Topology Design

You do not need to make the edges straight or the corners perfectly symmetrical. GridPro allows flexibility in topology design. The corners and edges will be smoothed later during the gridding process.

Connect all of the corners with edges

Step 7

Creating the Inner Edges of the Topology

Once the outer edges are defined, a wrap must be created around the cylinder. The objective is to box-in the cylinder by placing Edge Sheets through the outer topology. Once a box is created around the cylinder it will be used to wrap the geometry. While

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holding down on the keyboard, place the cursor about 1/3 of the way from the upper left corner of the top edge and click the left mouse button.

When the cursor is on the edge a red double arrow appears

Click on the left mouse button to create an edge

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Make an edge on the right side

Finish creating edges until the cylinder is boxedin

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Step 8

Creating the Wrap

The wrap is created by grouping the four inner corners of the topology and extruding it a desired distance inward. A group consists of a certain number of edges and corners chosen by the user. In this case an inner wrap around the cylinder is necessary. To group these corners and edges click on the then on the button in the TOPO menu and

as in the picture below.

Now create a topology group by right clicking and dragging a box around the corners and edges. Since we would like to wrap the inner circle we choose the inner topology as in the picture below.

Right click and drag a box around the inner topology

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Grouping
Notice that when the topology is selected it turns on and is highlighted while the remaining topology is off. Now if you turn on the group button the entire topology turns off again because a group has not yet been defined. ONLY those corners and edges that have been added to a group will be highlighted when you pick on the group number. Groups in GridPro are very important particularly when creating a mesh for geometries of increasing complexity. Nine groups can exist at one time but an infinite number can be created, deleted and then recreated. Advanced grouping functions will be covered in a later tutorial.

Step 9

Wrapping
To wrap the topology make sure that the group and click on the button is on

button in the TOPO sub-command panel

to pull down the wrap options as in the picture below.

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Wrap Options
Many wrap options are available. When you make a wrap smaller the edges and points are shrunk and are moved inwards at the chosen percent. If a wrap is larger, the size will increase and extend a distance proportional to the chosen percentage.

Choose a wrap that is 25% smaller. Notice that the points and edges automatically shrink at a 45 degree angle as in the picture shown below.

Inner topology is wrapped around the circle

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Step 10

Surface Assignments
Once the wrap is created we are ready to assign the corners to the surface. In doing so, we need to keep two things in mind. First, a well defined mesh needs to surround the circle to capture the boundary layer flow. Second, a well defined box-like structure defined by the walls surrounding the circle needs to encompass the mesh region. To satisfy our first condition, assign the inner wrap of corners to the circle by highlighting the current surface by scrolling through the surface selection in the CURRENT menu.

All current surfaces appear in light blue as in the picture below.

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Scroll through the surfaces to highlight the current surface that is always colored in light blue

Once the current surface is chosen, you can assign the corners of the topology to it. Follow this procedure by selecting the ton to the right of the in the TOPO menu. but-

Now click on the right mouse button and drag a box around the four corners created by the wrap (the corners closest to the circle). Zoom-in if you need a better view to pick the corners.

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Select the four corners created by the wrap with the right mouse button

When the corners are selected they will be highlighted with a white mark. These marks are very useful in showing which corners are assigned to the current surface.

White marks highlight the corners which are assigned to the current surface

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Scroll to the next current surface, to one of the walls, using the function. Notice that the white marks assigned to the circle turn off when you scroll to the next current surface. Assign the corners to the current surface.

Next current surface in light

Assign these corners to the current surface

Assign corners of the topology to the current surface

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Assign the remaining topology to the four walls of the box surrounding the circle. NOTICE that you will NOT assign the corners in between the outer and inner most topology to a surface. Those corners and edges will remain within the mesh volume. The reasons for using this method will be explained later. Once the circle and all four walls are assigned with the topology corners, scroll through the current surfaces and notice that the white corner marks remain assigned to the selected surface.

Step 11

Creating the Mesh

Now that you have created the topology and assigned the surfaces, lets create the mesh. Go to the Top Menu Bar and left click on the button to pull down the topo menu and click on Ggrid Start to begin the meshing process.

GridPro will tell you that the topology is complete and if it is ok to continue. Press ok to start the gridding process. Once the process

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begins, monitoring information will be exported to the UNIX or DOS window. Wait a few minutes and import the grid by going to the button to pull down the grid menu and click on load new and load the mesh by double clicking on the blk.tmp file.

To view the grid change the panel from Topology Builder to Grid Viewer in the pull down menu.

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View the mesh by clicking on menu

in the MAKE SHEET

and, color the blocks of the mesh by choosing Color by Block in the sub-panel at the very bottom of the command panel.

Mesh colored by blocks

Topology Design Intent

As you use GridPro to mesh more complex geometry, you will discover that a mesh can be created in many ways. However, the reason for using GridPro is to optimize the mesh on the area of most

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importance, such as, the surface of the geometry. In this case the mesh on the circle and four walls are of interest. Lets mesh this case with the same mesh density in another way by creating the topology at the walls and assigning its wrap to the circle and compare it to our original case.

New Case
Topology Mesh

Original Case
Topology Mesh

As can be seen, the original topology creates a mesh with a more orthogonal grid at the boundaries of the circle and the wall. The inner topology of corners and edges are allowed to come to an equi-

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librium within the mesh volume creating a blocking pattern. The result is a fine mesh at the boundaries of the geometry. The corners of the new mesh are forced to come to equilibrium at the boundaries without the intermediate topology. This method creates a four block structure with a distorted mesh at the walls. Now lets look at a density change along one of the blocks and review the mesh (you will learn how to change the density in a later tutorial).

Density Change
New Case Original Case

As can be seen from the above picture, the New Cases grid is highly distorted while the Original Cases grid remains non-distorted and nearly orthogonal.

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Tutorial 1: Part II
In most cases you will be working in 3-D to accurately simulate the flow around the model of interest. All of the concepts learned in 2D can be directly applied to 3-D grid generation. In this case a grid of the geometry in Part I will be created in 3-D.

What You Will Create

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What Creating geometry in GridPro. You About various display modes. Will Using a MACRO to automate topology and geometry creation. Learn

Creating a wrap in 3D. Doing and redoing topology commands. Topology inheritance. Snapping the geometry to the global axis. Adding, clearing and subtracting topology from groups. Introducing the grid viewer - how to make and manipulate grid view sheets.

Part II Step 1
Creating Geometry
To aide in grid generation, GridPro has functions to create an assortment of surfaces such as planes and ellipses. GridPro also allows the user to import a geometry created in an external CAD package. In this case, a sphere surrounded by a box will be created. Go to the click on the sub-menu on the Top Pull Down Menu and button to pull up the Ellipse Dialog Box.

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The Ellipse Dialog Box contains many functions to make an ellipse or sphere of any size or shape. The functions are listed in the picture below.

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Surface identification number Type of surface X,Y,Z center of the surface X, Y, Z direction and magnitude of ellipse

Make a sphere by changing the magnitude, the 4th number in the semi-u, semi-v and semi-w input parameter, to 2

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and then click

Step 2

Display Modes
Surfaces can be displayed as lines, points or in shaded mode. Other combinations such as shaded with hidden line removal are also available. Lets remove some of the display clutter by turning the default setting from lines to points. Go to the STYLE sub-panel and left click on the center button

to pull down the display menu and choose points.

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Scroll through the other choices to see the remaining display modes.

Step 3

Introducing Macros
Macros are a powerful tool used to automate GridPro functions. Macros reduce tedious and repetitive tasks and significantly improve productivity. They can be edited and used to design topology and speed up the grid generation process. GridPro comes with pre-made macros written specifically to reduce the time for grid generation. Place a six surface box with topology around the sphere by going to the option. sub-menu and choosing the

A Load Topology MACRO pop-up box will appear.

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Choose a Box macro with a topology + surface. We want the box and topology to be larger than the sphere, go to the resize sub-menu and choose 100% larger. CLICK ON THIS BUTTON TWICE, so that

the dx, dy and dz dimensions change from 1 to 4.

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Now press

and a box with six surfaces and an outer

topology is automatically created around the sphere.

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As you can see from the figure, the corners on the selected surface closest to the viewer have been automatically assigned to it. Scroll through these assignments by clicking on the TOPO sub-command menu button in the

and using the scroll surface function

in the CUR-

RENT sub-command menu. As can be seen, all of the corners of the outer topology have been assigned to the surfaces of the surrounding box.

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Scroll through surfaces to see topology assignments

Step 4

Creating the Wrap

The same technique for creating the wrap in 2D of Part I will be used to create a 3D wrap around the sphere. Turn off the button so the whole topology is displayed and, as in the 2D case, insert Edge Sheets around the sphere by pressing and holding down on the keyboard and clicking on the topology edges. Put the first Edge Sheet at about 20% of the distance from the left most wall as in the picture below.

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Insert first edge Insert first sheet edge

Undo Topology
One of the most useful topology design tools inside GridPro is the undo button. If you insert, move or place topology in the wrong location simply go to the button in the UN-REDO sub-command panel. The scrolls back while the scrolls forward.

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Do the same for the remaining 5 edges such that an inner box surrounds the sphere with enough room such that when we create the wrap the corners remain outside of the sphere. A total of six edges should be inserted into the outer topology.

4 3 2

Topology Inheritance
Notice in the above pictures that the corners of the inserted edges are automatically assigned to the surface. Girdpro has a function called topology inheritance that will automatically assign the corners of a newly inserted edge that has already been assigned to a surface

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Now that we have created an inner box around the sphere we will group and wrap it. Make sure the button in the SHOW sub-command panel is turned on so the Global XYZ axis is showing. Zoom-in on the model and snap the grid to the XY plane by clicking on the in the ROTATE sub-command panel. Pull option.

down the snap menu and choose the

The model should look like the picture below.

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Snap the model to the XY plane

Axis

If the model was snapped to the YZ plane rotate it so that it is nearly close to the XY plane and snap again. Lets add topology to Group 2 in the TOPO sub-command panel.

Make sure that the group is clear of any topology by clicking on in the TOPO menu. This function clears all topology from

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any chosen group, but the group must first be turned on, and then cleared.

Clears chosen group

Add the inner topology to the group by clicking on the in the TOPO sub-command panel.

button

Choosing the

Button!

When grouping topology make sure you pick on the in the 4th row, NOT the in the 2nd row.

Correct Group Assignment Button

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When the button is pressed, add the inner topology to Group 2 by right clicking and dragging a box around it.

Group inner topology

The chosen topology will be highlighted in bright yellow, rotate the geometry to get a better view as in the picture below.

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Now, lets get rid of some clutter. Go to the TOPO menu and click on the button and switch it to display selected group.

Only the group will be displayed as in the picture below.

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As can be seen in the picture above, part of the outer topology was also chosen. We need to eliminate the outer topology by subtracting it from the group. Snap the geometry along the YZ plane and subtract the unwanted geometry from the group by pressing on the in the TOPO sub-command menu while the Group 2 button is still on.

Now click on the right mouse button and drag a box around the topology that you would like to delete from the group as in the picture below.

Choose the topology you want to delete from group 2

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The result is that the topology that was chosen is deleted from the group as in the picture below.

Delete the left topology so that only the center remains as in the picture below.

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Now that the inner topology is grouped all we need to do is wrap it, click on the button and choose a wrap that is 10% smaller.

Now that we have the wrap, and all of the outer topology has been assigned from inheritance, all we need to do is assign the inner topology to the sphere. A quick way to isolate the topology for this surface assignment is to scroll through the groups by clicking on in the TOPO sub-command panel.

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Since only the wrap is now visible, it is easier to assign the topology to the surface. Click on the in the TOPO sub-command panel and right click and drag a box around the highlighted topology as in the picture below.

Click on the button in the TOPO sub-command panel and scroll through the current surfaces as in Step 3 to view the surface assignments. As can be seen, all of the corners have been assigned to their proper surfaces. We are now ready to build the mesh.

Step 5

Mesh Generation
As in Part I, go to the sub-menu and click on Ggrid:Start to begin the mesh generation process. Allow the mesh to run for a few minutes and load it up by going to the sub-menu to choose load new and click on the blk.tmp file.

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Step 6

Introducing the Grid Viewer

One of the must useful tools inside GridPro is the Grid Viewer. GridPro incorporates the most advanced viewing technologies on the market. Go into the Grid Viewer panel and the blocks of the grid are displayed as in the picture below.

Lets cut a few sheets through the mesh volume. Go to the MAKE SHEET sub-command panel and click on the button

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Now place the cursor on the left, center block at the bottom and click with the left mouse button. A sheet will be automatically made as in the picture below.

Click here

The sheet can be scrolled through the volume to highlight the important features of the grid. Go to the CUR sub-command panel and click on the buttons to scroll.

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Now zoom-in on blocks close to the sphere as in the picture below.

By clicking on the button and then the block that surrounds the sphere, a sheet is created around the sphere as in the picture below.

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Zoom-out and turn off the blocks in the CUR sub-command panel by clicking on the button

and turning on color by blocks.

Continue to scroll the sheets and make new ones to get to know the grid viewer functions.