Introduction IGG/AutoGrid (v. 4.

5-1)
Release Note 1
IGG/AutoGrid (v. 4.5-1)
1 Introduction
This note summarizes the improvements included in the version 4.5-1 of IGG
TM
/Autogrid. No
major modications have been brought except for the correction of known reported problems.
2 Corrected Problems
The following table summarizes the bugs xed in the present version of IGG/AutoGrid. The rst
column indicates the version number in which the bug was rst detected. The second column pro-
vides a description of the bug.
Some additional problems have been xed but, in accordance with NUMECA quality procedures
for enhanced versions, have not been integrated in the update to prevent any instability. They
include :
improvements in the calculation of hub and shroud intersections with the blade when its geome-
try is not cleanly dened. An automated tool has been developed to detect abnormalities in the
blade shape, thus preventing most inadequate behavior in SISL library.
correction of a TCL error message which may appear while starting IGG
TM
/Autogrid.
Vers.
/ OS Description
4.4-4 Spelling mistake in cell length dialog box
4.4-4 Spelling mistake in HOH dialog box
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
6 Release Note
IGG
TM
/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
1 Introduction
This note summarizes the main improvements and new features available in IGG/Autogrid v4.6-2.
New features include:
C- or O- mesh topology for tip&hub gap in case of H&I mesh.
Multiblock elliptic smoothing with orthogonality control
Other improvements include:
Enhanced mesh quality on hub and shroud for HOH topologies
Enhanced control of inlet and outlet angles (surface extension).
IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2 also xes some known reported problems that were present in IGG/AutoGrid v4.5.
Details are listed in the last section.
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
7 Release Note
2 New features
This section briey describes the new features that have been introduced in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2.
2-1 O- and C- topologies enabled at gap (H and I meshes)
In IGG/AutoGrid v4.5, a H- topology mesh was selected to discretize the ow domain in the gaps using
either H- or I- topologies to mesh the main blocks. This was leading to poor mesh quality in the gaps in some
situations, especially near the leading and trailing edges.
A O-topology mesh was however available in the gaps, providing a O- topology was selected to mesh the
blade passage.
In IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2, O- and C- topologies have been introduced to mesh the gaps when the blade pas-
sage is meshed using either a H- or I- topology. More precisely:
A O-topology can now be selected when the blade does not include any blunt edges.
A C-topology can now be selected with a blunt trailing edge.
A H-topology can now be selected with blunts at leading and trailing edges (already existing).
When the gap control (1) is activated in the Meridional Control dialogue box, the topology of the corre-
sponding mesh can be controlled (2) in the Mtheta Grid Control box. The topology can either be of buttery
(C- or O-topology) or matching (H-topology) type.
(1)
(2)
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
8 Release Note
Providing a buttery topology is selected, the tip and/or hub gap mesh is automatically displayed as shown in
the following picture:
Providing the buttery topology is selected, the distribution of points in the gap can be controlled by activat-
ing the button Hub Gap and/or Tip Gap in the Points Distribution section. Details on how to use the dedi-
cated control panel (4) are presented in the IGG/AutoGrid manual (FINE v5.2 ).
Limitation - when the matching mesh button is activated (H-topology in gap), the mesh in the gap
can be displayed at the end of the grid generation only.
(1)
(3)
(2)
(4)
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
9 Release Note
Preparing a new template, a buttery topology is selected in the gap, as a default. For backward
compatibility reasons, the topology in the gap is not modied and therefore remains of H-type
while running templates prepared on IGG/AutoGrid v4.5 and older.
2-2 Multiblock elliptic smoothing with orthogonality control
Multiblock elliptic smoothing capabilities can now be activated using H-, I- and HOH topologies for the
blade passages. The feature can be activated through a check button located either in the MTheta Grid Con-
trol dialogue box (H- and I- topologies) or in the Mesh panel (HOH topologies). The smoother preserves the
size of rst cell and orthogonality while enhancing mesh continuity between the blocks. Some samples of the
smoothing are presented below.
In IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2, the parameters linked to the multiblock elliptic smoother are automatically stored
in the templates generated, thus preventing any further manual operation that might be necessary to retrieve a
mesh previously produced.
Mesh without smoothing
Mesh with 50 smoothing steps
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
10 Release Note
Please note that the multiblock smoothing option is rst presented in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2
and is announced in -version (limited testing and large room for improvements). The option
will be presented as a default in the next coming major IGG/AutoGrid version, released in
2002.
3 Improvements
This section briey describes the improvements that have been introduced in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2.
3-1 Enhanced quality control for HOH topologies
The dialogue box enabling the control of HOH meshes has been modied in order to present the different
control panel in a more logical way. The user can now successively access the control of the topology, the
number of grid points, the distribution of points on the blade, the mesh and the gap (optional). In IGG/
AutoGrid v4.5, the quality of the mesh using HOH topologies was in some situations of poor quality in the
spanwise direction. Improvements have been introduced in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2 in order to remove or
damp the discontinuities in the mesh in this direction. Additional control is also provided to determine the
shape of the inlet and outlet patches.
(1)
(2)
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
11 Release Note
This control is made accessible through two parameters included in the mesh panel. When the mesh is gener-
ated, the shape of the blade boundaries to blade layer indeed depends strongly of the local solid angles at the
leading and at the trailing edge. High variation of these angles was resulting in possibly strange shape for the
inlet and outlet boundaries of the mesh, as shown in the following picture
The introduction of these two parameters in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2 now enables the user to modify the cur-
vilinear effect linked to the variation of the solid angles. The range of modication is evolving between 0 and
1.
3-2 Enhanced control of inlet and outlet relative angles
The denition of the inlet and outlet angles used to generate the surfaces of extension is available in the
Extension Shape control dialogue box. In IGG/AutoGrid v4.5, the absolute value of the angles was
required. IGG/AutoGrid v4.6 now also enables the user to enter these values in relative mode (through
check buttons), with respect to the angles formed at the leading and trailing edges of the blade, respectively.
Inlet Patch Shape
Hub to Shroud Control Parameter
Value = 1 (shape linked to the solid
angle distribution)
Hub to Shroud Parameters Value
= 0 (linear shape between hub and
shroud)
IGGTM/AutoGrid (v. 4.6-2)
12 Release Note
4 Corrected problems
The following table summarizes the major bugs xed for conrmed problems reported since IGG/AutoGrid
v4.5. The rst column indicates the version number in which the bug was rst detected. The second column
provides a description of the bugs.
Some additional problems have been outlined and have partly been xed but, in accordance with NUMECA
quality procedures for enhanced versions, have not been integrated in IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2 to prevent any
instability. They include:
IGG/AutoGrid v4.6-2 may nd that the suction side leading edge and pressure side trailing edge curves
are not coincident when the blade leading or trailing edges have large spanwise variations.
kinks may appear in the generation of HOH meshes at some occasions on LINUX Intel platforms. Prob-
lem is linked to behaviour of the SISL library included in IGG/AutoGrid. Please contact NUMECA
support at support@numeca.be for any request on this item.
Vers. / OS Description
4.5-1 Save template: user must enter the .trb extension (no blank character in full path
name allowed)
4.5-1 Kinks are observed in the inlet and outlet surfaces (HOH meshes)
4.5-1 Template is platform dependent : no negative cells on DEC but 220 negative cells
are observed on SGI
4.5-1 Check negative cells: not the same behaviour in IGG and Autogrid for HOH
mesh
4.5-1 Hub clearance gap not respected