# Session 3 Homework: Aerodynamics of an Aircraft - Part I Meshing

**URL:** <https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949>\
**Category:** CAD & Meshing\
**Created:** [July 27, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949 "2016-07-27T13:37:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ali\_Arafat](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/ali_arafat/32/153_2.png) [@Ali\_Arafat](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/Ali_Arafat)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/1 "2016-07-27T13:37:22Z")

</div>

## Aerospace Workshop Session-3 Homework

## Recording

[![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/3X/0/0/0061dbd279cc6195e2a9bc5cf5f24112b0f7ed04.jpeg "Aerospace Workshop feat. EUROAVIA: Compressible Aerodynamics of an Aircraft") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcCuSpomarc)

## Homework submission

Submitting all three homework assignments will qualify you for a free Professional Training (value of 500€) as well as a certificate of participation.

Homework 3 - Deadline Date 07.08 at 12:00pm

[Homework Submission Form](https://marketing.simscale.com/acton/form/14483/007c:d-0001/0/-/-/-/-/index.htm)

## Exercise

The task is to perform the aerodynamics simulation of an Aircraft model at different flow velocities and 2 different setups. First case is with free domain boundaries and the second is close to the ground.  
The figure below describes briefly the two cases:

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b086c8a79f18208a132866a2c5ff6f35b883e304.png) 

\_\_

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2b175575f7b162e7bac153b1f5ad7d210dba252d.png)

The table below gives the flow velocities for the different setups :

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a6e40947aef910a62904f2ccd57c92e1eb88dc2d.png)

**Note: For cases with M=0.35, Velocity Ramping is required via a file upload which is explained later in the simulation setup.**

For these cases we will use the **“Hex-Dominant Parametric”** meshing operation which provides full functionality to mesh complex geometries. The Tutorial below will provide detailed steps on how to use each meshing feature to get a well resolved mesh.

## Step-by-Step

**Import the project by clicking the link below.** ( Crtl + Click to open in a new tab )

[Click to Import the Homework Project](https://www.simscale.com/workbench?publiclink=d58ee578-19ee-448b-9b2e-5509869f3b56)

**Once the project is imported, the workbench is automatically opened. Then follow the steps below for setting up an incompressible flow simulation**.

### Mesh-1 (Free domain boundaries)

### Geometry

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b817c31d25fc092124d37d2706b973009061515e.png)

**Note: The imported geometry has pre-created ‘Topological sets’ for some essential geometry faces. These sets will be later used for mesh refinements.**

The created Sets are shown in the figure below, you can click to highlight the set in red.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/9/91884bb1b3b2fad13ac73cce02c57c716c9456b7.png)

### Creating a Mesh

- Select the geometry and click on **‘New Mesh’** button to create a new mesh operation as shown.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/d/daa48263a0494df3e54e3573ed0049b13174f4b9.png)

#### **Main Settings**

- In the Main Settings , select **“Hex-Dominant Parametric (CFD)”**. Then specify the following parameters and click **Save.**

**Number of cells in X-direction: 21**  
**Number of cells in Y-direction: 112**  
**Number of cells in Z-direction: 90**

**Number of computing processors: 16**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c118092998397ffefc9adfd9a6b48f5ebc1d57e0.png)

- After saving the tree is extend with 2 new entries, called **‘BaseMeshBox’** and **‘Material Point’** which must be defined.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/a/a2fd2a4760552f1f7358c93a10d98419fcccb19a.png)

#### **Geometry Primitives**

**Base Mesh Box**

The **‘Base Mesh Box’** defines the outer flow domain boundaries. This must be significantly larger for external flow. Enter the values as shown and click Save.

**Min X= 0.001**  
**Min Y= -450**  
**Min Z= -525**  
**Max X= 175**  
**Max Y= 450**  
**max Z= 350**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/8/835e6608a48a44cc7de2f6ce227a85d595c3b1cd.png)

**Material Point**  
The **‘Material Point’** specifies the region that will be meshed. So in this case the point must be out side the aircraft body.  
Enter the values as shown and click Save.

**Center X= 16.1**  
**Center Y= 10.7**  
**Center Z= -16.3**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/8/896a09b938176a263e6ac365c3c2d2a43bb69fc2.png)

#### **_Further primitives_**

- We will create 4 entities that will be used for mesh region refinements later in the meshing setup.
- To create a New entity, click on **‘Geometry Primitives’** and then the **‘New’** button on top to select a **‘Cylinder’** entity.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/6/6b9cc6d2be044a8c9017f4ef5dc5e909521e63a2.png)

The table details the parameters for the 4 cylinder entities that are shown in the figures below.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c40fb9698d929b278a77eee6a2784843613fed87.png)

.

**Cylinder Outer**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d28b22dbe7a78d771eddd218838dae7184bc4d03.png)

**Cylinder Inner**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d952c4196ae142e253cb1ecb57bd3a14317ab3be.png)

**Wing tip**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/f/ff3cc4a0142bdd40302c7fe141111e26fb9b2a00.png)

**Fin tip**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/7/70e6b57db208868bb84550e29f4e3b3e4a84985c.png)

#### **Mesh Refinements**

We will now add the necessary mesh refinements for the previously created geometry sets and the geometry primitives.

- Click on **‘Mesh Refinements’** and click **‘New’** button to add a refinement.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/f/fa9130754a964908f568b743071a3e8b6dcbc410.png)

#### Surface refinements

- This refinement will used to refine the surfaces for the complete solid geometry.

Select the settings as follows and click **Save.**  
**Name: All Surfaces**  
**Type : Surface refinement**  
**Level Min : 6**  
**Level Max : 7**  
**Assigned entity Type: Volume**  
**Name: ‘solid\_0’**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/2/269e478aae747adb3f647eca024f651841d3e9e5.png)

.

- This refinement will used to refine the surfaces for the existing **face Set** named **‘Wing-Fins’.**

Select the settings as follows and click **Save.**  
**Name: Surf- Wing-fins**  
**Type : Surface refinement**  
**Level Min : 7**  
**Level Max : 7**  
**Assigned entity Type: Face sets**  
**Name: ‘Wing-Fins’**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4a868d4fc2ed533f77a81c5f30054a897cfefe8a.png)

.

- This refinement will used to refine the surfaces for the existing **face Set** named **‘Thin-edges’.**

Select the settings as follows and click **Save.**  
**Name: Surf - Thin edges**  
**Type : Surface refinement**  
**Level Min : 10**  
**Level Max : 10**  
**Assigned entity Type: Face sets**  
**Name: ‘Thin-edges’**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/4/468cba5075c0a4c8af545135796de8209b7687c2.png)

.

- This refinement will used to refine the surfaces for the existing **face Set** named **‘Fillets’.**

Select the settings as follows and click **Save.**  
**Name: Surf-fillets**  
**Type : Surface refinement**  
**Level Min : 9**  
**Level Max : 9**  
**Assigned entity Type: Face sets**  
**Name: ‘Fillets’**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/6/67538e827c9a7e56f64edb496e48f477e0022a63.png)

#### Region refinements

These refinements will refine the volume mesh. We will create 3 region refinements and assign them the previously created geometry primitives.

- So create a new **‘Mesh Refinement’**.
- and enter the settings as follows:  
**Name: Reg-Tips**  
**Type : Region refinement**  
**Mode : Inside**  
**Distance : 1**  
**Level : 9**  
**Assigned geometry primitives: Wing-tip , Fin-tip**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1d6feff64b0637a5ba4ae3decfc26c2a922dab10.png)

.  
**Name: Reg-Inner**  
**Type : Region refinement**  
**Mode : Inside**  
**Distance : 1**  
**Level : 3**  
**Assigned geometry primitives: Cylinder-inner**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/1/15c16815eee0ca3efa0cddbdb4a5298183c94817.png)

.  
**Name: Reg-Inner**  
**Type : Region refinement**  
**Mode : Inside**  
**Distance : 1**  
**Level : 2**  
**Assigned geometry primitives: Cylinder-Outer**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/4/49d961c9bcabb4fbd770f863666b77c69f32f816.png)

#### Feature refinement

The feature refinement will refine near edges. This is important to capture sharp corners.

- So Add a New **‘Mesh Refinement’** , and choose **Type** as **‘Feature Refinement’**. Give a **Distance of 0.25 and a Level of 8.**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/4/496ee81a7eda2db306a77ecd67ee287a65526d11.png)

#### Layer refinement

The layer refinement is important to capture the boundary layer near the wall. This will create layer cells following the surface curvature near the walls.

- So Add a New **‘Mesh Refinement’** , and choose **Type** as **‘Layer Refinement’**. Change **‘Number of layers’ to 3** and **‘minThickness to 0.001’**
- Then to select all the surfaces, click the **‘select’** button in the viewer tool bar [A], click **‘Select all’** [B] and then click **‘Add selection from viewer’** button [C] in the settings panel and click **Save**.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/9/9a403f5773b284d2fa12897c42957c12fd8c031c.png)

#### **Some Advance settings**

Lastly, we will change a few parameters in the **Advance Settings** by clicking on the mesh operation and scrolling in the settings panel as shown in figures below. This will help to get a good quality mesh for a complex geometry.

- **Only the highlighted parameters need to be changed to the shown value.**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/9/9d4cad35dfe3010e31261f8d92a11d5fbf805bb6.png)

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/8/813f42c7108e4a2ac0479ab07935e597bc6314e5.png)

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c5d2c9dd3f751c239694a595a8a2db31a756197f.png)

**Start the Meshing Operation**

Finally, click **Save** then to Start the mesh operation click on the **Start** button at the top.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/7/7e38c760b7a91e6183bc09a6e82a320d4302d1e4.png)

### Mesh-2 (close to the ground)

- For the second mesh, start by making a ‘Duplicate’ of the first mesh by **right-clicking** and selecting **‘Duplicate’**.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/5/5bf183fb8702f5f4ae8c54e6e024e9a73c53b175.png)

- Next, change the **‘Base Mesh Box’** dimension of **‘Min Y’** to **-3.65** and click **Save**.  

- As the domain is now shorter in the Y-direction, we will adjust the base cell size under the **‘Main Settings’** by changing **‘Number of cells in Y-direction’ to 57**.

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e6ff57842c7747e0dfc926e5b0ed8041174494be.png)

- Lastly, we will **add a New mesh refinement** of type **‘Bounding box layer addition’** to add a layer mesh to the ground floor. So enter the following values:

**Bounding box face : Y Min**  
**Number of layers : 4**  
**expansion ratio : 1.3**  
**finalLayer Thickness : 0.5**  
**minThickness : 0.01**

 ![](https://www.simscale.com/forum/uploads/default/original/2X/9/96681f7843660e70f23f06c244a63f0806c703e2.png)

- That’s all. Once done click the **‘Start’** button to begin the meshing operation.

**There will be a warning message saying that the previous mesh result ( the duplicated one) will be deleted. That is OK, so just click yes and continue.**

#### **Once done with the Meshing, follow [Homework Part-II](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-ii-simulation-setup/34947) (Click) for the Simulation Setup.**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ali\_Arafat](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/ali_arafat/32/153_2.png) [@Ali\_Arafat](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/Ali_Arafat)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/2 "2016-07-27T13:37:30Z")

</div>



---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SamPrabhu1](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/samprabhu1/32/4813_2.png) [@SamPrabhu1](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/SamPrabhu1)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/3 "2016-07-28T13:13:33Z")

</div>



---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![julien\_venture](https://www.simscale.com/forum/letter_avatar/julien_venture/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@julien\_venture](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/julien_venture)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/4 "2018-04-27T09:29:38Z")

</div>

Hello,

I am doing the mesh for this exercise. However the advanced setting has changed between the version of the tutorial and the one I’m using. As a result, I do not know what to change and how.

Can you help me ?  
Thank you in advance  
Julien

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/jousefm/32/34908_2.png) [@jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/jousefm)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 10:23am UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/5 "2018-04-27T10:23:43Z")

</div>

Hi @julien_venture!

Can you tell me where exactly you have problems? If you cannot find a parameter that has been added later on I would leave that as default and try meshing it. Another option would be to share your project with me, I will adapt the parameters this evening and share the mesh with you again (which is not super efficient tbh) 😉

Cheers!

Jousef

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![julien\_venture](https://www.simscale.com/forum/letter_avatar/julien_venture/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@julien\_venture](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/julien_venture)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/6 "2018-04-27T13:44:57Z")

</div>

Hi @jousefm

I’m stuck on the part named “Some Advance settings” in the tutorial. Indeed the interface is different.

Here is the link of the project : [SimScale](https://www.simscale.com/projects/julien_venture/aerospace_workshop-_session_3_homework_1/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/jousefm/32/34908_2.png) [@jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/jousefm)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 9:27am UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/7 "2018-04-28T09:27:01Z")

</div>

Hi @julien_venture!

Currently running the mesh and will share it with you as soon as it ready! 👍

Cheers!

Jousef

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/user_avatar/www.simscale.com/jousefm/32/34908_2.png) [@jousefm](https://www.simscale.com/forum/u/jousefm)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://www.simscale.com/forum/t/session-3-homework-aerodynamics-of-an-aircraft-part-i-meshing/34949/9 "2020-03-20T19:00:56Z")

</div>


