Customize and Inspect the Mesh

Customize the mesh that you created when you defined the fluid domain, and inspect its quality.

A mesh is an alternative representation of a 1D, 2D, or 3D geometry. The app provides default mesh values based on the dimensions of the fluid domain's geometry. The default mesh's element size aims to balance the desired accuracy of the results against the time it takes to run the simulation. If desired, you can change both the size and type of the elements within the mesh. Typically, a smaller element size yields more accurate results but increases the run time. After you mesh the fluid domain, you can use visualization tools to inspect the quality of your mesh. Based on your inspection, you can change the mesh specifications to update the existing mesh or to create multiple meshes for use with the simulation.

In this example, you choose mesh parameters that provide accuracy within a reasonable amount of time. Then, you use visualization tools to inspect the cross-section of the mesh for quality near the boundary layer of the heat exchanger.

This task shows you how to:

Customize the Mesh

  1. From the tree, expand Nodes and Elements, and double-click Hex Mesh.1.
  2. Enter 20mm as the Maximum size, and enter 1.75mm as the Minimum size.
  3. Select Add boundary layers to specify the distribution of elements at the surface of the fluid domain.
  4. Enter 0.05mm as the First layer thickness, and enter 4 as the Number of layers.
  5. Expand the Options section, and clear all selections.
  6. Click Mesh to start the meshing process.

    Note: Clicking Mesh starts the meshing process immediately; clicking OK saves the dialog box settings and closes the dialog box without meshing.

    The PLM Update... window appears and displays the meshing progress. This window closes automatically when the app completes the meshing process.

  7. Click OK.
  8. Save your work.

Inspect the Mesh

  1. From the Mesh section of the Assistant, select Quality Analysis .
  2. Select the Connectivity tab.

    The quality report shows how many meshes, nodes, and elements were generated in the finite element model. It also displays the composition of the mesh in terms of element type.

    The coolant mesh has approximately three million elements.

  3. Display a cross-section of the mesh.
    1. From the Display section of the Assistant, click Sectioning .
    2. From the Plane options, select X-axis, Y-axis, or Z-axis to specify the cutting plane.

      The cutting plane is the plane normal to the selected axis.

    3. If desired, click Reverse to display the mesh on the other side of the cutting plane.
    4. Clear Exact mesh cut to show whole elements on the cutting plane.
    5. Move the cutting plane in the direction of the selected axis by dragging the cutting section with your pointer.


  4. Inspect the density of the mesh in critical areas of the model.
    1. From the Display section of the action bar, click Visualization Management .
    2. From the Shape options, select Hide to hide the heat exchanger.
    3. Similarly, hide the scenario features.


      The mesh appears fine at the surfaces of the heat exchanger parts (for example, the tubes and the baffle), and it coarsens as you move away from those surfaces. You can verify the number of boundary layer elements that you specified when creating the mesh. Based on your inspection, you could refine or coarsen the mesh to improve the results or performance, respectively.

    4. Display the shape and scenario features again.
  5. Close both the Visualization Management and Sectioning dialog boxes.