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Pre-Processing
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ solves physics problems on a computational mesh. To provide this mesh, you first define geometry using internal or external tools, and then create a mesh pipeline whose operations generate the mesh in repeatable steps.
Modeling Geometry
This part of the User Guide describes how to use 3D-CAD, the parametric solid modeler available within Simcenter STAR-CCM+. It also describes the features and tools available for further preparation of the geometry model and its surfaces.
Part Contacts
Part contacts define the connection between two part surfaces. The meshers aim to generate a conformal mesh at the contact, which then becomes an interface in the physics region.
In-Place Contact
An in-place contact is a direct connection between two part surfaces.

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Pre-Processing
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ solves physics problems on a computational mesh. To provide this mesh, you first define geometry using internal or external tools, and then create a mesh pipeline whose operations generate the mesh in repeatable steps.
- 3D-CAD
  3D-CAD is a feature-based parametric modeler within Simcenter STAR-CCM+ that allows you to build geometries from scratch. The geometries that you create with 3D-CAD are stored as 3D-CAD models, which you can then convert to geometry parts for integration with the meshing and simulation process.
- Modeling Geometry
  This part of the User Guide describes how to use 3D-CAD, the parametric solid modeler available within Simcenter STAR-CCM+. It also describes the features and tools available for further preparation of the geometry model and its surfaces.
  - Preparing the Geometry
    In general, a Simcenter STAR-CCM+ analysis requires one or more geometry parts from which you define the spatial construction of the regions. Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows you to create geometry parts directly using the built-in 3D-CAD modeler, or import geometry from a wide range of source formats.
  - Importing Geometry
    One of the possible starting points for the meshing process is to import surface data.
  - Understanding Geometry Parts
    You can use the geometry parts manager node to control what parts are meshed and included in the simulation downstream.
  - Manipulating Parts
    Simcenter STAR-CCM+ allows leaf-level parts to be manipulated in several different ways once they have been imported or created.
  - Part Contacts
    Part contacts define the connection between two part surfaces. The meshers aim to generate a conformal mesh at the contact, which then becomes an interface in the physics region.
    - Part Contacts Properties and Context Menus
      The Contacts manager node and the part contact subnodes provide several properties and right-click actions that allow you to check and edit the connections between parts.
    - Creating Part Contacts
      Use mesh contacts to define a connection between two part surfaces.
    - In-Place Contact
      An in-place contact is a direct connection between two part surfaces.
      - In-Place Contact Properties
    - Periodic Contact
      A periodic contact defines two part surfaces that are spatially detached, but a rotation and/or translation can make them coincident.
    - Baffle Contact
      A baffle contact is a zero-thickness surface that the meshers maintain in the surface and volume meshes.
  - Repairing CAD Geometry
    The Geometry Repair tool provides diagnostic checks for assessing the validity of geometry and the means to repair the geometry automatically.
  - Displaying the Geometry
- The Surface Repair Tool
  The Surface Repair tool diagnoses errors in, and provides repair tools for, tessellated surfaces and part curves. The same tool allows you to reorganize discretized geometry by searching for face-based features and attributes then assigning the results to new or existing part surfaces or curves.
- Defining the Regions Layout
  An essential part of the process in setting up your simulation is to define the relationship between geometry parts and regions, boundaries, and interfaces.
- Meshing
  A mesh is a discretized representation of a geometric domain. This domain can include real-world geometry, its content, and its surrounding environment.

In-Place Contact

An in-place contact is a direct connection between two part surfaces.

There are two types of in-place contacts: weak and strong. A strong in-place contact allows you to generate a conformal mesh between the two surfaces, whereas a weak in-place contact does not. Both types of in-place contact become interfaces when you assign the parts to regions. You can see whether an in-place contact is strong or weak by checking the Conformality property. See In-Place Contact Properties.

The following actions create strong in-place contacts:

Import a surface mesh.
- Make sure you activate the Create Part Contact from Coincident Entities checkbox.
Create a geometry part from a 3D-CAD model.
- Make sure you activate the Create Part Contact from Coincident Entities checkbox.
Executing the extract volume or imprint mesh operations.

The following actions create weak in-place contacts:

Manually creating or finding part/part contacts between parts.
Manually creating a part contact between two surfaces.
Executing the surface wrapper operation.

Examples of In-Place Contacts

The following examples show two types of in-place contacts. The yellow, dashed line highlights surfaces where the mesher aims to generate a conformal mesh.

This first diagram illustrates a contact between two part surfaces that match exactly.

This second diagram illustrates an in-place contact between two part surfaces that have different areas. In this case, the contact applies to both surfaces, but the mesher only aims to produce a conformal mesh between the areas of the part surfaces that are coincident.