Preparing the Regions and Generating the Mesh

Assign the geometry parts to regions, creating the required boundaries and interfaces, and generate a mesh of tetrahedral elements. Tetrahedral elements are suitable for finite element solvers.

Create a region for each motor component and the air domain:
  1. Expand the Geometry > Parts node and multi-select all parts.
  2. Right-click one of the selected parts and select Assign Parts to Regions.
  3. In the Assign Parts to Regions dialog, select the following options:
    • Create a Region for Each Part
    • Create a Boundary for Each Part Surface
    The default interface option is appropriate.
  4. Click Apply then Close.
    Simcenter STAR-CCM+ adds the required regions and boundaries and creates internal interfaces between the regions. The interfaces that originate from periodic contacts have periodic topology.

Assign each region to the relevant physics continuum:
  1. Expand the Regions node.
  2. Multi-select the Magnet, Magnet Plate, and Stator Plate region nodes and set Physics Continuum to Motor Components.
    The Air region is already assigned to the Air physics continuum.
To simplify the navigation within the simulation tree, you can group the interfaces by topology:
  1. Right-click the Interfaces node and select Group By > Topology.


In this simulation, you use the FE Magnetic Vector Potential model, which requires a mesh that is suitable for finite element solution. Define a mesh operation that generates a tetrahedral mesh:
  1. Right-click the Geometry > Operations node and select New > Mesh > Automated Mesh.
  2. In the Create Automated Mesh Operation dialog:
    1. Select all parts in the Parts group box.
    2. In the Select Meshers group box, choose the following meshers:
      Surface Meshers Surface Remesher
      Core Volume Meshers Tetrahedral Mesher
    3. Click OK.
  3. Rename the Operations > Automated Mesh node to Tetrahedral Mesh.
Specify the size of the tetrahedral elements:
  1. Select the Tetrahedral Mesh > Default Controls > Base Size node and set Value to 0.01 m.
  2. Click (Generate Volume Mesh).
    You can visualize the mesh with a method of your choice, such as creating a mesh scene. In the following example, two of the air domain boundaries are hidden, for better visualization of the internal mesh.

  3. Save the simulation.