Home
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.
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.

Share

Link: copied

Breadcrumb: copied

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.
- 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.
  - Regions Layout Workflow
    In defining the regions layout you map between the geometrical definition of the problem and the computational (or physical) definition.
  - Assigning Parts to Regions
    Before a leaf-level part can be used in the meshing process, it must be assigned to a region.
  - Assigning Part Surfaces to Boundaries
    As with parts and regions, a bi-directional relationship exists between part surfaces and boundaries.
  - Using the Assign Parts to Regions Dialog
    The Assign Parts to Regions dialog lets you assign several part-level objects to region-level objects in one action. This dialog is the recommended method of assigning parts to regions.
  - Initial Assignment of Boundary Types
  - Interfaces Overview
    Interfaces are used in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ to transfer solution quantities between regions in a simulation. Certain types of interfaces modify quantities passing across them, such as a porous baffle interface that presents resistance to fluid flow. Periodic and repeating interfaces allow you to reduce the scope of the solution domain.
  - Region Manipulation
    To fix surface or volume meshes that are not suitable for obtaining a valid solution, choose from among various techniques for manipulating regions.
  - Region Reposition
    The Reposition Model adds a transformation to the volume mesh representation of a region at the point of simulation initialization. That is, the transformation applies in the case of a new simulation or a simulation with cleared solution. In some automated simulation or design exploration studies, your objective is to obtain results for a series of simulations in which the relative positioning of one part changes in each simulation. An example is an airfoil with a changing angle of attack. Using the Reposition Model, you can wrap the geometry that changes in an overset region, and then use the Reposition Specification on the region to define the orientation at the start of each new simulation run.
  - Manipulating Boundaries
    It is often convenient to modify boundaries in the simulation without having to modify the mesh and re-import it.
  - Performing Boolean Operations on Regions
    Boolean operations can be performed between two or more intersecting, closed, manifold regions to create a single region made up of a single surface. The new surface is also closed and manifold and can be used as part of the meshing process or as the starting point for additional Boolean operations.
- Meshing
  A mesh is a discretized representation of a geometric domain. This domain can include real-world geometry, its content, and its surrounding environment.

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.

Geometry parts are used only to define the faces, edges, and vertices that make up the surfaces of the model. The simulation domain on which mesh is generated, and for which physics is solved, is defined using regions, boundaries, and interfaces. These simulation domain objects can be created automatically using the hierarchy of geometry parts.

If you import geometry into Simcenter STAR-CCM+, you can choose to interpret the geometry directly as regions, boundaries, and interfaces without going through geometry parts. This method was the default in earlier versions of Simcenter STAR-CCM+. However, the recommended approach is now to use geometry parts initially and assign them to the simulation domain after making any required changes to surface or part curve definitions.

The following diagram illustrates the relationship between objects in the part tree and the ones in the region tree:

A part must be assigned to a region before its part surfaces can be assigned to boundaries within a region. The relationships do not need to be one-to-one; multiple parts can be assigned to the same boundary. The following mapping would also be valid, for example:

It is important to note that part contact information can only be used to generate interfaces automatically if all contacting parts are assigned to new regions in the same operation.