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  • Set up your own cloud-native simulation in minutes.

    • Documentation

    SimScale DocumentationSimulation SetupMeshing in SimScaleMesh Upload

    Mesh Upload

    In some instances, the user might be interested in generating mesh in a local environment and use SimScale to apply the simulation setup parameters and perform a simulation. It is possible to upload multiple mesh files to the SimScale Workbench from an external environment. The procedure is similar to uploading a geometry.

    Once uploaded, an entity Uploaded Meshes is added to the simulation tree:

    uploaded mesh simulation
    Figure 1: Uploaded Meshes entity in SimScale.

    Under Uploaded Meshes you should see all the meshes that were uploaded to the Workbench. Select one of them and proceed with the simulation using the Create Simulation button.

    In order to use uploaded meshes successfully within SimScale, the boundaries of your meshes need to be specified in advance before uploading. All elements (i.e. nodes, edges, faces, or volumes) on which you want to apply boundary conditions or assign a material or other setup parameters must be grouped before the upload.

    Note

    Mesh upload is mandatory if Empty 2D, or Wedge boundary condition needs to be applied.

    Supported Format

    Currently, SimScale supports two formats for mesh uploads:

    • MED (.med) (version 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3)
    • OpenFOAM (.foam) native mesh format (ASCII only)

    MED Mesh Upload

    Simply select a *.med file and upload it. You may also pack it either as a *.tar.gz file or a *.zip archive. In order to assign boundary conditions, you need to create groups of either nodes, edges, faces, or volumes. If you want to perform a CFD simulation, you will only need face groups (also known as “patches” in OpenFOAM).

    OPENFOAM® Mesh Upload

    To upload an OpenFOAM mesh, simply pack the folder constant of the OpenFOAM case folder and upload it. The constant folder has to contain the polyMesh folder where the actual mesh files are located. Pack the constant folder either as *.tar.gz file or a *.zip archive before uploading. All mesh patches of your polyMesh/boundaries file will be pickable so that boundary conditions can be assigned.

    Important

    OpenFOAM®’s binary format is not yet supported. Please make sure the mesh is in ASCII format. Hence, please open the file system/controlDict and change the writeFormat entry from binary to ascii.

    openfoam ascii writeformat for mesh uploads
    Figure 2: Adjusting the writeFormat definition to ascii before running the foamFormatConvert utility

    Afterward, using OpenFOAM, run the foamFormatConvert utility to convert the binary mesh into an ASCII mesh.

    Note that unlike the CAD models, uploaded meshes are not available for downloading from the SimScale platform.

    Supported Analysis Types

    Considering the physics involved and the requirement of geometries the following analysis types may be supported to run simulations on uploaded meshes:

    supported analysis types for uploaded mesh
    Figure 3: Supported analysis types for the uploaded mesh.

    Note that the uploaded meshes cannot be modified and hence CAD mode operations cannot be performed on them.

    Last updated: April 25th, 2024

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