Introduction

About SolidMesh

SolidMesh is an unstructured grid generation system based on AFLR that was developed at Mississippi State University's HPC2 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS). The objective of SolidMesh is to quickly generate high quality unstructured grids for complex 2D and 3D geometries.  The SolidMesh system currently provides a graphical user interface for two and three dimensional unstructured grid generation, a solid modeling topology data structure with geometric entities defined by an internal Computer Aided Design (CAD) system based on Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), native CAD data imported via CAPRI Gateway CAE, or discrete geometry, and grid diagnostic and visualization capability.

The data structure is based on a Boundary Representation (B-Rep) radial edge non-manifold solid modeling data structure for both surface and grid topology.  All geometry and grid connectivities are explicitly defined. The user is abstracted from the underlying geometry and orientation, and a set of algorithms is provided that simplifies grid generation, surface interrogation, and geometry construction.

Geometry can be represented by various forms. The Computer Aided Design (CAD) system uses a Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURBS) geometry representation. Geometry read via IGES into the SolidMesh system is converted to a NURBS representation.  Tools are available that allow the user to build points, curves and surfaces.  Geometry can also be imported through CAPRI Gateway CAE.  Licenses of CAPRI and a CAD system (CatiaV5, UniGraphics, Pro/Engineer, SolidWorks, or OpenCASCADE) are required.  For legacy data, discrete geometry can be brought in via stereolithography or the various grid data formats.

The unstructured grid generation system enables the user to create both 2D and 3D unstructured grids. Surface grids can be created in parametric space on the NURBS surfaces, the CAPRI representations, or discrete geometry.  In addition, the various geometric representations can be composited into larger surface regions, thus ignoring internal boundaries and small features.  2D grid generation uses a planar geometry while 3D grid generation uses surface geometry. Automated loop detection is available for 2D grid generation. All unstructured grids are generated using the Advancing-Front/Local-Reconnection (AFLR) grid generation routines developed by David L. Marcum.
 

Organization of the SolidMesh Manual
In this manual, you will find descriptions of the commands in SolidMesh and instructions on how to use them. The manual is arranged in the following manner:
 
  • SolidMesh Basics introduces the SM Interface.
  • SM Application Selection Area describes the SM options and commands.
  • Tutorials provides exercises to familiarize you with the program.
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