Two weeks ago, the new version of Simcenter STAR-CCM+, version 2410, was released. We at Volupe were very happy to see that so many nice features were included in the last release of this year. In this blog post we will focus on the features for pre-processing, including 3D-CAD, Surface repair and Meshing.
Snap bodies in 3D-CAD
3D-CAD has been spoiled with several new features in the last releases, but this time one of the most longed for features has finally been implemented – the possibility to snap bodies to each other. This feature is similar to mating (which you may have heard about from other software). As you see in the video below the precise snapping will allow you to make sure parts are placed with co-located surfaces, edges and vertices. In the settings for this feature you will have the possibility to define which parts should be matched to each other and also which direction the part will snap in, providing an unambiguous operation.
Previously, the way to move parts to the same position was to measure the distance between them and move one of the parts. However, this was not always precise enough and it also included more clicks than what is needed in this new feature – Snap bodies.
Possibility to modify Fill polygonal patch selection in Surface repair
For all our customers that have experienced our workshop on surface wrapping in the introduction training; the feature we all have waited for is now implemented – dynamic and flexible definition of Fill polygonal patch! In the video below you see that several new possibilities have been included in Fill polygonal patch creation. Both when it comes to which view to use and also how to handle the points you have selected improvements have been made. For the view, you can now zoom, pan and rotate while creating your patch. For the selection, you can now choose to undo if a point is not placed in the correct position, and when you are satisfied with the patch you go to the menu and press Create patch fill. Previously you could not change the view while creating a patch and you left-clicked for creating points but right-clicked for the last point. This improvement will give easier implementation of your patches and more intuitive and flexible usage.
When creating a patch, it will by default share the same name as the surface it is attached to, combining them into one surface. Meaning, not creating a new surface with a new name automatically for you.
Creating patches to close holes is part of the Surface repair toolbox for solving geometry problems in a quick way, open boundary problems can also be solved in 3D-CAD of course.
New mesh technique for Gap closure with morphing
A new mesh technique for gap closure has been introduced, which allows you to use the numerics of active and inactive cells when morphing the mesh. This will improve the workflow for all simulations when it comes to piston (InCylinder) and valves modelling. The idea behind the technique comes from overset mesh zero-gap where cells become inactive when proximity between boundaries become too low.
To utilize the feature of Gap closure, you select the Gap closure model in the continua, and then you implement your settings at regional level. In Physics conditions for your gap closure region, you have now activated the possibility to specify Number of gap closure boundaries. For each gap closure boundary, you will now get an automatically generated boundary (named GapClosureWall) with settings as in the picture below. Specifying which boundaries the closure will occur between, and which distance to be considered as fully closed. When the chosen boundaries are closer than the specified distance, the cells between them will be inactivated and thereby close the gap.
When selecting Gap closure as a model you also activate new post-processing features. The field function Active cells will become available, which will indicate which cells are active and which cells are inactive. To give a better view of which cells are inactive there is also a new representation (right-clicking in the background of the graphical part of the GUI) that is called Full mesh view. In Full mesh view you get the possibility to see all cells, even the cells that are inactive. The inactive cells will be included in the GapClosureWall boundary as well.
Together with this new feature Siemens have provided a tutorial, to being able to try out the new functionality in a real case simulation where gap closure is relevant. Often these kinds of transient simulations can become quite complex. Therefore, when learning how to use this feature we would really recommend running through the tutorial to learn all the settings and getting all tips before implementing gap closure in your own model. Follow the link below to get to the tutorial in the documentation.
In the video below you see the flow field (including morphed mesh, in the top left corner), active cells (bottom left corner) and Full mesh view (in the top right corner).
Note that the color map for active cells changes just when the gap closes (at solution time 0.29s). Also note that the Full mesh view changes to show where the boundary between active and inactive cells is located (for a short period of time).
Honorable mentions
3D-CAD: Custom hotkeys, with possibility to export and import settings. For your frequently used operations, customized hotkeys can be a huge time-saver, increasing productivity. Including clash detection in shortcuts, to ensure the best possible user-experience.
Surface repair: Re-orient face normals, making all face normals point in the same direction for surfaces that are connected. This feature will help both in pre-processing and post-processing, since it will make sure the geometry has valid topology and also provides same-sign-convention at reports for surfaces.
Meshing: All prism layer properties can now be customized in mesh controls for automated mesh operations. The last three remaining properties; Gap fill percentage, Layer reduction percentage and Near core layer aspect ratio are all added for surface and volumetric controls using tetrahedral, trimmed and polyhedral cells. Meaning that you now have the possibility to fully control your mesh refinements.
We at Volupe hope that this blog post has been of the highest interest to you and that the new pre-processing features will help you in your everyday work. If you have any questions about the features, please feel free to contact us at support@volupe.com.
Additionally, don’t forget to sign up for our free webinar about new features from the Simcenter STAR-CCM+ releases this year, 2024. Here we will present the most useful features from all the 2024 releases. Our webinar will be held on Wednesday, the 20th of November at 14:00 CET, and you can sign up via the link below.
And, if you are interested in even more information about the new features in Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2410 you can read more about them in the Siemens blog post via the link below.
https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/simcenter/simcenter-star-ccm-2410-released/
Author CJ
Christoffer Johansson, M.Sc.
support@volupe.com
+46764479945
