The Mesh Calculator (Tools > Mesh Calculator) offers a variety of tools to check the quality of your mesh. The results of each calculation are performed over all domains[5] and printed to the output window. Each calculated variable is also added to the list of available variables, which enables you to use them as a basis for creating new plots. It is important to note that these variables are evaluated on nodes rather than elements, based on the criteria described below.
You can select the following functions to calculate:
- Maximum Face Angle
This calculates the largest face angle for all faces that touch a node. For each face, the angle between the two edges of the face that touch the node is calculated and the largest angle from all faces is returned for each node. Therefore, there is one maximum value for each node. The values that are reported are the smallest and largest of these maximums.
The maximum face angle can be considered to be a measure of skewness. For details, see Mesh Visualization Advice.
- Minimum Face Angle
This calculates the smallest face angle for all faces that touch a node. For each face, the angle between the two edges of the face that touch the node is calculated and the smallest angle from all faces is returned for each node. Therefore, there is one minimum value for each node. The values that are reported are the smallest and largest of these minimums. For details, see Mesh Visualization Advice.
- Edge Length Ratio
This is a ratio of the longest edge of a face divided by the shortest edge of the face. For each face:
(13–15)
is calculated for the two edges of the face that touch the node. The largest ratio is returned.
- Connectivity Number
Connectivity number is the number of elements that touch a node.
- Element Volume Ratio
Element Volume Ratiois defined as the ratio of the maximum volume of an element that touches a node, to the minimum volume of an element that touches a node. The value returned can be used as a measure of the local expansion factor.- Mesh Information
The
Mesh Informationoption returns the number of nodes and elements in your volume mesh. It also lists the number of elements of each element type. As an example, the mesh for the following output contains two domains: one using hexahedral elements and the other containing tetrahedral elements. The domains were connected using a domain interface:Number of Nodes: 71680 Number of Elements: 139862 Tetrahedra: 75265 Wedges: 31395 Pyramids: 0 Hexahedra: 33202
When you click , the result window displays the results of the specified calculation. If the calculated variable does not already exist, it will be created. This enables you to create plots of the calculated variable.
Note: When you compare the mesh information for a Fluent file in Fluent and in CFD-Post, the reported number of nodes (Fluent's "cells") will differ. In Fluent, each domain can have nodes at its boundaries that are not acknowledged as being shared with other domains. This causes Fluent mesh reports to contain duplicated nodes; however, the actual number of cells is the same as reported by CFD-Post.
[5] If multiple cases are loaded, the results of each calculation are performed over all domains in the specified cases.